Transmogrified Tiger

The have been stable because they've won. And Hendry/ baker have a .525 record which is 25 games over on the winning side. 25 games over .500 over 3 years is 85-77. That's not good enough to get you into the playoffs(1991 is the last year anyone in the top 4 of the league had a record that poor). Also, let's not forget we were several games below .500 last year, had a poor offseason and failed to address the problems that led to our poor year last year.

Not cool dude. I'm not an admin but please try and keep this is a family forum. I'm just asking nicely. It's a reference to Caddyshack. I'll change it if it bugs you.

no way in hell that's true. Last year he struck out: 17 times in 59 major league at bats 93 times in 378 AAA at bats

I only played high school ball, but our coach always told us with the bases loaded, "first one's the best one". No one wants to fall behind with nowhere to put the hitter. I understand what you're saying, but I challenge you to keep count of the first pitch swings when the pitcher is in a jam, and count if it would've been a ball or a strike had they not swung. Tonight, I saw Lieberthal swing at an Izzy first pitch, with the bases loaded in the ninth, breaking pitch that was 4-6 inches off the plate. Closers generally won't give in to you, but I was taught that falling behind (from a pitcher's standpoint) 1-0 isn't that bad, especially if you have a good "out" pitch. If I'm a pitcher, I'm not going to get beat with on a 0-0 count by throwing a hitter's pitch. I understand what you're saying, I saw that Lieberthal AB too. Our coach also told us to look fastball before 2 strikes, and not to swing at breaking pitches until then as well.

I only played high school ball, but our coach always told us with the bases loaded, "first one's the best one". No one wants to fall behind with nowhere to put the hitter.

That seems like an arbitrary distinction.

If Schumaker hits a HR, and Molina picks up Pujols getting thrown out the plate, then it's only right for Howard to hit a ball about 800 feet.

nt

As long as you can admit it.... I heard the Cardinals hate freedom, and the Spanish American War Hero leads that charge.

Lightweight.

Go me

I have the slightest of leads over Vance. Only Raw has bested my .438 OBP this week.

umm, isn't he still playing shortstop? I don't know if he ever played anywhere else, at the major league level or otherwise, but there was definitely speculation of him moving to another position.

O B P

Can't you please rewrite this in English? there you go

Never stopped moving toward home? Hey stopped, and made a feint move back to 3rd, which I'm guessing is when Ronny looked over. Oh well, like most little things like this, it had no repercussion on the game itself. I only saw the replay once but I swear Freel did not move an inch back toward 3rd. He took several steps, had Ronny thrown to third Freel would've been safe at third.

An overreaction can't be something I've said for the past 3 seasons. I find it a little hard to understand how people can actually defend his Defensive abilities. Seriously. Do you actually watch the games? Amazing. Like I said, very good hitter but c'mon he is a TERRIBLE Catcher. This garbage is nothing new here. SO again, let's all just agree as a whole and move onto another topic we can easily disagree on and LEGITAMTELY debate, for example whether or not it's impossible for a team to win the Division with Jones hitting 5th in the order. Hey, I don't like his defense/game calling either, but he's the best we have. You don't want to see Blanco or Soto starting, do you? No, just for everyone on here who have defended his atrocious Catching abilities and actually think he's good behind the plate to swollow their pride (or pull their heads out of the as$es) and admit he is not only not good, he's plainly terrible. Have you been talking to the guy who says Cedeno is plainly Crap. You guys should meet. No that wouldn't be me. I wanted Cedeno to start and get a chance for the last year but nice try by avoiding topic again. Another person who can't actually defend this clown and has to generalize and say something really ridiculous and by trying to lump me in on another completely different topic. Absurd. This is actually quite amusing. Are people defending him cuz he's a Cub? Just curious? It is alright to be realistic about a player on your favorite team, you do know that right? First of all, he wasn't saying that guy was you, read the post again. Second, do you remember that day Barrett threw out a bunch of runners in one game? I do, yet it's not why I don't think he's terrible. Thirdly, no one is saying Barrett is a gold glove caliber catcher. We're just saying he's not the abomination you're making him out to be. When the difference is marginal like that and you are talking about fielding, which doesn't have near the conclusive data to support an opinion like hitting or pitching, it's impossible for anyone to make conclusive statements like the one you made at the beginning of this thread.

An overreaction can't be something I've said for the past 3 seasons. I find it a little hard to understand how people can actually defend his Defensive abilities. Seriously. Do you actually watch the games? Amazing. Like I said, very good hitter but c'mon he is a TERRIBLE Catcher. This garbage is nothing new here. SO again, let's all just agree as a whole and move onto another topic we can easily disagree on and LEGITAMTELY debate, for example whether or not it's impossible for a team to win the Division with Jones hitting 5th in the order. So this one game is the conclusive evidence that wins the debate?

Let's think about things for a second. Watching the games, when do you notice a catcher's defense? When he's doing his job, or when he screws up? Even more so than other defensive positions and much like relief pitchers, we notice mistakes a trillion fold more than when they do their job.

Joe Sheehan has a voice made for writing.

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

What more do you want him to do? The replay showed Freel wasn't more than a couple steps away from the base, and had to move back to get there. Ronny's throw was a bullet too. He had all day. He barely peaked over there before unloading. That's what more I'd want. Ideally you'd hold onto it for another second on a sharp hop like that, but if you look over and see him right near the bag, I can't fault him for turning and firing to first.

Because Lee's throw was well short of the plate. What?! Barrett played the short hop, and he was in front of the plate on the first base line. you position yourself to block the plate, not for a hypothetical throw in the dirt. Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do, I'm just trying to give a reason why he moved away from the plate.

Because Lee's throw was well short of the plate. What?! Barrett played the short hop, and he was in front of the plate on the first base line.

What more do you want him to do? The replay showed Freel wasn't more than a couple steps away from the base, and had to move back to get there. Ronny's throw was a bullet too.