David

We don't have ol' Dusty hanging around to screw everything up this time, though.

Because momentum isn't real. It's just a word people use to define the moment. I'll buy that. What I don't buy is it's real with other sports, but not with baseball. I've been checking out case studies on the web and to some extent it's real, but the studies always come up inconclusive or not enough evidence. Do you not at all buy the argument that, if you choose define momentum as something that inspires or "pumps up" players (that's the only way I can see momentum being looked at as something remotely tangible), allowing them to play at a higher level, it is something that can be helpful in a game like, say, football or basketball, but not so much in baseball? I see some validity to it. If a player's adrenaline is pumping in football (it damn well better be) or basketball, the players can run faster, hit harder, jump higher, etc. In baseball, being pumped up doesn't seem like it would help a player much. It can cause a pitcher to overthrow and leave balls up. It can cause hitters to try to swing harder than they normally would (usually not a good thing) and swing at pitches that they normally wouldn't. To me, it's pretty obvious that those other sports are more conducive to the idea of something like momentum than baseball. There are too many variables, and there's too much finesse to the game in comparison to the others. Wouldn't that be adrenaline? This is how I would define Momentum in sports: Couldn't this definition of Momentum in sports be applied to all sports? Being "pumped up" applies to all of these things (the bolded). It could also be negative, one bad play snowballing into another, etc. I'd tend to say there's more validity to the idea that negative momentum exists in baseball than positive. A player can easily cause negative outcomes to happen in baseball without the assistance of other variables. i.e. it's a lot easier to see a player going up to the plate pissed off, going through the motions, and striking out than it would be to imagine that he'd go up there and get a hit somehow as a result of his positive "momentum." So...maybe I buy the idea of negative momentum, to some extent. But I can't really see positive momentum existing to a significant extent in baseball.

Because momentum isn't real. It's just a word people use to define the moment. I'll buy that. What I don't buy is it's real with other sports, but not with baseball. I've been checking out case studies on the web and to some extent it's real, but the studies always come up inconclusive or not enough evidence. Do you not at all buy the argument that, if you choose define momentum as something that inspires or "pumps up" players (that's the only way I can see momentum being looked at as something remotely tangible), allowing them to play at a higher level, it is something that can be helpful in a game like, say, football or basketball, but not so much in baseball? I see some validity to it. If a player's adrenaline is pumping in football (it damn well better be) or basketball, the players can run faster, hit harder, jump higher, etc. In baseball, being pumped up doesn't seem like it would help a player much. It can cause a pitcher to overthrow and leave balls up. It can cause hitters to try to swing harder than they normally would (usually not a good thing) and swing at pitches that they normally wouldn't. To me, it's pretty obvious that those other sports are more conducive to the idea of something like momentum than baseball. There are too many variables, and there's too much finesse to the game in comparison to the others.

Just read your sig. Come on, now.

Wow...when I heard about the Dunn injury I never put 2 + 2 together and realized how this affected the Cubs. No Griffey and no Dunn in the Reds lineup. :shock: I'd say we're in good shape for that series.

So you say I'm being ridiculous for saying that momentum could exist in other sports including baseball and then you state that momentum exist to "some degree" in baseball, but is "pretty minimal" to the point of being negible with no evidence nor explanation. Talk about calling the kettle black. Do me a favor ask a baseball player if he believes in momentum and see what he says. Baseball players believe a lot of things to be true that aren't. Most of them aren't the smartest guys on earth. Ask a baseball player if a corked bat is helpful. Ask certain baseball players if sliding into first base is a good idea. Etc. some of them wear the same pair of unwashed underwear every game -- there you have it Yep. Oh, and THERE'S THAT AV!

So you say I'm being ridiculous for saying that momentum could exist in other sports including baseball and then you state that momentum exist to "some degree" in baseball, but is "pretty minimal" to the point of being negible with no evidence nor explanation. Talk about calling the kettle black. Do me a favor ask a baseball player if he believes in momentum and see what he says. Baseball players believe a lot of things to be true that aren't. Most of them aren't the smartest guys on earth. Ask a baseball player if a corked bat is helpful. Ask certain baseball players if sliding into first base is a good idea. Etc.

Tell me why it exists in Football and Basketball and not Baseball? Because football and basketball are sports where physical exertion is a major component of success. Baseball is a sport where extra physical exertion gives you little. In fact, it's probably counterproductive. Added strength or determination probably would hurt a baseball player more than it would help.

What would you call it if he came up and struck out? A typical at bat for him. Obviously the player isn't going to hit a HR every time. He's human. But I don't see how, in that scenario, you can't see how momentum can be a factor. Bottom line... baseball players are human. People are affected by momentum. As a result, so are baseball players. I still find it funny that some people believe mometum is possible in basketball and not baseball. It's stupid. I find it funny that you see some sort of connection between basketball and baseball. Not all sports are the same. Is there momentum in anything that is some sort of competitive activity? YES! Of course there is! Why not! You can't pick and choose what sports use momentum and what don't. What? Baseball is a completely different game from football or basketball. You don't see how the nature of one game, its rules, the skills it employs, etc. can make it more or less amenable to any possible effects of momentum? This isn't black and white. It isn't, "All sports have it," or "No sports do."

What would you call it if he came up and struck out? A typical at bat for him. Obviously the player isn't going to hit a HR every time. He's human. But I don't see how, in that scenario, you can't see how momentum can be a factor. Bottom line... baseball players are human. People are affected by momentum. As a result, so are baseball players. I still find it funny that some people believe mometum is possible in basketball and not baseball. It's stupid. It's really not.

Took it really deep... not deep enough.

I just saw the ump say "[expletive]."

This ump is a freaking piece of crap. I wish I could call him worse on here.

DeRO had a legit gripe there.

God DAMN just missed a double.

I really need to add just how on the money I feel SSR has been in this thread.

MONROE!!!!

Lacey Chabert... there's actually a thread about my av in Social which wound up being a Lacey pic thread...

Jeez...these line drives keep hanging up there too long.

Save the laughs for the Cubs... Yea, they've been really ridiculously bad lately, huh? Yep, won 11 out of the last 14 or whatever it is, but man, they're terrible. iknorite?

because they are playing beyond terrible. 3 baserunners, impatient hitting against a pitcher with a 1.60+ WHIP this season. Teams usually play pretty terribly in a good amount of the games they lose. It's the nature of baseball.

Save the laughs for the Cubs... Yea, they've been really ridiculously bad lately, huh?

Why do people have such a hard time accepting losses? Plenty of them come in an 162 game schedule, for both great and terrible teams.

Jeez... the sky is falling stuff is insane in here. Even if the UNTHINKABLE happens and both these games go Milwaukee's way, the Cubs will have a 2 game lead with 5 to play. Um, yea.. I'll take that.

If you get TBS, you'll get the Cubs.