Comments on: Rodney suspended 3 games

By: Jerry the Tiger Fan

Jerry the Tiger Fan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:35:01 +0000

More disreputable than sportswriting? I’d say used car salesman and attorneys. So sportswriting is a strong third on the list, especially after that ridiculous story from Rosenberg about Michigan football practices.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:44:35 +0000

Man, is there a profession more disreputable than sportswriting?

By: Coleman

Coleman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:42:09 +0000

OK, this makes the suspension more annoying:

“Dombrowski also said the length of the suspension was due, in part, to a letter sent to Major League Baseball by the president of the Tampa Bay chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Dombrowski said he was told that the letter from Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times, which he has a copy of, was a “strong” factor in MLB’s decision to suspend Rodney.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/ne.....;type=lgns

(By the way, the Yahoo story had a rarity, an amusing comment–they generally are unreadable. But I had to laugh at one comment that Rodney’s press box toss will “teach reporters not to crowd the keyboard.”)

By: Coleman

Coleman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:05:34 +0000

I agree; although I was saying that a “league’s against us” chip on the Tigers’ shoulder might not be the worst thing for the team right now, since they seem to thrive when they feel like underdogs

And although I’m sure there’s no agenda, that doesn’t mean they aren’t favored sometimes, in the way that loud home crowds can sometimes sway umpire referee decisions without the umpires/referees being biased in any way.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:01:55 +0000

Ok. If your point was that mlb was fed up with the beanballs which were largely the NYY/BOS’s responsibility and that Porcello might have been a victim of that, you’re making a reasonable point.

I don’t think there’s some agenda to protect the yankees and red sox at the expense of the Tigers because it wants those teams to win, though (not sure if it was you who made that point).

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:58:07 +0000

Here’s how many batters the various pitching staffs have hit. While I have already agreed with you that better pitchers pitch inside and probably hit more batters, I should point out that I think that the Tiger pitching staff has some pretty darn good pitchers and they somehow must manage without doing the same it appears:

Hit batters:
NYY 63
BOS 59
TEX 57
LAA 54
TOR 48
MIN 46

AL AVG 44

KCR 43
BAL 42
SEA 41
TBR 38
CLE 38
CHW 37
DET 29
OAK 27

(You can see why I think it’s ironic to hear Youkilis whine about how often he gets hit).

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:57:16 +0000

I don’t know what the rulebook says. I’m talking about common sense. Rodney wasn’t trying to give a fan a souvenir, in contrast to your examples. It can be dangerous to throw a baseball into a crowd of people when nobody’s paying attention, and getting hit in that situation isn’t a risk you should have to assume when you buy a ticket.

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:55:30 +0000

My point was more, shall we say, nebulous than that…when the Porcello/Youkilis dustup happened there was all this hand-wringing about the plunking problem in baseball; in reality, if it even was a problem, it was mostly a NY-Boston problem, since they were the two teams hitting batters and getting hit–especially each other. (It actually turns out that LAA and TEX are bigger offenders).

I agree with your point about pitching inside; that’s why I think there’s a correlation between the teams that hit the most batters and the playoff teams.

Except the gentlemanly Tigers of course, who have an enormous deficit between how many batters they hit and how many of their batters get hit (which makes it more ironic that Porcello got the Prime Plunking Punishment).

Difference between batters hit and hit batters:

The plunkers:
TEX +24
LAA +21
NYY +14
TOR +14

The plunked:
CLE: -38
DET: -24
CHW: -16
OAK: -12

By: jason

jason — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:48:19 +0000

so thats the rule? if the fans are paying attention its ok, but if they are not, its against the rules?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:39:27 +0000

If you’re making a case about beanballs (which I believe you were above), you need to look at intentional hbps (which is probably impossible). Better pitchers are generally more likely to pitch inside and more likely to hit people, which doesn’t necessarily have to do with beanballs.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:36:23 +0000

You have to be kidding. You don’t see the difference between throwing a ball into the stand when people are walking towards the exits and when fans are paying attention to the game and asking for the ball?

By: Coleman

Coleman — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:34:18 +0000

OK, checking on some of the stats I was referring to earlier, I noticed something interesting. The pitching staffs of all of the playoff contenders are above league average on the number of batters hit by pitches (and almost all teams over league average are playoff contenders as well).

Except for one team. Guess which?

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:57:35 +0000

Totally agree. Ridiculous!

By: KW

KW — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:22:41 +0000

A lot has been said, but I am going to weigh in anyway…

I think the punishment was too harsh, but this might help Rodney get his emotions in check. When things start to go bad for him, he looks like he’s going to lose it. That’s not the mentality of a closer.

While I do think the Red Sox and Yankees are babied a bit by MLB, don’t forget that it was Bob Watson’s henchman who checked in on Francona a few years ago DURING A GAME to make sure he was wearing the appropriate attire in the dugout. Now THAT is ridiculous.

By: chrisg219

chrisg219 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:27:27 +0000

Maybe so, but it seems like even when he didn’t give up runs in the first inning, he was often in trouble and threw too many pitches in the first. I realize that most pitchers need to find a rhythm, a release point and so on, but to me, his issues point more to possible headcase. If they are only occuring in odd years then that still makes his troubles even stranger.