Well, circumstances were such that it wasn’t viable to do a write up about my Friday radio spot.

Ah well.

However, that does leave an opening to finally tackle the whole Buzz Bissinger, Bob Costas, Will Leitch deal on HBO. Once again, I feel proud to be a blogger and of my blogging past/present. As you may have noted, I cite the Bible frequently in my writing. Leaving my spiritual beliefs at the roadside for the moment, I do find it a useful book in understanding humanity. The thing is–people never change. We have more gadgets and whatnot but the attitudes today differ little from points of view from times of antiquity.

Once again, we see people obsess over a person’s credentials over their abilities. Tell me if this isn’t what Bissinger did to Will Leitch…

“At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him”–Acts 7:57

Stephen was defending himself to the Jewish high court. Stephen was an uneducated young man whereas his audience had all the credentials in the world. While Bissinger didn’t cover his ears he sure made sure that Leitch couldn’t say a whole lot. In Bissinger’s eyes–he was the only one that deserved to publicly espouse an opinion … he had the credentials and that was enough. He went on to verbally stone Leitch.

A once blind beggar whom Jesus healed was brought before the Jewish authorities trying to get him to renounce the man that healed him. He refused–indeed he used simple logic to explain his point of view:

“The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”–John 9:30-32   

Simple straightforward logic; however, he should know his place and defer to those with credentials–for his audacity in presenting a logical opinion without an accepted degree he was excommunicated from the synagogue.

When Jesus was wowing the crowds with his teaching what did some say? “How did this man get such learning without having studied?” (John 7:49) Didn’t he know he was supposed to have a degree before opening his mouth? The nerve!

Back then, the cognoscenti of Jewish society referred to the common ’uneducated’ people as amah-arets or “people of the land”–back then, it meant they were dirt, or as they once famously put it “No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” (John 7:15) Substitute “mob” with blogger and “law” with degree and that would almost sum up what Bissinger said to Leitch.    

Bottom line, history is littered with Buzz Bissingers.

The thing is, his accusing Leitch of dumbing down American is a slur–it’s an attack without merit. It’s like player salaries and ticket prices. Ticket prices don’t rise because of player salaries–player salaries rise when revenues rise … including ticket sales. To use Will as an example (nothing more), were Deadspin everything Bissinger claimed the fact is this–it isn’t succeeding in dumbing down America, it succeeds because America has been dumbed down already. Every generation something becomes the scapegoat for dumbing down America–one decade it’s comic books, the next it’s TV, the next it’s talk shows like “Geraldo” and now it’s reality TV and blogs.

Bissinger was using Deadspin (and blogs)–something he hates regardless of quality and merit–as a scapegoat for something that was already there. The thing is, the media’s history has proven time and again that it makes colossal blunders, doesn’t do its homework and promotes outright fallacy. Again, let’s review baseball history and see what educated journalists claimed were factual…

• Free agency would end the game of baseball.
• That indentured servants making anywhere from $6000-$10,000 a year were pampered, spoiled, ungrateful malcontents that should be willing to play for free for the privilege of playing in the major leagues.
• Many teams were on the verge of bankruptcy.
• The commissioner of baseball is neutral respecting the labour management issues of the game.
• People of African-American descent couldn’t succeed in the big leagues.
• Publicly financed stadiums are a huge boon to a local economy.
• What cities like Pittsburgh need to have a competitive club is a publicly financed stadium and teams like the Marlins cannot compete without one.
• This is [insert city of choice] absolute, last, final opportunity to keep MLB in their community.  
• That baseball doesn’t suffer with a problem regarding performance-enhancing drugs–it‘s just a few isolated bad apples.
• There was no collusion in the 1980’s–every team just discovered fiscal responsibility at the same time.
• Player salaries were pricing the common fan out of the game.
• Eight credentialed, educated journalists covering baseball thought the career of a player who was (at the time) first all time in home runs, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits, second all-time in hits, third in runs and intentional walks, with two batting titles, three Gold Gloves, league MVP, batted .305 in just under 3,300 games, was a 20-time All Star and hit .362/.405/.710 in the post season (.364/.417/.600 in World Series) didn’t have a Hall of Fame career.

    Now who is guilty of dumbing down America?

The thing is, now when the media spouts these ill-informed lies they are no longer swallowed as gospel by the masses. They are exposed as lies, those that print them are exposed as lazy buffoons who clearly didn’t do their homework and research–by bloggers. Instead of knowing their place and writing a letter to the editor (that may not be run) or calling in to a radio show (where you may be disconnected) they have the audacity to criticize publicly the educated class without the media being allowed to filter the opinion first!

That is the root of the problem–they just won’t admit it. Yes, there are bad blogs but as the above proves–there is a lot of bad journalism out there. Do we throw out the media in its entirety due to these many bad examples? Of course not–you can be ignorant, too lazy to do research, vapid, loud, belligerent and obnoxious provided you have a degree.

This is called a double standard. As I said once before and I address this to Mr. Bissinger–had the (sporting) press done its job and provided readers with correct information in sufficient quantity and quality the blogosphere may well not exist as it does today. Here’s what happened–you screwed your readers with careless work and didn’t take the time to protect your turf (by learning what the sports fan craves and providing it) and you inadvertently sired a bastard child that was later named “the blogosphere.” Now that Junior is hitting you up for support payments you’re crying because you’re finally being held responsible for your screwing around for years on end.

Your problem is–you wish to keep screwing around without being held responsible for what it creates.

The media is a deadbeat dad–we are their children. Well “Dad” maybe if you were responsible and set a better example maybe we wouldn’t be knocking on your door right now. Guess what Pop? We’re home and we’re all yours and the more you screw around the more of us will keep showing up.

A final scriptural thought: “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit … Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” –Matthew 7:18,20

Well, if what passes for sports journalism today is the fruitage produced from having a degree–then clearly a degree isn’t that important to write intelligently about the game. I don’t write for pay because I have a degree–I write for pay because I have a brain, I do my homework and research and I learn from people with brains regardless if they have a piece of parchment on their walls or not. I’ve learned far more about the game from my fellow amah-arets  than I have from most of the mainstream. I’m grateful for the Tom Boswells, the Peter Gammons, the Tracy Ringolsbys, the Steven Brunts and the Joe Posnanskis because they are so rare and provide me with role models. I’m happy to see the Jeff Passans the Tom Verduccis, the Rob Neyers the Jayson Starks and the Ken Rosenthals (and those like them) following their lead–I just wish the rest would do so as well. 

Best Regards

John

Per the media relations department, the Brewers have placed RHP Yovani Gallardo on the 15-day disabled with a torn ACL in the right knee. Wow, that one has to hurt…literally and figuratively. The poor guy can't stay healthy.

Dave Notes….

Here's the video of the incident:

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200805012622952

Gallardo was coming off three straight starts in which he went 7, 7 and six innings.  He had a 1.80 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, kept the ball on the ground a bit more than last year (41.4 GB% compared to 38.2% in 2007), but he was also striking out and walking less batters (5.70 K/9 and 2.70 BB/9).

Derrick Turnbow can still be a nice project for a pitching coach 
(runawaywind/flickr)

Former Milwaukee Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow was designated for assignment today by the AL Central club.

This comes one day after he allowed 4 hits, 6 earned runs and 4 walks in 0.2 innings pitched yesterday against the Cubs in Wrigley Field.

His team was 1-7 this season when he made an appearance.  He had the following pitching line in 2008:  6.3 IP, 12 H, 11 ER, 1 HR, 13 BB, 5 K, 15.63 ERA and a 3.95 WHIP.

His 7.11 K/9 was well below his 9.26 rate he's posted so far in his career and the 4.61 BABIP is really not attractive.  He was still around his usual 45 GB% mark, but the line drives kept piling up, a sure sign that hitters were not fooled by his stuff: a 92 mph fastball that was 3 mph slower than the three previous seasons.  He was using it 83% of the time and was letting go of his change-up, which had been a good weapon in the past to go along with his slider.

He could still be effective with another club and be a nice project for a dedicated pitching coach….I'm looking at you Rick Peterson!

You, don't talk so much — just smile and look smart.
(Bobbi Fleckman, to Nigel Tufnel in This Is Spinal Tap)

Seems New York Mets closer Billy Wagner isn't happy with teammate Oliver Perez, and he's happy to let the world know about it. Some fun quotes from Wagner in an ESPN radio interview:

You have to be able to look at yourself and say, “Is that the best I can do?”

Sure, that seems reasonable, but isn't this between Wagner and Perez? Why does ESPN radio and its listeners need to know? Seems to me we could take Wagner's question and ask it of him in relation to the decision to publicly air grievances. Maybe Wagner should look at himself and ask himself if that's the best he can do.

If he goes out there and battles and comes up short, you know what,
we're not going to have a problem with that. But you have to
battle. You have to go out there and find a way.

Okay, so Wagner doubts Perez's character. Good to know he's got a teammate's back — with a knife, but still.

I want to win and I know everyone in that clubhouse wants to win.

Uh, except for that kid who didn't battle. You know, the kid you just called out on air for lack of effort? I guess he probably doesn't want to win.

I'll be in the locker room, and if Oliver wants to say something, fine.
I love the kid … If he gets mad at Billy Wagner for saying this and
then goes out there and wins ballgames, great. I'm all for it.

The phrase “if Oliver wants to say something” is open to interpretation. Does Wagner mean that Perez should speak with him directly or should he follow the veteran's lead and go straight to the media? And how, exactly, does getting mad at Billy Wagner help Perez (or anyone else) win games? Either Wagner misspoke or he's not quite clear on a few concepts.

I'm not saying it because I don't like him. I'm saying it because I expect to be better.

Nope, Wagner still thinks there's a relationship between what he says to the media and how Perez performs. We can scratch “misspoke” from our list of possibilities. Clearly Wagner is confused.

I have no problem with someone coming over and saying they didn't like
what I said or why I said it.

Ah, I see. Here Wagner says “coming over” as in talking directly to him. So I guess going to the media is not his preferred method of discourse when someone else has a problem with him. Interesting.

But when you sit with him and say, “We
need this; we need you to step up right here” and guys are coming to
him saying, “Hey, I see this” and he's not responding, then you know
what, if this — – you off, if you don't want me to say anything, then
go out there and pitch and compete.

And now Wagner has totally lost me. I wonder if he's lost Perez, too?

The latest John Dewan's Stat of the Week just came in and it's an interesting one, to say the least.

Francisco is lucky with the blown saves transforming into wins  (iso320/flickr)

Last week Cubs closer Kerry Wood came on in the bottom of the ninth inning to close out the game with the Cubs leading the Rockies 6-5. He gave up the tying run. But the Cubs scored in the top of the tenth. Carlos Marmol pitched the bottom of the tenth and the Cubs won. Marmol got the save.

And Wood got the win. Now that makes no sense. Wood failed at his job and yet gets the win.

It's time to expose these lucky relief pitchers—the ones who absolutely, positively don't deserve the win. How often does the pitcher who blows a save get the win? Who are those guys? Here are the answers in the last six plus years of regular season games.

Oh, and a BS win stands for Blown Save Win. I hope you weren't confusing it with something else.

Major League Baseball

Year     BS Wins

2008     17
2007     64
2006     76
2005     80
2004     87
2003     73
2002     72

Pitcher          BS Wins

Francisco Cordero - 8
Danys Baez - 7
Jason Isringhausen - 7
LaTroy Hawkins - 7
Tom Gordon - 7
Billy Koch - 6
Mariano Rivera - 6
Scot Shields - 6
Armando Benitez - 5
Billy Wagner - 5
Byung-Hyun Kim - 5
David Weathers - 5
Francisco Rodriguez - 5
Joaquin Benoit - 5
Joe Borowski - 5
Keith Foulke - 5
Luis Vizcaino - 5
Mike Stanton - 5
Octavio Dotel - 5
Roberto Hernandez - 5

All statistics include 2002 regular season games through the games of Thursday, May 1, 2008.

Source: Baseball Info Solutions
“Used with permission from John Dewan's Stat of the Week™, www.statoftheweek.com.”

Francisco Cruceta will finally throw out of the bullpen, after resolving his
visa issues   (brettandmarylin/flickr)

Baltimore    

Luis Hernandez - Left ankle injury, day-to-day.
    
Boston    

J.D. Drew - Quadricep injury, day-to-day.
    
Chicago Cubs    

Matt Murton - Optioned to Iowa (AAA).
Alfonso Soriano - Missed 14 games (calf injury).
    
Chicago White Sox    

Alexei Ramirez - Personal reasons, day-to-day.
    
Detroit    

Francisco Cruceta - Recalled from Toledo (AAA) and activated from restricted list.
    
Florida    

Matt Lindstrom - Back injury, day-to-day.
Josh Willingham - Back injury, day-to-day.
Mike Jacobs - Finger injury, day-to-day.
    
Houston    

Ty Wigginton - Missed 23 games (thumb injury).
Jack Cassel - Recalled from Round Rock (AAA).
    
Los Angeles - Anaheim    

Kelvim Escobar - Transferred from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL (shoulder injury).
Maicer Izturis - Back injury, 15-day DL (retroactive to April 28th).
Nick Adenhart - Contract purchased from Salt Lake (AAA).
    
NY Yankees    

Phil Hughes - Right oblique muscle strain, 15-day DL.
    
Pittsburgh    

Olivo Astacio - Released by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
    
Texas    

Jason Jennings - Forearm injury, day-to-day.
Milton Bradley - Hamstring, day-to-day.
    
Washington    

Chad Cordero - Shoulder injury, day-to-day.

Voros wrote a rational response to the Bissinger/Leitch
match and I find it hard to argue with anything he wrote, but I’d just like to
opine on the “controversy” myself.

As someone who has been directly involved in the MSSM
(mainstream sports media)-blogs ordeal (remember Bill Conlin?) to an extent, I
can say that the distance between the two is vast, but it doesn’t have to stay
that way. The MSM simply needs to realize that unless legislation passes that
essentially privatizes the Internet (and, boy, are our bought-and-paid
politicians, the Justice Department and uncaring businsses trying), it will remain an ocean of facts,
rumors, opinions, and debates, and that’s exactly what is so great about the Internet.

It’s plainly obvious that the MSSM has a hard time
differentiating between blog authors and commenters. Personally, I can’t
understand how you could mistake the two but then again, I’m on the Internet a
lot so it’s probably ingrained in my conscience. Their underlying point that
comments are vile and malicious is an overgeneralization: some are good, some
are bad, just like anything else. They are right, however, when they say that
the blog on which the comments are made is responsible. Anyone who comments on
Deadspin, for instance, is actually representing Deadspin. If the
administrators at Deadspin choose to either not moderate comments or don’t feel
that the comments are punishable, then if those comments are offensive, that
reflects poorly on Deadspin.

That doesn’t mean that all commenters are like that, though.
I love reading the comments on topics at Baseball Think Factory, as most of
them are well-thought-out and informative. The commenters on Joe Posnanski’s
blog, or The Hardball Times, or here at Baseball Digest Daily are all
informative and I don’t think I’ve ever come across any malcontents at any of
those websites, due to luck or removal.

On another note, Bob Costas said in an interview with Aaron Barnhart after
the HBO show had aired, “Nothing the blogosphere does in the near future poses
a threat to me,” responding to the claim that the MSSM is threatened by the
prominence of blogs. I think he’s telling the truth and his later implication
that newspaper columnists may be the few that really are threatened is equally
as true. Bob Costas isn’t threatened by the blogosphere; it’s not like the
folks at The Hardball Times, for instance, are going to put out a few of their
typical great articles and someone is going to give them a deal for a TV series
on HBO, or Joe Posnanski is going to opine on the state of the Kansas City
Royals and be offered a job doing play-by-play broadcasting.

I do, however, think the MSSM feels threatened for a
different reason: they are being held accountable for everything they say. They don't
fear the loss of a job, they fear looking like an idiot in front of a large audience (and who doesn't?). Since you can get
almost every TV show and newspaper/magazine article on the Internet, it’s easy
to take something they say and portray them as idiots, either by legitimately
critiquing something written or spoken, or by maliciously quoting something out
of context.

If someone in the MSSM says something like, “John Smoltz is
the greatest pitcher in baseball history,” and cites his wins, losses, and
saves to back it up, he will no doubt be held accountable by bloggers who will
cite his strikeout and walk rates, WHIP, DIPS, and other Sabermetric-backed
statistics either as a counter-argument against Smoltz or to point out the
flawed methodologies utilized by this hypothetical member of the MSSM.

The MSSM fears this for two reasons: he will be held
accountable by the blogs, and he doesn’t truly understand the criticisms enough
to adequately defend himself. Do you think most in the baseball portion of the
MSSM thumbed through the Baseball Prospectus glossary page? Or read any of the
analyses done by writers at THT or The Baseball Analysts, or the Pitch F/X studies by Mike
Fast? I highly doubt it.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying everyone in the MSSM is
stupid and all Sabermetric bloggers are geniuses. They simply haven’t devoted
enough time, if any at all, to understanding Sabermetrics – not enough to point
out flaws in arguments that are made using them.

I think the “old guard” type of baseball writers – Murray
Chass, Bill Conlin, et. al. – not only fear being held accountable for what
they write and not being able to respond properly, but they fear the simple
change in ideology. It used to be that whatever they believed in baseball-wise
was golden since for a large percentage of their careers, it was a painstaking
and often fruitless endeavor to challenge the status quo in baseball. If Chass
wrote something like “A-Rod Isn’t Clutch Enough” in a newspaper in 1950, no one would argue
with it since there was no efficient way to disprove it (splits weren’t exactly
popular back then) – and even though it’s logically fallacious to put the
burden of proof on the people with the negative point of view (like theists
asking atheists to prove that there is no God), you’re not going to change any
minds if you’re in the “there is no clutch” crowd.

In 2008, what Chass and Conlin and others like them believe
in isn’t golden anymore. As professional journalists with an audience to
appease, they’re essentially forced to either adapt to the new ideology (which
means taking the time to educate themselves) or reject it. They thought it’d be
easier to just reject it. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that it’d be more
painstaking to deal with all of the critics than to actually buy or borrow
books, or subscribe to Baseball Prospectus and educate themselves on “the new
thing.”

Frankly, the rift between the MSSM and blogs has nothing to
do with the bloggers’ lack of certifiable education in journalism, or with the
MSSM’s fear of losing their jobs; it has to do with generational gaps and an
unwillingness to adapt. If Murray Chass learned and understood Sabermetrics, I
doubt anyone would have a problem with his articles even if he came out still
disliking them – he’d have more intelligent, factually-backed arguments that
would both raise our consciousness and provoke a great discussion.

The only weapon the MSSM has in its arsenal is name-calling
and finger-pointing to their journalism degrees and press passes (which more
and more bloggers are getting lately anyway). They’re showing up to a gunfight
with a knife and they’re unhappy with the unfairness; they don’t realize that
the weaponry choices are entirely in their hands. Once the MSSM collectively
understands and utilizes Sabermetrics, baseball blogs will not be useful for that
purpose anymore.

Addendum: In writing this article, I generalized almost every time I cited the MSSM and bloggers. I basically associated the MSSM with traditional baseball thinking and bloggers with Sabermetric thinking, but that's not to say that there aren't a good amount of Sabermetric-thinking writers in the MSSM and traditionalists in the blogosphere. Just because someone blogs about baseball doesn't mean they are educated on and accept Sabermetrics, and just because someone's a professional baseball beat writer doesn't mean they don't. I just wanted to make that clear.

Lastly, when I criticized the MSSM for not being educated on Sabermetrics, that was also not to imply that I am. I have a lot to learn with Sabermetrics, as I'm sure is the case with a lot of people who utilize them. Quite a few in the MSSM have admitted to not even attempting to educate themselves on Sabermetrics but still decide to criticize them anyway.

• Juan Pierre went 2-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI, and Hiroki Kuroda pitched 7 strong innings as the Dodgers swept the series from the Marlins, 5-3.
• Sidney Ponson allowed just one run over 8 innings, and Ian Kinsler and Ramon Vazquez each hit solo home runs as the Rangers edged the Royals, 2-1. Zach Greinke struck out 9 while allowing just 4 hits in 7 quality innings for Kansas City.
• Miguel Cabrera tripled, homered, and drove in 3 runs, and Magglio Ordonez had 3 hits and 2 RBI as the Tigers doubled up the Yankees, 8-4. Bobby Abreu had 2 hits for New York, including a 3-run home run.
• Paul Byrd pitched 4-hit ball over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, and Travis Hafner doubled twice, walked and drove in a run as the Indians walked off with a 3-2 win against the Mariners in 10 innings. Ichiro Suzuki had 3 hits, and Miguel Batista allowed just one run in 7 innings for Seattle.
• Odalis Perez gave up just 2 runs on 3 hits over 7 innings, and Austin Kearns had 2 hits and drove in the go ahead run in the 8th inning to lead the Nationals to a 3-2 win over the Pirates. Zach Duke tossed 7 solid innings for Pittsburgh.
• Matt Garza battled through 6 strong innings, and Carl Crawford went 2-for-4 and drove in the go ahead runs with a base hit in the 7th inning as the Rays defeated the Orioles, 4-3. Adam Jones hit a 2-run homer for Baltimore.
• Ryan Braun singled, doubled, homered, and drove in 3 runs, including 2 in the 9th inning, to rally the Brewers to a 4-3 stunner over the Cubs. Kosuke Fukudome went 4-for-4, and Ryan Theriot collected 3 hits for Chicago.
• Ryan Howard doubled and hit a tie breaking home run in the 8th inning to help the Phillies beat the Padres, 3-2. Howard drove in 2 runs and scored 2 runs, and Adam Eaton went 6 strong innings for Philadelphia. Randy Wolf struck out 9 while allowing 2 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings of work for San Diego.
• Alex Rios went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 runs scored, and Toronto got its 3rd straight quality start, this time from A.J. Burnett, as the Blue Jays blanked the Red Sox, 3-0.
• Jack Cust went 4-for-4 with a home run, 2 walks, and 3 runs scored, Emil Brown added 4 more hits, and Kurt Suzuki, Daric Barton, and Frank Thomas each contributed 2 hits and 2 RBI as the A's crushed the Angels, 15-8. Oakland finished the night with 20 hits. Erick Aybar and Mike Napoli each collected 2 hits and a home run for Los Angeles.

Thursday's Scoreboard