Sunday, May 15, 2011
Top games of the week: May 8 to May 14
Posted by Max MarchiWelcome to the sixth installment of Top games of the week.
Last week one reader asked that I include the scores, so the games are easier to remember; or at least link to the box score.
I'm going with the latter. I can imagine (and that's exactly what I had in mind when I began working on this feature) someone having a few spare hours and wanting to watch a good ballgame. I'm pretty sure not knowing/remembering how the contest turned out would only increase the experience.
So here they are:
date game stars 05-12 Mariners @ Orioles *** box score 05-09 Twins @ Red Sox ** box score 05-13 Marlins @ Nationals ** box score 05-10 Mariners @ Orioles ** box score 05-11 Royals @ Yankees * box score
If you were in the Baltimore/Washington area you had the chance to witness three of this week's top five games. The May 12 game ranks seventh for the season, the least among three-stars contests.
After creating a baseball rendition of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper cover, Max began his baseball writing because he needed an excuse to show the picture. He wrote for an Italian audience for six years before making the jump to The Hardball Times. You can contact him by e-mail.
Hi Max, glad to see you’re posting these rankings. If you’re looking to rank games in the MLB.TV archives, I find the entertainment value is higher if you add two extra variables—time and attendance.
The shorter the game, the better the “pace”. Low-scoring extra-inning games tend to score highly in the “tension” rankings, but if they last four hours they aren’t quite as fun to watch.
Also, a well-attended game tends to be more atmospheric, and later in the season, it’s more likely it has pennant-race implications.