I don’t know why, I guess you can compare to seeing a train wreck. You just can’t believe what your seeing I mean what your hearing.

I agree 100% that people need to reference the comments to which they are referring. I don’t know if we can make it a rule around here, but maybe your answer could be a short one: “reference please”. It will put the onus on the poster to dig up the url that contains the quote, save you the aggravation of being accused of calling someone a liar, and save time which would probably be better spent with your family.

Would an FAQ section really help though? I mean if someone wants to ask for the 2,745th time why Shannon Stewart was kept over Reed Johnson, are they really going to want to bother with looking in the FAQ section to see whether or not the question has been posed? However it does make your response very easy: “FAQ section.”, thus freeing up a little more of your time, which is a good thing.

The FAQ section is possible, but you’d have to consult with your web geniuses to get it set up. There are many questions which have come up goodness knows how many times so far. You’d just have to decide which ones you want in there and the answers to them, and then put those web guys to work.

“As for the Overbay DP thing, how can you say that the incompetence of his teammates with RISP in those games doesn’t change the importance of those double plays? If one or two of them had been able to get a hit, those games would have been very different.”

Key words: “would have”. But they weren’t. The individual at-bats importance has nothing to do with past events(except for when using past events to project the future success of the players batting next, but your RISP probably doesn’t project into the future very well.). Yes, those games would have been very different if the Jays had hit better w/RISP, and maybe if they had Lyle’s at bats wouldn’t have been as important. But they WERE as important as they were, and no past events can change that. If Lyle Overbay steps into the batters box with men on 1st and 2nd, none out in the bottom of the 9th with his team down a run and hits into a double play the WPA is hugely significant and is the same whether his team is 0-12 w/RISP in that game or whether they’re 7-9.

And why wouldn’t you want MB here? He’s OPS’ing 1.070.

MW: I love that you speak with such authority and are so wrong. It makes the argument that much more fun. It could be argued that the fact that Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi were added to the Yankees (taking at-bats away from Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius, I believe) made the club even MORE of an offensive force, and yet their overall numbers still went down. That’s definitely a piece of the puzzle, never mind that everything is a piece of the puzzle.
As for the Overbay thing, your argument is completely nonsensical. Of course the double plays he hits into cost more because of his teammates’ incompetence with runners in scoring position. You’re exactly right in saying that a double play with runners at 1st and 2nd and none out in the ninth inning of a one-run game is huge no matter how the team has hit with RISP, but you’re conveniently ignoring the fact that had the team not been pathetic with RISP, it wouldn’t have been a one-run game in the 9th. Getting into hypotheticals and different space-time continuua is dicey, I know, but you’re being completely dismissive and that’s not a good way to be when you are, in fact, incorrect.

MW: I have thought about doing an FAQ section. I wonder if that’s possible.

Your saying Tampa will not make the playoffs but will they be in the playoff hunt in September? Your earlier prediction was a fourth place finish. If your wrong about Tampa at years end. Please stop giving your predictions as there over whelmingly more wrong then right. Every year its the same old wrong predictions of teams and players. As much as you disagree with everyone and usually wrong there are people who disagree with you and right.

MW: Again - why do you come here? Why do you read this blog at all?

My thinking, Mike, is that the Brewers only have one quality lefty in the pen (I checked to confirm) and thus, for a playoff run, Tallet (assuming he can do for them what he has done for us) should have some value I would think.

Still, I’m open to deal padding if I got close.

MW: Deal padding is always a good thing but remember, LaPorta is the Brewers’ Travis Snider.

I think dan M feels you called him a liar because you told him J.P. never said the things he said in this article:

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080624&content_id=2995181&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

Sorry for the humungous url, but I’m not sure how to use those tiny url thingies.

Brett, your list is the all-time active GIDP leaders list, although I think Piazza, Clayton and Sosa have since retired. Apropos of nothing and just for fun, here is the all-time GIDP leaders top 20 list:

1. Cal Ripken Jr. 350
2. Hank Aaron 328
3. Carl Yastrzemski 323
4. Dave Winfield 319
5. Eddie Murray 316
6. Jim Rice 315
7. Julio Franco 312
8. Harold Baines 298
9. Brooks Robinson 297
9. Rusty Staub 297
11. Ted Simmons 287
12. Joe Torre 284
13. Ivan Rodriguez 279
14. George Scott 277
15. Roberto Clemente 275
16. Al Kaline 271
17. Frank Robinson 269
18. Tony Perez 268
19. Dave Concepcion 266
20. Ernie Lombardi 261

That’s quite the list of players. There’s 11 hall of famers there. Lyle is probably only a better hitter than Dave Concepcion and Brooks Robinson, who were probably two of the greatest defensive players ever, so I don’t think he’s a better player than any of them, but than again there aren’t many players who are. For the record, Lyle Overbay has “only” 82 GIDP in his career, even though it seems like he hits into one every single time the situation presents itself.

MW: People have to reference the comments to which they’re referring. You can’t expect me to know what you’re talking about when I go through over 100 of these a day. Nice list, though!

David Purcey started tonight’s game, but left after 2 shutout innings — either because of an injury or perhaps a lengthy rain delay.

The other item to note is that after having three other pitchers lit up for 10 runs, Catcher Eric Kratz finished up the game on the mound, pitching a hitless scoreless 9th inning!

MW: According to the game story, Purcey left because of ineffectiveness - he threw 67 pitches in two innings, giving up three hits, walking two and throwing two wild pitches. Of course, it could have been injury that led to ineffectiveness, it’s worth keeping an eye on. There was no rain delay.

Keep doing what you are doing JP!!

MW: Again - huh?