Remember, when this is over, that you invited this response. -------- -In 2007, the league average for SB attempts in the NL was 130. -In 2007, the Chicago Cubs attempted to steal a base 119 times. Not a huge difference, but clearly below league average. Now, one could assume that the amount of sb a team attempts is largely a function of how fast their players run. But don't fall in this trap, lest you want to get laughed at by Dusty Baker-managed baseball teams. You see, a team can attempt to steal a lot of bases because they have some players who are specifically good at it. Hello New York Metropolitans. Other teams can attempt to steal lots of bases because they think, in general, that it is a good thing to try to do a lot. Some teams do this even though they are obviously bad at it. There's Dusty again. Now, you may also notice that the success rate of stealing bases by the Chicago Cubs (72%), like their amount of attempts, is below league average (74%). Me, the method actor that I am, decided that in order to fulfill my facade of false-intelligence, put on my thinking cap. I thought to myself, "what could these two sets of numbers possibly have to do with each other?" Accidentally, I came up with the conclusion that one informs the other. I was like, "maybe, that rascal Lou realizes that his team isn't very good at one thing, so he's instructing his team to do that thing less". I know, a stretch considering his lack of success as a baseball manager. Then, in what was almost a blinding explosion of rational, sensible thought on my part, I thought of something else: Lou Piniella was born in 1943. I see that you have trouble processing information so I'll put it bluntly: he's old. When I think about old people, my first thought is most definitely not "jesus, I wish those old geezers would just make up their mind and stick to it instead of waffling all the GD time." So, if Lou Piniella has shown himself willing to "manage" the amount of times his team does something based on its relative success rate, and sans any traumatic head injuries over the off-season, I'm thinking maybe he's going to stick to that. Yes, regardless of what he says to some dumb stiff. -------- Now, back to the guy from Wisconsin's Cleveland. You're very clearly trolling my posts, not out of something I say specifically (which I actually wouldn't mind, it's flattering), but just because you don't like "me". "blah blah blah you're an arrogant jerk stop pointing out how dumb some of the things people say on here are blah blah blah." Great, I've heard it. But unless you'd actually like to consider contributing something of value, I suggest you keep your mouth shut (keyboard... less typed...) to avoid one of these dust-ups again.