Rob

He had a nice game yesterday when he got the start. So why does he forget to how to hit when he comes off the bench? And what about the starts where he's done nothing? I understand he's in a crappy spot, but hey, these are supposed to be pros...if it's "mental," suck it up. Frank Thomas said it took him years to adjust from not playing in the field to just grabbing a bat and walking to the plate. If the "right-handed Ted Williams" has trouble with it, I can't imagine it would somehow be easier for Murton.

He had a nice game yesterday when he got the start.

I will say this yet again. With the wind the way it is in the summer time it may cause an effect like the altitude in Colorado. By building the team one way, we may be causing ourselves problems another. I am saying it could be the ballpark which has been around since 1914. We have never won in it. So can you say looking into your crystal ball that is absolutely 100% not the ballpark, and the wind, and the elements in April or October? I cant say with even 75% certaintity that it is. And i dont really have to tell you about the lines around the foul area..say LCS game 6? Both teams play in the Field. Therefore, any advantages or disadvantages are shared by both the Cubs and their opponents. In regards to the historical record of futility in Wrigley, you're confusing result with causality. The Cubs don't suck because of Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field sucks because it is the Cubs who play in it. Exactly. Correlation != Causation That includes win totals and winning % for managers.

Another run! Can anybody tell I'm happy right now?

Nice bunt, Barrett!

Floyd looked a bit gimpy there... was it moreso than normal?

I don't believe it. He looked gone at first glance.

I don't think that was a hit and run with the jump Lee apparently had. Sounds like Aramis swung while DLee was stealing.

Woohoo!

Like the grand slam to put the game away last weekend?

Wow, shocked if it is. I hated her in 24. I actually rooted for the cougar to catch her. Absolutely! So did I. Why the hell was there a cougar in that episode anyway? To get our hopes up and summarily dash them? lol. Kim Bauer in season 2 = worst moments in 24 history. Remember her karate kickin' boyfriend? He's not kickin' no more.

Absolutely not, and not even for a moment did I consider it.

Wow, shocked if it is. I hated her in 24. I actually rooted for the cougar to catch her. Absolutely! So did I. Why the hell was there a cougar in that episode anyway? To get our hopes up and summarily dash them?

I think your mom hits too many fly balls. Nice post.... for a seven-year old. ... Your mom... for a seven-year old...? ?

Wow, shocked if it is. I hated her in 24. I actually rooted for the cougar to catch her.

I think your mom hits too many fly balls.

Given Marquis' groundball tendencies, it wasn't a horrible idea to leave him in there. I worry about letting him go out there next inning though.

Sweet, just in time for Futurama reruns.

This game could be rough.

C. Young. Expected. I can't think of any particularly bad Young's off the top of my head. Even Dmitri went 3-4 tonight, and Delmon and Chris B. are pretty special talents.

And his 874th career K.

:roll: :roll:

Howard also has hit a HR in about 36% of his major league flyballs... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Upton won't be able to do that. I'm also guessing that Upton may have a hard time sustaining his .451 BABIP. I'm not arguing that Upton = Howard. I'm arguing that a lot of strike outs don't necessarily mean much. The BABIP argument is a strong one that I do not debate. The strikeouts do mean something. If you are striking out that much, you have less opportunities to find a hole when you do make contact. Ryan Howard and other power hitters can get away with it by a lot of homeruns. Another way to get around it is to get on base alot via the base on balls. I'm too lazy to look up his stats but I dont recall him walking a lot. Upton walks quite a bit, actually. I've decided to try and trade Upton for value on my pitching staff and to grab Kendrick off the waiver wire.l

He's batting .239/.316/.306

And Lou ran Fassero out there 24 times to start a ballgame. Doesn't that speak to some sort of fundamental flaw with Lou? At any rate, if you want to chalk up the 37 game swing to pitching and (in particular, the bullpen) I'll allow it. Looking at the difference between our bullpen now and their bullpen there, we have a huge advantage in pitching talent, and we aren't getting much from them. Lou has been leveraging them all wrong, and if you want proof, check out the bullpens' Fair RA vs. their WXRL in comparison to other teams. Lou has shown a complete inability to know who to bring in and when, and this isn't merely hindsight bias. I could pull out a few more dozen examples of flaws on the part of the BBWAA... including the last few MVPs in both leagues. Bottom line, it's not once or twice the BBWAA has screwed up, and I'm more inclined to believe that Lou and Dusty getting their awards is more a function of breakout years from their guys (aka Jim Frey and Don Zimmer's awards in 84 and 89) than from exceptional tactical usage... which would be par for the course from the BBWAA, just another screwup. BTW, I find your last line about Dusty real interesting. I agree with it. It did take some talent... from his players. I've always been of the mind that it's real hard for a manager to win any ballgames, but real easy for him to lose them. Dusty was just lucky he had Barry Bonds' talent to cover for his mistakes. This is silly. 3 decades in the game and they dont know the mechanics. :roll: You seem to have missed my point. Would you feel comfortable flying on a jetliner that a pilot of thirty years with absolutely no other formal training designed and built himself? Just as there's a difference between understanding how to fly a plane, how to design one, and how to build one; there is a difference between understanding how to play the game and intimately understanding how everything interacts with each other to maximize return by exploiting the probabilities inherent in certain states of the game. Ideally, I'd love to have a manager with experience playing the game as he can help to motivate and fix fundamental flaws in the players... but that last part can be handled by the coaches... so all Lou really brings to the table with his experience is his ability to motivate properly, an important aspect of course, but he completely lacks the ability to use tactics in a beneficial manner. I don't mean this to sound rude, but I do know the numbers. I checked the out extensively when Lou was hired. He's managed some pretty talented teams though. And again, I feel that it's real hard for a manager to win his team any games, but real easy for him to lose them. Looking at the tactics he's employed, he is hurting his teams in this regard over the course of his career. The natural talent level has been higher than the results. Perhaps I've set the bar too high, but there were better options available than Lou Piniella. Girardi would have been a better choice, as would have been digging Larry Dierker up from the grave. By far the best choice would have been Fredi Gonzalez, though. Anybody who had spent their professional career under the tutelage of Bobby Cox who reads the works of Bill James has a very bright career coming. Yeah, not gonna debate this whole mess is Hendry's fault for his inability to recognize "proven veteran" players were not inherently more useful than young players... just as it's his fault for not recognizing that "proven veteran managers" doesn't mean they're anything more than the managing equivalent of Todd Hollandsworth or Juan Pierre... acceptible stopgaps so long as they don't cost much and are easily discarded once something actually useful comes along.