BRobinsonfan

If Razor Shines did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.

In any discussion about pitching coaches, I can't help but remember Jim Bouton's description of the pre-game “scouting” meetings to go over the opposing team's line-up when he was with the Seattle Pilots. Apparently, pitcher Gary Bell was famous for advising “smoke 'em inside” for just about every hitter, and manager Joe Schultz would distill everything down to “Give him some low smoke and we'll go pound some Budweiser.” I've read that after “Ball Four” came out Bouton would frequently sign “smoke 'em inside” underneath his signature.

Your "repeatedly proven to be accurate" friend didn't spell Carlisle group right.

I can't bring myself to read the article... was there any mention of "liftoff" or any other rocket ship ride metaphors?

I don't know SG. I have to go with Aristotelian here. “Should” is from the Old English “sceolde,” past tense of “sceal.” It preserves the original context of “obligation” that conveys the meaning of “what ought to be.” And of course there was that time you were wrong about your pre-season prediction for our won-loss record last year.

27

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he's going to need more than 25 games in the minors, with demonstrated success in AA and AAA, before anyone is seriously talking about him as our starting CF.

What's up with Hyde and Elias??? I'm disappointed they didn't reach out. They win 101 games, and suddenly, they're too busy to throw some appreciation Frobby's way? They're dead to me!

He was always fun to watch. It seems like he was extremely well-regarded by his teammates. Such a sad loss for his family, and for baseball.

He is weirdly good against the Orioles. .322 lifetime batting average in 362 PAs. 22 doubles, 15 HRs, .877 OPS. Yikes!

I agree with most everything... except I would give Adley an A-. He led, or was among the leaders, in most offensive categories for catchers.

What happened with being concerned about the cold bats??? Over the last 7 games Mateo hit .308 vs. .154 for Gunnar? Over the last 15 games Mateo hit .265 vs. 226 for Gunnar? Are you suggesting that Gunnar might hit/play better than Mateo despite his cooling off at the end of the season?

... bigger, more humble, person... fixed that for you!

Not advocating we resign him, but Gibson is no Jordan Lyles.

A bit long for a new screen name.

I’m sorry for the snark. I actually thought I deleted this. It would be great if everyone was tearing the cover off the ball going into the playoffs. But the reality is it’s been this way all season. Players are streaky, and sometimes regardless of what kind of contact they make, the hits don’t fall in. Try to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Perspective?

I was going to pick Houston but then I remembered how catastrophically wrong you were about your pre-season picks for our won/loss record and thought, “that can't be right,” so I went with Tampa Bay. They have the biggest run differential, and they have a winning record against clubs playing over .500. (Sorry SG... I couldn't resist)!

Excellent recount of the ending of the 1982 season. How much do you attribute outplaying the Pythagorean record to "statistical noise" or luck? What role does the manager play it outperforming the Pythagorean record? In other words, how much credit do we give Hyde for exceeding it this year?

Apparently, he would have preferred McKenna.

Well they're 45 - 19 against teams under .500. They've won 70% of their games against those teams. What would constitute "taking care of their own business" against them?

I don't know if he's fixable or not but his mechanics seem perpetually out of wack. He looks like he's awkwardly balancing on his back leg and teetering in one direction or another as he begins his movement toward the plate. It's never the same look twice.

Yeah, Fuji with runners on base definitely gives me heartburn.

I picked 83 - 86 and was happily wrong. I'm gratified to see that I was closer than @Sports Guy and will file this away to bring up the next time I get into an argument with him.