So let's not fly into a forum and chat-room frenzy over all this Phillies' lefthandedness. Think of all the righthanded pitchers who will have to face a lefthanded gantlet when Utley is back in a lineup that will include switch-hitters Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, Utley, Howard and Ibanez. That's a six-pack of dynamite.
Manuel will have some flexibility. You could see a lineup against a lefthanded starter that opens with the World Series alignment that flipped Victorino and Werth in the Nos. 2 and 6 holes. Ask CC Sabathia, now in Yankees pinstripes, how that worked out. With Werth establishing himself as a certified power threat, Charlie could bat Shane No. 2, Utley 3, Howard 4, Werth 5 and Ibanez 6. And please don't start with, "Don't tell me they're gonna pay $10 million a year to a No. 6 hitter." The Phillies just got through paying $14 million a year for a guy who hit .257, struck out a ton, clogged the bases, hasn't driven in 100 runs since 2005, has never scored 100 runs, and is a seven-inning player.
-Bill Conlin
about 1 year ago
FuquaManuel
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Oh yeah, and this part is great too:
“…Santana has been something less than advertised – very good, but not exceptional – and the Mets’ bullpen is heavily righthanded with Scott Schoeneweis and Billy Wagner out of the picture…”
Really? So you can lead MLB starters in ERA (2.53 – best of his career) while having the 2nd best ERA+ of your career (166) and still be considered “good not great” by Bill Conlin. By this logic, there was no starter in baseball who was exceptional — they were all just “good.” (Save Sabathia for 1/3 of the season.)
I can only imagine what Conlin’s writing process is like.
Sits down to write at 9 A.M.
Finishes article at 9:13.
Sends it to editor at 9:14.
Editor returns it with comments at 9:32. Comments read: “Bill, I would suggest double checking the statistics to strengthen your argument.”
Conlin ignores comments and returns final draft to be published at 9:34. Includes following snide remark in body of email including final draft: “You know who hated statistics? Hitler did! He would have killed all the statisticians.”
Home by 10 A.M.
It never ceases to bewilder me how this guy still has a job. He is impervious to facts. If I were to so consistently demonstrate this level of carelessness in my school work I would have been expelled 2 years ago.
by FuquaManuel on Dec 18, 2008 12:32 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think he makes an interesting point about the right-handedness of the mets’ bullpen, though. Besides Feliciano, we’re looking at all righties (presumably, they would get another lefty before the season). He neglects to mention that, for the phillies, Ibanez will also likely be a “7-inning player” as well, thus, the acquisition of Putz and K-Rod shouldn’t really matter when looking at the potential 345 lefties in the phils’ lineup.
by char6587 on Dec 18, 2008 9:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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