About Low and Outside
The boxscore is so limited in its scope and its story. For years, I looked forward to perusing those perfectly shaped boxes of numbers and symbols to catch up on my team’s performance in yesterday’s action. Nowadays, with all the extraneous information, the boxscores have too much information. All those numbers and lines, despite their intention, reveal a minute glimpse of the game, and that’s the niche where Low and Just Outside: Baseball Blog situates itself.
Whether it’s the deluge of information on the Internet, the growth of fantasy baseball leagues, the release of Moneyball, or the advent of spreadsheets and databases, our baseball lives are swamped with overanalysis and a gluttony of information, in statistics, comparisons, and records. During every game we hear: Willie Harris is batting .396 in the last 8 games. Andruw Jones is batting .199 in his last five day games with runners in scoring position against Brad Penny. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has the longest last name in Major league history. Everyone is susceptible to information overflow, broadcasters, analysts and bloggers. The combination of numbers and the statistics is mesmerizing. We rely on them indiscriminately. Saying that a player is in a slump or is hitting well is never enough. Does telling us he’s batting .320 or .423 make any difference in our evaluation of whether he’s going to get a hit in his next at-bat? Besides .320 just says that he’s going to get 3 hits in every 10, which is a higher likelihood of failure. We compare teams based on average runs scored, but fail to acknowledge that a 17-run outburst distorts the average. Consequently, with so much to share, baseball has lost many of the stories and the anecdotes that make the game of baseball interesting. What happens when Vin leaves the broadcasting booth?
Good pitching, defense, and timely offense win games. Not so complicated. Low and Just Outside exists to have some fun and enjoy the nuances in the game of baseball. There is always something to discuss because unlike other sports, the next day is a new day. We rarely have to wait a week for the next game.
A little sample of what you might find here:
Did you see Juan Pieere lay down that bunt double last night over Chipper Jones’ head? It landed behind the third base bag inside the line. Now that’s a bunt play I’d like to see teams work on in spring training. How many times have you seen a ball that wasn’t going to go out of the park claimed to be pulled back in? With instant replay, I’d expect us to call homerun balls for what they really are. I’m really concerned about the health of players these days: everyone is batting with RISP. Sounds like a serious physical ailment. We should raise funds and get these players help immediately. It’s never a good sign for a major league batter when on the scoreboard that night, the only personal highlight are statistics from his high school team. Whose name is going to drop today for using steroids? And for the love of the game, can we get rid of the Hold (for Men) statistic! No one cares about holds, and you don’t even have to record an out to get a hold. Come on!
I’d love to hear your own personal stories, viewpoints, and comments, as we follow our teams over the year, and anything else that you think makes baseball great.
–Mike
