About Balls, Sticks, & Stuff

About the Site and Author:

Balls, Sticks, & Stuff is one of the longest tenured and most popular Phillies-oriented blogs on the Internet.

In July of 2004, Tom "Doc" Goyne, an eastern Pennsylvania native, created BS&S.com as a personal hobby that might foster semi-intelligent discussion about the Phillies.  Providing content on sports and entertainment, the site graces several hundred thousand visitors a year with a very loyal following and was named one of the best Philadelphia sports blogs in the "Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists."

Goyne is available to speak publicly on radio, in print or on television about the Phillies, baseball or other sports, and blogging. He has been quoted or cited in Philadelphia's Inquirer, Metro, City Paper, and 610-WIP Sports Talk Radio, as well as SportsIllustrated.com, ESPN.com and TheHardballTimes.com. Finally, Goyne made significant contributions to "The Phillies 2009 Annual" and "the Phillies 2010 Annual" published by Maple Street Press and edited by Jason Weitzel.

To contact Goyne, email him via trg at ballssticksstuff dot com.  Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ballsticksstuff.

Resources, Disclaimers, Etc:

- Statistics are often quoted on BS&S.com.  Rudimentary stats like batting average, runs batted in, etc. can be found nearly anywhere online.  For more complex statistics such as OPS+, Win Shares, batted ball types, win probability added (WPA), and batter vs. pitcher tendencies, sites such as baseball-reference.com, The Hardball Times, FanGraphs.com and ESPN.com Insider are indispensable.

- All other material is created by Tom Goyne unless otherwise noted.

- BS&S.com is in no way affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies or Major League Baseball.

Glossary of Terms:

Chase Clutchly: Chase Utley.
ERA: Earned run average. Duh.
ERA+: Earned run average adjusted by park factor and normalized so that 100 is average.  In other words, it's pitching I.Q.
FIP: A pitcher's theoretical ERA with an average defense playing behind him.
King Cole: Cole Hamels.
OPS: On-base average plus slugging percentage.
OPS+: On-base average plus slugging percentage adjusted by park factor and normalized so that 100 is average.  In other words, hitting I.Q.
Philadelphia Sports Anguish Alert Level: A scale measuring the current level of agony and distress inflicted upon the long-suffering fans of the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers. A.K.A. "PSAAL".  Archived here.
Phloggers: Phillies-centric bloggers.  Sometimes used for all Philadelphia sports bloggers.
The Missus: The site author's wife.  A recurring character.
TWRWWRN: The Wide Receiver Who Will Remain Nameless.  Variations include    [insert athlete or person here]    Who Will Remain Nameless.  Created for athletes who are completely incompetent, lazy, or who have generally wronged the Philadelphia sports world with their behavior and/or bad play.