Sunday Morning Baseball & Breakfast: Hudson, Neshek, Plouffe & Hardy

by Jesse on May 23, 2010 7:59 AM EDT in News

Mmmm...breakfast.

Orlando Hudson is technically "day to day", as he's been diagnosed with a bruised right elbow according to a Tweet from Joe C. In a later Tweet, Christensen quotes Gardenhire saying Hudson couldn't grip a ball and they'd have to see how he felt before today's game. I'd be surprised if Alexi Casilla and his .400 OBP didn't get a shot this afternoon in order to give Hudson's elbow two days to get healthy with Monday's off day.
Speaking of today, the Brewers wasted Manny Parra last night and will go with 26-year old righty Marco Estrada as their starting pitcher. In 24.1 big league innings spread over three seasons, Estrada has struck out 23 and walked 10, allowing 22 runs (19 earned). This will be his second career Major League start.
Over at the Strib before yesterday's game, Christensen reported that Pat Neshek and Clay Condrey will have throwing sessions today. Both of these guys essentially demand space on the 25-man roster, so it will be interesting to see which two bullpen arms get the boot.
With J.J. Hardy expected back for the Yankee series on Tuesday (maybe?), today could be the last we see of Trevor Plouffe for a while. It was good to see him finally get a chance. We'll see him once or twice again this summer, but no doubt he'll be in line for a lot more time next season.

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I never thought Neshek should have

started with the big league club to start the season, after not throw in a years time. Condrey sucked in the spring and has alot to prove (IMHO). I still say the Phill’s made the right move not offering Condrey a contract. The Twins should have done the same. Neshek should be fine with a little time, there’s no ruch to get him into season shape. He’ll have small injuries and pains this year.

by b1 on May 23, 2010 8:28 AM EDT reply actions

I agree on Condrey

It’s a bit hard to be excited about having him taking up bullpen/roster space.

by Luke in MN on May 23, 2010 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions

We've got way too many talented guys stuck in the minors to use a roster spot on Condrey

I’m sure that Slama could do just as well in the majors as condrey could at this point, at least.

by ckb on May 23, 2010 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Weather/Estrada

It’s supposed to be humid as balls today, so if some of those deep flies don’t turn into home runs Sunday, they never will.

Also, I am NOT one of TwinkieTown’s great sabermetric minds, but 19 earned runs allowed in 24 innings is bad, right?

by RandBall's Stu on May 23, 2010 10:06 AM EDT reply actions

Craptacular

is the sabermetric term for it. Of course, that means Estrada will look like Cy Young against our B-squad Sunday crew.

by Adam Peterson on May 23, 2010 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

According to sabermetrics, his CARP level is very high

Crap Above Replacement Player

Latest annoying thing Souhan has done: not mangling the English language badly enough for me to update my signature with his horrible quotes

by what_would_gil_thorp_do on May 23, 2010 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

humidity would be worse for homers, would it not?

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by fetch9 on May 23, 2010 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I thought that too.

But: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density_of_air

“The addition of water vapor to air (making the air humid) reduces the density of the air, which may at first appear contrary to logic.

This occurs because the molecular mass of water (18) is less than the molecular mass of air (around 29). For any gas, at a given temperature and pressure, the number of molecules present is constant for a particular volume (see Avogadro’s Law). So when water molecules (vapor) are introduced to the air, the number of air molecules must reduce by the same number in a given volume, without the pressure or temperature increasing. Hence the mass per unit volume of the gas (its density) decreases."

by Luke in MN on May 23, 2010 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Makes sense after you think about it

O2 and N2 would be a lot denser than H2O. Hydrogen is really light.

by ckb on May 23, 2010 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

From the science journal USA Today

More dense, or “heavier” air will slow down objects moving through it more because the object has to, in effect, shove aside more or heavier molecules.

Such air resistance is called “drag,” which increases with air density. Baseball players have found that home runs travel farther in the less dense air in high-altitude Denver than in ball parks at lower elevations. The reduced drag slows the ball down at a slower rate, which means it travels farther.

Which explains why the Rockies are the HR hittingest team in baseball today.

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by less cowbell, more 'neau on May 23, 2010 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Coors has always been one of the very top hitters parks

easily

by ckb on May 23, 2010 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions

In Colorado they use a humidor to store the baseballs

So that the moisture seeps into the ball in liquid form making it heavier. But in vapor form water provides less resistance.

Better example of the effects of humid air would be Arlington, Texas. Baseballs carry very well there at relatively low altitudes.

by DavidRF on May 23, 2010 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Miami as well

The thing about lighter mountain air is not dryness, it just has fewer molecules per cubic meter than air at lower altitudes. In other words, it’s less dense. Air density is what affects whether balls fly or not. On the desert floor, balls don’t fly as well as in a humid environment, like Houston or at higher altitudes, with lighter air.

Minnesota typically has heavy air: It’s dry Canadian high pressure at 1000 feet above sea level. When we get low pressure from the Gulf, the ball should fly better because it has more moisture in it and moist air is less dense than dry air.

The other thing is the wind. The prevailing wind with high pressure in Mpls. is SSE, right through the wind tunnel created by the plaza and in the teeth of the left handed batters’ pull zones. When we have low pressure, the wind typically comes from the northeast, which is somewhere behind the home run porch. Because that’s less of a wind tunnel, low pressure should produce more home runs.

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by cmathewson on May 24, 2010 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes... humidity feels heavier for people because it prevents evaporation of your sweat

Baseball’s don’t sweat. They won’t collect moisture by themselves unless they are brought from someplace cold into the humidity (e.g. taking a golf club out of a cold basement into the humid backyard).

by DavidRF on May 23, 2010 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Alexi's OBP

looks nice, sitting at .400. He seems to be more patient at the plate, willing to work the count. I hope he keeps it up, but I suspect it’s a sample size thing, 7 walks in 41 plate appearances, 17.1 BB%. In his professional career, he’s only been above 10% once, 14.9% in 2008 AAA over 121 PA. But maybe he just turned into Denard Span. We’ll see.

by Adam Peterson on May 23, 2010 10:13 AM EDT reply actions