• Craig Brown writes about Mike
Mussina's renaissance, and notes (among other things) that Mussina's walk rate this season is the best of his career … and of course it's always been pretty good. What I love about Mussina's season is that most of us -- yes, me included -- basically wrote him off after last season. This game will always surprise you.
• It's often said that closers, or at least some closers, just don't pitch as well in non-save situations. I've never seen a comprehensive study of the issue (actually, I probably have, but if so I've forgotten the results). One thing we do know: As David Pinto points out,
Mariano
Rivera has pitched a
lot better in save situations.
•
Brandon
Webb practically locked up his second Cy Young Award
yesterday, right? He's now 17-4 with a 2.88 ERA.
Aaron
Cook's No. 2 in the National League with 14 wins, and his ERA is a run higher. For Webb to lose the Cy Young, he'd have to slump
and somebody -- oddly enough,
Ryan
Dempster seems like the best candidate -- would have to finish in a rush. Meanwhile, after eight shutout innings yesterday,
Cliff
Lee's record is even better: 16-2, 2.45. But Lee's not quite in the clear yet, as
Joe
Saunders (14-5, 3.07) is still sort of within striking distance.
• The Rays have
acknowledged the possibility they'll bring up
David Price this season, and perhaps even before September. And why not? In 15 minor-league starts this season -- six in Class A, nine in Double-A -- Price is 11-0 with a 1.87 ERA. He struck out roughly a batter per inning at both levels, with great K/W ratios (5:1 and 3.5;1, respectively). There's only one marker of concern in Price's record. After going through all six of his Class A starts without giving up a home run, he gave up seven homers in AA.
It's nothing to
worry about, but I'd like to see him dominate Triple-A hitters, too, before introducing him to the American League East pennant race. And once he's up, he'll have to work out of the bullpen.
• Yesterday, the Rays registered their 71st win of the season, a new franchise record, so they deserve at least two Mendozas today.
Fortunately, our old friend Alan Schwarz offers
a nice profile of Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. My only
question: If Maddon's such a great manager, why did the Rays lose 96 games last year, and 101 games the year before? (That's not a rhetorical question; I really want to know.)
• Be glad you're not in China, where the government has
banned Joe Posnanski's blog.
• Let's see … Team that plays in easiest park in
which to hit signs
pitcher who's easiest to hit. In
said
pitcher's first start with new team in new home park, he gives up nine hits before getting knocked out in the third inning.
Shocking.
• When worlds collide … Previously in this space, I mentioned that Nate Silver -- Baseball Prospectus contributor, and inventor of
PECOTA -- also runs
FiveThirtyEight.com, a fantastic site about presidential electoral projections. And last week Nate was on
Keith Olbermann's show. Being smart, as usual.
• More video:
Ed Kranepool telling
Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan
the Yo La Tengo story (though nobody tells it better than Jon Miller). Oh, and by the way, my quest continues for a Yo La Tengo T-shirt featuring
Mr. Met. At the SABR convention, I saw a guy wearing one. I would have tackled him, but people there sort of knew me. Would have made for a tough getaway.
Rob Neyer
