Not since Chappaquiddick has it looked so bad for a Kennedy: Joe Kennedy’s career line against the Angels is 0-8, 6.34 ERA, with an equally unsightly 1.71 WHIP and BAA of .338. If those numbers look familiar, it’s about what Kennedy’s stats would have looked like had he made one more start in the Cactus League—and pitched a no-hitter.
So do these numbers portend doom tonight, when Kennedy takes the mound? There is so much turnover on rosters that you wonder how important past match-ups are between a pitcher and a team. Going “inside the numbers,” only three players stand out as having owned Joe Kennedy:
On the other hand, more recent additions Orlando Cabrera (0/10) and Shea Hillenbrand: (3/20) have done Kennedy no harm, and they are more likely than Eckstein to be in the lineup tonight.
So what’s most important? Is it the uniform, in which case Kennedy is in trouble? Or is it the players, in which case Kennedy might be just fine? Weigh in now and then we’ll find out tonight if Joe hangs around longer than Ted did…
Note: If you missed Tuesday’s post, please check it out and consider participating. Thanks. http://www.athleticsnation.com/story...
0 recs | 69 comments
Happy Birthday Mr. Kennedy...
Tonight's prediction:
Like the serenade from Marilyn, the A's give Smokin' Joe Kennedy an early birthday present and stake him to 50 runs in a nailbiter, 50-48, with Street getting the save and Ellis picking up a career high 32 RBI.
since72 - April 6, 2007
Good call, since72--
Yahoo's box score confirms that 50-48 is right on. Ellis' 32 RBI are all the more impressive considering he only had 6 ABs.
Nico - April 6, 2007
Swisher has 46 RBI
For the other team.
baseb3383 - April 6, 2007
Todd Walker will be the winning pitcher
with Melhuse getting the save.
WaddellCanseco - April 6, 2007
p.s.
did you actually use the word "portend"?
:)
since72 - April 6, 2007
No, I just portended to
Nico - April 6, 2007
Nico -
The Great Portender
AsFanInLA - April 6, 2007
<Rocky voice>
"I coulda been a portender."
Nico - April 6, 2007
that's <brando voice>
xbhaskarx - April 6, 2007
Or
<Mark Wahlberg's voice.>
mikeA - April 6, 2007
<Burgess Meredith voice>
No way Rock. No one would look at you and say, "that should go for 6 movies".
AsFanInLA - April 6, 2007
isn't this a school day?
ak_A - April 6, 2007
Spring Break
We actually have many different seasons here in California, not just "6 months darkness," "6 months light," and "whaling season".
Nico - April 6, 2007
from you lap top in Fort Lauderdale?
ak_A - April 6, 2007
Hopefully,
Joe has a powerful "family" (the bullpen) that can bail him out of trouble just like Ted's did.
mikeA - April 6, 2007
I'm thinking if Ted's family
had been Lenny DiNardo and Jay Witasick, he'd be in prison right now.
Nico - April 6, 2007
Witasick would have
been out buying shoes instead of posting bail.
mikeA - April 6, 2007
The most research on this thread
went into spelling that Massachusetts seaside town name, I'll wager....
Anyway, it's true, all these "versus a team" are simply statistical coincindences. It's like spilling a bag of marbles all over the carpet, then investigating some of the resulting clusters..."Why are five marbles so close together here, but these other five here are spaced apart? Is magnetism a factor in green marbles?"
And with free agency, video study, sabermetrics, it's all different in aggregating past performance and then assuming a trend will continue; even compared to ten years ago. Maybe a pitcher was tipping his pitches, a particular team was picking that up but not other teams, background at Trop Field not conducive, etc etc etc...
Which reminds me. What is the ratio of correct pronunciations of "et cetera" versus "ek setera" on radio and TV these days??? I've abandoned hope.
One won lost won - April 6, 2007
You are correct, One won...
but google makes spelling easier. You just approximate the word and when you google "Chappaquidick" it asks "Did you mean 'Chappaquiddick'?" To which you type in "Why yes, google, thanks--I did" To which google gives you all the hits for links containing "yes," "google," "thanks," and "did".
Kennedy's 0-8, 6.34 is extreme enough that you do take notice. That's a lotta green marbles, eh?
Nico - April 6, 2007
Rev Halo sponsors Joe's page!
on Baseball Reference!
http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/...
Most of Kennedy's HRs have been at Tropicana and Coors Field, and the Yankees did the most damage HR-wise versus Joe.
I still maintain, being with Tampa Bay and Trop Field has a lot to do with "0-8".
One won lost won - April 6, 2007
Part of this is influenced by teams
While the jerseys change often, most teams maintain a good 75+ percentage of their team from the year-to-year. And most teams maintain their management/coaching staff and basic strategies as well. While vs. team indicators aren't strong and conclusive, they're far from random.
DMOAS - April 6, 2007
Moseley...
...faced the A's once as a rookie last season and gave up seven earned runs in four innings. How about a sophomore jinx.
letsgoas - April 6, 2007
Aha...
"Not since 'The Graduate' has a Dustin been in so far over his head..."
Nico - April 6, 2007
Dustin "For Fingerprints" "Sugar Shane" Moseley
I hate him already.
McFood - April 6, 2007
I Shouldn't Admit that ..
.. I hate anyone or anything, it is quite against my religious beliefs to harbor hatred, but .. darn I absolutely hate the Angels, I really do !!! Baseball is corrupting me? Nah .. hehehe .. Go Athletics!
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
I Guess he hasn't pitched enough to have ..
.. a big enough sample size for his stats to mean anything .. but his stats don't look very good ..
Link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7507
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Granted, in his 11 IP,
he's given up 22 hits and 11 ER, but he's 1-0 and therefore is clearly a winner.
Nico - April 6, 2007
I was surprised not to see Vlad on your list
Because in my mind's eye, that's not a pretty matchup.
But Vlad's only 2-8 against Kennedy, with a walk. One of the hits was a homer, though, and...well, I just hope Kennedy's got that curve ball working again tonight.
Faust - April 6, 2007
I was surprised too.
I expected to see "7/8 with 6 HR, a double off the wall, and a screaming liner that Chavez accidentally caught in his mouth."
Nico - April 6, 2007
The screaming liner
hit Crosby, fracturing a rib. Only then did Chavez catch it in his mouth.
IndianaAsfan - April 6, 2007
This is not Arizona so ..
.. hopefully the curve will be breaking, etc ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
He's good at pitching inside
to RHs, and that seems to be the game plan with Vlad.
mikeA - April 6, 2007
May be true, but batter pitcher
matchups rely on such small sample sizes that they're hardly worth making a fuss over. The more salient matchup is (below average pitcher) vs. (below average offense), which is equally true on both sides.
One matchup worth talking about is how the matchup works in general terms (is this a patient team? does the pitcher throw strikes? etc).
salb918 - April 6, 2007
One Wonders about the Angels ..
.. they have tons of prospects in their system .. they have lots of money because LA is a big market .. why then have they not gone out and gotten more offense these past few years?
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Because they overvalue
their own prospects, don't know how to manage positional depth, and don't understand how to spend on free agents.
But their good moves have been really good (Vlad, Escobar) and their farm system is very productive (Santana, Weaver, etc.) and they know how to piece together a bullpen. So they're really good at some things and not so good at others.
salb918 - April 6, 2007
Their offense is likely to improve though...
They should get Rivera back at some point and Wood should replace Izturis sometime this season. Napoli coming back will also help. Kotchman and Kendrick look pretty good so far. Now to do something about Hillenbrand and Anderson...
WaddellCanseco - April 6, 2007
They may keep Anderson esp. for the A's
OaklandSi - April 6, 2007
I'm curious which of their
recent prospects that you think they overvalued. Dallas McPherson? They weren't the only ones who grossly overrated him. I believe BPro once ranked him as the 4th best prospect in baseball.
Howie Kendrick? Brandon Wood?
rfloh - April 6, 2007
perhaps he means
based on their unwillingness to part with certain prospects in trades.
xbhaskarx - April 6, 2007
weren't the sox asking for
kendrick and santana for manram?
like billy beane said, you hope they make that deal.
fadedash - April 6, 2007
"only" 2-8 though
if he goes 1-1, he jumps from .250 to .333 and is right on that list.
fadedash - April 6, 2007
Chappaquiddick was best reference yet
I used to have a t-shirt with "Chappaquiddick School of Diving" on it. I think only like 0.5% got it in the general population. Since I wore it to the gym, I think it was 0.005%.
jubjub - April 6, 2007
Please Kennedy...
...just keep us in it.
And offense, how about turning every 2 hits into a run? Pretty please!?!?
baseballgirl - April 6, 2007
I'd buy that for a dollar.
OaktownRajah - April 6, 2007
We just need five innings...
I doubt Calero will work tonite, so Dinardo and Marshall will have to pick up the slack.
OaktownRajah - April 6, 2007
and witasick. nt.
fadedash - April 6, 2007
Calero needs a day or two off
at least. His slider just doesn't have the bite it had last year. And he's not throwing it for strikes.
Tyler Bleszinski - April 6, 2007
Rebroadcast on now
As if answering a divine request to have Piazza's GWHR on my tivo, FSBA is rebroadcasting last night's game at noon.
eshock - April 6, 2007
I am watching the re-broadcast...
still sore that I was unable to view it last night.
That's how I feel about the radio too...why call in and bitch about a DELAY when the reception for both stations is so fuzzy that it gives me a headache to listen? THAT'S for more of a concern to ME than delay.
IM4Oakgal - April 6, 2007
If you can spare fifteen bucks ..
.. You can get the MLB audio and at least have a clean {clear, crisp} digital audio from the internet .. I'm sorry you've had problems and agree that in comparison to your current complaint the "problem" with radio delay seems minor .. good luck my friend ...
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
I am going to sign up for the MLB broadcast
I keep saying that I am going to do it but this time I really really am. Thanks for the concern Randy. Very nice.IM4Oakgal - April 6, 2007
Home Opener late this year?
Just got my A's official "Press Pass" notes for today. These are always full of interesting stats, which I'm usually inclined to trust since they come from a reliable source. But this item on page one caught my eye today:
"The A’s will open the 2007 home schedule Monday night, August 9 against the Chicago White Sox, ..."
OK, so the heading for that paragraph says HOME OPENER SET FOR APRIL 9. Maybe I should just read the headings?!
cloosley - April 6, 2007
This is a must win.
Kennedy may or may not melt down, but this is really a must win for the A's. The A's need to capitalize on any game where they don't play one of the Angel's "Big Five." Once Colon and Weaver and back in the rotation the Angels will be MUCH harder to beat so we need to bleed wins from them while we have the chance. In this devision this one win could be the difference between staying home or playing this October.Threepwood XX - April 6, 2007
It is so NOT a "must-win"
It's April 6th, the teams are separated by one game, and there are two other games left that either team could win. If we lose tonight and steal the Sat and Sun games, I'll be thrilled. If we split the series, I'll be ok with it. And even if we lose the next three, a couple weeks later the two teams could be tied. It's that early.
Nico - April 6, 2007
this is a "must reply" comment
rebus - April 6, 2007
Even game 5
for NFL teams is rarely a "must win."
IndianaAsfan - April 6, 2007
I don't really believe in luck, but...
...I figured a short drive down "Joe Kennedy Road" couldn't hurt. Actually, I think he'll be OK tonight--not great, but adequate to keep the A's in the game. We'll see.
samljm - April 6, 2007
Bradley scratched from today's lineup
.. it will be Swisher in CF and Todd Walker at 1st ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Truly unable to play?
..or is Bradley just a victim of names being dwan out of a hat (by Elmer Fudd) for the purpose of constructing a lineup?
One won lost won - April 6, 2007
They Didn't Say, just speculated ..
.. maybe a mild sprain {oblique} or something of that nature .. but they didn't say on the pregame .. or at least I haven't heard anything yet ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Let us know what they say please.
IM4Oakgal - April 6, 2007
You are Right, it could just be a random thing ..
.. or if Bradley just wasn't feeling good or something .. or maybe Geren wants to get all the guys in .. I just don't know .. but it is good for the A's to have some depth .. and we will know for sure later when they tell us .. KenKo hasn't even had the Bob Geren show/interview yet, maybe then ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
What's wrong with Bradley?
IM4Oakgal - April 6, 2007
{i hope} nothing of any consequence ..
KenKo is about to have the Bob Geren show, maybe then they'll tell us ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Crap
It's probably whatever kept him from playing against the Giants last weekend.
This is part of the package with Bradley. Geren seems to be pretty aggressive about insisting on resting guys, and I'd rather have Bradley miss a game or two early on rather than a week or two later.
But our defense isn't going to be pretty tonight.
Nick - April 6, 2007
Not the end of the world though ...
.. that is why we have a {hopefully good} bench .. Walker can hit, let's see if he can help us today ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
Not only am I worried about Walker's defense
at 1st, but about Swisher's defense in Center. I'm not sure which scares me the most... and yes, I know, he's played their at AAA.
DMOAS - April 6, 2007
It's amazing how quickly we went from
"3 center-fielders in the outfield!" to "No center-fielders in the outfield!"
Nico - April 6, 2007
Soreness in his right side
.. KenKo just said ..
Randy Bell - April 6, 2007
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