High & Inside: 6/18/11

Baseball links from around the sabersphere...

• The Movie Title Game | Baseball Prospectus
  Jason Collette matches movie titles with players` seasons as he discusses 2011`s best and worst.
• Performance by men on base / bases empty, by era, by pitcher role | The Book Blog
  

  In Runs Created terms, comparing runners on to bases empty: it’s 2% worse performance 1950-1968, 3% worse 1969-1992, 4% worse 1993-2010.

• Are teams smarter than they used to be? | ESPN SweetSpot Blog
  No.
• The Pedro Cerrano All-Stars | Fangraphs
  

  I found the batters (minimum 150 plate appearances) who have been at least one run above average per 100 fastballs seen while rating at least a half-run below average against both sliders and curveballs.

• Lack of Strikeouts Hurting Royal Pitchers | Royals Review
  

  Overall, the pitching staff is dead last in the AL in K/9, striking out just 5.67. This is nearly a strikeout a game below the AL average of 6.65.

More links after the jump...

• Hanley Ramirez and the 2011 season reboot | The Hardball Times
  Fresh off the DL with a new hitting coach, can he get his season back?
• Free Zack Cozart | Roto Hardball
  

  With the Reds currently sitting 2.0 games out in the competitive National League central, I'd be curious to learn why the organization is operating as if the league worst -.5 WAR Cincinnati shortstops have produced is not a key factor in the team being in third place instead of first.

• History: Coghlan vs. McCutchen 1.5 years later | Marlin Maniac
  Andrew McCutchen v. Chris Coghlan.
• Division-favorite Giants need to be creative | Bay City Ball
  

  As I see it, they have two options. The first is to actually start performing closer to their modus operandi: hit more home runs! I think Pablo Sandoval should help some, but I am less and less convinced they can actually pick it up much. The second is to find other ways to score runs, and I am not talking about bunting more and thus giving up more outs. I think the Giants give up enough outs when not trying to.

• Arizona Considers Wily Mo Pena Call-Up? | MLB Daily Dish
  

  In case you didn't notice, Wily Mo Pena has been absolutely tearing the ball up this year for Arizona's Triple-A affiliate. And according to this tweet from Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, "[Arizona is] considering promoting former Red Sox OF Wily Mo Pena for interleague play."