Results tagged ‘ Texas Rangers ’
Handicapping Josh Hamilton’s Triple Crown Chances
Dan Szymborski has a column up today assessing Josh Hamilton’s triple crown chances.
While normally the type of stuff I’d expect to see on Bleacher Report, as Dan notes, Hamilton winning the triple crown is more likely than any other player in the game today.
He ran 100,000 simulations of the remainder of the season, taking Hamilton’s historic norms and projections for this season going forward, and …
After all the numbers are crunched, Hamilton remains essentially a coin-flip to lead the league in each of the Triple Crown categories … In the 100,000 seasons played, Hamilton won the Triple Crown 16.1 percent of the time, terrific odds for such a difficult feat.
Color me skeptical but I don’t see it being anywhere near that close.
There is a reason why it hasn’t happened since 1967 ya know. It’s kinda damn hard.
In fact, the hardest part about the crown is the RBI count, usually because the guys who have a combined high AVG with a ton of HRs are patient hitters who don’t expand the zone & are willing to take a walk.
Over the course of a season that leaves a lot of ducks on the pond for other guys to collect RBIs behind you.
The fact Hamilton is so aggressive & so willing to go out of the zone chasing hits makes him uniquely qualified to get those RBIs some triple crown candidates never would, but that type of behavior also tends to severely diminish your shot at a batting title.
Now on the flip side, add in the fact that he’s on a team with a ton of guys getting on base in front of him, one that turns the lineup over more than most teams (getting him more ABs) and it enhances his chances on the RBI count but it’s really hard to quantify just how much.
A huge possible stumbling point is the fact that in order to qualify for the batting title he will have to play in just about 140 games.
Over his 5 years in the major leagues he has played in over 133 games only once (2008) and in fact over a 100 games just one other year (2011).
Sadly, he ravaged his body with some hardcore stuff over the years & now both his immune system and ability to heal quickly has been shot to utter shit at an early age meaning this study is nothing more than an exercise in “if he stays healthy I think the odds are with him” speculation.
But that is one mighty big freakin’ ” IF”. A much bigger one than the 100,000 simulations would seem to indicate.
UPDATE: Those Assclowns In Texas Want An Apology From Michael Kay
The engaged couple that has been vilified for snatching away a baseball that was intended for a toddler at Wednesday’s Rangers-Yankees game say they have been treated unfairly. And they want an apology from the Yankees broadcaster whose comments helped make the video of the episode go viral.
“My fiance Shannon and I were honestly unaware of the situation of the little boy sitting next to us last night since we were so caught up in the excited and moment of being at our first Ranger‘s baseball game together,” Sean Leonard wrote in a statement posted by WFAA.
The child eventually was given another ball, but that didn’t stem the wave of online criticisms that came after Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay said on air, “Oh, my God, they can’t give it to the kid?”
Leonard was at the game with his fiance, Shannon Moore, whom he will wed on Saturday.
“It’s very hurtful, especially when you know you wouldn’t intentionally hurt somebody or hurt their feelings,” Moore said. “Especially when it’s a little-bitty toddler.”
As for Kay, Leonard said, “He took an event and sensationalized it, threw it out there, never checked or validated the facts.”
As for the toddlers parents, they said that after the hoopla had died down (and the couple had posed & preened with the baseball in front of the little tike for a decent chunk of time) Leonard & Moore offered the ball to the boy but they declined, choosing to use the moment as a teachable moment for their three year old.
To the parents I say kudos, take a bad situation and make the best of it, possibly teaching the little guy something in the process.
To the engaged couple who suffer from head-up-ass-syndrome (HUAS)…don’t make me laugh.
An apology?
For what?
For correctly pointing out the way you intercepted a ball that was tossed in the toddlers direction?
For correctly pointing out how completely oblivious to the toddlers tears you were as you preened & posed with the thing right in front of him, only adding to his emotional duress?
For failing to applaud you after it took you way too long to realize what was going on around you and to offer to do the “right thing”?
I have little doubt that the only reason you ever removed your heads from your collective asses was after one or more of your friends called/texted you to let you know what Grade A douchebags you looked like.
For me, nothing changed with any of the news I read today.
The issue wasn’t that they merely took the ball in the first place, it was as much about how clue-free & self-absorbed they were in the process.
A pair of people, so self-centered they couldn’t even realize something they had done launched a three year old into tears were very correctly identified as people of questionable character.
The fact that the toddlers parents tried to make the best of a bad situation does nothing to change my opinion of the couple & what transpired.
The vast majority of us, in that same situation would have a. noticed what transpired and b. handed the ball over to the child and enjoyed what would have been a wonderful reaction..a big, broad smile on the kid’s face, no doubt.
We can forgive a 3 year old for being self-centered, because at that age they all are.
We can’t look past a pair of supposed adults who couldn’t be bothered to hand over a cheesy souvenir in order to put a smile on a toddlers face.
I adore how some idiots replying to both my piece and others that have written about the matter seem to think the three year old was a brat who deserved to cry, as if somehow it’d “toughen him up” or teach him a life lesson ignore the most obvious thing.
There was indeed a lesson he could have learned in all of this.
One of kindness to strangers.
If he is so mentality developed that he could learn “can’t always get what ya want” then he was more than ready to learn “be kind unto others” now wasn’t he you jackasses?
Worst People Ever Catch Foul Ball, Refuse To Give It To A Crying Child, Are Vilified By Michael Kay
They say everything is bigger in Texas; assholes are not exempt from the rule.
Remember THIS clown at an Astros game two years ago? Well now, we have this bit of disgusting behavior at the Rangers – Yankees tilt last night.
An unfortunate scene unfolded in Arlington tonight as a pair of Rangers fans caught a foul ball tossed into the stands by Mitch Moreland in the eighth inning of Rangers-Yankees, then refused to give the ball to the toddler sitting next to them — the intended recipient — instead choosing to pose for pictures and generally behave like douchebags.
Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay—capturing the thoughts of America for probably the first time ever—chided the couple for “rubbing it in the kid’s face,” and since this couple deserves to be publicly shamed for being dicks to a little kid, here they are.
Source: Deadspin
