Author: Lenny

The Decline of the Doubleheader

As we all know, doubleheaders are a rarity these days, confined to make-up games. I was curious about how their frequency has declined over the years. A quick munge of the Retrosheet game logs produced the graph below. Note that this is percentage of dates that were doubleheaders, not games that were doubleheaders.

dh20090620.png

Looks like the frequency went up in the 1930s–don’t know why. The spike during WWII must be due to the travel restrictions. After the war it’s a pretty linear decline to 1990, where it bottomed out. The reasons for the decline certainly include the following:

  • Air travel reduced the need for travel days.
  • More night baseball.
  • Owners figured they ended up losing money on twin bills.
  • Players don’t like ’em.

Skype notes

Installed Skype on Windows. A guide for potential ABL use.

  1. Download & install Skype.
  2. Create a Skype account.
  3. Call echo123, which is an automated test number that allows one to test the computer’s microphone & speaker.
  4. Download the Dice Roller & install it. (It may prompt you to download & install Java from Sun’s site.)
  5. Find the Dice Roller via Tools → Extras → Organize Your Extras.
  6. For help, type in “DICE-HELP”. (Must be upper case.)
  7. Rolls are made like this: //3d10. I actually prefer //1d1000 for 3 ten-sided dice. Also: //1d20 or //1d100.

Voice converstion and text chat can happen at the same time.

There are some reports that the Dice Roller may not work with Vista. It works for me on XP.

Skype is free for computer-to-computer conversations & chat.

skype20090603a.png

WCGB

Saw a new column in the standings in the local paper today: WCGB. Figures were slightly different than GB. Win Column Games Behind? Nope, the math didn’t add up. Turns out it’s Wild Card Games Behind. Sounds like a great idea for September, but do we need this in early May???

ABL Reliever Usage Rules

Are the ABL reliever usage limits realistic? One way to try to answer this is to ask the question: “What percentage of 2008 MLB relief appearances would have violated the 2009 ABL rules?” If the answer is “0%,” then I’d say the ABL rules are too lenient in allowing relievers to pitch a lot. At the other extreme, if the answer is “50%,” then I’d say the ABL rules are too strict and don’t allow pitchers to pitch enough. What’s the right percentage that would make you feel that the ABL rules are just about right? 1%? 5%? 10%? More?

Here are the current ABL rules for reference:

Short  
IP          REST 
0-2         0** 
2.1-3       1 
3.1-4       2 
4.1-over    3   
 
Closer 
IP          REST 
0-1         0*** 
1.1-2       1 
2.1-3       2   
3.1-over    3  
 
**  Cannot pitch more than 2 consecutive games 
***  Cannot pitch more than 3 consecutive games 
Note: Short cannot pitch more than 4 IP’s unless no other pitchers are available. 
Note: Closer cannot pitch more than 3 IP’s unless no other pitchers are available.

Continue reading ABL Reliever Usage Rules

ABL Draft

  1. Geovany Soto, C
  2. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
  3. Edison Volquez, SP
  4. Brian Bruney, RP
  5. Ben Zobrist, IF/OF
  6. Damaso Marte, RP
  7. BJ Ryan, closer
  8. Mike Lincoln, RP
  9. Jorge Cantu, 3B/1B
  10. JC Romero, RP
  11. Clint Barmes, IF
  12. Ubaldo Jimenez, SP
  13. Kevin Slowey, SP
  14. Geoff Geary, RP
  15. Chris Davis, 1B/3B