David

It's a joke because a lot of critics of "Moneyball" most notably Joe Morgan, can't seem to realize that Beane didn't write Moneyball and criticize him for writing a book about himself (which he didn't) But seriously...what was Beane thinking writing a book about himself? He should be out there, uh, GMing or something... :wink:

And everyone was trying to make them look stupid for keeping Zito of the "Big 3".... looks like he still has it. Haren is also pretty awesome. Just thought I'd point out, Harden is awesome. He isn't the guy that they got from the Cardinals for Mulder. Haren is a pretty good pitcher, not awesome, IMHO, though. He's the guy they got for Mulder. I've just noticed people hearing about how much success Harden has been having later and thinking that Harden is who they got from the Cardinals. IIRC, Harden is actually a pitcher that came up through their system and has been in the majors a couple of years. I know the difference, I like Haren which is why said he's pretty awesome. Not necessarily based on his skills, but he is still a pretty good pitcher. That's cool. Even so, just clearing it up for everyone else. I've seen a ton of people who really believe that this guy who almost threw a perfect game and almost pitched back to back shutouts then next time out is the guy they got from St.L... so I just thought I'd clear it up. Not a dig at you, by any means...

Billy Beane wrote a book about himself?

And everyone was trying to make them look stupid for keeping Zito of the "Big 3".... looks like he still has it. Haren is also pretty awesome. Just thought I'd point out, Harden is awesome. He isn't the guy that they got from the Cardinals for Mulder. Haren is a pretty good pitcher, not awesome, IMHO, though. He's the guy they got for Mulder. I've just noticed people hearing about how much success Harden has been having lately and thinking that Harden is who they got from the Cardinals. IIRC, Harden is actually a pitcher that came up through their system and has been in the majors a couple of years. EDIT - for a typo

BK actually did a study on this and found that small ball teams don't really score runs more consistently than long ball teams. He just found that they tend to score fewer runs. I love it... :D :lol:

:shock: Sure, it's not a huge sample size, but i didn't realize JHJr. was struggling that bad over the past month.. Interesting, Hoops...

I look at it this way: No matter how good a pitcher is, he simply cannot win a ball game by himself. All he can do is hold the other team down as best as he can and hope his offense can win the game. Many good pitchers win relatively few games because their team sucks, and many mediocre pitchers win a lot of games because their team has a powerhouse offense. Any pitchers win-loss record must be viewed in the context of their teams quality. Wins are totally a team stat, and a pitchers win total is simply the most overrated stat in baseball. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Why Carlos Lee? He's nothing special outside his RBI totals. I'd prefer every guy on that list to him. Maybe b/c he'll hit for around a .290 avg, hit about 35 HR and drive in around 120+ RBI..... nothing special eh? I'd rather have Lee than any of those guys actually The same Carlos Lee that's hitting .261? HR totals don't matter to me a ton, and RBI mean little to nothing to me. His lower OBP (albeit with a high SLG) diminishes his production. All 4 of those other guys create more runs than Lee. This thinking is getting out of control. How can Rbi's and Hr's mean nothing. Some of you guys like to talk about runs created, and I have no idea how all that stuff works. What I do know is that the best way to create a run is to hit a homerun. I'll also take a guy with a 150 rbi over a guy with a 150 walks. Agreed . A lot of peolpe on this board are on the verge of ODing on the stats only the arm chair gm's care about. Amen on that one. I'm getting tired of reading about some obscure stats as to why Adam Dunn is the second coming of Babe Ruth, when all I see is a Dave Kingman who walks a lot. Also, all of the people who discount W/L as an important statistic for a starting pitcher. The object is to win games. I would take my chances on trading for Kearns (at a lesser price) than Dunn anyday of the week. So did Shawn Estes have a better season than Randy Johnson last year? (Yes, this is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point very well.. and YES, I did have someone answer affirmatively to this in an argument last year :shock: )

IBL

yeah right he had all offseason to fix the bullpen, that worked out well didn't it? He will do like he always does and wait until the deadline. Again it will be too late. How was he too late in 2003? He didn't even wait until the deadline. And in 2004 it was too late? I'm sorry, but we lost because of what happened in the last 10 days (or so). Not because Hendry waited 10 days (??) too long to make a trade. Sorry, but I disagree Hendry did not look for that closer until the wiavers were enabled and of course a team blocked us. If we got Mesa or somebody else before the waivers chances are we would not have to rely on Hawkins and probably make it to the playoffs. See, if you ask me, we lost the wild card lead in the last week to ten days because our offense was worn out and couldn't score against some of the worst pitching staffs in the league. Everyone slumped at the same time. Hawkins's blown saves were just a byproduct. And yes, I realize that without a bunch of our blown saves, we would have also won the wild card last year.. but as Tim and several others here in the past have pointed out, Hawkins wasn't really as bad last year in the closer role as everyone would like to think.

yeah right he had all offseason to fix the bullpen, that worked out well didn't it? He will do like he always does and wait until the deadline. Again it will be too late. How was he too late in 2003? He didn't even wait until the deadline. And in 2004 it was too late? I'm sorry, but we lost because of what happened in the last 10 days (or so). Not because Hendry waited 10 days (??) too long to make a trade. The Reds are a bad team b/c of their pitching, not their offense, which is one of the best offenses the Cubs will face this year. Is this directed at my post? And if so, how?

yeah right he had all offseason to fix the bullpen, that worked out well didn't it? He will do like he always does and wait until the deadline. Again it will be too late. How was he too late in 2003? He didn't even wait until the deadline. And in 2004 it was too late? I'm sorry, but we lost because of what happened in the last 10 days (or so). Not because Hendry waited 10 days (??) too long to make a trade.

EDIT - The third post in the triple post trilogy

EDIT - crap, triple post (not the offense)

It isn't just one game. a win here would have sent us into St Louis on a serious role. Now we split with crappy ass Cinncy, you know the same team the Astros just swept in Cinn or one of the teams that beat us out of the playoffs last year in the same type situations. The fact remains this will continue to happen with the clown we have managing our team and bullpen. I'm sorry, but to me, one game (or two) doesn't mean the difference between serious roll and struggling. The offense has continued to do well, and as long as that's happening, our starting pitching will get us wins. Our bullpen sucks. We know that, and we knew that less than 24 hours ago when we were winning 7 out of 8 or whatever it was... Hey, to each his (or her) own.

why does someone always come and complain about the guys (and gals) here being upset after a devasting loss? Its just flat-out annoying. When you are barely .500, you cant lose these types of games. This game isnt over and I've been here all day didnt just come in... It's almost comical how up and down everyone is here depending on what's going on in the game... And I thought I was capricious.

He's not serious. He's making fun of Dusty's disdain for young players. Anyways, we haven't lost anything yet, folks. And it's ONE game. RELAX... We probably will lose it. But the season is nowhere near over...nor would we be a lot better off if we win it.

Does Ronny C get to that ball?

JHJR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard it too.. :lol:

Preacher, meet choir :)

Ram is too, isn't he?

Walker vs. lefties this year.. .471/.514/.824 (1.337) in 34 ABs Of course it's a small sample size... but he's killed them so far.

How many hitters can say that a 1 for 3 day lowers their average?? :)

Is it me or does it seem like Walker is actually hitting lefties well this year? I'll have to check the splits.