Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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While the people at MLB.com seem to think that they are listening to feedback about their "enhanced" Gameday (similar to how cancer is "enhanced" cell growth), I don't think they are.
Q: Can I still use the "classic" version of Gameday?
A: Games from 2006 and earlier are still available in the version of Gameday that was current when they were played. However, all games in 2007 and beyond will be provided solely in the 2007 version of Gameday.
Hmm, I think Rob McMillin begs to disagree.
But one mystery is solved, I guess.
Q: What is the PFX value?
A: The "Pitch-f/x" value is currently defined as the measurement of the distance between the location of the actual pitch thrown over the plate, and the calculated location of a ball thrown by the pitcher in the same way, with no spin; this is the value we provided in Enhanced Gameday last season as "Break". The new Break value, which we feel is more appropriate for the common understanding of the term, is defined as the measurement of the greatest distance between the trajectory of the pitch at any point between the release point and the front of home plate, and the straight line path from the release point and the front of home plate. By this definition, a Barry Zito curveball will have a much greater Break value than a Brad Penny fastball.
(By the way, the "camera control" in the 3D batter area allows you to view each pitch from any of six different viewpoints, so you can see the trajectory and location of each pitch from multiple angles.)
So why do I want to see the trajectory and locattion of each pitch from multiple angles. Don't I just want to know if, say, Bobby Kielty can reach base against Kei Igawa.
I think there a group of baseball fans who want to know all of this detailed pitch data. I'm not one of them.
Another way to think about this is with the NFL. ESPN once a week runs a show "Monday Night Matchup: where the upcoming Monday night game is dissected to within an inch of its life. Ron Jaworski would break down film and explain complicated offensive and defensive schemes. I didn't watch it, partly because I live on the wrong side of the country and partly because I don't care to know that much. Maybe I would sometimes, but there is no requirement that I watch the show to enjoy the football game.
But MLB.com wants you to look at a dizzying array of information that makes very little sense in real time when viewed on a computer in my opinion.
Kielty popped out by the way on a pitch that had a break of 12" and a pFX of 2". Woo hoo! That means... something.
But I don't know if Jon will let you wait until 2008 to fix the Dodgers' parking problems!
Y'all act as if MLBAM shot Paul DePodesta's puppy or something, LOL.
Seriously, thanks to Rob McMillin for deciphering the feeds.
As an artist, I'm prone to seeing the art in things and the layers of depth that a sport has to offer. Some people can read box scores for the rest of their lives and be content. That's not me.
I love the pitch tracker. I like seeing the break of the ball on screen and knowing the type of pitch thrown in a particular count to a particular hitter. A simple "Ball" or "Strike" would impart the information, but it does so by oversimplifying the game.
I like watching 40 yard touchdown runs. But you add so much more when you can see that it's the result of a 20 yard block downfield that was part of the play to begin with.
Maybe it's because I'm a chess player that I appreciate the "chess matches" in sports. The more information you have, the better.
There's just so much more to a game than results. Otherwise, why attend a game at all? Why play them? You might as well watch a computer crunch numbers in a simulation.
Did the pitch jam the batter? Was the batter late or early on just right in timing his swing? Was the defense really good?
All Gameday can tell me is some of the data that goes in to each pitcher-hitter matchup. And in doing so, it makes my computer's RAM and CPU power very tired.
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