The Great Debate

The DH debate rages on. Lesley Visser at CBS Sports asks:

If every organization, from Little League on up, uses the DH, shouldn't the NL join in?
On the other side, traditionalists say the DH phonies up the game -- why aren't there designated fielders?

Personally I don't mind the DH. I think it allows some great players to extend their careers. Who wouldn't have minded letting Mickey Mantle DH for another couple years after his knees couldn't handle the outfield?

Batting Technology

Major League Baseball is working on ways to make fans and players safe from the exploding maple bats. From Barry M. Bloom, on MLB.com:

The remedies range from extending netting behind the plate down the first- and third-base lines as they do in Japanese ballparks to protect fans close to the action, to placing restrictions on the width of bat handles, to banning the use of maple bats completely. But one matter is certain, Selig reiterated again this past Thursday during a telephone conversation from his Milwaukee office: something is going to change...

...And for those baseball fans seated low and down the base lines who may complain about having to view the game through mesh that is meant to protect them, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had these words of wisdom:
"In less than three minutes, people won't even know it's there," he said at the time. "It was the right thing to do."

They already have netting behind home plate, and, speaking from firsthand experience, Bettman is right, you do learn to ignore the netting. Ryan Theriot suggests later in this article maybe the thing to do is try aluminum bats. I don't think that'll ever happen, especially considering some cities are banning aluminum bats in youth leagues. As an engineering student, my thought is more scientific. Considering all the space age technology at our disposal, how is there not a coating we can apply to the bats to make them stronger?

The Fire That Byrnes

Eric Byrnes is expected back today for the Diamondbacks. When Byrnes went down he had an uninspiring line of .219/.285/.388, with an OPS+ of 72. Which is, to be polite, bad. But the D-Backs have gone 9-16 without the Crash Test Dummy. Could someone hitting that poorly really be missed that much in a lineup? It's possible. With Byrnes, we won't be subject to Connor Jackson's defense in leftfield anymore, which is definitely an improvement. Maybe having Byrnes back in the lineup will allow the Arizona hitters to move to positions in the batting order they're more comfortable hitting in. Although, Arizona went 2-5 in the 7 games before Byrnes hit the DL, so maybe not.

Nostrodamus I'm Not

So obviously I'm not a great prognosticator. In my defense, I got the Cubs' sweep and the first game of the other two series correct! Definitely underestimated the Angels and Cards, though. My bad

Firing Squad Continues

The Blue Jays must have decided John Gibbons doesn't like baseball either. Gibbons is the third manager to be fired this week, joining Willie Randolph and John McLaren in the unemployment line. Gibbons may not have been the best manager, but it's tough to do anything when the his team's home run leader has 8 home runs. And is named Matt Stairs. Or your player with the highest VORP is named Rod Barajas. And his VORP is 8.9. Bill Bavasi was fired for his construction of the Mariners. How long does J.P. Ricciardi have?

World Series Matchup?

I hate when everyone starts talking about a big interleague matchup being a World Series preview. Interleague takes place before or around the halfway mark of the season. There's still a lot to be determined before the playoffs even begin. Sure there are things we know up to this point. Things like the Nationals probably aren't going to make the playoffs. Or Chipper Jones is a pretty good hitter. And Tony Pena, Jr. isn't. But what's to say a team like the Phillies don't have a starter go down and their rotation falls apart? Or the Angels can't overcome their lack of punch and have a poor second half? What's to say a Mets style collapse isn't in the future of the Cubs or White Sox? That being said, six current playoff teams matchup against each other, so here's my preview of those three games:

St. Louis Cardinals (42-32) vs Boston Red Sox (46-29)
The Cardinals have been one of the surprise teams of the year, with many projections having them win somewhere in the mid-70's games. They've gotten big years out of Ryan Ludwick (.305/.374/.632, 16 HR) and Kyle Lohse (8-2, 3.77), who was signed during spring training. However, they're playing without their two of their top three players, according to the VORP calculations on Baseball Prospectus, Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright. Boston is dealing with their own injuries, with David Ortiz and Bartolo Colon recently hitting the DL. Boston is more capable of dealing with these losses, though. They're better defensively with Manny Ramirez at DH and Crisp, Ellsbury, and Drew patrolling the outfield. Justin Masterson has pitched well and will replace Colon, with Clay Buchholz still pitching in the minors. And JD Drew has been able to pick up the offensive slack.
Bold Prediction: The Cardinals have been a good story this year but Boston's offense is too much. Boston takes 2 of 3, dropping one to the underrated Kyle Lohse.

LA Angels (42-30) vs Philadelphia Phillies (42-32)
The Angels have had an interesting season. Their run differential suggests they're a .500 team. They went six weeks without their best pitcher, John Lackey. Their number two pitcher, Kelvim Escobar, has yet to pitch. They lack serious punch in their lineup. Somehow, they're 12 games over .500 and have a 3.5 game lead over the fiesty Oakland A's. Joe Saunders has stepped up big and it seems like Maicer Izturis comes up with a timely hit every game. The Phillies offense hasn't surprised anyone this season. Their pitching, on the other hand, has been a revelation. If I told you before the season they'd have the best bullpen ERA in MLB, you would have had me committed. Even Adam Eaton has turned in a couple good starts in a row.
Bold Prediction: The Angels can keep up with the Phillies offense. Phillies drop the first but win the next two.

Chicago White Sox (41-31) vs Chicago Cubs (45-28)
The White Sox have been another one of the surprises of the season. They've been pitching way above what was expected of them. Danks and Floyd are starting to show why they were first round selections. Contreras is returning to form, though the last couple starts may be reason for concern. Surprisingly, Buerhle has been the rotation's biggest question mark, after years of being the Sox most consistent starter. The Sox still have some hitters who need to hit their stride, especially if the pitching regresses. The Cubs have been playing like the best team in baseball. The starting pitching has been solid, especially now that Lilly and Marquis are pitching better. The bullpen is (usually) lights out with Howry, Marmol, and Wood working the 7th, 8th, and 9th. And the offense is finally taking some pitches and getting on base more.
Bold Prediction: As much as it hurts this Sox fan, the Cubs sweep. They look like a team with all the makings of a World Series run.

An Introduction

So this is my first attempt at a blog. As you can tell from the title and description, it'll primarily be about baseball. But first, let's start with a little about me so you can get an idea of what to expect...

My name is Mike. I'm a 22 year old senior in chemical engineering at Purdue University. I'm from a small town about an hour (on a good traffic day) from Chicago. As such, my favorite team is the White Sox, but I'm going to try to be as unbiased as possible. I've played baseball and followed it much too closely my entire life. I don't claim to be an expert on the sport, but following it as closely as I do tends to leave a lot of thoughts in my head. This is my outlet. I'll try to post 2 or 3 times a day (more if it's a slow day at work). Hopefully this will be fun for everyone.

I'm not a scout or a sabermetrician or even a writer. I'm just a kid who loves this sport way too much and needs to share that love...