Nelson Cruz almost earned half his paycheck in the first game.

[Ommaculate]

I think pitching won the game for the O's.

1 ER over 9 will generally get it done.

But they never could have won if they didn't get that 2nd run.

[mark_beckens]

But they never could have won if they didn't get that 2nd run.

But the second run would have been worthless if the pitching gave up 5 runs.

[blid]

Yeah, the most WAR you can possibly give Cruz here is 0.5, because his contribution was all on the offensive end. OK, he made a catch, but the pitchers threw 9 innings of 1 run ball, and all the other fielders also made catches. But you can't give Cruz 0.5 WAR either, because his homer was only one of the two runs. The other run he was also involved in, but he only walked. He never would have scored that run without Wieters singling him over and another player putting the ball in play. In any case... I agree with you that he had a huge impact in one win already, which is great, but he didn't Bugs Bunny it by playing every position at once.

[baltimoreO's22]

From Run Batted in Wiki:

(b) The official scorer shall not credit a run batted in

<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">(1) when the batter grounds into a force double play or a reverse-force double play; or

(2) when a fielder is charged with an error because the fielder muffs a throw at first base that would have completed a force double play.</dd></dl>

I should have worded better. I understand the rule, what I don't understand is the logic behind it. If the batter hits a ball that results in a run scoring, imo it should be an rbi.

[weams]

What if the game is in the World Series?

You went there.

[DrungoHazewood]

I should have worded better. I understand the rule' date=' what I don't understand is the logic behind it. If the batter hits a ball that results in a run scoring, imo it should be an rbi.[/quote']

RBIs are broken in so many ways that the "no RBI on a GIDP" is not even really worth worrying about.

[Can_of_corn]

You went there.

Did you doubt that I would?

[backwardsk]

All I know is Gonzalez got a GWRBI on Monday and Lombardozi can't see the field. Gonzalez WAR=yes, Lombardozi's WAR=no. Great trade Duquette. Grrr.

[waroriole]

Mr. Kramer, I took a look at your work and I don't even know what this is supposed to be. It's almost like you have no training in business at all.

He's just trying to get ahead.

[PA724_Oriole]

In my eyes....My buddy, who is a RedSox fan...The expressions on his face after Cruz hit the go ahead homer last night and the tying homer just now were priceless. Time for a Cruz walk-off now!

[Ommaculate]

Very interesting. That was a nice 0-2 poke over the fence. Now Lackey is having an emotional meltdown.

[Loophole]

Cruz failed to prevent Jimenez from allowing the Napoli HR, so that's worth -5 WAR in my personal calculations.

Mods, can we please get a sticky thread so every poster can update their individual WAR standings? So far I have Markakis in the lead with +15 WAR cause he has a cute butt.

[O's84]

He's just trying to get ahead.

I'll work harder. Nights, weekends, whatever it takes.

[OFFNY]

.

OOOOObviously, Cruz has not come close to earning half of his 2014 paycheck yet (nobody in all of baseball has), but so far, Cruz has given us precisely what we were hoping for ........ offense, home runs, doubles, and he even has a nice batting average (.290) and on-base percentage (.372)

I would be curious to periodically revisit this thread from now until the end of the season (AND the postseason, should we make it that far.)

[OFFNY]

.

Again ...... Cruz is still quite a way from earning half of his paycheck, but he sure is mashing the ball early on in this young season!

I know that I said that I would like to "periodically" revisit this thread ...... but man, I can't help it with the way that he has been hitting.