a700hitter

When you get 5 runs against Strasbourg, you are supposed to win that game.

Masterson had no velocity when I saw him in Fort Myers and he is still tossing salad as Eck would say.

Pedroia is increasing his trade value.

Craig will get more playing time if Victorino doesn't play well or comes up a little lame.

Lol! I read your posts in the Fantasy thread, because we are competitors and chatter among the competitors is part of the fun. I' ll hold you to your word.

Lester s*** the bed again tonight. Maybe he needs Farrell.

I am sorry that I missed it.

Maybe he is getting too much sleep.

Iortiz in the house mojo tomorrow.

Yikes! What a stinker of a game by Buch.

7 run rule is not in effect, maybe a 9 run rule?

Xander is having a very good start of the season.

Several teams have not paid their league fees. Do you guys want to play in the league? If you do, please pay the fee. I am not going to be chasing after you guys. I don't know whether to freeze unpaid rosters until fees are paid or terminate the league.

Get him out of there.

Not going to pick up Buch for my fantasy team. LOL!

One ball out of the infield and the score is 4-0. Ridiculous.

What a ******** inning!! Napoli looked like a dancing bear.

This is a ******** inning.

Yep. I have talked to some scratch amateur golfers about their experiences being around the pros. They express awe about what the pros can do just in practice. They are a different breed of cat, and the best professional athlete from other sports with eagle-eye vision, great hand-eye coordination and thousands of rounds under his belt can't compete at the professional level of golf.

That's right. I don't know if Hitch thought he/she was telling us all something that we didn't already know, whether he was just getting something off his chest or just wanted to take a few shotgun blasts at all of us. The only thing that I want to know from Hitch is whether he is an Optimist or pessimist and whether he is a stat geek or a traditionalist. Pick sides.

I think the manager will give him more rope than a handful of games to play himself to the bench.

I don't think professional golfers are any different from other professional athletes when it comes to handling pressure. Golf may be the toughest game of all. If you don't start young, you can just never be a big tour player. World class athletes from other sports have tried to get on the tour. I can't think of any that have succeeded to any significant extent. The number of golfers on the PGA Tour is a lot smaller than the number of MLB players. Golfers have been tested through high pressure situations just as much as MLB players and there is no reason to think that they aren't just as mentally tough as athletes in other sports. Golf may be the most robotic of all sports, because the ball is not moving like in other sports. The golf stroke is one honed through repetition more so than other sports, because the stroke is the whole sport. There is no defense, no base running, no fielding skills that have to be mastered. The fact that in baseball you are competing against a pitcher and not a stationary ball does muddy the waters on this issue. Both competitors (pitcher and batter) might be completely calm and performing up to his abilities. Both might be choking, but it would be hard for an observer to tell, because they are still really good even when choking. Rest assured the player who is choking knows it, but they will never admit it and give their opponent an edge.

Napoli pounded the ball in Spring Training.

By virtue of my tax bracket, I am considered eccentric. LOL!!

Thomas Boswell has written extensively about golf. Choking is no secret in golf. Everyone knows it exists. Clutch players are simply those who choke less. You are all caught up in whether stats can prove that a player plays better in big spots. The clutch player doesn't get better in big spots. His abilities are what they are. The so-called "clutch" factor is that he doesn't let the emotions or distractions or pressure interfere with his performance. Boswell has written that every golfer acknowledges choking, but no one has ever seen Nicklaus choke, which is why he is god-like among professional golfers.