Friday, May 28, 2010

Scorecard - 26MAY10 - Royals V Rangers

Here it is Dave. Career Save #100 for Joakim Soria. If you are wanting a copy of this that is better than I have posted here just let me know, I'll send you a file with the full-size scan.

I was at this game, and I'll say it was a very enjoyable day all around. I got abit of a sunburn, but it was worth it to spend a couple days out at the ballpark. I actually was at The "K" for both games against the Rangers in this short series, hopefully my travel schedule allows for me to get to alot more games this season. Enjoy the scorecard.

Kansas City Royals:


Texas Rangers:

Scorecard - 25MAY10 - Royals V Rangers

I noticed this morning when going to post up this game and the next one with the Rangers, I never filled in the score on the top left of my scorecard. I'm sure you can count the runs easily enough however. :)

Kansas City Royals:


Texas Rangers:

Scorecard - 23MAY10 - Royals V Rockies

Kansas City Royals:


Colorado Rockies:

Scorecard - 22MAY10 - Royals V Rockies

Kansas City Royals:


Colorado Rockies:

Scorecard - 21MAY10 - Royals V Rockies

Kansas City Royals:


Colorado Rockies:

Thursday, May 27, 2010

On a Serious Note - Colonel John McHugh

I've not mentioned a whole lot here about what I do for a living, because lets be honest, we are here to talk about baseball, not our work-a-day or personal lives. However, today I just want to post up a quick note. One of the great military individuals I worked with was killed in a roadside bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan on 18MAY2010. Colonel John McHugh was a great man, husband, and father. His funeral is today at the Ft. Leavenworth National Cemetary.

Think of all your friends and family that serve our country, and give them thanks today please.

You'll be missed COL McHugh.



Thank you, and God Bless.

Update: A great article by Jeff Bradley, a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, on COL McHugh can be found here if interested.

Furthering a Discussion - Joakim Soria 2008-2010

I posted up some pitching numbers the other day, and Dave (of GooseJoak fame) and I started having a little discussion on how Joakim Soria was doing. In honor of Joakim getting his 100th Career Save yesterday (6th youngest in MLB history), and the fact that I told Dave I would, I grabbed his pitching stats from 2008 and 2009 and compared them to the numbers I've got so far for 2010. These calculations are the same ones used in my previous Fun with Numbers posts, so while they may not be the absolute most useful, I find them interesting.

Joakim Soria - 2008-2010


The only thing that really jumped out at me was his P/Out, that is up over 1 P/Out since his fantastic 2008 season, and half a pitch over last year. His P/BB is almost 2 better over 2008, and 1 better than '09, the %STR numbers are down a couple percent, but I hope as the year goes on that will come back up to around 66%. Joakim doesn't look to be having a bad year from these stats, and maybe it is just my perception... but Joakim seems to be laboring a bit at times this year. Hopefully the numbers prove out and my perception is just wrong.

Discuss.

Disclaimer: The raw data for 2008-2009 for these calculations was gathered from www.baseball-reference.com

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Fun With Numbers Pt. 3

In a previous posting, Fun With Numbers Pt. 2, I did some of my own math to evaluate how the Royals pitching staff was doing through the first 15 games of the 2010 season. My original plan was to revisit these numbers every 15 games, well game 30 came and went and I was busy on the road, so I've crunched the numbers again after 45 games.

This time around I gave all the pitchers a letter grade also. These grades are based on 4 "stats" that I was concerned with at the time of Pt. 2, they are: Percentage of Strikes Thrown, Pitches per Walk, Pitches per Out, and Pitches per Batter Faced.

The pitchers are ranked against one another, with the pitcher having the best numbers for a stat given 100%, and the others a percentage of the best in that stat. After all those numbers are compiled, they are then given a letter grade based on your average High School lettering system. I'll admit, these numbers favor some pitchers who haven't thrown as much as others, but hopefully that will correct itself as the year goes on. If the bullpen solidifies itself that should help also, if not, I'll have to recalculate these based on stat/9 Innings Pitched (probably should do that anyway). So, now that you know how I came up with these numbers, please take a look at the grades, and let me know what you think.

Starters - Games 1-45


Starters - Grades for Games 1-45


Relievers - Games 1-45


Relievers - Grades for Games 1-45


Is it any surprise that some of these guys are no longer on the roster? These numbers may not be the best evaluation of pitchers, but I kinda like 'em, and they almost back up my gut feeling on these guys. Before I did this today, I was thinking Luke Hochevar would be the #2 starter on the list, but he ended up #3, just a bit behind Bannister.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Scorecard - 12MAY10 - Royals V Indians

Kansas City Royals:


Cleveland Indians:

Scorecard - 11MAY10 - Royals V Indians

Kansas City Royals:


Cleveland Indians:

Scorecard - 09MAY10 - Rangers V Royals

Texas Rangers:


Kansas City Royals:

Scorecard - 08MAY10 - Rangers V Royals

Texas Rangers:


Kansas City Royals:

Scorecard - 07MAY10 - Rangers V Royals

Texas Rangers:


Kansas City Royals:

Scorecard - 06MAY10 - Rangers V Royals

Texas Rangers:


Kansas City Royals:

Scorecard - 05MAY10 - White Sox V Royals

Chicago White Sox:


Kansas City Royals:

Trading with the Troll

Just thought I'd throw up a quick trade note with a few pictures to come later. Thanks to a generous Troll, I managed to take 32 cards off my want list for 2010 Topps Series 1. I'm finally getting caught back up with things after being on the road for 3 weeks, and will scan a couple of my favorites that The Troll sent. My thanks for the generous trade, hopefully I sent a couple things you needed as well.

Scorecard - 04MAY10 - White Sox V Royals

Chicago White Sox:


Kansas City Royals:

Scorecard - 03MAY10 - White Sox V Royals

Still more catching up. Hope to be up to date in the next day or two.

Chicago White Sox:


Kansas City Royals: