yeah, thats true. Last year the Marlins were the hottest team during the latter part of the year and they rode that vibe into the playoffs and won the whole thing. Let the guys just keep hanging in there like they're doing, and hopefully Petitte will be back raring and ready to go, and Oswalt will get in a groove again, and they'll turn it on at the most important time, which is around august and september.
i could make a great horse racing analogy here. i know that none of you have tired of my consistent praise of Smarty Jones on these boards!
is it funny, then please do, I had four wisdom teeth pulled about an hour and a half ago, and the drugs are wearing off, make me laugh bro.
it's not funny...unless you know how obsessed i am with smarty jones. if you're someone like RM95 who knows me and has hung out with me, then it's funny, because you can laugh AT me. otherwise, it's just an analogy. but teams that play wire to wire don't always fare well in the playoffs. see the mariners a few years ago. there is no exact wisdom on it...but sometimes a team that holds back, intentionally or not, until late in the season...and then comes on strong...rides so much momentum into the playoffs that they beat teams that appeared to be much better than them over the 162 game regular season. the marlins are a good example of that. and that principle plays out all the time in horse racing. sorry about your teeth!!! hope you feel better soon.
Max, I respect your opinion. But consider this - if Biggio gets on base 35% of the time, then nearly 2 out of 3 times Everett comes to the plate, it's with the bases empty. So more often than not, it's his job to get on base, not to move a runner over, and he hasn't done a good job of that. As for baserunning, he's not really a speed thread - 7 SBs so far isn't tearing up the base paths. And when you get on base at a Brian Hunter-esque rate, it doesn't matter how fast you are. And I dispute the notion that Everett is disadvantaged by hitting #2. Ask Derek Bell whether it helps to hit between Biggio and Bagwell. During the incredible 1998 Stros run, he hit .314/22/111, had a .900 OPS, and never was called upon to sac bunt. It didn't hinder us then, and it wouldn't hinder us now.
Actually, nearly 2 out of 3 times Everett comes up, Biggio is not on base. For what it's worth, Everett has batted 271 times this year, 152 times at least one runner has been on base, 119 times the bases have been empty.
I have no idea where you get your stats, bobrek, but according to ESPN Everett has batted 144 times with none on and 93 times with runners on base. Of those times where runners were on base, 33 times there were 2 outs. So only 60 times (93-33) out of 237 ABs have come in potential sacrifice situations. Even adding in his 19 sac bunts and 2 sac flies, we come to 81 plate appearances (81/258 = 31% of the time) where he might have tried to move the runner over. And even that number is high, because he batted 4 times with the bases loaded and likely in many situations in which logic dictated swinging away. And Max, I'm sorry. I meant to quote one of your posts and quoted NIKE's instead. The compliment still stands.
Simple, Everett has 237 "official" at bats, 9 BBs, 4 HBP, 19 Sacrifice bunts and 2 sacrifice flies. Add all that up and he has been at the plate 271 times. Unfortunately, on ESPN they only show his "split" stats based on "official" at bats. If you go over to MLB.com, you will see the 152 vs 119 breakdown. I wasn't getting into any sacrifice situation. Personally, I think he is called upon to sacrifice WAY too much. It really irks me when Biggio doubles to lead off the game (or inning) and Everett bunts.
