.... Wonderful pick 
..... you are the man with the master plan 
.... Sending some points your way for your fine money makin skill lol 
-
I took em with you for .5x.... Wonderful pick ..... you are the man with the master plan .... Sending some points your way for your fine money makin skill lol
Comment -
Hell yea Bondo!! Leadoff triple leads to no runs.
Comment -
Maaaaaaan you know I tailed you on that kc game. Its hard to send points through my phone but i'll send some your way once I get home. Nice morning sweep.Comment -
to much chatting and cant find ur picks what are them?Comment -
Wish I would of been here for that Royals play, Oh whell, cant get em all
Tailing you tonight Paco, lets get em!
Comment -
im on twins so gl usComment -
Whats up fellas..Havent been on all day, see that youre already 2-0 and the Royals
Comment -
1 - 0 O'sComment -
missed your earlier plays pac but i'm with you on the the orioles and tigers!!!!!!
GL let's make some CASHOLA
Comment -
make that 2- 0 O's
Comment -
Paul Maholm who is starting for the Pirates has been pitching excellent in his last few games and has been pitching very well on the road keeping a 3.27 ERA. Dustin Nippert, who is on the mound for Texas is the reason the total is at such a high number. He has only had one start this season where he gave up three runs. Watch as tonight's game stays under the Number!Comment -
2-0 Orioles!!
Comment -
2-0 O's!Comment -
Usa usa usa!!!!Comment -
+1 for the O's Keep em coming
Comment -
4-0 Orioles!!!
Comment -
cmon tigers get damon in nowComment -
Comment -
The Pirates are hitting only .238 on the season. And while the Rangers' are hitting .281 against right-handers, this number drops to .268 when facing lefties.Comment -
Twinkies mL-145 (1x)
Liriano gets it done.
Comment -
Twinkies RLComment -
gotcha thanksComment -
If you were watching some of the TV baseball from this past weekend, you may have noticed a brief interlude on FOX during the Dodgers/Red Sox game where Joe Buck and Tim McCarver talked about the "great" pitching staff of the San Diego Padres. They have extremely low numbers this year in all the right categories, giving off the impression that it's a stellar staff top to bottom?
You regulars should have your ears prick up at something like that. San Diego plays its home games in the best pitcher's park in baseball. BY A MILE! Spacious dimensions, mediocre visibility, and that heavy marine air by the Pacific combine to reduce offense by about 25% based on data from the past few seasons.
In baseball terms, games that would normally have 10 runs will only have 7.5 runs in San Diego. That's why you see so many low totals in that park. It's not a big secret in the legal sports gambling world, and oddsmakers make an adjustment.
Now, in terms of the mainstream media, this is actually kind of a secret. The networks are still in the 1970's (maybe 1950's) in terms of how they talk about baseball. The sabermetric explosion never happened. If teams have great overall stats (or horrible overall stats), it's attributed to the team rather than their home ballpark. San Diego is going to get credit for having a stellar pitching staff in most years no matter how good or bad they actually are just because you HAVE to have good numbers if you play that many games in the land where fly balls go to die.
Take Jake Peavy for example. Have you EVER heard the mainstream media suggest that his best years as a Padre were largely park-polluted? When he was acquired by the Chicago White Sox, wasn't all the talk about what a GREAT addition Peavy would be to the White Sox? Instead of people noting that:- Peavy had been in the inferior National League
- But was now moving to the superior American League
- And that he had pitched at home in a great pitcher's park
- But would now be pitching at home in a hitter's park
So...do the Padres really have a great staff this year? Or, is that just a park illusion? We wanted to get to the bottom of it. When we got the chance, we dug through the baseball-reference website to grab the ROAD ERA for all National League teams. This will take the home park out of it. In fact, this will actually hurt San Diego a bit because they never get to play any road games in their home park! Everyone else does over the course of a season, with divisional rivals getting a few visits.
Here's what the numbers show:
NL ROAD ERA (through Monday Night)
San Diego 3.50
Colorado 3.70
St. Louis 3.70
Whoa...let's stop right there. San Diego leads the National League in ROAD ERA even though they never get any road games in San Diego!!! This really is the best staff in the National League, and it's not that close. Both Colorado and St. Louis, true pitching juggernauts this year thanks to Ubaldo Jiminez of the Rockies and a few guys on the Cardinals, are both two-tenths of a run behind San Diego. You'll see in a moment that nobody else is even less than 4.00.
What we have with the Padres this year is a GREAT (if unheralded) staff that ALSO gets to pitch its home games in a pitching paradise. This is why San Diego is in first place in the NL West. And, this is why so many teams are having trouble scoring consistently in that park. Not every single individual is shining (Kevin Correia has been abysmal). Most of the rotation, and most of the bullpen really are getting the job done.
Let's run through the rest of the NL so you can use the information for you handicapping...
Atlanta 4.01
LA Dodgers 4.04
Chicago Cubs 4.08
San Francisco 4.24
Philadelphia 4.26
Florida 4.28
Cincinnati 4.29
This group settles in by itself, well behind the three stud teams but way ahead of the hunk you're about to read through. Consider these staffs above average, though the teams in the 4.2's aren't truly imposing from top to bottom. They have imposing elements at the top of their rotations certainly. You can make the case that Philadelphia isn't that great outside of Halladay, or that San Francisco is really shaky outside the frontline marquee guys.
Everyone left ranges from bad to extremely embarrassingly bad. This is very important in IL play because bad NL staffs just get ROCKED by good AL offenses because of the differences between the leagues. Even if things are getting closer, this particular element is still a mismatch.
NY Mets 4.71
Washington 4.71
Milwaukee 4.91
Houston 5.10
Arizona 5.70
Pittsburgh 5.96
The METS are the team to pay attention to here. The way statheads may have been thinking about the Padres (not as good as their stats) is actually true for New York. Their new park has favored pitchers to the extreme so far, and a lot of Mets pitchers are putting up great numbers at home. On the road, they're well below par. Be very skeptical of announcers or writers who rave about the Mets pitching staff.
Outside the Mets, this is a group that's performed horribly in the standings. You can see why Pittsburgh is the worst team in the league. In fact, the four worst teams in the NL standings are the four worst teams in ROAD ERA rankings. Washington's playing so badly lately there due soon to fall back into the bottom five of the league standings, which is where they already sit in ROAD ERA.
Pitching matters...and smart handicappers know they have to take out stat pollution so they REALLY know who the best individuals are, and who the best staffs are. Today's exercise should have you completely on top of things in the NL right now. We'll do the same thing for you tomorrow in the AL since this is such an important topic.
The current IL matchups provide some interesting challenges to the elite NL staffs. Should they thrive this week, you can expect their success to continue back in normal league play barring injuries.
San Diego: on the road at Tampa Bay
Colorado: hosting red hot and very potent Boston
St. Louis: on the road at dangerous Toronto
Atlanta: on the road against the surging White Sox
LA Dodgers: hosting the red hot Halos
Chicago Cubs: a chance to shine at Seattle
We'll learn more about where the NL elite truly stand against the AL with that particular set of matchups. They represent true testers for the NL staffs. In fact, outside the Cubs relatively soft mark with the Mariners, it's not the end of the world if the NL staffs don't shine. That's a BRUTAL schedule! If they do shine, handicappers have learned something very importantComment -
What u guys think off NYY/Arizona over 11Comment
