Poll= Was There More Pressure and Stress Down The Stretch Last Season Or Right Now?

[Old#5fan]

What is he an example of? I'd say a guy who's not playing well and leave it at that. I don't see the added value of speculating about his wrist and his kid and his grandmother and his biorhythms and his contract and his unclutchiness and his unable to deal with pressure or whatever.

Why do you even cite Markakis in a thread about pressure and stress when you admit you have no idea why he's not hitting well?

Because you have no idea why he isn't hitting well either.. and sometimes it cannot be determined what the stress of being a normal human being with all the regular factors of stress in our lives, combined with being a professional baseball player. To discount that as a factor is wrong as it is real. That is why I am citing it.

[CA-ORIOLE]

What is he an example of? I'd say a guy who's not playing well and leave it at that. I don't see the added value of speculating about his wrist and his kid and his grandmother and his biorhythms and his contract and his unclutchiness and his unable to deal with pressure or whatever.

Why do you even cite Markakis in a thread about pressure and stress when you admit you have no idea why he's not hitting well?

I'd say it's reasonable to speculate about Nick's loss of power and injury history affecting his performance and fairly ludicrous to speculate that his performance is being affected by pressure from higher expectations this year.

[Old#5fan]

I'd say it's reasonable to speculate about Nick's loss of power and injury history affecting his performance and fairly ludicrous to speculate that his performance is being affected by pressure from higher expectations this year.

Well, he missed most of the pressure down the stretch from last season and has never been in a pennant race until then, so how in the heck can you find it ludicrous to speculate that it could also be a factor? Jeese, these players aren't robots.

[foxfield]

I did not vote in the poll, but I would say that there is pressure is about the same. I do think there is an argument to be made that last year there was not pressure due to expectations etc, and this year there were higher expectations, but I think that is pressure that is more often brought by fans. Can it affect a team, sure, I would guess there is more pressure playing in NY than say Tampa just due to the added pressure brought to bear by media.

I would definitely say that the pressure is being felt more by us fans this year however. :laughlol:

[TouchemAll]

Well they aren't sneaking up on anybody this year and once you make the playoffs everybody expects you to be there every year, so yea, I think they may be pressing a little bit.

I like what Buck said last night "Don't under estimate what these guy's are capable of"

[jtschrei]

I might also add, that I think the sucess of last season by Jim Johnson has caused him to put undue pressure on himself to repeat that high level of a performance and that is what is mainly wrong with him this season.

JJ definitely seems like he's trying too hard. Everytime I see him, I think he's overthrowing.

I swear I saw a TV segment last season where JJ talked about the sinker and how the key for his success was relaxing and not overthrowing. He was saying the sinker does more work went it's not overthrown. I want to show him that video of himself.

[CanadianOriole]

When Jim Johnson pitched roughly as well in 2009 and 2010 as he is pitching now - was that due to the pressure of being 35 games out of first? When Jim Johnson was absolutely lights out at the start of this season (0.95 ERA, 14 for 14 in saves as of May 10) was that because in the first 6 weeks of the season there was no pressure on the Orioles as far as JJ could tell to repeat last year's playoff appearance - but after May 10th it dawned on Jonson that some people in and around the team hoped to make the playoffs this season too?

[Old#5fan]

JJ definitely seems like he's trying too hard. Everytime I see him, I think he's overthrowing.

I swear I saw a TV segment last season where JJ talked about the sinker and how the key for his success was relaxing and not overthrowing. He was saying the sinker does more work went it's not overthrown. I want to show him that video of himself.

it certainly isn't rocket science to figure it out either, as I totally agree with you and I am just the average fan albeit with 40 plus years of watching players and games. :thumbsup1::agree:

[Old#5fan]

When Jim Johnson pitched roughly as well in 2009 and 2010 as he is pitching now - was that due to the pressure of being 35 games out of first? When Jim Johnson was absolutely lights out at the start of this season (0.95 ERA, 14 for 14 in saves as of May 10) was that because in the first 6 weeks of the season there was no pressure on the Orioles as far as JJ could tell to repeat last year's playoff appearance - but after May 10th it dawned on Jonson that some people in and around the team hoped to make the playoffs this season too?

He had a different type of pressure back then in 2009 and 2010. That pressure was mainly to establish himself as a permanent major leaguer. Last season he established greatness, but this year is a new year with higher expectations to succeed or repeat last year's success. So yes, it is a totally different type of pressure. but pressure non-the-less.

[Barnaby Graves]

1-7 in one run games since the all-star break. The signs of the pressure of higher expectations on the team as a whole, have really became obvious after the all-star break. Even Machado and Davis were showing it as good as they are... However, you can also look at there overall record in one run and extra inning games. It is terrible compared to last year. Again, signs of the pressure of higher expectations for the team overall.

You're going to take the flukiness of something like a 1-run W-L record (also not even the W-L record of the whole season) and use it to draw a conclusion about psychology? This basically means "Nick Markakis is under a lot of pressure because Jim Johnson has had a bad BABIP for a couple of games."

Because you have no idea why he isn't hitting well either.. and sometimes it cannot be determined what the stress of being a normal human being with all the regular factors of stress in our lives, combined with being a professional baseball player. To discount that as a factor is wrong as it is real. That is why I am citing it.

So neither of you know why he sucks this year and that's why you know why he sucks.

I would definitely say that the pressure is being felt more by us fans this year however.

And there's the real answer for OldFan's beloved poll results, people are projecting their anxiety onto the team.

[DrungoHazewood]

You're going to take the flukiness of something like a 1-run W-L record (also not even the W-L record of the whole season) and use it to draw a conclusion about psychology? This basically means "Nick Markakis is under a lot of pressure because Jim Johnson has had a bad BABIP for a couple of games."

The human mind is better at accepting an untrue but semi-plausible cause-and-effect scenario than it is at accepting that many things in the world are often, largely, out of everyone's control.

[crowmst3k!]

Last season they were playing with house money. This year, there's a much bigger expectation from the fans heading into the season than there was last year.

Also, the last choice in the poll has to have been a joke.

[Can_of_corn]

Last season they were playing with house money. This year, there's a much bigger expectation from the fans heading into the season than there was last year.

Also, the last choice in the poll has to have been a joke.

Not so much a joke as Oldfan taking something I said and twisting it to fit his agenda.

I took it to read:

The majority of players, the majority of the time, do not allow pressure to effect their playing to a discernible degree.

[Barnaby Graves]

Also, the last choice in the poll has to have been a joke.

That's the answer I picked because:

The majority of players, the majority of the time, do not allow pressure to effect their playing to a discernible degree.

It's silly to think guys don't feel pressure, or press, but pegging it to recent 1-run game records?

[DrungoHazewood]

Not so much a joke as Oldfan taking something I said and twisting it to fit his agenda.

I took it to read:

The majority of players, the majority of the time, do not allow pressure to effect their playing to a discernible degree.

And I would continue saying "because MLB players were chosen, in part, because of their ability to play through all kinds of stuff, including the pressure of beating out hundreds of thousands or millions of other guys who also desperately wanted to get to the majors and have a shot at untold riches. The effects of pressure in any given game situation are usually negligible to someone thus selected. Anyone who couldn't handle pressure on a regular basis was probably released in A-ball, if they even got to pro ball."