Ben Johnson is the suxorz. Everytime he gets up to bat its fuckin pathetic. (Now make me eat my words Ben)
I know I'm late posting this, but I was called away, and I think it's worth saying. I don't have very strong feelings about stolen bases and how they affect a game, but it's funny that Keith doesn't realize that the 1980s Cardinals actually refute his point rather than support it. From 1982 through 1988 the Cards led the league in stolen bases every year, yet their winning percentages were .568, .488, .519, .623, .491, .586, and .469. That's quite a bit of variability from being excellent (101 wins) to pretty bad (76 wins). If stolen bases were so important, you wouldn't see so much variability. That argues against the value of the stolen base, not in favor of it. The Cards won when they got on base and slugged reasonably well, and didn't when they didn't.
Eh it is tough to try to tie stolen bases to wins because there is too many things that decide wins in a long season
Yes and he is now hitting .308 and has also been named Texas's starting RF. Lets be honest Green is playing well, until the injury but I stll think I'd rather have this guy and is upside then Green on the downside of his career. I still think last year was an aboration for Diaz.
Actually, there are two things that tie very close to wins - scoring more runs and giving up less (obviously for an individual game, but I'm talking about the relationship between total runs scored and given up in a season and winning percentage for the season). There is very little relationship between scoring runs and stolen bases, and that is why stolen bases only increase your chance of winning if the success percentage is high. On the other hand, there is a reasonably strong relationship between OBP and runs scored and SLG and runs scored, and that's why "stat guys" love teams that walk a lot and hit HRs.
Good hustle by Newhan to keep running and get to second on the dropped pop fly. How about ending it right now, Jose? Edit: How about ending it right now, Damion?
I meant in your example of the Cards and their seasons variability, your example would make sense if this is accounting for differences in effectiveness in their pitching staff, and injuries are relatively equal throughout that span, with that said I definitely prefer having the different dimension in our offense so we don't have to wait for a 3 run blast to have offense.
I think speed is a wonderful weapon, and a player that gets on base and/or hits HRs and is also fast is great. On the other hand, when Reyes had a .300 OBP he wasn't helping the team with his speed, but guys who get on base or hit HRs always help a team, even if they're slow. I love having fast guys on the team, but if I have to choose, I'll take a guy who gets on base or hits HRs over a speedy guy who doesn't every time.
