A New Home: Let's Go Tribe

Last week I applied for a spot at Let's Go Tribe, the biggest and best Indians blog on the internet. I am happy to report that I've been added to the team there and can now expect thousands of Indians fans to read what I have to say (it's true, there are thousands of Indians fans out there. The internet can reach really far, like across oceans and everything). It was only six months ago that I started this blog. I missed having a community of baseball fans I could shoot the breeze with. Many of my friends are baseball fans, but not the way I am. Besides, grown up lives seem to allow less and less time for hanging out and shooting the breeze with friends.

I joined Twitter a year and a half ago, and while I wasn't initially sure just what I planned to get out of it, I soon found that it was a great way to find good baseball stories and articles. Later, I found that some of the people who wrote those stories and articles were happy to "talk" on Twitter. Like most people, a taste of something good just makes me want more of it, and writing about baseball seemed like the best way to go about getting more of that baseball interaction I'd been missing. To go from starting my own blog to being invited to join my favorite team's biggest blog is a huge thrill. My first piece went up on Saturday, it's about the horror that was Derek Lowe's time with the Indians. Today I wrote about just how bad the Indians have been for the last month. There will be lots more to come.

I'll still be writing here too, because there's too much baseball out there for all of it to relate to the Indians. I've got thoughts on Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera I want to get out, the Maddux is going anywhere and it goes far beyond the Indians (it's almost exclusively beyond the Indians, in fact), and with the playoff around the corner there will soon be all sorts of nonsense to react to and analyze. I can admit that I'm pretty numbers-obsessed and looking at the page views is a lot more enjoyable when the numbers are ticking up. So to the couple dozen of you who read this regularly, thank you. I hope you'll keep reading, maybe check out what I'm up to at Let's Go Tribe, and perhaps even share my work with a couple friends.

Melky Cabrera: Math is Dead

Earlier this season the San Franciso Giants' Melky Cabrera was suspended for 50 games after failing a test for an illegal performance enhancing drug (PED), specifically for artificially inflated testosterone levels. The suspension meant he would miss the rest of the 2012 regular season, along with the next five games, either in the playoffs or at the start of next season. Cabrera was having a great season. Most notably, he was carrying a .346 batting average, good for second in the National League at the time. There was clearly a good chance that Andrew McCutchen's, who was ahead of Cabrera, would fall off and Cabrera would finish with the highest average in the league, a distinction which has long been considered the "batting title," making its holder the "batting champion."

This possibility bothered some people, the idea that someone who'd used an illegal PED winning such a significant crown. There temporary excitement in some corners when it was pointed out that Cabrera had 501 plate appearances for the season, while it takes 502 to qualify for the batting title (and all other rate stats, such as on-base percentage). But it was quickly pointed out that baseball has what is known as the "Tony Gwynn rule," officially rule 10.22(a), which states that a player who is short of 502 can have extra plate appearances added to their total, which will drop their batting average, but potentially still leave it higher than anyone else's average. The rule was created in 1996 when Tony Gwynn (obviously) led the league but was four PA short of qualifying. It was pointed out that if he'd batted four times and gone hitless, his average still would have been the highest, and so he was considered the batting champion for the season. The Tony Gwynn rule would leave Cabrera with a very high average.

Sure enough, McCutchen has fallen off a bit, and in the last week or so it has become clear that Cabrera's average will be the highest in baseball. Some screamed for Cabrera to be disqualified from the race, unable to win the award.

The thing is, the batting title isn't an award. It isn't something voted upon by baseball writers, or managers, or other players. The batting title is simply a fairly basic mathematical equation. You take a player's number of hits, divide it by their number of at bats, and you get a new number, a decimal somewhere between 0 and 1. Players certainly COULD be declared ineligible from winning awards such as the MVP or Cy Young, but this isn't like that, this is just math. Beyond the official scorers who decide whether certain plays are hits or errors, there is nothing subjective about it. It's a fourth grade arithmetic problem and the player with the highest answer "wins." You can't declare math ineligible.

Or so I thought.

On Friday, commissioner Bud Selig did just that. Selig announced that rule 10.22(a) would not apply for players who've been suspended. The official story goes that this only happened because Cabrera requested it, saying "I personally have no wish to win an award that would widely be seen as tainted, and I believe that it would be far better for the remaining contenders to compete for that distinction."

It's possible Cabrera really does feel that way, but it's also possible he felt pressured by MLB, who was looking for a way to disqualify him from the distinction of "champion" for a season in which he was suspended. I wouldn't have any objection to suspended players being ineligible for subjective awards, but this is a different thing. This is an announcement that MLB can ignore numbers it doesn't like, can defy math.

There are thousands unhappy with Barry Bonds holding both the single-season and all time home run records. The thing is, he DID hit 73 home runs in 2001 and he DID hit 762 home runs during his career, and both of those figures ARE higher than any others in history. Someone is free to explain why they think those home runs are tainted, but the answer to "who hit the most?" is Barry Bonds. If someone asks, "who had the highest batting average in 2012?" The answer is Melky Cabrera.

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There is an outside chance that this decision could have a pretty ironic side effect: If Cabrera's average doesn't count, McCutchen is again the N.L. leader, with an average of .336 and Buster Posey takes over 2nd at .333. Ryan Braun would be in 4th, at .315. Ryan Braun was suspended for a PED during the off-season, only to have the suspension thrown out when his appeal was upheld. His suspension never should have been announced before the appeal process was concluded, because it isn't fair to tarnish a man's name if he didn't do anything wrong and many people don't need anything more than rumor to think less of someone.

Sure enough, Braun has been viewed by many as a cheater, despite the suspension being overturned. Many have said his 2011NL MVP Award is tainted. He's been basically every bit as good this season,so if you think his 2011 numbers were due to an illegal substance, you must either believe they're still in his system a year later, or he's been incredibly brazen and is still using. Anyway, Braun leads the National League in home runs and is just one RBI off the lead.

Imagine Braun, McCutchen, and Posey each get another 40 AB this season. If Braun were to finish strong, say he goes 20 for 40 the rest of the way, his average would be .327 at season's end. If McCutchen and Posey both slump, if McCutchen goes just 7 for 40 and Posey goes 9 for 40, they'd both finish at .325. Braun would win the batting title, and if he drives in just two more runs than Chase Headley over that time, he'd win the Triple Crown, a MUCH more significant baseball achievement than the batting title.

I can't wait to see the lengths those who'd burn Cabrera at the stake are willing to go to explain away a potential Ryan Braun Triple Crown, should it come to that.

The Poor, Poor Pirates

I became a baseball fan in the late 1980s and so fairly early on in my experience with the game, I saw some very good Pittsburgh Pirate teams. In 1990, 1991, and 1992 they won the National League East division crown and played for the right to advance to the World Series. When you're a kid, it doesn't take much to get you to temporarily jump on a bandwagon (or to decide you hate a team with every fiber of your being... Hello, Yankees!) and in the early 90s while I certainly didn't consider myself a fan, I was certainly Pro-Pirates.

I vividly remember watching Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS (my mom thought I was already asleep but I'd turned the TV on and was watching with the volume turned down), Pittsburgh took a lead into the 9th inning, only to blow the lead and lost the game on Francisco Cabrera's single to left field that scored Sid Bream. Following that season, Pittsburgh let Barry Bonds, who'd won two of the last three N.L. MVP awards, leave as a free agent. Things would not be the same.

In 1993 Bonds won the MVP again, but for San Francisco, who won 103 games. Meanwhile, the Pirates went just 75-87, winning 21 fewer games than they had the year before. In 1994 the losing continued, and for almost twenty years now, it's never really stopped. It's slowed occasionally, but not once since 1992 have the Pirates finished with a winning record, or even a .500 record, entering 2012 it'd been 19 straight losing season in Steel City.

In 9 of those 19 seasons the Pirates finished in last place in their division, including 4 seasons in a row between 2007 and 2010. They haven't finished better than 4th in the N.L. Central since 1999 and 3 times they've finished with the very worst record in all of baseball. It's been ugly stuff.

Last year, things seemed like perhaps they were going to be a little different. In late June the Pirates started playing good baseball and winning a lot of games. They dragged their record over .500 and on July 19th they not only had a 51-44 record, they were in 1st place in the Central! But on July 29th they began a 10-game losing streak, dropping them back below .500. They wound up going just 21-46 after that July 19th high-water mark, finishing 24 games out of 1st place and with a 19th consecutive losing season.

In late May of this season, the Pirates were plodding along at 20-24, not bad, but not good. They then won 6 of their next 7 though, climbing above .500. No one in the Central was playing very well and by the end of play on July 5th, Pittsburgh had a 46-36 record, the highest above .500 they'd been in ages, and they were sitting on a 2-game lead in the division. The Reds began to play really well and took over 1st place, but the Pirates continued to win more than they lost and got all the way to 16 games over .500. On August 8th they were 63-47, in control of one of the two wildcard spots with over two-thirds of the season in the books. A winning record was all but secured and they had a very real chance to make the playoffs.

When August 22nd began, the Pirates were still sitting in one of those wildcard spots, but their loss that night dropped them out of that position, though they were still 10 games over .500. Things have only gotten worse, Pittsburgh recently lost 7 games in a row (including 3 games at home against the Cubs, who've been horrible this year), finishing off whatever playoff hopes they may have had and putting their winning season in jeopardy.

Last night a late 7-5 lead over the Brewers went up in flames, turning into a 9-7 loss, and dropping the Pirates 2012 record to 74-75. What had been the feel-good baseball story of the year, twenty years of suffering along the Allegheny River seemed ready to end, has turned into another sad chapter in the team's recent history.

There are still 13 games left, so of course it wouldn't take much for the Pirates to bounce back, go 8-5 the rest of the way, and get the monkey off their back. They even have games against the lowly Astros and Mets during the next week, aiding their cause. But going back to August 9th, Pittsburgh has gone just 11-28, which ties them (with the Indians) for the worst record in all of baseball over that time. I'm not overly optimistic about a late turnaround.

It's not over yet, but it looks like the curse of Barry Bonds is going to live on for another year.

Angry Birds - Ugly Birds Season 1

Angry Birds - Ugly Birds Season 1

Apa kalian sudah mencoba dengan game angry bird yang satu ini? Bagi yang belum memainkannya, tidak ada salahnya untuk mencoba dengan game ini, dijamin seru dan asyik. Permainan ini hampir sama dengan permainan angry birds yang biasa kita mainkan, cuma yang membedakan karakter burungnya saja. Game ini mempunyai tingkatan level yang Anda harus lalui.

Cara Memainkan

Cara memainkannya cukup mudah, Anda tinggal menarik karet ketapel yang telah diisi burung sebagai pelurunya, lalu kemudian lepaskan. Gunakan mouse yang ada pada komputer maupun laptop Anda. Yang menjadi target sasarannya adalah babi yang harus dihancurkan. Setelah berhasil dihancurkan maka Anda lanjut ke level berikutnya.

The Thome

Earlier this season I made note of the fact that Jim Thome had become the all-time three true outcomes (TTO) king, as he amassed the highest combined career total of home runs, walks, and strikeouts (which are the three true outcomes, the three results of any plate appearance that require no one but the pitch and hitter). It's fun to look at career totals, but I like counting individual games too, so I'm going to look at instances in which a player collected all the TTO in a single game. Because Thome is the king of the TTO and has a spot on my Mount Rushmore of baseball heroes, I'm naming this feat the "Thome."

As with many of my statistical scavenger hunts, this one owes a tip of the hat to Baseball-Reference and its Play Index, my annual subscription to which is probably the most rewarding money I spend all year.

All stats listed below are current through 2012.

Here are the all-time leaders in Thomes (games with at least one HR, BB, and K):

Rank	Player	Thomes
1	Jim Thome	154
2	Mark McGwire	133
3	Babe Ruth	125*
3	Barry Bonds	125
5	Harmon Killebrew	111
6	Adam Dunn	110
7	Manny Ramirez	105
8	Alex Rodriguez	98
9	Sammy Sosa	97
10	Frank Thomas	94
11	Ken Griffey	92
12	Mickey Mantle	87
13	Mike Schmidt	85
14	Frank Robinson	84
15	Willie Stargell	82
16	Fred McGriff	81
16	Eddie Mathews	81
16	Reggie Jackson	81
16	Jeff Bagwell	81
20	Jim Edmonds	80

These stats go back to 1916. For the most part, I think it's safe to consider the above list an all-time ranking, because none of the players listed above hit fewer than Edmonds' 393 home runs, whereas the career home run leader through 1915 was Roger Conner, with 138 of them. The only minor issue with any of it is Ruth's career total. Ruth hit 4 home runs before 1916. The 710 home runs he hit from 1916 on led to those 125 Thomes, so there's chance he's being cheated out of Thome. Maybe we consider him the "winner" of the tie at #3.

Here are the active (played in 2012) Thome leaders:

Rank	Player	Thomes
1	Jim Thome	154
2	Adam Dunn	110
3	Alex Rodriguez	98
4	Bobby Abreu	72
5	Carlos Pena	70
6	Chipper Jones	69
7	Ryan Howard	68
8	David Ortiz	62
t9	Lance Berkman	59
t9	Carlos Beltran	59

Adam Dunn is obviously charging up both of these lists and if he keeps doing what he's been doing for another another four or five years, he has a good shot at passing Jim Thome for the most Thomes (that doesn't mean he'll get it named after him though).

Here's a look at the single-season Thome leaders:

Rank	Player	Year	Thomes
1	Mark McGwire	1999	21
2	Mark McGwire	1998	20
3	Adam Dunn	2004	17
4	Babe Ruth	1921	16
4	Barry Bonds	2001	16
4	Adam Dunn	2012	16
7	Mark McGwire	1997	15
7	Carlos Pena	2007	15
7	Carlos Pena	2008	15
7	Ryan Howard	2008	15
11	Harmon Killebrew	1964	14
11	Harmon Killebrew	1969	14
11	Mark McGwire	1996	14
11	Jim Edmonds	2000	14
11	Sammy Sosa	2001	14
11	Jim Thome	2002	14
11	Manny Ramirez	2003	14
11	Ryan Howard	2007	14

Dunn looked to have a shot at breaking this record, but he slowed down his pace and missed some games. McGwire's mark is safe.

Finally, there is the double-Thome. Seven times in history a player has had at least TWO home runs, TWO walks, and TWO strikeouts:

Player	Date
Ted Williams	June 6, 1949
George Foster	October 1, 1978
Manny Ramirez	July 29, 2000
Bret Boone	May 2, 2002
Bernie Williams	May 17, 2002
Alex Rodriguez	June 22, 2004
Richie Sexson	September 22, 2006

That's some good Thome-ing!