Article: Game Thread: Twins v Yankees, 7/17@7:10pm CT

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I'm looking for a place called "Just OK forks, MN"

you mean, Above Average Forks, MN

 

you clearly are not one of us

[Suicide Skweez]

SF up 3-1 with runner on 2nd, 1 out in bottom of the 4th. Could be double good news tonight!

[Guest]

Take as long as you need to get loose, Brandon*

I've never before seen someone from Texas worry so much about weather in Minnesota when he wasn't flying here for Christmas.

[Aggies7]

you mean, Above Average Forks, MN

you clearly are not one of us

Sadly, never stepped foot in the state.

[Aggies7]

I've never before seen someone from Texas worry so much about weather in Minnesota when he wasn't flying here for Christmas.

TEXAS!? Do I look like a steer?

[70charger]

 

TEXAS!? Do I look like a steer?

 

.....if I say no?

[Blake]

 

TEXAS!? Do I look like a steer?

A fan of Mr. Ermey, are you?

[Aggies7]

.....if I say no?

INNAPROPRIATE

 

[Aggies7]

A fan of Mr. Ermey, are you?

I was hoping someone caught it. Good to see two of you did

[Blake]

 

Was there ever a doubt?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes.

YES!

[Halsey Hall]

4-2 seems to be a nice number lately.

 

[Blake]

 

I've never before seen someone from Texas worry so much about weather in Minnesota when he wasn't flying here for Christmas.

True story: I was flying into MN from DFW, one Christmas break, and the pilot announced the temperature at MSP, which was 10 degrees. An audible gasp went through the entire airplane. It was hilarious. I also had the people next to me ask what the little circles of lights were on the ground. I explained those were outdoor hockey rinks. One could see people moving around on the ice by then. I'm pretty sure the guys next to me were convinced Minnesotans are crazy at that point.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

"The Minnesota Twins defeated the New York Yankees in a game of baseball."

 

I like the sound of that. I hope i can say it again tonight...

 

On the other hand, "Here come da moderator" is somehow lacking...

[Twodogs]

Pathetic. Does Molitor not teach his guys how to bunt? I can count on one hand the guys on this roster who have any idea how to lay down a bunt. Thats on Molitor.

Pretty sure Molly knew how to bunt when he was playing? Not sure why no one can do it anymore. I wonder if Rod Carew was the manager if guys in today's game could bunt still or if it's more of that guys just don't bunt anymore so when they need to, they just can't??

[ashbury]

I was hoping someone caught it. Good to see two of you did

It predates the movie with Ermey. It surely predates the movie with Louis Gossett Jr. as well.

[Craig Arko]

 

It predates the movie with Ermey. It surely predates the movie with Louis Gossett Jr. as well.

[ThejacKmp]

 

Maybe it's the beer. I apologize if I'm being mean, but specifically to the poster I replied to.

 

That said, I looked it up in the interim. The expected number of runs with bases loaded and no outs is about 2.25. We got literally less than half of that.

 

Very hard to argue against the idea that you expect more than one in that situation.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/re24/

 

Way after the fact but there's a difference between expecting something and being militant about it. They hit the ball hard and had some bad luck with hitting it at guys and having a close play at the plate. I find it hard to blame the Twins for the outcome - and your tone certainly does that.

[ThejacKmp]

 

It always baffles me when I read RBI aren't a valuable way to measure offensive production. Getting a pitch to hit, and often doing something with it, is absolutely a skill, and an important one.

 

The last sentence is true but RBI is not the way to judge it. You want to create a stat that says, "RBI % per opportunity" and I'm down. But RBI is a raw number that means nothing. Stats need context to matter.

[ashbury]

The last sentence is true but RBI is not the way to judge it. You want to create a stat that says, "RBI % per opportunity" and I'm down. But RBI is a raw number that means nothing. Stats need context to matter.

I'm with you, although defining opportunity is hard.

 

They don't award the batting title to the player with the most hits. However the player with the most hits is almost certainly a very good hitter.

 

Likewise anyone who leads the league in RBI, or even reaches the 100 level, is surely a good hitter, with all the necessary clutchness we want.

 

So the fans who judge by RBI aren't wrong, when they look at the high end of the rankings. It's the players who don't get many RBI who you want to take a closer look at before dismissing - maybe they bat leadoff or ninth, or maybe their team is bad and there weren't many ducks on the pond over the course of the season, or maybe the opportunities just didn't even out over the course of a particular season.

 

Runs are the coin of the realm, so celebrating the Run and the RBI stat makes perfect sense. But if 3 singles in an inning lead to 1 run, the first guy gets credit, the third guy gets different credit, and the second guy is a bum.

 

With hits, it's easy to define opportunity, either as AB if you want batting average, or combined with walks for OBP using PA as the denominator of the fraction. For RBI, it's a lot harder to break down - a man-on-first opportunity with 2 out is not the same as bases loaded (or even anybody on third with less than 2 out) - thus a simple denominator is hard to conjure up.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Kind of, but Smith was a 14th round pick, Jordan Montgomery was a 4th round pick, and Judge was the 32nd pick of the first round. They're developing unheralded players.

 

Impossible! For years we were told the Twins were bad because you just can't get talent past the top few picks. Of course, now we are told we can't be mad if those top picks fail, because top picks fail a lot, so there's that....

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Gosh...

 

I can't take it any more!

 

I pun regarding tonight's starter, and... hearing that is a sensitive spot for moderation... well i might as well get get slapped down in the relative privacy of an old game thread...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Here's to hoping this "don't hang the ball up"start Colon-y rebuffs the evil Empire...

 

Independence!

[Craig Arko]

 

Gosh...

I can't take it any more!

I pun regarding tonight's starter, and... hearing that is a sensitive spot for moderation... well i might as well get get slapped down in the relative privacy of an old game thread...

Believe me, every freakin' post about the planet Uranus gets plastered with juvenile jokes. Do something original and clever and I bet you'll be good.

[Craig Arko]

 

Here's to hoping this "don't hang the ball up"start Colon-y rebuffs the evil Empire...

Independence!

Here's mine.

 

Sign for fastball   :

Fastball hit over the fence  :..........|....

Sign for changeup  ;

Changeup hit over fence  ;..........|....

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Here's mine.

 

Sign for fastball   :

Fastball hit over the fence  :..........|....

Sign for changeup  ;

Changeup hit over fence  ;..........|....

Kind of like the court notes from Cyrano de Bergerac, if i correctly recall the gist of it.

 

"On Thursday, the prince had 12 helpings of custard. Custard will no longer be served at court."

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Believe me, every freakin' post about the planet Uranus gets plastered with juvenile jokes. Do something original and clever and I bet you'll be good.

That looks more challanging... gimme a moment.

[Craig Arko]

 

That looks more challanging... gimme a moment.

[ThejacKmp]

 

I'm with you, although defining opportunity is hard.

 

They don't award the batting title to the player with the most hits. However the player with the most hits is almost certainly a very good hitter.

 

Likewise anyone who leads the league in RBI, or even reaches the 100 level, is surely a good hitter, with all the necessary clutchness we want.

 

So the fans who judge by RBI aren't wrong, when they look at the high end of the rankings. It's the players who don't get many RBI who you want to take a closer look at before dismissing - maybe they bat leadoff or ninth, or maybe their team is bad and there weren't many ducks on the pond over the course of the season, or maybe the opportunities just didn't even out over the course of a particular season.

 

Runs are the coin of the realm, so celebrating the Run and the RBI stat makes perfect sense. But if 3 singles in an inning lead to 1 run, the first guy gets credit, the third guy gets different credit, and the second guy is a bum.

 

With hits, it's easy to define opportunity, either as AB if you want batting average, or combined with walks for OBP using PA as the denominator of the fraction. For RBI, it's a lot harder to break down - a man-on-first opportunity with 2 out is not the same as bases loaded (or even anybody on third with less than 2 out) - thus a simple denominator is hard to conjure up.

 

Yeah, that is the issue with RBI. It's not completely and utterly useless like wins but it's pretty darn close. I think it's when people use it on it's own that it's bad. If you're talking about runs driven in within the context of other stats (OPS, etc.) I think it can be okay. But every time I see it used it's the Lead Argument,

 

You're also right in saying that it's hard to figure out how to do it. Every solo HR is an RBI but wouldn't be calculated as one in a runners-on-base thing. I was reading about a stat called RE24 that I've never heard of before. Might be worth reading about.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Believe me, every freakin' post about the planet Uranus gets plastered with juvenile jokes. Do something original and clever and I bet you'll be good.

It requires more thought to set up well, but something should be possible with a voicemail message...

 

"Uranus... no, we didn't rin' you. U ran' us."

 

That either clever original?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

RE24 hasn't really caught on yet, but it is tracked on the stats sites. It can account for the middle guy's single very well

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/re24/