A Man of Merit

On Friday September 7, 2012, Aries Merritt of the United States broke the world record in the 110 meter high hurdles at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels. The previous world record, established by Cuba's Dayron Robles four years ago, stood at 12.87 seconds, until Merritt absolutely hauled ass to cross the finish line in a blistering 12.80 seconds. .07 seconds in a short race like the 110 meter high hurdles is quite significant, not even mentioning that he ran the fastest time in the event... ever.




Merritt, also fresh off an Olympic gold in the same event, ended the outdoor season on the highest of highs by clinching the world record. Unfortunately, this tremendous achievement demonstrates the United States lack of respect for the sport, especially outside of the Olympics. Sportscenter, a popular sports news broadcast show in the United States, put Merritt's record setting performance number 10 on its top 10 plays. Apparently there were ten other things in the sports world that happened that day or week that were better than setting a world record. However, regardless of whether the other nine plays were from the same day or the entire week, setting a world record should take precedence over them. Merritt is American, too, so you'd think he would get some respect from his home country.

Let's take a moment to recognize what it means to hold a world record. World records are held by people who have achieved results that no other person in the history of anything has ever surpassed. Actually, that's about all you have to know. No one has ever run the 110 meter hurdles faster than Merritt, not the great Liu Xiang nor Dayron Robles, both former world record holders. Xiang who has been plagued by injuries for some time now might not have another chance to compete for this record, or at least not at 100% fitness, but Robles must be thinking "dayuuumn, that dude is flyin'!" He's certainly in for some tough battles as long as he can recover from the injury he sustained in the final at the Olympics in London.

Given this great accomplishment, the guy is under appreciated by people who are not fans of the sport. Even during the Olympics he wasn't praised much for his gold medal in the U.S. It was all about Phelps and some guy who had no legs. It it isn't football (American, take that!), basketball, baseball, hockey (to some extent), or golf, then it doesn't really matter in the U.S. Or swimming if it's during the Olympics.

Track and field isn't alone, soccer gets no respect, either. Just ask the Sportscenter anchor who didn't know how to pronounce Maicon's name when he scored an absurd goal, he was only one of the best right backs in the world. That's not even the start of it, but in general soccer and track are disrespected sports, at least in the U.S.

Congratulations Aries Merritt for your ridiculous run and tremendous accomplishment!

Dan Uggla is Confusing!

I don't have anything particularly interesting or insightful to say about Dan Uggla, but I really do feel that I need to post an article about him in some way.  I really like Uggla, not only because he plays for one of my favorite teams, the Braves, but because I have never been able to make sense of the man.  In general look at him.  He is supposed to be a second baseman but he is 5'11" and weighs 205, when I think of second basemen people like Dustin Pedroia and Craig Biggio, who are 5'8" 165 and 5'11" 185, respectively.  Every time I see him I wonder who the first person was that looked at this strong powerful man and decided to throw him at second base.  In the minors he played a majority of his games at second base, but also had a pretty large chunk of games at third base, which is where I would have put him personally.  Comparing him to some of the stereotype third base body types, David Wright and Evan Longoria, Uggla is a little short (about an inch shorter than Wright) and at a proper weight.  Yet, I can't complain about Uggla as a second baseman as his production at the position has made him a notable player and his defense is solid.  I just can never get used to seeing a guy at second base who has arms as big as the moon.

"I don't get it either!"

I also find Uggla's numbers to be notably interesting.  He is on pace this year to hit around 20 home runs which would be his career low by 7 homers, yet is still amazing for a second baseman (especially when you note he usually hits 30 or more.)  He also has a really low batting average in recent years (.233 last year .206  so far this year), yet his OBP is sticking around his career norms.  The man is currently leading the league in walks!  He also has the dubious honor of being the first veteran player I have known of who has been an All-Star at the midpoint of the season, then at the end it on platoon due to continued bad play.  I was ashamed to have to drop him from my fantasy team when the Braves announced a reduction in his playing time.  His numbers don't make sense to me because it seems that every time I watch the Braves he either ropes a double somewhere or hits a towering moonshot, so apparently he can't hit a beachball unless I'm watching him.  This is getting a little sad now so lets look at his arms again.

Consolation

I guess that concludes all I have to say about Dan Uggla, he is a great player to have in the league due to his position and style of play that leaves me scratching my head every time.  If you don't watch much baseball I do recommend you take the time to watch some of the Braves this postseason, Uggla will be there and he will have large arms and you won't quite know what to make of him.  Keep checking in on the site as I will probably start posting more as the playoffs come into sight, and you can also read this for a little bit of Toninho talking about Uggla (and Manny Ramirez!)

He also knows how to finish out a home run swing in style

Helping Your Own Cause

Baseball is likely the only sport where the game can differ massively depending on what team or league you play in.  I can't think of any other sport that doesn't have standard field dimensions down to every little aspect, granted you need to keep the infield the same size across parks, but beyond that you can do whatever you want.  Giant walls, infinite room in foul territory, a hill in center field, sometimes all you need is an interesting perk to make your team a winner.  Not only that but the difference of the designated hitter rule in the AL and NL makes for an interesting dichotomy.  Most people prefer to watch AL games as the DH makes games slugfests and inflates offense, but I truly love the NL a lot more.  There is so much more strategy in the game to scrape together runs when you can rather than have everybody swing for the big fly.  Also, there is nothing like seeing a pitcher deposit a ball into the 6th row.  It is moments like that that cause fans to yell "That's how you help your own cause!" at their television screens, or sometimes you get Tim Hudson taking almost half a minute to round the bases.  Because I am a nerd and love numbers, I thought that I should adjust pitchers' ERA to reflect the effective amount of runs they costed their team.  Lets get to it!

Lets not forget Mike Hampton, the only pitcher to hold a bat for his baseball card..

So I fetched all of the pitching and batting statistics for National League starters on the morning of 8/9 isn't perfectly current to the writing of this, but it's close enough and we are just doing this for fun.  I also want to point out that some pitchers had the luxury of pitching a few games in AL parks during interleague play so they are slightly lacking in at bats while other pitchers have sometimes been used as pinch hitters, either way it would be too much effort for me to take this into account so I didn't.  Lastly, any pitcher who had been traded midseason is being counted only for their starts with the team they have the most innings for, it also made things easy for me.  So here are the top 10 pitchers according to ERA (min 50 innings).

1. Mike Fiers (MIL) 1.80
2. Brandon Beachy (ATL) 2.00
3. Ryan Dempster (CHC) 2.25
4. Ryan Vogelsong (SF) 2.27
5. Jordan Zimmerman (WSH) 2.45
6. Johnny Cueto (CIN) 2.58
7. Kyle Lohse (STL) 2.79
8. R.A. Dickey (NYM) 2.82
9. Wade Miley (ARI) 2.85
10. Clayton Kershaw (LAD) 2.88

Dickey and Zimmerman are probably being negatively effected by the timing of this as they both had fantastic starts the night after collecting the data.  I also want to point out that I find it interesting that no team repeats in that top ten, but that is not the point of this.  I did a little math magic with my best friend Microsoft Excel to adjust ERA due to excellent hitting and then the top 10 morphs into this.

I wish this morph would be so cool.

1. Brandon Beachy (ATL) 1.22
2. Mike Fiers (MIL) 1.80
3. Jordan Zimmerman (WSH) 2.07
4. Ryan Dempster (CHC) 2.08
5. Ryan Vogelsong (SF) 2.08
6. Stephen Strasburg (WSH) 2.26
7. Johnny Cuteo (CIN) 2.28
8. Wade Miley (ARI) 2.51
9. R.A. Dickey (NYM) 2.52
10. Kyle Lohse (STL) 2.61

That certainly went better than expected!  As you can see this adjustment didn't rock the boat too much (at least for the top 10) but did alter the ordering.  Young phenom Stephen Strasburg is the only pitcher to enter the top ten after the adjustment, jumping 5 spots from 11 to 6.  Brandon Beachy (sadly done for the season) took a commanding lead over Mike Fiers for the top ERA after Fiers has apparently been completely ineffectual with the bat.  I also don't understand R.A. Dickey this year, knuckleballers are not supposed to be so consistent, it's weird!  For those interested the average drop in ERA across all pitchers was 0.26, a number that could help contract talks for anybody.  Lets see which pitchers get the most benefit.

1. Anthony Bass (SD) 4.70 to 3.84 (-0.86)
2. Jaime Garcia (STL) 4.48 to 3.66 (-0.82)
3. Brandon Beachy (ATL) 2.00 to 1.22 (-0.78)
4. Stephen Strasburg (WSH) 2.97 to 2.26 (-0.71)
5. Tim Hudson (ATL) 3.77 to 3.11 (-0.66)
6. Jonathon Niese (NYM) 3.82 to 3.29 (-0.53)
7. Jamie Moyer (COL) 5.70 to 5.20 (-0.50)
8. Randy Wolf (MIL) 5.46 to 5.20 (-0.49)
9. James McDonald (PIT) 3.42 to 2.96 (-0.46)
10. Clayton Richard (SD) 3.79 to 3.34 (-0.45)

Granted Bass, Garcia, Beachy and Moyer have less than 85 IP so their numbers would obviously be helped a little more drastically, but the others all have at least 120 IP so you can assume they have seen continued offensive success.  It makes me happy to see Hudson mentioned again although he has not had any chance to speed up his trot time with no home runs this year.  Strasburg proves to be the real deal where not only does he have the best batting average for all pitchers by over 50 points (.343) but he also sees ERA drop comparable to players who have thrown nearly half as many innings as he has.  Jamie Moyer is 49 years old, that is embarrassing for the younger pitchers out there.  I also want to point out how odd it is that two of the pitchers on the list are from San Diego, a home park that deflates all offensive stats and a team that doesn't score runs, so Bass and Richard would probably be a lot more interesting in a more offensive park.  There's not a whole lot more to say without spitting out tons more numbers, which I would be willing to do if there was interest.  Leave a message in the comment box and I'll do a follow up on this soon.  

UH OH! Hes baaaaack!!!

Don't think I would tease you with a picture of Mike Hampton earlier and not follow up on it.  The guy hit 7 home runs one year, 7!  He has 7 home runs in 79 at bats, if he continued that pace to have enough at bats to qualify, that would be the 61st best AB per HR ratio for any season ever.  He also has the most Silver Sluggers for a pitcher, winning 5 consecutive titles from 1999-2003.  So here's some information about how his career would have been different with this statistic.  His career ERA would have been a rather good 3.38 as opposed to an average 4.04.  In 2001, when he hit 7 homers, he scored 20 runs and drove in 16, enough to lower his season ERA by a staggering 1.29!  In his two years pitching at the bambox that is Coors Field, his ERA would have been lowered from 5.75 to 4.81, neither number is good but any pitcher could use an effectual 0.94 drop on their ERA.  In the decade from 1999 until his retirement in 2009, every season would have put him in this year's top ten for ERA differential, and all but two seasons of his total career.  Needless to say, Mike Hampton was an interesting pitcher, just look at his baseball cards again.

What a man.

A New Power

Last week Major League Soccer made a definitive statement to the world. The MLS All-Star game does not follow the same format as all other American All-Star contests. There is no useless skill competition or any type of meaningless competition outside the game itself. However, even the game is unique to other American All-Star games. There is only one MLS All-Star team, comprised of the best players from the league. There is no East and West team, thus allowing for only the creme of the crop to make it. This one super-team takes on a foreign power in a one game showdown. This year's opponent, Chelsea, was the defending European Champions, having won the prestigious Champions League trophy despite finishing 6th in the Premier League. The Champions League victory stole a Champions League spot from Tottenham Hotspur in the 2012-2013 campaign. Tottenham will have to compete in the Europa League with Inter Milan instead. Maybe teams like Tottenham and Inter will give the Europa League more pizzazz.

How the hell did we win this?

 Chelsea's Champions League victory earned them the "Champions of Europe" label. This coveted title was brought to U.S. soil when Chelsea arrived to take on the MLS's powerhouse team. Upon Chelsea's arrival, the whole nation should have been warned that John Terry was in the country so everyone could get ready to hide their wives and girlfriends. Terry has also been under scrutiny for racism recently, so hopefully no one's feelings were hurt while he was here either. En route to Champions League glory, Chelsea somehow managed to eliminate heavy favorites Barcelona from the competition in the semi-finals. Not even Barcelona's little genius, Lionel Messi, could score when Chelsea had nine men and the goalkeeper defending the goal, don't forget that Torres was not defending which allowed him to score that crazy goal. Messi's 70+ goals this year for Barcelona could not get a Champions League title or the La Liga title. One man cannot win it all, at least not all the time. Sorry Messi, maybe you'll have to score 80+ goals to win trophies unless David Villa can come back and make an impact on goal.

Barcelona, arguably the greatest club side of all time, was eliminated by Chelsea as well as Bayern Munich in the final. Chelsea, despite losing extremely valuable striker Didier Drogba to Chinese soccer, should be able to handle the MLS All-Star team. Absolutely not correct. The MLS All-Star team defeated Chelsea 3-2, with goals from Chris Wondolowski, Chris Pontius, and Eddie Johnson. John Terry was even kind enough to stop the ball for Wondolowski to open the scoring. Terry Redeemed himself later with the equalizing header off a corner, but the MLS All-Star team proved too strong for the Champions. Eddie Johnson's game winning goal was one of huge proportions, lifting his side to the victory in stoppage time. By the transitive property, which is always correct, the MLS All-Stars would be the best team in Europe if they did compete in Europe. John Terry and Frank Lampard's goals were not enough to defeat the powerhouse that is the 2012 MLS All-Star team.

Greatest Team Ever Assembled

The glory goes beyond simply defeating the European Champions. Chelsea beat Barcelona, the greatest thing ever, even better than sliced bread which also bows down to the Catalans. The MLS All-Stars, by beating Chelsea, are superior to Barcelona, too. Looks like Messi and CR7 are going to have a third party joining them in the debate for the best player in the world. Who that man will be, I do not know, but it could be Wonolowski since he was astonishingly able to get John Terry to help him out, a man who would much rather be fooling around with Wondolowski's significant other and yelling derogatory remarks at  Eddie Johnson and Thierry Henry. Now that's an impressive feat that neither Messi nor CR7 has accomplished.

The MLS has come a long way since it's inauguration and is quickly making up lost ground created by Americans' prejudice against soccer. But how can anyone argue with a victory carrying the magnitude of defeating the current European Champions? Not only is the MLS relevant, but simply the best.

Up For the Occasion

Today marked the final group stage matches in the Euro Championship for Group B, labeled the group of death. Group B earned this name because it was deemed the toughest group in the whole tournament with all four teams ranked in the top ten in the world by Fifa. Coming into today's fixtures any of the four teams had a chance to qualify for the knockout stages. Germany (3rd in the world) was pitted against Denmark (9th in the world), while Portugal (10th in the world) was facing the underachieving Netherlands (4th in the world).

The most intriguing story line was the Portugal versus Netherlands game. The lackluster Dutch side needed a two goal victory over Portugal who had not seen much production at all from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) in the first two games. CR7 showed up for this one, scoring two goals and hitting the post twice in a game where Portugal defeated the Netherlands 2-1 to secure a spot in the knockout stages. Ronaldo has been under some heat for not performing as well for Portugal as he does for his club team, Real Madrid. He silenced the haters, at least for now with a great performance. He also nearly had an assist, too, on a great pass to Nani, but Nani's shot was denied by a brilliant save by the Dutch keeper.

I score goals and look great

CR7 played aggressively throughout the game, went on many great runs, and created commotion near the Dutch net weather by shooting or creating opportunities for teammates. The Netherlands came out on fire with a quick goal from Rafael van der Vart in the opening moments of the game, but Portugal dominated for the most part from that point on. Only van der Vart's shot that hit the post in the second half looked threatening as Robin van Persie failed to make an impact despite getting at least one golden opportunity.

This is probably the worst showing for the Netherlands at a Euro cup given that the team lost all three games it played, but credit must be given to their opponents. Germany is a great side and Denmark fought hard in it's three games. Apparently there is unrest flowing through the Dutch team, but it looks like they all developed some Arjen Robben choking habits, maybe with the exception of van der Vart who looked great when given a chance to start. It's also time for people to calm down the shit talk on CR7, he's a wonderful player and he'll always look better than you, too.

Does Anyone Expect the Chinese Inquisition?

After this past weekend's Prefontaine Classic I'm excited to announce that Liu Xiang is back! Xiang, unable to compete in the 2008 Olympics in his home country China due to injury, is back in a big way winning the 110 meter high hurdles at the Prefontaine Classic in 12.87 seconds! That time equals the world record held by Cuba's Dayron Robles, but due to the 2.4 meter per second tail wind the time is ineligible to qualify for world records. In track and field when wind assistance (tail winds) exceed 2.0 meters per second, then records of any type cannot be broken. However, despite the wind behind him, Xiang looked amazing. I love his emotion following the race, too!
 

 Xiang's current form has him in very good shape for the upcoming Olympic games held in London this year. The China man formerly held the world record in the event at 12.88 seconds before Robles broke, running 12.87. Robles also won the gold in the high hurdles in 2008 without competing against Xiang. If Xiang and Robles can stay healthy there could be one hell of a 110 meter hurdle final at the Olympics this year! Xiang and Robles met at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea where Robles was disqualified for disrupting Xiang in the final stages of the race. I think that had Xiang not been interfered with, he would have taken the gold. Regardless of whether the contact by Robles on Xiang was intentional or not, slight contact like that throws off the rhythm of a hurdler greatly and can make you run a 13.27 (as if that's bad).

 Winner of the high hurdles in the 2004 Olympics, Xiang is an experienced hurdler who, when healthy, simply dominates. Look for Xiang to disregard the fact that anyone else has the right to win this race in London and cruelly punish his opponents. For thirteen months spanning from 2009 to 2011 Xiang was unable to compete, but he's back in a big way!

In general, the high hurdles should be a great and exciting event to watch at this year's Olympics. Xiang and Robles will be joined by many other talented high hurdlers which most likely will include Americans David Oliver, Jason Richardson, and Aries Merritt (pending Olympic trials).

Feel free to post any comments related to the Olympics, high hurdles, or Xiang below (I'm not expecting any, but I have to try!) Toninho's prediction: Look for Liu Xiang to reclaim gold at the 2012 Olympics. I hope he shatters the World Record, too!

Liu for the win

Thanks Everyone

We at the Penultimate Round Pick are ecstatic with the people that are coming and viewing our blog! Just want to thank you guys who have supported us and please comment on our blogs so we can write stuff that the fans (our readers) want to see in our postings. Without your support, we would not be doing what we enjoy, which is entertaining you with insight about our strengths in specific sports.

This is not our staff just shows how excited we are to have fans like you guys!

Everyone have a great weekend and remember here at the Penultimate Round Pick, we give you performance enhancing thoughts in the world of sports.