Thursday Notes
Hey
ya’ll, still no internet at home, so just a few random notes to think through
today. Of course, I have to start by thanking everyone for continuing to stop
by and support this site through my transition the last 2-4 weeks. Again today,
just some Notes. Tomorrow I will have the Week 7 Football picks, so be sure to
stop back.
· Arizona Fall League
Update – Ryan Mullins gave up two runs on two walks and three strikeouts in his
three inning start. Matt Macri was 1-3. Trevor Plouffe went 2-5 with a double and two RBI. On Tuesday, Macri went 1-4, and Eddie Morlan
struck out one in a perfect inning.
· Venezuela Update – On
Tuesday, Aragua lost 9-0 to La Guaria. Brian Buscher was 1-4 to drop his average to .300. Frank Mata
gave up three unearned runs in 1.2 innings of relief. Yesterday, they lost 3-1
to Zulia. Buscher was 1-3 with a walk. Just so you
know, Alex Romero did go 1-4, so he is now 1-24 on the
short season. Brian Bass started and went 4.1 shutout innings, striking out four.
Then Bobby Korecky came in and gave up an unearned
run in 1.1 innings. Jose Mijares gave up the
run-scoring hit, but struck out the next two hitters to end the inning.
· Boston will send Josh
Beckett to the mound tonight to face Cleveland and CC Sabathia.
Hopefully CC can pitch to the Cy Young level he
pitched at all season and then Cleveland can advance to the World Series and
try their luck against the Colorado Rockies. Baseball out-thought itself with
the off day yesterday. I understand it from the standpoint of trying to ensure
that as many games can be seem individually. The Rockies sweep just made it
unnecessary.
· Am I the only one that
was completely annoyed by the whole Josh Beckett should have started Game 4
story? I just find a few things about it funny. Why wasn’t their outrage that
CC Sabathia wasn’t starting on short rest? I
understand that Tim Wakefield hadn’t pitched in some time, but he (like Paul
Byrd) is a veteran who knows how to pitch and he has pitched in big games
before. Erik Wedge was praised for sticking by his #4 starter in the playoffs
while Terry Francona is bashed for not starting his
ace on short rest. For four innings, it looked like a good decision. Had
Wakefield not tried to make a play up the middle, it is likely that a double
play would have been turned and instead of scoring seven fifth inning runs,
Cleveland would have scored just one and it’s a whole different game.
· In
reality, part of what annoys me about the postseason is this over analysis. And
yet, isn’t that what blogging is all about? It’s about second-guessing every
decision. I guess I do that on occasion too, but I have played and coached a
lot in my life, and I know that sometimes you make decisions based on gut feel.
Yes, the numbers say one thing, but sometimes it doesn’t always go like that.
So, I try not to over analyze every decision a manager makes. In reality, he is
doing what he thinks is the best thing for his team, in that situation. When it
works, it works. When it doesn’t, it is scrutinized. A player is considered
good if he gets a hit 30% of the time. Managers have to make decisions and then
they have to understand that even if it is the right decision, it is subject to
the fact that the game is based on failure. Players aren’t perfect. Managers
aren’t perfect. GMs aren’t perfect. We would all like to think that they would
just go by the book every time, but that doesn’t always work. So, the truth is
that a manager should look at the numbers, but when it comes down to it, he has
to make a decision. If it works, he’s smart. If it doesn’t, he’s not. It’s just
not that simple. So, you won’t find too many times here where I rant about
decisions a manager makes. Of course there will be times, particularly if a
decision is a recurring decision (like playing Nick Punto
every day). But for the most part, I really try to also think about what the
manager was thinking, or was possibly thinking.
· Likewise, I am also
opposed to instant replay. The umpires are right probably 97% of the time,
which is pretty good!
· The
most recent team that Torii Hunter has expressed interest in playing for is the
Washington Nationals. His friendship with Dmitri Young is mentioned as one of
the reasons. Of course, we will likely hear more and more teams mentioned as
Torii continues his year-long if-they’ll-pay, I will play campaign. My thinking
of late is that Hunter would find out that his value wasn’t as high as he
thought. However, based on Jim Bowden giving Cristian
Guzman a four year deal, he would likely have no problem giving Torii Hunter
five or even six years!
· Here
is a nice Jonathan Mayo article on Anthony Swarzak and
his comeback from the suspension.
· Blog Spotting –
o Nick & Nick’s Blog takes a
look at some really interesting look-alikes, so be sure to check that out.
o Aaron Gleeman has several
interesting Twins notes today.
· One
question I do have for you, and please feel free to e-mail me your comments. We
could be looking at a Colorado/Cleveland World Series starting next week. Will
anyone watch it? Probably not very many. In fact, it
will likely be the lowest rated World Series again. And, I for one, think that is unfortunate because that matchup
could/should be great. It matches a couple of young, energetic, talented and
VERY good teams. Imagine the rankings of a Browns/Broncos AFC Championship
series. They would be tremendous. The Indianapolis Colts get great rankings.
The NFL has done a great job of marketing all of its teams. So, what does
baseball need to do to make people care about the World Series matchup of teams
not in New England? (besides play games at decent
hours!)
· Anything
else on your mind. Not sure if I’ll have comments here today, so please feel
free to e-mail me, or use the Comments below. Have a great day!