Thursday Links

I don't know if you check box scores during the game/look at player profiles, but I think Manny has had the same screen grab picture since his transfer to LA in 2008. Is he refusing to get his mug shot done professionally? Someone needs to break this story so someone else can blog about it so I can link to it on some Thursday in the future.

This is an interesting article about unwritten codes with 3 hall of fame(-caliber) pitchers. It's mostly gossage talking about how awesome he was, but it's interesting other than that.

Arizona's new law may keep some players away from the All-Star Game in 2011. Adrian Gonzales has said he might not attend. Also, some people with limited power have called for the game to be moved elsewhere.

This is an interesting new stat on fangraphs called shutdowns and meltdowns to help rate relievers (of all shapes and sizes, not just closers). Shutdowns and meltdowns make it more obvious why owning Brian Wilson is frustrating/great. The league leaders in shutdowns can be found here.

Do you ever think about wind in stadiums? Nerd. Aside from blowing trash around, wind can impact a field's playability. If you have 15 minutes and are otherwise bored, here is a pretty interesting and long blog post about wind as a ballpark factor.

If you thought MLB.tv on your roku or PS3 is cool, wait until baseball in 3d happens (THIS JULY). Which one of you is buying/has bought a 3d tv, and when can I come over? I'm actually thinking baseball isn't ideal for 3D, but I could be wrong. Most of the shots are pretty far away, and then the ones that are close involve me trying to track a tiny white object through several different depths of field in less than half of a second. But I'm for it.

Lastly, congrats to Dallas Braden.

Follow up to "New Stats"

I was going to release this beast later, but Matt's post about New Stats made me think that now would be a good time for this post (mostly because I can't paste a table into a comment). While the odds are low that someone will get a no-no or a cycle on opening day, I bet someone will get a cycle or no-hitter during this season. Both feats are rare, but they do happen.

Cycles 2009 2008 2007 2006 Felix Pie Stephen Drew Mark Ellis Chode Figgins (J) Ian kInsler (G) Christian Guzman Aubrey Huff Gary Matthews Jr Melky Cabrera Mark Kotsay Fred Lewis Carlos Guillen Jason Kubel (M) Carlos Gomez Luke Scott Orlando Hudson Adrian Beltre Jose Reyes (M) BJ Upton (O) Troy Tulowitzki (J) No-Hitters 2009 2008 2007 2006 Johnathan Sanchez Carlos Zambrano Clay Buccholz Anibal Sanchez Mark Buehrle (H) John Lester (T) Justin Verlander(B) Mark Buehrle (H) G= Gilkey's Eyeballs, O=Olerud Helmeteers, T=Tito Landrum Express M=The Old Mill, B=Jason Bere's Sluggers , J=Jabberwocks, H=Hamiltoes

Let me know what you think of the new categories. I din't get much argument, and I like rooting for a no-hitter and a cycle like nobody's business, so I don't feel bad about it. But I would like to know what you think. I assume this post will get bumped down for opening day (and it should) but I wanted to put this out there. Maybe after the draft poll is done, we can poll on this. Or use the comments. It's all good.