Daily Archives: May 5, 2016
Milwaukee Brewers History – Bill Hall’s Pink Bat Home Run on Mother’s Day
When many of us think about Mother’s Day, we think of flowers or perhaps brunch with mom. If she’s a baseball fan, we might even take mom out to the ballpark. Hitting a major league home run for mom on Mother’s Day with a pink bat – well, that’s another level. Yet ten years ago on Mother’s Day, 2006, that’s exactly the present Milwaukee Brewers infielder Bill Hall gave to his mom. It was a special moment not just in franchise history, but also baseball history – and here’s why.
California League days of Mavericks seem to be numbered
Yesterday it became clear that the city of Kinston in North Carolina has signed a stadium lease deal with the Texas Rangers to bring a A Advanced team to historic Grainger Stadium, former home of the Kinston Indians. According to the lease, signed in July 2015, the Rangers had two years until the start of the 2017 season to bring a team to the stadium.
Historic Grainger Stadium in Kinston NC (photo: Zach Frailey)
More on: http://yankeebiscuitfansdutchblog.mlblogs.com/2016/05/05/mavericks-california-league-days-seem-to-be-numbered/
The 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates are not a Shifty Bunch
The Pittsburgh Pirates are shifting less in 2016 and their pitching is worse. Are these two related?
The Pittsburgh Pirates have earned a reputation around the league of being a very analytical front office and with good reason. The team’s use of FIP and xFIP to find value starting pitching is well known, but the shift is where the Pirates really earned their stripes as a numbers-centric team.
From 2013-2015, the Pirates shifted a total of 2,446 times, which was good for third in all of baseball behind only the Houston Astros and the Tampa Bay Rays, two teams with sabermetric driven front offices of their own.
The 2016 season is about one month old and the Pirates shifting totals are way down from the past three seasons. They have shifted only 214 times, which is the 12th most in the league. The Pirates spent a lot of the offseason discussing their change in outfield defense by playing their outfielders a bit more shallow, but they most certainly did not mention using the shift less. What changed?
Over the winter, the Pirates traded Charlie Morton to the Philadelphia Phillies and A.J. Burnett retired. These two pitchers both have ground ball percentages over 50 percent, which is why the team used the shift very heavily in their starts. In their place, the team added Juan Nicasio and Jon Niese. Both pitchers get ground balls below 50 percent of the time. The rotation hold overs of Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano both also have ground ball rates below 50 percent. Only Jeff Locke (51 percent) has a ground ball rate of above 50 percent.
You hear Clint Hurdle talking about not trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, so it begs the question, are the Pirates shifting less because their rotation isn’t as ground ball-centric as in years past? The Pirates are generating less ground balls as a team this season, but despite that, their entire starting pitching rotation remains above the league average of 44 percent. Even though they are down with the loss of Morton and Burnett, they still are an above average team.
2016 MLB Runs Scoring Survivor: Nats 4th Team To Complete With Drubbing Of KC
ORLIN WAGNER/AP
Follow @chuckbooth3024Follow @mlbreports
Washington knocked off the Royals 13 – 2 to take the series 2 games t0 1 (should have been a sweep – Jonathan Papelbon), and used HRs from Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy to plate 13 men.
It was the 1st time the Nats had scored 10 runs all year, and in doing so, it eliminated their last scenario out of the 11 in MLB Runs Scoring Survivor.
Seeding is yet to be determined as they have played games more than several other clubs who could still get there before 27 games, but it is done regardless.
Washington joined the winners (Cubs), O’s (AL winners, and only team to finish in Junior Circuit thus far), and the SF Giants as teams that are complete.
Only Atlanta has not scored at least 10 runs during a game in the Senior Circuit.
Surprisingly there are…
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Josh Robbins MLB Daily Fantasy Picks (DFS) For FanDuel – 5/5/16
Josh Robbins (Featured Fantasy Writer/60ft6in.com)
Follow The MLB Reports On TwitterFollow @mlbreports
Hi, my name is Josh Robbins. I would like to share my Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) strategy with you throughout the MLB season during weekdays. Fanduel is my preferred game of skill.
Welcome to the 5th week of the 2016 MLB season.
3-Strikes: Here’s what you expect from my daily articles:
My Top 3 Starting Pitchers (aces, mid-level, bargain)
My Top 3 Stacking Options (multiple players from the same team)
My Top 3 BVP (Batter vs. Pitcher) Options
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‘BBA Live’ Podcast – Year 2 Ep #11 – MLB Wk 5 ’16: New York State Of The Unions: Mets Are Hot – Yanks Are Not
BBBA Live is the flagship Podcast of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance since 2015.
Hosts Ricky Keeler Follow @rickinator555
& AC Wayne Follow @publicrecord
BBBA Live! is in its second season. Listen in as AC Wayne is again joined by Ricky Keeler of Yanks Go Yard and District On Deck (Nats).
Yankees are struggling and may have to reel off a bunch of wins soon or risk being a seller near the Trade Deadline.
Meanwhile the Mets are hardly losing at all.
Follow and subscribe to the podcast
Who Owned Baseball May 4, 2016 (Daily MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2016 #WOB Standings
ORLIN WAGNER/AP
Daniel Murphy homered, doubled and singled twice in the Nationals 13-2 thrashing of the World Champion Royals.
Steven Matz shut out the Braves for 7 2/3 innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 8 as the Mets rolled, 8-0.
Carlos Correa singled, tripled and homered, driving in a pair (and along with his teammate Altuve missed the cycle by a triple) and led the Astros to a 16-4 crushing of the Twins.
Corey Kluber threw a complete game 5 hit shutout, striking out 7 Tigers and earning the 4-0 decision in Cleveland.
They all owned baseball on May 4, 2016.
To view the Yearly Leaders for Who Owned Baseball Standings, plus see who gained 1/2 WOB’s – Click the READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON OR SCROLL DOWN.
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Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – May 5, 2015
Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer
I need to cut some things out of my life. Meanwhile Corey Kluber and Steven Matz are just fine and I take suggestions.
It is a overly cluttered episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Daniel Murphy, Steven Matz, Carlos Correa, Corey Kluber, Hernan Perez, Cesar Vargas, Marcus Semienand Colby Lewis all added to their totals for Who Owns Baseball yesterday.
See the updated listing of WOB on MLB Reports.
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