Elster88

I agree with all that. Fortunately, thus far this year the lack of a second baseman doesn't seem to be hurting the team.

Bret Sabermetric wrote:I'm sure if I phrased it like that, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow on the CPF. The fact that I think someone probably DID recognize the 'grace under pressure' cliche, and didn't mention it in the Klapisch-bashing notwithstanding, or else you really are a bunch of nosepickers who got nothing from your elementary educations (Klapisch is writing for the fucking Bergan Dreck-chord, not the PMLA post-modernist special issue, for Chrissake). I think you're better read than that.I for one, did not recognize the 'grace under pressure' cliche.I'm not sure what being a nosepicker has to do with being uneducated.

You're missing my point entirely. Maybe I'm phrasing it wrong.You can't be a prick in your posting and then act all shocked and dismayed if the response is hostile.I'm not sure if saying you post like a prick is actually calling you a prick. If it is, so be it. Most people here have said you're easy to get along with in the real world. But your online persona should not be shocked at hostile responses to the post I quoted above.

="Bret Sabermetric"]Check out, for example, the hostility I will earn in this thread for pointing out this modest truth.Any hostility you would have earned would have been for being a prick. You have to realize this. You're intelligent and a good writer. The hostility that results from posts like below can't be a shock.The post below starts with the line "Didn't you fucking people go to high school?", and then you say you don't think you deserve hostility for "pointing out the modest truth." Honestly, if you're going to be an asshole, be ready for the response you're going to get.And for the most part, I think you write hostile posts to get a response, so you can turn around and complain about it. It's weird.]Didn't you fucking people go to high school? It's a cliche of American Lit that Hemingway's "heroes" strive for "grace under pressure." That's Hem's definition of "courage." There's a clue in the end of the sentence that that's the allusion. Was anyone exposed to this cliche? Anyone? Bueller? There's almost nothing lamer than someone intoning in a particularly snotty way "I'm afraid your allusion, if allusion there is, is far too subtle for me, hence you have made effectively no allusion at all here, my dear sir," when it turns out that the allusion is totally un-subtle (I'd say he gave it away by adding the "grace under pressure" part, which a good reader should have figured out himself) and you're getting all la-de-da over nothing but your own denseness. This is in itself emblematic of a lot of CPF griping about sportswriters in general: they write some innocuous or even funny line, and you all gang on up the writer, collectively kick his ass around the block, chortling and agreeing that your streetgang is particularly amusing, while anyone not part of your little organization would read the exchange and say "You've got nothing to complain about here," a comment you're not hearing because you're so in love with the amusing antics of your fellow thugs

Bret Sabermetric wrote: ="Elster88"]]But they stuck with him faithfully NQA the last two years Is this why you Cairo got so much time last year? You forget that another reason he got so much time the past two years was the lack of alternatives. Actually "ignore" is a better fit there than "forget". Youo keep ignoring the fact that Cairo played when Kaz got hurt, as impossible as that was to foretell. They did not choose to sit the 8 mil dollar man down. As long as he could play, he played. They aren;t wasting any money, no siree. What's important, baseball judgment or financial judgment? Who starts and who sits around here? That's easy--what does their contracts say? Yeah, Kaz did get as much time or more. But he's a better player than Cairo. Who did you want to play in Kaz's stead? Anderson Hernandez? We've seen how that worked out.

Edgy DC wrote: Wagner was also around 91 most of his inning. Then he channeled it up to 99 for one pitch to Guillen. Where did that come from? That's the number we got on TV too. Usually those guns never match. Great report Edgy. (sc = zero). We'll expect one just like that for every Mets-Nats game in DC.

Deep fly caught at the track by Beltran. Wright, playing in, makes a nice play on a high chopper to his right. Strong throw ends the inning. Ninth inning. I hope Wags isn't tired.

]But they stuck with him faithfully NQA the last two years Is this why you Cairo got so much time last year? You forget that another reason he got so much time the past two years was the lack of alternatives. Actually "ignore" is a better fit there than "forget".

Pedro only 86 pitches! You know what? I'm glad they took him out. He's still getting back into it. We need him for the stretch run this year, and don't forget he got tired of baseball early last year.

This Nationals team does not field well.

Edgy DC wrote: ]My main problem is that if we're going to split games 4/2 or 5/2 per week, the guy getting more games should be Kaz. Agreed, and as soon as he outhits a guy with a .348 OPS, he'll elevate himself. Do you really think Willie will make the switch that quickly? I have little confidence in that. Edgy DC wrote: ]Did he really hit this? And wasn't he back to playing every day in September. He did that in September, when his playing time was largely based on his struggles earlier in the year. Nonetheless, he was shortly playing five days in seven. I might be biased against Willie or remembering wrong, but I thought he got back to playing regularly because Cairo got hurt, not because he started hitting well.

]but if he hit .353 / .382 /.585 // .967 in September under those conditions Did he really hit this? And wasn't he back to playing every day in September. Regardless, I hold to the belief that a player will perform better when played every day and not twice a week.

Yup, I know all that. My main problem is that if we're going to split games 4/2 or 5/2 per week, the guy getting more games should be Kaz.

Internet Fanboi or whatever?

Edgy DC wrote: It's done like this all the time. Doesn't mean it's right. :-) Edgy DC wrote: Sometimes the better player isn't clear, especially when one disappeared due to injury and the other hasn't lit things up in his stead. But this time it is clear, at least IMHO. Matsui is a better hitter. Edgy DC wrote: I don't see it belaboring, when you have two guys available, to give them both oportunities to flourish or fail. I have no stats to back this up, but I see it as belaboring because a player is MUCH more likely to fail if he hits irregularly, such as two times a week. Eliminates the chance of getting into a rhythm or hot streak or whatever you want to call it. All hitters say that pinch hitting is much harder than regular hitting. It follows that hitting one or two games a week is harder than hitting when you get to see pitches every day. (It drove me bananas last year when Kaz came back in late-July or whatever, got two hits, and in the next game Cairo and his .175 batting average was back in there.) "Well, maybe he would hit better if given the opportunity to play every day." Throw one guy in there, see what he does.

]The answer seems obvious --- Matsui comes back, start him twice a week. If he outplays Hernandez, start him a little more. If he doesn't, a little less, until some balance achieved. That won't keep us, the press, or Randolph from belaboring the pont. I don't like this. To me, this belabors the problem more. Whenever Matsui comes back, immediately start whoever the better player is. If he proves himself to be unworthy, replace him.

The argument in Paragraph 1 in the above post may also apply to Matsui, of course.

Well, that's a theory that has some validity. To this point, he has done nothing to earn a starting job other than to play a position with no other options. The place to learn to hit major league pitching is not in a starting major league role. Now, if he learns to hit as the de facto starter, that's a different story. But if he remains in his current state until Matsui is ready, then Matsui should go in. No ifs, ands, or buts. I disagree violently with the "learn on the job" theory and the "he's shown promise" theory. Unless peeps really think at this point (RIGHT NOW!!!) that AH is a better hitter than KazMat.

Bret Sabermetric wrote: Hernandez has not yet demonstrated that's he's never going to be able to hit well enough to hold down an MLB job. He's been terrible so far, but he could improve (almost certainly will improve off the exercrable start of his MLB career). That's nice. Unfortunately, we're trying to win this year. Let Andy learn how to hit in the minors if we have someone who would be an improvement. Sadly, Kaz may not be much of an improvement.

It's articles like this that make people curse Jeter out. But are they really his fault?

Steroids do other things, too. You guys know that, right?

LoDuca's probably getting Thursday off. Saturday's scheduled lineup looked like this: Reyes Woodward Beltran Delgado Wright Nady Castro Diaz What should Willie do tomorrow?

I was positive it was Larry. But I've been wrong before.

I hate this "sheriff in town" stuff. I don't want to compete with the Yankees, and I don't care which team attracts the most bandwagoners. There are two teams in New York. When they are both good, they are both popular. As much as I'm sure Larry's quote ("Now all the Met fans can go home and put their Yankees' stuff on") angered people, it had a lot to truth.

Practice makes perfect.