- 09:19 PM
- 11/20/09
| Name: | gary |
|---|---|
| Homepage URL: | http://teamryan.com/ |
| Location: | the dirty south |
| ZIP: | 32514 |
| Gender: | Well the men don't know, but the little girls understand... |
| AIM: | garytryan |
| Member since: | January 23, 2002 |
| Last visit: | November 20, 2009 |
| Status: | editor |
justgary has posted 410 links and 2516 comments to SportsFilter and 13 links and 341 comments to the Locker Room and 4 columns.
Zack Greinke Wins American League Cy Young: overcoming both social anxiety disorder and only 16 wins.
posted by justgary to baseball at 07:44 PM on November 17 - 24 comments
Redesigning the Worst NFL Helmet Graphics: For the Washington Redskins I tried a design direction that might be considered more politically correct in most circles by removing the Native American portrait, emphasizing the feather motif from the headdress and using it more dynamically on the helmet.
posted by justgary to football at 02:48 PM on November 10 - 24 comments
Seats of Gold: Yankee Stadium's Legends Suite Was Sparsely Populated At Times This Season - A Sign Of What Greed Does To Loyalty.
posted by justgary to baseball at 04:24 PM on October 09 - 6 comments
Umpire Billy Evans: In all probability when the 1919 series is over, a diagnosis of it will show that the final result was brought about by some unusual situation or freak happening that was given no consideration when the relative strength of the two clubs was considered.
posted by justgary to baseball at 02:54 PM on October 09 - 4 comments
Pretty Boys No More: Boxers before and after their fights.
posted by justgary to boxing at 05:41 PM on September 10 - 7 comments
Felix Hernandez came in 2nd place in the Cy Young voting and he finished the season 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA, you telling me that he didn't 'deserve' the Cy Young award?
Yes, I'm telling you he didn't deserve the Cy Young, because Greinke had a better year. Deserve to be mentioned? Yes. Win? No.
There are certain years when statistics are close enough to declare two or more players deserving. This year wasn't one of them. Anyone other than Greinke would have been a flawed choice.
posted by justgary at 04:50 PM on November 18
Exactly what does the word 'deserved' mean to you bornicon?
He led the league in ERA, WHIP and homers per nine, second in strikeouts, shutouts, complete games and hits per nine. He won the Cy Young pitching for a terrible hitting and fielding team that lost 97 games.
Other pitchers had nice seasons; none deserved the award. Or put differently, Greinke is the only pitcher that would have been robbed if he had lost. Why? He was the only pitcher to deserve the award.
posted by justgary at 11:23 AM on November 18
It was the wrong call by Belichick, with hindsight in everyone's favor after the fact.
Okay.
But I'm certainly not someone who is in a position to second-guess someone like Bill Belichick.
What?
I don't agree that because it didn't work it's not the right call. Maybe punting is the right call. If it's returned for a touchdown that doesn't make it wrong. The coach can only call the play. The players have to make it happen.
posted by justgary at 08:53 PM on November 16
Most coaches would never do that in the same situation. I think most coaches are right, and the outcome of this game lends support to that position.
I disagree with these assumptions, but ignoring the second:
Obviously coaches are on the sidelines and I'm sitting on my ass writing this for a reason, but looking at this one play I'm not sure 'most coaches would punt' means much of anything. Look at baseball. Coaches and players for years hung to theories and ideas that have been blown out of the water by fans/statisticians. Old assumptions made with nothing more than a gut feeling die hard. And what coaches considered important statistics in the 50s in judging players have gone by the wayside.
If the Yankees are ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh and the home team has the bases loaded with the middle of the line-up coming up, it makes perfect sense to bring Rivera in. The game is on the line at that moment. Waiting until you possibly, might get in trouble in the 9th doesn't make sense. But if Rivera fails, or the Yankees do lose it in the 9th, people will freak. That doesn't make it the wrong call. But it certainly takes guts, and not many managers are going to risk it, because if you lose in the 9th with Rivera on the hill, you are safe. You did what managers have been doing for 30 years.
Joe Posnanski has more on the math behind the decision and the timeout thing
Reading his column this morning I, as usual, found myself agreeing. I'm not saying it's the right call. I'm not that smart. But I can certainly see why he made the call, and I can see why he thought it was the right call, and I don't understand how anyone can be so sure it was the wrong call. The execution of the play was lacking.
posted by justgary at 05:33 PM on November 16
No Haughey, no Metafilter, no Sportsfilter.
Good thoughts to Matt and his family.
posted by justgary at 09:25 PM on November 15
Doesn't that in itself tell you that this man's opinion is baised?
I'm having a hard time believing people are taking this seriously, but since they apparently are, the bill was introduced by a member of congress from NY. I have a hard time believing he would have done the same if the Phillies had won. So if you're going to throw the word biased around...
Doesn't congress have anything better to do than give red sox fans another forum in which to whine and snivel?
posted by tbonanno
Dude, your first comment in 3 years on this forum is to whine about Red Sox fans, despite that most of the opinions in this thread are from non Red Sox fans. Mmm, irony.
posted by justgary at 02:59 PM on November 09
Congress included, get involved with this same, tired Yankee-bashing shit.
Come on now. This was a complete joke. You did read what those in the Yankee corner said, right?
My only real issue is when people want to use that as the one and only reason specific teams never contend or improve.
It's not the only reason, but it's a huge reason. It's entirely possible for a small market team to hit gold one year, especially if the yankees and other big market teams don't spend wisely. But those teams don't have the resources to keep those teams together. So Becket goes to Boston, and CC goes to New York.
The Yankees are't guaranteed to win a WS every year. They are guaranteed to be in contention every year. That's a huge advantage. The get to buy more lottery tickets than any other team. It's only because of the nature of baseball and bad decisions by the front office that the Yankee's payroll isn't even more of an advantage.
I know it's frustrating to feel like all you read here when it comes to the Yankees is payroll. But for most fans they don't see much difference between the Yankees and Red Sox. I've heard 'the Red Sox are now just like the Yankees' more times than I can count; far different than when other fans wanted the Red Sox to win. I gotta tell you, it's feels better to root for a winning team. Yeah, it sucks to hear that the Red Sox bought their way out of the 'curse', but I'll gladly take those barbs to have seen 2 WS championships. You root for a team with 27 WS victories. That should be a pretty big pillow to rest your head on when discussion starts getting you down.
And as for resenting Yankee success and reveling in their misery, remember, the first response in the Red Sox elimination thread was yours. I believe it was "beautiful".
The Yankees have quality throughout the organization. Not just the players. From the coaches to the scouts to the GM- they have smarter people than you do.
Well,
Since 2001, the yankees have outspent the marlins by 1.2 billion dollars and won the same number of championships as the marlins did during that time.(2001-2009 yankees: 1,578,299,197; 2001-2009 marlins: 332,995,293.
I guess they turned smart over night, huh?
JButton, I wouldn't be surprised if you're on the Yankee payroll. You do a good job of PR. But how about a little less calling people haters and babies. It doesn't help the discussion.
posted by justgary at 12:52 PM on November 08
"Being from New York, I have always considered myself to be a winner," King told The Hill. "So it is very difficult for me to understand the 'begrudgery' and thought process of those who come from unimportant cities and states."
I know that's suppose to be funny, and I've loved NYC every time I've visited, but that quote isn't surprising. In the piece linked yesterday about how much NY needed this WS win because of their suffering, it wasn't good enough to say that they've suffered like most of the U.S.
No, New York had to suffer MORE than the rest of the U.S. It gets tedious.
Wait, no, that's not quite right. I mean the Yankees are at least IN the World Series every year. Oh, no, that's not right either.
The faults with your reasoning are so blatantly obvious and have been discussed and linked to so many times here that I have trouble believing you're serious.
posted by justgary at 02:08 AM on November 08
This column on ESPN pretty much sums up my feelings on Manuel.
And at some point, isn't it the players' responsibility to perform (and cover third on the Damon steal)? Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard (10 strikeouts!) and Raul Ibanez are all at, or below, the Mendoza Line. They need to get going because Chase Utley can't do it alone. And even Utley, as productive as he's been (another home run and an RBI double Sunday), will need to break out against a pitcher not named Sabathia. He is 4-for-6 with three homers and a double against CC but 0-for-9 against everyone else.
posted by justgary at 11:25 PM on November 06
If we had gotten a game 7, the decision to start Cole Hamels over Cliff Lee was huge.
We had an interesting discussion, but I don't think there was ever a thought to pitch Lee. Did I miss where Manuel even suggested it was possible? And as I said in the other thread, Lee gave up 5 in 7 on full rest. I'm not sure how you could even expect that level of performance on 2 days.
Another thing I've been meaning to bring up was Manuel's decision to let Pedro Martinez face Hideki Matsui in the third inning. At that point, Matsui had homered in the second inning and was 8-for-18 with four doubles, two homers and four RBIs against Martinez in postseason play. I think he had gotten a hit in every at-bat versus Martinez in this series.
But that was already a part of my award winning game analysis. I thought it was the worst move of the series. Pedro had nothing. Unforgivable to leave him in against Matsui.
I think this was a close series, but Manuel's managing blew the Phillies' chance and will hang around his neck like an albatross.
A play here, a play there, it could have gone the other way. But I don't think it was that close. I think the Yankees were clearly superior, and only held back by a lack of starting pitching depth; a problem they'll solve over the off season.
And I disagree about Manuel. He made mistakes, but when your closer is horrid and your cleanup hitter hits .174 there's only so much you can do. It's much easier to just pencil in Rivera to finish off every game.
posted by justgary at 11:18 PM on November 06
This thread has no game analysis, no series analysis, really nothing much except for protracted attempts to diminish the accomplishments of the victors.
What I said in this thread:
But the phillies also have themselves to blame. Werth being picked off first. Not covering 3rd and allowing Damon to steal two bases. Victorino misjudging a flyball last night. Mistake after mistake. Not even including Pedro being allowed to face Matsui with an 85 mph fastball.
But they weren't going to win with 3 runs anyway. I thought it was a pretty pathetic performance by the Phillies outside of Lee and Utley. They deserved to lose.
Did you want deeper series analysis? Is that why you ignored what I wrote? Sure, nothing I wrote wasn't apparent to most fans, but it was far more detailed than anything on the first page of the forum you linked.
But I don't think that much analysis is necessary. The yankees won because they had the better team. I don't think it was that close. So why are the Yankees so much better? Well, for one, they have the money to sign better players, to have a deeper team. I find that topic interesting. Not only in the aspect of the Yankee WS victory, but in baseball as a whole. Will other teams spend more? Will the Yankees spend less?
You pointed to the BBTD forum, and I've read one page. I have no idea what I've suppose to take from that. If you enjoy it, great. Different forums appeal to different people.
I'm not denying chemistry is involved. I find it ludicrous to believe it has more to do than the talent of the team. That's just my opinion. You can disagree. You can bring it up. I'm not sure where the discussion goes from there, however. And when I quoted what you wrote about the Yankee team your responded sarcastically. I'm guessing you have a point that I'm missing, but it appears you simply wish to argue and play the martyr.
posted by justgary at 10:55 PM on November 06
Second, there's nothing bleak about the Rogers Hornsby quote. It's a beautiful testament to the greatness of baseball.
First comment in the 2007 Red Sox WS victory thread:
Time to start the countdown to pitchers and catchers.
posted by justgary at 10:32 PM on November 06
Why can't the community discuss both?
They can. But if members would rather discuss the payroll advantage than the fact that CC takes players out to dinner, then you can either join in or ignore it.
The Yankees have had this enormous financial advantage for several years. Why is this the first time they've won?
It's been answered multiple times in this thread. Because they finally spent the money wisely. Signing an old Roger Clemens, bad. CC, good. Giambi as a first baseman, bad. Texiera, good. Why is the 2009 team better than 08? Because statistically they're better.
I don't think it's a mystery why the Yankees won. In fact, I'm not sure much in sports is clearer. If someone wants to believe it's because of Chemistry, have at it.
And why should Yankee fans be banished to another site to discuss it?
Don't read more into my comment than is there. I said that if Yankee fans want to ignore the payroll and talk about Chemistry, this site probable isn't for them. In other words, they probably aren't going to be happy.
posted by justgary at 10:27 PM on November 06
Here's the thread from the Phillies championship last year.
Here's the team payrolls for 2008. Certainly you can see why no one brought up payroll in that thread.
The chemistry of the team has been a storyline all year. Girardi drops a day of training to take the club out to play pool. CC takes everybody out to dinner. Nick Swisher is apparently told to crank up the music in the clubhouse. AJ starts throwing pies at guys, and the New York media starts losing their minds over whether or not that fits the "Yankee Way."
Honestly, if someone wants to have discussions on CC taking everyone out to dinner, and nick swisher playing music, and AJ throwing pies, this isn't the site for them. It never has been, and hopefully never will be. There are at least 10 yankee sites I know where you can romanticize the championship and talk about what a difference team chemistry made this year and completely ignore the payroll.
That an intelligent sports community should ignore what is measurable and real and instead discuss AJ throwing pies, well, again, seems comical.
posted by justgary at 09:29 PM on November 06
Scioscia, Tracy Win Manager of the Year Awards
What exactly does Ron Gardenhire have to do to win this thing?
The media has in in their heads that Scioscia is a genius. And with an award that is mostly subjective, that's tough to overcome.