entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

I've always wondered how the rule that allows batters to run to first after the catcher misses strike 3 is phrased in the rulebook.  I finally dug in and found it.

6.00 The Batter

6.05
A batter is out when_ [...] (b) A third strike is legally caught by the catcher; "Legally caught" means in the catcher's glove before the ball touches the ground. [...] If smothered against his body or protector, it is a catch provided the ball struck the catcher's glove or hand first.

6.09
The batter becomes a runner when_ [...] (b) The third strike called by the umpire is not caught, providing (1) first base is unoccupied, or (2) first base is occupied with two out; When a batter becomes a base runner on a third strike not caught by the catcher and starts for the dugout, or his position, and then realizes his situation and attempts then to reach first base, he is not out unless he or first base is tagged before he reaches first base. If, however, he actually reaches the dugout or dugout steps, he may not then attempt to go to first base and shall be out.

So, that Escobar pitch that Pierzynski swung through for strike 3, did it hit the ground before Paul caught it?  I won't say what i think.  All i know is that i can't think of a crazier play in baseball in my experience.

Leo Mazzone has been the Atlanta Braves' pitching coach since mid-1990.  The success of the pitchers under his tutelage has been outstanding.  There's some talk of pushing for his inclusion into the Hall of Fame; there are no coaches (in baseball, the head coach is called the manager and his assistants are called coaches) in the Hall of Fame, but if a coach ever merited the Hall of Fame, Mazzone is the one.

Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon have a chat under the pretense of being interviewed by Time Magazine.  They talk about their soon-to-be-released movies, the nerd culture, porn, and otters.

David Ortiz and Alex Rodríguez play a very sissy version of Pattycake.

SHUT UP, TIM MCCARVER!  Thank god the Red Sox won, so we won't have to listen to him for another six months.

Bill Mueller tries to chew gum and field the ball at the same time, with disastrous results.

Orlando Cabrera's left shoe runs away from him.

Jeter and A-Wad look disconsolate after Steinbrenner spat baby food all over their uniforms.

Jim Caple writes:

In hindsight, perhaps it was a mistake for the Yankees to raise a "Mission Accomplished" banner above their dugout after Game 3.

I asked him last night if he could run a little more analysis, and he replied:

[My stats guy] had [looked] up a few random players earlier for me:

The 600 of 787 seems to be stunning to everyone, but I did some comparisons, and this is what I've found (at bats in an inning where a run was scored vs. total runs scored, approximate):

Barry Bonds - (600/787) * 100 = 76%
Bobby Abreu - (579/769) * 100 = 75%
Craig Wilson - (509/642) * 100 = 79%
Moises Alou - (567/736) * 100 = 77%
Manny Ramirez - (603/863) * 100 = 70%
Jose Guillen - (614/775) * 100 = 79%

So, Bonds' 76 percent isn't necessarily unique.

Because i can't leave well enough alone...

ESPN.com's baseball editor David Schoenfield opines on the soundess of the "Walk Bonds At All Costs" strategy:

OK, I've been holding back. I had ESPN.com engineer Dave Fishel run a query: how many runs do the Giants score when Bonds is walked and how many runs do the Giants score when Bonds doesn't walk?

The Giants have scored 600 of their 787 runs in innings when Bonds steps to the plate.

When he walks, the Giants average 1.09 runs per inning. When he doesn't walk, the Giants average 0.95 runs per inning.

And when he's intentionally walked, the Giants average 1.25 runs per inning.

Based on that, it's clear to me that teams should pitch to Bonds more often.

The statistics, as always, can be misleading; Bonds is often intentionally walked when men are on base, so it seems likely that people will score when he's IBBed, because that often means there are runners on second and/or third base (baseball parlance is "runners in scoring position").  Also, how do these stats compare to those of other MVP candidates, such as Albert Pujols or Manny Ramírez, for example?  Bonds's numbers are SO far ahead of everyone else's, i'm fairly sure the deeper analysis will still give him a significant edge... but it needs to be examined.

Also, my title for tonight's debate: "The Neat Adventures of Chimpy and Douchebag!"