Our Sale Can’t Be Beat!

Chris Sale continued his undefeated streak on Sunday, stretching his season start to 6-0 as the White Sox down the Orioles 7-1. He didn’t pitch as well as usual, lasting just 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and four walks. The Orioles, however, only scored one run as they went 1 for 9 in the game with runners in scoring position. Sale won his last two games by scored of 1-0 and 2-1, so on a day he was off, it was nice for the offense to help him out.

In his career, Sale has won 48.4 percent of his starts (not decisions) (122 starts, 59 wins). If he gets another 27 starts and wins at that rate, he would collect another 13 wins for 19 total. If the White Sox offense keeps performing well, however, he could easily push back the 20 win level.

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The Real Cobb

Paul Beston in City Journal sets the record straight on Ty Cobb:

There’s only one problem: this venomous character is predominantly fictional. In Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, published last year, Charles Leerhsen documents how Cobb’s wicked reputation largely dates to the years after his death in 1961, when sportswriter Al Stump created a mythical Cobb—“Ty the Ripper,” Leerhsen calls him—who displaced the real man in the public mind. Stump’s motives for spinning tall tales seem to have been financial. He had ghostwritten a careless autobiography for Cobb, who tried to stop its publication before his death. The book sold poorly, but Stump earned a handsome fee for a lurid magazine article filled with falsehoods, dubious quotes, and made-up incidents. Other writers repeated or expanded on these untruths over the years. “The repetition felt like evidence,” Leerhsen says. It was “well known,” director Shelton told Leerhsen, that Cobb had killed “as many as” three people, though the director didn’t explain how this was known. Drawing on Stump’s work, as well as a 1984 biography by Charles Alexander, Burns also helped enshrine Cobb’s demonic image.

Time and again, what Leerhsen discovered through exhaustive research undermined the Cobb created by Stump, who didn’t source his work (“because he produced fiction,” as a contemporary said). Leerhsen could find no tangible evidence that Cobb hated blacks. On the contrary, he spoke in support of baseball’s integration when asked—and he wasn’t asked, as best Leerhsen can tell, until 1952. “The Negro should be accepted and not grudgingly but wholeheartedly,” Cobb said then. “The Negro has the right to compete in sports and who’s to say they have not?” On another occasion that year, he said: “No white man has the right to be less of a gentleman than a colored man. In my book, that goes not just for baseball but for all walks of life.” The virulent racist of legend, supposedly driven to derangement if even touched by a black man, attended Negro League games, threw out a first pitch, and often sat in the dugouts with black players. He came from a family of abolitionists. He endowed educational scholarships for students of all races.

Ty and the Babe by Tom Stanton also does a lot to debunk the Cobb myths. What comes through very well in that book is how intelligently Cobb played the game. Cobb was a complicated man, he had a temper, but it appears he wasn’t evil.

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Fanning the Friars

Clayton Kershaw pitched a shutout against the Padres on Sunday, allowing three hits, no walks, and striking out 14. Since September 2013, Kershaw dominated the San Diego squad, allowing one earned run or less in eight of those starts. Overall, he gave up nine runs, seven earned in 64 1/3 innings with 13 walks and 89 strikeouts. Wow.

Kershaw needed the shutout, as the Dodgers only managed to score one run for the win. In fact, Kershaw collected one of the three Dodgers hits and drove in the only run of the game. He’s batting .222 on the season.

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Shifting the Yankees

Via BBTF, Joel Sherman talks to Brian Cashman about how defensive shifts are robbing the Yankees of their home field advantage:

Cashman said his analytics department has done studies that show if you ask players to do what they are not good at — in this case, asking players to bunt or use the whole field more against the shift — they perform worse than even their shifted numbers.

“Some guys are capable of making changes,” Cashman said. “Some guys are not. … We already have seen .265 become .235. We don’t want to see it become .100.”

I continued to be amazed that talented hitters like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira can’t dial it back a notch, choke up on the bat a little, and try to direct the ball.

Ty Cobb, showing his split grip that allowed him to direct the ball. Source: Library of Congress

You would think that at some point, the players would want to get on base.

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Games of the Day

The pitching gods descend on Citi Field Sunday afternoon as Madison Bumgarner grapples with Noah Syndergaard. Both pitcher blow away batters, Bumgarner with 38 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings, Syndergaard with 38 K in just 26 2/3 innings. Home runs represent the big difference between the two this season, with Bumgarner allowing five home runs to Syndergaard’s none.

Chris Sale goes for his sixth win of the season as the White Sox face the Orioles and Ubaldo Jimenez. Sale won all five of his starts thanks to a 1.66 ERA. In 38 innings he allowed just 27 batters to reach by a hit, walk, or hit by pitch. Left-handed batters are hurting Jimenez this season, and the White Sox boast a number of switch hitters that can use that to their advantage.

The Indians take on the surprising Phillies with Danny Salazar facing acquisition of the off-season Vince Velásquez. Salazar is doing a much better job this year of keeping the ball in the park. That’s more impressive due to home runs being up compared to last season. Velasquez keeps blowing away batters, with 33 K in 25 1/3 innings. Due to his high strikeouts, he allowed just 16 hits.

Garrett Richards battles Cole Hamels as the Rangers go for a sweep of the Angels. Richards owns a 2.35 ERA, but the Angels scored one run or less in three of his five starts. Hamels comes in with a 2.52 ERA, and all four home runs he allowed were solo shots.

Seattle is not just going for a sweep of the Royals, it’s going for a shutout sweep of the Royals. Ian Kennedy tries to stop that against Taijuan Walker. Kennedy pitched 13 innings at home and 13 innings on the road this season, but all three of the home runs he allowed came in road games. Walker allowed just one run in each of this last three starts, and five runs for the season.

Finally, Drew Pomeranz and Clayton Kershaw take the mound for the Padres and the Dodgers. Pomeranz appears to be effectively wild, his 12 walks in 22 innings balanced by his 31 strikeouts and 17 hits allowed. Kershaw continues his amazing career with 40 strikeouts and just three walks in 37 2016 innings. He held the Padres to one hit and one walk in their first meeting of the season, lasting seven innings.

Enjoy!

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Players of the Month

The offensive player of the month turned out to be an extremely easy choice. I thought it would be tough, with Nolan Arenado, Bryce Harper, and Trevor Story bombing home runs. Dexter Fowler stepped up his game while Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer posted long hit streaks. Josh Donaldson and Yoenis Cespedes continued their outstanding play from 2016.

The surprise of the month, however, turned out to be a rookie playing due to an injury. Aledmys Diaz leads the majors in batting average at .423. He ranks fourth in OBP a .453, and first in slugging percentage at .732. The one negative against the Cuban is playing time, as he started just 16 games, although he appeared in 22 of the them. That means he’s on the edge of qualifying at 75 PA. His start makes for a great story, however, and Johnny Peralta may have a tough time getting his job back. Aledmys Diaz is the Baseball Musings Offensive Player of the Month for April 2016.

Jordan Zimmermann posted the best ERA of April. Joining the Tigers and pitching for an AL team for the first time, Zimmermann uses a low walk rate and a low home run rate to stymie hitters. He is also Mr. Decision, winning all five of his starts.

Zimmermann is not the only pitcher to win all five starts in April. Chris Sale, Jake Arrieta, and the surprising Rick Procello all went 5-0. Zimmermann ranked lowest of the four in strikeout rate, third in walk rate, but first in home runs allowed. Procello, not known for his strikeout rate during his career, stands at 9.92 per nine innings.

In terms of three-true outcomes, Noah Syndergaard leads the pack. He ranks second in strikeouts per 9 IP. Most of the pitchers at the top of that list own high walk rates, but Syndergaard comes in a low 1.35 BB per 9 IP. He has yet to allow a home run, with the second most innings in the majors without the ball leaving the park.

So for me, the pitcher of the month comes down to Jordan Zimmermann or Noah Syndergaard, the traditional statistics versus great fielding independent numbers. This month I’m going with Zimmermann. He did post great walk and home run numbers, and he accomplished that over six more innings than Syndergaard. Zimmermann had more time to fail, and continued to succeed. Jordan Zimmermann is the Baseball Musings pitcher of the month for April 2016.

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Eastern Easter Update

The Day by Day Database is up to date. Happy Easter to all my Eastern Orthodox friends and family!

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