Daily Notes: The Return of Humber

by
April 26, 2012

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Brief Previews of Select Games
2. Non-Extant Highlight Video: The Cleveland Indians Walking
3. Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Chicago (AL) Radio

Brief Previews of Select Games
Here are brief previews for three of today’s games — each including the preferred television feed of FanGraphs readers, per the results of our offseason crowdsourcing project. (Information on probable pitchers from MLB.com.)

Kansas City at Cleveland | 12:05 ET
• To those readers who feel truly safe only within the warm embrace of a baseballing broadcast: be apprised that this is the earliest game of the day.
• To those readers who possess particularly low estimations of Josh Tomlin (pitching for Cleveland): note that he’s posted this line through three starts: 16.2 IP, 20.6% K, 1.5% BB, 34.6% GB, 3.01 SIERA, 2.63 xFIP, 65 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR.
• To those readers who’re wondering which team is leading the league in walk percentage, by kinda a lot: it’s Cleveland (13.1%).
• Regarding which team is in second: Tampa Bay (10.9%).
• Regarding who pitches for Kansas City: Luis Mendoza (13.0 IP, 132 xFIP-, -0.2 WAR).

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Kansas City.

Los Angeles AL at Tampa Bay | 13:10 ET
• Matt Moore starts for Tampa Bay.
• Through three starts he has decidedly not resembled what one might call an “uberprospect.” Line: 19.1 IP, 12.9% K, 14.1% BB, 37.1% GB, 5.71 SIERA, 5.60 xFIP, 138 xFIP-, -0.1 WAR.
• If there’s an issue, it’s likely not with velocity: Moore has averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer, according to PITCHf/x.
• He’s opposed by 30-year-old right-hander Jerome Williams (2 GS, 9.1 IP, 95 xFIP-, 0.1 WAR).
• Also of note, this Albert Pujols Status Update: 78 PA, .222/.282/.319 (.262 BABIP), 59 wRC+, -0.4 WAR.

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MLB.TV Audio Feed: Tampa Bay, Barely.

Boston at Chicago AL | 20:10 ET
• The last time we saw Philip Humber (tonight’s starter for Chicago), he was completing the 21st perfect game in major-league history.
• To be clear, of course, that’s the last time most of us saw him.
• The last time Robin Ventura saw him, for example, he was probably just listening to his iPod or something.
• Those semantic considerations aside, it’s a fact that this is Humber’s line now, after two starts: 14.1 IP, 30.8% K, 5.8% BB, 28.1% GB, 2.53 SIERA, 2.64 xFIP, 65 xFIP-, 0.7 WAR.
• He’s opposed by Boston lefty Felix Doubront, who’s likely been more effective in his three starts (16.0 IP, 72 xFIP-, 0.4 WAR) than you’re assuming.

MLB.TV Audio Feed: Boston.

Non-Extant Highlight Video: The Cleveland Indians Walking
Research indicates that there’s zero highlight footage of the Cleveland Indians (currently leading the majors with a 13.1% walk rate) just drawing, like, a bunch of base-on-balls.

Crowdsourcing Broadcasters: Chicago (AL) Radio
Recently, we released the results of our television broadcaster rankings — itself the product of reader crowdsourcing that started in late November. Now, FanGraphs is asking readers to rate the radio broadcast teams for all 30 major-league clubs (Click here for more on this project.)

Rate other teams: Washington / Toronto / Texas / Tampa Bay / Seattle / San Francisco / San Diego / St. Louis / Pittsburgh / Philadelphia / Oakland / New York (NL) / New York (AL) / Minnesota / Milwaukee / Miami / Los Angeles (NL) / Los Angeles (AL) / Kansas City / Houston / Detroit / Colorado / Cleveland / Cincinnati / Chicago (NL).





 

Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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