FanPost

Playing Tight Is Crap

While watching the Phillies defeat the Nationals in 14 innings last night, I heard several people say that the Phillies `looked tight' and were playing `with pressure'. So tight and so much pressure that they actually won the game, right? But anyway, this idea that if the Phillies lose they `choke' is simply crap. Sometimes baseball teams lose baseball games. Actually, they all lose at least 60 of them every year. Even the best teams do that! And if you're going to have a ton of close one-run games, you're going to lose several of those. That's only natural...even a great reliever like Trevor Hoffman has lost games this year. Reliever have no room to work in one run games, so anything they give up looks that much worse. Losing close games doesn't mean a team has played tight or has choked, it means they're a baseball team that falls into the law of averages.

And if you don't believe me, let's see what Jon Lieber says about all of this:

"I just wanted to stay aggressive and keep the ball low," he said. "Right now, we're a team that doesn't feel any pressure. We're feeding off one another."

In reference to his previous start, he was `aggressive' and neither he nor the rest of the team feel any pressure. Boy, you must be lying through your teeth there Jonny!!!! To hear the fans weave the tale, the Phillies were up by 10 games in the Wild Card and are now blowing it to the Dodgers every single night! But the reality is that the Phils have been playing about as good as they are capable of, which is slightly better than average baseball. They have a really good offense, and while it won't surface every night, it gives them a few nice blowouts every so often. Their pitching is about the epitome of average, and their key cog (Hamels) has pitched a whopping 120 innings above the minors, and 300 innings in professional baseball. To expect the World Series out of this bunch is overshooting a bit.

So if/when the Phillies don't make the playoffs, let's not say they `blew it' or they were playing `tight'. Sometimes teams just play to the level they are capable of...and for the Phils that level isn't a playoff one.  Even in the crappy NL Wildcard chase.

And BTW, for all his veterannes and playoff-readiness, Jeff Conine sure `came up big' last night. 0-7 This just proves that he's playing up to his level. He had been playing over his head for a bit with the Phils with an OPS near 850, which he hasn't sniffed since 2001 with Baltimore. It's now at a much lower 765, and nearing his season mark of 733.

also posted here: Huge Tiny Mistake