The SoapBoxers

NFL Draft

The 2010 draft will kick off Thursday night, with a new three day format.  In the past, the draft took place on Saturday and Sunday.  This year’s draft will be split across three days.  First round picks will be Thursday night, the next two rounds will be Friday night, and the final four rounds will occur on Saturday.  The NFL is making this move to try to score higher TV ratings for the draft.  I see this as a losing proposition for fans, though.  In the past, the Saturday start to the draft lent itself very nicely to draft parties.  A Thursday night draft doesn’t work quite as well for those who have work the next day.

After releasing longtime quarterback Marc Bulger, the St. Louis Rams are expected to select a quarterback with the top overall pick.  The general consensus is that this year’s crop of quarterbacks doesn’t have the slam-dunk guy who is a near-guaranteed star.  Barring a trade, the Rams are expected to pick Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, whose injury derailed the Sooners’ 2009 season.

Speaking of the Rams, their ownership is still in flux.  When majority owner Georgia Frontiere passed away in 2008, her 60% stake of the team was inherited by her children, Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez.  Now, they have chosen to sell their stake in the team.  They accepted a bid from Illinois businessman Shahid Khan (check out his Wikipedia bio for a great immigrant-makes-good story).  However, minority owner (40%) Walter  Kroenke has an option to match any offer.  At the end of his window to match the offer, Kroenke announced that he would exercise his option.

There’s a wrinkle in the plan, though.  The NFL bans owners from owning franchises (in other sports) in other NFL cities.  Kroenke owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Denver Avalanche – and would thus be barred from buying the Rams, unless this rule is waived, or unless he sells the Colorado teams (his 40% stake in the Rams was grandfathered during a 2005 expansion of this cross-ownership rule).  I’m really not a huge fan of the rule, as it doesn’t make much sense to me.  Some people think the Kroenke has a legitimate interest in becoming sole owner of the Rams, whereas others see this as posturing in an effort to get Khan to pay more for Kroenke’s 40%.  Only time will tell.

Another player sure to be drafted high in the NFL draft is Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.  Suh is expected to be grabbed in the first three picks.  Suh already has a massive fan base in Husker Nation – but he may have gained a few more on Saturday.  During Nebraska’s spring game, Suh announced his intention to donate $2.6 million to the university.  $2 million will go toward the strength and conditioning program within the athletic department.  $600,000 will go toward endowing a scholarship in the college of engineering – from which he earned his degree.  Suh’s family is yet another story of immigrants living the American dream.  His Jamaican-born mother and Cameroon-born father  met in Oregon in 1982.  There will certainly be some 2010 draftees who get into trouble in the future – but I sincerely doubt that Ndamukong Suh will be one of them.  He’s a great player and an all-around class act.  I say this despite the fact that I hate the University of Nebraska.  It’s hard to root against the kid.

Be Like Ike

On the baseball beat, Ike Davis was called up by the Mets on Monday.  Not coincidentally, players called up on Sunday would have received credit for an entire season of service time; those called up on Monday only get credit for actual time served (I explained how this works when I answered the question of why Stephen Strasburg got sent to the minors).  The effect of delaying Davis’ call-up until now is that he will not become a free agent until after the 2016 season.  Down the coast in Atlanta, 20 year old Jason Heyward broke camp with the Braves and is off to a great start.  However, barring a demotion at some point, this means that Heyward will become a free agent following the 2015 season.  A few weeks in April make a lot of difference down the line.

If you’re a longtime reader of The Soap Boxers, you’re familiar with Davis’ name.  He was one of the players selected with draft picks the Mets received as compensation for losing Tom Glavine to free agency.  Chalk up that exchange as a win for the Mets.

Where There’s a Will

Mike and Mike in the morning were talking with George Will this morning and mentioned that his book Men At Work will be re-released next month.  It’s 20 years old, but one of my favorite baseball books.  Will picks the minds of 80’s baseball icons such as Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. to see what makes them tick.  (Yes, this is the same George Will who writes about politics).

When I was looking up the book in Amazon so that I could link to it, one of the books that popped up in “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought …” was Jim Bouton’s Ball Four.  Ball Four takes an even more interesting look way behind the scenes of baseball.  It’s a great read, but there’s adult language and situations, so it’s not the sort of book to use as a bedtime story for your kids.  (There’s no logical reason to talk about Ball Four today, othe than the Amazon connection.  It’s just a good book 🙂

Deadlines can be exceptionally useful, and frustrating.  Useful in that they give you a goal, something to aim for.  Without deadlines, many tasks simply would not get done.  Frustrating in that if you allow you deadline to creep up on you, your effort may not be of the highest caliber.

I establish a deadline for my Ramblings of Friday of each week.  I have not met that deadline for several weeks.  Instead, I am pounding away at the keys late Sunday night as my wife sleeps, hoping to put out something coherent for Kosmo before he heads to work on Monday morning.  I believe I have been successful, but also believe that my best work has been when I am inspired and complete my efforts at a more casual pace.  Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy participating in The Soap Boxers.  I have to be more organized to maintain a writing program to meet my commitments.

I found that deadlines really helped when I participated in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org) last November.  Simply setting numbers of words or chapters helped because it let me know how far ahead or behind I was from my plan.  I succeeded in producing my very first novel.  I am currently working on my second, choosing a completely different genre (the first was a romance, now I am working on a science fiction piece).  This second effort is much harder for two reasons; I have no driving deadline like I did for the first effort, and I have changed jobs which has required significantly more time at the office.

My solution to my writing shortfall is to set deadlines.  Just as in our work situations, deadlines, even if artificial, drive work.  At my work, I have to report on financial progress every week to my direct management.  This effort is to make sure I am ready for a monthly report to a higher level.  Everyone I am talking to already knows what I am going to say, but the constant rehearsal prevents slipping and not being ready for the bigger report.

I am even setting deadlines for chores around the house.  We have to have the vegetable garden planted on Mother’s Day weekend.  Here in Iowa, earlier than that could be a loss of crop due to frost; later, there is not enough time to get some items to maturity.  Now this is an artificial deadline, since we are not good gardeners.  If we get 20 tomatoes out of our 5 plants we get excited.  Whether we do or not, a trip to the farmer’s market at the end of the season gets 20 pounds of tomatoes to freeze and have all winter.

Deadlines for spring cleaning; got the garage done but still working on the basement.  Deadlines for house repair; can’t afford the new windows so starting on wallpaper removal in the formal dining room.  And finally, I am setting deadlines to actually write.  Both for the Casual Observer and for myself.  If you every truly want to be a writer, you are going to have to deal with deadlines.  It is far better to establish them yourself than have them levied against you, they you only have yourself to blame if you miss them.

On a personal note, for any of you who have been following my Ramblings on aging parents the following is a synopsis of the conditions of the people I have referenced.

My father has gotten through his knee surgery just fine and started physical therapy.  He will be using a walker for a while, but should graduate to a cane and hopefully no walking aid within a year.  He will be 80 in October.

My uncle is home from his triply by-pass surgery.  He is 75 and stronger now than he has been in several years.  The surgery has relieved the physical problems.  Sadly my aunt died last year after struggling with Parkinson’s and Emphysema.  No longer having to provide daily care and slowly overcoming his grief has helped his emotional health as well.

My other aunt is still in the hospital after her hip replacement surgery.  She is not doing well.  She is 74 and only retired from working in a box factory two years ago.  Her strength is very low after losing a lot of blood.  Her body seems to be rejecting the titanium bolts that are typically used for this operation.  She can use all of your prayers.

Thank you all for your interest.

On Sunday, Mitch Albom launched a surprise attack on fantasy baseball in Parade Magazine. 

Albom starts off by pointing out that on any given day, fifteen million people check fantasy baseball stats – more fans than are actually in the stands to watch a game that day.  Albom sees this as a bad thing.  The fire marshals probably see this as a good thing.  In order for fifteen million people to attend a game on a particular day, it would entail each of the fifteen games to have a million people in the stands.  That would be fine – except that the maximum capacity of most stadiums is around fifty thousand. 

Albom also seems to be splitting the followers of baseball into “fantasy folks” and regular fans.  Albom must know a different group of fantasy players than I do.  In my leagues, all of the participants are also big fans of a Major League team.  While I’d love to see my Yura Peeins or Bats in the Belfry teams win titles in their respective leagues, I’d much prefer to see the Colorado Rockies win the division.

Why, then, do I even bother with fantasy baseball?

First of all, to kill the dead time in the schedule.  I absolutely love baseball.  There are, sadly, a handful off days during the season on which the Rockies don’t play.  Being able to actively follow other teams on these days (as well as during the hours the Rockies aren’t playing on other days) staves off the depression that would otherwise set in from lack of Rockies.  While I have a defined order of preference for Major League teams, it’s fun to have some somewhat random players to root for.  (By the way, if you’re looking for an entertaining tale of fantasy baseball, check out Sam Walker’s Fantasyland.)

There is also the actual nature of fantasy baseball.  I consider it to be much more challenging than other fantasy sports.  In football, there is a reasonable correlation between yards and touchdowns.  In basketball, the best centers are going post strong numbers in points, rebounds, and blocks. 

This isn’t the case in baseball, though.  It’s extremely rare to see a player put up strong numbers in all categories.  Prince Fielder of the Brewers is a great offensive player, but he kills you in steals.  Conversely, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners will give you steals, but few homers.  There is also the issue of positional flexibility.  In the other sports, the position is set.  A wide receiver does not suddenly become a quarterback.  However, in baseball, it is not uncommon to see players log time at a few different positions.  It can be advantageous to have a player who is eligible at multiple positions (so that he can fill in for injured players) even if his offensive ceiling is not as high as others.

Albom says that “if you program a computer correctly, it can play an entire fantasy season without you.”  While this is true (in fact, no programming is necessary), it’s very unlikely that you can WIN this way.  Fantasy baseball is very much an art – determining which of the inevitable sacrifices to make during the season.

Albom’s main assumption seems to be that people use fantasy baseball as a replacement for the real thing.  However, in my experience, this is not the case.  Instead, people use fantasy baseball to supplement the main activity of following their favorite team.

Sorry, Mitch, you struck out on this one.

The rosin bag

Rockies Nation was exuberant on Saturday evening.  26 year old staff ace Ubaldo Jimenez handcuffed the Atlanta Braves en route the first no-hitter in Rockies history.  Baldo’s control was lacking in the early innings.  He walked six batters in the first five innings.  At that point, pitching coach Bob Apodaca noticed that Jimenez was pitching better from the stretch (a shorter motion typically used only when there are runners on base) than he was from the windup.  Jimenez pitched the rest of the game from the stretch and didn’t walk another hitter.  Jimenez was still throwing in the high 90s at the end of the game (after touching 100 several times earlier in the game).  Ubaldo has flown under the radar of casual fans a bit, but many experts consider him to be among the elite pitchers in the game,

After I finished listening to the Jimenez’s no-hitter, I switched over to the Cardinals-Mets game.  The game had started at 3 PM Central time.  By the time I tuned in (thanks to a heads-up from The Angry Squirrel) the game was in the 14^th inning, tied at 0-0.  Eventually, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa decided against draining his pitching staff any further (he had already used eight pitchers).  Shortstop Felipe Lopez  pitched a scoreless 18^th inning.  Outfielder Joe Mather then took the mound in the 19^th.  He surrendered run to the Mets, but Cardinals matched it in the bottom of the frame.  Mather finally took the loss after giving up a run in the 20^th.

 I doubt that there was a more popular player in the clubhouse after the game, however.  The Cardinals had Sunday’s game to think about (they won that game) and someone needed to take one for the team.  As it turned out, La Russa didn’t need to worry about the bullpen for Sunday’s game – Adam Wainwright turned in a complete game.

The Baltimore Orioles, at 2-11, are 7 ½ games behind the front running Yankees in the American League East.  It may be time for Orioles fans to start looking at promising college sophomores and high school juniors, in anticipation of the O’s landing the top pick in next year’s draft.

Sure, go ahead.  You will definitely save a little energy.  The key word is that sentence is “little”.

First of all, computers aren’t the energy hogs that many people think they are.  The laptop I use at work has a 90 watt AC adapter, and the Mac Mini I have at home has a 100 watt AC adapter.  It’s important to note that these are maximum wattages.  Most computer usage doesn’t come anywhere close to the max, and when it does, it’s for short bursts.

Electricity usage is measured as a kilowatt hour (kWh).  The means that a device that has constant usage of 1000 watts would use 1 kWh every 60 minutes.  The cost per kWh varies, but is generally in the ballpark of 10 cents.  This means my Mac Mini costs about 1 cent per hour to operate when it is at its maximum consumption rate (100 watts = 1/10 kW).

But that’s not even what we’re talking about. I wouldn’t save the entire 0.1 kWh by powering off the computer.  Like most users, I’m going to put my computer into sleep mode at night.  Sleep mode typically uses between 1 and 5 watts.  In the case of my Mac Mini, 1.39 watts.  I wasn’t able to find this information on my exact model of laptop, but I suspect that its usage is similarly low, especially in “hibernate” mode.

Is it worth the effort to shut down your computer to save a few watts per hour?  Let’s assume that your computer uses a relatively high 5 watts when in sleep mode.  Let’s also assume that it is idle 75% of the time.  That’s 126 idle hours per week, or 6552 hours per year.  Multiply this by a usage of 5 watt per hour, and you get a savings of 32,670 watt hours, or 33 kilowatt hours.  Congratulations – you just saved $3.30.  Have a Mac Mini like mine, and the savings is just $1.25 per year.

This makes even less financial sense for businesses, which are paying their employees to shut down the computer at night and restart them in the morning.  If we assume 1 minute of lost productivity per day for 250 work days, this is more than 4 hours of lost productivity!  Unless you’re paying your employees less than 90 cents per hour, you lost money on this exchange (assuming the $3.30 in energy savings).

Of course, you could argue that every little bit of saved energy adds up, in terms of environmental impact.  This is definitely true – and if you want to conserve every little bit of energy, then go ahead and shut down the computer.  However, there are a lot of other changes that give you a lot more bang for the buck.  If you have a 60 watt incandescent bulb in a lamp you use an average of two hours per day and switch it out with an equivalent compact fluorescent bulb (using 13 watts), you save 47 watts per hour of use – or 34 kWh during the course of a year ((34 X 2 X 365)/1000).  Yep, taking a minute to switch out a bulb saves as much energy as shutting down and restarting your computer 365 times!

I’m not suggesting that we waste energy.  I’m not even suggesting that we shouldn’t power off computers and other unused electronics.  I’m simply suggesting that if you’re willing to put the effort into this very small energy savings, you might also focus some energy on things that save even more energy.

I’m not a very fashion-oriented person.  Spend a short bit of time with me and you’ll quickly discover that comfort trumps style.  While I CAN dress up in a shirt and tie when the situation warrants, I strongly prefer jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of my trust Adidas running shoes.  (Why Adidas?  Because they seems to be lighter than competing brands, and light = good).

My taste in jeans is Wrangler relaxed fit.  I’ve tried other brands, but they just don’t seem to fit as well.  Whenever I need a new pair or two, I pull up WalMart.com and order the requisite number in 30W X 34L size.  The size is odd enough that it’s darn near impossible to find in a brick and mortar store.

However, I digress.   While jeans and shoes are comfortable, they don’t exhibit the personality of t-shirts.  I have dozens and dozens of t-shirts.  I’ll share some of my favorites with you.

The Rockies Collection – I have a wide array of Rockies shirts.  There’s my Troy Tulowitzki jersey shirt, two identical Todd Helton jersey shirts (one much more worn than the others), the 2007 National League Champions shirts, and of course the one emblazoned with the slogan “Baseball With an Altitude” (which is often misread as “attitude”).  I see out interesting and unusual Rockies shirts.

The Non-Rockies Baseball Collection – Although I am a Rockies fan, I am first a fan of the sport of baseball.  I just ordered a brand new Matt Holliday Cardinals jersey shirt (though Holliday obviously has a Rockies connection).  I have a Greg Maddux t-shirt that is around 15 years old.  A favorite shirt of mine shows logos of all the minor league teams at the time (waiting for an update to this great shirt).  I also have a Hall of Fame shirt from my trip to Cooperstown in 2002.  My “Tools of the Trade” shirt has become so worn and faded that it had to be removed from the rotation.  Much sadness.

The Cyclone Collection – I’m a proud alum and fan of Iowa State University.  In addition to a sufficient number of football and basketball shirts, I also have an Iowa State Wrestling shirt.  The collection is rounded out with several shirts advertising the university itself.

The Vikings Collection (on temporary hold) – My Vikings shirts have been temporarily mothballed until Brett Favre goes away for good.  A couple of my favorite Vikings shirts are my Randy Moss jersey (technically not a t-shirt, I know).  I remain a big Moss fan, and actually purchased the jersey after he was traded to Oakland (at a very steep discount).  I also wear my Michael Bennett jersey t-shirt from time to time.

The Fun Collection – I also have some interesting and offbeat shirts.  There’s my “Work Sucks – I’m Going to the Mountains” shirt purchased on a trip toRocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  There’s my USA Luge shirt, of course.  I also have a shirt from the St. Louis Arch showing the arch with a timeline hidden in the details of the graphic.  I’m not a big fan of Hard Rock Cafe, but my shirt from the Cafe in Niagara Falls Canada is pretty cool – it features the Falls on the back.

I really need to mend my shirt from Disney’s Animal Kingdom – it features Winnie the Pooh peering through a magnifying glass and mistaking actual tiger for his friend Tigger.  I’m a fan of Pooh, and tigers are my second favorite animal (dinosaurs being my favorite), so this is a natural fit.  Continuing with the animal theme are t-shirts from a couple of zoos (I love zoos).  My shirt from the Tulsa Zoo features pictures of a lot of big cats.  My shirt from the Niabi Zoo in the Quad Cities shows a couple of zebras using paint brushes to add stripes to other animals.  I also have a long sleeved penguin shirt – the penguin has his “hands” over his ears – with the caption “Not Listening”.

As the taxi sped away, Wyatt Jonson stared in awe of the stadium looming in front of him.  He felt that he was on hallowed ground in the shadow of the great shrine to the game.  Wyatt slowly came out of his reverie and walked toward the player entrance.

“Who’re you?” snapped the burly man guarding the player entrance.

“Wyatt Jonson, the new third baseman.”

“I ain’t got no Jonson on my sheet.  I gotta make a call.”  The guard took the toothpick out of his mouth, grabbed the phone, and punched in a number.  After a moment of grumbled conversation, he turned back to Wyatt.

“Need to see your license.”

Wyatt pulled out his South Dakota driver’s license and handed it to the guard.

The guard glanced at the photo on the ID, then back at Wyatt to verify that the photo matched.

“OK, kid, you’re good to go.  Welcome to the show.”

A few minutes later, Wyatt had found his way to the manager’s office.  Mac McGee was tied up on a phone call, facing away from the door.  Wyatt stood silently by the door, waiting for the call to end.  When Mac hung up the phone, Wyatt knocked on the door.

“What the ^*&^*&?” exclaimed the startled manager, spilling his coffee on the cluttered desk.

“I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to surprise you like that.  I’m Wyatt Jonson.”

Mac’s face changed into a smile.  “You realize that you didn’t need to report until tomorrow, right?  Geez, kid, how did you manage to get here so quickly?”

“My dad’s best friend happens to live in Springfield and has a private plane.  I was able to circumvent the whole airport hassle.  I wanted to get here as soon as possible.”

Mac laughed.  “I appreciate your enthusiasm, kid.  Have the pilot send a bill to the team.”  The manager glanced at his watch.  “We weren’t planning to have you available until tomorrow, but you’re probably the best option we have right now.  We’re getting pretty close to game time.  Go take a few hacks in the batting cage.”

Wyatt was quickly hustled down to the batting cage where he took some nervous swings.  His big league debut was just minutes away, and giant butterflies were flying around in his stomach.  Fifteen minutes later, he was escorted back to the dugout.

“There’s your locker, kid,” said the equipment manager, nodding at a stall.  Wyatt rushed to changed into his uniform.

“Something wrong, kid?” asked the equipment manager, noticing the frown on Wyatt’s face.

“My name’s wrong.  It’s J-O-N-S-O-N.”  The equipment manager glanced at the jersey, which had the name JOHNSON emblazoned on the back.

“Oh, man.  I’m sorry.  We don’t have time to get it fixed right now, but we’ll have it done for tomorrow’s game.”

Wyatt nodded.  He reminded himself that this was a minor detail, and that the important thing was that he would be on the field tonight.

Moments later, Wyatt was on the field as the Star Spangled Banner was played.  After the final note faded away, he drifted toward his shortstop position.

“Play ball,” came the shout from the umpire.

The batter dug in and turned to face the mound.  Reigning Cy Young winner Twister Larson unleashed a 95 mph fastball.  The batter swung and hit a ground ball between second and third base.  Wyatt hurried toward the ball, gloved it, set himself, and made a strong and accurate throw to first base.  So far, so good, he thought.

Another hitter stepped into the batter’s box, and Larson rocked and fired again.  A few pitches later, the batter was making the long, slow walk back to the dugout.  The final batter of the inning lifted a harmless fly ball to right field.

Wyatt returned to the dugout and started to take a seat on the bench.

“You’re leading off, rook,” came the voice of Mac McGee.  Wyatt turned and went to the bat rack.  He realized that he hadn’t brought any bats with him.

“What are ya looking for? “ asked Rake Sauders.  The three time batting champ smiled broadly.  “I have a rather extensive collection of wood.”

“Uh, 34 inches and 32 ounces.”

“Ah, here we go,” replied Rake, pulling a Louisville Slugger from the rack.  “Consider it a housewarming gift.”

Wyatt nodded his thanks and headed toward the plate.

“Aren’t you up past your bedtime, kid?”

Wyatt ignored the chatter from the catcher and settled into the box.  He realized that the opposing pitcher was Lefty Vays.  Vays threw in the high 90s with mediocre control and a nasty disposition.  This was not going to be a fun at bat.

The ball arrived at the plate much too quickly, and the ump quickly registered a strike.  Wyatt had faced some guys in the minors who threw in the high 90s.  That pitch had to be at least 102.

Wyatt prepared himself for the fastball and took a mighty swing at the next pitch.  It was a changeup moving at about 85 mph and Wyatt was hopelessly in front of it.  He managed to make contact on the next pitch, fouling it weakly into the stands behind the plate.

Wyatt prepared for the 1-2 pitch.  The wild pitch got away from Vays and struck Wyatt in the ribs.  The umpire awarded Wyatt first base and busied himself sweeping home plate to give Wyatt some time to recover.

When Wyatt got to first base, he immediately got the sign to steal.  He took off on Vays’ first motion and slid into second well ahead of the throw from the catcher.  He smiled as he stood at second base and shook off the dust.  His ribs seemed to hurt a bit less.

Rake Saunders lived up to his nickname and hammered the next pitch off the wall in center field.  Wyatt raced around third base and streaked toward home plate.  He slid into home, but the throw went into second to keep Saunders from advancing.

Wyatt was greeted warmly by his teammates when he returned to the dugout.

Mac McGee smiled up at him.  “Hey kid, why don’t you take a load off and sit down for a minute.”

Wyatt was beaming as he took a seat on the bench – the first chance he’d had to sit down since he had jumped out of the taxi.

An interesting thing about baseball is that every field is different.  The dimensions are different, the amount of foul territory is different, and the altitude is different (see Coors Field for a good example of this).

For this reason, baseball statistics must be taken in their proper context.  The typical way to do this is to calculate a “park factor” for a park and adjust a player’s statistics according.  ESPN has a page devoted to this.  However, their park factors are, for lack of a better word, wrong.  Let’s investigate.

The formula ESPN uses (using runs as an example) is:

((homeRS + homeRA)/(homeG)) / ((roadRS + roadRA)/(roadG))

 (RS = Runs Scored.  RA = Runs Allowed.  HomeG = Home Games.)

Here’s a very simple example:

Rockies 6, Padres 3 @ Coors Field

Rockies  4, Padres 2 @ Petco Park
 

The park factors for runs would be:

Coors: 

((6+3)/1)/((4+2)/1))

9/6 = 1.500

Petco

((4+2)/1)/((6+3)/1))

6/9 = .667

 
On the face, this looks pretty solid.  However, it relies on one flawed assumption: all teams are on a level playing field for road games.  However, this is not true.  Baseball has an unbalanced schedule in which you play many more games against teams in your own division that you do against teams in other division.  Your road stats will be affected by the fact that you play a disproportionate number of games in those parks.

To examine this flaw in greater detail, let’s construct a league as such.

National League – 16 teams

• 8 teams play in parks that have a league average of homers allowed
• 4 teams play in parks that allow 80% as many homers as the league average
• 4 teams play in parks that allow 120% as many homers as the league average

The National League, as a whole, is thus neutral.

American League: 14 teams, whose parks average out to neutral.

My team plays in a park that allows a league average number of home runs.  For the sake of simplicity, let’s set this at 1 HR/game (total for both teams).

The four other teams in my division play in pitcher’s park that allow 80% as many homers as a neutral park (0.8/game).

Of the other eleven teams in the league, there are seven that play in neutral parks and four that player in hitter’s parks that allow 1.2 homers/game.

A typical unbalanced National League schedule has 72 games against divisional opponents, 75 against the rest of the league (6.82 games per team), and 15 against American League teams.  The last few numbers vary a slight bit due to the fact that there are more teams in the National league that the American League.

My unbalanced schedule will be constructed similar to this:

• 81 games at home:  (81 games X 1.0 HR/game = 81 HR)
• 36 games (half of the 72) at divisional parks:  (36 X 0.8 = 28.8 HR)
• 3.41 road games (half the 6.82) against each of the 7 neutral park teams (3.41 X 7 teams X 1.0 HR/game = 23.87 HR)
• 3.41 road games (half the 6.82) against each of the 4 hitter’s park teams (3.41 X 4 teams X 1.2 HR/game = 16.368 HR)
• 7.5 road games against AL teams (half of the 15), assuming a neutral sampling of parks (7 games X 1.0 HR/game = 7.5 HR)

Home: 81 HR

Road:  76.538 HR

Calculated park factor: 81/76.538 = 1.058

The unbalanced schedule has made it appear that the neutral park is 5.8% easier to homer in – but it’s really not!  If you plop this exact same park into a division where the other teams play in hitter friendly environments, you’ll see the opposite effect – the ESPN park factor will suggest that the park is pitcher-friendly.

The ESPN park factors are OK for quick and dirty analysis, but take them with a grain of salt.  This is particular true when the parks within a division lean heavily one way – a park that goes against the grain in that division will have its own effect exaggerated.

 With last weeks iPad release and iPhone OS out there, I thought I’d share my top 10 favorite apps for the iPhone.

1. Meebo – Meebo to me is the definitive chat client for the iPhone. I’m a big fan of their web based chat client, and when I saw they were releasing a version for the iPhone I jumped on it. Who wouldn’t love a single sign on chat client to AIM, MSN, YIM, Google, etc.?
2. Kindle – If you’re a big reader like me there’s pretty much no reason to not have the Kindle app, except for maybe if you have a Barnes & Noble Nook. Some may complain that it’s tough to read on such a small screen, but with all the settings I find it to be an enjoyable experience.
3. Pandora – Even with gigabtyes upon gigabytes of music on my iPhone, I still find myself spending more of my music listening time on Pandora. It just makes listening to music easy.
4. Facebook – The best social networking app for the best social network. Pretty much everyone now a days has a Facebook account, and having an app on your phone to keep yourself up to date is a must.
5. Dropbox – Want to access a file on your PC from your iPhone? Dropbox is the answer. Not only is Dropbox great for keeping data in sync and transferring data between computers, but this app also allows you to access all those files from your phone.
6. Plants vs Zombies – This is my current favorite game on the iPhone. It’s a simple tower game, but it’s the simplicity that I love. Who doesn’t love killing zombies?
7. MLB.com At Bat – I’m a big White Sox fan and I’m a big fan of this app because of it. This app allows me to watch every White Sox game I want and keep up to date with the latest stats from around the league.
8. Marvel – I’m not really a big comic book guy, well at least I wasn’t until I tried this app. This just makes it so easy to read comic books, that it seems to me that I might finally be pulled into the comic book world. May I recommend the Astonishing X-Men from Joss Whedon of Firefly fame?
9. CardStar – Pretty much everyone I know has a wallet full of frequent shopper cards. They’re a must now a days, every grocery store, pharmacy, and even sporting goods store has them. I don’t cary any, with this app on my phone I can just punch in the number on the bar code on the card and it acts as the card for me. It can even be scanned by cashiers.
10. TV Guide – Sure every cable and satellite box now has a TV Guide built in, but I sometimes find myself wondering if there’s anything good on TV while I’m not at home, at a restaurant perhaps. This app lets me know.

Kosmo is filling in for Johnny Goodman on the sports beat this week.

The Masters

To call me a golf fan would be an absurd exaggeration. In general, I check to see home local boy Zach Johnson is doing and see who wins. This week – even with the return of Tiger Woods – it was the same drill here. Tiger fell a bit short and Phil Mickelson picked up another green jacket. I can’t help but cheer for Mickelson, who faced the dual adversity of his wife and his mother being diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

Country Joe Sings the Wrong Tune

Baseball umpire Joe West – also a country music singer – ruffled some feathers on both sides of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry by saying the two teams were pathetic because of the length of the games they played.

This annoyed me for a couple of reasons. First of all, the umpire is supposed to be an impartial observer. When he made these comments, West crossed a line. If these sorts of statements are to be made, they should come from the commissioner’s office (which later did make a comment about the length of games).

Even more annoying, though, is the continued emphasis on the length of games. One of the beauties of baseball is the fact that it is untimed. You can typically estimate the length of football of basketball games. Baseball is an entirely different beast. You can get a two hour game if the pitchers are working quickly and the batters are swinging at everything. On the flip side, you can have a four hour game if the pitchers are working slowly and the batters are patient.

In baseball, a team is never eliminated until the last out is made. This isn’t the case in other sports. You can’t make up a twenty eight point deficit in fifteen seconds in football. It’s a technical impossibility – you wouldn’t have enough time to execute the necessary players. In baseball, though, you can rally from a 10-0 deficit with two outs in the ninth. As long as you keep getting hits, the game will continues.

Have you ever been to a great rock concert and later, complained about the length? Of course not. If the experience is of poor quality, this is a problem. If it’s merely excess quantity, this really isn’t a problem.

The Resin Bag

Nationals prospect Stephen Strasburg and Reds farmhand Aroldis Chapman both began their minor league careers with strong performances. Don’t expect either of these guys to stay down very long. Once the teams are assured of having their free agency (and possibly arbitration) delayed, these guys will pop up to the majors.

Meanwhile, Mike Leake jumped into the Reds rotation without any minor league experience. If Chappy is indeed being kept down for financial reasons, then why did the Reds keep Leake with the big club to start the season? They could have delayed Leake’s free agency in a similar fashion. Any chance that the Reds will demote Leake when Chappy is promoted – for just enough time to delay his free agency?

CC Sabathia put up a strong performance on Saturday night, taking a no-hit big into the eighth inning. I love the anticipation of a no-hitter in progress and always pull for the pitcher.

On the Rockies beat, Jorge de la Rosa started off his 2010 campaign strong, tossing seven innings of one hit ball. Keep an eye on George of the Rose. He started last year 0-6 with a 5.43 ERA before rallying to finish 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA. For those of you keeping score at home, that means he went 16-3 with a 3.94 ERA from June 5th through the end of the season. The ERA might not seem dominant … but bear in mind that his home park is Coors Field.

Matt Holliday of the Cardinals is off to a hot start, with three homers in seven games (he is, of course, playing second fiddle to Albert Pujols, who has five).  I have always contended that Holliday’s bat would play anywhere.  Clearly Coors Field boosted his numbers … but not by as much as the raw home/road splits would make you think.  If you compare Holliday’s differential to those of other Rockies, you’d quickly noticed that his differential dwarfed those of the teammates.  Either the park was exceptionally well suited for him … or he’s simply the sort of player who thrives in front of a home crowd.  Hey, guess what – his home OPS was 150 points high than his road OPS last year … despite being in Oakland (bad hitter’s park) at the beginning of the year.  As a point of comparison, across baseball, the typical player has an OPS 30 points higher at home.  I’m expecting a strong season from Happy this year as well.

I made a rookie goof in fantasy baseball and neglected to pay attention to my starting lineup.  As a result, I had a sub-standard lineup in place for week 1.  My Yura Peeins fell to Johnny Goodman’s team 6-4.  I lost two pitching categories and four of the five hitting categories – nabbing the only win in steals.  Honestly, though, even with my A lineup, I would probably have lost by the same score.

Several weeks ago, I published an article about dealing with aging parents. In that article, I discussed treating parents with respect and understanding. In that article, I discussed the limitations that my parents are living with and there plans to move into a smaller home. Thankfully, they have found a location closer to my bother and sister (about 2 miles and 3 blocks respectively).

Now comes the paragraph of frustrations. I am not in a position to help my parents as they prepare to move. I live in another state, just under 1100 miles away. My bother, sister, brother in law, niece and nephew are performing all of the support effort. This lack of participation is frustrating to me, it highlights my feeling a not supporting my parents as they age.

I have made a habit of calling my parents every Sunday night, when I am sure that they have stopped working for the day. It was during these calls that I learned that there are many more problems with aging than I or my parents have had to negotiate. My uncle has recently been hospitalized to have bypass surgery. Next, my aunt had hip replacement surgery. Then the kicker, as I said my parents are planning on moving, and now my father is having knee replacement surgery.

So, what am I doing to deal with this frustration? First, I am offering any help they want from a distance. What they appear to want (remember I have recommended listening and doing what they want) is to stay with me while their new house is being built. This is fine, but does actually put more pressure on my brother. You see, while they are with me, he will be responsible for making sure the house turns out the way they want it. So I am smiling, I get the easier task.

My house is not built for elderly people. There are stairs everywhere. There is a step into the family room, there are steps ate every door out of the house. The laundry is in the basement, the bathtub and shower are on the second floor. There will be some inconveniences. We will convert the dining room into a bed room, to avoid most of those stairs. My mother will have to wait until someone is home to help her get up and down the stairs for her shower, this will fall on my wife or daughter so they can help her get into and out of the shower itself.

With what I have experienced so far, I have learned a lot about what I have to do to prepare for my own old age. My wife and I are already looking at elderly friendly housing as our next home (after all of the kids have moved out). We originally thought we were shopping to care for our parents, but we are actually shopping for ourselves. I have also learned that it is possible to live by the advise I gave in the original article. I am listening to what my parents want. I am tempering my disappointment when they do not take my advice. I am not using my children to get them to do things I want them to do.

Enjoy life and enjoy your time with your loved ones.