RBI Drinking Game Championship today!

[fknmclane]

Nice work, Lips.  Way to stick it to that Zettler fellow.

[Mr. Blubbo]

OK we need an update that actually makes sense.  The only thing I gathered from that is that Lips won.

[Lips]

My mush brain is finally starting to subside...  I'll post more tomorrow night, with videos.

[Gantry]

OK we need an update that actually makes sense.  The only thing I gathered from that is that Lips won.

Game 1 of the finals I was up 5 runs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.  I got not one but TWO BOPs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th off popups and I lost the game.  Read that again...

To say I didn't take it well would be the understatement of the century - I dropped the NES, threatened to quit the series, threw the NES into my storm door and broke both the power & video adapters.  I got off the ledge after about 20 minutes but I pretty much mailed it in during the second game.  When I actually cooled down and focused on the game instead of bitching I was down either 8 or 10 runs and I couldn't come back.

Not my proudest moment, but with 15+ beers in me getting the most unfair loss in the 10 year history of this tourney took every last ounce of sanity away from me.  Completely demoralized...

It wasn't Lips' fault though and he kept his composure during my hissy fit to take game two and win the series.  Kudos to him...

It's the same scenario every year with me - I outplay everyone early and when I drink too much I get moody and start pouting when every pitch doesn't go my way.  So if I'm in a good mood I win the whole thing but if I get a bad break or two I give up at the end.  I guess that's why it ain't the sober RBI championships, but I don't have to quality for next year and that's all that matters...

[fknmclane]

I would have done much, much worse than you, Gantry.  Don't feel bad.

[ultimate7]

OK we need an update that actually makes sense.  The only thing I gathered from that is that Lips won.

Game 1 of the finals I was up 5 runs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.  I got not one but TWO BOPs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th off popups and I lost the game.  Read that again...

Did you try to throw before you fielded the ball?  Also did you have back up power and video adapters?  The NES survived a throw into the storm door?

[Gantry]

1)  No - though I'm firmly in the nightwulf camp with regards to BOP throws, I wasn't taking any chances.  Plus it was the last out of the game, no reason to throw.

2)  Yes, I am well prepared for Nintendo related violence in a drinking tournament situation

3)  Yup, it's a pretty hardy NES - I also attacked it with a broom one time after giving up a BOP with two outs in the bottom of the 9th against Sperling, who scored his only run of the game off that play.  It would have been the first straight pitch shutout in our history, he was either Houston or Stl.  We were sober...

[Lips]

The first batch of videos.  More are on their way...

[Lips]

The second batch of videos.  More are on their way...

[Lips]

The final batch of videos.

[Re-Peat]

...I think in all of R.B.I. Guillermo Hernandez has the biggest disparity between his fastball and his slow pitch...

Correction.  The biggest are Don Robinson (200 FS, 133 SS) and Nolan Ryan (213 FS, 146 SS). 

Hernandez is up there (198 FS, 146 SS), but he's not at the top.  Others with bigger FS/SS gaps are McDowell, Berengeur, and Gooden.  Players with the same difference as Hernandez are Bedrosian and Righetti.

So if you're only counting the standard straight pitch teams, you'd be right the Hernandez has the best fastball to change up combo, but there are other guys with better stuff on other teams.

[Gantry]

I didn't mean slow pitch I meant normal pitch.  Now recrunch the numbers!

[Re-Peat]

You are correct, Hernandez does have the biggest difference between the fast pitch and standard speed (38), followed closely by Garrelts (37) and Henke (36).  Nolan Ryan has the best difference of the starting pitchers (29) but it's only about 75% of the difference Hernandez has.

So in that analysis you are correct.

And yes, I'm a big enough dork to have all of the rating in a pivot table so I can answer these questions quickly.

[Gantry]

The reason that stat is so important is because we can't throw knucklers with two strikes.  Plus we only work with three teams, meaning you don't see guys close to Hernandez like henke & Garrelts.  So when Hernandez goes fast-to-normal on the second strike, you can actually swing so early looking for a fastball that you whiff. 

If you are looking for a fastball with a guy like Clemens you'll simply foul it off. 

And yes, I'm a big enough dork to have all of the rating in a pivot table so I can answer these questions quickly.

And that is why I love you, Internet Friend... 

[Re-Peat]

I don't deny that it's the difference between pitches and not the total speed that is the biggest factor.  Clemens actually has a rather average (which makes it poor) difference in his pitches, but actually the only starters that beat his gap are Nolan Ryan (let's face it, he's just a competitor at every category) and Witt, who is a member of one of the three nasty teams.

To be honest I'm just not a big fan of straight pitch.  I prefer curve, and I'm ok with slurve too, but straight pitch just seems silly to me so I rarely put much thought into it.