Mets Uniforms 4: Throwback success

Since I last blogged on the success (or otherwise) of the Mets in their various uniform combinations, the Mets have pleased this fan at least by not wearing the full black uniforms (it's now 14 games since they last wore black; the season high no-black streak is 18, from 27th June to 18th July.) They also set a new season record of most games wearing pinstripes in a row - 2. Pretty dire for what is still officially the main home uniform; the snow-white jerseys are still the 'alternative home jerseys'.

Of course the main uniform news of the past week was the three games that the Mets wore 'throwback' uniforms, emblazoned with large NY across the front, to honour the New York Giants. The received wisdom in the Mets blogosphere is to expect some variation of these as an alternate next year. Best thing is that the Mets went 2-1 wearing them. Here's the updated table:

Uniform	times worn	Record	Win %	runs for	runs against
Road Grays / Hybrid Cap	43	17-26	0.372	4.00	4.91
Black / Black Cap	24	11-13	0.458	4.54	5.67
Home White / Blue Caps	24	15-9	0.625	4.63	3.71
Home White / Hybrid Caps	19	8-11	0.421	4.21	4.58
Pinstripes / Blue Caps	7	2-5	0.286	4.29	6.86
Throwbacks / Blue Caps	3	2-1	0.667	3.33	2.33
Pinstripes / Hybrid Caps	1	1-0	1.000	3.00	2.00
Overall	121	56-65	0.470	4.36	4.79

Photo credit: Ed Betz, AP

New York Times seems prescient

Last Wednesday, the New York Times had an article about the Rawlings S100, a 'new, safer batting helmet', and how it was being met with resistence from some players. It starts:

Three weeks after absorbing the potentially deadly impact of a 93-mile-per-hour fastball on his batting helmet, Edgar Gonzalez still feels dizzy whenever he lies down.

The S100 can absorb 100mph fastballs, hence its name. That sort of protection doesn't come without a little bulkiness, a bulkiness that some players find ugly. "In the eyes of some major league players, it is just too bulky, too heavy and too geeky-looking." Step up new Met Jeff Francoeur:

“No, I am absolutely not wearing that,” Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur said with a laugh after seeing a prototype, as if he were being asked to put a pumpkin on his head. “I could care less what they say, I’m not wearing it. There’s got to be a way to have a more protective helmet without all that padding. It’s brutal. We’re going to look like a bunch of clowns out there.”

Ha-ha! You already look like an idiot any time you wear those hybrid batting helmets, Jeff. Might as well be safe. Also, it's "I couldn't care less." not "I could care less." That implies you do care about it, and have the capacity to care less than you do right now. Surely there's some player who will choose the sensible option and put his safety first?

“If it provides more protection, then I’m all for it,” said Mets third baseman David Wright, who last week dodged a Brad Thompson fastball traveling on a frightening vector toward his head. “I’m not worried about style or looking good out there. I’m worried about keeping my melon protected.”

There's a man who's using his noggin. Then the Times had another article on Friday about how players in the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic were going to be wearing the S100 (Does the Times have a deal with Rawlings? What's with all the coverage?) Then on Saturday, yet another, about how 'hard-headed athletes resist change'. Why choose the less-safe option?

Tradition, some have said. Play would be compromised, others have argued. Libertarian appeals have been made: Don’t trample our freedom. Aesthetics and vanity, too, have come off the bench: why make us look stupid?

Then, on Sunday, an article entitled 'Mets Don't Hesitate to put David Wright on the Disabled List with a Concussion'.

The Mets placed Wright on the disabled list with postconcussion symptoms Sunday, the day after a 93-mile-an-hour fastball from Giants pitcher Matt Cain hit him with such force that it knocked off his helmet.

Dammit! Wright's one of the good guys. He's started 812 of his first 830 games as a Met. He believes in protecting his 'melon'. Why couldn't Cain have beaned the hubris out of Francoeur instead?

Olympics tells baseball "You're outta here!"

The Olympics Committee Executive has recommended that rugby 7s and golf be included in the 2016 Olympics, meaning both baseball and softball have failed in their attempts to be reinstated. It isn't a done deal; the IOC Congress in October has to approve the recommendation, but it doesn't seem likely that it will be changed.

'So what?' you might say. Baseball's getting on just fine without being in the Olympics. Among the various selection criteria, says the BBC, is "the potential to develop... it's questionable how much rugby, golf and baseball need Olympic exposure."

Baseball might have deep roots in perhaps half a dozen countries, if that, but there's plenty of opportunity for development in the rest of the world. How much would British Baseball have benefited if the sport had been on the ticket for the London 2012 games? Now, Rugby 7s I can understand - I live in the Scottish Borders, where sevens was born and it's played around the world. It's a competitive team sport involving the need for peak physical condition. But golf? Come on. Next you'll be telling me that beach volleyball, table tennis and synchronized swimming will be made Olympic sports!

Mets Uniforms 3

Last week I blogged about the Mets' record wearing different uniforms, and it seemed pretty popular (thanks to reblogging it on Mets Police), getting mentions on Mets Blog and On The Black.

Since then there's been some regression to the mean, with the Mets losing two in their snow-white uniforms and winning one in the full black one. I've updated the research to reflect the last seven games, and have added columns for 'runs scored per game' and 'runs conceded per game':

Uniform	times worn	Record	Win %	runs for	runs against
Road Grays / Hybrid Cap	40	16-24	0.400	4.00	4.85
Black / Black Cap	24	11-13	0.458	4.54	5.67
Home White / Blue Caps	23	15-8	0.652	4.78	3.43
Home White / Hybrid Caps	18	8-10	0.444	4.33	4.67
Pinstripes / Blue Caps	5	1-4	0.200	3.80	5.80
Pinstripes / Hybrid Caps	1	1-0	1.000	3.00	2.00
Overall	111	52-59	0.468	4.31	4.59

As can be seen, the Mets score more runs and stop the opponent scoring as many when wearing white and blue. They give up the most (discounting the pinstripes due to small sample size) when playing in Black. Now it could be said that this is no surprise; you'd expect the team to perform better at home than in other ballparks. However, they wear the black both at home and on the road so it shouldn't be worse than the gray uniform, which they only wear on the road.

So to sum up what we've learned so far:

• The Mets win games when they wear snow-white jerseys with blue caps
• The Mets concede the most runs when they wear the black uniforms

Next week, perhaps, further stats - ERA, Home Runs, SLG...

In the meantime, it's been nearly a month since the Mets wore the home white jerseys with the hybrid cap. Maybe a change of policy there? Maybe I just jinxed that - they'll don them on Thursday against the Giants, no doubt.

Mets Uniforms bits and pieces

I blogged the Mets Uniform post of last Monday over at Mets Police, and it was mentioned on Mets Blog, which is nice - thanks for that guys.

Via Mets Blog I see that Gregg Girard at Uni Watch has been keeping a close eye on how the uniforms affect the Mets' performance:

In the three Santana in black starts (all on the road), he went 0-3 with a 10.06 ERA.

Ouch!

As to why the Mets prefer the black to the blue, Michael Ceserano at Ultimate Mets Database has the insider knowledge:

Even when the Mets pinstripe home uniform makes a rare appearance, it is often paired with one of the black alternate caps instead of the more traditional all-blue cap. It has been speculated that the reason for the scarcity of appearances of the all-blue cap is that the dugout jacket is black and as such does not go well with the all-blue cap. In order to minimize instances of players wearing the all-blue hat with the black jacket, it is rumored that the Mets try not to wear the all-blue hat in any weather except the hottest of temperatures, since almost no one will be wearing the jacket on an extremely hot day.

Ceserano also has a photo of the 'ice-cream' uniforms of 1997, which I was previously unaware of. It looks like they forgot to colour it in. I *almost* prefer the black. Almost.

Japanese Baseball roundup

Kamei helps Giants past Swallows
The only professional baseball game I've seen to date was between the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. The Giants are kind of like the Yankees of Japan, having won the most Japan Series and dominating in the past to such an extent that they're sometimes nicknamed 'Japan's Team'. The two Tokyo teams have been playing a series the past couple of days, and it's been a good series for Giants fans as they swept the Swallows in three games; 10-7, 2-1, and 2-0. Koshiyuki Kamei was instrumental in helping the Giants. In game 2 he hit a 'sayonara' home run in the bottom of the tenth, his 3rd of the season. In game 3 he broke up a scoreless pitching duel with a 2-run homer. He also hit a walk-off homer against Hiroshima Carp on Tuesday.

Kobe 9 Cruise shaken by recent events
All is not well in the Kansai Independent League. Gwynar, over on Simcentral Forums, reports that they've held an emergency meeting to discuss the problems that have befallen Kobe 9 Cruise, the team who signed Japan's first female pro-ballplayer Eri Yoshida (who I blogged about back in March.) According to Gwynar:

Ever since the team fired Yoshihiro Nakata on July 29th, nothing good has happened for the Kobe 9 Cruise. First, Eri Yoshida announces that she's taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. Then 4 players boycott a game. And now the fans aren't showing up to the games.

So the future is uncertain for the country's first female player, but she's still in demand. Kobe say they would like the knuckleballer back.

Bits and Pieces

• NPB Tracker noticed that in their extra-inning loss to the Yankees the Red Sox used three Japanese pitchers - Junichi Tazawa, Hideki Okajima and Takashi Saito. Another, Ramon Ramirez, has NPB experience. Tazawa gave up the homer to A-Rod which made the difference in fifteen innings.
• He might not like it but Shannon Shark, the Mets Police Chief, reckons Bobby Valentine will be managing the Mets in 2010. Perhaps he'll tell Omar Minaya about some of the Japanese talent he's seen in his time with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
  

Taliban baseball team

The satirical news site News Biscuit (like a British Onion) has previously ripped baseball with their amusing "America still making a big deal about rounders".

Now they've another funny baseball-related article, "Taliban Baseball Team expelled from World Series for 'ungentlemenly conduct'"

the Taliban have also been criticised for ... their wholesale execution of the St. Louis Cardinals for refusing to grow beards. ‘Such aggressive behaviour will not be tolerated,’ said a National League spokesman. ‘We suggest they go back to wherever the hell it is they came from. Either that or take up ice hockey.’"

Solution to Citi Field obstructions

Over at Mets Police, much is made about the lousy views afforded to fans unfortunate enough to get one of the obstructed seats. Now, I can't really comment on this since I've yet to visit the home of the Mets (though I did once see Shea on the drive from JFK.)

However, when I spotted this on the amusing There, I Fixed It blog, I knew it was the perfect solution. Simply provide these to any fans with obstructed views. Of course, it might cause problems for the fans behind them but that's their problem.

Mets Uniforms 2

Back in May I blogged about the uniforms the Mets had been wearing, bemoaning the lack of pinstripes. Now since then we've seen (via the Mets Police) that the Mets themselves have been tracking their record with the different uniforms. I've updated my research for the games up to August 2nd:

Uniform	No. of times worn	Record	Winning %
Road Grays with Hybrid Cap	36	15-21	0.417
Black with Black Cap	23	10-13	0.435
Home White with Blue Caps	21	15-6	0.714
Home White with Hybrid Caps	18	8-10	0.444
Pinstripes with Blue Caps	5	1-4	0.200
Pinstripes with Hybrid Caps	1	1-0	1.000

So Pinstripes have been avoided as if they've got leprosy. In fact they were worn twice in April, twice in May (including once with the hybrids), once in June and once in July. Meanwhile the all-black uniform has been worn 23 times, including seven games in a row between the 19th and 26th of July.

If we discount the poor Pinstripes due to small sample size, we can see that the only time the Mets have a winning percentage is with the white jerseys and blue caps. When the Mets won five straight at the end of last month, they won games 3, 4 and 5 of the streak wearing blue caps. Second game of the doubleheader against the Rockies, they don the Black again and Bam! The streak is over.

Even if Charlie Samuels prefers the Black and hates the pinstripes, as has been claimed, the fact that the Mets lose games when you put a black or hybrid cap on them and win games when you put a blue cap on them should convince him otherwise.

Robot Baseball

Via David Thompson's excellent blog (check out the weekly 'Friday Ephemera'), I present the future of baseball. If these dastardly humans can't be trusted not to use HGHs, let these guys take the field:



Researchers at the University of Tokyo created the robots to demonstrate the capabilities of high-speed industrial robots, and plans are afoot to improve on both the pitching robot and the batting robot. According to the Pink Tentacle:

The robot pitcher consists of a high-speed, three-fingered hand mounted on a mechanical arm. With superb control of nimble fingers that can open and close at a rate of up to 10 times per second, the robot can release the ball with perfect timing. Precise coordination between the fingers, hand and arm allow the robot pitcher to hit the strike zone 90% of the time.

In the demonstration ... the researchers placed the robot pitcher 3.5 meters (11 ft) away from the mechanical batter. The pitcher’s 40-kph (25-mph) sidearm throws posed little challenge to the batter, whose 1000-frame-per-second camera eyes allow it to see the ball in super slow motion as it approaches. The robot batter has a near-perfect batting average when swinging at pitches in the strike zone.

To make future contests more interesting, the researchers plan to increase the robot pitcher’s throwing speed to 150 kph (93 mph) and teach it to throw breaking balls and changeups. In addition, they plan to train the robot batter to repeatedly hit balls to the same target.

It's incredible stuff, but if they had developed a decent robot infielder that 'hit' would've been a easy two-hop ground ball. I look forward to the first robot league games.

Buehrle, perfect truck.

Via Home Run Derby, I see Mark Buehrle has himself a big truck. I wonder if that elevated ride and feeling of security is what gives you the presence of mind needed to pitch a perfect game and a half.

Mark Buehrle, perfect through 45 batters.

Mark Buehrle couldn't let his unravelling in the seventh overshadow his achievement, as he retired 45 batters in a row. An incredible achievement.

Via No-No-Hitters, here's Buehrle on Letterman, giving the Top Ten Things that went through his mind:


If you were a player and also in a fantasy league, would it be unethical to have you on your own team?

No-hitter Catchers

Following on from my question posed two posts ago, "How many Mets have caught a no-hitter either before or after joining the Mets?" I have crunched the numbers using the Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers and the Ultimate Mets Database. There are twelve.

Yogi Berra 3 (51, 51, 56*) Met in 65
Joe Ginsburg (52) Met in 62
Jerry Grote (64) Met from 66-77
JC Martin (67) Met in 68-69
Jerry May (70) Met in 73
Duffy Dyer (76) Met from 68-74
Gary Carter (81) Met from 85-89
Brett Mayne (91) Met in 96
Mike Piazza 2 (95,96) Met from 98-05
Alberto Castillo (99) Met from 95-98
Eli Marrero (01) Met in 06
Ramon Castro (09*) Met from 05-09

* denotes perfect game caught.

After going through the whole list, I see that the excellent Mets Walk-Offs and Minutiae blog has beaten me to the bag. Doh!

People's Republic of Onions

America's finest news-source, the Onion, has undergone a "change of ownership, and is now owned by the Chinese. Among the myriad amusing articles is this gem:

MILWAUKEE—In an act of selflessness not often seen amongst ego-driven American athletes, who typically look only to further their own personal agendas, hero Milwaukee Brewers player Jason Kendall placed a bunted ball back to the pitcher Tuesday with full knowledge that he himself would be eliminated from scoring contention for the duration of the contest's fifth inning. Receiving upon his return to the dugout a mere smattering of high fives from his ignorant teammates and but one hand-clap from the staff of coaching elders, Kendall was not properly greeted as a hero responsible for the very 90-foot advancement of teammates Mat Gamel and J.J. Hardy to second and third base respectively. Due to his undying devotion to the singular cause of winning, even at the cost of his own personal downfall, Jason Kendall is the greatest player to ever play the game of baseball.鱼

It's got to be...a-woah... perfect

Congratulations to Buehrle, who joins the exclusive club with only 18 members. Was that Ramon Castro I saw catching it? How many Mets catchers have gone on to catch a no-no or a perfect game, I wonder?

For a little segment we called "Back in Pinstripes."

The dictionary definition of optimism is " an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome." The trouble is, I think the best possible outcome for these Mets is simply not to embarrass themselves any further. Losing two of three to the Nationals means the odds are slipping on the only race the Mets have a chance in (who takes fourth in the NL East.)

The over-optimistic GM, Omar Minaya reckons they're still in with a shot (via Rob Neyer).

"Right now we do not envision [being a seller]," [Omar] Minaya said. "If we're 6 ½ [back] in the wild card with a couple of teams in front of us, we are still kind of trying to find out how we can improve this team, if we can improve it through trades."

Ah, that's sweet of you to say so. I'm sure it's nothing to do with having to fill a brand-new stadium for the rest of the year. Hey, I've got an idea; what about novelty days, like 'Old Timers Day', or a day where you retire a number, or a day where you open a Mets Hall of Fame/Museum? Or what about a wacky promotion - the record for 'most t-shirts worn at one time' is ripe for breaking. I mean, 228? Think of the new uniform colours you could sell.

Cool Standings reckons the chance of the Mets making the playoffs is 1.3%. Now that's optimism. Remember the good old days when all we had to worry about was whether Johan Santana would ever get any run support? Boy, I miss those discussions. There's a nice graph on the same site which shows a magical day on May 29th when the Mets' chances of making the post-season peaked at 60.6%.

There's a comment on Neyer's post by salsajew which uses a quote from Office Space to sum up the Mets right now:

"Every day of my life gets worse and worse, so whenever you see me, you are actually seeing me in the worst day of my life." Today is the worst day of the Mets season. And tomorrow will be even worse. Looking forward to October 1. Awesome.

It's hard to summon up enough empathy for this Mets team to get as angry as the great Lewis Black probably could. It's just so hard to be optimistic. Still, as Cool Standings reminds us, on August the 19th 1969 the Mets had a 1.7% chance of making the postseason; on August the 8th 1973 they had a 0.2% chance of making it, and look where those teams ended up. What Tug said.

Obama's Pitch: Split-Fingered Curve?

Channel Five had some cursory coverage of the All-Star game in a news bulletin the day after the game, and I've just caught up with some of the print coverage in the British media. As expected, they ignore the game to concentrate on the ceremonial first pitch, which 'fell short', they reported. It seemed fine to me, but some of the right-leaning American media have been lambasting Obama for his sissy throw, and the accusing the liberal media conspiracy of covering-up how poor it was. So sure, it was no Bush 2001 (see this video of his visit to Yankee Stadium), but I thought he did alright. Hell, I wouldn't want to try to do the same - I hate to think where the ball'd go under all that pressure.

The Times (of London) explains that some commentators read even further into the pitch:

The Chicago Tribune was unimpressed. "As you would expect, President Barack Obama leaned to the left while making the ceremonial first pitch at Tuesday's All-Star game in St. Louis," it wrote.

Still, as John Buchel of Examiner.com writes, there was no conspiracy:

Yesterday, there were many stories, not just in the National Review Online, about how the “liberal” media pumped up the President’s puny pitch. But what these conservative commentators forget is the media does that for every President.

True enough. He's paid to lead, not to pitch. Which as probably just as well. Asked if he had a good curve ball as a southpaw, Mr Obama said: “If I did, I wouldn’t have run for President", adding: “If anybody needs a lefty....”

Mets need help

Following on from the septagenarian women of the Osaka Silver Sisters, it seems the Mets have been offered help from an unlikely source. Says Newsday:

One compelling offer comes from some seasoned Long Island baseball veterans, who are joining to produce a video on the fundamentals of baseball to help their hapless metropolitan team.

With a cumulative total of more than 1,400 years' experience, the Bristal All-Stars, a Long Island senior softball team, will work on basics the Mets have at times had trouble mastering, from touching the bases to catching fly balls, Wednesday morning at Baldwin Park. Then they'll package the highlights and present them to the Mets.

If the Mets are wise, they'll take the advice. Once they start catching pop-ups and touching the bases as they run home, they can stop watching. Seventy-eight year old team captain Harry Schwarzkopf doesn't rate the Mets chances this year, fundamentals or no:

"They really are playing with minor league personnel," Schwarzkopf said. "It's very hard to compete against a major league team like that."

Now, the Mets just need more video advice from a PR firm, a talent scout, a baseball historian...

Baseball on Five again!

Sorry to get your hopes up, it was just for one news bulletin. The news presenter mentioned Barack Obama's ceremonial first pitch to Pujols in last night's All-Star game. The coverage wasn't quite as good as we've come to expect from Josh and Johnny; she failed to mention it was the All-Star game, saying merely that it was "a baseball game in Missouri." Still, "he just about managed to get it to the catcher!" Personally, I thought it was a pretty decent first pitch.

As if one baseball news item wasn't treat enough, she followed it with an amusing piece about the Osaka Silver Sisters, a japanese baseball team of women in their seventies. Like the film 'League of Their Own', all the players on the team played women's pro-ball fifty years ago and took up the game again four years ago. According to Reuters:

In matching red and white uniforms, 75-year-old captain Mineko "Mimi" Khosaka and her fellow teammates pitch, hit and run with vigor, belying a range of health problems that range from bad backs, wonky knees, a missing kidney and a pacemaker.

They're not allowed to slide head-first or steal base, which is probably just as well. "Nothing can separate me from baseball. I know I'll keep playing till I die and I've already asked my children to send me off in my baseball uniform when the time comes," Mimi said.

Awesome play by Murphy

I missed this awesome play by Daniel Murphy against the Dodgers during the Mets' 5-4 victory. Who says he can't play first?

See more funny videos and Sports Videos at Today's Big Thing.