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

[Old#5fan]

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."

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

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

Unless you are still in high school, you should have been around long enough to have watched interviews of players about the pressures of being in a pennant race. You act like the is none and have zero basis for claiming that. Have you ever heard anyone say there is no pressure at all in big situations? If anyone said that they are lying and not too many players are going to scoff at pressure. Just look at Bill Buckner who probably pulled the biggest pressure related choke job in the history of sports? You don't think pressure caused his error on a routine play he makes 999 times out of a thousand??? Gimme a break. Youi need to watch more games and spend some hours listening to interviews of older players. A lot of the current ones will not admit the pressure as they don't want to appear weak, but believe me it is there.. and it doesnt just go away. That a reaons why a veteran team that has been to the playoffs for years and/or a World Series is usually favored, although it doesn't always work out that way.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Unless you are still in high school, you should have been around long enough to have watched interviews of players about the pressures of being in a pennant race. You act like the is none and have zero basis for claiming that. Have you ever heard anyone say there is no pressure at all in big situations? If anyone said that they are lying and not too many players are going to scoff at pressure. Just look at Bill Buckner who probably pulled the biggest pressure related choke job in the history of sports? You don't think pressure caused his error on a routine play he makes 999 times out of a thousand??? Gimme a break. Youi need to watch more games and spend some hours listening to interviews of older players. A lot of the current ones will not admit the pressure as they don't want to appear weak, but believe me it is there.. and it doesnt just go away. That a reaons why a veteran team that has been to the playoffs for years and/or a World Series is usually favored, although it doesn't always work out that way.

Of course there's pressure. But the guys who make it to the majors tend to be the type of players who thrive on pressure.

[Old#5fan]

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.

Yet several posters here who act like they are superior to the majority and voted that way continue to argue that they are right and the rest of the OH world is wrong. I agree, anyone who votes that way is so wrong it should be considered a joke!

[Old#5fan]

Of course there's pressure. But the guys who make it to the majors tend to be the type of players who thrive on pressure.

Bill Buckner is calling you right now.

[Old#5fan]

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.

Man you have reading comprehension issues unlike any I have ever seen, if that is how you took it. 75% of everyone else surely didn't take it like you!

If you think big league players don't succumb to pressure maybe you ought to look back to the Bill Bucker play, or Armondo Benitez when he was the Orioles closer.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Bill Buckner is calling you right now.

Looked like a physical error by a guy who could barely run to me.

[Old#5fan]

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."

Bill Buckner is calling you also, as is Armondo Benitez. He (Benitez) used to sweat bullets, especially when in the playoffs. I have never seen anyone melt down the way he did against the Yankees that time. You have to remember this right????

[Old#5fan]

Looked like a physical error by a guy who could barely run to me.

Did you watch the game? I have watched thousands of baseball games and that was the biggest choke job I have ever seen in over 40 years of watching sports. A decent little leaguer makes that play easily.

[DrungoHazewood]

Unless you are still in high school, you should have been around long enough to have watched interviews of players about the pressures of being in a pennant race. You act like the is none and have zero basis for claiming that. Have you ever heard anyone say there is no pressure at all in big situations? If anyone said that they are lying and not too many players are going to scoff at pressure. Just look at Bill Buckner who probably pulled the biggest pressure related choke job in the history of sports? You don't think pressure caused his error on a routine play he makes 999 times out of a thousand??? Gimme a break. Youi need to watch more games and spend some hours listening to interviews of older players. A lot of the current ones will not admit the pressure as they don't want to appear weak, but believe me it is there.. and it doesnt just go away. That a reaons why a veteran team that has been to the playoffs for years and/or a World Series is usually favored, although it doesn't always work out that way.

Let's say there are 10 million people who play baseball at a reasonably high level, say high school or Babe Ruth or Legion Ball or whatever. I'm making up the number, but let's go with it.

In the majors there are 750 players at any one time. That means those guys are the top 0.075% of serious baseball players in the world. They were picked because they can play at a very high level through long seasons, through pressure-packed situations, through injuries, through personal problems, through tryouts and games in front of high-level scouts that could mean the difference between having a career in baseball or not.

And you're telling me those guys, those top microscopic fraction of one percent, are prone to wilting under the slightest bit of pennant race pressure?

[Old#5fan]

Apparently many of you so-called students of the game who wish to minimize pressure to major league players (Oh they don't feel pressure) are attributing them to not being human.

I suggest you look up the book or movie - Fear Strikes Out about a major league player named Jimmy Piersall. Then get back to me..

[DrungoHazewood]

Did you watch the game? I have watched thousands of baseball games and that was the biggest choke job I have ever seen in over 40 years of watching sports. A decent little leaguer makes that play easily.

And yet major leaguers make errors very much like that every day of the season, every year there's been major league baseball. It might make your worldview stand up better to say it was a monumental choke job, but the reality is you had an old guy playing first because his manager forgot to put in the defensive replacement and he happened to make an error at a bad time. Anything beyond that you're just making up.

[Can_of_corn]

Did you watch the game? I have watched thousands of baseball games and that was the biggest choke job I have ever seen in over 40 years of watching sports. A decent little leaguer makes that play easily.

So I guess the Astros were under intense pressure when this happened?

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[Old#5fan]

Let's say there are 10 million people who play baseball at a reasonably high level, say high school or Babe Ruth or Legion Ball or whatever. I'm making up the number, but let's go with it.

In the majors there are 750 players at any one time. That means those guys are the top 0.075% of serious baseball players in the world. They were picked because they can play at a very high level through long seasons, through pressure-packed situations, through injuries, through personal problems, through tryouts and games in front of high-level scouts that could mean the difference between having a career in baseball or not.

And you're telling me those guys, those top microscopic fraction of one percent, are prone to wilting under the slightest bit of pennant race pressure?

Some of them may well be. The great ones, like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and though a Yankee, Derek Jeter thrive under pressure. But often the borderline non-stars can wilt. Buckner and Benitez are two prime examples.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Did you watch the game? I have watched thousands of baseball games and that was the biggest choke job I have ever seen in over 40 years of watching sports. A decent little leaguer makes that play easily.

Of course I watched the game, which, by the way, was 27 years ago. A more recent example might have made your argument look better. Also how in the world did that choking dog Buckner manage to have a 22-year career (with better numbers with RISP than overall)?

[DrungoHazewood]

Bill Buckner is calling you also, as is Armondo Benitez. He (Benitez) used to sweat bullets, especially when in the playoffs. I have never seen anyone melt down the way he did against the Yankees that time. You have to remember this right????

I believe that you believe this is what happened.