S5Dewey

Ok then... You've made it plain that you don't think that a player can 'turn it up a 'notch' in a clutch situation, and you don't think that hitting is random. So are you of the opinion that the only variations from random are when a player chokes?

If a person believes hitting is random then they have to believe what I said is true. A person can't have it both ways. They can't say that hitting is random and then be concerned about hitters not hitting with RISP. Let's hope our "luck" changes soon.

Moi?

Yep. This team is getting a lot of runners on base - and then leaving them there. Since we all know that all hitting is random these guys are getting on base at random and are randomly being left there. We'l be ok. We just need for our luck to improve.

I'm good with that. Both things, in fact, even though their UIF is a Maine boy!

No. They did what they had to do. As I posted earlier, personally I would have liked to have seen Machado get plunked immediately but given what the emotions were at the time it would have resulted in suspensions for a lot of Red Sox players. Instead they did the prudent thing, waited for the emotions to abate a bit and made their statement. It's nothing new for teams to wait a game or two to do what they need to do. It happens all the time. It's why umpires will often warn both teams before the game on the day after someone gets hit. IMHO everyone on both teams knows what happened and they know why it happened. The two days isn't the issue. The issue is how Pedey and the rest of the team handled the retaliation.

..and I hate to tell ya that sitting back and watching someone hurt one of your friends and doing nothing about it, regardless of what your friend says, makes you nothing more than a garden variety pussy.

I know I keep going back to this, but it took Dempster three tries to hit ARod too!

What is there about this that people don't understand? Any successful team I've been on had the mentality that we are one. If you f*** with one of us you f***ed with all of us and we're all offended. And we will find a way to retaliate. Pedey may well have been right when he said "It's not me. It's them" but it means that Machado had pissed all of them off so Machado should expect retaliation from anyone on the team. But it doesn't give Pedey the right to throw his teammates under the bus while they do it. What he should have said was NOTHING...and let it play out the way it played out, whatever that might be. I used to work with a guy who had a sign on his desk saying, "I've never been criticized for something I didn't say". In this case Pedey had the right to remain silent but he just. couldn't. bring. himself. to. do.it.

Well... I think that's kind of harsh... but there's no doubt his role on the team is changing. His behavior a couple of days ago does concern me though. (Concern? HAH! It's more than a concern.)

I guess I'm on a roll with the 'perspective' thing because I just posted something on the same topic in another thread, but anyway... Toughness is all about perspective and it comes in many sizes and shapes. Professional baseball players have to be tough both mentally and physically. Mentally because they face adversity on the field every day and physically because it's a long season and it's hard on the body. OTOH, police and firemen deal with things every day that most of us have no interest (or maybe even the toughness) to deal with on a regular basis. I would think that a person would have to be tough to deal with death and loss of everything one has worked for, not to mention being mentally and physically tough enough to deal with hardened criminals with no sense of right or wrong. And that doesn't even begin to deal with the toughness of those people and their families knowing that every morning when they walk out the door that they may not come back again. Of course there's the mental and physical toughness of those who have fought - and continue to fight - in conflicts where they also deal with death, and disfigurement, sometimes of their close friends. These people are both mentally and physically tough. And then there are those whom cp mentioned above, some of whom live their quiet lives dealing with the pressure of making ends meet and keeping their families warm and well fed. That takes yet a different kind of toughness. While I wouldn't diminish the toughness necessary to play sports professionally their 'toughness" pales when compared to what other people have going on in their lives. As Ryan Dempster said after he retired, "I've been treated like a king for all of my professional life. Now I have to learn now to live like a real person". (Of course, with - I hope - millions of dollars in the bank and doing his commentary gig occasionally he doesn't have to live like "a real person", but at least he has perspective).

LOL. I guess when you put it in that perspective Sandoval is a bargain at $17M! I'd rather have a player who can get us to the playoffs and fail there than a player who can't even get us to the playoffs! Perspective is everything!!

If we forget the overpay and the too many years argument I don't think many of us are upset with Price's signing. 17 wins (ok, not the best argument but it's an argument), an ERA of around 4.0 and a WHIP of 1.2 is serviceable when one realizes that he got off to a rocky start and finished stronger. My own argument against Price is that he's repeatedly failed in the post-season. Whether the reason for that is random, chocking, or whatever the fact remains that he's repeatedly failed in the post season and that's not what we pay a pitcher $31M to do.

Aughhhh! I just looked it up and it's $17.6M this year, Now there's a great start to my day!! :-( LOL

I'm not sure I follow the logic here. Are you saying that if a pitcher is aiming for the inside half of the plate and the ball gets away from him and hits the batter in the head it's only part of the game, but if he's aiming for a batter's hip or thigh and the ball gets away from him and hits the batter in the head he should get a 10 game suspension? I can support 10 games (or more) for malicious intent but not for having a ball get away from a pitcher, regardless of where it ends up.

I know you're right about this and I agree with you. However, it will always rankle me to know that we're paying $14M for a player who gives us ONE WIN above a Replacement Player. That may not be a total f***ing bust but it's a very close cousin to one, Ugh,

Without trying to be snarky.... really I'm not.... We can't be surprised that Sandoval is having knee trouble. As a professional athlete he's probably put more wear and tear on them already than a normal person would in a lifetime. Combine that with his excess weight and he's a knee problem waiting to happen.

Eccchhh.... there's a difference between rooting against a player and recognizing that the player isn't playing well and therefore being glad he's out of the lineup - for any reason. I rooted for him at every AB and every defensive play and I'll continue to root for him if/when he comes back. But that doesn't mean that I don't think that if there's a better option that option should be playing.

IMHO you're confusing throwing AT someone's head with a ball getting away from a pitcher and going near the head. If I thought for an instant that Barnes was throwing AT Michado's head I'd support what you're saying - but I don't. And that's JMO. I think the 4 games is appropriate because it's probably twice what a starter gets for the same thing. MLB likes to give starters a 5 game suspension for throwing at a batter or essentially one start. In the case of Barnes as a reliever it's not known how many appearances he's missing but my guess is that it's more than one.

Almost. I think it's called "culpable ingorance" or some such thing.

Uhhh. yeah... You need to read this thread: http://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/18147-4-23-Baltimore/page7. :-)

Not only that, he'd be helping the team by getting suspended.

I'm very pleasantly surprised by what Beni has done. I thought he'd be ok, hitting maybe .250 from the #8 spot until the pitchers found the holes in his swing and Beni adjusted, and then he'd work his way up in the lineup. Instead Beni hit the ground running and looks like he belongs there. He's a legitimate threat from any spot in the top 1/3 of the order. IIRC even Pedey didn't do this!

As tempting as it must have been to go after Machado in his next AB given the emotions at the time it probably would have resulted in a bench-clearing brawl and suspensions for a lot of Red Sox players. IMO giving things a day or two to calm down and then making their statement probably wasn't the most emotionally satisfying way to handle it but it was the most prudent way. Disclaimer: I wanted Kimbrel or Kelly to come in and stick a 110 mph fastball so far into Machado's ribs they'd have to take it out through his ******* - but at the same time I knew it wasn't the smart thing to do. But I WANTED it to happen anyway, LOL