Here's Friday's Saber-Links:
Dan Brooks and Daniel Mack have released a way to visualize the order in which pitchers throw pitches: Baseball Prospectus | Baseball Prospectus News: Introducing Pitch Sequence Visualizations. I saw Mack's presentation of this at the Saber Seminar, and it was really interesting, but I'll be the first to admit I don't understand it completely. Here's Tom Tango's brief thoughts on it: THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball.
To continue with the Saber Seminar theme, another presenter, Graham Tyler, proposes a theory about the Orioles' bullpen and their negative run differential: Leveraging the Orioles Bullpen | FanGraphs Baseball
The theory is that an inconsistent rotation and streaky offense put the O’s in a disproportionate number of low leverage situations and preserving the best relievers hurts run differential in these games, while allowing the team to consistently use its best arms in close games
Bruce Markusen of The Hardball Times gives us a great article on the original "Billy Ball": Cooperstown Confidential: the original Billy Ball--THT
Instead, the buzzword was "Billy Ball," a tribute to the high-flying, aggressive, take-your-chances style of play mandated by manager Billy Martin. It was a time of green lights on the base paths, double steals, and complete games—lots and lots of complete games.
Enjoy the weekend, folks!