New Yorkers, You Will Love This

I must share with you this link that my girlfriend just sent me. Christoph Niemann of The New York Times put together a heartwarming tribute to New York City through everyone’s favorite medium – Legos. Native New Yorkers will beam, honorary New Yorkers will smile, and just about anyone with an appreciation for creativity will have their mood improve a little.  

If it weren’t for this picture…

 

…I probably couldn’t justify this post. Luckily, Mr. Niemann threw it in there, and now this technically qualifies as sports-related content.

Enjoy.

This Is A Stretch

Currently, ESPN’s headline for this afternoon’s Yankees-Mets recap reads “Santana shows Yankees his best stuff in Mets’ victory.”

Johan Santana (5/17/08): 7.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3 HR

I could be wrong, but his 7/6/04 start might have been a bit better. Or 9/19/04. 8/12/05. 9/17/05. 6/13/06. 8/19/07 was okay too.

You get my point. This is a stretch.

See, The Funny Thing About the Internet Is . . .

Yesterday, the world of baseball spectacularly collided with the world of stupid viral Internet memes at Shea Stadium. I wrote a blurb on the occurence at an artsy blog for which I am a regular contributor. I wasn’t expecting to get 345 views after roughly 24 hours, nor was I expecting for the post to be hit #7 of about 14,200 when you Google “Shea rickroll.”

Anyway, check it out. It’s really funny, especially if you hate the scummy pond scum Mets the way Kevin and I do.

Hey Kids! Let’s Ridicule Mr. Met!

The Mets have just completed the biggest collapse in New York baseball history (2004 ALCS doesn’t quite count – small sample size). Time to celebrate!

I Don’t Believe What I Just Saw (Washed-Up Mariner Edition)

Never thought events would transpire to lead Special K (or anyone knowlegdable about baseball) to say, “Joel Pineiro > Pedro Martinez.”

9/27/07 STL@NYM

WP: Pineiro, 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 15 Groundouts, 3 Flyouts
LP: Martinez, 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 3 Groundouts, 10 Flyouts

I know we have no stake in this anymore, but God, I love beating the Mets.

Funny story: Baseball Prospectus’ Nate Silver just did a list of the worst collapses in history. If the Mets choke this up to the Phillies, it will be the second biggest of all time. Have fun this weekend, Queens.

Hoping for that mythical five-way playoff in the NL,
Keesup

Pop Quiz #2!

You all did so poorly on the first Pop Quiz that I’ve decided to give you a chance to redeem yourselves. Your lowest grade will be dropped at the end of the semester. Ready? Here we go:

Which of the following actual final scores from May 19th, 2007, best fits the definition of a “rout”?

• (a) 13-3
• (b) 10-7
• (c) 6-1
• (d) 14-0

If you picked (a), (c), or (d), you are wrong. The correct answer is (b), which was the final score of tonight’s Mets-Yankees game. I know it’s a “rout” for sure because ESPN.com’s front page currently reads “Wright hits 2 HRs, Mets rout Yanks”. 3 run win = rout, get it? This will be on future quizzes.

For future reference, the 13-3 was a “hammering” and the 6-1 an “overpowering”; 14-0 simply reads “Braves hand Red Sox 14-0 loss”. Interestingly, when the Red Sox won 13-3 it was a “hammering” but they were simply “handed” a 14-0 loss later in the day.

 EDIT: ESPN.com’s front page now reads “Wright hits 2 HRs, Mets scorch Yanks”. Better than “rout”, still inaccurate. Yes, this is a touchy subject. Get over it.

Statistics? What Are Those?

During tonight’s Mets-Cubs game, color commentator Keith Hernandez said this after Tom Glavine ran up a 2-0 count against Mark DeRosa:

“It’s amazing the difference in philosophies between teams. When the Brewers were here, we saw that they swing at anything close. The Cubs are a far more patient team.”

Firstly, anytime you say “the Cubs are patient” with respect to hitting, a deafening alarm should go off in your mind. In recent years, the Cubs have been somewhat notorious for ignoring the value in baseball players who get on base. I mean, their last manager said it just “clogs up the bases”. So that’s that.

Secondly:

• CHC (2007): .338 OBP (9th), 110 BB (25th)
• MIL (2007): .337 OBP (10th), 121 BB (20th)

If you look at the numbers, it shows that the teams have had very similar levels of patience this season (granted, it is hard to quantify patience). Nevertheless, this is why we should not make decisions, judgments, or conclusive statements based solely on what we have seen in the last 10 seconds.