waashk/20ng huggingface dataset:
I heard that Eli is selling the team to a group in Cinninati. This would help so that the O's could make some real free agent signings in the  offseason. Training Camp reports that everything is pretty positive right now. The backup catcher postion will be a showdown between Tackett and Parent although I would prefer Parent. #1 Draft Pick Jeff Hammonds may be coming up faster in the O's hierarchy of the minors faster than expected. Mike Flanagan is trying for another comeback. Big Ben is being defended by coaches saying that while the homers given up were an awful lot, most came in the beginning of the season and he really improved the second half. This may be Ben's year.  	I feel that while this may not be Mussina's Cy Young year, he will be able to pitch the entire season without periods of fatigue like last year around August. I really hope Baines can provide the RF support the O's need. Orsulak was decent but I had hoped that Chito Martinez could learn defense better and play like he did in '91. The O's right now don't have many left-handed hitters. Anderson proving last year was no fluke and Cal's return to his averages would be big plusses in a drive for the pennant. The  rotation should be Sutcliffe, Mussina, McDonald, Rhodes, ?????. Olson is an interesting case. Will he strike out the side or load the bases and then get three pop outs? You never know. The way I see the AL East this year (with personal biases mixed in) Baltimore New York Toronto Milwaukee Cleveland Boston Detroit (The top 4 are the only true contenders in my mind. One of these 4 will definitely win the division unless it snows in Hell/Maryland :). I feel that this Baltimore's season to finally put everything together.) __________________________________________________________________________ |Admiral Steve C. Liu        Internet Address: admiral@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu| |"Committee for the Liberation and Intergration of Terrifying Organisms  | |and their Rehabilitation Into Society" from Red Dwarf - "Polymorph"     | |****The Bangles are the greatest female rock band that ever existed!****| |   This sig has been brought to you by... Frungy! The Sport of Kings!   | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In <1qsk9d$dck@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> jdl6@po.CWRU.Edu (Justin D. Lowe) writes:   >In a previous article, steinman@me.utoronto.ca (David Steinman) says:  >>cka52397@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (OrioleFan@uiuc) writes: >> >>>	The defenition of the Underdog is a team that has no talent and comes >>>out of nowhere to contend.  The '69 Mets and '89 Orioles are prime examples, >>>not the Cubs.  >> >>Sorry, but it is *virtually* impossible to win a division with "no talent" >>over 162 games. >> >>I would amend your definition to: >> >>underdog:  a team expected to lose, but which wins thanks to underestimated >>           talent. >>-- >>Dave! >>  >OK, the Mets and O's are good examples, but what about the '90 Reds?  Do you >really think that anyone expected them to sweep the A's?  I know people who >didn't even think they'd win a game, let alone win the Series.   These people were very silly.  Any team that gets to the World Series can win the World Series, and anybody who ever expects a sweep is crazy.  If you put the best team in baseball in the Series against the worst team in baseball, the worst team would win at least a game most of the time and very well could win the Series, though the odds would certainly be against them.
In article <1993Apr15.212014.1782@news.acns.nwu.edu> edo@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Edward Ouellette) writes: > >My point? RBI might not be a perfect stat but nothing is. And no stat (or lack >of) can tell me there are no clutch hitters. Maybe no stat CAN tell me, >either, but some people are... I just know it!!! 8)  I was *hoping* somebody would mention clutch.  Clutch?  Baerga?  The two words simply do not go together.  With runners in scoring position, Baerga batted .308/.366/.418 last year.  This doesn't quite *suck*, but most batters hit *better* in this situation.  Alomar?  He hit .354/.439/.517 with runners in scoring position!  The difference?  Alomar had 68 RBIs in 147 such AB.  Baerga had 81 RBIs in 182 such AB.  Baerga got 25% more chances, yet succeeded only 20% more times.  Frankly, I don't believe in clutch.  But if I did, my vote would go to Alomar for MVP (let alone "best 2B in the AL").
Ugliest swing..I am not sure. I think the ugliset stance is Jolio Franco of the Ranger. I wonder how that bat comes around in time to hit the ball. It looks bad but hey.it get the job done.
In article <1qp1m9INNfjg@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> cmk@athena.mit.edu (Charles M Kozierok) writes: >In article <1993Apr17.050311.10098@news.yale.edu> (Sean Garrison) writes: >} [Stuff about upated inning scores deleted.] >at just that exact time to see the message. even results after the game >is over are not necessary, thanks to Mr. Hernandez who posts daily >standings and results here every day.  Am I supposed to take that as a compliment or a put down? Just wondering. I do this as a service to the entire baseball world on USENET, especially for those in the East Coast who can't get final scores for West Coast games in their newspapers or late TV newscasts. This is helpful to fans in other countries who either receive only weekly scores or updates by the week. Also, many have requested for this kind of service previously but it was only available through BBS's or some pay news services. By the way, mine is free of charge and has no copyright restrictions.  >if you want to send updates and scores, set up a private mailing list >and use that.  Remember I only post final scores and the updated standings once a day to the rec.sport.baseball newsgroup. Other than that, everything is done through private e-mail. Currently, there are 986 people on my mailing list that branches off into other mailing lists available for many others. And the list grows by an average of 35 people a day.  If people on USENET really don't want to see the postings I do to rec.sport.baseball on a daily basis, please just let me know. If the response is overwhelming against the posts, I won't do it anymore.   Thanks for your time.  Joseph Hernandez --  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joseph Hernandez          |    RAMS  | |    /.\  ******* _|_|_  / |   LAKERS jtchern@ocf.Berkeley.EDU  |   KINGS  | |__ |   | DODGERS _|_|_  | |   RAIDERS jtcent@soda.Berkeley.EDU  |  ANGELS  |____||_|_| *******  | |  |___|  CLIPPERS
In article <1993Apr19.015442.15723@oz.plymouth.edu>, k_mullin@oz.plymouth.edu (Mully) writes: |>  |>    What position does Mike Lansing play?  I cannot seem to find it  |>  anywhere.  Thanks!!!!1  He's a shortstop by training, but he's been at second (mostly) and third this year for the Expos.
In article <9460@blue.cis.pitt.edu> dtate+@pitt.edu (David M. Tate) writes: > >Of course, this is *not* the same as claiming (as some do) that Galarraga's >inability to defer gratification isn't hurting his team because he "isn't >paid to walk" or "is an RBI guy" or whatever.  Alright, that's enough. I've suffered with all kinds of insults (as typical for the net), but give me a break. Galarraga is currently batting over .400 and you guys are complaining that he isn't drawing enough walks.  What would he have to do to please you guys, bat 1.000? You can hardly claim that he is "hurting his team".  If it happens that the pitchers start throwing him fewer good pitches and he starts making lots of outs (as someone speculated might happen), *THEN* I would agree with you that he isn't taking enough pitches. My comment that "he isn't paid to walk" doesn't mean that he should have a license to swing at bad pitches and make outs; it's more along the lines of: he's batting .400 and leading the league in RBI's so what bloody difference does it make if he isn't drawing  a lot of walks? Sheesh.
In article <1993Apr16.013145.8770@Princeton.EDU> roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig) writes: > >Right.  So who cares which PLAYER gets credited, as long as the TEAM >gets more runs?  If a player helps the TEAM get more R and RBI, but  >doesn't score them all himself, who cares?  Amusing, isn't it?  Seems only the SDCNs realize how much baseball is a *team* game, combining efforts from every player for the win.  Consider the Red Sox game last night.  The Sox won 4-3 in the bottom of the 13th.  Who won the game?  -Clemens pitched a strong nine (?) innings, allowing only two runs. -Ryan pitched a couple shutout innings, though he needed some excellent  defensive plays behind him to do so. -Quantrill pitched a couple of innings, gave up the go-ahead run, and  got credited with the win when the Sox scored two in the bottom of  the inning.  Looks like a team effort to me!  Yet only Quantrill got credit for the win.  How about the offense? -Dawson and Vaughn hit (I think) HRs early in the game.  Without either  one, the Sox would have lost in nine. -Quintana led off the 13th with a solid single. -Zupcic pinch-ran for Quintana, providing the speed to go from first  to third when... -Cooper ripped a *second* single in the inning. -Melvin avoided the DP, getting the run home with a sac fly.  Not much of  a help, but it was something. -Scrub Richardson then hit a double, scoring the speedy Cooper all the  way from first!  (Hill's lack of defense helped.)  Cooper and Zupcic were credited with runs, Melvin and Richardson were credited with RBIs.  But it seems to me that it was Quintana's hit that set up the whole inning!  And did Melvin really contribute as much as Richardson?  Furthermore, people seem to consider RBIs to be more significant than runs.  Did Melvin contribute more than Cooper?  Cooper provided the game-winning baserunner, and moved the tying run to third base with only one out!  Assigning credit based on Runs and RBIs is clearly ridiculous.  You can argue that OBP and SLG don't show you who came through in the clutch, but R&RBI don't do any better.  At least OBP and SLG don't *claim* to try to tell you that.  Here's to the Red Sox who contributed to last night's victory. All 20 of them!
In article <93104.100921RK0VSANU@MIAMIU.BITNET> Ryan Kearns <RK0VSANU@MIAMIU.BITNET> writes: >I think that the Detroit Tigers are the greatest baseball organization of all >time. ... [shameless woofing deleted]  On behalf of the rest of us Tiger fans out here, I appoligize for this  shameless woofing.  We try to keep it to a minimum, but we did WIN A GAME the other day, so sometimes it's hard to control.  see: Phillies Fans
In article <GRABINER.93Apr23112924@germain.harvard.edu>  writes: > But it is subject to all kinds of bias, and is almost completely   useless > for first basemen.  From the raw stats, there is no way to tell   which of > a first baseman's putouts were made on throws from other fielders,   and > which were made on his own plays; likewise, you can't tell whether   a > double play was 6-4-3 or 3-6-3.  Fielding Runs thus gives a first > baseman no credit for putouts or double plays, only for assists and > errors.    But ingnoring putouts is biased in yet another way. Range is not the only thing that makes a good firstbaseman. The ability to field all sorts of balls thrown to him: digging some out of the dirt, stretching for others, and so forth is important. Thus,  putouts do provide some information.  Maybe what we need is a comparision of how many balls were thrown to the area of the first baseman vs. how many he actually got.
thf2@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes: >In article <mjones.735273896@fenway> mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com writes: >>fierkelab@bchm.biochem.duke.edu (Eric Roush) writes: >>>>(Quick: name a >>>>light-hitting black outfielder or 1B who lasted 10+ years in the bigs. >>>>I bet you can name two dozen white ones.) >>>Otis Nixon. >Stole 300 bases.  (Ok, he's still light-hitting, but baseball managers don't >think so, they think he, like Omar Moreno before him, is a perfect leadoff >man.  Awesome defense.)  Well, yeah. On the other hand, for the first few years of his career he looked like Herb Washington. Dan Gladden doesn't seem to suck defensively, either.  >>>Darnell Coles >He's still around because of his 1986, when he hit 20 HR. Yeah, and how many of the white guys played one year into a long career? It's actually not an uncommon phenomenon, and how long a guy hangs around based on one good year seems like a reasonable question to explore on a racial basis.  >>Billy Hatcher >We'll see if he's still around in 1994 for his tenth year. Hey, he plays for Lou Gorman, doesn't he? OK, so it's eight years.  >>OK, I admit to taking a quick browse through the Major League Handbook, but >>only after the first 7 or 8. Oh, and there's the all-time light-hitting >>black outfielder: Lou Brock. Look it up. And Curt Flood. Cesar Geronimo. >>Cesar Cedeno.  >Brock suffered from Otis Nixon disease, but he wasn't perceived as >light-hitting.  Neither was Curt Flood.  Cesar Cedeno was *not* light- >hitting.  Good point on Cedeno. OTOH, I haven't seen that extensive list of 10-year Dan Gladdens, either. There really aren't that many players altogether who hang around for 10 years even if they're reasonably good.   Mike Jones | AIX High-End Development | mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com
> = (Edward [Ted] Fischer) writes: >> = (Robert C Hite) writes:  >>DEAD WRONG!  Last time I checked, Jim Fregosi was still managing the >>Phillies, and doing quite a fine job thank you...best record in >>baseball at 8-1  >Look, asshole, I got him confused with somebody else.  I didn't flame >you, and I would appreciate it if you extended me the same courtesy.  What _is_ your problem?  Hite's post wasn't a flame.  It was a correction of *your* error.  YOUR reply was a flame.    >No, I don't know everything in the world.  Does that surprise you?  Not in the least.
Anyone have any idea how to get Japanese League stats regularly in the US?  - matt  wall@cc.swarthmore.edu   In article <f0v.11moqf@lab.ntt.jp>, yajima@nttcom.ntt.jp (YAJIMA Hiroshi) wrote: >  > Tuesday's game of Beloved Yakult Swallows >  > (At Jingu, 36,000) > Hanshin Tigers   001 000 100 |2 > Beloved Yakult   050 020 00x |7 >  > W - Ito (1-0). L - Nakagomi (0-1). HR - Yakult, Arai 1st. > ------------------------------------------------------------ > CENTRAL LEAGUE STANDING > ======================== >                         W   L   T   Pct.   GB > Hiroshima Carp          7   1   0   .875   -- > Chunichi  Dragons       6   3   0   .667   1.5 > Hanshin   Tigers        5   4   0   .667   2.5 > Hated     Giants        4   4   0   .500   3.0 > Beloved   Swallows      3   6   0   .333   4.5 > Yokohama  BayStars      1   8   0   .111   6.5 > --------------------------------------------------------------- >  >  > -- > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > /_____  /_____   Hiroshi Yajima (E-MAIL:yajima@nttcom.ntt.jp) > ___|___ |=====|  NTT Network Information Systems Laboratories, >   / \   |======  9-11 Midori-Cho 3-Chome Musashino-Shi,Tokyo,180 Japan, >  /   \ |_|_|  /  TEL:+81-422-59-4256, FAX:+81-422-59-4254 >  >                            Matt Wall * wall@cc.swarthmore.edu * Hey, I gotta job here, OK?
Did anyone happen to see Peter Gammons on ESPN last night?  He addressed this exact issue, and dismissed it rather quickly.  According to Gammons, advanced scouts are reporting that Morris' fastball and slider still have the same zip and that his problems this year are due to his sudden inability to keep the ball hidden during his release.  Guzman and Stottlemyre have gone through similar stretches that have been cleared up succinctly by a little work with the pitching coach.  Gammons looks to see Morris back in top form within the month.  I, on the other hand, still have my doubts.  Morris' ERA last year was rather high for a pitcher who won 20 games.  His showing in the Series was not surprising.  Although I'm not convinced that he's washed up, I have my doubts as to whether or not he can ever regain the form he had for the Twins in '91.
Am I the only person who thinks the Reds sleeveless uniforms are ugly?  Yet another reason why they won't win the NL West! ;)   ------------------------------------------------------- Eric Roush		fierkelab@	bchm.biochem.duke.edu "I am a Marxist, of the Groucho sort" Grafitti, Paris, 1968  TANSTAAFL! (although the Internet comes close.)
(Steve Tomassi) writes:   >     Hi, baseball fans! So what do you say? Don't you think he deserves it? >I >mean, heck, if Dave Winfield (ho-hum) is seriously being considered for it, >as >is Lee Smith (ha), then why don't we give Dave Kingman a chance? Or Darrell >Evans! Yeah, yeah! After the Hall of Fame takes in them, it can take in >Eddie >Murray and Jeff Reardon.  Unfortunately, you seem to lack the ability to rate players.  Dave Winfield has had a better career than half the people in the Hall of Fame.  Eddie Murray and Darrel Evans are both one of the top 100 players of all time.  Lee Smith has had probably the greatest long career of any relief pitcher since 1960, with the possible exception of Gossage.  On the other hand, Kingman probably isn't one of the best 750 players of all time.  And Reardon, though a good pitcher, isn't in Smith's class career wise.  >     Well, in any case, I am sick and tired (mostly sick) of everybody >giving >Hall of Fame consideration to players that are by today's standards, >marginal.  >Honestly, Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount don't belong there. They're both >shortstops that just hung around for a long time. Big deal.  We're talking 2 of the top 50 players of all time here.  There probably aren't 5 shortstops in history who were better than these two.  >     Let's be a little more selective, huh? Stop handing out these honors >so >liberally. Save them for the guys who really deserve it. Face it, if >something >isn't done, there will be little prestige in the Hall of Fame anymore. When >certain individuals believe that Steve Garvey or Jack Morris are potential >candidates, the absurdity is apparent.  Garvey sucked.  Morris, while a very good pitcher, simply doesn't belong near Cooperstown.   Gee, can these guys even compare to >the more likely future Hall of Famers like Kirby Puckett or Nolan Ryan?  If Puckett and Ryan (okay, no if there) get into to the Hall, they will be  marginal Hall of Famers (unless Puckett keeps hitting like he did last year for a while longer)  To put this in perspective, here's a listing of the linear weights values of the careers of the players you mention.  In parenthesis is how high they are up on the greatest ever list if they make it. While no one would claim these are perfect rankings, they should give you a good value of these guys' careers as compared to average players.  Robin Yount 43.0 (41) Ozzie Smith 42.1 (45) Dave Winfield 40.3 (53) Eddie Murray 37.5 (68) Darrel Evans 35.2 (80) Kirby Puckett 24.3 (180) Nolan Ryan 21.6 (219) Jack Morris 11.8 (478) Dave Kingman 0.4  Steve Garvey -5.8  To give you an idea of how these numbers compare to those in the Hall: Of the 71 eligible players whose career stats equaled 35.0, 64 are in the Hall of Fame. The ones who aren't include 4 19th century players, Ron Santo, Bobby Grich, and Bob Johnson.  Of those eligible who score between 30.0 and 34.9, 15 of 25 are in.  Of those eligible who score between 25.0 and 29.9, 24 of 44 are in.
ekdfc@ttacs1.ttu.edu (David Coons):  > > The rules say baseball is a game between two teams of nine  > > players each.  Let's keep it that way.   niepornt@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Marc Nieporent):  > Not any more the rules don't say that.  So that's a pretty dumb  > argument.   REALLY???  My little mind be boggled!  I don't have a 1993 Rule Book yet, so David, would you please post the new wording of Rule 1.01 -- I am MIGHTILY curious!  Much thanks.
The Orioles' pitching staff again is having a fine exhibition season. Four shutouts, low team ERA, (Well, I haven't gotten any baseball news since March 14 but anyways) Could they contend, yes. Could they win it all?  Maybe.  But for all those fans of teams with bad spring records, remember Earl Weaver's first law of baseball (From his book on managing)  No one gives a damn in July if you lost a game in March. :)  BTW, anyone have any idea on the contenders for the O's fifth starter? It's pretty much set that Sutcliffe, Mussina, McDonald and Rhodes are the first four in the rotation.
In article <kbanaian.495.735252811@bernard.pitzer.claremont.edu>, kbanaian@bernard.pitzer.claremont.edu (King Banaian) writes: |>  |> There is absolutely, positively, quite verifiably, NO causation that runs  |> from salaries to ticket prices.  The two are separable decisions.  The  |> owners do not raise ticket prices to recoup costs;  they raise ticket prices  |> because demand for seats has risen.  (Wish I had bold type for that "NO".) |>  |> For more evidence, please come to my Intro to Econ course, somewhere around  |> lecture four:  Sunk Costs, Opportunity Costs, Marginal Costs.  Right on. Ticket prices are set to maximize revenue. Period. For an excellent discussion on how this works, see Gerald Scully's book of a couple of years back, titled (I think) "The Business Of Baseball". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------            We will stretch no farm animal beyond its natural length    paula@koufax.cv.hp.com   Paul Andresen  Hewlett-Packard  (503)-750-3511
In article <GRABINER.93Apr23115329@germain.harvard.edu> grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner) writes: >In article <mssC5w795.7G4@netcom.com>, Mark Singer writes: > >Based only on this data*, I don't see any reason to >pinch-hit for Sabo, or any other player who had been a poor clutch >hitter in the past. > >But there are many other factors involved in a decision to pinch-hit. >Does the pinch-hitter give you a platoon advantage?  (Any portion of >Sabo's clutch split that results from his platoon split is certainly a >real ability, even if it has nothing to do with clutch hitting.)  Do you >have a singles hitter at the plate when you need a home run?  Do you >have a curveball pitcher facing a batter who has trouble with curves?   Hey!  What's this?  We agree!  No platoon advantage (Sabo vs. Samuel).  Both players have a reputation of being excellent fastball hitters, 	and both have a reputation of being fooled too often with 	slow curves and change ups.  Sabo has more power, and a little bit of a better batting eye.  Samuel 	is noted as an agressive free-swinger.  Sabo has more homerun power.  Both players started the game hitting below .200.    There may have been some game considerations that might have prompted 	Perez to want to reserve Samuel for use later.  But the game 	*was* on the line, and Samuel never did get in.  Given all of this, I don't see a lot to suggest pinch-hitting, nor do I see anything to suggest no pinch-hitting.  There is, of course, the clutch-hitting information.  But if that's useless...  Then again.  If it's not...   > >-- >David Grabiner, grabiner@zariski.harvard.edu >"We are sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary." >"Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again." >Disclaimer: I speak for no one and no one speaks for me.
In article <10010717@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> dougs@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Doug Steele) wri tes: >   This is a "Top 10" posting for the AL. > >               HOME RUNS                           HITS >        Batter      Team    HRs          Batter      Team  HITS >      Gonzalez       Tex     5         Baerga         Cle   13 >      Palmer         Tex     4         Phillips       Det   13       Did anyone think that Texas would have the top two home run leaders at a  given point in the season and neither one would be Jose Canseco?                                          Steve []
Greetings baseballers,   	I have a choice of two more or less identical conferences to attend, one in  Denver, and one in Dallas, both May 24-28. Could some kind Rockies or Rangers  (they DO play in the Dallas area, right?) fans please let me know if there  are home dates for that week. I'd love to catch a game.