ptatc

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 03:03 PM) Playing baseball especially 1B is not going to tire you out. And he's had more than one day off. It's more mental than physical. It just like baseball in general it's the mental focus and fatigue. The constant travel that he isn't used to also will add to it.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) Stewart was on a high line because he was directly behind the car that swerved to miss Ward, once that car swerved out of the way Tony started heading toward the bottom of the track and Ward ran to try to catch him. Confrontations ON the track do not happen very often in any level of racing. Confrontations in the pits and by the trailers after races are not that uncommon. Most times when someone has been on the track it has been to yell at the driver or flip him off (or throw a helmet at them), you NEVER see a guy run right up to a moving car in the middle of a race. The kid made a bad decision in the heat of the moment and paid the ultimate price for it. It is true that Ward is as responsible for the situation as Stewart. That is why I don't think there will be any criminal problems for Stewart. However, Stewart could have taken a lower line knowing what was going on. If Stewart really was only on a high line because he was following the car ahead of him, he was negligent for not knowing what was going on. He knew where the wreck was as he caused it and he should have been lower on the track with a wreck at the top of the track. edit: I guess my overall point is that some people are making it look like Stewart had no choice but to hit the kid. The kid put himself in the situation and Stewart made it worse with his actions. This is why the accident happened. No one has ever hit another driver before and they both did things that contributed to it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 07:38 AM) He couldn't turn, it's impossible to turn on a dirt track without skidding out of control and injuring or killing more bystanders than a Final Destination movie. Or so they say. True. That is why he hit him. If he would have taken a lower line then he wouldn't have been near him and wouldn't have been in the situation.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 11:27 AM) How many times were those Indy drivers doing that in the dead middle of the track as cars flew by? Personally, I've sen it once in about 15 years. He walked down to the middle of the track and waited until he saw the driver he wanted and gave him the double bird. He then waited for an opening and walked to the inside of the track. I've seen it twice this year at a dirt track.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 10:21 PM) This isn't as common as you think, and if it happens in nascar there'll be a voice in your ear warning you that they're out of their car so you know to look out for them. Also any time this has happened in nascar they moved down to the lower end of the the track and stopped moving. They also wait until things have calmed down and the cars have went by a few times, and use the safety vehicles as shields. Ward was actively moving and pointing like an idiot before the safety vehicles arrived. He looked like a football player juking. It was weird. I've seen it twice this year and probably a dozen times in the races if been to over the years and that's a small fraction of all the races around the country. I've seen it at the Indy 500 and those cars do not turn like these sprint cars.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 08:08 PM) Not sure how others feel, but at this point, I'll be pleasantly surprised if he ever becomes a solid contributor for the big league team. Hopefully he has some type of minor injury he's been trying to get over this year. Yeah, it's a weird one. He REALLY fell hard for some reason. I can't imagine if he had even a minor injury that they wouldn't have shut him down, just because it's been so bad.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 04:18 PM) Why is Rodon being moved up? He'll get his 2 or 3 innings and then the starter will take over. Not really a big deal, imo. Still enough innings to go around for all of those guys. Maybe Rodon moves up but it isn't because of a numbers game in Winston Salem. Maybe they just to see him against better competition for a few innings.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 08:31 PM) No, that's not what he said. And the video that I saw showed everything from Ward hitting the wall and spinning out through the end. There were only a handful of cars that had to drive by him after he started walking to the middle of the track. One of them damn near hit the guy standing in the middle of the track, and the next car did hit him. I don't know why the only options you can imagine are malice or incompetence ("he must be a horrible driver then!"). Ward was advancing more and more onto the track the whole time, gesturing and walking towards Stewart's car as it came around the track. It is pretty much either or. Either he is a bad enough driver that he is the only driver ever to hit another driver or he tried to buzz the guy made a mistake and hit him. I really don't see another option. Other drivers have gone after others in all different scenarios and no one has ever hit one. So he is either and bad driver accidentally hit him or he tried to buzz the guy and realized to late that he was too close and accidentally hit the guy. I don't believe he tried to hit him if that is the malice to which you are referring. Again this is all just my opinion from my experience in racing and with Stewart.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) Ehh the general consensus from people who know stuff about racing seems to be that tony isn't at fault. Publically. What are they going to say, "yeah, Tony tried to go at him." There's another liable law suit. They can't have this type of black eye in the sport.It wouldn't have happened if Ward hadn't walked on the track. It also wouldn't have happened if Stewart didn't happen to be in such a high line. As I've said it's pretty odd that out of all the times in the past that racers have done this, not a single one has ever been hit. Stewart must be an awful driver.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) 2 cars went passed him when he wandered down to the middle of the track. The first almost hit him the second did. There were no other cars on the track at the time. That's odd.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 07:05 PM) How many is "everyone else"? One? How ever many were on the track during the caution. I didn't see the beginning of the race so i don't know how many were in the race. They all had to go by him.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 05:38 PM) The problem I have with this is that another driver was barely able to miss Ward after he ran out into the middle of track. Ward still kept coming after that close call. But the key is barely. Everyone else except the guy involved in the confrontation was able to miss him. Granted this is why nothing can be proven and why there will be no criminal charges however, in the racing world everyone knows what happened.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 05:17 PM) The Cubs dick suck fest all over the media is getting so tired It is only starting. Get ready for another 2-3 years of it regardless of the results.....

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 01:56 PM) Surprisingly, most people that I've talked to agree with me that the kid shouldn't have been on the track and that Stewart isn't culpable. Maybe I just don't associate with idiots. Or at least people who don't follow racing. While he should not have been out there, it happens all the time. Stewart is only culpable from the fact that he should have missed him. Out of all the times racers have gone on the track to yell at another driver, this is the only time a driver has been hit.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Except all of these explanations don't matter one bit in the court of public opinion, which formed pretty instantly in the 24 hours after they heard about the incident or saw the footage...it's going to be quite difficult to change anyone's opinion...either way. Exactly, there will never be enough evidence to make a case in a criminal court. Stewart is not going to admit if he did it. The interesting part will be if there is a civil case. However, I think that Ward walking down toward car will cast enough blame on him that it may not go anywhere.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:48 PM) This sucks but not shocking. Yeah, with his history of drug abuse it is not shocking. It does suck though. His shows were some of the best.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:26 PM) uh oh what? another guy talking who has no idea and just speculating all over the place? I've spent many hours on those types of tracks and worked with the drivers. Come over to the dirt track in joliet where it is only a 1/4 mile track (1/2 the size of the one in question) and you get a good idea of what happens on them. also, have a discussion with Stewart a few times and you might have a little insight as well.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:31 PM) plenty of time according to who? You? Just keep ignoring what another person who actually was driving in the race has said. This is really one of the bigger nonsense posts in this thread. Really. The track is 1/2 mile long. Stewart knows he put the guy in the wall. He knows where the car is in turn 2. After Stewart comes out of turn 4 he has roughly 1/4 of a mile to see what is happening. You can believe the CYA stuff or look at what happened. I don't know if you've ever been in one of the cars or at the races but you can chose which version of events to believe. Either Stewart is an awful driver unaware of what is going on around him, which is the "he didn't see what was going on" defense or he knew exactly what he was doing and it was a horrible accident when he hit the guy. Pick your version because both are out there depending on who you listen to.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 06:11 PM) caution flag, slow down to 60 mph, coming around a turn with a car in your face, car turns suddenly, human on track, hey I just crashed him and he's angry, I know, accelerate quickly and kick dirt in his face and try to get wheel to turn near him and aand and yeah that's like .8 seconds we are talking about. .8 seconds? He could see him and the cars moving out of the way from the other side of the track. Stewart knew exactly what he was doing when he tried to buzz him. The problem is the either the guy walked down furteher or Stewart misjudged the distance and accidentally hit him instead. He had plenty of time to totally avoid the situation.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 01:06 PM) Every once in a while, he will rare back and get a 90 or 91 on the gun. Not sure if he's just trying to quiet down the critics/whispers...or what the reason, as he's usually 86-89 these days. It's hard to say what effect the trade rumors have had on him, but surely it hasn't been helpful, either. It's not so much velocity as it is control. When your legs start to go the pitches will go up as well. He is getting under too many pitches which is why he has recently had the problem with too many pitches being up.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 12:42 PM) He and Floyd were really good in 2008, pretty good (at least a 2/3 level starter) in 2009 and 2010 and then downhill from that point. But none of that has anything to do with the $35+ million pitcher we have on our roster now. It's very obvious he's having a hard time keeping the ball down, there's not enough differential on his pitch speeds, and his location/control has been suspect...isn't he leading the AL in homers allowed? Sometimes I also think the blackout/playoff game made him "an ace" to the fanbase (since we have so few playoff appearances)...and memories of that start lingered far longer than Nick Blackburn. I think much of that is due to hitting an innings limit. He currently is pitching more than he has in the last three years. He was pretty good early but has hit a wall. Hopefully as he adds the enducrance he will be able to pitch deeper into the season next year.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 12:13 PM) Look up his walk rates and velocity during his peak years. Where did I lie? Velocity is a really poor way to evaluate a pitcher. In fact, the more we find out about the incidence of TJ surgery the worse it becomes. The more you try to over throw the more likely you are to have surgery. The deal was a good one when he was healthy. It's a bad contract now but not at the time.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) My point is that Konerko was never nearly the player that many on this site thought he was. If you throw out these last 2 seasons, he had accumulated an fWAR of 28.3 over 14 seasons. That is essentially an average baseball player. He only ever had three seasons where he reached 3 and never once reached 4. If you ignore WAR and just want to look at offensive numbers, his career wRC+ is 119. Good for just 467th all time. Just? The top 500 in a professional sport over 120 years or so. That is something to be proud of.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 10:06 AM) Which leads to the arguments about his not running out ground balls or doing bat flips, etc. Let's go back to 15 or so years ago, when he supposedly had a degenerative hip condition and was fated to end up like a Joe Crede, out of baseball by age 30. He's never going to be Mike Trout, he can't run...he doesn't have a lot of range at 1B, he's losing his hair, etc. JOKING. At any rate, he's been one of the best ambassadors in baseball for his team, so I don't have any problem with him. He's never been my favorite, either, but I guess the best word is appreciate him and everything he's accomplished for the franchise. Paulie also doesn't seem like one of those guys (ala Gabe Kapler) who spend their entire offseason working on weights/health/nutrition. He's more from that Mark Buehrle, Thome or AJ old-school way of thinking. Would he be sitting on edge of the Hall of Fame if he took better care of himself, or could run 25% faster? Maybe, but probably not. This could not be further from the truth. With his degenerative hip condition he has had to work harder than most other players just to play this long. His off season work is second to none.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 10:09 PM) Thanks ptatc. I would have stretched and been in big physical trouble had I not got this advice from you. I'm a little surprised the twinge and slight soreness back there (I can feel it at times when I'm walking around in my dress shoes) is to shelve me til Wednesday. Does the twinge mean the hammy is about to rip apart soon if I was to work out? After your post I'm a little concerned I'll be walking Monday and the hammy will explode. Thank u very much. The twinge means that the muscle fibers around the tear are still sensitive and there is edema in the area irritating the surrounding tissue. If it is still so tender you are getting the twinges don't walk very strenuously if at all. I would not do aggressive walking until you can walk painfree at anormal pace. It won't explode but it will delay the healing process. A foam roll or massage stick will help the healing process by moving the edema.