Baseball help
 

Ok, I am going to sound like a complete idiot, but if I trust anyone with my stupidness, its this family we have here at TFP.

I have been following baseball this year, and the Rangers, since they are the home team and i live near Arlington. I understand the basic rules, but am really at a loss at some of the stastical numbers and acronyms.


I know the basic abriviations ones such as AB, R, H, SO.

What is a BB, LOB, and how do they work out the Average, etc, ERA's....

I am sorry to be a complete newbie , but any advice or pointers will be really welcome.

BB = Bases on balls (i.e. walk)
LOB = Left on Base (bases loaded, 2 outs, batter strikes out--3 LOB)
Average = Hits/At-bats
At-bats are different than PA (Plate Appearance), as walks, HBP (Hit by Pitch) do not factor into At-bats.
Slugging Percentage = number of total bases divided by at-bats (single=1, double=2, triple=3, homerun=4)
OBP (On-base percentage) = Hits+BB+HBP/AB+BB+HBP+SF (sacrifice flies)
ERA = Earned runs/Innings Pitched times 9


Note about errors: Errors count against you in Average and OBP. Even though you reach base, it is due to a fielder's error and counts against you (I.E. you get on base 4 times in a game because of 4 errors, you are 0-4 for the day)
Errors do not count against the pitcher in terms of earned runs. If a run scores because of an error, the run does not count. This can be tricky sometimes, but as a result a pitcher can give up 10 runs in one inning, all unearned, due to one error. For example: Roger Clemens (hypothetical example) strikes out the first two batters but the next batter reaches on an error by the first basemen. Next batter singles, etc etc, 10 runs score after 2 outs. NONE of the runs are earned as the inning would have been over for not the error. Errors by the pitcher are no different.

Any more help needed?

wowzers, its deep. Thats a good read, thanks for putting that together for me.

Baseball is a complecated sport with really weird rules. Don't be ashamed to ask questions. Just don't ask me to explain the infield fly rule... Still haven't got that one completly figured out :hmm:

You hit the nail on the head Averett, even reading soccerchamps post, I was thinking dang, dont they just hit the ball and run to as many bases as possible.

So.... What is the infield fly rule ;)

Infield fly rule:

If there are runners on first and second or the bases are loaded and there are less than two outs, a pop fly results in an automatic out. This rule doesn't make sense until you explain why it came into effect.

If you have runners on first and second with less than 2 outs, imagine a pop fly to the second baseman. He waits under it to catch it and the runners have to remain close to their bases so they don't get doubled off. A smart player figured out that he could just drop the ball on purpose and get an easy double play (by forcing the player at third and second). So the infield fly rule was put into effect to prevent that very thing from happening.

What happens though is that so many players don't understand the rule they think they have a free pass to run, which is not true. They still have to tag up or return to the base or they can be doubled off. It just prevents the fielder from dropping the ball on purpose (thereby removing the force outs).

Now, if someone can explain Cricket to me, we would be in business. I caught some cricket on Dish Network a couple of weeks back, and I couldn't have been more confused.

man, thats deep, but I do understand it. Now cricket, I watched many games with my grandfather while a kid living in england.

I knew that a fielder's error counted against the batter's avg but I didn't know that it also counted against his OBP because he still reached base without making an out.

Good explanation.

But, it should be noted that it must be a fly ball that an infielder could catch with "ordinary" effort. Hence the name; "Infield Fly Rule". However, it does not necessarily mean that an infielder has to make the catch. Also, the ball is live, even if the rule is called.

Try explaining this to a bunch of angry parents during a little league game Sheesh!:crazy:

But you reached base because of an error, not your hitting. Some say it should count toward OBP because you didn't strike out and thus made the other team field the ball.

Good stuff soccerchamp.

One little addition. When figuring Batting average as Hits/At Bats
you forgot to include that At Bats do no not include sacrifice bunts or sacrifice flies.

BA = Hits / PA - BB - HBP - SacFly - SacBunt

Here's a good one:

One out. Runner on first. Batter hits the ball to the second baseman. Second baseman throws to the shortstop to force the runner at second and the shortstop throws to first to try to complete the double play. Batter hustles as fast as he can to first and just beats the throw, saving the double play. Should count toward OnBasePercentage, no?

No. That is a 'fielders choice' (FC 4-6 if you are scoring at home; and if you are scoring at home what are you doing watching baseball :) ) and does not count as a hit or towards OBP.


BTW, the infield fly rule has been in effect for over 100 years. It was obvious from the very beginning this rule had to be there to make the game fair.

whoa.... thats deep. We have just talked about getting tickets to see the Yankees at Rangers in 2 weeks.

Go see the game if you have a chance. Even if it's the Evil Empire.

Buy yourself a scorebook and keep score. Thats one of my favorite things to do at a baseball game. You'll learn a lot doing that :)

No kidding. I have a hard enough time trying to get the kids to stay on the base. I have one kid on my tem who insists that you can run through second base like you can at first. He hits a double and gets tagged out at second once every other game. We practice it to no end, but he just doesn't get it. :)

I have never been to a game Averett, so I am really hoping we get to go. We only live 25 minutes from Arlington. If anyone wants to hook up, give us a yell.