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Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winningby Steve Goldman
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Think You Know Baseball? Think Again.
The Red Sox finally won a World Series, in a triumph of unconventional wisdom. They rethought the batting order and committed to Johnny Damon as lead-off. Saw the talent in David Ortiz that other teams overlooked. Had the courage to trade one of the game's top shortstops for the good of the team. They knocked over the sacred cows of RBIs, sacrifice bunts, the hit-and-run, and hewed to the new thinking about pitch count--allowing Pedro Martinez, arguably baseball's best pitcher ever, to excel. Weaving statistics, narrative, personalities, and anecdote, Mind Game reveals exactly how this group of "idiots," led by Theo Epstein and Terry Francona, was in fact the smartest team in the league, and revolutionizes the thinking fan's understanding of how baseball games are really won and lost. Synopsis:The Red Sox finally did it. By making decisions that other clubs would not have made and using talent that other clubs ignored or lacked the statistical understanding to perceive, the new, focused Red Sox management built a championship team that overcame 86 years of baseball history. And along the way, argue the writers of Mind Game, created a blueprint for winning baseball. Savvy, insightful, statistically brilliant, and filled with the thudding sound of the sacred cows of received baseball wisdom biting the dust, Mind Game relives one of modern baseball’s greatest success stories while revolutionizing the fan’s understanding of how baseball games are really won and lost. Created by Steven Goldman and the writers and analysts at Baseball Prospectus—the preeminent annual on the inside game of baseball, with 91,000 copies in print, and Web site, www.baseballprospectus.com, that receives 5 million hits a month—Mind Game explains why the unenlightened Twins gave up on David Ortiz; what led the Sox to understand Johnny Damon’s true value and give him the ideal place in the batting order; how Boston actually gained by having Keith Foulke as a closer vs. Mariano Rivera; and what would likely have happened if the Boston–A-Rod trade went through. (Hint: even worse for the Yankees.) And as the suspense ratchets up before the historic seven-game AL playoff, readers will never look at baseball the same way again, learning that leadoff hitters don’t need to be fast and RBIs are not the rocksolid barometer of an offensive player’s contribution. And all that stealing and bunting? Forget it! Just wait for a three-run homer.
As for the curse of the Bambino? Hogwash! The real curse behind Boston’s 86-year drought was its decades of bigoted, inept ownership and management. About the AuthorSteven Goldman is the creator of the long-running Pinstriped BibleYou Could Look It Up column for BaseballProspectus.com, a contributor to the Baseball Prospectus annual book, and the author of the biography Forging Genius: the Making of Casey Stengel. His work has also been seen in Yankees Magazine, the New York Sun, and Web sites too numerous to mention. Steven lives in New Jersey with his wife, Stefanie, daughter, Sarah, and, by the time you read this, a boy to be named later.Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts on Baseball Talent includes, among others, Gary Huckabay, the founder of Baseball Prospectus; Chris Kahrl, a sports editor who lives in Washington, D.C.; and Dave Pease, who roots for Ryan Klesko in San Diego. Together, the roster of Baseball Prospectus writers consult to 26 of the 30 major league baseball teams. Table of ContentsCONTENTS Acknowledgments vii A Comforting Note About Statistics x Introduction: A Brain Surgeon Walks Into a Bar xii Prologue xiv 1 The Banality of Incompetence, 1919–2002 1 Extra Innings: How Important Is a Team’s Best Player? The Noncurse of the Grey Eagle: A Case Study 14 2 Shopping for Winners, November 25, 2003 17 Extra Innings: Dan Duquette: Failed Epstein Prototype 30 3 The A-Rod Advantage, November–December 2003 35 4 Squeezing the Merchandise, March 7 and March 24, 2004 47 5 Varieties of Relief, April 8–9, 2004 63 Extra Innings: Calvin Schiraldi: Industrial-Strength Fluke 73 6 Walking, Wounded, April 16–18, 2004 77 7 Arms and the Man, April 25, 2004 85 8 “You Want Me to Hit Like a Little Bitch?” May 5, 2004 91 9 The Caveman Cleans Up, May 21, 2004 105 10 The Holy Gospel of On-Base Percentage, May 23, 2004 113 Extra Innings: On-Base-Percentage Scripture 120 11 A Streak of Insignificance, May 29–June 8, 2004 125 12 Nomar’s Spring and Regression to the Mean, June 9, 2004 141 13 Better Winning Through Chemistry, July 1–3, 2004 151 Extra Innings: The Fanning Fallacy 157 14 Brothers of the Mind Game, July 6–8, 2004 161 15 Basebrawl, July 24, 2004 169 Extra Innings: Draft-Wise but Career-Foolish 178 16 Nomargate, July 31, 2004 183 Extra Innings: Hail and Farewell to the Holy Trinity = 192 17 Invulnerable, August 16–September 11, 2004 197 Extra Innings: Bicoastal Blues? 202 18 Cracking the Rivera Code, September 17–19, 2004 209 19 Deconstructing Pedro, September 24–26, 2004 217 A Case Study: Pedro, Without Qualification 218 Extra Innings: “Why Don’t We Just Wake Up the Bambino and I’ll Drill Him.” 228 20 Reframing History, October 5–8, 2004 231 21 Insult and Injury, October 16, 2004 241 22 The 510-Square-Inch War Zone, October 17–18, 2004 249 23 Beat the Devil, October 19–20, 2004 261 24 The Substance of Style, October 23–27, 2004 269 25 Beat the Yankees, Be the Yankees, October 28, 2004 277 Epilogue 285 Appendix I: Yawkey and Post-Yawkey Red Sox General Managers 291 Appendix II: The Complete List of Baseball Brawls from Stengel and Weinart to A-Rod and Varitek 293 Appendix III: Glossary and Statistical Leaders 300 Notes 335 About the Authors 343 Index 347 What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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