Finally!

My computer has at long last arrived, and it feels pretty awesome. I'd like to put a picture of it online, but I don't have a camera and my computer can't take a picture of itself, so we'll see if that happens. Right now I'm in the process of transferring all my old files and programs onto the computer, and that should be done today or tomorrow, at which point blogging will finally become a regular pattern again. I still don't expect to be writing daily, with the offseason generally having little action, but you can certainly expect more volume than in the past month or two. Not from Twin #2, though; he has no excuse other than laziness.


And the more relevant news to the baseball world is that Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young, and it wasn't close at all. Congratulations to him and to the baseball writers for getting this one right on the button.

(Way too) Early Cy Young Awards

With the Twins game in another rain delay, I realized I don't want to have to wait for it to end to do today's entry, as it could get late and I have some work to do. Therefore, I decided to focus on another game that happened today between the Mets and the Phillies. Johan Santana stayed red hot, pitching 7 innings and allowing only 5 baserunners and no runs. He also struck out ten. So far this season, he's 4-1 with a 0.91 WHIP and ERA and 54 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. That's good for a rate of 12.25 K/9 and 4.5 K/BB, in addition to a measly .168 batting average against. If not for the Mets' paltry 12 runs scored in his six starts, he could easily be 6-0 already.

6-0? Well, there is somebody who is 6-0... Zack Greinke. His fast start has been much more heralded (and with good reason), but Santana is not far behind. The two are clearly the top choices if anybody (as I am) were foolish enough to talk about a Cy Young award in early May. Greinke, for the year, has a 0.40 ERA and 0.84 WHIP, 54 strikeouts in 45 innings, and 3 complete games and 2 shutouts. His K/9 is 10.8, his BB/9 a slim 1.6, and his K/BB 6.75, while opponents are hitting .189 against him. In essence, both pitchers have turned every opposing hitter into Alexi Casilla circa 2009. Sorry, but I couldn't resist another jab at the poor guy.

My point is simply that these guys have both been pitching out of this world and, at this point, are head and shoulders above anybody else in their respective leagues. Both of them have a good shot at earning the Cy Young honor when it actually counts at the end of the year.

[Edit, 5/7/09, 12:30 PM: These two certainly have been spectacular, but there is one more pitcher who I feel deserved to be mention, rather than just saying there's no one close: Dan Haren. He's got a 1.47 ERA, a 0.74 WHIP, 47 strikeouts against 7 walks, and a .167 opponent average in 43 innings. He had even worse support than Santana, though, as the D-Backs scored just 1 run in his first three starts. He lost all three and thus is only 3-3 on the season. I just didn't feel I was being fair if I didn't mention Haren.]

Sorry for the lack of Twins writing of late, and for the shorter entries in general, but it's finals time so this is all we can muster. Twin #2 finishes classes this week, and I'll be done at the end of next week, at which point things will pick right back up. There will definitely still be posts in the interim, though, so be sure to keep checking in!

Why I Don't Watch ESPN (as much)

I used to be one of those kids who watched SportsCenter on repeat until 1 in the afternoon on the weekends and in the summer. ESPN was always on in my house when I was younger, but as I've grown up I, along with many others, have become less and less enamored with the Worldwide Leader. Of course, there aren't many options for getting Twins highlights and it is a sports network after all, but tonight's example is just one example of many of why I don't watch it as much any more.

The setting: Chris Singleton, ESPN baseball analyst, is talking about how Zack Greinke is pitching so well this year. His explanation (paraphrased): "Greinke's fastball used to be 86-90, but this year he's hitting 94-95." His evidence: two or three highlights from this season that show the radar gun at 94 or 95 (and then a freeze frame where they zoom in and highlight Greinke's eyes to show his extreme concentration). Now to start, using common sense, it seems pretty ridiculous for a 25 year old's velocity to suddenly jump that much in one offseason. Sure enough, a quick check of Greinke's player page at FanGraphs shows that his average fastball velocity this season is exactly the same as it was last season, with both years coming in at 93.3 MPH. In fact, two years ago in 2007, his average fastball velocity was all the way up to 94.0 MPH. There's just no logical basis for what Singleton said. Did he just make it up, or did he really think it was true based on his own (obviously faulty) memory? Either way, it was clearly wrong, and these factual inaccuracies and illogical arguments pervade the whole network, which is a big reason why I've been watching less and less ESPN.