An opening week review of your favorite comments:
I prefer to think we won the second half of the game 10-1.
by FredOx on Apr 1, 2011 8:33 PM EDT 4 recs
I don’t think there’s enough said about how the dominant (mass) media environment encourages deep cynicism about the Indians without any education of its readership as to the inherently unfair constraints in which ownership and management is operating.
It is self-fulfilling: media that pushes cynical, negative coverage about payroll and ownership encourages its intended target – the average or casual fan – to withhold from attending games, who use that argument to justify why they are not attending – which, of course, is the one thing they actually could do to put the team in a better economic environment.
by Gradyforpresident on Apr 4, 2011 1:50 PM EDT 8 recs
The only way to pull out of this tailspin would be a complete collapse of the other sports options and a reasonably successful season. Maybe the What if ads should have said, "What if the NFL and NBA goes on strike this year? What if OSU football goes on probation? Could you at least give us a try?"
Baseball fans are junkies, and their heroin is the statistic. - Robert S. Wieder
by jerseywahoo on Apr 4, 2011 10:20 AM EDT 7 recs
You go class tomorrow, though. Is good go class.
by YoDaddyWags on Apr 7, 2011 8:04 PM EDT 8 recs
Somewhere between Marshall and Front Royal I scared the gizzard out of some poor woman who was passing me on I-66 just as Hammy screamed "Ballgame!" I was not expecting that.
This was a classic, the kind of game you want to dry like a lover’s rose and place in the pages of a scrapbook, to pull out and look at on those gloomy days of unavoidable losing streaks.
This was the day we swept the Red Sox, the day Manny cemented his place in our fickle hearts. The day Austin Kearns tried to sac bunt (really, Manny, you had everyone bunt after seeing Austin’s train-wreck?)
If you believe it's just a game, you're also probably wondering why Santa keeps skipping your house every year.
by LeftyCatcher on Apr 7, 2011 9:45 PM EDT 3 recs
Casey. Blake. There are wonders, there are miracles, and there is Blake-for-Santana.
by nickjs21 on Apr 8, 2011 11:27 PM EDT 5 recs
I imagine he’s in Santo Domingo, sitting on a throne drinking beers and playing dominoes. There is a line around the block to look in the window to catch a glimpse of him. His used beer bottles are immediately placed in the National Museum.
by gte619n on Apr 7, 2011 2:16 PM EDT 5 recs
I’m not gonna fall for this team…..I’m not gonna fall for this team……I’m not gonna fall for this team…..
by kennesawmountainwahoo on Apr 7, 2011 2:37 PM EDT 8 recs
Manny isn’t afraid to play his hunches, but neither was Wedge. Both guys insisted on knowing the numbers, both guys then went with their guts in the end. Manny may have better hunches, but it may also be that Antonetti has given Acta better small-ball players than Shapiro ever gave Wedge. Time will tell.
The other thing is that the numbers against bunting have been wildly over-stated by lots of amateur sabermetricians, including many here. The numbers show clearly that bunting is more or less always the wrong play. Clearly, but not overwhelmingly.
It’s not like batting Choo instead of Adam Everett against a right-handed pitcher. It’s like batting Choo instead of Hafner against a right-handed pitcher. One choice is clearly better but not overwhelmingly better.
There’s an interesting analogue to this in blackjack. Basic strategy says that if you have a hard 16 and the dealer is showing a 9, 10 or Ace, you should surrender the hand. If the dealer is showing an 8, however, you’re supposed to stick with your hand. If you’re a card counter, however, then if the "count" gets high enough, you should also surrender on an 8 against a dealer Ace, and if it gets a little higher, you should surrender an 8 against a dealer 10, and eventually an 8 even against a dealer 9.
Bunting is a lot like a blackjack play. There’s a correct move for the average situation, but there are a lot of variables that make a situation non-average, and as the variables move, the smart move can get dumber, and the dumb move can get smarter.
- As a one-run strategy, a successful bunt is a positive event.
- If the batter is a good bunter, the numbers shift in favor of bunting.
- If the batter is not a good hitter or power hitter, the numbers shift in favor of bunting.
- If the next batter hits for a high average, the numbers shift in favor of bunting.
- If the next batter doesn’t hit for much power, the numbers shift in favor of bunting.
- If the baserunner is faster than average, the numbers shift in favor of bunting.
These shifts are tiny, but the edge a team gets by not bunting is not enormous to begin with. If it were enormous, all teams would have stopped bunting years ago — "the book" is never that far off. Rather than being dismissed as a dumb play, bunting is better understood as a sub-optimal play given an average situation, which may be an optimal or break-even play given certain non-average variables in any given situation.
by Jay on Apr 8, 2011 12:37 AM EDT 7 recs
shut the hell up.. I’m seriously having soup
by sftribe on Apr 8, 2011 11:43 PM EDT 3 recs
Bandwagon Nation knows no boundaries.
by emily522 on Apr 7, 2011 1:10 PM EDT 4 recs
He doesn’t always watch baseball but, when he does, he watches the Cleveland Indians ©
by Turkmenbashi on Apr 6, 2011 1:57 AM EDT 4 recs
I once singlehandedly ended a little league game by throwing up on the mound, then at SS, then at RF. Our team only had 8, so I when I finally said "enough is enough" and decided to walk home, the whole game ended. Some dodgy frozen chicken patties were the culprit.
by PortlandVinny on Mar 28, 2011 7:22 PM EDT 7 recs
I thought nothing got by the Big Yellow Joint
by c9kay32 on Apr 6, 2011 7:39 PM EDT 5 recs
All this Niehaus stuff just reminds me how bad I’m going to miss Joe Tait. And Hammy. Don’t go anywhere, Hammy, I don’t care about some of the stupid things you say.
by nickjs21 on Apr 8, 2011 10:13 PM EDT 4 recs
Ryan I gotta say I love the picture above of that Red Sox bat boy so dejected after seeing his favorite team lose to our Indians.
by hans on Apr 6, 2011 12:06 AM EDT 13 recs
never! buck showalter has derek lee and his perfect ass
by The Grimace on Apr 6, 2011 8:36 PM EDT 3 recs
Pedroia’s still in there./obligatory Pedroia joke
by YoDaddyWags on Apr 5, 2011 9:05 AM EDT 6 recs
Just find Dustin Pedroia.
by emd2k3 on Apr 1, 2011 10:45 AM EDT 4 recs
Under all that snow?
by YoDaddyWags on Apr 1, 2011 11:13 AM EDT 5 recs