Jump to content

Jon Papelbon is the best baseball thread ever


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Am-bee-yor-icks, I think.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I wonder what an Ambiorix is. Perhaps I missed that episode of Doctor Who.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Alex Gonzalez hitting a walk-off to end a game in the WS is a great feat. But I wouldn't call him a "clutch" hitter as it happened a total of one time.

 

Pitchers fear Manny, of course, but it's irrational to think pitchers consider Ortiz an easier out. Ortiz is doing things in game-winning situations on a regular basis. This is what makes him among (if not the) the best clutch hitters to ever swing a bat. Ortiz is currently as dominant and feared in the batter's box as any other hitter to play the game.

 

It ain't hype if it's legitimate.

 

 

Exactly, check these numbers out. Since the end of 2004 season Papi has had 19 walk-off situations. Of those 19 situations, he has reached base 16 times, and has batted .786 with 7 HR and 20 RBI.

 

This year (06) in walk-off situations he is 8-9 with 5 HR and 15 RBI

 

You can argue the definition of clutch all you want, but Ortiz seems to be a prime example.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Exactly, check these numbers out. Since the end of 2004 season Papi has had 19 walk-off situations. Of those 19 situations, he has reached base 16 times, and has batted .786 with 7 HR and 20 RBI.

 

This year (06) in walk-off situations he is 8-9 with 5 HR and 15 RBI

 

You can argue the definition of clutch all you want, but Ortiz seems to be a prime example.

In the past 4 seasons, Ortiz has produced the game-ending hit (not necessarily home run) 15 times. The next closest team to do so is the Yankees, doing so 3 times the past 4 seasons, followed by the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Phillies doing so twice.

 

Now, I realize the pronounciation of player's names is certainly relevant, and is worthy of much debate and intrigue, but what's the beef with tossing out some stats to back opinionated discussions?

 

It's amb-i-ur-iks.

Link to post
Share on other sites
In the past 4 seasons, Ortiz has produced the game-ending hit (not necessarily home run) 15 times. The next closest team to do so is the Yankees, doing so 3 times the past 4 seasons, followed by the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Phillies doing so twice.

 

Ok, we've passed the point of contrived stats and reached the point of made-up and obviously false stats. There's only one team that's had 3 game-winning hits in the past 4 seasons?

Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok, we've passed the point of contrived stats and reached the point of made-up and obviously false stats. There's only one team that's had 3 game-winning hits in the past 4 seasons?

 

 

Well obviously every game has a game winning hit, it may come in the first inning or whatever. I think the stat is game winning hits in a walk-off situation.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Well obviously every game has a game winning hit, it may come in the first inning or whatever. I think the stat is game winning hits in a walk-off situation.

Correct. As first stated, game-ending. I forgot to add the Angels with the Yankees as a team with 3 game-ending hits the past four seasons.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It's still absolute nonsense. Off the top of my head, Pablo Ozuna had a game-ending bunt this year, AJ Pierzynski and Joe Crede each had game-ending homeruns last year.

A.J. Pierzynski's walk-off homer capped a four-run ninth, rallying the White Sox past the Dodgers

 

 

A.J. Pierzynski

CHICAGO, June 18, 2005 - The Dodgers wish they had Eric Gagne on the mound during the ninth inning as the other Dodger relievers blow the game.

 

Joe Crede "hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10'th inning September 20, 2005, against the rival Cleveland Indians to preserve a precarious White Sox division lead"

 

Pablo Ozuna's bunt single in the 10th brought home the winning run in a 5-4 victory before the team's 10th sellout of the season at U.S. Cellular Field. (5/22/06)

 

Obviously something got lost in the translation of that stat.

Link to post
Share on other sites

You see, game-ending hits happen far too frequently for that stat to be true. Is it possible that it's a matter of it happening X-number of times per year? Perhaps David Ortiz has at least three game-winning hits in each of the past four seasons, coming out to 15 in all. Then the Yankees and Angels might be the only teams with at least three game-winning hits in 3 out of 4 of the last seasons.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Let me clarify:

 

I read this in today's Rocky Mountain News (in which the short piece apparently is not available on-line, as it is a brief aside on the front page of today's Sports page and not an actual article). This is a direct quote.

Big Hitter

 

In four seasons, David Ortiz, above, has delivered the game-ending hit for the Red Sox 15 times, the most in the majors in that time. The breakdown by teams:

 

Angels: Three times (homerun in 2004 in the playoffs; home run in 2005; single in 2006).

 

Yankees: Three times (double in 2003; home run and single in 2004 in the playoffs).

 

Blue Jays: Two times (home run in 2004; single in 2005).

 

Orioles: Two times (home run in 2003; home run in 2005).

 

Phillies: Two times (home run and single in 2006).

 

Dodgers: One time (single in 2004).

 

Indians: One time (home run in 2006).

 

Rangers: One time (home run in 2006).

 

The blurb is not credited to a particular writer.

Edited by Lammycat
Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't see how that Rocky Mountain News piece could be right. Are we to assume that no other team in the majors won an extra-innings game at home during that time?

Link to post
Share on other sites
I don't see how that Rocky Mountain News piece could be right. Are we to assume that no other team in the majors won an extra-innings game at home during that time?

I initially posted it taking it at face-value, but I'm thinking it is referring to a single player on a single team with game-ending hits for a win?

Link to post
Share on other sites
I initially posted it taking it at face-value, but I'm thinking it is referring to a single player on a single team with game-ending hits for a win?

Oh, OK, I figured it out. That list is a breakdown of Big Papi's gamewinning hits, giving the teams they came against and when. Add them up: fifteen in all.

 

Not sure why that wasn't clear the first time I read it. :stunned

Link to post
Share on other sites

Interestingly, the clutch hitting thing is something that the sabermatricians have never really reached a concensus on. Bill James's response to the question "Does clutch hitting exist?" has always been "maybe".

 

Basically, almost every hitter ever has put up nearly identical stats in "clutch" situations as they have in any other situation. I think that, in all likelihood, the vast majority of players do not perform any differently in those situations than they do otherwise, but it certainly seems possible that certain players do.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Basically, almost every hitter ever has put up nearly identical stats in "clutch" situations as they have in any other situation. I think that, in all likelihood, the vast majority of players do not perform any differently in those situations than they do otherwise, but it certainly seems possible that certain players do.

I agree with this overall. I look at it as which player, if I had to choose one, would I most want in the batter's box with the game on the line.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...