Everybody knew the rules going into the contest
July 15, 2008
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9 Comments:
Nice work RTS.... and I totally agree with your headline.. While Hamilton's performance was extraodinary.... he certainly should have paced himself a little.. he looked totally gassed in that last round.
tortoise and the hare
July 15, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Slow and steady wins the race. I was mesmerized by Hamilton, but you had a feeling about Morneau as he was hitting bombs (to an oblivious crowd) during the 2nd round.
That said, they may want to tweak the rules a bit...28 bombs?!? Wow.
BTW, how about those kids who got tackled by the NYPD within 4 seconds of jumping into the centerfield blackout area? Take it easy guys...I don't think they were a terrorist threat.
July 15, 2008 at 10:46 AM
How about people misprouncing "Morneau" and calling him "Jason"?!?!? This is the f'ing 2006 MVP not some dude just brought over from Japan who has a funny sounding name that sounds like a duck's dong.
Love it that when someone does what Hamilton does but doesn't win the contest as the rules are stated everyone then says "they need to change the rules now." Where were you mooks before the contest?
One last thing, I read an article where Jayson Stark wrote: "He was the one who put on the show tonight," Morneau said afterward, at his gracious best. "I think everyone will remember Josh Hamilton's 28 home runs more than they'll remember I won the thing." Hey, ya think?
Hey Stark, don't be an assface with your "Hey, ya think?" comment.
July 15, 2008 at 10:54 AM
I wholeheartedly agree with everything jan said. I've never seen a more anonymous MVP. By the way, ESPN, Morneau's second in the AL in batting average and RBI at the All-Star break. You might mention that at some point. Oh yeah, also, he won the MVP in 2006.
The rules have been stupid for years. Every year someone goes and hits 15 in the first round and gasses out. I don't know why it took until now for someone to mention it. Besides, who cares? It's an exhibition, for crying out loud. I think of it as similar to snowboarding on a halfpipe: you can try to "keep score" but all it does is make the "winner" the guy who conservatively makes it all the way down without bailing, doing three or four pretty good but not spectacular tricks. All the boarders talk about in the lift line, however, is the guy who's trying new, impossible stuff. Quantifying the activity goes against its very nature. It's showing off, not gathering points. Same with hitting 500 foot bombs into the deep recesses of the upper deck at Yankee Stadium.
Possible alternative setups for the home run "competition":
1. Loudest crowd ovation wins.
2. Prelim round is just that - you have to hit 5 in 10 outs or you're done, and once you get 5 you're forced to stop. Then just one more round.
3. Eliminate the preliminary rounds entirely - one round only. To avoid the problem of only getting to see a guy once, have them take a break after 5 outs (or 6 and make it 12 total outs).
4. Add a secondary "line drive derby" by awarding points for taking out the Little Leaguers shagging balls.
July 15, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Speaking of ass face comments, I'll throw in Rick Rielly's comment during Morneau's first round talking about how some of the guys don't deserve to be there. I would assume he meant Morneau since he had the least amount of HRs of the competitors and was at bat at the time.
Hey Rick, it is the home run derby, let's not put too much emphasis on what it take to qualify. The one qualification should be you have to make the all star team, so bye bye to Giambi, Howard, Dunn and all the other bigger hitters spending the 3 days at home. And one last thing Rick, you aren't really that funny and most of your jokes are very obvious ones.
July 15, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Right on. I'm not sure which was worse - having Reilly there (or at the U.S. Open, for that matter), or that idiotic "Call Your Shot" promo-thingy that interrupted the proceedings for about 10 minutes before the final round. Perhaps they should have recalled that, if it actually happened in the first place, Ruth's called shot was at Wrigley, before greenlighting that poop stick of an idea.
July 15, 2008 at 11:57 AM
First of all, let me say this. I'm not a fan of the HR derby and normally I wouldn't want any of my players to partake- I'm a believer in the theory that the HR derby screws up a batter's swing (many cases to back this up- most poignantly Abreu) and you shouldn't mess with something that is working that well.... with that said, there are times that exceptions need to be made, and having this be the last year of Yankee Stadium is clearly one of those times.
I didn't watch (only saw the extended highlights) but did Reilly mention all the selfish f...s, and yes, I mean you A-Rod, that wouldn't compete in the contest? MLB desperately wanted a Yankee to compete..word on the street is that they probably would have even accepted Abreu (no way was he going to compete after what happened to him last time) or Giambi (roids and all) even though A-Rod was clearly the preferred participant.
Apparently there was a Madonna concert in New Jersey last night, so A-Rod couldn't make it.
What a douche
July 15, 2008 at 12:04 PM
No kidding, worst promo ever. That dude kept touching Hamilton and Morneau. It was like Leslie Nielson patting down the Angels in the Naked Gun. Shake hands and move on. I certainly would not be comfortable living next to that guy, especially with a child in my house.
July 15, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Totally agree on A-Rod. Whatever the opposite of "magnanimous" is, it perfectly describes him.
I'm not buying the home run derby screws with your swing theory, though. It's an excuse, with practically no statistical support.
For one thing, it's natural that the guys in the derby would slow down after the Break. They're there because they're leading the league in homers, but will tend to regress to the norm statistically. Also, their raw power numbers pre- and post-break can only be looked at by noting that there are about 30 more games in the first "half" of the season than the second. For guys like Abreu, he's stunk for three years now. I don't think that prolonged of a power slump can be attributed to something like this. These guys goof around playing home run derby in bp all the time. The event is basically 15 minutes of extra batting practice shenanigans - it just doesn't make sense that it would permanently alter your swing. Taking a week off from live pitching would be much more likely to mess up your game batting.
Anyway, the numbers have been crunched, and show it's a myth:
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/35050
http://insider.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=ootb709&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2ffantasy%2fbaseball%2fflb%2fstory%3fpage%3dootb709
July 15, 2008 at 3:14 PM
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