Neil Best followed up on his “anti champagne celebration” blog post with this interesting tidbit: As far as I can tell, the notion of spraying champagne to celebrate a sports victory began with Dan Gurney after the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. Whether or not that is accurate. I do know that by 1969 [...]

Howard mentioned used FIP to breakdown why Mike Pelfrey may not be as bad as we all think. It got me into perusing Fangraphs and looking more into FIP. I know most of you are aware of the stat, but I won’t assume the entire audience understands its meaning. FIP takes only into account what [...]

I was pretty strong in my opinion that Andy Pettitte should be the Game 2 starter in the ALDS. Joe Girardi claims he hasn’t made a decision yet on the rotation configuration. We all know CC Sabathia goes Game 1, but who should get Game 2, and possibly the chance to start a decisive Game [...]

We often get criticized here for talking about “intangibles” and “team chemistry”. There is new school of thinking (mainly from the younger fans) that dismisses the impact of people and chemistry because there is no way to measure it. Those detractors are correct about the measurement part, but that doesn’t mean it’s an important part [...]

What happened to all the homers at Yankee Stadium? Anthony McCarron asks this question in today’s Daily News. Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long believes opposing pitchers have learned to not throw inside to left handed hitters. Sounds strange when everyone preaches how pitchers need to “come in” to a hitter. The difference at the Stadium [...]

The Long Island Ducks quest to win their second Atlantic League title ended Tuesday night with a 7-5 loss to Southern Maryland in the fifth and decisive game. It was a tale of two ballgames as the Ducks fell behind 7-0 in the fourth inning and then mounted a furious comeback late. They pecked away [...]

I keep hearing about what a disappointment Mike Pelfrey was in 2009. Why, Pelfrey himself will tell you how awful he was, and who would know more than him? The problem is that his year was awfully similar to 2008, the year Mike Pelfrey became a frontline starting pitcher. In 2008, Pelfrey walked 2.9 hitters [...]

We’ve spent a good amount of time kicking around ideas of how to improve WFAN. After all, this is “New York’s #1 Sports Radio” and the fans deserve a good product. We have exchanged several ideas over the past year on what can be done to improve the product. We have suggested segmented content, fresh [...]

There still are a few races left this year. You have Colorado and Atlanta fighting for the Wild Card, while Detroit and Minnesota battle it out for the American League Central. By and large there hasn’t been much to cheer about this September around the league. Maybe I am speaking from a New York point [...]

via MLBTR The Boston Red Sox have designated Chris Carter for assignment, according to a press release. The 27-year-old outfielder played in 13 games for the Red Sox in 2008 and 2009, and was hitless in five plate appearances this season. The New York Yankees claimed him off waivers a month ago in an attempt [...]

Interesting take from Neil Best regarding the traditional champagne celebration from MLB teams after winning a division. Still, and I hate to be a party pooper here, but the increasingly ritualized practice of baseball teams spraying and/or consuming bubbly after every postseason achievement has gotten as stale as the carpeting in the Yankees’ plush new [...]

I advocated firing Jerry Manuel earlier today. Jim Baumbach of Newsday and I discussed this during last night’s edition of NYBD radio. Outside of Bobby Valentine there doesn’t appear to be many big name managers available. Do the Mets really need a big name? How about bringing in someone that can handle the situation this [...]

Adam Bernacchio of the Bleacher Report talks about how Royals announcers Ryan Lefebvre and Frank White snickered at the use of UZR during the recent series with Boston. He then speculates this is due to the fact Royals GM Dayton Moore doesn’t believe in defensive sabermetrics. Sounds like the Kansas City Royals should be banished [...]

Back in August Rick Peterson joined me on NYBD Radio to discuss 3p Sports and his philosophies on pitching. Rick will be answering questions from the fans on NYBD as well. The first of those installments starts now. Joe from Brooklyn asks: As a parent observing my son playing on his high school baseball team, [...]

It was a great weekend of baseball for Yankees fans! Friday night’s performance by Joba really set the tone for the series. Apparently, Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland reading him the riot act did a world of good! Finally free from the “Joba Rules,” Chamberlain looked focused, aggressive and sharp! Saturday saw another great performance [...]