September 7th, 2013

Today's slate.

The Big Hurst - Tyson Ross

skoormit - Tanner Roark

La Osa Rosa - Brett Oberholtzer

The Big Hurst: Picking Haren and Roark demonstrate an unyielding commitment to the method.  Meanwhile, throughout this season, I've crunched some numbers on park factors.  (1st link, 2nd, 3rd)  Now, it's closer to the end of the season, so the 2013 park factors are much more finalized than they were back then.  I believe there's a trend.  As of right now, here are some big movers from 2012-13:

• + 0.280 Seattle (no longer a pitcher's park)
• - 0.234 Chi Sox (no longer a hitter's park)
• - 0.223 Texas (no longer a hitter's park)
• - 0.215 Arizona (no longer a hitter's park)
• - 0.191 Boston (no longer a hitter's park)
• + 0.178 LA Angels (no longer a pitcher's park)
• - 0.160 Baltimore (no longer a hitter's park)

The trend may be standardization.  The range of park factors in 2012 was significantly wider than the range in 2013.  Ballparks have shifted and narrowed more towards the middle.  Is this because these teams have taken it upon themselves to "fix" these parks?  Or was there some coordinated action with MLB this year?  Whatever it is, it's definitely whiplash to me that some of these parks may now be essentially "neutral".  So Boston and Texas aren't friendly to hitters now?  At least for 2013, baseball's parks seem to have lost some of their character.
   Again, I've seen no media reporting on this at all.  I wonder if anyone more familiar with these teams/stadiums could report on any changes this year?
The Big Hurst: And you pre-reported the Mike Trout stuff.

RESULTS

		Tm	Opp	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	GSc	Pit	ERA
D.Straily	W	OAK	HOU	7.0	2	0	0	1	7	0	79	103	4.15
A.Wainwright	W	STL	PIT	7.0	2	0	0	2	8	0	79	100	3.03
T.Ross		SDP	COL	7.0	3	0	0	2	5	0	74	105	2.79
B.McCarthy	W	ARI	SFG	8.0	6	1	1	1	6	0	71	99	4.66
T.Roark	W	WSN	MIA	6.0	4	0	0	0	4	0	68	71	0.94
G.Richards	W	LAA	TEX	7.0	6	2	1	1	5	0	63	110	3.90
W.Chen		BAL	CHW	6.0	6	2	2	0	8	1	60	99	3.82
J.Paxton	W	SEA	TBR	6.0	4	2	1	1	3	1	60	95	1.50
B.Oberholtzer	L	HOU	OAK	6.0	7	1	1	0	5	1	59	100	2.65
T.Chatwood		COL	SDP	6.0	5	1	1	2	2	0	58	97	3.17
J.Happ	W	TOR	MIN	5.2	5	1	0	3	4	0	58	87	5.09
K.Kendrick		PHI	ATL	6.0	4	3	3	3	8	0	57	91	4.51
Z.Greinke		LAD	CIN	6.0	8	2	2	1	9	0	56	106	2.79
C.Kluber	W	CLE	NYM	5.0	5	2	2	1	5	0	53	64	3.54
J.Locke	L	PIT	STL	5.0	3	3	2	4	4	0	51	91	3.23
J.Verlander	L	DET	KCR	7.0	8	4	4	1	7	1	51	114	3.64
J.Hellweg	W	MIL	CHC	6.0	4	3	3	3	1	2	50	99	8.64
M.Latos		CIN	LAD	7.0	9	3	3	1	3	1	49	106	3.02
M.Cain	L	SFG	ARI	6.1	8	2	2	4	3	0	48	99	4.37
D.Duffy		KCR	DET	4.1	2	2	2	5	1	0	47	87	1.85
H.Santiago		CHW	BAL	5.0	7	2	2	2	4	1	47	100	3.44
J.Arrieta	L	CHC	MIL	5.0	3	4	4	3	4	0	46	83	5.49
C.Archer	L	TBR	SEA	4.0	4	3	2	1	2	2	45	75	3.19
K.Correia	L	MIN	TOR	6.0	7	5	5	1	4	2	41	95	4.30
J.Niese	L	NYM	CLE	6.0	9	6	5	2	5	1	35	108	3.86
D.Holland	L	TEX	LAA	5.2	8	8	4	1	4	1	32	103	3.17
A.Wood		ATL	PHI	4.2	9	4	4	3	4	0	31	94	3.45
J.Lackey	W	BOS	NYY	5.2	8	7	7	3	6	0	28	105	3.48
N.Eovaldi	L	MIA	WSN	3.0	9	5	5	0	2	2	23	72	3.80
D.Huff	L	NYY	BOS	3.1	8	9	9	0	2	2	10	65	6.45