Friday's Frosty Mug

by KLSnow on Jul 11, 2008 8:18 AM CDT

This one is short, partly because there's not much good stuff out there today, partly because I'm in a hurry, and partly because my caffeine level has reached a dangerous low.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score

So Corey Hart is an All Star. Make no mistake, I'm thrilled, but now that we know that Ryan Braun was almost the NL's leading vote-getter, and Corey Hart managed to beat out players from some of baseball's biggest markets for the final spot, does anyone else smell a rat? I'm not going to go all-out and make an accusation, but if someday years from now we discover that the vote might have been artificially impacted, I wouldn't be shocked.

Also, Guillermo Mota is still a Brewer, despite Tom H.'s projection that he'd be designated for assignment. I'm guessing Tom won't be sitting near Mota on a team plane anytime soon.

Apparently batting .211 is bad, but batting .211 with poor body language was what it took to get Richie Sexson released. The Brew Town Beat thinks it couldn't hurt to bring Sexson back. The Transaction Oracle projects him at .230/.323/.419 for the rest of 2008 with one of his top comps being my dog's namesake, Gorman Thomas. In the meantime, in an "unrelated" move, the Mariners traded for Craig Wilson.

On injuries:

Aaron Harang has been diagnosed with a forearm strain and DL'ed.
Vernon Wells is out 4-6 weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his hamstring.

I don't have any non-Brewer related stuff today (except the Sexson stuff). So instead, I'll point you to this: If you like my daily notes about non-Brewer stuff, but would prefer it mainly focused on linking you to pictures of scantily clad celebrities and comments about my beard, consider checking out Aaron Gleeman's Link-O-Rama.

Oh, and not only can lefties pitch in the big leagues until they're 50, they're also more qualified to be President. I'm still not interested in running.

Drink up.

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I’m not going to go all-out and make an accusation, but if someday years from now we discover that the vote might have been artificially impacted, I wouldn’t be shocked.

i like the caveat. is this a snowclone? “i’m not going to say X, but X”

it’s marketing. the brewers do a better job of marketing the all-star push. that’s all. the internets is the great market size equalizer.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on Jul 11, 2008 8:49 AM CDT 0 recs

I’d like to see the break down of votes for hart by location. I wonder if it was just a Wisconsin voting spree or if he got more national attention.

by SgtClueLs on Jul 11, 2008 9:09 AM CDT up 0 recs

I think I may skew that a bit

500 votes in the last 20 minutes from California?

And yes: the vote was artifically impacted – by the wonderful people here on this blog that discovered the “do not have to authenticate” bug on Macs, and then our unrestrained glee at casting hundreds of votes. Too bad I didn’t try this technique before the last day, but this was a very busy week – otherwise Hart would have had an extra million or so votes;) And some AL schlub would have found himself going from worst to first.

by PagsBrewCrew on Jul 11, 2008 9:42 AM CDT up 0 recs

eh, I doubt we or any other one place had much of an impact

Not when there were nearly 50 million votes cast.

by Zeyes on Jul 11, 2008 10:24 AM CDT up 0 recs

I was using a Mac

you mean I didn’t have to do any authenticating? i could have been infinately more productive

"You guys know me. I take a long time to analyze things."
- Ned Yost

by SunglassesAtNight on Jul 11, 2008 10:33 AM CDT up 0 recs

yep

just go to the authentication field and hit enter
if you tried to hit the “vote” link, it didn’t work, but if you pressed enter it did.

by PagsBrewCrew on Jul 11, 2008 10:45 AM CDT up 0 recs

voting

I agree with jacob. It is a little suspicious that braun was able to make up so much ground AND corey got into the all-star game, but there could also be a very valid explination. As for Braun, did the Brewers have voting stations setup at Summerfest? I don’t know that they did, or if MLB would even allow it, but if so, that could easily explain his surge in the final week and a half of voting. As for Hart, I think you can just attribute that to the Brewers doing an excellent job marketing their players. I don’t know what the other teams did for their guys, but I would be surpirsed if anyone made a bigger push to get their guy in that the Crew.

"You guys know me. I take a long time to analyze things."
- Ned Yost

by SunglassesAtNight on Jul 11, 2008 9:21 AM CDT 0 recs

part of the Braun surge, I think

stems from the number of Milwaukee home games more recently, and also the fact that the team has been playing better as of late. His was the biggest jump, but just about every Brewer on the ballot gained some ground in the last week or two.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 11, 2008 10:14 AM CDT up 0 recs

They did have voting stations set up at Summerfest

They showed them during bits with Trenni during the away games. As for Braun making the all star game, you didn’t even have to have a real email address, so you could just make one up. I voted the max number of times with the three or four emails that I have and I’m sure that other people did too.

"Brett Favre looks like a man in a parking lot playing with boys." - John Madden
"Pujols just unloaded." - Bob Uecker

by kirbir on Jul 11, 2008 12:42 PM CDT up 0 recs

So my intertube got all clogged up yesterday and I missed the game

Sad to miss such a nice performance. I saw some highlights of Bush dealing and it looked like he was getting a lot of strikeouts on his curve. Was his curve especially good or was he just getting ahead of hitters?

Visit my baseball blog ...or else!

by dixieflatline on Jul 11, 2008 9:37 AM CDT 0 recs

No FSN

It wasn’t on FSN. But I did watch the squeeze play. From what I could tell, he had some serious horizontal movement on his breaking stuff, and had great command on his FB and Curve. Off course I only saw the last pitch to every at bat.

by SgtClueLs on Jul 11, 2008 9:48 AM CDT up 0 recs

Not at all surprised

I’m not surprised at all that WI fans voted Corey Hart into the final NL All Star spot. WI fans spend way too much time voting on stuff on the Internet as evidenced by:
1) Geoff Jenkins getting voted in the same way in 2003.
2) Chunky soup/NFL promotion a few years ago that involved local soup kitchens paired up with NFL teams. The Packers easily won that competition from Internet voting. http://www.chunky.com/ClickForCansResults.aspx
3) Jeld-Wen windows gave the Wind Point lighthouse in Racine new windows because of an Internet poll done a couple of years ago. http://www.jeld-wen.com/lighthouse/lighthouse_winners.pdf

by ddloml on Jul 11, 2008 10:27 AM CDT 1 recs

Hmm

Trenni is from Wind Lake. Coincidence? What evil hides behind those innocent eyes and flyover-state good looks?

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 2:31 PM CDT up 0 recs

All Star Game Fan Voting

Fans of a certain team stuffing the ballot boxes is nothing new. Check this out about the 1957 game:

Controversy surrounded the 1957 outing as the fanatical Cincinnati voters stuffed the ballot boxes and elected nearly their entire team (minus first baseman George Crowe & the batboy) onto the National League’s starting roster. This upset Commissioner Ford Frick greatly and he responded by removing Gus Bell and Wally Post from the starting nine. He also transferred the responsibility for All-Star voting to the players, managers and coaches the next year.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jul 11, 2008 10:32 AM CDT 0 recs

Yet a team featuring 18 Cubs and Red Sox

Apparently is not a problem.

Derek Jeter is day to day after being hit by a pitch and being gorilla press slammed by a Bizarro Ray.

by KLSnow on Jul 11, 2008 10:33 AM CDT up 0 recs

There really isn't anyone from those teams out of place as a starter is there?

There would probably be more players from good teams if they’d get rid of the every-team-has-to-be-represented rule again.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jul 11, 2008 10:42 AM CDT up 0 recs

cough-FukudomeSoriano-cough

by Getting Yosted on Jul 11, 2008 10:44 AM CDT up 0 recs

Neither of those guys are terrible picks

Certainly not as bad as a couple of the guys those Reds fans voted in or the other guys who are said to be undeserving every year.

It’s not a big deal either way, I guess.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jul 11, 2008 10:57 AM CDT up 0 recs

Wasn't voted in, but...

Chad Moeller thinks Varitek’s numbers stink. How did he make it on the team?

by Supertramp on Jul 11, 2008 10:58 AM CDT up 0 recs

Selected by the players

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Jul 11, 2008 11:03 AM CDT up 0 recs

Ah

Makes sense…I guess.

by Supertramp on Jul 11, 2008 11:12 AM CDT up 0 recs

If Varitek can get selected

based off of Defensive parameters essentially, I would think Kendall should get some serious consideration.

"He's been very, very impressive," Yost said. "I mean really impressive. I mean really, really impressive."

by MadJimiBrewha on Jul 11, 2008 11:48 AM CDT up 0 recs

unfortunately

grit was not a factor

"You guys know me. I take a long time to analyze things."
- Ned Yost

by SunglassesAtNight on Jul 11, 2008 12:15 PM CDT up 0 recs

Woulda sucked to be George Crowe

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 11, 2008 10:34 AM CDT up 0 recs

Ha, that's what I was thinking

What’s funny is that in 1958, still playing for Cincinnati, he had a worse year—and made the All-Star team!

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 2:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

I was voting Hart and Longoria

Longoria because of the small market and the ‘hadn’t been there before’ factor. I would assume that there was a lot of non-NL voters making the same decision for Hart.

by Getting Yosted on Jul 11, 2008 10:43 AM CDT 0 recs

Or

They just wanted to see the wolfman play

"Brett Favre looks like a man in a parking lot playing with boys." - John Madden
"Pujols just unloaded." - Bob Uecker

by kirbir on Jul 11, 2008 12:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 2:40 PM CDT up 0 recs

Okay

Maybe we should fly this as the official Hart HR flag?

"Brett Favre looks like a man in a parking lot playing with boys." - John Madden
"Pujols just unloaded." - Bob Uecker

by kirbir on Jul 11, 2008 3:54 PM CDT up 0 recs

The Cubs are really pimping Wall-E

Jeff Garland just sang “Take Me Out To the Ballgame”.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 3:04 PM CDT 0 recs

Cubs waste a L/O double.

0-0 to the 8th.

by Flag Up on Jul 11, 2008 3:11 PM CDT 0 recs

If Jeff Garland says "Acapulco taco pie" one more time, I am going to to boycott CYE

This hurts me as much as it does you, Jeff.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 3:13 PM CDT up 0 recs

Howry not Marmol for the 8th

Interesting. Maybe because it was the bottom of the order.

Visit my baseball blog ...or else!

by dixieflatline on Jul 11, 2008 3:15 PM CDT 0 recs

"Jason Marquis, as good as he's been all season"

The Cubs announcers don’t seem to realize that this might have something to do with facing the Giants offense. On the bright side, maybe this will persuade Lou to keep him in the rotation.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 3:21 PM CDT 0 recs

How much worse is he than the possible replacements though?

The Cubs would need to make a much worse move than that to really hurt their chances.

Visit my baseball blog ...or else!

by dixieflatline on Jul 11, 2008 3:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well, supposedly the Cubs aren't done dealing for starters

If a “good” start by Marquis makes them think twice about acquiring A.J. Burnett, or whoever, then that’s great.

He's extremely quick and good.

by battlekow on Jul 11, 2008 3:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

by TheJay on Jul 11, 2008 3:45 PM CDT up 0 recs

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