In this case, though, it's not the throw that beat him -- it was a combination of Morneau's foot being slightly off the ground and a terrific sweep tag by McCann. Just a little subtle thing that for whatever reason the umpire missed. Like I said, I'll agree that it's a safe call a majority of the time. But it still wasn't the right one, based on the video I watched.
i hadn't seen this quote. when was it said? because he could have easily said it a few years ago before the game actually meant something. furthermore, do other players agree with this? the game certainly has little impact on players and teams who have no shot of making it to the post season. i find it hard to believe that the players on teams which have a shot at the WS treat this like a loss is meaningless. you know it's of some importance to the owners, and i have to believe that there are some who actually want to win. that quote seems like it could have come from tmac. where's the fire and competitive spirit?
Last week -- I included the link. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25643875/ That's the great thing about Berkman -- I've never met a more honest athlete. He'll tell you exactly what he's thinking and exactly what players are thinking, instead of sugarcoating it with flowery PR material like most athletes are trained to give. He's one of the guys I've talked to about it, and I think his opinion is especially valid because of how frequently he rolls his eyes when anyone makes a big deal of early season games. No one has a better perspective of 1 out of 162 than Berkman, and even he says there's "no comparison" between the value of a regular season game and the All-Star Game. Also, I can tell you from personal experience that I've asked that question to numerous players (not just Astros), and I still haven't found one who takes it as seriously as an actual game. Home field isn't nearly as important in baseball as it is in basketball and football, and honestly, it really doesn't come into play until the seventh game, anyway. Combine the odds of a given team making it to the World Series (at this point in the season, basically 1 in 7 ish) with the odds of the World Series getting to a seventh game, and that's why players don't sweat it very much. I can promise you Berkman has plenty of fire. He just saves it for actual games.
Berkman also said this: "This is the first one where I really felt it was less of an exhibition and more of a contest, where we were going out there and playing to win the game," Berkman said. "I just felt like the atmosphere was a little more focused maybe from the National League side than in years past. " http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...t_id=3138547&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
But considering Berkman has played in other All-Star Games since the format was flipped to include home-field advantage (and was clearly referring to those), that right there seems to show that there isn't a causal relationship between the switch and the effort that players put out.
Considering this, he was clearly referring to the 4 previous games he played in... ------------ After Berkman exited the game in the sixth, he noted that this year's All-Star matchup carried a bit more intensity than the previous four All-Star Games he played. ------------
thanks for the article, i hadn't heard that point of view before. if they were to change the format to one of the proposed ideas, i would support giving the team with the best interleague record the HFA in the series.
Right, but when he spoke of the transition, I think it's common sense to assume that he meant it wasn't that way in his most recent appearances (2006 and 2004).
I still don't get why they can't go the NBA route and simply give it to the team with the better record. The excuse is always "planning," but I don't see how knowing that the AL will have home field helps much of anything, given that the location can't possibly be known until the ALCS ends. And even then, it only helps if the NLCS lasts longer. In many years, there wasn't any more advance notice of where Game 1 of the WS was played than if they merely gave it to the team with the better record.
I take that quote from Berkman to mean that the players competitive nature is to try to win the game regardless of the stakes. Construe that quote though as you will. Short of Pujols, the rest of the player quotes in the posted/linked article express annoyance that the WS home field advantage is decided by a game that's supposed to be an exhibition, and that everything possible should be done to win. Specifically the quotes from Pedroia and Lowell convey this. I agree with the overall sentiment from the players. It should be based on something that's not supposed to be an exhibition. I have no idea how you can read that article and come away with the impression that the players don't care if they win or that the stakes do not matter.
LMAO 2005 Postseason: Homerun to Pujols, Homerun to Podsednik 2005 Offseason: Lidge roasted for choking. 2006 Stats as Closer 1-5 Record, 5.28 ERA, 32 saves, 6 blown saves, 1.40 WHIP 2007 Stats as Closer 3-3 Record, 5.72 ERA, 19 saves, 7 blown saves, 1.63 WHIP 2007 Stats as Middle Reliever 2-0 Record, 1.05 ERA, 1 blown save, 7 holds, .88 WHIP Gee man, what is the difference in closing and middle relief? Survey says... pressure. Really? Who said this? You can't tell a damn thing from numbers. Baseball is a game played on the field, not on a stat sheet. Statistics are extremely valuable when used in the proper context, but to throw them out randomly without citing examples of their impact in a given game is irresponsible and just plain wrong. I don't care if Lidge's ERA was 12. If he made the right pitches, it's not mental. It's that simple. Then after saying that, you go and use this... Yeah, the 1.12 ERA and 20-for-20 in save opportunities in, you know, actual games means nothing compared to giving up one run in an exhibition. You guys are a riot. This is you dismissing his stats as a middle reliever last year, 33 appearances in middle relief with a 1 ERA and 33 appearances as a closer with an ERA over 5. BOTH larger sample sizes than his numbers this year but you have the nerve to post that beauty of a comment. LOL Explain to me when a guy has a 5 ERA and he's making "the right pitches"... WTF does that mean? That's like telling me Shaq is using good form, he's just only hitting 50% of his free throws. If Lidge makes the pitch he wants to make and the hitter is looking for it and hits a homerun. It's NOT a good pitch. You can't tell me the guy made the "right" pitches as a middle reliever but all of a sudden he couldn't pitch as a closer. In April, he starts the year as the closer and gets yanked almost immediately after blowing saves in his first two games. April: 1-0 0 saves 5.79 ERA In May, he's out of the closer's role entirely. No pressure and a great ERA. May: 1-1 0 saves 1.10 ERA In June, he's out of the closer's role the entire month until June 12th when he blows the save and gives up the only earned run for the entire month. The only save situation all month and he blows it and gives up the ONLY run all month. What is that? June: 0-0 0 saves 1.00 ERA In July, he's back in the closer's role and back to his old form just about and all the rumors about Lidge being traded are at full steam. Everyone expects him to be traded. July: 0-0 6 saves 2.79 ERA In August, with the trade deadline gone Lidge is back to terrible in the closer's role. Purpura gets roasted for not dealing the team's best trade asset. August: 1-1 8 saves 5.11 ERA No change in September, Lidge still terrible as the closer. September: 2-1 5 saves 5.23 ERA You've become such a Lidge homer you don't even understand the analogy to Chris Simms. That's how big a blindspot you have in your illogical defenses of both players.
I think the timeline of events combined with the stats breakdown I showed for last year and his stats for the year before are pretty good evidence that his problems were mental. One of the telling things about last year's stats is that he struck out just as many people as a closer as he did in middle relief which means his stuff was just fine. The only difference between closing and middle relief is mental. You don't accidentally have an ERA five times more as a closer and yet still strike out people at the same rate.
Wait - if he couldn't handle the pressure of closing, why didn't that apply in July? He could handle it in July, but not August or September? Is that more likely, or is it more likely that a knee injury that prevented him from pitching properly in August and September caused the high ERAs?
Survey also says that when Lidge returned to the closer's spot in 2007, he had a serious knee injury that required surgery immediately after the season. Who the hell are you to decide that "pressure" overrides that? You're an absolute riot, dude. It's amazing. I said statistics were valuable, when used in the proper context. The proper context is to determine whether a player is having a good season. The proper context is not to determine the cause as to why a player is having a good season or why he isn't. The problem you have is that statistics don't prove cause. You've proven that Lidge was more effective as a middle reliever last season than as a closer. However, there are numerous potential reasons for that, including injury, random luck, or whatever. You can post all the numbers you want, but they mean absolutely nothing in determining the cause for a given situation. That's just bull. A pitcher has limited control over what the hitter guesses. He can make an educated guess, but it's largely out of his hands. All he can do is work in tandem with the catcher to make the pitch he sees fit, and then throw it to that spot with the movement he intends. If after all that the hitter guesses it and hits a home run, it's still a good pitch. The hitter just made a play. Since you want to make analogies to other sports, it's the equivalent of a cornerback jumping a short route. There's only so much you can do, and if the defender guesses right, you're in trouble -- even though you did your job. Or, it could be that Lidge opened the year trying to develop a third pitch -- a cutter -- and failed at doing so successfully. While doing that, he didn't spend the necessary time to better locate the pitches he already did. After struggling for two weeks with the cutter, he abandons it and focuses on location. Results are immediate: Lidge also credits his improvement to abandoning the cutter, a pitch he unsuccessfully attempted to add to his arsenal last offseason, after struggling with it the first week of the season. Since then, his focus has shifted to better locating the pitches he already had. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...t_id=1981237&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou He's pitching healthy, and abandoned the cutter. Great results, as have been the norm since 2007 started. LMAO. Please tell me you're not seriously trying to construct an argument based around one game and one pitch. Actually, hardly anyone expected him to be traded. Revisionist history. And guess what? At the beginning of the month, he's on the DL with a knee injury -- one that gets progressively worse throughout the season -- and you see his performance begin to slide. In August, Lidge is walking around essentially on one leg. Multiple ice packs surrounding the knee. Daily training sessions so that he can merely walk. Surgery is acknowledged as imminent after the season. No change in September, Lidge still walking around on one leg. He has surgery after the season and again in spring training, and surprise! When healthy, he's back to the dominant version of Lidge, even in the ninth inning. I wonder why? You've become such an obsessive, illogical nutcase when it comes to anything I post that you refuse to acknowldge facts and common sense.
The timeline of events combined with the statistical breakdown show that something was clearly different, yes. From there, most logical people would view a serious knee injury (went on the DL for the first time in late June, at the same point in which he was reinstated as closer) as a potential and likely cause for such a statistical dropoff. Of course, logic is a foreign concept to you, so you don't. As for strikeout rate, I'll again quote straight from the source: "There were definitely times where it was painful to throw. There were definitely times where it wasn't. At times, it's in the back of your mind when you're throwing, which is one of the bad things with an injury like this. There are times where it takes your focus off a little bit. http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071022&content_id=2276070&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou There's the key phrase -- at times. Considering his arm was fine, it's logical to assume his pitches would often have the same bite. But on some occasions, they didn't -- and all it takes is one mistake to shoot your ERA sky high when you're a closer. Sample size is that limited. (And by the way, when you're talking about 30 innings ish in terms of your sample, illogical things are routine. It's not always going to make sense.)
If only Lidge could find a way to capture the magic he has in these low pressure games, like closing out the NLCS and the World Series and being perfect for the entire season, and find a way to apply it to high pressure situations like the All-Star Game. Then he'd really have something. P.S. Man guys, having home field advantage was really critical, wasn't it?
