This boils down to the same debate that’s been going on here the last few days. Does everything just boil down to lack of heart/effort? Or are there other complexities (and a certain amount of random bad luck) that have to be considered?

Hitting a breaking ball = Not eating pizza

The idea that what a player is saying publicly when they’re in a slump is somehow a measure of how much they care about getting better is pretty implausible to me. All hitters sound like idiots when they’re in a slump.

Example:

“Quality at-bats, that’s what you want to have here in Spring Training,” Pujols said. “Obviously the last couple of weeks have been tough. I haven’t been seeing the ball too good. I’ve been working the last couple of days and I’m seeing the ball better and putting [together] better at-bats. That’s where you want to be.”

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....8;c_id=stl

Albert seemed to really care about “seeing the ball better”–yet somehow he had had a terrible April, too.

I read that too, and that is concerning. We just have to hope that he is ok, I don’t have a good feeling about that one. If his elbow is bothering him, it would explain alot. In any event, if he’s NOT ok, we really NEED someone to recognize this(if he’s not right, him continueing to pitch would only hurt the team now AND in the future(if he he makes it worse by pressing through it)) and then we can plug someone else in there. Either Miner, who has shown signs that he might be capable of stepping up in such a role recently, or Jair, in a couple of weeks, if he’s ready.

Here’s the full story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3004014

(The headline, BTW, is “Granderson having a remarkable statistical season.” But, again, better to discard any positive commentary–too confusing.)

He refers to the “past few years.” He’d only been a major leaguer for one full year prior to this season. So maybe that covers the minors, too?

And there’s nothing in the quote that indicates he’s using the lack of fastballs as an excuse. On the contrary, isn’t recognizing that you’re not getting as many fastballs the sort of thing you need to do before you make adjustments?

“After Jim came over, [Bonderman] said that his elbow bothered him a little bit,” Rodriguez said, adding that Bonderman wanted to stay in the game. “And then he threw the next two pitches at 88-89 [mph]. So probably, he was protecting his arm in that situation.”

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/.....8;c_id=det

Just great….

Also, incidentally, I learned that for whatever reason, this reply form doesnt work from the laptop that I took with me to California for work this last month, so I have been forced to be silent through the slide….

Hitting adjustments aren’t simple. That’s why a guy like Pujols can struggle for an extended stretch. Granderson’s obviously made amazing adjustments against right-handers. And it’s pretty obvious to all observers that Granderson is one of the brightest young players in the game. The struggles against left-handers this year are perplexing, but are only one side of the coin.

I guess that’s bit too much complexity in the analysis, though. I guess it’s best to stick with a complete lack of heart, will to win, and self-awareness to explain aboslutely everything that’s occurred this year.

“It’s funny, in the past few years, I’ve hit about the same against righties and lefties,” Granderson said. “But I think teams have adjusted; I’m just not getting the fastballs that I’m used to getting.”
I don’t know what he is talking about. Last year there was a differential of over 50 points and this year the difference is 150 points. Is he talking about 05 when he had 25 ab’s against lefties?
This is what makes me crazy about this team. A complete utter lack of self-awareness. Without that, even a stud like Granderson won’t get better.

Really nice post. Most certainly you do not have rose colored glasses on. Your comments were written in real world, not dreamland. With the Lions ready to disappoint (again) it is easy to lose track of reality. I need to remember that Dave Dombroski not Matt Millen runs the Tigers. Of course, eventually we do have to suck it up and kick it in, but we are far from dead.

Thanks for the reminder.

Kenny’s pitching

yep

we’ll chat about that tw