Category Archives: Baseball

Oct 08 2012
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Baseball, Politics

2012: CHANGE In Washington (No, Not That Kind)

As Election Day nears on November 6, people all over Washington are out campaigning and fighting for their jobs. Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson isn’t one of them. He took a team that had never so much as finished with winning record since their arrival in 2005 and, with an unconventional approach, led them to the best record in Major League Baseball and their first playoff appearance in team history (and first in Washington in nearly 80 years).

Johnson and the Nationals front office have built their team mainly with the use of sabermetrics (the analysis of baseball using statistics pioneered by Bill James and popularized by Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s in the film Moneyball and the book of the same name). Holding firm to their beliefs in their research hasn’t always been popular among the fans, however. Earlier this year, the team shut down their ace, Stephen Strasburg, after a set number of innings after consulting studies and statistics that led them to believe it would help protect his future health.

Even without their top pitcher, the Nationals took the top seed on the National League and have already taken a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-five Division Series against the Cardinals. With the success Johnson and the Nationals have found making decisions based on statistics AND intangibles–facts AND analysis–Ben Bernanke opines, “Many of us in Washington could learn a thing or two from the Nationals’ approach.” He might just be right.

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May 01 2008
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Baseball, Oklahoma State University

JORDY MERCER (feature) – 05.01.2008

(originally written for The Daily O’Collegian in May of 2008)

When junior shortstop Jordy Mercer plays games at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, there are usually more fans in the stands than people in his hometown.

Mercer is from Taloga, Okla., which had a population of 372, according to the 2000 census, but he hasn’t let his small-town upbringing harness his big-time potential in baseball.

Mercer was an All-State player at Taloga High School and led his team to a Class B state championship his senior year in 2005.

Despite playing in a small town, Mercer grabbed the attention of college coaches across the country. He said living in Taloga was beneficial to his career.

“We didn’t have a football program, so we played two seasons of baseball,” Mercer said. Continue reading →

Apr 30 2008
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Baseball

NCAA BASEBALL SCHEDULING – 04.30.2008

(written for The Daily O’Collegian in April of 2008)

There aren’t a lot of things that can change about college baseball.

There are no experimental clock changes, like there have been in football over the past few years, in an attempt to speed up the game.

There is no clock. It’s something the game’s fans love and its critics hate; but it’s baseball.

With the exception of the designated hitter, baseball has been virtually the same game for decades.

However, there’s one thing that’s sure to change every season: the schedule.

This season, though, the teams on the schedule aren’t the only things changing about it. This year, the season’s start date has also changed. Continue reading →

Apr 29 2008
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Baseball, Oklahoma State University

DUSTY HARVARD (feature) – 04.29.2008

(originally printed in The Daily O’Collegian on April 29, 2008)

For most people, signing a Division I scholarship without playing organized baseball in high school would be front-page story.

For sophomore outfielder Dusty Harvard, it’s a footnote.

When Harvard signed a scholarship to play baseball for Oklahoma State in 2006, he became the first player to sign a Division I baseball scholarship from Casper, Wyo., in 20 years.

In the grand scheme of things, though, that accomplishment is not nearly as important as the road he traveled to do so. Continue reading →

Apr 24 2008
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Baseball

OSU vs WSU GAME COVERAGE – 04.24.2008

GAME STORY:

(originally printed in The Daily O’Collegian on April 24, 2008)

A storm blew over Allie P. Reynolds Stadium on Wednesday night, and for a few innings it looked like it might have taken Oklahoma State’s offense with it.

No. 13 OSU took a one-run lead into a rain delay that lasted an hour and 19 minutes, but the team’s momentum seemed to be drained like the water on the field when the tarp was finally removed.

Then Jordy Mercer stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh.

Mercer got just enough of a Logan Hoch pitch to send it bouncing off the top of the wall in left-center field for a two-run homer to put OSU ahead en route to a 5-3 victory against No. 7 Wichita State. Continue reading →