First off, let me start by saying my readers absolutely rock. Mere hours after my plea for an answer to Gabe F.’s question, the legendary (don’t mean to embarrass you, but it’s true!) Vinay Kumar steps to the plate and knocks one out of the park, with a spreadsheet and instructions on how to use it.

Did you know that in 2000, the home team won the first game of a series 55.5% of the time? Well, thanks to Vinay, now you do. Amaze your friends, annoy your enemies with this new knowledge. It’ll be great fun. Anyway, give it up for Vinay. Thanks for the assist!

Gary Matthews, Jr.

I sponsor his page over at Baseball Reference.

I wrote an article about him and Mike Darr in this space about five (!) years ago.

And now, according to Peter Gammons on Baseball Tonight (though I can find no mention of it online), the Orioles have placed him on irrevocable waivers. If this is true, I’ve got two words for Kevin Towers: SIGN HIM!

No, he’s not that great. But in case you missed it, Mark Kotsay was placed on the DL. Shane Victorino is the only other guy on the roster who can play center field but he can’t hit a big-league fastball (which begs the question of why he’s wasting a roster spot, but I digress). The Padres appear to be steadfast in their insistence at keeping Jason Bay at bay (or, more accurately and less punningly, at Portland). Which means the Padres’ new center fielder is–please, no laughing; this is serious business here–Brian Buchanan.

Buchanan, it should be noted, stands 6-4 and weighs 230. Big Buck runs reasonably well for a big guy, but he makes Bubba Trammell look like Cesar Geronimo in the outfield. Or Cesar Cedeno. Cesar somebody. Crespo? Salad? I dunno. The point is, Buchanan has no business being anywhere near center field. And an outfield alignment of Rondell White, Buchanan, and Xavier Nady could be terrifying, especially if you’re the guy on the mound and you tend to allow fly balls.

Speaking of Which

Have you noticed that White’s numbers this year are a lot like Trammell’s career numbers?

                   BA OBP SLG
White (2003)      279 335 474
Trammell (career) 263 341 462

Yawn. Next topic.

Oliver Perez Revisited

I know we just talked about him yesterday, but he made his fourth Triple-A start last night and it was a good one:

 IP H R ER BB SO
6.2 7 1  1  0  8

Can you guess which number I like? Hint: it’s in bold.

Places to Go, Things to Do

Couple new (to me) sites worth a visit:

• eteams Baseball Rules — More than you ever wanted to know about the rules of baseball
• D-Rays Blog — David Bloom offers passionate and intelligent discussion on the AL’s newest team

That’s all for now. Next time we’ll talk about Tom Waits, the inevitability of derivation in creative works, and Bruce Bochy’s future with the Padres (though not necessarily in that order). Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Memorial Day weekend. See ya soon…