Another game. Another loss, 25 to 8.

• We are historically bad.
• We are certainly better than how we are playing, but that is not saying much, and it doesn’t help any. Let’s try to salvage the season, win a few games, and bust some playoff hopes for the other teams. And then let’s get drunk.
• Our next game is at 7:20. Phew.
• The re-tooled lineup worked very well yesterday. If we didn’t have that one muther-fuckin inning, we would have all had another at-bat or two. I plan on continuing to re-tool. Once again, if you have ideas on the lineup, please let me know (and feel free to remain anonymous).
• It is my understanding that we do not need to practice, since only three players (myself included) showed up last Sunday.
• I had never witnessed a 1-5-4 double play until last night.
• Where are the women? Eric’s improved livestock surely cannot be all that’s available to root for the Superbas. (And whatever happened to Dom No. 24?)
• No one struck out last night, the first time this season. That being said, we already have $50 from this year’s fundraiser and $80 from last year (although collection will be an issue, I know), so planning for the end-of-the-year bash has begun. Tim has mentioned that his place may be available (in Walnut Creek), and B.H. has a place (in Napa) that should do fine as well. (If we continue to strikeout at our current rate, we may have enough cash-on-hand to host two fests.)
• I have posted the batting statistics and batting leaders through the first four games (a tad earlier than I had planned, but oh well). The statistics include the RLS and TRP, two stats that I have created. I have defined the two thoroughly on the website, but I will post the definitions to the blog shortly. I will also post the definitions of the minimum number of plate appearances and how I break ties on the leader board.
• Direct quote from our second baseman during last night’s higher thought sessions following the game at the bar/pizzeria at Willow Pass and East Olivera: “They didn’t call him Magic Johnson for nothing.”

Powered by Snapple Iced Tea and an Excel spreadsheet, I developed two new statistical measures to evaluate hitters on the team. Softball isn’t baseball, so I figured the stats needed tweaking (in a beer-league way).

Contribution Percentage, the Red-Legged Superbas Index (RLS)

I like to refer to the “Contribution Percentage” — better known as the “Red-Legged Superbas Index” or “RLS” — as the “slugging percentage on steroids.” The Slugging Percentage (SLG) is a useful statistic as it determines your average hit value — be it a single, double, triple, etc. (If your SLG is 2.000, you average a double.) Major League Baseball (MLB) employs another statistic, which should be considered useless, the On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS). What the actual meaning of this statistic is I will never know. Is there spatial meaning, MLB? (It is a made-up statistic so commentators can comment on stats with values greater than one.)

It was my desire to create a “highly-inflated” statistic for the softball team to try to capture the “true contribution” of all players. For this statistic, the Red-Legged Superbas Index (RLS), I give credit to all forms of offensive contribution — be it a home run or a walk, a double or a sacrifice fly; everything counts. The only item that hurts a player is a strikeout. So, I took the numerator of the SLG, the total bases reached on hits, and added to it the number of walks, the number of times reached on error, and the number of sacrifice hits, and subtracted the number of strikeouts. I then divided this crazy sum by the number of plate appearances. In the absence of walks and sacrifice hits (and strikeouts), the SLG is equal to the RLS. If a player strikes out, the SLG can actually be greater than the RLS; in general, however, the RLS tends be greater than the SLG, as designed.

The rationale for the RLS, in my opinion, can easily be defended. If you reach base on an error, how are you not “contributing”? If you walk, how is that not, effectively, a single or a “total base value of 1”? Same goes with sacrifice hits. The only debate may be with the subtraction of strikeouts as it may be unfair to punish those who strike out. (Is a strikeout any less effective than, say, a pop-up to the pitcher?) But hell, this is softball.

On a further note, I was originally planning on adding the number of times a runner advanced (a statistic I called “A”) to the numerator. For example, a fly-out to right and the runner at second tags to third, or a ground-out to second and the runner advances to third on the play. But the logistics of keeping the books to that degree of accuracy was overwhelming.

I think runs scored is grossly undervalued in modern baseball. In softball, at least, it is the only thing that counts, which is especially evident when your team isn’t scoring any.

Total Run Production Index (TRP)

There is a little-known and underused statistic in baseball called “Run Production (RP)” which is the numerator in this statistic I created. Run production accounts for all of the runs a player has scored and the number of runs a player has batted-in (minus the number of home runs, which is duplicitous, as it adds a run and an RBI for the batter). This stat, in my opinion, is most insightful on a player’s “net worth.” I took this run generation and divided by the number of plate appearances (not the number of at-bats), and called it the “Total Run Production Index” or “TRP,” pronounced “trip.”

In reality, the TRP is the likelihood a run will score every time a player comes to the plate. For example, if a player has a TRP of 1.000, that player averages an RBI or a run-scored (or a solo home run) every plate appearance; if a player has a TRP of .500, there is a 50% chance that he will knock in a run or come around to score each time he comes to the plate.

After suffering another large defeat, 20 to 4, I was a little depressed, being the coach.

• “What is losing?” Losing is a disease… as contagious as polio. Losing is a disease… as contagious as syphilis. Losing is a disease… as contagious as bubonic plague… attacking one… but infecting all. But curable. Now, I want you to imagine… you are on a ship at sea…
• 6:15 games are tough. They are tough to get to, tough to get warmed up for, and 6:15 is just a plain old shitty time for a softball game. We have three more 6:15 games this season, including next week.
• Wright has sponsored a practice for this weekend. It will be Sunday at 10am at Willow Pass Fields. I’ll post the details shortly.
• I won’t say the most important thing is to have fun, it isn’t. We are here to win, but let’s have fun doing it.
• To reiterate, the second baseman is in charge of positioning the rightfielder, and the third baseman is the captain of the infield on all cutoffs. We’ll go over some of this at practice.
• B.H. turned down dinner with the mayor to make the last game.
• If it seems I get upset, it may be one of two things, I’m an asshole making things worse, or I’m just messing with you. I’ll leave it up to you to figure it out. Some people know me better than others and understand my “humor” (I can barely call it that), but that is what it is. No hard feelings.
• I’m telling you, the bar at Willow Pass and East Olivera is the place to be after the game. Besides the higher thought that is prevalent (taking two, not one, but two Viagra pills, and then operating heavy machinery leads to some crazy hi-jinx), the owners are brand new and are selling the place like mad. Look for some pasta dinner specials.