Kimmi

Are you talking to yourself? LOL

+100 for your posts in this game thread. Thank you for being the voice of reason.

If you read my post carefully, you will see that I said that I have no stats to back up anything about Pedroia's grit. It's just my opinion. There are also no stats to disprove my opinion. All of the things you have posted might be true, but until you can prove your point of view with stats, it's simply your opinion against mine, and I'm going to stick with mine, because that's what I believe based on what I've seen and heard.

I can understand that, but that doesn't mean that he should be defended as some kind of hero now. He's still a snake, and seeing him hitting HRs is still sickening. And you in all honesty have to say that if the shoe were on the other foot and he were a Red Sox player, you would think that Red Sox fans rooting for him would be sickening.

That's why I said just wait until he goes into a slump. The fans will turn on him in a heartbeat.

Sure he can. http://m.mlb.com/video/v80354683/sdchc-lester-tosses-glove-to-make-the-out-at-first

This is a bingo. I am as frustrated as anyone right now, but as you said, it's the 12th game of the season. For all the panic we're hearing, the Sox are 7-5, which is a .583 winning %, which would equate to 94 or 95 wins over the season. Why don't we wait a couple of months to see where the team is then?

I think a lot of that was blown out of proportion because the team was free falling. Had they been winning, his "loss of control" would not have been an issue.

I second that. That goes for Theo too.

I know I sound like a broken record, but once again I think you are right on the money. I think you should just start adding my name to the end of each of your posts. LOL

I am very glad that Arod is not on the Sox and that we don't have to pull for him. He's a snake. He is in a different class of cheaters than most. As I posted before, the idea that he is helping the Yankees win games makes me sick. That said, I also think it would be hypocritical for most to say that we would root against him if he were on the Sox. If he's up in a big situation, I am pretty sure I would be hoping he gets a big hit for my team. All is good right now because he's hitting well. Just wait until he goes into a slump, and watch how the fans and media turn on him.

Earl Weaver was apparently well ahead of his time, as someone here has mentioned before. Momentum can and does turn on a dime.

I assume that personal matters affect some more than others, but it could very well be that most players have the ability to not let it affect their play. I wonder how often a player who is going through a slump is dealing with a personal issue that we know nothing about. Maybe what we often think is just a normal baseball slump is something that can be attributed to the player going through a rough patch in his personal life, maybe not.

With the idea that a speedy baserunner disrupts the defense and gives the batter an advantage, I wholeheartedly believed that to be true until I saw the data that shows otherwise. You can't really quantify what is going on in a pitcher's mind as far as how much he is being disrupted, but you can quantify how well the batters at the plate perform when there is a speedy runner on first base. And those stats show that a batter does worse with speedy runner on first base versus a non-disruptive runner on first base. That's a fact, not an opinion.

Another area where the human element comes into play is with the players' personal lives. If a player had a really sick child, for instance, would that affect his performance? I believe so. It's difficult for anyone to perform his job at the top level when there are personal issues that you are dealing with. Again, I have no stats to back that up, but I also have no stats to disprove that. If someone showed me some stats to disprove either my opinion on this or my belief in "grit", then I would have to seriously rethink my opinions.

As I've posted before, I do strongly believe that there are human elements to the game that can't be quantified. I believe there is such a thing as "grit". IMO, a perfect example is Pedroia. How many critics have doubted him througout his entire career because of his size? I believe that part of what makes him as successful as he is is his grit, or confidence, or detemination, whatever you want to call it. Do I have stats to prove that? No. OTOH, has anyone shown me any stats to disprove that? No. So this is my opinion based on just my belief that "grit" does exist. If someone told me that grit has nothing to do with Pedroia's success, I would disagree, but I would not be able to say that they are wrong on that topic. There is a difference when you talk about momentum. Momentum does exist. A team that has won 8 games in a row has momentum. However, the numbers have shown that there is no predictive value to momentum. In other words, saying a team will carry momentum into the next series is a false statement. A team that was on a hot streak is just as likely to lose the next series as it is to win, relative to its overall talent level. This fact has been quantified.

Spud, I will look for that book, and put it on my list for my summer reading. Thanks for the suggestion.

I don't think anyone is expecting him to be an ace, but maybe hoping that he could be one. He stuff is ace material. He has ace potential. Reaching that potential is a whole different ballgame.

Panda is no Beltre defensively, but I think he's done a solid job so far.

This start was not as bad as the 12 base runners make it appear. Look a little deeper, and you will see that.

I wish Craig could get some regular at bats. I think he could be really good.

This game was not lost due to the pitching. It was lost due to the lack of offense.

Hanigan is very good defensively. He has done an awesome job of blocking pitches. Once he gains more familiarity with the staff, I think his pitch framing ability will help even more.

IMO, Clay pitched better than the boxscore shows. Yes, he allowed a lot of baserunners, but a few of those were the result of some bad "breaks". Two positives from his start are that he only walked one batter and he gave up 0 homeruns. I think Clay deserves credit for hanging tough, battling through it, and limiting the damage, something that he is often not able to do. On most days, a start like that is good enough to get your team the win. I think it's possible that he was sincere in his apology to his team about not doing his job in that second start (specifically with not backing up bases), and that he really tried to stay focused this game when he got into tough spots. As far as whether it will be a confidence builder for Clay or not, who knows? You would have thought his Opening Day start would be a big confidence builder for him, and he comes out in his second start and absolutely stinks. He remains an enigma.

Speak for yourself. I'm one of the few normal people still around. Welcome Nick!