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Baseball Basics: The Unassisted Triple Play

Posted by on 11 November 2011, 3:47 am

 

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Colorado Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki turned an unassisted triple play back in 2007. Image via Wikipedia

“What is the hardest play in baseball?”

“The unassisted triple play.”

Does this question ring a bell at all? Maybe from a Holiday Inn Express commercial that played a million times throughout the regular season.

The ad wizards behind that one should be ecstatic because I have been asked to explain the unassisted triple play more times than I can count, because of that commercial. And ironically, it has been mostly girl friends and very mild baseball fans that have been so curious about the what, how and why of the unassisted triple play.

So, what is the definition of an unassisted triple play?

An unassisted triple play is when a defensive player gets all three outs on his own, within the same play. No other defensive player can touch the baseball or contribute in any way.

What happens in a “typical” unassisted triple play?

In a “typical” unassisted triple play there would be runners on first and second, and categorically there can be no outs in the inning.

The two base runners’ call for a hit and run, which entails both taking off the moment the ball leaves the pitchers hand. Basically it is like getting a head start.

Then the batter hits a line drive right at the shortstop, or second baseman that happens to be positioned close to second base. The SS or 2B catches the ball on the fly (out #1), then proceeds to touch second base (out #2) and then tags the runner who came from first (out #3).

Why are shortstops and second basemen purposely used in the example? Continue reading ‘Baseball Basics: The Unassisted Triple Play’ »

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New York Yankees Trade Rumors: Is Rockies Pitcher The Right Move?

Posted by on 20 July 2011, 4:30 am
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 24: Ubaldo Jimenez #38 of...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

George A. King of the NY York Post reports that the New York Yankees are still keeping a close eye on Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

King confirms that a Yankees scout was in Denver for the second time in a week on Tuesday night; and not to watch the Rockies beat-up on the Atlanta Braves, just to see if Jimenez could.

HOW MUCH TO BRING JIMENEZ’S TALENTS TO THE BRONX?

The Rockies have made it clear that it will take a mountain of top prospects to move Jimenez out of the mile-high city. The Rockies have mentioned a package containing Yankee prospects catcher Jesus Montero, right-handed pitcher Dellin Betances and left-hander Manny Banuelos.

Just the thought of that price sent Yankee Universe into a rage, but what else could be expected?

Essentially if the Rockies ship off Jimenez, they are throwing in the towel. That is a total slap across the Rockies players’ faces, as this is a team whose reputation was built on being second-half slayers.

Personally, I am pessimistic about the Yankees giving up Banuelos to any team. Maybe because I have trailed this kid’s career since he inked in Mexico with the Bombers. In my humble opinion this 19-year-old lefty is something special, just hope the Yankees don’t screw this one up.

GM Brain Cashman could add another arm like Adam Warren or Andrew Brackman in the deal with Montero and Betances. Brackman has not been great this season, but he has made some positive baby steps. Brackman has been too erratic, which brings his value down considerably.

WHAT WOULD THE YANKEES BE GETTING?

Other than that my issue with Banuelos, the 27 year-old Jimenez is well worth the price tag. This season Jimenez is 6-8 in 19 starts, including two complete games, one shutout. Jimenez has pitched 117 innings total, a 4.00 ERA; with 108 strikeouts, 45 walks, giving up 10 home-runs and 52 earned runs. His walk numbers are high, but Jimenez has held batters to a .244 average.

Overall, Jimenez is young and talented. His record and ERA don’t tell the story as the Rockies have been underachieving big time this season. Jimenez started 2011 going 0-5, but in his last 10 stars he is 6-3, with a 2.58 ERA, issuing only 15 walks and striking out a whooping 63.

With barely any legit starters available the Rockies have the advantage, as 17-teams sent scouts to watch Jimenez within the last week. Whether the Yankees season hinders on acquiring another solid starter, like Jimenez is a crap-shoot at this point but I don’t see how it could hurt.

HOW RISKY IS THE YANKEES ALTERNATIVES?

Truth remains that counting on Bartolo Colon, Freddie Garcia and even Phil Hughes grinding it out through the playoffs is a tad farfetched. It sounds idiotic because no one expected the two veterans to make it this far, as Colon and Garcia have exceeded expectations already.

Hanging off a steep ledge for the rest of the season just adds pressure and the Yankees know that they might not survive like that.

Looking at the situation from a statistical and injury history angle it is almost unfair not to take measures. In Yankee language this would translate to fans that this season not being very important if Cashman sits on his hands.

Then outings like this past Tuesday night happen. Fans watched Colon vs. the Tampa Bay Rays and it made me realize that he can still pitch darn well. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees Trade Rumors: Is Rockies Pitcher The Right Move?’ »

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New York Yankees Rumors: Alex Rodriguez Injuries Mount

Posted by on 27 June 2011, 1:58 am

It was impossible to miss New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez’s especially slow stride in the third inning during Saturday’s 8-3 win vs. the Colorado Rockies.

As Yankee fans gasp in fright at what looked to be their worst nightmare unfolding right in front of them, another injury to the team’s cleanup hitter.

See, just a week ago an anonymous clubhouse attendant spilled some hush-hush news to ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews, that A-rod was suffering from a left shoulder injury.

As the news broke back on June 20th, the Yankees immediately went into defensive mode. In typical fashion, manager Joe Girardi did what he is supposed to do and using phrases like “nothing serious” and “just sore” when asked about the his best hitters condition.

As the day went on, A-rod disclosed this problem dated back early May in a game down in Texas against the Rangers and has had treatment on it ever since.

Still, A-rod kept stuck with his original explanation:

“It’s not bad. It’s like what I told you guys out there, just normal soreness.”

Now back to this past Saturday.

Unless he runs on his hands, A-rod’s slow gallop off that third-inning double indicated that another body part was feeling some pain.

Following the Yankees 8-3 win, MLB.com’s Matt Fortuna tweeted that A-rod had a sore right knee and had dealt with it since last Sunday night in Chicago.

So, the same night A-rod’s shoulder gets revealed, he also met another injury to his right knee.

A-rod acknowledged the problem and had this to say to the New York Daily News:

“It’s getting better. There are some injuries you can play through and some you can’t. This one is one I feel like I can play through.”

This is starting to sound like a broken record over in Yankee camp, and one the fans have heard many a time out of the players and coaches mouths.

In A-rod’s specific case, the limping made it way to noticeable so what other choice did they have but to blame it on A-rod’s prone for bruising.

Anything other than a lack for going deep, this last week A-rod posted 10 hits, eight RBIs, four doubles, two walks and posting a batting average of .556.

Regardless of how bad things really are for A-Rod, he is still a vital producer in the Yankees line-up.

If A-rod’s status goes from bruised to DL stint, things will get ugly really fast.

No matter if you are an A-rod hater or lover, fact remains that the team is better when he plays. So losing A-rod for a game, two, or three, is better than what could wind up being weeks.

All of Yankees universe will be keeping an eye on the situation because with every new revelation things are only growing worse.

Let’s just pray that no other injury rumors about A-rod bruising come to surface this week and that the road to recovery is working and not just prolonging the unavoidable.

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New York Yankees Pitching Update: Cashman Confusion Continues

Posted by on 16 June 2011, 3:20 am
GLENDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 27: Cory Wade of the ...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Yankees GM Brian Cashman is officially having a pani (short for panic attack)…. as MLB Trade Rumors reports that the Yankees have signed southpaw Greg Smith and right-hander Cory Wade to minor league contracts, according to the International League’s transactions page.

Reality is the only thing these two pitchers can do is make the Yankees average age drop a little, as Smith is 27 and Wade is 28 respectively.

Smith is a lefty, which the Yankees definitely are short of in the bullpen but he was let go back in 2010 after making eight starts for the Colorado Rockies. Smith went 1-2, with a 6.23 ERA and only threw 39 innings in total, which makes it understandable why he has not been in the Majors since. The Yankees bought his contract from the Grand Prairie Airhogs, an AAIPB team.

Wade has been tucked in the minors since making 82 appearances in relief for the LA Dodgers in 2008 and 2009. After posting a stellar 0.93 ERA in 2008, Wade struggled in 2009 and was sent down to the minors. He has been with the Rays since last winter, but his opt out clause allowed for him to sign with New York.

The reason I say Cashman might be in panic mode is because 32-year-old journeyman Brian Gordon, who was also signed a day ago, said that the Yankees told him to be ready and to mentally prepare himself to start on Thursday afternoon.

Oddly, when I checked the Yankees active roaster on MLB.com, not Gordon but Wad’s name had been added to the list.

So, I guess the idea that maybe Cashman brought in Wade and Smith to provide pitching depth in Triple-A can go right out the window.

It also means any hope of seeing one or two of the young prospects was never happening.

And where is he going to add Gordon to the 25-man roaster? Unless he put Wade on for 12-hours, which would be totally stupid.

This is all so weird because these guys were just inked a day ago and that is because Cashman is so steadfast in not letting some of the youngsters come up yet.

Why did he even invite any of them to Spring Training if he had no faith? Or is Cashman trying to keep their values as high as possible just so he doesn’t feel poor if some arm emerges prior to the July 31st trade deadline?

Who knows but when things start to get confusing like this regarding what is really going on, and when it involves the Yankees, usually it’s because something is.

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Lady Loves Pinstripes: 2011 MLB May Monthly Power Rankings

Posted by on 1 June 2011, 1:30 am

With one-third of the 2011 MLB season under their belts, how did your team stack-up in the moth of May?

The hottest team was without question the Arizona Diamondbacks; while the biggest losers on the list goes to the Colorado Rockies.

Agree or disagree? Please feel free to share with a comment below.

LAST MONTH MLB TEAM THIS MONTH COMMENTS? REASONS WHY?
1 Philadelphia Phillies 1 Utley is back and Hamels is partying like it’s 2008.
4 St. Louis Cardinals 2 Crazy that the Cards are 2-9 when Chris Carpenter’s on the bump and win without Matt Holliday.
2 New York Yankees 3 Wait ESPN experts said the Yankees would stink…. Guess the meant stinking good. Tex is hot, hot, hot…but so is Grandy.
13 Boston Red Sox 4 Finally, team is winning and Crawford wins the AL Player of the Week. 45 of 45 ESPN Experts picked Red Sox as the best team, but still not quite there yet.
6 Florida Marlins 5 Season rests on Hanley Ramirez’s stiff back, but a bettered team with a big future.
10 Milwaukee Brewers 6 Here come the Brew-Crew and I am hoping on this bandwagon.
15 Atlanta Braves 7 If this team gets a big bat, watch out.
24 Arizona Diamondbacks 8 Yes, it does feel nice to be the best team in the AL West. Loving JJ Putz too.
8 Cleveland Indians 9 Reality bites and poor Cleveland fans seeing Indian players’ wearing LeBron jerseys pre-game….not good.
5 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 10 Can’t wait for Kendrick and Wells to return.
7 Texas Rangers 11 Better win games before Josh Hamilton goes on the DL again.
11 Cincinnati Reds 12 Jay Bruce, welcome to the gun show with 12 HRs, 32 RBIs and is batting just under .350 for the month of May.
12 Tampa Bay Rays 13 Feasted on the bad teams for long enough and question is can the Rays hang with the +.500 teams.
9 Detroit Tigers 14 Ah-oh here come the White Sox.
16 San Francisco Giants 15 Posey loss will start to show the reigning champs weaknesses; skipper Brian Bochy is team’s best catching option. SOS Sandoval.
25 Chicago White Sox 16 Bats are officially hitting; let the climb to the top of the AL Central begin.
29 Seattle Mariners 17 Hitting might not matter now, but Figgins, Smoak and Ichiro need to start to contribute or Mariners will fall fast.
19 Toronto Blue Jays 18 Bautista is a one-man wrecking crew.
17 Kansas City Royals 19 Closer Joakim Sori can’t close and that will sting.
3 Colorado Rockies 20 Jorge De La Rosa needs Tommy John and rotation needs some help.
21 Baltimore Orioles 21 Still hanging in last place; but not like before as the O’s remain in the AL East hunt.
20 Oakland Athletics 22 Starters have best ERA in baseball with 2.88 ERA, but you wouldn’t know it with the Yankees in town.
22 New York Mets 23 Jose Reyes is an awesome baseball player, who the Mets want to trade or if not let him walk at the end of 2011. Dumb.
26 Pittsburgh Pirates 24 April showers brought May flowers, as the Pirates ship is not sunk yet.
18 Chicago Cubs 25 Not this year Cubs fans.
14 Los Angeles Dodgers 26 The best bullpen on the DL in all of baseball.
23 Washington Nationals 27 Jayson Werth is trying to jump start a team without a spark, as he listens to “Goin’ Back to Philadelphia, PA” on his ipod.
27 San Diego Padres 28 A-Gone all the hitting to Boston and Padres feeling it.
30 Houston Astros 29 New owners want their money back please.
28 Minnesota Twins 30 Keep blaming it on Joe Mauer, who is the most overrated and overpaid player in baseball.
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2011 MLB Season: Top 9 Headlines After Two Weeks Of Drama

Posted by on 18 April 2011, 5:07 am

It is hard to believe that the 2011 MLB season is only a tad over two weeks old, as the drama could be deemed season-worthy already.

What story-lines have really shocked baseball fans?

Here are the top 9 headlines (with my comments) that could make baseball worthy of it’s own soap opera, now that the MLB Network just aired baseball’s first official reality series. Please, click on the titles to go to the actual articles, trust me it is well worth it.

  1. A.J. Burnett Has More Wins Than the Boston Red Sox – Come on now, is it possible that every baseball expert on earth couldn’t have seen this one coming. Rethinking strategy? Next time watch what happens after “THE DECISION” before making one.
  2. Charlie Sheen to Red Sox fans: ‘Relax’ – Red Sox fans felt much better and finally could relax after hearing from the man who deemed himself the biggest winner ever, lives with goddesses and is the ultimate poster boy of why you should never touch drugs. Sheen says worries over, time to panic.
  3. Wait, WHO is Leading the Central??? – Is it possible that Royals and Indians will continue like this past April? Doubtful but these days crazier things have happened, like trading an entire team for A-rod would barely reduce salary at all?
  4. Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski Knock Baseball Smack-Talking Out of the Park – who are the AD Wizards that came up with this one? Thank you New Era!!!
  5. The 2011 New York Mets: They rearranged the deck chairs – is it possible that a team could get any worse? I guess Madoff involvement wasn’t rock bottom. Up next…. Mr. Met head gets knocked off and Manny Ramirez is inside?
  6. 2011 Walk Off Hits – everybody’s doing it, as the number of walk off wins so far is ridiculous. Can anyone say YEAR OF THE WALK OFFS?
  7. Showtime offers glimpse of new show featuring World Series-winning Giants – FYI HBO’s HARD KNOCKS ONLY films during pre-season camp. There was NEVER filming during the regular season, as once things started cameras were off. That bullshit ‘glimpse’ is a ploy to get the players to drop their inhibitions, my advice is be careful cause instead of being the less-talked about on the East Coast, you are going to become a joke too. If the 2010 Champs want East Coast attention REPEAT.
  8. Monday Morning Shortstop: The Colorado Rockies, Baseball’s Best Team? – No question that the Rockies are the best team so far, but by a lot. No distractions, all business was the message the Rockies spoke during Spring Training. The Rockies are walking the talk and making some noise among East Coast fans, aka. Yankee fans know you are coming to the Bronx soon and they can’t wait.
  9. This Time, Manny Is Fleeing Manny – Manny never loved baseball like baseball loved Manny. It was a sad day for the sport and not the way fans wanted to say goodbye.

 

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2011 MLB Team Preview: Colorado Rockies

Posted by on 26 March 2011, 5:22 pm

The Colorado Rockies just missed the post season last year, unlike in 2009 when the Rockies slipped in as the Wild Card team or back in 2007 when the franchise made its first World Series appearance.

Point being is that the Rockies never seem to live up to their potential, as they love to leave everything to hanging to the last minute. They are a younger franchise, in a great city with a loyal group of fans just waiting for their first World Series win.

Could 2011 be the year for the Rockies? Let’s take a look.

The Positives:

Not a busy off-season outside of the organization, but internally the Rockies made it a priority to lock up two of the best players in baseball, SS Troy Tulowitzki and OF Carlos Gonzalez.

Locking up both Tulo and Gonzalez for the next seven years at the price of $134 million and $80 million respectively, gives the Rockies a solid core for the next few seasons. Gonzalez played in 145 games, hitting 34 home-runs, 111 RBIs and he almost snagged the NL MVP from Reds Joey Votto. Tulo posted a .315 batting average, hitting 27 homers and driving in 95 RBIs.

Considering that these twos’ bats make up for about a third of the team’s overall run production, it is easy to see why Tulo and Gonzalez went from important to vital. Overall, solid move making sure these two remain in Denver for the long haul.

In the first half of 2010, Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez was the talk of baseball. Jimenez threw the Rockies first no-hitter in April and finished the month 5-0 in five starts. He also pitched just shy of 26 straight innings without a run scoring until it got broken up May 3rd. So, Jimenez just went on another hitless marathon topping 33 innings straight through July of last season.

The second half of 2010 was not so pretty as Jimenez came back down to earth, but finished with a 19-8 record, posting a 2.88 ERA and pitched a total of 221.2 innings over 33 starts. It would be hard to repeat the historical first half of last year, but Jimenez is the staff’s ace and needs to win 19 games for the team to contend in 2011.

The pressure was completely on Jimenez last season, but a finally healthy Jorge De La Rosa should provide the needed relief. De La Rosa is a solid lefty who had a middle finger issue last season, which kept him on the DL for 12 of his scheduled starts, but in 2009 he won 16 games and expect the same or better in 2011.

Jayson Hammel will most likely follow De La Rosa, who was second, behind Jimenez in strikeouts with 141 last season and threw just shy of 180 innings in 30 starts. The back end will be Jhoulys Chacin and Aaron Cook who broke his finger before Spring Training, so he won’t be available right away.

The Rockies bullpen was sans closer Hudson Street who missed 70 games with should injury, but still had 20 saves in 44 games. In 2009, Street had 35 saves so hoping for a comeback season to close out some wins in the ninth inning.

The Negatives:

It is hard to imagine that a team with two powerhouses, such as Tulo and Gonzalez biggest disadvantage would be offense. Finishing 19 games below .500 in 2010 is unacceptable for any team looking for long-term success.

For a team who plays at such a high altitude, but the problem was not at home where they led the league in batting average with .298. It was anywhere other the fun-hitting Coors Field, where the team’s batting average went from first to last with a .226.

Oh we are not done yet, as there are two even bigger concerns lingering from 2010. The team ranked at the bottom with a .223 batting average with the bases loaded and came in as the third-worst in strikeouts per game averaging eight for a total of 1,274 on the season.

Tulo and Gonzalez are coming into their primes but they have absolutely zero support on either side of them. The Rockies don’t look much different from 2010, as the only external off-season move was a trade for 2B Jose Lopez. Continue reading ‘2011 MLB Team Preview: Colorado Rockies’ »

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