Tim Wakefield 2-4 3.97 ERA VS. Shawn Chacon 4-1 3.94 ERA 7:05 on ESPN. After a rough 2 starts to the season, Chacon has calmed down and pitched like he did the end of last year. So far a pleasant surprise from a pitcher going from the NL to the AL. A solid #3 starter for the Yanks and another guy who can gain more confidence with a win over Boston. Wakefield clearly missed Doug Mirabelli the start of the season, while Josh Bard had tremendous trouble catching the knuckleball. Now with Mirabelli back, Wakefield has pitched 2 good games getting that comfort zone with his catcher... Lets go Yanks:beer:
If Mel knew a thing or 2 then maybe our top 2 pitchers would be Cy Young candidates, however Mel didnt have a clue on how to fix Contreras.
Who needs a Cy young predictor? Just look at the "wins" leaderboard and you'll see how most people will vote. That formula seems dubious anyway. Derrick Turnbow #3 in the NL last year? Time to do some re-evaluating fellas. 2004 is even worse, the top 2 in the NL were closers and 4 out of the top 6 in the NL were closers. For a formula that claims to predict cy young balloting it sure does a terrible job of handling closers(who aren't even considered 90% of the time)
The predictor uses a method created by Bill James and Rob Neyer, so I'm not sure how accurate it is in determining the winner, since the voters don't usually divulge much into statistical analysis. Regardless, Mussina is probably the early leader for the award at this time.
I think the problem is the saves multiplier is valued too highly. If a closer has 40 saves and 4 wins he'll get more "points" then a starter that wins 20 games. Also there's no penalty for blown saves in the formula.
Factoring in the injury, I don't think that's the case. It's hard to judge how well Contreras will fare the rest of the way. Nagging injury, low K rate (although his G/F is good), so I don't know if he can last. Mussina just needs to stay healthy, and he will be in the race all the way.
There's no way of predicting a Cy Young award winner except for looking at wins. The whole method is so flawed that people make up reasons to vote for people, like "wins" and "mentality" and "what he brings to a mound." All these things are arbitrary, but it's a big reason why people vote the way they do. Look at Bartolo Colon over Johan Santana. Colon: 222.2 IP, 215 H, 26 HR, 157 Ks, .254 BAA, 1.16 WHIP, 3.48 ERA. Santana: 231.2 IP, 180 H, 22 HR, 238 Ks, .210 BAA, 0.97 WHIP, 2.87 ERA. Colon just had a better offense and a better bullpen, so he won. Santana was better in every category.
1. Johnny Damon, CF 2. Derek Jeter, SS 3. Jason Giambi, DH 4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B 5. Hideki Matsui, LF 6. Jorge Posada, C 7. Robinson Cano, 2B 8. Miguel Cairo, 1B 9. Bubba Crosby, RF S. Chacon, SP ----------------- Crosby. Eww.
Guess not. I don't understand why he's not in there, it's not like Bubba has a better chance of doing anything with it. Atleast Melky has plate discipline.
Could they give the kid a break and start him against the Royals or Tampa. Second time he was called up and throw right into this sideshow.
Sorry man, I thought the sarcasm in my post oozed out. No way should Melky be in there against Wakefield. He shouldnt of even been in against Schilling. Bubba's is more experienced and has faced him before. vs Wakefield (Career) 2-6 0hr .667obp .333slg .333ba
