Soriano=Back in Business and AINT IT GRAND!!

[JonJayCutler]

Think of it this way, if that walk-off slam was to win the WS, would we be complaining about his 0-5 with three strikeouts? Sure he struggled until that last AB, but he could have easily hit one of those famous Soriano pop-ups followed by a Fox GIDP. Even bases loaded no outs is not a gaurantee to score, especially with the Cubs. Of course Soriano's slam didn't win us the WS, but it kept us in first place, and every game is important in a close division race.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

From a purely sabermetric point of view, he had a .166 OBP and a .667 SLG for the game. Borderline productive.

 

The timing of the hit was beyond his control, so to speak.

 

 

I'm gonna have to disagree with what the raw OPS would suggest on this one... a guy hitting a HR every 6 AB would have to be more than borderline productive :shock:

 

Yeah, I oversimpilified.

 

 

A home run is worth, on average, about 1.5 runs, iirc? That's 0.30 runs per out.

 

The average NL team scores about 0.17 runs per out.

 

So Soriano's performance was about .65 runs better than average for the game, which is not at all borderline.

[CliftonHanger]

Soriano's defense, baserunning, and general IQ are a very underrated aspect of his game. :amen:

 

 

Lol, Soriano is the Forrest Gump of baseball.

 

 

I don't get all the venom towards him this morning on the sports radio I'm listening to. Yes he was having a bad game, everybody does. He played his typical sub par defense and looked lost at the plate. He was the only guy who came thru with a huge hit last night, tip your cap and celebrate it.

 

I think the animosity is due to his " safety dance " :rotfl: around the bases.

 

It was a huge hit, though.

We can dance if we want to

We can leave your friends behind

'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance

Well they're no friends of mine

I say, we can go where we want to

A place where they will never find

And we can act like we come from out of this world

Leave the real one far behind

And we can dance

 

I just searched for that video. And its Hilarious.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcOZ6xFxJqg&feature=player_embedded

Edited July 28, 2009 by CliftonHanger

[Guest]

Think of it this way, if that walk-off slam was to win the WS, would we be complaining about his 0-5 with three strikeouts? Sure he struggled until that last AB, but he could have easily hit one of those famous Soriano pop-ups followed by a Fox GIDP. Even bases loaded no outs is not a gaurantee to score, especially with the Cubs. Of course Soriano's slam didn't win us the WS, but it kept us in first place, and every game is important in a close division race.

It's great that he drove in the winning run. I'm happy for him and for me and for the Cubs. If he would have hit a SF in the 4th inning to make it 2-1 it still would have been great. It doesn't change the fact that he's been terrible this year. My entire point is that IMO people are complaining about him celebrating (wrongly) more because he's been terrible this year and no so much for the celebration. The celebration is just a pretext.

[sneakypower]

soriano had a -20% WPA yesterday, fwiw

[Banedon]

Isn't it a complete misuse of sabremetrics to analyze a single game 6 AB outing? Isn't the whole point of sabermetrics to be predictive, and analyze trends? Using it on such an obviously small sample size seems to be completely meaningless.

[Prizefight]

My entire point is that IMO people are complaining about him celebrating (wrongly) more because he's been terrible this year and no so much for the celebration. The celebration is just a pretext.

 

 

I agree. I think the attitude is that you shouldn't be celebrating when you've been performing like a AA talent player for 3 months and killing our lineup.

 

But /shrug It was a huge hit, kept us in first and he celebrated like any of us would had we just done that. I think sometimes with how much these guys get paid and all the pressure/expectations on them we forget that the vast majority started playing baseball for the love of the game and it's okay to have some moments of childhood jubilence

Edited July 28, 2009 by Prizefight

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Isn't it a complete misuse of sabremetrics to analyze a single game 6 AB outing? Isn't the whole point of sabermetrics to be predictive, and analyze trends? Using it on such an obviously small sample size seems to be completely meaningless.

 

Sabermetrics is the study of baseball in a scientific way. There are generally two areas in which it excels: Prediction and value-assignment.

 

Six at-bats is useless to a sabermetric prediction, but there's no reason we can't assign a value to the performance using sabermetric principles.

[Guest]

I hope he does get plunked today. It's hard scoring runs on Oswalt. Take what you can get. And hey, maybe Soriano was thinking ahead when he circled the bases the way he did. :D

[CubsnClippers_1]

I liked to see him do his lil dance out there. It shows heart and team spirit and winning atittude, and thats what this team needs.

[C.C.]

Valverde cancels out any "hot dogging" any opposing team does.

[abuck1220]

 

I'm not sure if your just being your dickish self but I'd love to see you try and defend Soriano's performance this year.

 

i'd like to see you defend garrett atkins' performance this year. check AND mate.

[imb]

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a47/madhops_42/cubsmonthlysoriano.jpg

[sneakypower]

shoulda got a trademark on it, Tomboy

[inari]

And here I thought only one person paid attention to my acronym. Outstanding.

[imb]

And here I thought only one person paid attention to my post.

 

International! He's from Mexico! Is an early favorite for Post of the Year

[DiamondMind]

He's from Mexico!

 

:shock:

[NeifiIsMyHomeBoy]

And here I thought only one person paid attention to my post.

 

International! He's from Mexico! Is an early favorite for Post of the Year

 

Yeah that was easily the best part. That picture is great BTW

[javy knows my name]

S mashing those balls out of the park!

O h boy he's good!

R really looks good in Cubbie blue!

I nterational! He's from Mexico!

A proven winner

N ever gonna let you down

O utstanding! One of the best players in the game!

Um... He's not from Mexico. And what does interational mean?

Really, guy?

[David]

looooooooooooooooooool

[Soul]

You've got to get into the Soriano experience. The smile, the pointing at stuff, the incomprehensible interviews.

 

He's part baseball player, part alien.

[abuck1220]

a buddy told me that soriano should have shortened up and hit a fly ball and pretty much implied he was a bum for hitting a grand slam.

[inari]

S mashing those balls out of the park!

O h boy he's good!

R really looks good in Cubbie blue!

I nterational! He's from Mexico!

A proven winner

N ever gonna let you down

O utstanding! One of the best players in the game!

Um... He's not from Mexico. And what does interational mean?

 

Thank you for the correction of the typo, but I'm really quite certain Alfonso Soriano is from Mexico. Have you heard him speak? He definitely speaks Spanish.

[Roast]

S mashing those balls out of the park!

O h boy he's good!

R really looks good in Cubbie blue!

I nterational! He's from Mexico!

A proven winner

N ever gonna let you down

O utstanding! One of the best players in the game!

Um... He's not from Mexico. And what does interational mean?

 

Thank you for the correction of the typo, but I'm really quite certain Alfonso Soriano is from Mexico. Have you heard him speak? He definitely speaks Spanish.

I just wanted to say that your sig is awesome. Especially the little jig the guy does before he reaches third.

[David]

S mashing those balls out of the park!

O h boy he's good!

R really looks good in Cubbie blue!

I nterational! He's from Mexico!

A proven winner

N ever gonna let you down

O utstanding! One of the best players in the game!

Um... He's not from Mexico. And what does interational mean?

 

Thank you for the correction of the typo, but I'm really quite certain Alfonso Soriano is from Mexico. Have you heard him speak? He definitely speaks Spanish.

 

 

awesome