2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

13-4 [/moddy]

 

Which is why 13-4 means a shitload right now. Zimmerman pitching tonight. Hopefully, they can churn out a few hits and maybe a run or two for him.

 

Pujols is a terrific hitter, and he might be the best of all-time when it's all set and done. But as of right now, there's no way.

I know it's your personal opinion, though.

 

LaRoche, even though he seems to have cooled off some, really suprised the heck out of me my coming out of the gate hot and not living up to his career March/April .216 batting average.

I would love to see the Nats keep this up.

 

All-time or for one season?

Juiced up Barry Bonds might have been the greatest hitter.

 

A lot hinges on the upcoming news today.

 

Four-way tie for first in the American League East on April 25 includes New York, Toronto, Tampa Bay and .... Baltimore? If I can say "first-place Orioles" one time in May, I'll consider the season a success.

 

Watching the A's - White Sox game last night I had no idea Robin Ventura was fifth all-time in grand slams.

 

Well, nobody agreed on who the greatest pre-1980s hitter was. So there's always going to be some debate. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Pujols top my list, and you can put them in any order that you'd like.

You have to make all sorts of adjustments when you compare guys from different eras. But you also have to make another adjustment, and it's one that nobody ever makes. Most of the top hitters are lefties. They received the majority of their ABs against right-handed pitchers. I don't know that the saberheads have ever adjusted for the fact that most righty hitters have this handicap.

Take, for example, Babe Ruth. He hit .327 against lefties but .351 against righties. He faced righties almost three times as often as he faced lefties. Ted Williams hit .351 against righties but just .306 against lefties. Pujols hits .335 against lefties and .325 against righties.

If those guys had received an equal number of ABs against righties and lefties, their career numbers, in terms of batting average, OBP, OPS, etc. would be quite similar. I am gong to assume that it also would have reduced some of the popular counting stats for Ruth and Williams.

Now, it's clear that you would want to bat Williams or Ruth against a righty before batting Pujols against a lefty. But you also would want to bat Pujols against a righty over batting Williams or Ruth against a lefty.

To me, that's an important distinction. Pujols has demonstrated remarkable consistency. That is probably why his slow start has opened so many eyes. I haven't really looked into Pujols' numbers. But I would guess that the frequency of his opposite field hits has dropped significantly. Last season, he started slowly because he was trying to pull outside pitches.

 

I'll put them in that order, if I must put Pujols third. I'd take Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby and Mickey Mantle ahead of Pujols all day.

Mantle's numbers for before he turned 33: 2,016 hits, 454 home runs, .309/.429/.582/1.011.

 

Barry Bonds was the best hitter I've ever seen. No question.