Balls, Sticks, & Stuff 1.0 had just one sidebar, and it was on the right. But it became kind of lengthy and difficult to read. B.S. & S. 2.0 originally had one sidebar as well, but when I upgraded, I cleaned it up and it was much easier to read.
But gradually, as this site's readership as well as the attention it receives has grown, the sidebar began to get cluttered again, to the point that I added another one. And gradually, that is getting cluttered too, partly because I can't say "no" to advertisement offers, but mainly because new bloggers keep on cropping up that I feel are worthy of linking to...Heck, there are usually around fifteen Phillies-centric blogs alone that I link to at any given time.
But I view all this as a nice problem to have, for websites like Beer Leaguer, Swing and a Miss, Baseball Musings, and Sabernomics (just to name a few) have all added to my enjoyment and understanding of baseball and writing about baseball. As a matter of fact, I read sites such as these (as well as The Hardball Times, The Philling Station, Shallow Center, The 700 Level, etc.) before I head to ESPN.com or Philly.com.
And why shouldn't I? The sites are free, don't require a registration, and have analysis that is just as good -- check that -- better than any of the larger sites. As far as I am concerned, the only thing that separates traditional sports news sources from the blogosphere is access to the news before the rest of us.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not taking to the streets and shouting, "Revolution!" and "Down with the MSM!", I'm just pointing out how impressed I am with some of the people that write about sports and don't get paid to do it.
And so, without further ado, I introduce to you, dear blog reader, "Base Knocks", a quasi-weekly round-up of some of best posts around the blogosphere. I plan for it to be more than just another version of my "Linkology" posts, which are really more like little bloops of things that interest me rather than full blown base knocks, which inform, debate, and spur thought. More like "The Highlight Reel", but for other blogs (my horn toots enough).
If you'd like, feel free to email me a link you feel is worthy of labelling a "base knock". I'm looking for insightful points, creative thinking, and/or creative writing.
First off, The Crossbow Project reports first-hand of Michelle Wie on her way to a second place finish in an LPGA major championship:
I saw Michelle Wie on Saturday down at Bulle Rock. She can play a little. I saw her back up a wedge shot on #2 about 15 feet to within a foot of the cup. I've only ever seen male players do that before. She made Julie Inskter stop flapping her yap about Michelle's sponsor exemption by finishing second to Annika. Michelle doesn't quite have Annika's machine-like approach yet, but she has 19 more years to catch up. She's also way too timid at this point. She laid up on #2 from only 205 yards out, which is about a 4 iron for her. Of course, she stuck the wedge on her third shot, so what do I know.
If it was me, I'd hold on to that memory, because some day, you'd be able to say, "I saw one of the best to ever play the game of golf."
Mash (not this one, not this one, but this one) dampens our enthusiasms a bit as he goes into the imbalance of pitching and hitting on the Phillies:
Doesn't look like those runs allowed are going to stop anytime soon, does it? If anything, looking at runs allowed since 15 may (inclusive), I get the figure of 119. So even in our best run of baseball so far this season, we're still hovering around the same mark of runs allowed. Which suggests that's what we're likely to do the rest of the season.
That's not good. Either we start winning games with runs by the bucketload, or the pitching starts to improve radically. I've not broken down these figures in terms of starts vs relief, but I'd say the latter is where we're going wrong. We currently seem to be winning a lot of games where we give up 3-4 runs from the bullpen, but score enough that it makes no odds - maybe Ooogie will help that out, and maybe that'll improve things. But this simple exercise has done much to cool my excitement.
I tend to think that while the bats may cool a bit, the pitching will begin to improve a bit as well, even with the season-long loss of Randy Wolf to Tommy John surgery. In other words, I'm keeping my bandwagon ticket where the Amtrack/SEPTA attendant can see it.
"Pawnking" finally decided money was no object and got himself a blog. In one of his first posts, he bangs the drum on a pet issue of mine: Citizen Bank Park's influence on the games played there:
Let me repeat for those who don't know: Citizens Bank Park is not the run-happy field people like to think it is. Citizen's is only 10th in runs as a park. It is only 9th in HR factor, and suppresses overall hits and doubles like a fiend. The park is smallish, and has hard walls, which limits the doubles, which allows the outfield to play rather shallow, which limits the hits. It also has generous foul ground, which also limits hitting...Why did the Phils only allow 60 runs, if it's just the park, including 5 games where we allowed 2 or fewer runs? No, it's easier to say it's just the park.
If a drum bangs and no one hears it, does it really bang? I say, bang louder. The Philling Station does just that in response to Harold Reynolds of Baseball Tonight on ESPN:
Reynolds talked about how when the weather gets hot, balls will be flying out of CBP against Phils' pitching -- as if it could get any hotter
Good point Brian, good point. And by the way, I apologize for bringing Richmond's oppressive heat and humidity with me during The Move.
Many of us compared Jimmy Rollins to his peers when examining his recent contract extension. Tom Goodman of Swing and a Miss decided to take a different view, by pointing out how hard it is to find a good shortstop. His proof? Not many at all go into the Hall of Fame. Interesting. Equally as interesting is Ichiro! of the Seattle Mariners. Mr. Goodman explains why:
The greatest pleasure in watching Ichiro play is the excitement and tension he brings to every at-bat. He never takes one off. He can go the opposite way, slapping a base hit to left, or drag a bunt down the first base line. He literally sprays the ball all over the yard. And he doesn’t have to hit the ball out of the infield; any ground ball to deep short is going to be a base hit. Once on base, he is always a threat to steal. He reminds me of Juan Pierre (at least the one of season’s past if not this one) in that he puts pressure on the defense from the first pitch of the game, before the opposition has had a chance to get settled. You turn around and suddenly there he is on second base. It can be demoralizing.
Ichiro is also an extraordinary fielder, one of the best in the game right now. He can climb the wall when needed and gun down a runner trying to take an extra base. He is one of the game’s most exciting players but he doesn’t get enough credit for a few reasons. One, he doesn’t hit the ball out of the park and fans want to see power hitters. Two, he doesn’t speak English, communicating instead through an interpreter, so fans have little sense of him as an individual. And three, he plays on the West Coast for a team that is no longer a playoff contender despite some high profile signing in the off-season, so he simply doesn’t appear on national television often enough.
I’ll have to stay up later than normal the next few nights.
Ironically, Ichiro! plays in the house that Starbucks built.
Tom Durso at Shallow Center has a way of wrapping things up in tidy little sentences. Here's his latest:
Forty million clams is an awful lot of scratch to give a guy who's had one really good season and a couple of pretty good half-seasons.
And finally, The Beer Leaguer earns a base knock for a great little line of his own:
There’s no formula to predict that a team that totally stunk for a month and a half would drop a 12-win megaton bomb squarely on the head of Howard Eskin.
Several days later, I can't turn on WIP without thinking of this line (of course, I've probably only tuned in to it twice, but still...)
