The Mendoza Line - Fantastic Four

Image via VintageSeattle

Take a look at that guy?

Mario Mendoza was a player back in the late 70's, early 80's.  Defensively, he was serviceable at shortstop.  Offensively, not so much.  His career average was .215 with zero pop (only 4 HR).  All too often today, the "Mendoza Line" is a barometer for the ineptitude of a hitter. Although he only had more than 100 at-bats in 4 of his 9 seasons, Mendoza managed to hit over his own line in three of those four years.  The only other time batting over .200 was when he his .218 in 1978 with the Pirates, in just 55 at-bats.  He peaked with the Mariners in 1980 and 1981, putting together back-to-back seasons where he batted .245 and .231, respectively.

With those numbers in mind, there are currently four players in the majors (who are qualified to be among the league leaders in batting average) hitting below the Mendoza Line.

Carlos Pena, TB - .194 average - 330 AB - 11 2B - 14 HR - 39 RBI - 121 K
Pena is a career .236 hitter with 272 career HR in 12 seasons.  Tolerable.

Rickie Weeks, MIL - .197 average - 319 AB - 17 2B - 9 HR - 33 RBI - 108 K
Weeks is a career .250 hitter with 118 career HR and 106 career SB in 9 seasons.  Not too bad.

Justin Smoak, SEA - .198 average - 324 AB - 6 2B - 13 HR - 38 RBI - 76 K
Smoak is a career .218 hitter with 41 HR and 272 K, in just his 3rd year in the league.  Ehh.

Cliff Pennington, OAK - .199 average - 281 AB - 13 2B - 3 HR - 16 RBI - 59 K
Pennington is a career .249 hitter in 5 seasons with a .968 fielding percentage.  So what?

Who'd you rather have on your team?  Smoak has the smallest sample size while Pennington might pick it a little on defense, he's a bottom of the order bat, at best.  That leaves Weeks and Pena, two guys with an inordinate amount of strikeouts but both with a little pop.  Pena draws a lot of walks, makes the plays in the field, and stays healthy.  I think Weeks can bring a little more to the table as far as being a dynamic player.  He gets on base, scores runs, creates a little something on the basepaths.  His issue has always been his healthy, however.  But when he's right, the dude's a freak.

Image via Zimbio

The motliest of crews, indeed.  But if you had to twist my arm into taking one, I'm going with Southern University's finest, Rickie Darnell Weeks.

Stat of the Night; Trending on Thursday

Stat of the Night
Thanks to a friend who shall remain nameless (and because he doesn't read this blog), this is a stat you'd never expect to see in a 21-8 thrashing - a save.

In a game that featured 29 runs (21 by the Mariners), 33 hits (20 by the Mariners), two 8-run innings (both by the Mariners), 10 strikeouts (only 2 by Mariners pitching), there was only one save - courtesy of Hisashi Iwakuma.  He entered in the seventh inning with the score 17-5.  He worked labored through three innings, allowing five hits and three runs and walking a batter.  But he got the save.

God I love baseball.

Trending on Thursday

1. The Los Angeles Kings took game one of the Stanley Cup Finals in New Jersey last night, beating the Devils 2-1 on Anze Kopitar's breakaway goal in overtime.  They are now 9-0 on the road in the playoffs, pretty damn impressive for any team, let alone the #8 seed in the West. 
2. NBA Mock Drafts seem to be all the craze now that the NBA Lottery was decided last night.  I didn't watch the lottery because I simply couldn't care less.
3. It's Scripps Spelling Bee season.  It'd be funny if someone faints like the one kid a few years back.

Have a great day!

MLB: By the #'s; Nolan: By the #'s

MLB
It's been a pretty wild and unpredictable beginning to the 2012 MLB season.  I'm going to go through some numbers that might surprise you a little bit, or maybe not at all.

• 14 - teams over the .500 mark.  Those who are not in this group - Phillies, Red Sox, Tigers, Giants, Angels
• 8 - teams over the .500 mark that are from either the AL East or NL East, so don't give me your East Coast bias talk
• .397, .380 - Derek Jeter's and David Ortiz' batting average, respectively - aging rather well it seems
• .196 - Albert Pujols' batting average - can he be a bust?
• 2 - teams from the DC/Baltimore area that are in 1st place - the Orioles and Nationals
• 45 - strikeouts by Adam Dunn (in 106 AB's), which is actually on pace for less K's than last year
• .406/12 - batting average and home run total for Matt Kemp, the early favorite for NL MVP
• 11/10 - HR's allowed by Ervin Santana and Clay Buchholz in 38.2 and 32.2 IP, respectively
• 13.50 - ERA of Philip Humber in his three starts since his Perfect Game against the Mariners
• 3 of 7 - starts in which Jered Weaver has actually let up a run, twice against the Twins, the worst team in baseball
• .156 - BAA for two lefties, both at different stages of their careers - Ted Lilly and Gio Gonzalez
• 0 - teams that have reached the 20 win plateau - the Indians were the first to do it in 2011 (20-8) - although four three teams can get there today/tonight (Tampa Bay, Baltimore or Texas, San Francisco)

NOLAN
We're trying a new sleep method for when we put the little guy down to sleep.  We used to rock him until he was asleep then transfer him to the crib but he's getting a little big to rock for thirty minutes.

We put him in the crib awake, lay him down, and sit beside the crib until he falls asleep.  Gradually, we're going to (I hope) get to the point where we can put him in and leave the room immediately.  I think he's going through a little separation anxiety phase so he gets scared when he can't see us putting him to sleep.

It's only been a year and two weeks but it's time for him to grow up a little bit.

I lied in the header, there are no numbers related to Nolan in this post.

Have a good Tuesday.  It's a dreary but dry day so far here in CT.

Thursday in a while

I know it's been a very long while since my last post, and for good reason.  Things are a little uncertain around here for the time being.

Had an interview for the head coaching job here at Manhattan College yesterday.  I thought it went well, but it is still a very stressful time for me and my family - waiting to see if I have a job here in a few weeks isn't easy to sit back and wait on.  I'm hopeful but reserved.

Moving on, here's a little post about some of the most interesting stories I've seen today:

1. Great story for Mariners prospect Kyle Seager getting called up to play with the M's after already playing a game for AAA Tacoma earlier in the day.  (no relation for rock legend Bob Seger).

2. Former Steelers secondary coach Ray Horton gave his 1999 Mercedes SL500  to a cafeteria worker before leaving for his new role with the Arizona Cardinals as defensive coordinator.  Actually, he told the worker, Maurice Matthews, to give him the money he had in his pocket - $20.  That's all it costs this guy.  Pretty cool story.

3. Wasn't it just a few short weeks ago that everyone was talking about the dream season the Pittsburgh Pirates were having?  I thought they were tied for first in the NL Central before losing six straight recently and falling an unmanageable 6.5 GB in the standings.  It was a good run for the Bucs but once again, they disappear into obscurity.

4. Yahoo! has released a "25 Ways to Cut 500 Calories a Day" article, which always seem to be ridiculous with the content and what you could do.  Here's a few of the ways to cut calories:
     - tap your foot:  fidgeting burns 350 a day - yeah, sure!
     - use smaller plates:  unless you pack all you can on the smaller plate.
     - skip the whip:  oh yeah, because I always put whipped cream on everything I eat/drink
     - nix that smoothie a day:  again, I'm not visiting Jamba Juice every day (although I'd love to).
     - ditch the buttered movie popcorn:  at $12 a ticket, I'll just ditch the movies.

Time to get something in my stomach, getting a little hungry and I'd hate to get a migraine.  Heading up to Massachusetts Saturday to meet up with Lindsay - we have a wedding in Easton, MA.  She headed up to Martha's Vineyard this afternoon to stay with her mother for a few nights before the wedding.  She took the little guy, and I am here with Nathan.

Miss those two.

Later.

Relax!

   I'm talking to my readers, not referring to the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit. (featured in Zoolander)

   I know more and more of you are probably having a tough time falling asleep at night without getting your daily fill on WRT, and for that I apologize.  I am on vacation and haven't had a chance to log on to post.  I just found the only spot in the whole place that has an internet connection (albeit a poor one), so I am sitting inside for a few with Nathan by my side.  LMD is out watching the third installment of the Twilight saga (Eclipse??)

   I have had a nice time thus far, beach is great (the water is frigid), the food is good (fresh seafood), and the living's easy.  It's vacation, isn't that what it's all about?

    4:00pm is rapidly approaching, which means one thing while down here in Sea Isle City - Dirty Martini's at McNutley's.  I tend to arrive around 4:15 to 4:30, but today I have to be early - it's my day to buy the first round of $3 Dirty's.  McNutley's is the prototypical dive-bar - frequented by no more than fifteen people at any given time.  The bartender works 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off.  The crowd is pro-Philadelphia sports, anti-New York Sports, though they are typically very civil when discussing the two cities. 

   The beach this morning was awesome - sun was shining without a cloud in the sky.  As soon as I began sweating, I took a dive in the frigid water.  I only lasted about 10 minutes before my extremities started tingling.  I did my best to try to eliminate this brutal farmer's tan, but it is still visible.  I guess I need to be out in the sun for longer than 90 minutes.  I used some Banana Boat SPF 50, as I have since the first time here when I was lobster-fied after Day 1, resulting in a miserable week-long vacation (three years ago).

   The Yankees have struggled against the piss-poor Mariners so far (Cliff Lee and Felix the Kid).  Let's hope they can salvage the home-series today as C.C. takes the mound against Ryan Rowland-Smith.  Looks like they're up 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth.  Cano teed another one up (his 16th HR) and Teixeira grounded out to SS in the 1st to score Jeter. 

   Cano is a beast.  He's 1-2 today but overall this season is hitting .354 with 16 HR and 54 RBI.  He's got 10 HR's off LHP's and only 6 against RHP's.  And as hitter-friendly as the new Yankee Stadium is, he's hitting 21 points higher away from the Bronx.  Stay hot Robbie.

   Time to get a shower in and mentally prepare for McNutley's.

   With July 4th right around the corner, I am very excited to see the Stars & Stripes hats come out.  Here's what they look like:

    Man, I love the Stars and Stripes.  Happy Fourth of July Weekend everyone, enjoy yourself.  

   USA!  USA!  USA!

Iron Crap-tus

Headed over to the Iron Cactus for dinner.  Third floor seating, outside, nice views.  Fixing to be a good dinner.  Food was good, service sucked.

Maybe it was his first night.  I highly doubt it.  Either way, he was brutal.

AB 1:  Sat down for over 10 minutes before he came over to the table.  No silverware, no napkins, no menu, no drink menu.  "Can I get you a drink?"  I peered over to the bar, 45' away.  Lucky for him, I got pretty good eyes.  Lindsay got a water, I got a Negra Modelo and a Diet Pepsi.  Order taken, waiter gone to get it.  (Lindsay went to get a drink menu at the bar)  Comes back with a water and "What did you want to drink again?"  Told him the order plus a Bud Light Lime for the lady and five minutes later the drinks came.  0-1

AB 2:  Drinks were there, chips and salsa came out, still no menus.  Eventually (5 or 6 minutes) the doofus brought us out some menus.  Took a peek at it, and within the blink of an eye he was there to take an order.  We got the Gulf Coast Crab Cakes - probably not the best choice given the whole BP situation.  He left.  0-1 with a BB

AB 3:  Came back to us after a few minutes, and we told him our meal orders (Yucatan Fish Tacos for me, Spinach Artichoke and Grilled Portobello Enchiladas for Linds), assuming that's why he was back.  It wasn't.  He wanted to see if the chips and salsa were OK.  The drinks were empty, but he wasn't all that concerned with this.  Had he knows that I've been sucking them back pretty quickly lately, he woulda brought me out a bucket.  We had to tell him we wanted another round, even though it was blatently evident based on the two empty bottles on the table.  0-2, BB

AB 4:  He came back and asked us our orders again, after not having written them down to begin with.  Then he brought out the appetizer.  The jícama slaw was pretty damn good though (even though it was spelled "jicima" on the menu).  0-3, BB

AB 5:  Again with the drinks.  Saw empties, didn't collect them.  I thought we were able to turn them in for a cash refund applied directly to the principal of our bill.  This wasn't the case.  Food came out, it was good, a little too close to the appetizer, but at least it came out.  Then he asked if we wanted another drink after staring at our empties on the table.  Duh!  0-4, BB

AB 6:  He got benched.  We got the check and left him a 14% tip because he sucked.  He wished us a great evening, and we were out.  Man I hope that guy gets fired, he sucked.  But given what the manager looked like, his job is safe.  It was like the town of Dorkville up there. 

Post Game:  Back at the hotel, meeting an old colleague at Draft for a quick drink.

In MLB news, the Cardinals are taking it to the M's.  Seattle put up 2 in the top of the first, but St. Louis answered with three of their own, and added six more en route to a 9-3 win.  Luke French and Ian Snell both pitched like crap.  Adam Wainright settled in after a rocky start, and the Cardinals are now 1 game back of the Reds in the NL Central.  For once, it isn't a one-team race in that division.

Draft time.

Wednesday - big day at the ballpark

Got home around 9:15 last night and put in the new A/C, sucker works pretty good, cranking out cold air all night.  Lindsay is still in there sleeping, I was up at the butt-crack taking Nathan out and figured I'd post up.  Lot of stuff happened yesterday all around sports, I'll cover the ones I want.  I'm the boss here.  Flyers got a huge win in OT to cut the series to 2-1.  OK, hot topics:

1. Jim Joyce blew it!  Tigers RHP Armando Galarraga got screwed out of his perfect game, and even Indians SS Jason Donald knew it - as soon as he crossed the bag and was called safe, he put his hands on top of his head, almost signifying, "Holy shit, this umpire blew this kid a perfect game."  He wasn't going to call himself out, but umpires need to make that call and get it right.  There is no excuse.  They get paid huge amounts of money to maintain the integrity of the game.  In all fairness to Jim Joyce, he is human, and although he's been around for 22 years, his latest gaff is further proof that instant replay needs to be adopted at the MLB level.  Not for ball and strikes, but for plays like this, for homeruns that may or may not have been, to determine fair or foul (even though 80% of the time a batter doesn't bust it out of the box).  I'm just saying, these umpires are clearly not cutting it.  There's the play - Galarraga  had the ball and his foot hit the bag a step before Donald go there.  I still am shocked he missed it.  I appreciate the work they do and the fact that the human error still plays a part, but to take history away from this guy isn't right.  And for Galarraga not to have said anything to Joyce is amazing in itself, I would have flown off the handle - but I got a short fuse.  Nice guy, considering he had a perfect game snatched away on the last out of the game.  Instant Replay!!

2. Griffey Jr. hangs 'em  up.  Let's be realistic here, Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the best ever to roam center field, hands down.  There really is no debate that in his prime, he was a freaking beast.  He made more catches over the fence than I can remember.  His Upper Deck rookie card was rare air in the baseball card collecting industry - it was worth upwards of like $150 back in the day at the card shows.  Griffey is a sure fire first ballot hall of famer, and for good reason.  Coming up with the Mariners organization in the early 1990's, there was no other player more synonomous with Seattle than his.  Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Mark Langston, Jay Buhner, Omar Vizquel.  Nobody's compared to Junior.  And to think, he made only $68,000 his first year in the big leagues.  I mean 630 HR's later, he's hanging them up, and at a good time too.  He can't perform like the guy who hit 56 HR in back-to-back season in '97 and '98.  He can't get to double-digit SB's anymore like he did in 1999.  He's a clubhouse guy now, and as much as a team needs guys like that, Griffey has too much pride to go out like a sucker (.184, 7 RBI).  He's a superstar that was never in the steroids debate.  He came in before they were being talked about and dominated as a 19- and 20-year-old.  Thanks Junior, the game needs more guys like you.  Sweetest swing in the game they said, and who am I to argue with that.

3. Robinson Canó en fuego!  If you think otherwise, you better take a good, hard look in the mirror.  Actually, saying he's on fire isn't even enough.  Right now, he's the best hitter in baseball.  He's got a 17-game hitting streak (which will now more than likey end today), has his average up to an MLB-best .373 (.001 higher than Justin Morneau), 78 hits (4 more than Ichiro) - I mean cool him off.  Let's just take a look at his last 8 games - all multi-hit games (3 3-hit games, 5 2-hit games).  During that span, his average has gone from .335 to .373.  He has 9 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, and 15 RBI.  I mean those numbers are staggering.  Here's Yahoo!, clearly confused, telling us who is the hottest player over the last 14 days.  Here's Canó's numbers:  12 R.  5 2B.  3 HR.  14 RBI.  .472 BA.  You tell me Chipper, Cairo, and Ryan have better numbers, you're off your rocker.  Someone at the Yahoo! research department is sleeping on the job.  Stay hot Canó.

OK, that's good for now, it's pretty lengthy and I'm getting hungry, even though I'll probably get an egg sandwich at Han's.  I'll be back!

Byrnes-y Out

Eric Byrnes the softball player.  After being cut by the Mariners, he's decided to turn to softball, even though the D'Backs are still paying his salary.  Nice gig Byrnes.  He's playing for a team sponsored by The Dutch Goose, a fine Menlo Park, CA brew house since 1966.  This is a slow pitch softball team, so he just needs to keep the weight back and trust his hands - he'll be an All-Star.  He was in a kayak out in McCovey Cove when the All-Star game was held in San Fran in 2007 with his bulldog Bruin, helping FOX Sports. 

I loved watching Eric Byrnes throwing his body around in the outfield diving for line-drives and fly-balls.  He played the game it was meant to be played - HARD!  I mean he hustled on and off the field, hustled trying to beat out an infield single instead of loafing down the baseline because it looks like a routine play. 

Good luck to you Eric, the game of baseball will miss your hustle.  Hang loose man!