Baseball stats misused....

Kevin Kennedy was talking about Adrian Beltre today on the FOX baseball pregame show and he noted that 14 of Beltre's 41 homers this season have come in the 7th inning or later, showing a list of 8 of them that helped the Dodgers to victory. While I don't disagree with his claim that Beltre deserves serious consideration for MVP, a little math negates his late inning analysis. Last time I checked, 7th inning on is 3 of 9 (typical innings). Ignoring extra innings (at least 1 of the 8 homers contributing to wins were post 9th inning), that means that one third of Beltre's 41 homers ought to be in the 7th inning on. 41 divided by 3 is 13.667 - that's awful close to the 14 he's hit in the 7th inning on..... That reminds me of the story about how President Eisenhower was astonished by the claim that half of Americans have below average intelligence.

Jim.

Olympics I

Wow, what a great finish to the Mens Gymnastics and womens 800m relay in the pool today! It's always fun to watch athletic events that we might only watch once every 4 years during the Olympics. Last night I watch amazed the nearly photo finish between the USA and Australia during the 800m swimming relay. Who would have imagined that Klete Keller could hold off one of the great swimmers - Ian Thorpe - but he did. Tonight, we saw both a world record set in the womens 800m relay. And we saw Paul Hamm really screw up his landing on the vault - the announcers were saying he had knocked himself out of a medal & he was more than a half point behind all the way back in 12th place. But Hamm wasn't listening to the broadcast I was watching. He took advantage of small mistakes by many of his competitors and simply performed two of his best routines ever. It's great to see the competition and sportsmanship so prominantly displayed every 4 years.

And as for Wildcats, former Wildcat Jennie Finch pitched a great game today as the USA softball team continues its unbeaten and unscored on streak. Tomorrow former Wildcat swimmer Amanda Beard races in her strongest event.

And besides, my D'Backs beat the Pirates tonight! WooHoo!

Jim.

D'Backs win!

Yaaah! The D'Backs won last night! WooHoo! Can they avoid loosing 100? With Gonzo on the mend from his season ending surgery Monday, it was a very interesting lineup last night - lots of kiddies. It looks like the AAA Tucson Sidewinders out there with a couple major leaguers rehabbing.... I sure hope they make the most of their experience this year and blossom into the players many of them can be that much sooner. Remember names like Luis Terrero, Tim Olson and Scott Hairston. They could be future All Stars - hopefully with the D'Backs still!

With Gonzo on the DL and the trade of Steve Finley, Randy Johnson and Danny Bautista are the last starters left from the 2001 World Series roster. Hard to believe all the changes and how far the team has fallen, but I'm optomistic about next year and the year after. Listen to me, I'm starting to sound like a Cubs fan. One difference, though: The D'Backs have won a World Series recently! :-P

Jim.