In Praise of Utility

Before I go on about my actual topic, it may not have escaped your notice that Chien-Ming Wang got shelled – again – in his last start. He went on the DL afterwards. And while I’m not the first one to note these figures, it is still interesting to note that:

• Opposing hitters are hitting .622 against him
• He came into game three with a 28.93 ERA, and saw it rise to 34.50
• If he can pitch 48 and two-third consecutive scoreless innings (Orel Herschiser’s ML consecutive-scoreless-innings record is 59 innings), he can get his ERA back to his career average

So onto my actual topic.

There are a lot of reasons baseball is my favorite sport. The losing team will always get a chance to catch up. It has a long history of people playing essentially the same game. Among American sports, it is the sport best set up for analysis. There is a voluminous literature about the sport, written by very talented and passionate writers.

Another reason I am such a fan of baseball is the existence of the utility player. In a game of millionaires with outlandish talent, utility players offer a connection - imaginary, sure, but a connection - to fans. They are regular players in regular bodies. I think to myself perhaps I could have been one of those guys had I shown a lot more initiative, way more talent, and a good deal more luck. Their skills are not jaw-dropping; to the contrary, their skills look frankly pedestrian.

Then there's the name "utility player." Who would object to that title? I hope that people in my life at least consider me useful, if not a star or a headline-grabber.

They toil in near anonymity. This too is like most of us, good enough at what we do to make some kind of living but not leaders in our chosen field.

(How anonymous? Both of the readers of this site are probably familiar with the Red Sox, so let’s play Name That Red Sox Utility Player.

Player A played for the 2003 Red Sox. It was his only season with Boston, although he played 11 seasons in the majors. The greatest number of his starts came at second base, but he also played a lot of games in center. During the course of the season, he played at first, second, third, shortstop, left, center, and right, and even DHed 7 times. He made about $4.1 million in his career.

Player B played for the 1999 Red Sox, his second of three seasons for Boston. Offensively in 1999 he was merely bad; he would later become awful. In 1999, he played at second, third, shortstop, left, center, and right, and DHed 3 times. In center and right he was quite a good defensive player. He made about $1.75 million in his career.

Answers at bottom.)

Even though anonymous, they are easy to find, thanks to sportwriters' clichés. If you want to know a team’s utility player, search on "(team name) utility man." For instance, at one point or another, someone has referred to Laynce Nix, Jamey Carroll, Jeff Baker, Clint Barmes, and Greg Norton as the "Rockies utility man."

If you like The Blue Jays, Jose Bautista is your man. He's played 1B, 2B, 3B, RF, CF, LF, and DH. He sports a career .239 average with some power but very little plate discipline, and yet has found gainful employment with Baltimore, Tampa, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and now Toronto. Miguel Cairo (first, second, third, short, right, and left) has less power and less plate discipline and is currently working for his eighth team. Geoff Blum (first, second, third, and short) is filling the role in Houston, after stints with four other teams. The list goes on and on.

So the next time a veteran late-inning defensive replacement comes in to a game, look him up. See where he’s been and what his skills are. And cheer for the guy to keep proving his utility for as many teams as will take him.

Next time, I’ll have a short history of the ultimate utility player: the pinch-pitcher.

Answers:

A: Damian Jacques Jackson

B: Donnie Lamont Sadler

B's - Habs: Game 1

Some quick observations from the live experience ...

A couple of general notes:

• With the exception of the final 3 minutes, the B's were a bit flat.  Of course, that should give you an idea about how overmatched the Canadiens are in this series (this is not a jinx, this is not a jinx ... how many times do I need to say that to avoid a jinx???).
• That being said, the final 3 minutes were absolutely INSANE.  I had season tickets for three seasons back in the early part of the decade, and I never experienced anything close to the atmosphere that we had last night.  The building was absolutely shaking.

Some things I learned by sitting next to the Penalty Box:

1. Zdeno Chara is HUGE.  I mean ridiculously huge.  He looked like a dad who was out on the pond skating around with his kids.  This is not an exaggeration --- the average player who was out on the ice with him was as tall as his chin.  Just insane.
2. The glass around the boards is about as stable as I am at 3:30 in the morning on one of those magical nights when my kids conspire to take turns waking up every hour.  I mean, I really could not believe how much it was swaying each time someone crashed into the boards.  There was one instance when someone shot the puck into the glass that we were sitting behind, and I think I wet myself a little.  What, too much info?
3. The guys that work in the Penalty Box will not trade a hockey stick for a pretzel.  The two guys who were sitting in front of us were working them pretty hard, but they wouldn't budge.  Of course, after watching the sales pitch for 5 minutes I had to go and buy one.  For those keeping score at home, it WAS pretty tasty.
4. When a player gets sent to the Penalty Box, he is not in the mood to smile for a picture (of course, this one is pretty obvious).  When Patrice Bergeron was sent in during the 2nd period, I couldn't even get him to look at me (pictured below).  Though I might have had more luck if I was a hot blonde, rather than a chubby bald guy wearing a Don Sweeney jersey.

Prescient call of the evening ...

• About half-way through the 2nd period, my buddy Manny says that Chara is big and all, but he really needs to unload on the puck.  I don't know how it played on TV, but Chara's goal in the 3rd period was an absolute laser.  And to think, he only needed to hear Manny make the suggestion.

Finally, a VERY special thanks to my buddy Dan for scoring the tickets and inviting me along.  Dan's a good guy, a good friend, and a good dad.  I'm glad he's my pal.

      

Chien-Ming Wang

John asked me to write something for the site, not knowing -really- what he was getting into. So here you go, John. I hope to make a habit of these aimless ramblings about baseball.

Forgive stating the obvious, but Chien-Ming Wang is a groundball pitcher and has never made a habit of striking guys out. Most groundballers are the same way. Tim Hudson has never tried to strike out tons and he's done just fine. Likewise Derek Lowe. The dear departed Mark Fidrych's 1976 season was the same way.

(I'm always interested to watch groundball pitchers. The best of them don't look dominant but just wear out that dirt around home plate. And I get frustrated watching my home town team lose to one, since I always feel the hitters are this close to squaring up a few line drives.)

But Wang's commitment to avoiding strikeouts, particularly earlier in his career, is remarkable. In 2008, he struck out 5.1 batters per 9 IP; that's decidedly middle of the pack, and it was his highest rate yet. (All data taken from the incomparable baseball-reference.com.) Given those rates, there was some waiting for Wang to fall back to earth, since almost no pitcher sustains excellence while allowing so many balls in play.

Well, with two lousy starts under his belt this year, Chien-Ming Wang has not been getting the ground balls he used to and the ones he is getting are turning into hits. When they put the ball in play, hitters are hitting .583 against him. .583! Over his career, his batting average on balls in play is .287, and MLB average is .291. There may be some bad luck in there - you know, seeing-eye singles - but he's just plain giving up hard hits. (If you want to know more about batting average on balls in play, check out baseball-reference.com.)

So I don't know what's wrong with him. It seems most likely that he's still injured, but maybe it's just luck that two of his four worst career starts have come in 2009. As I said, I find these guys interesting to watch, so I'll be sure to keep up on how he's doing. And given my rooting interests, I'll be hoping for him to stay in the rotation for the whole year, but not quite be right.

OK, one other thing about Wang. In 2006, he placed second the Cy Young voting, despite just 76 strikeouts in 218 IP. I realize Cy Young voting has a lot more to do with W-L than anything else, but that kind of success with just 76 Ks is almost without precedent.

I say "almost" because as soon as the thought entered my head I had to find the precedent. The last guy with so few Ks and Cy Young votes in either league was Jeff Ballard, who tied for sixth in the AL voting in 1989, when he struck out 62 batters in 215.1 innings, and went 18-8 for a good Baltimore team. Maybe that's interesting and maybe it's not, but what I found fascinating was how many soft-tossers I had to go through to find one who matched Wang's disdain for the K. Along the way to uncover Ballard, I passed through such flamethrowers as Kenny Rogers, Jamie Moyer, Jimmy Key, Tim Wakefield, Charles Nagy, Bob Tewksbury, and Bob Gullickson. All of those guys, and nearly all relievers who show up in the voting, struck out more batters than Wang. Jamie Moyer, for goodness' sake!

3 Up, 3 Down

Mowing 'em down Opening Day style ...

3 Red Sox to Keep an Eye on in the Opener

1. Jacoby Ellsbury ... looking to prove that he's worth the hype. He needs to get on base at least 3 times, and with his speed he can obviously wreak havoc if he does. Hopefully he's come to the realization that he doesn't need to hit a double every time he gets to the plate. I think that a lot of Sox fans would be psyched with him walking to first, then sprinting to second.


2. Jason Bay ... looking to establish himself as someone worth keeping around. By all accounts he seems happy to be out of baseball purgatory, and he certainly proved his value down the stretch last year. If he can get off to a hot start, I'm sure the front office will lock him up by the All Star break.


3. Big Papi ... looking to prove that he can do it without Manny. Despite what he might say, David Ortiz wasn't "Big Papi" until he was partnered with Ramirez. Over the course of Spring Training he seemed to come to peace with the fact that Manny won't be walking back through the door. Now he needs to show us that he's still capable of hitting 35-40 HRs and 110+ RBIs.

3 Rays to Keep an Eye on in the Opener

1. James Shields ... looking to establish himself as a 20-game winner. The Rays opening day pitcher is coming off a season that saw him go 14-8, with a 3.56 ERA. If he can get off to a solid start against the Sox (a team he went 0-2 against in the 2008 ALCS), it would take some weight off his shoulders, and give the Rays some added confidence against one of their AL East rivals.


2. Carlos Pena ... looking to have another monster year. Last year saw his numbers "drop" to 31 HRs and 102 RBIs --- down from 46 HRs and 121 RBIs in '07. With his humble big league history (including a stint with the home town team), its hard not to like this guy --- but he'll make it a lot easier if he puts up big numbers against the Sox.


3. Carl Crawford ... looking to be the man again. Up until last year, he was one of the sole bright spots on the Rays --- arguably the brightest. He battled some injuries last year, but I'm looking at him to bounce back this season. Now that he's playing for a team that is a legitimate contender, some of the pressure/expectations should be off him personally.

3 Other Games of Note

1. Yankees at Orioles. Time to see if CC is worth the cash that they threw at him. Personally, I'm more interested in seeing how Tex does. I'm hoping he goes 0 for the day --- not that I'm bitter or anything.


2. Dodgers at Padres. Technically the second game for the Dodgers, after their loss to the Giants today. I'm looking forward to seeing how the fans out there respond to the way that Manny acts when he's not playing for a contract.


3. Nationals at Marlins. Aside from Hanley Ramirez, I know virtually nothing about either of these teams --- I just want to be the only blog on the planet (non-Florida based) to call this a game of note.

Random Clicks: 4/4/09

Roaming the sidelines while wondering if the Bruins could actually go deeper in the playoffs than the Celtics ...

Bruins/NHL

Fluto Shinzawa has some quick thoughts in the Boston Globe on the contract that Tim Thomas just signed, noting the journey that took him here.

The Providence Journal has an AP story on the B's clinching the East with their shut-out of the Rangers today.

Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News writes about Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, and how he's trying to get them into the final playoff spot.

Patriots/NFL

Some thoughts from Pats linebacker Adalius Thomas regarding the possible expansion of the regular season, are captured by Christopher L. Gasper of The Boston Globe. I'll give you a hint --- Thomas does not seem happy about it.

The Miami Herald's Jeff Darlington reports that the Dolphins are not in a rush to sign Jason Taylor. That should be great incentive once he suits up for the Pats and plays them twice a year.

Dave Kreiger of The Denver Post called in to the Dale & Holley show on WEEI and shared his thoughts on the Cutler trade. You can listen to it here.

Celtics/NBA

Steve Buckley over at The Boston Herald writes about the Celtics much needed mini-vacation as they prepare for the playoffs.

The Providence Journal's Robert Lee notes that the Celtics followed three of Doc Rivers mottos in their victory over the Hawks last night.

The return of Tony Allen is written about by The Boston Globe's Gary Dzen.

3 Up, 3 Down

Mowing 'em down while getting psyched for some ALCS retribution ...

3 Games to Keep an Eye On the Weekend

1. The Bruins look to keep their win streak going as they host the NY Rangers on Saturday. This game is clearly more important to the Rangers, who are barely holding on to the 8th (and final) playoff spot. Howard Kussoy over at the New York Post notes that the Rangers must be feeling a sense of deja vu.


2. The Orlando Magic take on the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night. Its a tight race for the number 2 seed in the playoffs, and the Celtics will be hoping the Hawks can pull it off (after they themselves beat them on Friday night). Hopefully the Magic will still be tired from the whupping they put on the Cavs.


3. Michigan St. vs. Connecticut. I'm not much into college hoops, but I did party at UConn about a million years ago --- so I've got that going for me.

3 Reasons the Sox will Beat the Rays in the Opener

1. Josh Beckett. This is what he looked like at this time last year. By all accounts, he's in MUCH better shape heading into this year, and looking to make up for last season.


2. They've put the Manny-sode behind them, and there's a lot to say about a peaceful Spring Training.


3. The Rays have a solid team, but I still think they caught a lot of people by surprise last year. I'm not buying (yet) that they are a legitimate threat to take the East this year. Now excuse while I try to expunge the remaining memories of the ALCS Game 7 from my head.

3 Reasons the Broncos Actually Ended up in Pretty Good Shape

1. While Kyle Orton and Chris Simms might not be as good as Cutler, just how good was Cutler really? You can say what you want about the Denver defense, but a quarterback still has to find a way to win --- and he didn't.


2. The two number 1's that Denver picked up could really help McDaniels put his stamp on the team. If he learned anything from Belichek, its scouting and the importance of bringing in guys who fit the system.


3. When Pat Bowlen signed off on the trade, he effectively put his support behind McDaniels ---- and avoided dragging out the drama that could've killed their camp.