Ai yi yi!

Another day, another rainout. Last night was the 7th postponement due to weather this season, which is a franchise record. And yes, there are still three months left in the season.

So, what's a blogger to do? I've kind of lost my mojo over the last couple of days. It's tough to get into the rhythm when the games are getting cancelled all the time. I suspect that this, coupled with the fact that it's been cold and wet when they do play, is the very reason why the offense has been struggling so much lately. Tough to hit when you never even get to take BP!

So the Press Herald had this article about Manny Delcarmen. Delcarmen had an arm injury in '03 and is still somewhat in recovery from that, though the velocity is obviously there. It's a pretty positive piece, as these things tend to be, pointing out how Delcarmen has a 4.30 ERA and hasn't allowed an earned run in his last four games, but ignoring the 8 unearned runs (two on Sunday) that he has allowed this season. I think Delcarmen has a great deal of promise, but I don't think that I could look at his numbers and, keeping a straight face, put much of a positive spin on them. His stuff is electric, though, and I'm really hoping for him to get a little more control, because he can be a lot of fun to watch when he's on.

For those of you looking for some hardcore statistical analysis (the stuff that I enjoy reading but have no capacity to perform myself), here's a butt-kicking article at the Hardball Times about DIPS (Defense Independant Pitching Statistics) and its role in predicting ERA from year-to-year. This analysis looks at things that are solely under the pitcher's control: walks, strikeouts, and home runs. What it does not look at is balls put in play, because the result of those is quite dependent upon the defense and less under the pitcher's control (think of having a Mike Cameron in LF versus a Manny Ramirez). It's interesting stuff, but I'm posting it here not so much because I believe that the average reader of this blog (his name is Dave) will actually be able to sit through the analysis, but because it offers a window into what makes your host (me) tick. When I do offer some statistical analysis of the pitching (and I suppose I'm due to do so for the Sea Dogs), I tend to focus a lot on K rates and walk rates. My buy-in to the DIPS theory has a lot do do with that.