"Really proud of the guys"

[PeteCanes]

Don't forget Trembley's quote that "the energy level really picked up once Eaton left the game." Yikes! Cold, but true.

Yeah, he really clowned him. I enjoyed.

[Tony-OH]

I think that many of the Trembley critics here would do a quick 180 if they could sit down with him over a few beers and talk about how he really feels about Eaton, Walker, Hendrickson, etc.

Bing, bing, bing!! We have a winner folks! Trembley does not have the team he wants and has not had the team he wanted since day one. However, besides this Eaton nonsense, I can understand the business decisions that have come into making out this roster.

Trembley understands this as well, but he wants to win, and you can be certain he'd rather be writing Wieters into the lineup and Tillman/Hernandez/Arrieta and Patton into either the lineup or bullpen. He may want to add Berken to that liast as well.

[ChaosLex]

I thought you were done with this in the other thread.

Not to play Devil's Advocate, but he said he was done in that thread, IIRC. Not the topic.

[Frobby]

You took the high road in the other thread by leaving, but then you decide to derail this one.

Then what is this thread about, exactly? I don't agree with everything Old#5Fan says, and I scolded him in the other thread. But isn't this thread essentially right on the topic Old#5Fan is discussing?

[Mike B]

Don't forget Trembley's quote that "the energy level really picked up once Eaton left the game." Yikes! Cold, but true.

I heard that line last night and looked at the body language of DT and I came away thinking that DT was pleading with McPhail for help. He is tired of running out Eaton, MH, Walker, and for right now Ray and having his head handed to him.

I think DT is realizing his dream job is turning into a nightmare. He realizes that pitching Eaton is akin to surrender. What's worse, his team realizes that. I took his comments as a plea for help. He wants some of the calvary now.

[El Gordo]

Which is why I said 'typically' and that statement could relate to experience and knowlege about anything.

The people who tend to know the most about something are the ones who study it the most. People who are the best at something usually are the most talented and don't need to study it the most. Look at Drungo e.g. He knows as much or more about basball, as any one on the board, but apologies to him, I doubt he was the best ballplayer. We have some posters here who actually made it to the show believe it or not.

[RShack]

I have to side with Old#5Fan on this. Not all games are created equal. We definitely have lost a few games this year because we couldn't get a timely hit with runners on base late in the game. And that would have more value to us now than in September after we are mathematically eliminated. Why? Because winning a few games like that early in the season builds morale, and gets the team in the frame of mind to go out and do it again.

Well, the flip side is that it says something good about a guy if he's coming through in September when his team is 50 games out and everybody in the clubhouse wants to blow their brains out. So, while I agree about the importance of the team not digging itself a deep hole early on, it's not like one guy's performance early in the season says something more telling about him or his value than does his performance late in the season. You want guys who plays with focus and discipline no matter what the situation, and for most teams it's easier to be upbeat and rah-rah in April and May than it is in Aug and September. So, I think it all works itself out in the end, and trying to figure out if you should put more value on coming through here vs. there in the season is a doomed exercise.

[Mad Mark]

Bing, bing, bing!! We have a winner folks! Trembley does not have the team he wants and has not had the team he wanted since day one. However, besides this Eaton nonsense, I can understand the business decisions that have come into making out this roster.

Trembley understands this as well, but he wants to win, and you can be certain he'd rather be writing Wieters into the lineup and Tillman/Hernandez/Arrieta and Patton into either the lineup or bullpen. He may want to add Berken to that liast as well.

I just hope Trembley is around when the team he wants gets here. (Does Andy MacPhail read this board by any chance? )

[El Gordo]

I'll never understand why people continue to squeeze the tar baby, or feed the trolls.:laughlol:

[Frobby]

When you agree with him, you're validating that goofy illogic he believes led to that result in his mind so I wish you wouldn't do it, because I know you don't agree. At the least, I'd wish you'd clarify that you agree that our lack of late inning hitting so far is bad because it could affect the team's confidence/outlook for the remainder of the season, but that you disagree that this is a "missing" skill so much as an unfortunate anomaly.

Even though I disagree with Old#5Fan 90% of time or more on a lot of subjects, and even though I think that he can be ridiculously stubborn in the face of evidence contradicting his points, that doesn't mean I think he's always wrong, or that valid points he makes should be disregarded just because he is the author. So when I agree with him on something, or partially agree, I'm going to say so.

Your second sentence accurately states my position. I don't think the team's lack of close & late hitting to date is the result of some deep-rooted personality flaw or lack of a skill in its key players or anything of the sort. It was pretty much this exact same group of players that had a ton of come-from-behind wins and near-misses in the first several months last year. These things come and go for most players and most teams. This year's super-clutch player is next year's choke artist. That's baseball.

[NewMarketSean]

Why is it so crazy for OldFan to pick Zimmerman over Markakis?

As a 3B, Zim is maybe more valuable because RF is a standard power position.

No need to blast him over it, even if he's just saying it to meet his anti-Markakis agenda and rile up people.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I think that many of the Trembley critics here would do a quick 180 if they could sit down with him over a few beers and talk about how he really feels about Eaton, Walker, Hendrickson, etc.

I think you're wrong, because there are people with legitimate criticisms and people just kveching after losses.

And in my case, I already generally like what he has to say and would love to talk to him about that stuff. So either way, it's a no

[Fairfax Bird]

Maybe last night if Jones hadn't "battled" instead of 3 line drive outs he would have blooped a couple of hits over the 2nd baseman's head. Don't get me wrong, he hit the ball hard but between hitting it hard and getting out and a check-swing infield hit I take the hit every time.

What the hell does this mean?

[Flosman]

Why is it so crazy for OldFan to pick Zimmerman over Markakis?

As a 3B, Zim is maybe more valuable because RF is a standard power position.

No need to blast him over it, even if he's just saying it to meet his anti-Markakis agenda and rile up people.

I don't think it would be crazy at all to pick Zimmermzn over Nick going forward at this point. I wouldn't because Nick has been really good without exeption since the Midpoint of his rookie season and has continued to progress noticeable and without steps backwards during this period. In other words I think this will continue over the next couple of seasons and I don't think that about Zimmerman. I understand I might be wrong. Hell I thought Bigbie was going to be a star.:rolleyestf:. But Zimmerman has not been the better player thus far, an objective look says he has been a small tick below Nick, this is not at all saying that I wouldn't love to have Zimmerman at 3b right now and going forward. The problem with most of us with oldguy is that he doesn't say "I just like this guy better", he goes into how the guy is overrated, just average or a little better, or attack his character as a player. This pisses me off because Nick is a Joy to watch, a great talent that is actually proforming and seems to be a good guy on top of that.

[Old#5fan]

Well, the flip side is that it says something good about a guy if he's coming through in September when his team is 50 games out and everybody in the clubhouse wants to blow their brains out. So, while I agree about the importance of the team not digging itself a deep hole early on, it's not like one guy's performance early in the season says something more telling about him or his value than does his performance late in the season. You want guys who plays with focus and discipline no matter what the situation, and for most teams it's easier to be upbeat and rah-rah in April and May than it is in Aug and September. So, I think it all works itself out in the end, and trying to figure out if you should put more value on coming through here vs. there in the season is a doomed exercise.

Here's the difference though. Would you rather have Markakis or Jones or Huff (the big three in sluggers) hitting well in tight games late or Close and Late Hitting when the team is still alive or when they are dead meat in August and September? It's that simple. To say those three are all great close and late hitters if their year end stats end up that way when only Jones was doing well early on while the team still had at least a glimpse of hope to compete would be wrong, because padding stats late in the year when the games are more or less going through the motion don't impress me in the least.