Comments on: MVP-o-rama

By: umpbump.com

umpbump.com — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:12:09 +0000

[...] And finally, Eric Byrnes of the D-Backs is a potential free agent after the 2007 season. Means ESPN will have to wait ’til then to get some real talent back on BB Tonight. Share us:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

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By: Zvee Geffen

Zvee Geffen — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 04:06:43 +0000

And Coley tried to tell me all the good ones were taken! Ha!

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 03:55:27 +0000

Aha! Except that since Ortiz is a lefty, I think he has an easier time hitting dingers than most of Boston’s lineup. After all, those bullpens in right were added to help Ted Williams (who threw right but batted left, if you will recall) hit more homers—though now that I think about it, I’m not sure if they actually ended up making a difference, just that that’s what the legend in these parts is. So while I’d say that Fenway generally isn’t a hitters park (for righties) for slugging lefties maybe it is. And maybe the hitters get a rare gift or two when the ball bounces off one of Fenway’s many weird angles and rattles around for a while. But I’m getting distracted. And I realize that now I’m contradicting my earlier comment, but whatevs—-this isn’t about mere pride, this is a search to uncover the TRUTH!

Anyways, this just means it was even lamer back in the era of my childhood, when the Sox always overspent on righthanded sluggers who would theoretically mash it over the Monster. Bah.

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 23:04:00 +0000

Hmm, I had thrown in that bit about Fenway being a hitter’s park just because that is the conventional wisdon, but your comment forced me to go back and actually look at the data.

I found that I was both right and wrong. Statistically speaking, Fenway park was the 11th best hitters park in the majors this season, so it remains correct to call it a “hitter’s park”. However, this year it was also, amazingly, the second worst home run park in the majors, behind only the Giants’ ballpark (whatever it’s called these days). What this means is that Fenway dramatically increased the batting average, doubles, and triples hit by everyone who played there this year, so much so as to offset the amazing difficulty of hitting homers there and still have Fenway in the upper echelon of offensive ballparks

So, while I was technically correct to say that Ortiz has benefitted from playing in what was overall a hitter’s park this year, I should have given him more credit for hitting so many homers in a park that is really not so well suited to his style of hitting.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 03:36:19 +0000

Okay, I just have to explain some things about Fenway being a “very hitter-friendly park.” This is just a huge overstatement. People *think* it is a very hitter-friendly park. This led the Red Sox to overspend on aging sluggers for years, at the expense of their pitching. But the fact of the matter is, the Wall giveth and the Wall taketh away. Why does Mike Lowell have 44 doubles this year? Because of the Wall. And how many times have I had to listen to Jerry Remy say, “Boy, in another ballpark that woulda been outta heah, but with the Monstah that’s just a line-drive single.”

Of course, Ortiz rarely hits it to left—but by that token, Nick, since you’ve taken off points for him hitting in front of Manny in the order, shouldn’t you *add* a couple points for him having to negotiate those crazy shifts all season? I mean, here is a man with more than 50 homers who is not ashamed to bunt, a slugger who will poke a weak hit through the gap if that’s what it takes, and a 6′4″, 230 lb dude who will steal when he feels like it (and throw in a Karate Kid move when he gets to second, to boot). I respect your choice to rank him behind Mauer, I just feel you may have overlooked some crucial info. That Karate Kid move had me at hello (see visual: http://www.umpbump.com/press/?p=316)

And finally, you forgot the coolest thing about Grady Sizemore. His last name sounds like a much awesomer version of the venti, the whopper, or the supersize value meal. What if the next time you went to Starbucks, you could order “a mocha frappuccino, no whip—oh, and make it a sizemore please”? Or you could go to Mickey D’s and ask for “a sizemore of fries”? In fact, I think it’s also a verb. I’d like to sizemore my TV, my closet, and my bank account, for instance.

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