QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 26, 2008 -> 01:40 AM)
If you said "Jim Thome is not clutch late in games" I'd actually agree with you. When you say "Jim Thome is not a clutch hitter" I greatly disagree. He really is pretty bad late in games, that I can not defend but he tends to come through big in the first 6 innnings. There's just something about Jim Thome (probably all the K's late in games) where people tend to forget all the times he comes up big in close games while a guy like Joe Crede who's "clutch" stats aren't all that impressive is considered one of the best clutch hitters in the game. (it seems like every time Joe Crede comes through with a big hit it's memorable, which leads me to believe that he's more "memorable" clutch than he is "consistently" clutch but that's a theory for another time)
So really it's all about the wording.
If you remember, I used to have the stats for Thome from 7th inning on in my sig. Great answer!