Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Curious Case Of Jo-Jo Reyes


To put Jo-Jo Reyes’ winless streak into perspective, a certain utility player for the Phillies has 127 2/3IP less than Jo-Jo and one more victory. My reasoning for writing this article is not to waste a minute or so out of everyone’s life to tell you that Jo-Jo Reyes is bad, we all know that. The truth is though he, when placed in the context of history, is not THAT bad. Certainly not bad enough to hold one of the three longest losing streaks in baseball history for a starting pitcher.

The last pitcher to make 28 consecutive starts without recording a W was Matt Keough of Oakland A’s fame (with through compliments around liberally here at That Guy!). Matt Keough went 2-17 in 1979, his sophomore season in the big leagues, surely killing many fantasy teams that year. However, Keough was named to the All-Star Team in his rookie season for the 1978 Athletics, recording an ERA of 3.24 that belied his 8-15 won-loss record. He also went on to have a respectable career, even playing for the Yankees in the 1980’s, so you know he had to be good.

What Jo-Jo, and to a better extent Keough represent, is the fact that wins is the most overrated stat for a pitcher. Jo-Jo has a 4.70 ERA this year and in the AL East that’s really not that bad at all. He is notorious for giving up 1st and 2nd inning runs (see Meyers, Brett for similar examples) which can demoralize an offense when they haven’t even spit out their first batch of sunflower seeds to see themselves down 5-0 (See yesterday’s box score). He has also pitched some great games with Atlanta and Toronto during this losing streak In his May 20th start against Houston he hurled 7 innings of shutout ball got zero run support.

We know that W’s are overrated thanks to Kings Felix’s Cy Young Trophy. Jo-Jo Reyes just shows us the same thing by being as far away from a Cy Young as a starter as humanly possible.

Tia Norfleet And NASCAR's Color Barrier



The Sporting News ran an article this week on budding NASCAR driver Tia Norfleet, former Cup driver Bobby Norfleet's daughter. What makes her different than most drivers is not that she's a woman but that she is also an African-American. As she works her way through the feeder systems of NASCAR, Tia is breaking down barriers every step of the way, helping to integrate a sport whose roots lie in the Jim Crow South.

It is important to NASCAR both financially, and much more significantly culturally, to be bring down the gender and race barriers. The social need is clear. NASCAR has long had a history checkered with racial and gender inequality and insensitivity. Some of that still remains as exemplified by Mauricia Grant's 2008, $225M lawsuit claiming discrimination and harassment. NASCAR continues however to push forward, seemingly whole-heartedly and genuinely, to integrate the sport. NASCAR's Drive for Diversity programs helps to fund and promote potential stars in the world of stock car who make up a minority in the world of racing, usually African-Americans and women.

The financial ramifications are tremendous as well. With the current recession still hampering the American pocketbook discretionary spending is down. NASCAR weekends can be an expensive endeavor: ticket prices can run into the hundreds of dollars for a seat, parking, hotel or lodging, food, fuel, and the potential for lost income from taking a couple of days off from work. Many tracks are reporting significant dips in attendance which hurts not just the tracks but sponsors and the communities surrounding the track, some of which exist solely due to the venue. By expanding into the African-American market NASCAR would be opening a potentially significantly large revenue stream that is sorely needed in NASCAR. With the sport moving into the mainstream and out of the backwoods there is no better time or opportunity.

Player Wives



Come on down, Adriana Lima!

Somehow a man whose eyes are so close together he's indistinguishable from a cyclops lands Adriana Lima. It's amazing. The man cannot keep a job in the NBA but somehow keeps this Brazilian beauty with him. I'm blown the fuck away. Well done, sir.

Quote Of The Day

I'm a man!  I'm 40!

Eyeopener - OKC Collects Their Door Prize, Phils/Reds Still Playing


-The Oklahoma City Thunder simply can't hold leads. In a sport where having more points than the other team is a necessity, that's a bad thing. The Dallas Mavericks are back in the NBA Finals after coming from behind and beating OKC 100-96 to take the Western Conference Finals 4-1. KD and Co. can pick up their parting gifts at the door.

-The the Boston Bruins will be headed to a game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. Thankfully for them the Flyers aren't the opponent. Tampa Bay put a Lincoln on the board to the Boston's two Jeffersons to send the series back to Boston. Check out Days Of Y'Orr for completely biased coverage that does the series more justice than I can. (I'm still holding my Jorge De La Rosa candlelight vigil. Details to follow.)

-As the guys over at Deadspin asked, after the Phillies/Reds marathon last night, the big question is who falls asleep during today's 1:05 start game, Dusty or Charlie? The two teams played for just over six hours, which in baseball terms is 19 innings, or in Rich Dubee terms exactly 600 pitches, 220 of them by Roy Halladay. (Our stat guys are checking that one out.)

-Buster Posey was injured in the Giants 12 inning, 7-6 loss to the Marlins as the reigning Rookie of the Year catcher tried to block home plate. The collision was a clean one if not extremely vicious.



Both players, Posey and Florida's Scott Cousins, deserve praise for playing baseball all out. I'm sure somewhere Pete Rose has this play DVR'd and is furiously masturbating to it as he rewinds it over and over again.

-Mike Brown is officially the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe had no comment but the California media sure did, blasting the hire already. No verification if it's true that Brown's office door will be titled with "Brian Shaw's Seat Warmer".

-The Wilpons have a sold a non-controlling stake in the New York Mets but not SNY for approximately 200 million dollars to Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn. It's been a busier week for the Wilpons with Jeffrey Toobin's The New Yorker bio on Fred Wilpon, which featured some interesting quotes from Wilpon on his team and players, followed by Wilpon's inevitable apology.

-Bob Huggins has a soulmate. West Virginia football's current offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen was removed from a West Virginia casino after becoming "uncooperative" with security. No truth to the rumor that Huggy Bear sent Dana a congratulatory/welcome to the club bottle of Ketel One.