Comments on: Angst, Acrimony and Accountability

By: dewluca

dewluca — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:02:56 +0000

whoops, that should have been Ernie Banks’ . . .

grammar seems to be the first thing to go late at nite

By: dewluca

dewluca — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:59:27 +0000

Thanks JC. Helpful reminders for us all.

I would add a wish for everyone to keep some perspective. I LOVE baseball. Couldn’t make it through the summers without it. But I refuse to be more upset about a misplaced bunt than I am about the oil spill in the Gulf or the 8 million people who lost their jobs in the past few years.

Please remember, baseball is a game. If you can’t enjoy it, including all its foibles and craziness, then you need to find some other way to spend your time. 162 games x 3+ hours/game is a lot of hours to be spending if it is making you miserable. Life is too short for the sort of vitriol I’ve been seeing (the mlb.com sites seem to be the worst, but it’s all over the place). It’s just not healthy, either for the ones spewing it or those of us who happen to hear/read it.

For me, baseball is therapy. (It runs in the family. Dad calls Yankee Stadium his “Sanitorium in the Bronx.) During a game is the one time I become so absorbed in what I am watching or listening to that I don’t fret about the many things I could be fretting about. When other fans start losing their heads, spewing venom, and giving me agita, they ruin my peace of mind and my ability to enjoy the game.

So I for one have appreciated that here at knuckleballs things have been (for the most part) pretty civil. Even when we disagree with each other, it usually doesn’t get ugly.

Thanks to our moderators for keeping this site a pleasant place to share the game when we can’t actually be at the ballpark. Let’s all try to bring a bit of Ernie Bank’s “It’s a beautiful day, let’s play two!” to every chat.

JMHO, dew

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:03:27 +0000

This was wonderful, but may I just say this: As someone who watches many games, attends many games, etc., I would like to tell people to lay off the Joe Mauer bunt thing. I saw him–I believe last year, when he was, y’know, the MVP–lay down a bunt single when he realized the infield was playing back. Genius. But you know what I’ve seen out of him this year? A batting average lower than Delmon Young’s (which, really, isn’t hard this year because Young is hitting well, but from our usual batting champ, it’s impressive). A *lot* of doubly plays. So, when you have guys on first and second with one out, even in a good year six times out of ten he was going to be out (.400 on-base percentage; granted, he was probably closer to .450 in his best year–too lazy to look up stats).

This brings us to Tuesday night, again. Mauer looked at the situation, and realizeed a way that he could get on base (a well-placed bunt) and advance the runners (to second and third). He realized he wasn’t hitting well lately (he is not unaware. He knows he’s hitting under .300). He’s hit into a *lot* of double plays–second on the team, I believe, or is he ahead of Cuddy again? I can never keep track. So, he decides to get a hit in a way they’re giving it to him–a bunt. He fails to lay down a bunt, but advances the runners.

What’s funny? If the lad had hit into *another* double play, no one would remember it today–we would’ve moved on. Instead, he gave Kubel (someone else who has not hit well lately–in face, I think ever since he became the full-time right fielder, I think) a chance to get the runners home. And we’re mad about that.