Memo to Toronto Blue Jays: Two locker-room celebrations in three days is weak sauce

The Blue Jays celebrated clinching a playoff berth on the final day of the season Sunday with a champagne-soaked celebration in the visitors' locker room at Fenway Park:

On Tuesday, two days later, Toronto beat Baltimore in the Wild Card Game to advance to the American League Division Series--and then went through the entire ordeal again:

New t-shirts.  Probably new goggles as well.  And a whole bunch more champagne.

I get it the first time--you're celebrating the success of a 162-game season.  But seriously, what's different about your mindset 48 hours later?  "Woo-hoo!  We haven't been eliminated from the playoffs since we qualified two days ago!  Let's get nuts!"  I have to think some of the players must have been thinking "Seriously?  Are we actually going to do this again?  Do I really have to put on all that stupid crap and get soaked in booze for the second time in three days?"

This reminds me of that episode of How I Met Your Mother where Ted throws a party so he can hang out with Robin, but when she doesn't show up he hosts one the next night too, then the night after that also:



The postseason continues for the Blue Jays in Texas at 4:30 pm Thursday.  Hopefully they can still play after two days of partying.


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I wonder how foolish the Nationals feel now for shutting down Stephen Strasburg back in 2012?

In 2012, I wrote a blog titled The Washington Nationals are out of their freaking minds.  At the time, they had the best record in baseball and were likely World Series favorites.  Washington voluntarily shut down Stephen Strasburg after 159.1 innings in an attempt to keep him healthy for future seasons.  Without their stud pitcher, the Nationals lost in the Division Series to St. Louis and blew a chance to win the first championship in franchise history.

A year later, the Nationals missed the 2013 playoffs and Strasburg spent some time on the DL.

In 2014, Washington won the National League East, Strasburg was healthy and threw a career-high 215 innings, but the Nats again fell in the NLDS, this time to San Francisco.

Last season, the 2015 Nationals failed to reach the postseason and injuries limited Strasburg to 127.1 innings.

And now, in 2016, the Nats are back atop the NL East, but once again they'll enter the playoffs without Strasburg, who's battled a sore elbow and hasn't pitched effectively since August 1.

How's that plan from 2012 looking these days?


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Leadoff home runs rarely make you cry

I don't even know how the Marlins took the field last night a day after the tragic death of Jose Fernandez, but they did.  Dee Gordon, who's been playing Major League Baseball since 2011, stepped into the batters' box leading off the first inning for Miami with a grand total of eight career home runs (none this year).

This was his ninth:

Just amazing, @FlashGJr. #JDF16 pic.twitter.com/Tgg03ZSJlt

— MLB (@MLB) September 26, 2016

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Bill Buckner catches everything in his MLB Network ad with Mookie Wilson

We're just over a month away from the 30-year anniversary of the most horrific sports moment of my childhood:



Amazingly, I only needed to type the words "it gets" into YouTube in order to find Vin Scully's famous call of "Behind the bag, it get's through Buckner!":

It's also been nearly 12 years since the baseball world changed forever, allowing Bill Buckner and the rest of the 1986 Red Sox to live in peace.  Considering that, amusement is the only emotion I feel towards this MLB Network commercial with Buckner and Mookie Wilson:




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Porcellometer update: Cy Young odds increase despite loss (his first this year at Fenway)

Rick Porcello suffered his first home defeat of the season last night.  However, his Cy Young chances actually increased in the process and the totally subjective Porcellometer rose from 64 percent to 71 percent.  Here's why: Porcello's win-loss record is not an issue, it's far and away the best in the league.  However, with his eight-inning, four-hit, one-run, zero-walk performance yesterday, he now owns the AL's best WHIP (1.00) and his ERA dropped from 3.21 to 3.12.

Multiple people have mentioned that I'm ignoring Orioles closer Zach Britton (0.83 WHIP, 0.61 ERA) who shut down the Red Sox yesterday for his 43rd save of the season--in 43 opportunities.  While zero blown saves is extremely impressive, it's incredibly hard to justify giving the Cy Young Award to someone who's thrown only 59.1 innings (just 29 percent of Porcello's total).  Also, consider this: Britton has yielded 18 walks in those 59.1 innings, while Porcello has walked just 29 batters over his 201.2 innings.


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Introducing the [Rick] Porcellometer

For any loyal readers who remember the Celtics Tankometer in 2014, or the [Tim] Tebometer from 2011, I now give you the Porcellometer.

Pronounce it pour-sell-ah-met-er, like thermometer (not Porcello-meter).  I've created it to portray my best guess at Rick Porcello's odds of winning the American League Cy Young.  It's not a prediction of how likely I think he is to get the award, but rather what I believe his chances would be if it was handed out today--which in the first-ever addition of the Porcellometer is 64 percent.

It's a four-horse race at the moment (see above ESPN screenshot), with the main thing Porcello has working against him being his low strikeout total.  However, he's also walked so few batters (an average of exactly one per start) that he still owns the best strikeout/walk ratio in the league.  Combined with having four more wins than any of the other contenders, that makes him the clear favorite.

Porcello goes for an MLB-best 21st victory tonight against the Orioles.


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Update: It's now a 4-man race for AL Cy Young Award (with Rick Porcello in the thick of it)

Yesterday, I wrote about Rick Porcello's chances to win the American League Cy Young Award.  At the time there were five worthy candidates.  But after getting rocked for seven earned runs in 1.2 innings last night, Cole Hamels (who's ERA jumped from 2.91 to 3.25) is currently out of the running.  Justin Verlander and Chris Sale both received no-decisions in their head-to-head matchup Monday, leaving the top four candidates with the following numbers:

Screenshot from ESPN.com

Porcello, Verlander, Sale and Corey Kluber now own the four best WHIPs in the AL.  They also have very similar ERAs, all among the top 10.  The major difference in Porcello's case is that he has significantly fewer strikeouts than the rest.  However, the Red Sox hurler also owns four more wins and four fewer losses than any of the other contenders.  I'm fully aware that win-loss record can be a terrible stat to measure by, but that is an enormous difference (and Porcello's other numbers are good too).

With just 4-5 starts remaining for each guy, the odds are very good that Porcello will be the league's only 20-game winner (J.A. Happ also has 17 victories, but is winless in his last three outings).


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Can Rick Porcello win the Cy Young Award?

After Saturday's victory in Oakland, Rick Porcello is now 19-3.  No one else in baseball has more than 17 wins.  Porcello's 3.23 ERA is 10th in the American League, but his 1.02 WHIP is tied for second.  And while his 154 strikeouts are on the low end (tied for 11th) for a Cy Young candidate, Porcello's 186.2 innings pitched rank third in the AL behind teammate David Price (190.2) and former teammate Justin Verlander (188).

Verlander (14-7) might be the leading contender at the moment with an AL-best 0.99 WHIP and 198 strikeouts (second), but his 3.30 ERA is worse than Porcello's.  Chris Sale (15-7) also has a strong case with a 3.10 ERA (seventh), a 1.02 WHIP (second, tied) and 185 strikeouts (fifth).

Here's how the top five candidates stack up:

Rick Porcello: 19-3, 3.23 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 154 K, 186.2 IP
Justin Verlander: 14-7, 3.30 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 198 K, 188 IP
Chris Sale: 15-7, 3.10 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 185 K, 185.2 IP
Corey Kluber: 15-8, 3.09 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 189 K, 183.2 IP
Cole Hamels: 14-4, 2.91 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 171 K, 173 IP

Porcello likely has five starts remaining.  If he wins three of them and gets to 22 victories without anyone else in the league reaching 20, it'll be hard to argue against him.



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The best team in the American League has been outscored on the season?

As I write this, the Texas Rangers own the No. 1 record in the American League at 74-53, second in all of baseball behind the Chicago Cubs (81-45).  The Rangers have scored 588 runs this year.  They've given up 589.  Texas' run differential is -1, meaning they likely should be a .500 team.

Run differential isn't a perfect stat, but it's usually a good indicator of success (which is why I'm confident the Red Sox are better than the Orioles).  For example, in the National League the standings for all three divisions wouldn't even change if the teams were ranked by scoring differential instead of wins and losses.

Look at the placement of the red and green numbers in the combined AL standings pictured above--there's one clear anomaly.  Don't be surprised if the Rangers fade down the stretch, it's weird for them to be where they are in the first place.


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Attempting to explain John McEnroe's stunning fastball

Last night, John McEnroe three out the first pitch at the Mets game.  It was amazing.  Not in a sarcastic way as these stories usually go--it was legitimately spectacular:

John McEnroe's first pitch at Mets game tonight is one of the best first pitches ever thrown pic.twitter.com/7g2MUzyt92

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 2, 2016

Like Darren Rovell suggested, that was probably the best ceremonial first pitch I've ever seen.  Johnny Mac is 57 years old.  How the $#!* did he do that?  I'm not going to get all Sports Science-y on you (I can't stand that guy), but as a former tennis coach/player I have a couple quick thoughts on the matter:

1. A tennis serve is a fairly similar motion to pitching.  Anybody who knows how to serve well is undoubtedly going to be much better than average at throwing a baseball.

2. Tennis is a sport you play your whole life.  Obviously McEnroe is retired, but he's still in game shape.  He just took the court for a semi-serious exhibition match against a former pro 12 years younger than him two days ago (and won).



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It's impressive that Celtics No. 16 pick Guerschon Yabusele does interviews in English

I posted a video on CelticsLife last week of a draft night interview with Frenchman Guerschon Yabusele, Boston's first-round pick at No. 16.  His English isn't perfect, but it's plenty good enough.  After speaking with Yabusele, Celtics.com reporter Marc D'Amico sent out this tweet:

Guerschon Yabusele told me he just started learning English within the last year, and his English is already good. Says a lot about his mind

— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) June 28, 2016

I couldn't agree more.  By comparison, Bartolo Colon has been playing Major League Baseball in the U.S. for 648 years, and he still hasn't bothered to learn enough English to speak it in interviews.


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Is it really possible Bartolo Colon hasn't learned English by now?

Bartolo Colon recently made headlines by hitting his first career home run just shy of his 43rd birthday, (which is today, coincidentally).  Because of that, his decision to never swing the bat last night due to a bad back was all the more news worthy--particularly because Colon claimed he even told the opposing catcher as much:

Bartolo Colon told the Nats catcher he wouldn't swing because of bad back. Not sure Nats bought it -- fearful he was baiting them to hit HR.

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) May 24, 2016

You can watch Colon's postgame interview here (beginning at the 5:30 mark of the video).  What stands out to me though, is that it's in Spanish.  Colon began his career as a major league baseball player in the United States 19 years ago.  How does he not speak perfect English by now?  That's just lazy.


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Xander Bogaerts has the top batting average in the AL, is on pace for 232 hits this season

The Red Sox have homered in a team-record 22 straight games.  Jackie Bradley Jr. own's a 27-game hitting streak (he's also first in the American League with a .413 on-base percentage), and 40-year-old David Ortiz is playing like the MVP.

Amongst all of this, it's easy to lose track of Xander Bogaerts' accomplishments.  Bogaerts has hit in 16 straight contests himself, and is leading the league in batting (pictured).

However, even more impressive is the fact that Bogaerts has a major-league-best 63 hits through 44 games, five more than anyone else in the AL.  At that pace, Boston's shortstop could finish the year with 232.  That'd be the most hits in an MLB season since Ichiro Suzuki's 238 in 2007.  The last guy besides Ichiro (who did it three times) to record that many hits was Darin Erstad (240) in 2000, and the last Red Sox player to do it was Wade Boggs (also 240) in 1985.


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Lucky Man" by The Verve

The Verve is best known for either A) not being The Verve Pipe, or B) their hit Bittersweet Symphony off of 1997's Urban Hymns album.  However, I think Lucky Man (from that same disc) is a much better song.

It also gets extra points in my book for being the background music in the For Love of the Game trailer (pictured).  Even though For Love of the Game is Kevin Costner's third-best baseball movie, it's still got some great moments.





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Better streak: Roger Federer or Cal Ripken?

Roger Federer announced today that a lingering back injury will prevent him from playing in the upcoming French Open.  The last time Federer missed a Grand Slam tournament was during the summer of 1999, when he failed to qualify for the U.S. Open--he'd just turned 18 at the time and wasn't yet ranked in the world's top 100.

Federer's run of consecutive Grand Slams lasted more than 16 years and spanned 65 tournaments.  There's an argument to be made that Federer's streak is as impressive as Cal Ripken's 2,632 straight Major League Baseball games played (also just over 16 years, from May 30, 1982 until September 19, 1998).

Baseball's offseason is roughly six months (plenty of time to recuperate), while the longest gap between Grand Slam tourney's is only four months.  And while Ripken suited up for about twice as many games during his streak as Federer played matches, a baseball game isn't even remotely close to a tennis match in terms of physical exertion and the amount of stress put on the body.


RELATED: Better streak: Dick Bavetta or Cal Ripken?


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Bartolo Colon's body has obviously been inhabited by a space alien

One of the very first blogs I ever wrote on this site, from March 5, 2011, was titled Bartolo Colon might not be dead?  I posed that question because he was pitching well in spring training for the Yankees that year, despite being totally washed up with the Red Sox in 2008 and out of baseball completely by 2010.

That was more than five years ago.  Colon was just shy of 38 years old at the time.

Tonight, he hit a home run.

Bartolo Colon hitting his first career homerun. You're welcome. (via @MLB)https://t.co/UpG0GJpPTN

— NBCSN (@NBCSN) May 8, 2016

The borderline-ancient pitcher will turn 43 on May 24.

As reported by Gary Cohen on @SNYtv, Bartolo Colon, at age 42, is the oldest player in MLB history at the time of his first home run.

— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) May 8, 2016

When Colon was suddenly not over-the-hill back in 2011, I speculated he was probably on steroids.  In 2012, he was suspended for steroids (specifically illegal testosterone use).  Colon came back in 2013 and was miraculously good again (at age 40), yet somehow nobody seemed to question it.  Last season he started for the Mets on Opening Day, and the only rational conclusion I could come to was that he must know something the rest of the word doesn't.

Now Colon is hitting balls out of the ballpark, and my "it's some new super-secret steroid" theory still isn't catching on.  I give up.  "Inhabited by space alien" it is.


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Obama on his proudest moment as President: "Watching Boston respond" after marathon bombing

This video clip is from the MLB preseason game in Cuba last month, but I saved it for today:

Obama on ESPN saying 1 of the proudest moments of his presidency is how Boston/Papi responded after marathon attacks pic.twitter.com/59F4lRadnY

— Michael Dyer (@Mike_Dyer13) March 22, 2016

The President should be equally as proud of the speech he gave in Boston three days after the bombing.


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Memo to MLB: There's an easy way to avoid snow for Opening Day

As I write this, there's roughly two hours to go before the Red Sox begin their 2016 season.  It's also snowing like crazy in Boston:

Happy #OpeningDay from #FenwayPark!

Believe it or not... only 1 week until baseball is back here! #CapsOn pic.twitter.com/qymwJQMWUW

— Fenway Park (@fenwaypark) April 4, 2016

Luckily, the Red Sox are out of town.  Unfortunately, they're in Cleveland instead.  Here's what's going on there:

Sweet.  That "RealFeel" 16 degrees number at the bottom sounds particularly awesome.

When is MLB going to learn?  Opening Day should never happen in cold-weather cities, and there's a very easy way to fix that.  Play the first two weeks of the season in the 15 of 30 ballparks that aren't crossed out in red:

Everywhere else is either not cold (with the possible exception of St. Louis, but hey, it's still a lot better than the northeast) or has a roof.  Problem solved.


UPDATE:
The Red Sox-Indians game was postponed while I was writing this blog.  How fitting.

Today's #OpeningDay game has been postponed until tomorrow at 1:10pm ET.

Baseball starts tomorrow! ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/EJmuQ8pHwK

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 4, 2016

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Alex Rodriguez retires 2 years in advance, I figured LeBron James would be the first to do that

In 2013, Mariano Rivera decided to announce his retirement before playing one last season.  Derrick Jeter saw how much fun it was, so he pulled the same stunt in 2014.  Kobe Bryant made a similar decision early on during his 2015-16 campaign, and David Ortiz is hopping on the bandwagon in 2016 as well.

Back when Jeter made this thing a trend, I saw the inevitable future that at some point an athlete would retire two years in advance.  I speculated in would be LeBron James, but another egomaniac has beaten him to the punch:

BREAKING: Alex Rodriguez tells @AndrewMarchand that he will retire after 2017 season when his contract expires. pic.twitter.com/DoaUiGlxrU

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 23, 2016

Following the ARod model, I guarantee we can expect LeBron to announce his retirement roughly 4-5 seasons in advance...

— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) March 23, 2016

RELATED: What's the greatest way for an athlete to retire?


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Baseball with no balks is a great idea

Where's he going to throw?

Here's a quote from an SI piece by Matt Dollinger about some of the more interesting topics at last weekend's Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at MIT:

"Bill James, the godfather to sports analytics, was asked on the Moneyball reunion panel how he would fix baseball. His response? 'Get rid of balks.' His rationale: It's the equivalent of not having fast breaks in the NBA. Imagine if after every possession the defense was able to set up and gather itself on the other end. In baseball, you can't just throw the ball and try to catch a batter off guard--you've got to wait. At a minimum, getting rid of balks would speed the game up and likely lead to a more entertaining product."

I love this idea.  In addition to speeding up the game, it would also open it up to some wild plays.  Not just pitchers attempting to fool batters, but also crazy throws to first base, fake throws to first, fake pitches then throws to first, fake throws to first then pitches, etc.  It'd be a be a bit nuts, and a lot of fun to watch.

We'd probably need some sort of pitcher "shot clock" as well though so they don't just stand there pretending to throw all day.


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