MLB Season 2011

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701

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
The past 2 nights on the highlight reel there have been 6 plays at the plate. Every person slid feet first. The catcher was completely blocking the plate in 4 of them.

Those are just the plays that had impact on the game to warrant a 10 second clip on the tv show. There have to have been more and it’s safe to assume there werent any collisions. [/quote]

Make that decision after a week to 10 days of paying attention. If you had chosen to look out for plate collisions on May 26 and May 27 you would have had completely different results.

Lets not forget the current climate in baseball after that injury. I doubt many players will try to make hard contact with the catcher in times they normally would until things cool off. Definitely not while it’s a hot issue and there’s been 2-3 injured catchers recently.

[/quote]

No, I wouldnt have had different results, as collisions did not happen in the past two days.

My point was to show how sliding, EVEN WHEN THE BALL BEATS THE RUNNER, is the norm.

And that part about the climate of baseball is absurd. This isnt a political race or celebrities acting like fools. PLayers dont give a shit about the media or public opinion. It is their job to win games. And barreling into the catcher is not against the rules. A player is absolutely not thinking about media backlash when rounding third as the outfielder is making a throw. Thinking the players care about that is a crazy premise. [/quote]

I don’t disagree it’s the norm. But when there are 6 plays at the plate in 2 days (roughly 21 a week at that rate) I don’t think it’s unfair to say 1 in every 21 plays at the plate result in a collision (varying severities).

Why would you consider it a crazy premise?

People have made DEATH THREATS to Cousins and his family. Are you telling if you were a Major Leaguer death threats towards you and your family would not affect how you play the game?

Give me a break.[/quote]

Asinine logic. None of the players I saw this weekend received death threats. They are getting paid to do a job. Not worry about whether fans have a hard-on for a star player. The fact of the matter is that if it wasnt Posey involved far less people would have cared and certainly no death threats would be written. Barry Bonds got death threats for over 2 years. Did he changed ANYTHING about the way he played the game?

No break will be given to you. You are wrong here.
[/quote]

What I meant to say was: If a teammate of yours received death threats for running the catcher, would you not think twice about doing the same? There are other catchers out there who are just as important as Posey is to his team. It can happen. There have been fans who have attacked players in the past (Bill Spiers comes to mind)

As for Bonds no he did not change the way he played, but it did impact how he addressed the media relating to Hank Aaron’s record:

But I would consider the Bonds situation different anyways. In one the player cannot adjust his approach without severely hindering his performance. In the other a hook slide can be just as effective in most cases.

702

[quote]therajraj wrote:
But the general consensus in baseball from what I’ve read is they oppose a rule change.

A handful have gone as far as asserting Posey was responsible for his injury.

Johnny Bench:

?Buster is laying in front of home plate, and it?s like having a disabled car in the middle of a four-lane highway. You?re just going to get smacked,? said Bench.
He added: ?Show them the plate. You can always catch the ball and step, or step and catch the ball, as long as you?ve got the runner on the ground. And if you have the runner on the ground, there?s less chance of any severe collision.?

On the hand, manager Bruce Bochy, a former catcher, took exception to Bench?s remarks, but did acknowledge that Posey was not well positioned in that fateful play.
?Buster wasn?t in great position, I agree, because it was a short hop and he dropped down on both knees to get it,? Bochy said via the Chronicle.
In the same report, Bochy also noted the preference for a catcher is to ?keep the left leg up. He?s still going to be vulnerable because he?s trying to catch an in-between hop, the toughest play in baseball. Eventually, you go to make a sweep tag.?[/quote]

What’s your point? I just heard Ray Fosse spend a half-inning during the A’s/Red Sox game talk about how Bench was wrong and how Bench clearly hasn’t seen the play more than a couple times if that was his assessment. I’ve heard several other people, including another former catcher in Mike Matheny, echo the same sentiments as Fosse.

Or do you even have a point? Are you simply doing your best Tim Kurkjian impression by passing off your ability to select and quote the opinions of others as proof of your baseball knowledge?

703

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:
But the general consensus in baseball from what I’ve read is they oppose a rule change.

A handful have gone as far as asserting Posey was responsible for his injury.

Johnny Bench:

?Buster is laying in front of home plate, and it?s like having a disabled car in the middle of a four-lane highway. You?re just going to get smacked,? said Bench.
He added: ?Show them the plate. You can always catch the ball and step, or step and catch the ball, as long as you?ve got the runner on the ground. And if you have the runner on the ground, there?s less chance of any severe collision.?

On the hand, manager Bruce Bochy, a former catcher, took exception to Bench?s remarks, but did acknowledge that Posey was not well positioned in that fateful play.
?Buster wasn?t in great position, I agree, because it was a short hop and he dropped down on both knees to get it,? Bochy said via the Chronicle.
In the same report, Bochy also noted the preference for a catcher is to ?keep the left leg up. He?s still going to be vulnerable because he?s trying to catch an in-between hop, the toughest play in baseball. Eventually, you go to make a sweep tag.?[/quote]

What’s your point? I just heard Ray Fosse spend a half-inning during the A’s/Red Sox game talk about how Bench was wrong and how Bench clearly hasn’t seen the play more than a couple times if that was his assessment. I’ve heard several other people, including another former catcher in Mike Matheny, echo the same sentiments as Fosse.

Or do you even have a point? Are you simply doing your best Tim Kurkjian impression by passing off your ability to select and quote the opinions of others as proof of your baseball knowledge?[/quote]

You initially brought up others who agreed with your opinion. So I decided to present examples of those who disagree with you.

Honestly, you are too god damn sensitive. I’m just not going to bother responding to you anymore.

704

I stated earlier that I thought most Major Leaguers would not consider what Cousins did a dirty play. That was my initial point.

There are plenty more outside of Johnny Bench.

705

[quote]therajraj wrote:
I stated earlier that I thought most Major Leaguers would not consider what Cousins did a dirty play. That was my initial point.

There are plenty more outside of Johnny Bench.[/quote]

I don’t believe that Johnny Bench ever addressed whether or not it was a clean play. I do know that he specifically mentioned that Posey did not give him a lane or a clear path to the plate, but anyone who has watched the collision from more than one angle can clearly see that Posey did in fact give the runner a route that didn’t involve going right through him. I think Bench only went so far as to call it a legal play and part of the game. But he never addressed whether or not it was clean, and even if he did say something along those lines, his opinion is invalid because the rest of his comments clearly indicate that he hasn’t seen the play often enough to make an accurate assessment of the situation.

But I still don’t see what your point is. Thanks to the quotes you’ve posted I now know what Johnny Bench’s point is, which doesn’t even address the cleanliness of the play anyways. What is your point, aside from showing me what I already know, that there are differing opinions on the matter amongst former major league catchers and that at least two of them place the blame on Posey without addressing whether or not the collision itself was clean.

Personally, I think it’s classless and a low blow for anyone to come out and place blame on Posey. What if a pitcher gave up a home run to a hitter and the next time he came up the pitcher drilled him in the face with a pitch? If he got hit in the face because he opened up to the pitch rather than turn away from it I don’t think anyone would be deflecting criticism toward the pitcher back toward the hitter by saying it’s his fault for turning the wrong way. That’s not to say that Cousins was looking to injure Posey, only to send a message, which may be what the pitcher who accidentally drills a guy in the face was doing by trying to knock the guy off the plate. Maybe he was trying to knock him off the plate and the pitch got away from him.

I think an analogy between the two situations is entirely appropriate. But if the above scenario happened, you would never see former hitters like Don Baylor come out and say that it’s the hitter’s fault for getting drilled in the face. So fuck Johnny Bench and Buck Martinez and their opinion.

706

Anyone follow the MLB draft? I was extremely happy with the Nats getting Rendon at 6 and Meyer at 23.

707

What the fuck is with this guy? I seriously hope Bryce Harper doesn’t turn out to be a complete jackass in the bigs instead of a great player. What an idiot. If someone doesn’t straighten him out real soon his career’s gonna get cut prematurely short by a fastball in the earhole.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110607&content_id=20151458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

708

^^^ Wow, we finally agree.

LOL

709

I’m wondering what’s up with the porn stache.

710

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
What the fuck is with this guy? I seriously hope Bryce Harper doesn’t turn out to be a complete jackass in the bigs instead of a great player. What an idiot. If someone doesn’t straighten him out real soon his career’s gonna get cut prematurely short by a fastball in the earhole.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110607&content_id=20151458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb[/quote]

That’s so stupid. I guess someone is letting all the hype get to his head. Kind of reminds me of Lebron James, in that he got so much attention from the media at such a young age. I beleive Harper was getting a lot of attention from the national media his Junior and Senior year in high school if I remember correctly.

711

RED SOX on top of the AL East BABY!!! The Giants had a good game too. Cain with 11 K’s for all you Giants fans haha.

712

^^ Didn’t see the game but saw the highlight of the baseloaded situation with Gardner at 3rd and Jeter batting.

Pass ball and Gardner stays put - absolutely brutal to watch something like that. Absolute rally killer.

713

[quote]johnman18 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
What the fuck is with this guy? I seriously hope Bryce Harper doesn’t turn out to be a complete jackass in the bigs instead of a great player. What an idiot. If someone doesn’t straighten him out real soon his career’s gonna get cut prematurely short by a fastball in the earhole.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110607&content_id=20151458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb[/quote]

That’s so stupid. I guess someone is letting all the hype get to his head. Kind of reminds me of Lebron James, in that he got so much attention from the media at such a young age. I beleive Harper was getting a lot of attention from the national media his Junior and Senior year in high school if I remember correctly.[/quote]

They’re both once in a decade type players. Bryce was on the cover of SI at 16yrs old. Lebron as a junior. It would be hard not to be big headed with attention like that.

714

[quote]fnf wrote:

[quote]johnman18 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
What the fuck is with this guy? I seriously hope Bryce Harper doesn’t turn out to be a complete jackass in the bigs instead of a great player. What an idiot. If someone doesn’t straighten him out real soon his career’s gonna get cut prematurely short by a fastball in the earhole.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110607&content_id=20151458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb[/quote]

That’s so stupid. I guess someone is letting all the hype get to his head. Kind of reminds me of Lebron James, in that he got so much attention from the media at such a young age. I beleive Harper was getting a lot of attention from the national media his Junior and Senior year in high school if I remember correctly.[/quote]

They’re both once in a decade type players. Bryce was on the cover of SI at 16yrs old. Lebron as a junior. It would be hard not to be big headed with attention like that.
[/quote]

Wayne Gretzky seemed to figure it out at a much earlier age than high school. Maybe that sort of attention just magnifies an already-existent level of immaturity.

715

^ Very good point.

716

Anthony Rizzo is making his first start for the Padres today. He tore it up in the PCL. It’s a whole different world in the big leagues and playing at Petco Park, so hopefully he doesn’t put too much pressure on himself and puts up decent numbers.

717

Jesus fucking Christ, the Giants are fucked. They’ve already been hit with injuries to the point that Freddy Sanchez is now their best hitter, which is pathetic, and then HE goes down! Goddamnit, I give up. They may be in first place now, but unless they get some serious help sometime here in the next month or so, they’re done. It’s a shame, because I still think that this team, even with Aubrey Huff swinging the bat like a quadriplegic, could have defended their title successfully if they had stayed healthy. But that’s always a big if. Now, it’s looking like the Red Sox are the best team in the bigs and of course the Phils look good, especially if Lee has a better second half than his first half’s shaping up to be so far.

718

Diamondbacks!

719

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
Diamondbacks![/quote]

Dude, seriously! What’s up with them? It seems like the last several years a team has come out of nowhere in the NL West to at least contend all the way. 2009 it was the Giants, last year the Pads and this year it looks like it could be the D’backs.

If they can pick up a little pitching help via trade (do they have anyone in their minor league system who is a potential callup/difference-maker this year for them in this regard?) they look like they could really be a team to reckon with this year. I admit, I didn’t think they’d be very good at all this year due to a lack of pitching. But they’re getting just enough so far and their offense looks legit.

720

[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
Diamondbacks![/quote]
Dude the NL west is wide open. I wouldn’t be surprised if they won it.