jaxxradio

You guys see a much different game than I do in the broadcast booth. I wish you guys could talk to the managers, coaches and scouts who make this game their career.. they would disagree with most of the stuff you guys have said..

I am speechless.. needless to say, there are 30 managers in the big leagues that don't share your opinion.

No, it's not a bad night.. not in the least.. especially if those runs score

let me give you an example.. if a guy goes 0-4 in a game but moves the runner to scoring position in three of his four AB's, is this a bad night? Of course not, but according to the numbers it is.

I'm not saying it's irrelevent, it's just not as big a stat as it is being made.. the lead-off guy needs to get on..less important the further down the line-up.

the "your people" was a joke.. if I offended anyone, I apologize.. OBP is good for the lead-off hitter, not important foranyone else..

It was a joke lighten up please

Jorgy told me they thought Nefi was better than Derek.. no lie

Mike Jorgenson isn't my imagination bro.. he was in the meetings and had to hear it.. don't accuse me of lying dude..

I'll be glad to give you the example.. during the St. Louis Cardinals meetings this past off-season, there were the real "baseball guys" in a meeting with the "baseball geeks". Nefi Perez name came up (there might have been a possible trade in the works involving him). The stat-geeks TOLD LaRussa and the scouts that Nefi would be a great pick-up because he was a BETTER player than Derek Jeter. Those are "your people" at their finest...

And these are the same stat geeks that think that Nefi Perez is a better ballplayer then Derek Jeter. They have no clue about what goes into their numbers. Give you an example. You guys don't care for Izturis because of his offense and some of you have said that Nefi is gooddefensively because he's won a gold glove. What you kids don't know is that Nefi doesn't go after half of the groundballs near him because his range sucks and when he ACTUALLY GETS to a ball, the only reason why is because he is PLAYING THERE. Numbers are great, but when the stat geeks have no clue when you ask them to go "inside the numbers" like the example I just gave you with Nefi.. I'll tell you this.. defense is a hell of alot more important than 20% up the middle.. try 40-50% if not more.

I would never sit here and say with a straight face that whatever sports announcers say is the absolute truth because I know that would be inaccurate. There are a ton of broadcasters (and maybe some of you think I am one of them) that don't have a clue what they are doing, but they sound good. As far as Bill James goes, the problem I have with he and the other stat geeks is that they go by numbers that can be skewered to make the worst baseball player look good. Is baseball a numbers driven game? Absolutely it is.. but more than that, it's a game where you don't need numbers to figure out how good a player is. All you have to do is watch him play. If you know anything about the game, you'll know without looking at numbers whether or not the guy is any good. I apologize for sounding pompous, arrogant or full of crap. I just have a real problem with opinions based solely on numbers.

How exactly do you go by numbers when judging a guy defensively? By his errors?? The amount of errors are a very small percentage of what makes a good player defensively. This is where stats are the single most over-rated thing in sports today. I don't need skewed numbers to see if a guy can field his position. I see it with my own eyes. I've seen Neifi Perez play short. His range isn't even close to Izturis range. I don't need numbers to see how great a player is defensively. OBP.. there is another statistic that is fantasy-baseball induced. The only time I look at a guys OBP is if he is the lead-off hitter. That stat is worthless for everybody else. What is the number two guys job?? Move the lead-off guy to scoring position by bunting or hitting behind the runner. What's the meat of the order's responsibility? Drive in runs by whatever means necessary. Interesting how you bring up the Red Sox in 2004. Did you actually watch the playoffs or are you reading the "informative" stats? The Red-Sox came from 3-0 down in the ALCS because there pitching staff SHUTDOWN the vaunted Yankees offense. They won the World Series because they SHUTDOWN the Cardinals and made Albert Pujols look like a .190 Double-A hitter. They also won becuase they played solid defense IN THAT STRETCH OF GAMES. I don't mean to bag on you, but I get so tired of hearing stats that don't mean a freakin' thing.

We agree to disagree I guess. Having been an Indians fan my whole life, I know first hand how much a great offense can get carved up by great pitching in the playoffs (the '95 and '97 World Series comes to mind). In baseball, great pitching beats great hitting everytime plain and simple. One of the ways to make a good pitching staff great is to have great defense in the place that is needed the most, the middle. IMO, if you have Barrett, Cedeno, Izturis and Pierre up the middle with Lee at first base and his ability to pick out low throws, the Cubs would have a GREAT defense that would make their average to good pitching staff borderline spectacular. As far as the offense goes in the outfield. I am so sick of people whining about Murton's lack of power. I know you weren't, but I need to vent. This kid will hit you .300 with 10-15 homers a year with adequate defense. Let the kid play everyday for crying' out loud. Pierre is not as bad as the player you folks saw in April. The guy your seeing right now is the Juan Pierre that I remember. As far as Jones goes, he can't hit lefties, but the guy is still hitting .280 (or somewhere around there) with 20 jacks. Is he the long-term answer? No because of the whole lefty thing Having said that, I like him becuase he works hard and doesn't loaf like A-Ram.

Nefi Perez isn't on the same planet let alone the same ballfield with Izturis defensively and most of Cedeno's errors came on throwing errors, telling me he won't be an adequate defensive shortstop, but a phenominal defensive second baseman once he gets used to the position. As far as the offense goes, Izturis doesn't have that bad of a bat. Life-time .260 hitter who can win multiple gold gloves?? I'll take that in a second. You guys need to remember this about baseball. Offense alone won't win you championships. You must have solid pitching as well as solid defense up the middle. That's why I absolutely love this trade. You get a gold glove SS and you can move Cedeno to second where, with his range, he will win multiple gold gloves before it's all said and done. Those guys alone are going to save the pitching staff a boat load of un-earned runs. Sure, you might suffer offensively, but the amount of runs that middle defense saves during the course of the season will be more than enough to make up for their offensive problems. BTW, when the Cardinals won the 1982 World Series, how did they do it? They were LAST in the majors in homers and near the bottom in offense. They won with pitching and AMAZING defense.

Izturis?? You refuse to acknowledge Izturis?? Dang, that's cold.. he's one of the three best defensive SS in the game. Move Cedeno to second, resign Pierre and Barrett and you have one of the best middle defenses in the game.

Diamond Jaxx get a walk-off homer by Scott Moore to win 6-5. They are within five of Tennessee with fifteen games left. The Smokies begin a ten game road-trip tomorrow in the booming metropolis of Zebulon..

GUILTY!!! lol Nobody has replaced E-Patt for now.. that might change if Daytona keeps losing though.

You guys would have known that if you just listened to my broadcast.. lol

There is nobody by the name of Brian Reith on the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. He might have gone to Iowa.

Unfortunately every Friday..three games lost in all.. unless the Diamond Jaxx get on a hot streak to end all hot streaks and sneak into post-season.

Just a reminder, we will not be carrying the game on the radio tonight thanks to HS football. We will have Saturday's game.

Thanks for the love Raisin..lol

No.. it's all about player development at this stage.. what I will disagree about though is the way pitchers, specifically starters, are handled these days. There are two reasons why starting pitchers are often under-going elbow injuries these days: 1) They threw too many curveballs when they were kids No child, boy or whatever you want to call a youngster should ever be allowed to throw a curveball. I would go as far as to say that there should be a rule OUTLAWING that pitch until the child, boy, youngster becomes a man (eighteen minimum). Fans, little league "coaches" and anyone else not familiar with that pitch have no clue how much damage it does to the elbow, especially when the player throwing it hasn't fully developed his muscles. 2) They don't throw enough in between starts Call me "old-school" (heck, just call me Blue..) but the birth of the five man rotation was the beginning of the elbow problems in baseball. There is simply too much inactivity when it comes to throwing the baseball. Stopping and starting in terms of throwing the baseball is not good for the elbow. When guys were throwing every fourth day, 200 innings was no big deal and they didn't blow out there elbows because they were consistently throwing the baseball. I'll leave you with this food for thought.. Can you think of five Latin-American pitchers who have had major elbow surgery?? I can't.. and that's because they throw the ball all the time down there..

Just goes to show...yet again...nobody cares about championships in the minor leagues, only championships in the show. It's not about wins and losses in the business of the minors, it's about player development.