ESTES HITS CLEMENS "I missed my spot. I didn’t execute my pitch. You can draw your own conclusions." —Shawn Estes, Mets pitcher, on throwing a pitch a foot behind Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens "I never doubted Shawn being a good teammate. Read into that what you want. We protect each other." —Mike Piazza, Mets catcher…
The random thoughts going through Joe’s head over the course of this week
Bonds hitless as Yankees beat Giants 4-2 — Headline of 6/9 game recap at ESPN.com Last Sunday, facing the Yankees, Barry Bonds was walked four times and hit by a Roger Clemens fastball once. Ichiro Suzuki can hit a double off a slider in the dirt, and Vladimir Guerrero can take balls off his shoes…
I tend to consider notes columns a lazy way to fill space. I really enjoy reading them, but I generally write them only when I can’t carry an idea through to column length. [Insert punch line here.] The weird thing is that each time I write one, as I did last Thursday, I get a…
A recap of the last two days of transactions, including some minor trades and DL stints
If there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect, why can’t we keep them off our lists?
How can the Diamondbacks content for another title if their bullpen continues to falter?
In the game I’m watching as I try and come up with a column, Shane Spencer just hit a three-run home run off of Mike Morgan to turn a 6-2 Diamondbacks lead into 6-5. Monday night, Spencer hit an eighth-inning grand slam off of Bret Prinz to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead…
If there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect, why can’t we keep them off our lists? Fourteen of Baseball Prospectus‘s Top 40 Prospects are pitchers. Of the 15 players receiving honorable mention, six are pitchers. John Sickels has 22 pitchers listed in his top 50, with three more who would make it if they…
I’m sick of the whole Roger Clemens thing. It’s a non-story, inflated beyond that by a local media corps with the judgment and control of a four-year-old on his second box of Froot Loops. Yes, Clemens bounced a fastball off of the shoulder pad Bonds wears on his right arm. Bonds crowds the plate, crushes pitches out over it and sticks said well-protected arm into the strike zone. Where exactly would you have Clemens pitch him?
Looking at which length of a plate appearance favors the hitter, the pitcher, or neither