Bellhorn04

Same.

Good thing we didn't trade for this Zimmerman bum.

Sandy Leon - fired up today and coming back to haunt his old team!

Mookie Baby - there's that lightning quick bat.

I believe that the statement you bolded refers only to the number of additional runs produced by the hitters who were at bat when Ellsbury was on base. Here are some other numbers that may interest you. These are FanGraphs RAR -Runs Above Replacement- numbers for 2013. Ellsbury Batting +9.1 Baserunning +10.5 Fielding +10.0 Positional +2.0 League +2.8 Replacement +18.2 Total RAR 52.5 Total WAR 5.7 Ortiz Batting +35.3 Baserunning -8.3 Fielding -1.2 Positional -14.3 League +2.6 Replacement +17.1 Total RAR 31.2 Total WAR 3.4 As you can see, the total difference between Ellsbury and Ortiz as baserunners that year was about 19 runs.

Same. What a cool customer for a 21-year old.

There's a sports celebrity golf tournament every year. It can be interesting to see some of the guys from other sports who are elite golfers, like Tony Romo and John Smoltz. Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice both had notions of trying for the PGA tour. Both got a rude awakening when they played against other pro-level players on pro-level courses. They were way over their heads.

I agree with that. To me this is what makes golf similar to baseball: the golf swing, the hitting stroke and the pitching motion are all skills that require a huge amount of repetition. It's like training the body to be a machine, to do the same thing correctly over and over. It might take only one small thing wrong with the mechanics to cause bad results. Most golfers, hitters and pitchers are constantly finding it and losing it and finding it again. They get red hot for a while, then they go into deep slumps for a while. None of that has anything to do with clutch. I just find some of the similarities between the two sports interesting.

All you have to do is listen to Johnny Miller on NBC. He talks about players choking, or making bad shots because of nerves, all the time. And he's a pretty good authority considering he won a US Open and a British Open and was probably the #2 player after Nicklaus for a stretch of a few years.

Love your thread titles for this series as always.

Golf is one sport where the terms clutch and choke are used freely and no one ever denies their existence. Golf depends so much on one's mind and nerves and how well they withstand pressure.

Good enough for me.

From a payroll cost point of view, though, the most logical move would be to trade Victorino, eating 5 million or so. They keep Craig because if he rebounds at all, he could replace Napoli in 2016 for a reasonable cost. And Nava is a 2 WAR player making a token 1.85 million.

For a moment today, it looked like Spieth had put this thing in the history books, opening a 7-stroke lead after birdieing 15 and 16. But about fifteen minutes later, his lead was suddenly down to 4, after he double-bogeyed 17, and Justin Rose birdied 18. That's what can happen on this golf course, where there are plenty of birdie chances and also opportunities to blow up in a hurry. It's Spieth and Rose in the final group at -16 and -12. In the group ahead of them are Phil Mickelson at -11 and Charley Hoffman at -10.

I hope you'll settle for 4. Miley went 5.1 IP.

I'm surprised by the bonehead plays by Gregorius so far this year.

Well, David Ortiz is a great hitter, but he has lots of bad games and cold streaks as most great hitters do. So if great hitting can vary, so can clutch hitting.

The Yankees wish they had a couple of guys like that this weekend.

So true. Nobody ever budges an inch off their initial stance.

Kimmi, I would have been disappointed if you didn't mention that. I'm making a rule for myself on this thread. The only pictures of women I put up will be of LPGA golfers.

Masters weekend, baby. 21-year old Texan Jordan Spieth takes a 5-stroke lead into the third round. This kid has been playing incredible golf. I think he will get it done, but you never know in this game. Some other stories of this Masters: Rory McIlroy came to Augusta looking to win his third major championship in a row and to complete the 'career Grand Slam' of the four major titles. But he sits 12 strokes back of Spieth. Bubba Watson came in looking to become the fourth man to win back-to-back Masters titles (Nicklaus, Faldo, Tiger) and his third green jacket in four years. He also sits 12 strokes back of Spieth. Tiger Woods returned from a self-imposed hiatus during which there was much speculation he might be done. He has played quite well all things considered. But, you guessed it, 12 strokes back. Ben Crenshaw, another Texan and one of the most mystical figures in golf history, played in his last Masters 20 years after winning his second green jacket in storybook fashion. Monday night there will be a show on the Golf Channel about that 1995 Masters, and I expect it will be fantastic. Dustin Johnson had an incredible 3 eagles in yesterday's round and sits 7 strokes back. Johnson is yet another Texan who can hit the ball obscene distances. He is married to Wayne Gretzky's daughter Paulina. He has certain issues which culminated in a 6-month vacation from the tour recently, widely rumored, but not confirmed by the Tour in accordance with their policy, to have been for cocaine use.

I agree. Message boards are a great medium of communication IMO. You can drop in or drop out whenever you want.

W > L every time if nobody gets injured.

I find that debating something like clutch can be fun for a little while but it reaches a point where you have to say 'OK we're done here.' American political debates usually escalate rapidly into ideological ranting and insults.

lmao