Good morning!
Here are several go-to links to make your Monday a bit more bearable:
- I suspect Jamie Moyer would disapprove, but Peter Moylan had the weekend’s most in-your-face Tweet. Here is what provoked Moylan, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien.
- In the wake of Jered Weaver’s no-hitter, Alex Remington of Fangraphs reassures us that their frequency has not increased over the past few decades but that they do constitute a far larger percentage of complete games.
- The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore writes that opposing teams are already being careful how they pitch to Bryce Harper. Meanwhile, Kilgore Tweeted after last night’s Phillies-Nationals game that Jayson Werth has a broken wrist and, according to Davey Johnson, will be out of action for at six weeks.
- Giants fans are right to worry about their club’s fate while Pablo Sandoval is on the disabled list, says Julian Levine of Beyond the Boxscore:
ZiPS projects [third baseman prospect Conor] Gillaspie to post a .306 wOBA over a full season in the majors. Sandoval had a .392 wOBA through a month or so of play. The drop-off is rather steep — and that’s not even accounting for defense. Sandoval had a pretty strong case for the NL Gold Glove last season, whereas Gillaspie has a pretty weak defensive reputation.
Things could get ugly for the Giants over these next several weeks. They probably will get ugly. The team is already four and a half games out of first in the NL West, and this hurts them a lot. But it’s still early in the season; they’ll just have to tread water and hope for the best until Sandoval returns.
- In the wake of Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd’s revelation that he smoked crack throughout the 1986 season while playing for the AL champion Red Sox, Bruce Markusen of the Hardball Times looks at the pitcher’s eventful career.
- Never mind that Albert Pujols finally hit his first home run as a member of the Halos. Sunday’s game of the day, between the O’s and the Red Sox, featured an extra-inning affair where both the winning and losing pitchers were actually position players. (Designated hitter Chris Davis pitched two scoreless innings after having an utterly futile afternoon at the plate: 0-for-8 with five strikeouts.) Over the Monster’s Ben Buchanan has a detailed recap.
- After looking at data, Matt Meyers of Sweet Spot concludes that David Price’s increased use of off-speed pitches explains his early-season dominance.
- Crawfish Boxes’ Timothy DeBlock writes about Andy Pettitte’s time on the witness stand at the Roger Clemens trial, the Astros’ posting of run-expectancy statistics on the Minute Maid Park scoreboard, and, most important, a Carlos Lee quote that has a distinctively Anchorman feel.
- The Big Donkey is back: Adam Dunn (.250/.372/.590) hit his ninth dinger yesterday. Last year, No. 9 took place on July 8.
That’s it. Have a walk-off week!
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