Lamentations of a Lady-Fan

As a female fan, I get my share of patronizing looks and remarks, and then stares of amazement when I prove I'm not in it to ogle the players' butts in baseball pants. For instance, this Friday afternoon I was at a club meeting, and a freshman who I'd met once or twice before walked in and asked, to the room at large, "Who are you all picking to win the World Series?"

Of course, I've put a lot of thought into this, and so I immediately answered "Philly."


"No," he shook his head at me. "They're losing to San Fransisco in the NLCS. Tim Lincecum is going to destroy Roy Halladay."

Normally, I enjoy baseball debates, but he had the air of someone who is teaching a stubborn first grader that 1+1 does, in fact, equal 2. I bristled at his tone, and asked him a simple question:

"Really? How many perfect games does Tim Lincecum have under his belt?"

He stared blankly at me, before answering, "Well, none. But how many Cy Youngs does Roy Halladay have? Zero."

I gaped at him in disbelief. "Seriously? Roy Halladay was the Cy Young winner in 2003! In the AL East, no less!"

He then scoffed at the ferocity of competition in that division, calling it overrated, at which point got some backup from another boy in the room:

"Seriously? The three best teams in baseball are in that division!"

"And," I added, "The Red Sox won eighty-nine games with a final lineup that included several players who had started the year in Double-A!"

"So?" The original questioner asked, "The White Sox won more than that and they had injuries!"

At this point, the other members of the (predominantly male) club were staring at us. My friend Steph, the only other girl in the room, and decidedly NOT a baseball fan, was giggling. [This would be a better story if Halladay had shut down the Giants last night, but the Phils lost. Either way, it was not the pitcher's duel most baseball fans were expecting.]

I decided not to correct him. He clearly did not know what he was talking about, and he doubted my credibility as a source in any case (for the record, the White Sox won 88 games in 2010). I'm not sure why he thought I wasn't a reliable source of baseball knowledge, but in the past I've been told that I can't possibly know sports because I am a straight female.

This is exactly WHY I am sometimes judgmental of other fans - shouldn't they be held to the same ridiculous standards of knowledge as I am?

This is ridiculous. I spend 90% of my free time researching, watching, or discussing baseball. I run this blog and another, and I have a veritable library of baseball books. My computer toolbar has six baseball links, one for Twitter (where I discuss baseball), and one for my college's athletics website.


So, clearly my being in possession of a uterus excludes me from intelligent baseball discourse. I'm sorry for wasting all of your time with my yattering about a sport I am biologically unable to understand.

Halladay makes history

Last fall, in the immediate aftermath of the World Series, my Phillies fan friends were less than ecstatic. Trust me, I told them, I KNOW how badly it sucks to lose to New York. And then came the news of that blockbuster December trade... You know, the one that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle, Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, and prospects to Toronto so they could start "rebuilding."

MKy roommate, a casual Phillies fan from South Jersey (VERY different from North Jersey, as I was constantly told), was very upset. She didn't know anything about Halladay, and Lee had been the only bright spot in that lost World Series. "Trust me," I told her, "You will absolutely LOVE Roy Halladay."

[Not to mention how much I was going to love watching his brilliance when it didn't often come against MY team, for a change.]

She was skeptical, but let it go - I'm guessing by now she's forgotten that the conversation even took place. At the time, I at first couldn't believe that she didn't know about the excellence that was Doc Halladay, and then I checked myself: Halladay had never played in the playoffs, and had spent his whole spectacular career buried in the American League East. There was no reason that a casual fan of a National League team WOULD know about him.

Well, they've all heard of him now. After the perfect game in May, Halladay went on to have a shut-down season for the Phils, and last night he tossed a one-walk, no-hit gem in Philadelphia to put the Phillies up 1-0 on the Reds in the NLDS. Oh, did I mention that it was only the second no-hitter in Major League history, after Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956?

And in his first postseason start ever. Yeah, I feel pretty good about that offhanded comment last December: Philadelphia is LOVING Roy Halladay.

Josh, Jon, and John: Three Aces?

Like many of you, I follow several baseball sites, both on Twitter and Facebook, and I have more than a few bookmarked on my web browser. Many of them are primarily about the Red Sox, but I do follow a fair amount that cover all of MLB, and I saw an interesting argument popping up on Facebook this evening over the best rotation in baseball.

Being the homer I am proud to be, I would obviously say the Red Sox, but I'm willing to listen to debate. However, one of the posters contended that the Red Sox didn't have even one legitimate ace, but three #2 pitchers. This is, at best, absurd. Let's look at the numbers of the Red Sox top 3 starters, shall we?

Joshua Patrick Beckett:


Career: 206 (average) IP, 108-68 (.609 W-L%), 3.79 ERA, 1330 SO
2009: 212.1 IP, 17-6 (.739 W-L%), 3.86 ERA, 199 SO
2010 Bill James Projection: 221 IP, 15-9, 3.62 ERA, 206 SO
Most similar pitcher: John Lackey

Jonathan Tyler Lester:


Career: 207 (average) IP, 42-16 (.724 W-L%), 3.66 ERA, 487 SO
2009: 203.1 IP, 15-8 (.652 W-L%), 3.41 ERA, 225 SO
2010 Bill James Projection: 206 IP, 13-10, 3.84 ERA, 184 SO
Most similar pitcher by age: Johan Santana (!)

John Derran Lackey:


Career: 219 (average) IP, 102-71 (.590 W-L%), 3.81 ERA, 1201 SO
2009: 176.1 IP, 11-8 (.579 W-L%), 3.83 ERA, 139 SO
2010 Bill James Projections: 208 IP, 13-10, 3.81 ERA, 166 SO
Most similar pitcher: Josh Beckett

Now, let's compare these numbers to those of the best pitcher in MLB, one we can ALL agree is a bona fide ACE:

Harry Leroy Halladay [I guess we know why he goes by "Roy," eh?]:


Career: 232 (average) IP, 148- 76 (.661 W-L%), 3.43 ERA, 1495 SO
2009: 239 IP, 17-10 (.630 W-L%), 2.79 ERA, 208 SO
2010 Bill James Projection: 240 IP, 17-10, 3.23 ERA, 179 SO
Most similar pitcher: Tim Hudson

Clearly, a pitcher doesn't have to measure up to Roy Halladay to be an ace, because if that was the case, he would be the only one. So what makes an "ace?" All three of the Red Sox players in question have won clinching games of the World Series (all, interestingly enough, at age 23): Beckett for the 2003 Marlins , Lester for the 2007 Red Sox, and Lackey for the 2002 Angels. Now, you can't hold that against Halladay, as he was stuck in purgatory, pitching for the Blue Jays. However, credit must be given to the three in question for pitching so well, at such a young age, in high-pressure situations.

As far as straight-up statistics go, Jon Lester is probably the ace of the Red Sox staff, regardless of his actual position in the rotation. [It is interesting to note that Bill James, while very accurate in his predictions for Lackey and Beckett, severely underestimated Lester last year.] Lackey and Beckett are almost carbon copies of each other statistically, and either could be the number one pitcher on nearly 2/3 of MLB teams, while I would take Lester against just about anyone in baseball.

Are all three of the Red Sox top starters aces? Maybe not. But there's no way in hell you can label all three of them #2's - especially in what might be a contract year for Beckett (or a year when he has to prove he deserves his extension). In any case, the fact that we can even be having this conversation is exciting... Is it Sunday yet?

Winter Meetings

The MLB Winter Meetings are underway, and though the Sox have already added Marco Scutaro at the blackhole also known as shortstop, there's still a lot that could be done.

• While it's likely that Roy Halladay won't be pitching for Toronto next year, it's equally likely that he won't be pitching for Boston - if he's smart, he'll accept a trade to the National League (a 20-game winner in the AL East could do some serious damage in the NL West).

• Another name we've been hearing a lot is Adrian Gonzalez, which adds a measure of drama, as San Diego's new GM, Jed Hoyer, knows that Red Sox farm system better than anyone but Theo himself.

• The Sox still need a power bat. Most likely, either Matt Holliday or Jason Bay will end up in pinstripes, as the Evil Empire will be looking for an upgrade over Johnny Damon. I'd like to see Bay back, but letting him go, and then signing Holliday actually improvs their standing in the draft.

• Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito have both jumped ship for other teams, and the bullpen needs some depth.

I don't really expect much to get done during these meetings, but I do know that Theo is doing his best to give us a competitive team for 2010 and beyond. Stay tuned.

The fan gets what the fan wants...

While watching the intro to the ESPY's (hey, it's an off-day), host Samuel L. Jackson said something intriguing, namely, "This is all about the fans. The fan gets what the fan wants." How often do we hear owners/managers/athletes say something to that effect, and how often does it actually happen? Of course, Jackson is talking about the winners in his awards show, which are actually voted on by fans, but even within the ESPY's, if the fans got what they truly wanted, there would be more highlights and fewer commercials. Of course, there's no way that every fan could physically get what they want, as everyone has their own opinions about what would make their team better. Below are the events that would take place if the sports world oriented itself around THIS fan's fancy (most are Red Sox related - there's a shocker!).

• JP Ricciardi decides that what he really needs to do is trade Roy Halladay and Marco Scutaro to Boston for Julio Lugo and a packet of grape flavored Big League Chew. Merci!
• Brian Cashman decides that instead of overpaying for yet another free agent, he'll donate the money to a small yet overwhelmingly deserving charity. The Yankees fall out of first place when CC Sabathia eats himself into a coma at one of New York's fine restaurants.
• Ticket prices at Fenway Park suddenly find themselves within the realm of possibility for a college student with a limited income. Trinity College consequently decides that Major League Baseball games qualify as excused absences.
• Dustin Pedroia realizes his love for me. We live happily ever after.
• NESN releases the footage of the beatings Josh Beckett handed down to the Sox offense following the epic FAIL on Tuesday night. Special attention is given to the post-game swirly awarded to Lowrie, and the atomic wedgie suffered by JD "I don't care that my underwear is up my ass" Drew.
• Heidi Watney gets a clue, or, failing that, NESN hires someone with tact and passion to do her job.
  
• Jacoby Ellsbury learns to take a walk, and produces in the leadoff spot. Actually, I won't even wish for that. It's impossible.

Feel free to add your wildest sports wishes in the comments!