8/16 Cheering, Venting, Perfection & La Leche

[bigh0rt]

Dueling top headlines yesterday. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?

Felix Hernandez was perfect against the Rays yesterday, who have found themselves on the ass end of a ridiculous amount of Perfect Games and No Hitters. Hernandez grew more and more dominant as the game progressed, looking downright masterful in the 8th and 9th innings, striking out 12 en route to history. You should check out the Felix! thread, to discuss how long it is before he dons Yankee pinstripes.

In other news, Melky Cabrera, reigning All-Star Game MVP, has been suspended for 50 games for testing too high on levels of testosterone. This has started some back and forth that I can only hope turns into the 100 page regurgifest that was the Barry Bonds steroid threads; we've certainly seen the kindling and potential. Where, you ask? Why right here in the Leche Suspension Thread of course. Please go and tell us what you think of PEDs, how they affected or did not affect Cabrera's play, his elevated BABIP, when you speculate he started using them exactly, as well as your feelings on Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, and Andy Pettitte, oh and Alex Rodriguez. We're 7 pages in, folks. Only 93 or so to go. Who cares if it's already been said? Until it's said by you, it's not satisfactory! If there's one thing we certainly haven't covered enough here at the Cafe over the years, it's performance enhancing drugs, their affects (effects?), and our general opinions on them. Go!

UPDATE: Don't forget to check out the Cafe Top 50 Rankings, just released today, 8/16! This is a great community project, and is very well done. There were five rankers this go-round, but the more the merrier, and more diverse opinions we get, the better the overall ranking list will be!

And since I <3 Arty Vans, I made my first meme ever...


Today's Matchups:

TEX: Holland (7-6, 4.92 ERA)
NYY: Nova (11-6, 4.70 ERA)

NYM: Harvey (1-3, 3.63 ERA)
CIN: Bailey (10-7, 4.08 ERA)

BOS: Buchholz (10-3, 4.24 ERA)
BAL: Tillman (5-2, 3.40 ERA)

LAD: Blanton (8-10, 4.61 ERA)
PIT: Burnett (14-4, 3.32 ERA)

CHW: Liriano (3-10, 5.35 ERA)
TOR: Laffey (3-3, 4.72 ERA)

SD: Marquis (6-6, 3.66 ERA)
ATL: Medlen (3-1, 2.28 ERA)

OAK: Straily (0-0, 5.06 ERA)
KC: Hochevar (7-10, 5.32 ERA)

PHI: Lee (2-7, 3.85 ERA)
MIL: Estrada (0-5, 4.36 ERA)

TB: Price (15-4, 2.50 ERA)
LAA: Haren (8-9, 4.68 ERA)

ARI: Cahill (9-10, 3.85 ERA)
STL: Lohse (12-2, 2.72 ERA)

MIA: Nolasco (9-11, 4.90 ERA)
COL: White (2-6, 5.82 ERA)

Okay, I hadda make one more...

[Izenhart]

Dueling top headlines yesterday. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news?

ok so what was the bad news?

lol Melky. Once the Yankees got rid of him I had a feeling he was going to turn to PEDs. Giants will still win the WS.

[Mookie4ever]

Felix Hernandez was perfect against the Rays yesterday, who have found themselves on the ass end of a ridiculous amount of Perfect Games and No Hitters.

It may have something to do with their third worst team BA of .233.

Oh, and the Big Steroid Burger is a tasty burger.

[Mookie4ever]

You also forgot Rickey Romero's stellar outing.
In his last 10 starts RR is 1-9 giving up 67 hits, 33 BB and 45 ER. He has now given up a galaxy-worst 91 ER this season but the Jays need to keep running him out there every 4 games. After every game he's interviewed in front of his locker and he apologizes. Not since Puppetry of the Penis have I been this uncomfortable watching a man perform. RR envies the guys on the DL.

[WaCougMBS]

Fe-lix, Fe-lix, Fe-lix!

[BChinly]

What happened to Kemp?

[apz]

What happened to Kemp?

Ejected for arguing.

[bayside]

Was just browsing the Fangraphs WAR leader boards and noticed something that didnt make sense.

These guys have identical xFIP, identical BABIP, identical WHIP, ERA within 0.1, etc.
Kershaw has thrown ~6 more innings, and has a slighly better HR/9, and slightly higher K%
Bum has a better K/BB ratio, a higher GB rate, and a slighlty better SIERA.
For all intents and purposes these 2 pitchers have been equally effective, and about as close statistically as any 2 pitchers in the game.
Click here for exact numbers:
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?p ... &players=0

Now for the part that doesnt make any sense:
Kershaw 4.2 WAR
Bumgarner 3.2 WAR

So how the hell can any calculation of WAR result in the conclusion that Kershaw has been 25% more valuable than Bumgarner so far this year?
wtf

[Izenhart]

Was just browsing the Fangraphs WAR leader boards and noticed something that didnt make sense.

These guys have identical xFIP, identical BABIP, identical WHIP, ERA within 0.1, etc.
Kershaw has thrown ~6 more innings, and has a slighly better HR/9, and slightly higher K%
Bum has a better K/BB ratio, and a slighlty better SIERA.
For all intents and purposes these 2 pitchers have been equally effective, and about as close statistically as any 2 pitchers in the game.
Click here for exact numbers:
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?p ... &players=0

Now for the part that doesnt make any sense:
Kershaw 4.2 WAR
Bumgarner 3.2 WAR

So how the hell can any calculation of WAR result in the conclusion that Kershaw has been 25% more valuable than Bumgarner so far this year?
wtf

probably fielding, as dumb as that sounds.

[footballisbetter.com]

love the memes