MLB: June 2010

[silenus]

And the month ends with the Padres atop the NLWest by three games. The Dodgers romped all over the Giants ( ) to stay in the hunt. Padres take on the Astros this weekend (with us in attendance), and the Dodgers should make mincemeat of the Diamondbacks. Going to be a close race going into the All-Star break.

[VarlosZ]

Mets finishing up their series in San Juan with the Marlins.

1. It’s a real party atmosphere there, aided, no doubt, by the fact that there was an 80 minute rain delay before the game and that they serve rum there.

2. Keith Hernandez, in the booth, is clearly desperate to get the fuck out of town. There was the rain delay, and then 6 runs in the first two innings, and he’s got a game to call in D.C. tomorrow, so his audible exasperation with every delay is just hilarious.

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

On the subject of Rickey Henderson - and not the subject of the state of the Phillies, because hot damn - I just wanted to share a little tidbit I picked up a while ago from FanGraphs. I’ll just quote it, emphasis mine:

Once you start looking at Henderson’s numbers, you can’t help but be drawn to 1982: 130 stolen bases, a number exceeded by only four teams last season. In addition, he was caught stealing another 42 times for 172 total stolen base attempts. He was on first or second base with the next base open 225 times, and he attempted 172 steals.

Seventy-six percent of the time, when he had the chance, he ran. The league average, not including Henderson’s craziness, was 7.8 percent. Tim Raines, who led the National League in stolen bases that year, ran on 36 percent of his chances.

More than three quarters of the time, he was going. And presumably, some of those chances were limited by the batter hitting the first pitch or a wild pitch or something like that, so he may have taken off even more frequently than that in regular-length at-bats. It’s almost impossible for me to imagine. You know he’s going, he knows you know he’s going, and he goes 76% of the time.

[RickJay]

@Jimmy_Chitwood

More than three quarters of the time, he was going. And presumably, some of those chances were limited by the batter hitting the first pitch or a wild pitch or something like that, so he may have taken off even more frequently than that in regular-length at-bats. It’s almost impossible for me to imagine. You know he’s going, he knows you know he’s going, and he goes 76% of the time.

And MAKES it, coincidentally, 76% of the time. (That year.)

Even with his speed, you’d think that with people knowing he was going they’d get him more often, but they didn’t. What that demonstrates, to my mind, is that basestealing’s a heck of a lot more than being fast. Henderson was very fast, but he actually was never the very fastest guy in the league. There were lots of guys just as fast as Rickey. He was fast, and a brilliant baserunner. He knew how to lead, how to read pitchers, how to select situations, and how to hide his own intention on the pitch he selected to run on.

[silenus]

The July thread.

[gonzomax]

@RickJay

And MAKES it, coincidentally, 76% of the time. (That year.)

Even with his speed, you’d think that with people knowing he was going they’d get him more often, but they didn’t. What that demonstrates, to my mind, is that basestealing’s a heck of a lot more than being fast. Henderson was very fast, but he actually was never the very fastest guy in the league. There were lots of guys just as fast as Rickey. He was fast, and a brilliant baserunner. He knew how to lead, how to read pitchers, how to select situations, and how to hide his own intention on the pitch he selected to run on.

Gary Sheffield is a perfect example. He stole 22 bases in 2007 ate age 38. He was caught 5 times. It was not his blazing speed that did it.

[ElvisL1ves]

May be an urban legend, but I was once told that the record for consecutive successful stolen bases was once held by Johnny Bench, of all people.

Yes, it’s pretty much all tells and timing.