Balta1701

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:59 PM) And to be honest, it's not like he's coming close to beating out most of them. That suggests he's doing a poor job of placing the ball, not that he's lost a step, which seems correct to me also.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:44 PM) Does it make you feel better about yourself in a competitive area if the other team either half-asses it, or if they beat you by too much, and you got given the win? How good is it for a kids self-esteem to go home knowing that the only reason you won is either because the other team felt sorry for you, or because your team was so bad, the adults felt sorry for you and gave you the win anyway. That isn't good sportsmanship at all. So what you're saying is we need more effective regulation?

Ok...I'm going to try to avoid saying anything inappropriate on this one. Her father died in 1955. And didn't serve in Europe.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:39 PM) Ha. All jokes aside, if they really want to go for it, they've got a bevy of premium pitching prospects they could dangle. Most notably Julio Teheran, Mike Minor and Arodys Vizcaino. Normally, if I were in that position, I'd lean towards holding them, especially since they've had a lot of issues finding funds to fill holes the past few years (i.e. their overturning hole at 1b every year, their bullpen, a power bat). And since Heyward is probably only going to get better from there, that's a reason for holding too. But you know...it is Cox's last chance.

I'll try Q.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:34 PM) We have guys gettibng on now, but still having problems getting them in. I see Ramirez as a culprit in this regard. Situational hittingwise he sucks pretty bad Well, as a team, the Sox are hitting .227 with RISP. That'd be pretty bad, but there is a bright spot; they're hitting .240 overall. So it's not just a situational hitting problem; it's a sucky hitting overall problem.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:29 PM) Other then Pierre at DH with TCQ in the field, and Vizquel hitting 2nd? Didn't catch the DH part, yeah, that's a mistake. Of course, if Quentin's finally starting to pull out of his slump, maybe keeping him in the field/keeping his head out there helps. Not sure I ever believed that, but it might be an excuse. Vizquel's hitting .344 since May 1. Yeah, limited action, but hell, he's getting hits so why not ride it.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 04:13 PM) When 1040 breaks, it should be a very quick move to 1019-1020. Did you suggest sometime like 2 months ago that it was a perfect time to buy BP?

I have difficulty finding much to complain about in that lineup

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:22 PM) There are some bad coaches out there that only care about winning and take the fun out of the game. And when it comes right down to it, if a team is running up the score every game, isn't that pretty much exactly where the idea of creating a rule to stop that comes from?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:14 PM) Troy Glaus has gone nuts the last month. They're getting crazy production from Eric Hinske and Martin Prado. They'll need guys like Escobar and McClouth to start hitting. I still think they'll need another bat before it's all said and done. But I think it's safe to say that the Braves are back to being a factor in the NL again. I think they might be a fit for Andruw Jones.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) We should change the subject to: Can we DFA Kotsay now? No. It still is useful to have a backup 1b.

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:02 PM) Agreed. I sometimes feel a disconnect between Ozzie and the struggles of his players. Like, "what do you want me to do" "I have to start them". I get annoyed when he doesn't use better judgement. At some point I do get annoyed with things like the obsessive L/R matchups in some cases and not in others, or his love for having a speedy player at the top of the order, or his differing treatment of vets versus some of the kids... But right now, really, none of that matters. When 2/3 of your team is dramatically underpeforming and you're 8 games under .500 because of that, even if you'd made every decision correct, it's not going to make up that much of a difference.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) yeah but your side is winning Which is a little ironic, don't ya think?

And if I wanted to return the caricature, I could say that the win-at-all-costs, no concern for anyone else, no concern for the rules or who gets hurt in the process, if you lose you deserve it and we winners just get to laugh at you is an equally unfair portrait of your side.

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:43 PM) Almost 10 more righties than lefties. I just re-read my post and i apologize for how i phrased "10 times more" I meant "10 more than". I think when I totaled it it was somewhere of 59 righties to 50 lefties, but there might've been a flaw in my math. FWIW, if Williams were actually pitching well against LH and this team was actually in the race, if Ozzie kept putting him out there to face RH hitters as well as LH hitters, I'd be quite annoyed too. Right now though, Williams is just flat out bad against LH hitters as well. If he has 1 job, and he goes 2 months doing a terrible job of doing that, then he can have a target on his back. The one reason why I don't really care right now though, especially about him constantly facing RH hitters...is that almost every time he's facing RH hitters, Ozzie's just leaving him in for an inning or two when the team is already down several runs. He's getting a lot of those hitters in garbage time. So I'm just not sure I should care. It'd be nice if he could do a little bit better with guys from either side just to save the bullpen a bit more.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:38 PM) People are arguing that a rule that actually makes you a loser for being too good At least to my eyes, if you're running up the score every game, you are something of a loser, just a different kind.

Heyman with a mock.

My biggest problem with your analysis is that a .250 opponent's average for a LOOGY against LH hitters really isn't good either. Not even going into the walks, etc., if his job is to get LH hitters out, that .250 average, and especially the 1.73 WHIP against LH hitters is really, really bad.

By the way, the Braves just took over the NL East lead.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) why are you making such silly arguments? No one is saying that every kid should lose 100% of the time and be happy with it. We're saying that kids should learn the value of being a good loser and that losing often times creates changes in preparation/action that are beneficial in all aspects of life. There's never going to be a situation where one kid goes his entire childhood without winning because the system prevents him from doing so. And I find it pretty hilarious that the resident extreme liberal/progressive on the board sees ZERO positives in a society (or sport) in which no one is just GIVEN something, but they're forced to EARN it. "It's not FAIR that they win all the time! Let's change the rules so that those people that lack the work ethic to succeed are made equal!" First of all... QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 09:51 AM) I don't believe what I'm going to write but it's time for someone to play Devil's advocate here. Second of all...you're ignoring my main point here, and perhaps you're doing so correctly because I think I've gotten sidetracked...is there no good to come from learning the values of sportsmanship as well? This rule clearly is a poor way of enforcing it, but the talk here has been all about the benefits of teaching kids about winning and losing and how they should be ready to be competitive in everything and always try to be winners, but at least to me, the idea of having a good time doing something, or making sure everyone at least enjoys themselves, seems like its being lost here. That's the point I'm trying to make.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) The difference is that Quentin, Beckham, Ramirez, and AJ have all done things that show they deserve some rope. Even Pierre as well I guess, although I hate him. Nix and Vizquel are good comparisions because they're bench players, which is what Mark Teahen should be. Teahen's a little older, but he was still highly regarded on the way up and has still put up an .874 OPS for a full season (and a 122 OPS+). Even though that was 2006, we're counting on Quentin to do a lot based on a couple seasons ago, etc. I know why people's instincts are to go after Teahen, but look, unless he picks his game up big time, he should be basically an average bat that we can plug in somewhere that we have a hole. If he's down there hitting 8th and putting up slightly below average numbers, great. Teahen becomes a problem when his defense is awful (and this year, it's been godawful, worst of his career by a long shot) or if the guys we're counting on to be significantly above average don't come through.

You know, I'm not quite sure where all the venom directed at Teahen is coming from. He's been worse defensively than he's supposed to be, but so have some other people, and a lot of the other guys on the team have been worse with the bat than him. Quentin, Pierre, Beckham, Ramirez, Nix, Vizquel, Pierzynski, Beckham all have OPS's well below Teahen's, and at least Quentin's defense has been just about as bad too. Where are the posts saying people will go out of their minds watching quentin or beckham suck next year?

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) Sure it isn't as if he's throwing wild pitches everywhere. Cooper has helped pitchers with worse location problems than Williams. To suggest Williams doesn't belong on a ML roster is overlooking a glaring problem with coaching. Pieces are irrelevant if the template is dysfunctional. So, you think that the problem with Randy Williams is that Cooper isn't a good pitching coach?

So, you say there's value in sometimes letting your daughter win even though you could beat her every time? Hmmm...very interesting....