Beat the Streak Report: Weekend, June 25-27
And now the magic number is 16.
After Ryan Braun’s third-inning double, Beat the Streak leader Dick
George sits atop his cushy thrown with a wow-that’s-really-high 41-game
hitting streak.
Unlike yesterday, when George’s rational seemed so obvious it could
have come straight from Bill Walton’s lips, he gave a more detailed
analysis with his Braun selection:
“Braun had a great record against [opposing Twins starter Nick
]Blackburn and Blackburn has been pitching especially poorly lately ( I
have him on my rotisserie league team, so I know). Again it’s a home
game for Braun on a field where there can never be a weather issue. I
hesitated a little when I went to the Brewer’s web site and saw that
Braun was opening a new restaurant tonight — would he be focused?”
Now that’s the kind of homework I want to see from a man with a
41-game streak. Enough with this whole “well, it was a lefty-righy
matchup and Ichiro is fast” shenanigans. I need more undercover,
player-X-is-opening-a-restaurant TMZ-style Carmen Sandiego groundwork.
On to the weekend’s picks …
Oh, hello there …
Friday
? Manny Ramirez: .571 AVG (12-for-21) lifetime vs. Yankees starter CC Sabathia
? Orlando Cabrera: .389 AVG (7-for-18) lifetime vs. Indians starter Aaron Laffey
? Alfonso Soriano: .368 AVG (7-for-19) lifetime vs. White Sox starter Jake Peavy
Saturday
? Paul Konerko: .375 AVG (12-for-32) since ’05 vs. Cubs starter Carlos Silva
? Ryan Zimmerman: .444 AVG (4-for-9) lifetime vs. Orioles starter Brad Bergesen
? Yunel Escobar: .455 AVG (5-for-11) lifetime vs. Tigers starter Max Scherzer
Sunday
? Ian Kinsler: .462 AVG (6-for-13) lifetime vs. Astros starter Roy Oswalt
? Aaron Hill: .435 AVG (10-for-23) lifetime vs. Phillies starter Jaime Moyer
? Shin-Soo Choo: .444 AVG (4-for-9) lifetime vs. Reds starter Bronson Arroyo
Feeling kinda spicy?
Friday
? Aaron Rowand: .647 AVG (5-for-17) lifetime vs. Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield
Saturday
? Corey Patterson: .407 AVG (11-for-27) lifetime vs. Nationals starter Livan Hernandez
Sunday
? Travis Hafner: .538 AVG (7-for-13) lifetime vs. Reds starter Bronson Arroyo
You’ll thank me later ...
Friday
? Josh Hamilton: .100 AVG (1-for-10) lifetime vs. Astros starter Brian Moehler
? Alex Rodriguez: .167 AVG (2-for-12) lifetime vs. Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla
Saturday
? Hanley Ramirez: .182 AVG (2-for-11) since ’05 vs. Padres starter Jon Garland
? Nick Markakis: .100 AVG (1-for-10) lifetime vs. Nationals starter Livan Hernandez
Sunday
? Marlon Byrd: .083 AVG (1-for-12) lifetime vs. White Sox starter John Danks
? Ryan Zimmerman: .091 AVG (1-for-11) lifetime vs. Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie
Leaderboard time!
Our second-place stallion, “kbarr9”, pressed the pause button on a
37-game streak by questionably selecting Joe Mauer, who not-so
shockingly didn’t play because it was a day game after a night game and
the whole Mauer is a catcher and the Twins don’t want to go Enron on
their $184 million investment in year one.
Is it possible “kbarr9” pulled an Algeria, playing for a tie
while under the pressure of a must-win situation with Dick George
distancing himself with a big lead?
The weekend will tell us a lot.
Top MLB streakers
? Jose Guillen: 18 games
? Josh Hamilton: 18 games
? Corey Hart: 9 games
? Miguel Montero: 9 games
Four tied with eight-game streaks.
Beat the Streak Report 
Professor Pete’s Dry-Ice Cold Silver Bullet Lock of a Lifetime for Friday: Adam Jones, Baltimore, vs. J.D. Martin, Washington. Jones has recently made Joe Dimaggio look like Mario Mendoza. Except Mendoza never faced Martin, who would have made Mendoza look like Dimaggio. Jones has been unconscious; however, unlike most mortals, who typically fail to get out of bed while unconscious, Jones, with eyes closed, has batted .524 through his last five games, in which he has had a minimum of two hits (he had three last night in five at-bats). As for Martin, he has in his three previous June starts pitched 5 2/3, 7 2/3, and 6 innings, and given up 8, 9, and 8 hits respectively, or 25 hits in 19 1/3 innings (during which he walked one batter, a nearly perfect total for BTS batters). Jones has been used as a pinch hitter only once this season, on May 21, when he homered off Washington’s Drew Storen. Jones will hit today, or a member of the Levi Ghetto Cats nearest you will come over and mow your lawn, at some point, in the next century or two, provided you supply a 12-pack of Milwaukee’s Best (unless it’s Erinmarie, who will insist on coffee-flavored, micro-brewed beer).*
*If Dick George goes with Jones and goes on to win $3 million, he must send $52,631.58 to the charity of his choice in the name of the Levi Ghetto Cats
Rays-Diamondbacks to increase your streak in all 3 BTS games: 1) The pitching 2) Good TB batters 3) Home run park, 4) AZ high strikeout rates, low averages.
Today I’m taking that chance? TB in all 3 categories.
HUMOR: For those that don’t want to seem like they are brown-nosing the leaders nor seem overly harsh, here are some mixed blessings you might consider posting
1. Hope your guy’s pitches never touch the ground
Translated: Hope he pops out or Hope he gets a home run
2. Hope your guy comes up with bases loaded
Translated: Hope he gets a sac fly or Hope the guaranteed strikes allow for easy hits
3. Hope MLB’s GameDay blue dot shows “in play, no out”
Translated: Hope he got on due to an error or Hope he got a hit
4. Hope MLB’s GameDay blue dot shows “in play, run(s)”
Translated: Hope he hit a sac fly/force out or Hope he got a hit/homerun
5. Hope your guy makes the difference in the ballgame
Translated: Hope he pinch hits with a chance to win & strikesout or Hope he goes 5-5
6. Hope your guy has an easy game
Translated: Hope it’s a blow out & he gets rested without getting a hit or Hope baseballs look like grapefruits
7. Hope your guy bats 1000 today
Translated: Hope he never sees a strike or Hope he gets a hit every at bat
And to contine with the humor:
8. Hope he gets a hit today
Translated: Hope the hit is later scored an error or Hope he simply gets a hit
Translated: I’m just saying that & hoping he goes 0-fer or Hope you remember me and give me some of your winnings for being on your side!
dick.george & kbarr9: Hope your picks get a hit
Humor continued. I was trying to create 10 mixed blessings but came up with just 9. I’ll leave it to you guys/gals to add to the list. Here is #9
9. Hope your streak continues
Translated: Hope it continues tomorrow & gets reset today or Hope a hit is recorded
For the first time I’m going with a player from my favorite team, the Mets. I’m actually thinking of going with Met players more often. I think it would make the game a lot more fun watching my team not only hoping players come thru to help us win but to keep my streak going.
@rip: Helps if your team has more than a couple reliable batters to pick from & apperas Beltran is on his way back soon. Also helps if they score runs allowing extra ABs.
As for my team, the Cubs, hoping the 2nd half of the season adds more players to the pickable list.
P.S. I was considering Jose also, but went with the Rays.
Here comes 42. I highly doubt Ichiro will not come through against a “#3” starter. Darn it.
Its another lemming pick but I think he will definitely come through. He will will likely get 5 ABs.
BTW, I went with Rios so I am good for the day.
I won’t pick from them every day but when I do I def have 5 batters I’d have no problem taking. Reyes, Pagan, Wright, Davis, Bay.
Well I changed to Sean Rodriguez from Hamilton. He is hitting pretty good and they are facing the Diamondbacks so figured why not. Hamilton’s hitting streak has to end sometime and it may be tonight. Dick picked Ichiro and Kbarr picked Jeter. That Jeter pick is funny as Jeter is in a slump right now and can’t hit anything pretty much. Here’s hoping Jeter’s slump continues and I hope Ichiro has an 0 fer as well. Who called it with Dick picking Ichiro?
@vinny1979. I called it; 3x in a row with a correct prediction.
Going with Matt Holliday tonight. Good luck to all!! Will be keeping an eye on Ichie tonight (as I’m sure everyone will be doing.) Happy Friday all!! 🙂
Friday’s Top Picks of the current Top2500.
All games included, 124 different batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Robinson Cano, 334, 13.36%
Raul Ibanez, 223, 8.92
Manny Ramirez, 214, 8.56
Ichiro Suzuki, 159, 6.36 (Leader #1)
Josh Hamilton, 132, 5.28
Alfonso Soriano, 115, 4.6
Paul Konerko, 84, 3.36
Ryan Braun, 65, 2.6
Evan Longoria, 60, 2.4
Albert Pujols, 48, 1.92
Martin Prado, 47, 1.88
Derek Jeter, 45, 1.8 (Leader #2)
No Selection, 44, 1.76
David DeJesus, 39, 1.56
Jose Reyes, 39, 1.56
Highest “No Selection”: Page #2 with a streak of 21 now reset to zero.
Average day yesterday with 19.68% Top2500 reset
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Pick
blanco21, 17, pg#5 , Nick Markakis
cojobs, 12, pg# 31, Robinson Cano
Jeter is not a bad pick given he will get 5 ABs. Even with his less than 300 avg, he makes up for his road game troubles by getting 5 ABs. He goes 1for5 and he hits .200. Cano goes 1for4, he hits .250. Cano may end up with higher avg. but the end result is the same for BTS purposes.
I think outside of Ichiro, you just get a sneaky feeling that today is a board cleansing day. All of the top picks are somewhat iffy.
My decision came between Rios and Prada. Prada back home is good but lefty and a new pitcher bad. At the same time, he was too hot to not hit 3 days in a row. But PradaBag burned me many times with that same logic last month. So just went with Rios’ prowess during day games.
I think outside of Ichiro, you just get a sneaky feeling that today is a board cleansing day. All of the top picks are somewhat iffy.
My decision came between Rios and Prada. Prada back home is good but lefty and a new pitcher bad. At the same time, he was too hot to not hit 3 days in a row. But PradaBag burned me many times with that same logic last month. So just went with Rios’ prowess during day games.
“@vinny1979. I called it; 3x in a row with a correct prediction.”
Do you see Gordon Beckham or Aaron Hill for tomorrow? How about Jayson Nix to come in as a pinch hitter? I hope so.
@btsplayer: I already have my predictable predictions for tomorrow & not one of those guys. Will post the prediction later if Ichiro gets a hit.
Hey lavolpe can you tell me how many have picked Markakis from the top 2500. thx…
What do you think of my pick? I decided to go against the normal picks……
@blanco21: Sorry for the delay. After posting the Top2500, blog always locks me out for a bit shortly thereafter; saying I posted too much too soon. To answer your questions: You and 3 others; that’s all – next one is on page 40 (panda). You don’t want my advice regarding your pick, I’ve been so backwards that my input is meaningless.
Dick George is on pace to win the 3 million on Saturday, July 10, just before the All-Star break.
I wonder if there would be any special coverage from the blog guy since it is on the weekend?
I wouldn’t be surprised if coverage appeared on ESPN! Each at bat, a breakaway is made so it can be watched. And if not on ESPN, definitely on MLBtv
Professor Pete – You post about Adam Jones is a bit sketcy as to why you are taking him today! lol – I just read it so I can’t switch from Ichirio. Who do you see in your crsytal ball for Saturday? I took the wrong White Sox in HR Derby Rios goes deep and I had Konerko.
idon’t understand these pitchers. they have 1-2 on him & they don’t waste pitch. bush’s fast ball is a slow clunker. he needs to pitch a lot smarter than that.
btw, another cheap i guess.
idon’t understand these pitchers. they have 1-2 on him & they don’t waste pitch. bush’s fast ball is a slow clunker. he needs to pitch a lot smarter than that.
btw, another cheap i guess.
Leader’s pick prediction for Saturday. If he goes outside his comfort zone: Zimmerman, else:
Raining @ ATL: Pujols or Ichiro. No Rain @ ATL: Pujols or Prado
Leader’s pick prediction for Saturday. If he goes outside his comfort zone: Zimmerman, else:
Raining @ ATL: Pujols or Ichiro. No Rain @ ATL: Pujols or Prado
Anybody watching the Mariners game live? I’m wondering what kind of lineout Ichiro hit & if it was caught b/c of the speed Gomez possesses in CF.
Ichiro got a hit just now so dick.george is at 42.
It’s weird how 42 seems so close but a 2 week streak is no walk in the park.
Tomorrow actually looks pretty tough:
Pujols is always a suspect because he never comes through when you expect him to because nobody pitches to him.
I doubt he will go against Lefty Wolf v. Suzuki. Wolf might have turned the corner. I actually want Dickie to choose Ichiro so Wolf can handcuff him by pounding him inside. Wolf throws very hard when he is on.
PradaBag is somewhat suspect and Detroit pitcher is hit/miss. He can pitch brilliantly or go mediocre. He can strike out tons and he can handcuff righties.
I doubt Zimmerman. That guys always 50/50. You never know when he is gonna get a hit. One of the hardest to predict for BTS because he is so even against different splits.
Are we looking at another no-hitter? AZ-TB game. Kinda bites since my piddly Survivor/BTS streaks are both riding on that game. Hats off to AZ though, no hits, 7 walks in 3 innings, including a bases loaded with no outs, and they are winning.
TB no-hit thru 8 now. They let Edwin Jackson pitch the 8th with 113 pitches thrown already. Now ith 134 pitches thrown; think they’ll let him finish? High pitch count, 1 run lead. And if the no-hitter is complete, 2nd time this season TB gets no-hit. Kind of torn myself: hoping for a tie so my pick gets another AB and enjoying a no-hitter.
Man. I would so upset if Ichiro gets only one “hit”. How many days is Dickie gonna skate by on one hit. Let alone barely a hit or on that last at bat.
Dave Bush. How does this guy pitch in major league with a junior high school fastball? Fastballs in mid 80s, I can even rip it all day. And this clowns gets how many millions a year?
So Dave Bush has 1and2 on Ichro and the moron throws a curveball that barely start to bend right around the plate. With grandma curveball like that, he needs to join Eric Byrnes in his softball league.
TB has been no hit so all the Rays were streak breakers and this is the 2nd time this season the have been no hit. They were perfect gamed in Oakland but they were in that neighborhood somewhere tonight a few blocks away. Rollins btw went 0 for 1 with 4 BBs in the Phillies 9-0 away win at home over the Blue Jays.
Wow, TB no-hit again in less than 2 months (Braden’s perfect game 9 May). Edwin Jackson: complete game, no hitter, 149 pitches thrown, 8 walks, 6 strikeouts, 1 error. There are far worse ways to lose one’s streak – thumbs up!
Wonder if any BTS players out there had streaks snapped by TB in both of those games?
Some nohitter. They should mark this one with asterisk. Walked 8 batters and almost didn’t win. This is really nothing to celebrate. It still does not prove Edwin Jackson stinks. Actually, it proves he does stink. Walking 8 batters is nothing to be proud of.
Ok. It looks like Ichiro will be 1for3 tonight. A cheap hit off the glove of Rickie Weeks takes Dickie to 42. That one again could have gone either way. Every luck imaginable goes his way. Unreal! When will this nonsense end?
TX Hamilton 3-3 for now. He is in a zone.
I wonder about Hamilton. He must be smoking something. I’ve never seen someone on this kind of tear. This is ridiculous. How does pitchers keep pitching to him after what they have witnessed. I would just walk him.
@btsplayer: no-hitter is a no-hitter. Imagine pitching a no-hitter and losing… been done before. Walks can be strategic but in this game, both pitchers were walking players like mad until they got their game on. There were also hit batters in that game too, 1 or 2 if I recall.
And I agree with Champion88. If all the pitchers you want sent back to the minors, working at Taco Bell, or selling peanuts at the game left for the season, we’d lose chances of easy picks. But likely we’d see other struggling pitchers take their place & the leaders will have just as many easy picks (more or less). I won’t lie, I will be very disappointed if the game is won by anyone but me :), but while it lasts, it makes scoreboard/GameDay watching far more interesting; even if a bit stressful.
Well, my 1st full year playing this game and I’m afraid I have learned nothing! Back to square 1 & hope to be playing after the All-Star game.
“Walks can be strategic but in this game”
yeah but 8 walks? I could even understand to 4. Was Jackson pitching to win or pitching to pitch a no hitter? Because its not like Arizona had this game in the bag. To me, 8 walks takes the spirit away from the no hitter. He walked their best hitter, Zob twice.
The problem I have with Dickie winning is he is absolutely the worst picker of anyone I recall who came this far. Its the norm for him to get lucky everyday and get away with one hit or hit on the last AB (off reliever). This guy does not deserve to win.
Another cheap hit carries the day to 42!
Thank goodness Jeter came through for kbarr. I don’t Dickie getting too comfortable.
I gotta give credit to Edwin Jackson. I was watching it on GameDay because of my picks. He allowed 7 of the 8 walks before the 1st out was recorded in the 3rd inning; walked bases loaded with no outs to start the 3rd & got out of it. Yeah, I’ll give him credit – job well done.
I think Dickie will be going with Pujols or Cano tomorrow. I think he weill get burned by either of them.
Will The Man from Japan make Randy cry Wolf?
I hope so.
Hamilton is on an amazing run and I’m going to allow it to continue another day by not taking him in BTS. lol
Neil Walker out for Pirates; do they have enough offense to win now? Gambling and taking A’s for Survivor.
Albert Puljos it is. Good call gents. Survivorland got nailed again last night for the second time of 55%+ in less than a week. All of a sudden my 4gm is 185th place tie. Rangers back in the win column today and Josh to continue his dominance. GL to all. EXCEPT Puljols.
Thx 00liber…….
What the hell 2 on the front page with no selection!!!!!!!!
Damn, 2 no selections on top page. One at 26 and one at 27.
Sorry Blanco, didnt see you have him too. Now im torn. I would love to see someone from this group win it all.
“I wonder about Hamilton. He must be smoking something. I’ve never seen someone on this kind of tear. This is ridiculous. How does pitchers keep pitching to him after what they have witnessed. I would just walk him.”
Because that would not accomplish anything. He got 3 singles yesterday, so 3 walks is the same number of total bases.
“I will be very disappointed if the game is won by anyone but me :), but while it lasts, it makes scoreboard/GameDay watching far more interesting; even if a bit stressful.”
I don’t care if the guy wins the consolation prize, but I don’t want the user record getting touched.
Otherwise, they might stop raising the prize level each year.
@champ88: “I don’t care if the guy wins the consolation prize, but I don’t want the user record getting touched. Otherwise, they might stop raising the prize level each year.”
Out of our control. Look at Survivor; increased prize, right? They didn’t offer cash last year did they? Even so, $3mil next year is not worth $3mil this year; so offering same amount or slightly more may be considered regardless.
Saturday’s Top Picks of the current Top2500.
All games included, 125 different batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Ichiro Suzuki, 922, 36.88% (Leader #2)
Albert Pujols, 225, 9 (Leader #1)
Josh Hamilton, 154, 6.16
Ryan Zimmerman, 134, 5.36
Paul Konerko, 80, 3.2
Robinson Cano, 70, 2.8
Matt Holliday, 68, 2.72
Dustin Pedroia, 62, 2.48 (injured)
Miguel Cabrera, 61, 2.44
Martin Prado, 53, 2.12
No Selection, 46, 1.84
Highest “No Selection”: Page #1 with a streak of 27 now reset to zero (big brain fart)
Another average day yesterday with 21.5% Top2500 reset
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Pick
blanco21, 18, pg#3, Albert Pujols
cojobs, 13, pg#20, Josh Hamilton
popi21, 9, pg#86, Placido Polanco (picked 14x by Top2500)
Wolf has thrown 2 3-hitters in a row. He is also very tough on the lefties. Unfortunately, Pujols bats very well during the day. I am hoping Kyle pitches around Pujols. He walks lots batters so why not just walk Pujols. Let’s shoot for 0for1 with 3 walks and a strikeout!
My close proximity to STL allows me to watch each of Pujol’s ABs live. The first AB, I must admit, was quite enjoyable.
Puj 0-1
Why did sooo many people use Ichiro today?
champion this might be a crappy answer to your question but I went with Ichie because he’s been hitting well (.348 in the last week alone), his numbers today are good and well, let’s face it, I’m at zero so why not. 🙂
Can please someone explain the Pujols pick????????
Pujols: Good hitter & 500 against so-so pitcher in last 5 years, potentially 5 ABs. I guess that’s all it took to convince the masses.
Pujols: 0 for 2
0-2
1st 2 ABs were rather weak. Here’s hoping he doesn’t come up with bases loaded or 1st & 2nd and less than 2 outs. Extra innings may not be a player today; but don’t want 5 ABs either; KC keep hits/walks to a minimum!
Ouch, my heart jumped! That was a bullet, but right to the shortstop. Fingers-crossed, just one more AB please.
Ground into DP to go to 0-3
Just for the record I will not wish an 0-fer on dick – bad kharma there. 🙂
Pujols: 0 for 3
lol why are we getting excited? we know George’s hitters are like 6 for 6 in last AB situations!
Who will be the pitcher vs Pujols in the 7th/8th? Will he be a BTS savior or D.George savior? That is the question!
lol, we all know it is going to be Kyle Farnsworth.
They just walked Hamilton. They should just call it diguised intentional walk. Nothing even remotely down the middle.
Farnsworth? Oh no. No please no.
Well, Davies only @ 88 pitches & will probably pitch to Albert, due up 2nd.
@nardberg: “Just for the record I will not wish an 0-fer on dick – bad kharma there. :)”
For the reord I am wishing & would expect the same if I were in D.George’s spot – not fooling myself.
Wow. This nonsense has to stop. Dickie does not deserve to win! He is absolutely the worst picker and every day this happens. How does one get so lucky everyday??????????????????????????????????????????
well the only good that comes of that is that Blanco now takes the group season lead at 19
Well, another last AB success. Tomorrow’s prediction for the Leader is tough. I think he’ll go outside his comfort zone and play the averages:
Cano: lefty-lefty, no stats
Pujols: lefty-righty, no stats, rain
Ichirio: lefty-lefty, no stats
Prado: right-righty, no stats, rain
M.Cabrera, righty-righty, no stats, rain
M&M boys: lefty-lefty, no stats, rain
Those are his comfort picks. I don’t see him going that route: M.Young or Hamilton for Sunday
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!
way to go ALBERT!!!!!!!!
Sorry guys. I want the leader to break too……. but just not today……..
in some better news, Ichiro: 0 for 1
If I had to have only 1 today, I think I would rather have Ichiro go 0 for, since that would take quadruple as many players out.
Prado 1 hit last AB (off reliever)
Cano 1 hit last AB
Cano 1 hit last AB (off reliever)
Ichiro 2 hits (2nd hit bunt hit)
Braun 1 hit
Ichiro 1 hit (cheap hit off the glove of Weeks)
Pujols 1 hit last (off reliever)
I think the weather is current time, not game time. Plenty of times it says rain & never ends up raining.
@champion_88: Who cares about Ichiro pickers. The game will be over in 2 weeks. Anybody who is below 30 is really meaningless unless they have the luck of the Dickie.
Why do people get excited about people with streaks of 8,9,10 falling off? 95% of those people won’t even see 15.
@blanco21: you gonna eat those words in 2 weeks.
8 or 9 times a hit for the leader in last at bat is probably normal. It has happened to me 4 times on my 19 game streak already.
The fact is Pujols was a bad pick. Anyone arguing otherwise is full of dung drops. Farnsworth is totally useless. His fastball is flat as white bread. That is why Yanks dumped him. He must have been smoking crack all day to think he can just throw his flat fastball right down Broadway.
@btsPlayer: Joking of course, but if D.George falls before 57 is reached, we will want you to change your screen name to “Chicken.Little” who is known for saying that the sky is falling.
I think if leader goes with Texas tomorrow, we best hope for Monday/Tuesday for a reset unless Oswalt throws a no-hitter.
@btsplayer: How about a nickname so we know to whom we are talking to!
I have no idea who to go with tomorrow.
Kyle Farnsworth has been a bum ever since he was with the Cubs. His 90+mph batting practice straight fast ball sucks.
I had no idea he was still in the majors. Well he is playing in KC.
Kyle Farnsworth used to throw 100 MPH and just had no control.
You don’t need movement when you throw that hard.
Today it was 95, but poor placement.
@lavolpe: What did I say earlier in the week about the leaders not dying easily. Dickie can go all the way now. He has made dreadful picks day after day and he survives on pure luck. There will be bound to be easy picks coming up next week. Do you think he is gonna go to high 40s and mess up. If he reaches 49. Its over. Nobody is gonna screw up from there. He is gonna watch every single MLB game to find the right hitter.
This nonsense is unreal.
And the past history of top streakers is totally meaningless. There is less than 25 such occurence. I just don’t understand how one person can carry so much luck. He actually and purposely makes crappy picks just to test his luck.
“Kyle Farnsworth used to throw 100 MPH and just had no control. Today it was 95, but poor placement.”
He has been making same crappy pitches for a decade already. You must be thinking about before his arm surgery. That is why said “no” to Farnsworth. He is another guy who should be cleaning elephant drops @ a circus. I hate this guy.
Well, even easy picks backfire. I’m not packing it in emotionally or any other way until day 57 is over. I think Texas tomorrow will be his pick, but who knows, except him. Actually he isn’t lucky at all, it’s all skill — pfffft!
When he does fall, I will continually pester you to change your screen name though 😉
Hey!!! I know how to beat him at this game. Listen up folks… more sick humor coming:
I have been correct for the past 4x guessing leader’s picks and if correct for tomorrow: everyone reading the blog pick either Hamilton or M.Young tomorrow, then you can help will your own pick to fail — taking one for the team.
@btsPlayer and ALL. Decided to backtrack and gather some stats about our leader’s picks and results.
Games: 35
Picks with Multiple hits: 19, Solo hits: 17
Picks with hits of starters: 28, Relievers: 7
Pick’s only hit on last official AB: 6
The secret to his success is no secret: Pick great batters against poor pitchers/teams. Where his luck differs from the others is that he happened to pick great batters that didn’t go 0-fer that day; where others, even on the same team, did go 0-fer.
Lately, he has been getting lucky. In the 1st 35 games, last AB hits tallied only 2. Maybe the pressure is getting to him?
Man. Crappy picks are all beginning to follow through. Oh Ichiro, where were you in the past when I needed you. Only thing you gave me was a foul smelling tuna sashmi.
@lavolpe: if you go back to my eariler posts rearding dickie, I actually praised him and in awe. He really was making good picks. That name always stood on my mind for obvious reasons. I even told my friend about him that this guy seemed troublesome. This was when he was in high teens. He somehow managed to survive all of the turmoils and wipeouts that happened when his streak was in the 20s. But like you said, he stopped doing that in the last 10 days and gone with lemming picks. Somehow everyone of them comes through.
I am not sure about TX. I have the feeling Oswalt can pitch well against his crosstown rival. I do hope everyone picks TX rangers and get burned.
I went with Corey Patterson BTW. I am now on a roll. Finally, all my past mistakes are learned and I have no problem picking non-popular picks. If I was in Dickie’s streak today, I would still have gone with him.
As soon as I am finally ready to bust out my new theory on this game, the game is about to end. That is life!
Oops. Misspoke. In the first 30, not 35, games, last AB hits tallied only 2. In the first 23 games, only 3 hits were off relievers. Also note that of those 35 games, he only really got lucky 7 times – those against relievers (5 last AB hits came off relievers). Obviously we pick for a hit off the starter. Why 35 games? I only have data when he hit the Top2500.
You know as much as I would love see Dickie fail and if does fail, he deserves a better consolation prize than 10K. Adding one zero to that seem more apporpriate. Even than its winner takes all. 10K really is pitiful. After tax, its like what? Enough to let the wifey stay home and take out your friends to fun night at a almost high class strip joint? Come on. A-Roid makes that each pitch he swings.
And from what I read about A-Roid in non-baseball life, he swings quite a bit and blows 10K$ likes its a dollar bill. So we go through all this excitement and grief for what? I mean we pay for his salary by buying $10 watered down beer and $8 hotdog. How about my cable bill?
I knew I should have bulked up and learned to throw a knockler. I gotten my fastball up to high 70s when I was in high school. Only if I could get it up to mid 80s and throw tons of butterfly pitch. I’ve sitting pretty like Wakefield despite having a huge gut and old man back problems.
Hey, don’t knock us old farts with back problems! What I enjoy about your posts is that you express passionately what most of us feel, it’s just that your feelings are about 20 fold ours. If D.G. gets to the 50s then many of us may start to feel more emotionally involved as each day passes?
Not worrying about the leader until his streak is 50 games.
My advice to him though is not to tempt the “Baseball gods”
and stay away from the evil trio of streak halters: MVP,
Mauer, Votto and Pujols. DG dodged a high inside fastball today when Pujols got a hit off Farnsworth. Wasn’t Fransworth recently recalled from The Melbourne Kangaroo’s of the Australian League?
One of the reasons I gather the Top2500 is to analyze it during the off-season. Try to see what worked for those that got into the 30s and above.
Here’s another bit of anlaysis regarding our leader: He tends to stay with a core of 3 hitters (Cano, Ichiro, Prado) and backups are heavy hitters: Morneau, M.Cabrera, Pujols. He has gone away from those 6 on occassion, mostly when against good pitchers or off-days. He hasn’t picked a batter below .300 except once — only 4 games played that day. Because of his tendancy to stay with select players, that may be his downfall. However, if he strays from his pattern, that could be disasterous too — we’ll just have to wait and see.
^^ Don’t get me wrong; I’m not suggesting that is a good strategy. What if your core players included Longoria, Beltre. Chances are you would have gotten reset since TB has been no-hit twice and 1/2-hit at least once. BOS been 2-hit at least once. These occurrences were by below average pitchers at the time. I don’t recall NYY & ATL falling like that this year. The strategy may be sound nonetheless, just needs to be adjusted which may be why his streak started in mid-May and not sooner. But that core of hitters needs to be found early; getting reset when streaks are around 20 hurts; do that 2 or 3 times and you might as well be starting over at the All-Star break.
That strategy has been used by every high streakers in last 4 yrs but none more luckier than Dickie. I don’t recall the leader advancing barely everyday for a week.
Dickie is going with Ichiro tomorrow. I hope he gets to feel what bad sushi taste like.
That strategy has been used by every high streakers in last 4 yrs but none more luckier than Dickie. I don’t recall the leader advancing barely everyday for a week.
Dickie is going with Ichiro tomorrow. I hope he gets to feel what bad sushi taste like.
I think today is going to be the day that Dick falls. Not an easy day to pick at all. Lots of streaks may be broken today. I have Justin Upton today in BTS, LaRoche in HR BTS but was thinking a ChiSox before him. Thanks drag for the info. I will probably switch in HR BTS. I also have the Rays in Survivor. Good luck to all today.
Such animosity towards poor dick!!!!! 🙂 Don’t get me wrong I’d love to win the 3 mil but let’s see if this guy can make it. 14 more days is pretty tough. If my calculation is correct – August 7th is the do or die date for the game. If dick falls, it could be a whole new game after the break and the big day is looming. Good luck everyone!!! And I agree that the $10K consolation prize is poo poo.
Sunday Picks
BTS – Ichirio
HR – Pick a ChiSox – Cubs are in shambles and Dempster is not the same on road as he is at Wrigley Field. I’m going with Quentin.
Survivor – A’s or Reds
Would there be a winner if the Pirates played the Orioles?
Is there a place where you can see pitcher stats that show how they do on the road v. home. Just heard on ESPN that Masterson of Tribe is 2 – 13 on the road the past 2 seasons.
I would have liked to know that before the game on Saturday not the day after the game Sunday.
dragbunt: “Would there be a winner if the Pirates played the Orioles?”
I’m picking Orioles today, anyone with me? How ’bout if I told you: no I-Rod nor Guzman and Ty Wiggington is back?
Sunday’s Top Picks of the current Top2500.
All games included, 121 different batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Ian Kinsler, 411, 16.44%
Michael Young, 313, 12.52
Ichiro Suzuki, 288, 11.52 (Leader #1)
Travis Hafner, 246, 9.84 (pinch hitter?)
Carl Crawford, 102, 4.08 (pinch hitter?)
Justin Morneau, 89, 3.56 (pinch hitter?, Leader #2)
Albert Pujols, 86, 3.44
Robinson Cano, 65, 2.6
Jose Reyes, 51, 2.04
No Selection, 50, 2.0
Evan Longoria, 49, 1.96
Josh Hamilton, 43, 1.72
Highest “No Selection”: Page#5 with a streak of 18 now back to zero.
Yesterday was a good day: only 10.5% reset
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Pick
blanco21, 19, Pg#3, Chase Utley (picked 8x by Top2500)
cojobs, 14, pg#15, Ichiro Suzuki
popi21, 9, was pg#86, fell from Top2500 by picking Polanco (DNP)
Went with Utley. Not too confident with my pick today…….
Oh well……. Good luck to everyone except the Ichiro pickers…….lol
If dick.george wins it all he was destined to win. His strategy of picking an elite hitter against whoever is facing the worse pitcher has probably been done many times by BTS players, including something to no avail.
*including myself
I knew it. He was gonna go with the lemming pick. Well. Here comes 44. Let’s what we have in store for tomorrow. He should have been finished off more than once last 7 days. Unreal!
I knew it. He was gonna go with the lemming pick. Well. Here comes 44. Let’s what we have in store for tomorrow. He should have been finished off more than once last 7 days. Unreal!
i said 3 days ago that dick would lose today and i mean it……hes a goner
ichiro again? really? i’ve lost all respect for this guy…..A for effort, but F for creativity….it makes it boring to follow this guys picks when you know 3 days in advance who hes gonna pick
and does kbarr do no research whatsoever???
I went with Jonathan Herrera today.
Thankfully, a lot of people on the board seem to have gone with Ichiro so we can get some nice cleaning out the board if he fails!
went with Utley. Not too confident with my pick……oh well.
Good luck to everyone except the Ichiro pickers of course…….. lol
Scroll up a bit to see Top2500 listing. Whacky blog clock. Inserted it in wrong place.
I know I saw that. Its not the same message if you noticed. I posted twice but within 5 minutes. But my messages have a time difference of over an hour…..lol
Well Upton got a double in his AB he just had so I’m good for today. I’m praying today is the day the board is cleared. Still about 2 hours until we find out.
i guess leader overlooked the fact that left handers are hitting 200 against brewers narvenson
So your guy is up to bat and GameDay shows “in play, out(s)”. When is that a good thing? In my case, single and thrown out trying to stretch it to a double :). Something for me to smile about; hoping we all (less one) have something bigger to smile about in 2 hours.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
ALRIGHT CHASE!!!!!!!!!!
0-3! Gotta run to the airport and won’t be back for a couple hours. When I get back I want to see many, many happy posts and a leader board cleansing.
What a bummy day for Jose Reyes. 0-5. Kickin’ myself for not going with David Wright but I’ll settle for a leaderboard cleansing.
Ichiro made the last out in the 8th on a DP. I think the run is over. YES!!!!!
I also picked Ichiro and it seems my streak for3 million is over at 13 games…oh well looks like the leader also goes down in flames! I’ll start a new streak and look at stats better!
-james
http://gatheringbaseballs.mlblogs.com/
OK. This is totally unfair. How does kbarr keep missing the pinch hitting bingo? That kind of carlessness deserves to be punished!
@rip2thecompetition: Did you look at Reyes’ daytime #s? Went with Rios today for the same reason.
All I can say is “hehe”. I actually hope someone other than kbarr and Dickie gets the the consolation prize if nobody wins. Neither of them deserve it. They were the luckiest streakers I’ve seen in 4 years. Lemming picks day after day and they got this far.
@bts Yeah. David Wright’s day numbers aren’t as good either though. Reyes’ numbers are poor b/c it took him a long time to get going but he’s been pretty hot in June so I ignored those daytime stats.
Anyone else play the HR streak game?
That game is tough. I did pick Vernon Wells today. Yay, a HR by him today. That game is almost impossible to win.
R.I.P
Dick George
BTS Streaker
43 gamer
May-June 2010
“Et to, Ichirio!”
@btsPlayer: baaaawk, bawk,bawk,baaaawk. Where’s Chicken.Little? 😉
Survior: Takes another beating today with STL, TB, CIN, ATL losing today. If TEX & OAK go down, may be catastrophic. Makes me look like a genius picking BAL today 😉
@Chicken.Little. C’mon change your handle just until kbarr drops; then change it back. Oh & regarding your prediction for the leader vs. mine; I am so glad you were right, I thought he’d go with TEX for sure and if he had…. ???
Btle – HR BTS
You may try this strategy.
Pick your favorite HR hitter for 10 days in a row and see what happens. If he gets hot, you look like a genius. If he’s not hot you have the same result as if you picked someone different each day.
Reyes day #s are even worst in June. I mean this is astonishing. I saw this 2 days ago and stayed away from him yesterday and today. He simply cannot hit during the day. I really wonder why. Maybe he needs dark sunglasses.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_splits.jsp?playerID=408314&statType=1&splitSet=1&c_id=nym&sitSplit1=6
@lavolpe: i had to nap to recover from dickie.georgie stress but just realized kbarr is right around the corner with even bigger lucky charms in his boxer. He avoided 2 days of pinch hit wipeout. this sort mistake is rarely forgiven.
I agree with a lot of people that it would be awesome to be the one who wins this game, but at the same time it would be great to see someone win just to prove it is possible. I don’t know why everyone was rooting against George. I wanted to see him do it just so MLB would have to pay out. And it doesn’t matter if he isn’t “creative” in his picks, if he wins picking the same players over and over again all the power to him. It was a great run while it lasted and that just might be the winning streak for the year. We shall see, I hope everyone else had a better day than the people who picked Ichiro.
Hey dragbunt it’s ICHIRO not ICHIRIO.
OK. My declaration. I am gonna win this. Now, I said it. Kbarr please kindly drop tomorrow. My new startegy of going anywhere no man has gone with no fear is working. Patterson yesterday. Rios today. I am sitting pretty on first AB hits with no worry. No more Ichiro. He burned so many of my good streaks this year.
Now, I am fully convinced to pick anyone even including those batting well below .300. I still am not as sure/brave enough to pick one with low avg. plus batting bottom of the line-up even if he shines like a bright star. I am also hitting Coghlan like mad now.
“I wanted to see him do it just so MLB would have to pay out. ”
MLB doesn’t care. They want you to win for the free publicity for the website. If someone wins than it will be all over the wire and the website will get huge amts. of hits. They can charge more for those snack wrap banners that annoy us.
Anyway, MLB already paid some insurance co/hedge fund a premium for the top prize. I hope it is Goldman Sachs that have pay out the winner. That would so sweet after what those robber barons did to this country. Although 3 mil is a spit in a piss bucket for them.
@btsplayer: Watch out for wydysz too. Picked Beltre who came in for 1 AB & homered. And if you ask if I’m worred ab kbarr9, I’ll reply the same as with d.g: Ask me when he gets close to 50.
Today is a cleansing of the leaderboard for sure. Only 25% reset so far with still 37% in the 2 late games, but Ichiro took out a lot of top prospects.
lavolpe – Amen on chatter on the leader until he gets to a 50 gamer.
entel:
The man from Japan’s name is Ichiro.
The man from Japan’s name is Ichiro.
The man from Japan’s name is Ichiro.
The man from Japan’s name is Ichiro.
The man from Japan’s name is Ichiro.
It’s pronounced E – che – row not E- Che – rios.
I think I got it……………….lol
Why is Wal-Mart spelled with one L? It’s Wall isn’t it?
Back to the drawing board for Monday.
Reminder to all in the Blogger BTS group.
We are playing for a modest trophy that will be sent to the home of the winner at the end of the season by me. Blanco21 is in the lead with a 20 gamer. Congrats…….
The trophy remains with the winner until the end of the 2011 season when he/she can mails it to the 2011 winner.
My the best man/woman win!
What happened to deb23 – She had some good posts – no more posts?
@dragbunt: Wal-Mart. Named after Sam Walton, one L; guess Wal-Mart sounds better than Walton’s?
dragbunt104- Good idead. I did try that earlier in the season with Pujols but I got exhausted from him bec. he never hit a home run. Guess he’s not an early season home run hitter.
My new favorites to pick are the Blue Jays home run hitters.
lavolpe – You are the man! I forgot about Sam Walton.
Monday Picks:
BTS- Ricky Weeks
HR – Ludwig
Survivor – Cards
“I did try that earlier in the season with Pujols but I got exhausted from him bec. he never hit a home run. Guess he’s not an early season home run hitter.”
That is not true.
There was one season where he had 25 within the first two months, but then ended up missing 3-4 weeks with an injury gotten from diving into the stands on a foul ball.
hooyah to Rickie Weeks in BTS, let’s hope he can have a repeat performance!
for survivor, just pick against the Pirates, it worked for me, i just got 3 cheap games from Oakland….Pittsburgh has a lot of work to do if they’re getting blown away by Oakland….
I feel my streak getting hot in BTS, all the way at 6 haha and no looking back!