tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post2489254315130191463..comments2024-01-31T17:51:12.213-05:00Comments on Swing and a Miss: Cold FactsTom Goodmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-44083848595907114902007-02-16T10:47:00.000-05:002007-02-16T10:47:00.000-05:00kuff6:Thanks!! That is part of it. I must have s...kuff6:<BR/><BR/>Thanks!! That is part of it. I must have superimposed two recollections. I know the quote you cite here from "The Summer Game" (and actually xeroxed it and took it to the first meeting at CBP of several of the bloggers), but the part about caring and daily change comes from another piece by Angell. I think it is in one of his essays in "Five Seasons", but I haven't found it, yet.Tom Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-86549722684942319772007-02-16T10:43:00.000-05:002007-02-16T10:43:00.000-05:00Through the miracle of google, I think this must b...Through the miracle of google, I think this must be the passage you're talking about:<BR/><BR/>“The box score, being modestly arcane, is a matter of intense indifference, if not irritation, to the non-fan. To the baseball-bitten, it is not only informative, pictorial, and gossipy but lovely in aesthetic structure. It represents happenstance and physical flight exactly translated into figures and history. Its totals - batters' credit vs. pitchers' debit - balance as exactly as those in an accountant's ledger. And a box score is more than a capsule archive. It is a precisely etched miniature of the sport itself, for baseball, in spite of its grassy spaciousness and apparent unpredictability, is the most intensely and satisfyingly mathematical of all our outdoor sports. Every player in every game is subjected to a cold and ceaseless accounting; no ball is thrown and no base is gained without an instant responding judgment - ball or strike, hit or error, yea or nay - and an ensuing statistic. This encompassing neatness permits the baseball fan, aided by experience and memory, to extract from a box score the same joy, the same hallucinatory reality, that pickles the scalp of a musician when he glances at a page of his score of Don Giovanni and actually hears bassos and sopranos, woodwinds and violins.” -"Box Scores", The Summer Game<BR/><BR/>In any event, my email is kufflerj@whiteandwilliams.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-67709186752463955102007-02-16T09:10:00.000-05:002007-02-16T09:10:00.000-05:00kuff6: Just the other day RSB and I were exchangi...kuff6: <BR/><BR/>Just the other day RSB and I were exchanging emails regarding passion about baseball. We both recall reading a piece by Roger Angell who wrote marvelously on the whole notion of caring deeply for sports figures and institutions. In it Angell observed that given their long season baseball players above all other athletes, see their fortunes ebb and flow daily and that the results are tabulated in a unique ledger of credits and debits (the box score) for all to see. What makes their lives so different from our own and so important to us is in large measure that their fortunes do change daily where ours almost never do.<BR/><BR/>Both of us have tried to find the article in question and are still searching. If and when we do, I will let you know. Send me your email address if you please.Tom Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-1529582983969720842007-02-16T09:00:00.000-05:002007-02-16T09:00:00.000-05:00I'm thinking that my career would be in a lot bett...I'm thinking that my career would be in a lot better shape if I applied the same terrier-like perseverance to my job that I inexplicably seem to have taken with trying to convince someone I've never met that Pat Burrell is just a smidge better than represented. Isn't baseball freakin' great?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-57004331875249040772007-02-15T16:15:00.000-05:002007-02-15T16:15:00.000-05:00Last one for me, too....I agree with you.Last one for me, too....<BR/><BR/>I agree with you.Tom Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-30843556153441367392007-02-15T16:13:00.000-05:002007-02-15T16:13:00.000-05:00Last thing I'll say on this, I promise...I think y...Last thing I'll say on this, I promise...<BR/>I think you're selling Burrell a little short. 29 hr and 95 rbi in only 462 at bats last year, with 117 rbi and over 30 hr the year before, is a bit better than what you described.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-17909030891275783922007-02-15T15:18:00.000-05:002007-02-15T15:18:00.000-05:00kuff6: I sympathize with the eternal optimism unj...kuff6: I sympathize with the eternal optimism unjustified as it is. I guess we are who we are, too.<BR/><BR/>The Burrell saga is a fascinating one. We loved him; we hated him; we forgave him; we derided him. We gave him second and third chances and he bungled every other one. In the end the Phils couldn't get rid of him no matter how hard they tried so we all made peace with ourselves and decided to say "he is who he is". Management wanted to get rid of him with one hand and convinced themselves with the other that a guy who hits 25 - 30 home runs and knocks in around 90 or so isn't that easy to find and, hey, what do you know, we have one right in our own backyard. Sounds like they talked themselves into accepting his presence, so why shouldn't we?Tom Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-55731013044485593702007-02-15T15:08:00.000-05:002007-02-15T15:08:00.000-05:00Tom:While we both seem to qualify Pat as "he is wh...Tom:<BR/><BR/>While we both seem to qualify Pat as "he is what he is," I guess my point is that "what he is" is better than what he's generally given credit for.<BR/><BR/>Of course, this could just be the inexplicable optimism I feel about this team every spring (and, I would note, that for most of my lifetime, the Phillies have done absolutely nothing to justify this annual bout of optimism).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-18714423237947683242007-02-15T14:50:00.000-05:002007-02-15T14:50:00.000-05:00As the projected win totals and optimism for the P...As the projected win totals and optimism for the Phillies' chances seems to increase every day, I appreciate this sense of skepticism as necessary balance to the typically stratospheric hopes of early spring training. Even Conlin snuck in a half-kidding reference to them winning the NL East, and Zolecki consistently opines in his Q & A forum that he sees no reason they won't make the playoffs. But there are reasons why they very well may not, and thanks for putting them out there. <BR/><BR/>The Phillies have an above-average rotation, probably one good enough to make a playoff run, but it is hardly filled with indomitable pitchers. I see the offense as being half-full and half-empty. I see the bullpen and bench as mostly empty. I see the Phillies as being "due" to have things break right, but then I've seen that for quite a few years now. I maintain that they appear to have a team that again can win 85-90 games, and whether that takes them into the post-season is a matter of how well other teams in the league play. It's enough to be moderately excited about, but we'd all do well to temper the expectations a little here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-91345777831155037632007-02-15T10:15:00.000-05:002007-02-15T10:15:00.000-05:00kuff6: We are saying the same thing in essence th...kuff6: We are saying the same thing in essence though the second half breakdown is revealing. Nevertheless, he is who he is and he ain't gonna' change much. As for running people out of town, WIP didn't run Rolen out, Green and Bowa were the chief antagonists though I maintain (and have written ad nauseum) that Rolen wanted out anyway.<BR/><BR/>anonymous: the pitching staff could be very good, but it could be very mediocre. I neglected to even mention Moyer, an oversight I attribute in large part to my lack of enthusiasm for his presence on the mound. In the dugout he might be a terrific influence, but on the mound his junk may not fool all of the people all of the time given a full season and his age.Tom Goodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816668232837298444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-36105508511324753242007-02-15T10:00:00.000-05:002007-02-15T10:00:00.000-05:00There has been much ballyhoo about the Phillies st...There has been much ballyhoo about the Phillies starting pitching staff around here but ESPN does not have them in their top 5. If you look at last years stats for the 5 starters then it's understandable why.Most of the pitchers were not consistent through out the year.<BR/>I am not opposed to having Rollins bat 5th but at the same time it's pretty rare a leadoff guy hits 25 homers!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610014.post-86017490009676720262007-02-15T09:20:00.000-05:002007-02-15T09:20:00.000-05:00I also remembered Burrell being horrible in the 2n...I also remembered Burrell being horrible in the 2nd half last year. However, I just looked at the numbers, and I have to admit I am stunned, but there wasn't any swoon at all:<BR/><BR/>pre all-star break: .250/.376/.508<BR/><BR/>post-ASB: .268/.403/.495<BR/><BR/>Breaking it down by month doesn't yield anything different, as he was .259/.390/.469 in August and .253/.394/.480 in September.<BR/><BR/>Can we all please just stop talking about Burrell and let him go out there and get his 30+ HR with .380+ obp and not worry about it? Do we really want to allow the idiots at WIP to run him out of town so we get pennies on the dollar for him (see, e.g., Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com