5/04 Jays @ SOX 6:10PM ET

[moonslav59]

I don’t believe anyone said it doesn’t mean more to win, or lose to a winning team than it does winning, or losing to a losing team. I will still state my opinion that most high school, college, and professional sports are watered down from years past. If you have 30 teams in MLB somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose, so you are going to have teams with winning records, and you are going to have teams with losing records. All teams with winning records does not mean they are all good teams, and all teams with losing records does not mean they are bad teams. That’s my main point, and I don’t know about you but my eye test has shown me some pretty bad baseball played this year in the games I’ve watched. As for seeds in sports they are way overrated. Miami beat the Bucks, because they were playing better ball.Miami is a lot better team than a so called #8 seed, and came with in a missed 3 pointer of beating the C’s last year. How did the #1 seed help the Bruins? Head to head, and matchups mean a lot more than a seed in any sport.

 

Wow, I would have never known MIA beat my Bucks, because they played better. Thanks.

 

Yes, maybe all winning teams are not "good teams," but we are talking comparatively. Besides, I thought you judged everything by wins and losses- no excuses- no if and or buts.

 

In most cases, having the same record by beating winning teams as another team beating lesser winning teams shows some extra value. I'm fine with you disagreeing, but saying you don't "get it" is something you won't explain. How can you not, at least understand why it means something to others?

 

[Bellhorn04]

Bludgeon the curmudgeon! Send him to the dudgeon!

 

If I was your editor, I'd amend that to "Hold him in high dudgeon!" and it would be perfect, IMO.

[moonslav59]

Maybe I get your point better than you do. What we have seen--by our own Sox as well as most recently by the Blue Jays--is lousy execution in the field, especially on defense. In the Sox series at the Trop, to me the Rays looked completely professional at bat, pitching, on the basepaths, and on defense. The Sox did not. In fact, far from it.

 

On the other hand, I think you are dead wrong if you believe the hitting and pitching stink because they don't. As moonslav suggests, that's probably where the emphasis is right now in developing young players. It isn't just that velocity is up, but that almost every pitcher seems to be working on and even using new breaking stuff. Even Sale is using a cut fastball he didn't use before--to go with his 4-seamer, changeup, and slider. Too bad he can' throw a splitter or a big curve. And the hitters by and large have found ways of hitting this improved pitching. Getting rid of the shifts helped. My suspicion is that home plate umps favor the batters over the pitchers. The 20 second clock on pitchers has probably helped the hitters.

 

But back to your point, which I think is a good one. Lousy defense is not good baseball, but players get away with it if they can hit or if they are the last guy available for that position.

 

Maybe the pitch clock has messed with some defenders' ability to stay focused on defense.

 

It does seem like there are more blunders, and I've never seen more catcher interference calls in a whole year, as I've seen in 5 weeks.

 

The point remains, even if the overall level of play has dropped, we have done better ve tough teams than almost anyone else, and have played double the tougher teams than some teams. I think that helps determine just how good a team is beyond just looking at a win- loss record.

 

I find it interesting that the guy who keeps calling "scoreboard" as in it's all about winning, now says that winning is happening because of a watered downn league. It is no longer only about wins.

 

I've said all along, one reason I think we have a good shot at the playoffs was because other teams have major issues, too. It's easy to focus just on the Sox and all their faults, and think that is all that goes into determining a team's chances. Don't the other teams matter?

 

We've been trying to point out how difficult it is to win when you play more good teams than others. How that is any different from claiming we are now winning because the teams we are beating are watered down or not as good as their record indicates is the same thing- just in reverse.

 

It's no big deal, except the guy can't stop bringing up how sick he is hearing about the strength of our division and schedule, is now doing the same thing.