So to Recap
by R.J. Anderson on Aug 11, 2009 1:23 AM EDT
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Garza frustrates the shit out of me
I can't help that I make some things look easier than they really are.
I was sure
that he was going to throw a gem tonight. So annoying.
by BJ the Bossman on Aug 11, 2009 1:27 AM EDT up reply actions
He has been improving
Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks
like the rest of the staff, its a mental thing
pitching on the road. It might be tougher for Price than most since he is the youngest, but he has to figure it out. Erwin Santana has been awful this year so we may have another wild one at the big A.
The story of this year is of missed opportunities
Way too often we lose games we should win. Of course that is going to happen in baseball, but we need to be winning some of these games.
Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks
I have to agree
Its like I keep waiting for us to go on that run, but it feels like something stupid always happens right when we look ready. That being said I still love our chances, but 2 of these last 4 have really hut.
by BJ the Bossman on Aug 11, 2009 1:36 AM EDT up reply actions
It just sucks that while the Red Sox got swept over the weekend (4 games)
We managed to go 1-3 in our last four. Two of those losses should have been wins.
Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks
This was like a tale of two halves.
Tampa Bay AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Bartlett, SS 5 2 3 2 0 1 0 .340
Crawford, LF 4 2 1 1 0 0 1 .315
Longoria, 3B 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 .274
Zobrist, RF-2B 3 0 2 2 1 0 0 .292
Pena, C, 1B 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 .214
Burrell, DH 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 .224
Aybar, W, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .266
Gross, RF 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .259
Zaun, C 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .242
Upton, B, CF 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 .237
Not really surprising
Other than Aybar none of the guys at the bottom of the order are good with this stick anymore. Thankfully they are all still typically good at working counts and walking. Upton and Burrell would be late on a pitch if it was put on a tee.
Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks
Brignac went 4-5 today for Durham
just an idea but what about calling him up (I know platooning young guys is frowned upon but)
RHP- Brignac 2B, Zo RF, Gross DH
LHP Zo 2B, Kap RF, PTB DH
the only roster move needed to make this happen would be DFA Bennett or a loogy. Brignac wouldn’t have to worry about facing lefties (he can continue to work on that off-season, at this point in the season an extra 20-25 AB’s in Durham against LHP isn’t going to affect him) He should be an upgrade over PTB against righties and will improve us defensively (esp over Aybar) Aybar can still get some starts in against LHP at 1B when needed.
I like the idea
but I doubt the front office wants to take ABs away from Burrell. PTB’s contract is sure making it tough to make the lineup more flexible at the DH spot. You like Gross at DH vs RHP over Aybar? That is interesting. Aybar is doing better vs righties than lefties. But I guess putting Gross in with Aybar slumping is something to consider.
What i'd like to see is a in depth look at Uptons swing
In particular maybe a frame by frame comparison of his swing now and the playoffs last year. It is going to be vastly different. He was so dominant. Off the top of my head it appears he is starting later, his bat head isn’t getting out in front, he really isn’t using his hips, etc. That is the sad thing. He really has the talent to be an elite hitter. I just think his swing is so way out of whack. Either way it would be nice to see where the differences are. Just an article idea.
Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks
He's got one of those classic golfer quick-fix syndromes.
He got injured, made adjustments to his swing to deal with the injury, developed bad habits and never grew out of it. Since he never grew out of it, he’s pressing and swinging at bad pitches. It’s not a little slump. He has to do some major work on his swing. We knew the first couple of months would be a wash with the shoulder injury but it’s looking like the entire year is gone because of it.
by digs the long ball on Aug 11, 2009 2:04 AM EDT up reply actions
in case anyone doesn't get the golf comparison
when you’re slicing a ball, you aim more left or try hooking the ball to compensate. once you get over your slice, you know have a bad habit of pulling the ball. it’s a short term fix and in the long run screws up your mechanics.
by digs the long ball on Aug 11, 2009 2:07 AM EDT up reply actions
I agree
I doubt he will find that swing the rest of the season. He started the season hurt and might be thinking too much at the plate to protect that shoulder. He looks lost at the plate and since the ASG, only has 3 walks to 27 strikeouts. Its really hard to watch his regression right now.
He's also never had the most fundamentally sound swing.
I can remember scouts talking about how awkward and jerky it was. Too many little movements at different times and if one fell out of sync, the whole swing was thrown off. His swing in his first year was just painful.
by digs the long ball on Aug 11, 2009 2:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Has anyone on the team (Maddon)
spent anytime with him? I’m thinking if Maddon spends time with a vet like PtB, it may not be bad to show some faith in Upton and try to help him out. Maybe it’ll keep Upton feeling like he’s wanted if people are offering to help.
www.bucem.com - SBNation's source for all things Buccaneer
Who is he, his girlfriend?
This kid doesn’t understand why he was dropped down in the order. Things are not going well on the BJ front.
He knows exactly why he was dropped. He admitted it was his fault, too.
by BrokeBearMountain on Aug 11, 2009 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, right...
If you understand something, it’s not a kick in the face. His word choice indicates that he didn’t see this coming, and he definitely should have.
I got that feeling when we had Bubba Trammel and Randy Winn roaming in the outfield
We are light years from that team. It is very tough to make the WS back to back years much less the playoff’s. If we win 90 games and don’t make the playoffs and the only people who will be hooting and hollering in disqust are the bandwagoners (don’t get me wrong it will be dissapointing to everyone and hurt but regardless of what happens the rest of this season AF and company have built a team that should contend for the forseeable future something that many thought never possible.
I dunno
The Yankees have recovered. We’ll see if we can contend, but we don’t have as much leeway as the teams with more cash.
Upton is just dismal
I think he has like 1 hit the entire road trip. He’s never looked so lost at the plate.
Basically, Willy should never start at second this year.
Why is he starting games in the first place? I’m not sure his 353 wOBA is outweighing the -3.3 UZR that much, not when we could have plus defense all around with the Gabes in right and Zobrist at 2nd. Use Willy of the bench, or platoon him at DH, but please don’t put him on the field again until next season.
Seems like every game he starts there he makes an error
Suttree is being nice IMO. It was a routine play
Kap-rilla???
Kennedy actually commented on that during the broadcast
Following the error, he was saying how Madden should put his best defensive team forward to face a team that is offensively as gifted as the Angels. No offense to Aybar (great bench/util player) but I have to agree with Suttree and Kennedy. I think last night we should’ve seen Zo at second with Gross in RF—the best defensive lineup we have. We obviously went swing for swing with them for almost the whole game—with some better defense, those two unearned runs could (in my opinion) been avoided.
I do think Willy's better than this from a true talent level. With some consistent playing time and work at second, I think he'd be an average second basemen with a plus bat.
But, the bumps in the road on that patch are hurting us right now and our starting pitching needs the help.
Did anyone see the shelton article today on Upton?
The guy should be fired for writing pretty much outright lies.
Kap-rilla???
just read it, seems completely fair to me,
what do you feel he lies about?
by davidsmarch on Aug 11, 2009 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions
It wasn't as bad as a figured..
The first time I saw the headline in the paper I just passed on it since I’m really over the whole ordeal. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. He drops the two worst quotes and doesn’t tell the whole story, but I still expected worse.
If anyone wanted a link
I can't help that I make some things look easier than they really are.
by Sandy Kazmir on Aug 11, 2009 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions
Discussion has kind of moved to the OTTOTD
The problem I had with it was him saying Upton was whining and that he didn’t understand why he was dropped in the order. I just haven’t seen BJ say anything like this.
Kap-rilla???
This seems pretty reasonable to me:
“I know I’m not a 9-hitter,” Upton said. “I know I’m not a bottom-of-the-order type of guy.”
No? Then prove it.
Or the second half of that:
He said he is not using the demotion as motivation, instead focusing on some slight changes in his batting approach that he is confident will improve his performance (.239, seven homers, 37 RBIs) and earn him a promotion.
“I’m not going to let this go on for too much longer,” he said. “I’m in here every day working on what I need to work on trying to get it right. It’s just not working. When it starts working, you know what’s going to happen. I’ll work my way back up again.”
I don’t know what else he could have said. If he said “This will motivate me to improve” everyone would have said he was lazy for not trying to improve in the past.
This.
Those 3 K’s yesterday were pathetic.
I love the guy, I have for years, but those were the weakest, already-have-given-up-on-the-at-bat swings i’d ever seen. If he had hit the ball it would have been a one-hopper straight back to the mound anyway. No power, no restraint, just swing the bat and go sit down with my Gatorade swings.
He says he’s upset with the move and it’s his responsibility to get better; now show us. 1-14 in big games is a step backward.
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