Monday, October 23, 2006
"Small-Ball" is Complete and Utter Bullshit
Originally posted April 4, 2006.
Everyone seems to think the Chicago White Sox won their World Series by being a "Small-Ball" team, and this same everyone seems to think that there’s an impetus to put together a "White Sox-style" team for 2006...at least, so the sportswriters tell me. Scott Podsednik was feted as "The Answer" last year, because he came to Chicago for the big-bashing Carlos Lee, and the Pale Hose started winning. The obvious conclusion? A bad Stolen-Base percentage wins Championships.
Scott Podsednik is a Base-Stealer because he can’t do much else; if he could do more, he would be referred to as "talented", not as playing with "heart"...a euphemism for "he sucks, but he tried his best". Most half-bright Baseball fans realize that, more than most, the White-Sox sat back and waited for Paul Konerko and whomever else to hit those three-run shots, while gliding along on their surprising starting pitching. Very little of their success came from Podsednik stealing 59 bases in 82 attempts...which, by the way, is terrible. A high stolen base-total doesn’t make a player "havoc" on the base paths like Rickey Henderson was; the Man of Steal was a game changer because he would steal 52 out of 58, or 65 out of 75 in his prime, while getting on base at a .400-clip. Conversely, Podsednik scored 80 runs last year from the leadoff spot. Terrible stat to evoke, you say? He only played 129 games, you say? Well, if he played enough to get thrown out 23 times, he played enough to score 100 runs. Yeah, the leadoff spot is for speedy, "scrappy" players, but 25 RBI, ZERO homeruns and a triple isn’t good enough for the top of any lineup, and, in fact, the White Sox succeeded despite Podsednik. Why else would they add MORE POWER to their already-Championship-caliber team? Because if L’il Scotty didn’t run them out of the inning, they needed to score him, and players who have a mashing-mallet in their repertoire have a better chance of doing just that.
It’s just after the Opening Day-and-a-Half, and 14 teams have won games. Of those 14 teams, 12 of them hit HR to help with the scoring, averaging out to about 2.1 HR per win. The exceptions were the irredeemably pathetic, offensively-inept Houston Astros, who have a grand total of ZERO players with an RBI despite winning their game, and, oddly, the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field. Now, I’m sure that Albert Pujols’ 2 BB were a result of David Eckstein’s pluckiness, rather than El Hombre’s 2 monster-shots, just as I’m sure that Alex Rodriguez only hit that Grand Slam because there weren’t any bases for the men on base to steal...and that homeruns by David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones, Mike Piazza, Miguel Tejada, and Jim Thome were the direct result of the guys in front of them bunting, hitting behind the runner, and stealing bases.
Oh, and that 1-0 Astros victory? No, not the example disproving my anti-Small-Ball theory, but a run scored on a wild pitch...and I’m pretty sure the announcers, at least the home-team ones, praised the Astros for "getting that important run across", rather than the more obvious, "Hey. These Astros couldn’t hit a medicine-ball off of a tee-ball tee, and they’re incredibly mundane and boring to watch on offense", or, "Thank Christ Roy Oswalt’s still here...I mean, he could win 30 games for any other remotely competent team". Or, they could just mention the even odds of one of the Houston Starting Pitchers leading the team in RBI. Anything other than giving Small-Ball the credit.
End of original post.
The White Sox collapsed behind 151 HR from Konerko, Crede, Dye and Thome...86 from the latter two alone; Podsednik stole 40 bases and scored 86 runs in 139 games; the difference this year is that their pitching SUCKED. That’s it. No "Ozzie-Ball", or giving up outs, or "it’s been three-thousand years since they’ve won" malarky was going to save them this year, as their starting pitchers regressed to form, proving the flukiness of October Baseball.
By the way, my brother created a new term for the swinging bunt: The Swunt.
You’re welcome.
¶ 10:44 AM
Everyone seems to think the Chicago White Sox won their World Series by being a "Small-Ball" team, and this same everyone seems to think that there’s an impetus to put together a "White Sox-style" team for 2006...at least, so the sportswriters tell me. Scott Podsednik was feted as "The Answer" last year, because he came to Chicago for the big-bashing Carlos Lee, and the Pale Hose started winning. The obvious conclusion? A bad Stolen-Base percentage wins Championships.
Scott Podsednik is a Base-Stealer because he can’t do much else; if he could do more, he would be referred to as "talented", not as playing with "heart"...a euphemism for "he sucks, but he tried his best". Most half-bright Baseball fans realize that, more than most, the White-Sox sat back and waited for Paul Konerko and whomever else to hit those three-run shots, while gliding along on their surprising starting pitching. Very little of their success came from Podsednik stealing 59 bases in 82 attempts...which, by the way, is terrible. A high stolen base-total doesn’t make a player "havoc" on the base paths like Rickey Henderson was; the Man of Steal was a game changer because he would steal 52 out of 58, or 65 out of 75 in his prime, while getting on base at a .400-clip. Conversely, Podsednik scored 80 runs last year from the leadoff spot. Terrible stat to evoke, you say? He only played 129 games, you say? Well, if he played enough to get thrown out 23 times, he played enough to score 100 runs. Yeah, the leadoff spot is for speedy, "scrappy" players, but 25 RBI, ZERO homeruns and a triple isn’t good enough for the top of any lineup, and, in fact, the White Sox succeeded despite Podsednik. Why else would they add MORE POWER to their already-Championship-caliber team? Because if L’il Scotty didn’t run them out of the inning, they needed to score him, and players who have a mashing-mallet in their repertoire have a better chance of doing just that.
It’s just after the Opening Day-and-a-Half, and 14 teams have won games. Of those 14 teams, 12 of them hit HR to help with the scoring, averaging out to about 2.1 HR per win. The exceptions were the irredeemably pathetic, offensively-inept Houston Astros, who have a grand total of ZERO players with an RBI despite winning their game, and, oddly, the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field. Now, I’m sure that Albert Pujols’ 2 BB were a result of David Eckstein’s pluckiness, rather than El Hombre’s 2 monster-shots, just as I’m sure that Alex Rodriguez only hit that Grand Slam because there weren’t any bases for the men on base to steal...and that homeruns by David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones, Mike Piazza, Miguel Tejada, and Jim Thome were the direct result of the guys in front of them bunting, hitting behind the runner, and stealing bases.
Oh, and that 1-0 Astros victory? No, not the example disproving my anti-Small-Ball theory, but a run scored on a wild pitch...and I’m pretty sure the announcers, at least the home-team ones, praised the Astros for "getting that important run across", rather than the more obvious, "Hey. These Astros couldn’t hit a medicine-ball off of a tee-ball tee, and they’re incredibly mundane and boring to watch on offense", or, "Thank Christ Roy Oswalt’s still here...I mean, he could win 30 games for any other remotely competent team". Or, they could just mention the even odds of one of the Houston Starting Pitchers leading the team in RBI. Anything other than giving Small-Ball the credit.
End of original post.
The White Sox collapsed behind 151 HR from Konerko, Crede, Dye and Thome...86 from the latter two alone; Podsednik stole 40 bases and scored 86 runs in 139 games; the difference this year is that their pitching SUCKED. That’s it. No "Ozzie-Ball", or giving up outs, or "it’s been three-thousand years since they’ve won" malarky was going to save them this year, as their starting pitchers regressed to form, proving the flukiness of October Baseball.
By the way, my brother created a new term for the swinging bunt: The Swunt.
You’re welcome.
¶ 10:44 AM
