Comments on Drunk Jays Fans: Playoffs!

Our fielding is kind of stupid, if Wells continues...

2008-04-28T15:58:49.439-04:00

Our fielding is kind of stupid, if Wells continues to struggle (which he won't, obviously, because nothing ever stays as bad as we think it will). Rios can't make great plays out there only average ones, Wells seems to have aged 6 years (the surgery was in Wells' non-throwing arm, so what's the deal?), and that other fielder sucks, whatever his name is. Thank God we have a majority of ground ball pitchers and our infield defense is so solid... with... Eckstein- I mean, Johnny Mac, who can swing a... mean... bat. The answer is obviously Bonds.

The Rays bullpen does suck wait until July to see ...

2008-04-28T14:13:50.363-04:00

The Rays bullpen does suck wait until July to see it unravel!Their offense is great and their starting two are up there in the AL.But to say fairly shitty is an accurate statement.Just wait to see how "fairly shitty" they will be!

As for Wells,he seems to saunter towards balls coming at him sometimes.Lack of range or lack of urgency/hustle?Definitely the latter........He is a very good player but something stops him from being a great player.With "dirtbags" like Eckstein and Rolen on the squad perhaps Wells will play to his potential.

I like the way the AL East looks right now, like some sort of Bizarro world where everything is upside down.That flubug crap for the Red Sux is an excuse.They are either up or down so far.Their bullpen is nothing to write home about either.About the Yankees,Litsch is pitching better than their NO 3 Mussina.You should hear all the Yankee homers down in NYC saying how they are getting into the World Series!!It's hysterical,now they've lost Posada.Contrary to popular belief, Posada is the real de facto captain of the Yankees not Jeter.Without him,THEY ARE SCREWED!In addition,their bullpen is not fairly shitty BUT IS REALLY SHITTY with the exception of the overrated Joba "the Bugdodger" Chamberlain and Rivera.This is the Jays year!JP still needs to call Barroid though to seal the deal..........

If it's any consolation, last year Wells did the s...

2008-04-28T13:13:07.097-04:00

If it's any consolation, last year Wells did the same thing. He spent the first half bottom of the league in RZR and then ended up middle of the pack.

But the range metrics have never really liked Vernon. Except for one season, he's always been very slightly above average.

anonymous 11:27 PM - care to comment on dt's zone ...

2008-04-28T11:04:54.205-04:00

anonymous 11:27 PM - care to comment on dt's zone rating findings? He has NOT been "fine out there"...the stats bear it out, plus he's made some careless errors and given extra bases (how did DeJesus get a double out of a liner to center yesterday?), plus, as I mentioned, he just hasn't been aggressive on his throws, at all.

Now, it's early....but can defensive play just warm up like a bat can? I don't know. I'm not trying to "get on his back"; I really like Vern as a player, and don't have a problem at all with the deal he signed - we wanted to keep him ,and we paid market (at the time) for him, maybe even a touch below. Truth be told....I just don't get this defensive decline (yes yes yes - SO FAR), is all.

kick his ass C bass!

2008-04-28T10:44:28.605-04:00

kick his ass C bass!

"Scotty Rolen just looks fucking badass out there....

2008-04-28T10:41:05.390-04:00

"Scotty Rolen just looks fucking badass out there. Even defensively - looks like he's taking his sweet time, then guns the ball over and still beats the runner by 2 steps.

Agreed. I just feel more comfortable watching the game knowing he's at the corner and in the batting order. Again, he ain't the saviour. But it seems like his presence in the lineup gives me a nice warm feeling of adult supervision, for whatever reason.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

2008-04-28T10:36:47.855-04:00

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Oh was that sarcasm?

2008-04-28T10:30:44.004-04:00

Oh was that sarcasm?

Stoeten -- I think you've misunderstood and miscon...

2008-04-28T03:09:43.899-04:00

Stoeten --

I think you've misunderstood and misconstrued my post about Shitske and the Devil Rays bullpen.

Still, I've gone ahead and posted a public apology over at B&C.

http://www.bugsandcranks.com/tampa-bay-devil-rays/a-public-apology-to-stoeten-of-drunk-jays-fans/

Hope there's no hard feelings.

I always think it's pretty tricky to judge fielder...

2008-04-28T02:13:51.201-04:00

I always think it's pretty tricky to judge fielders just by watching them - Jim Edmonds was a perfect example of a guy who seemed to make all these spectacular plays, but actually got to way fewer balls than someone like Andruw Jones who got down and dirty far less often.

But in this case, our observations of Vernon seem spot on - from 2003 to 2007, Vernon's Zone Rating ("The percentage of balls fielded by a player in his typical defensive "zone," as measured by STATS, Inc.") ranged from a low of .905 to a high of .919 - pretty consistent. This year, he's at .815, a massive dropoff. I wonder what the deal is?

Wells looks terrible out in the field. No sign of ...

2008-04-28T00:45:07.757-04:00

Wells looks terrible out in the field. No sign of a former Gold Glove winner to be seen.

Oh, and nice effort on the base steal Wells. Pause. Not.

There's something else to mention here. Our team i...

2008-04-27T23:48:12.761-04:00

There's something else to mention here.

Our team is almost 100 percent completely healthy now. This is the team firing on all cylinders, and I even think the Thomas release was not detrimental to the organization in a baseball sense. And you better like the team the way it is, cause I realized earlier this week after hearing JP and what not that the Jays will probably not sign Barry Bonds.

Anyway, short term future, we're gonna start playing well. Thank god we have Boston coming up. We can't handle these bottom feeders.

Hats off to the red headed step child?And get the ...

2008-04-27T23:27:30.431-04:00

Hats off to the red headed step child?

And get the Hell off Vernon's back. He's fine out there

I commented to Wilner yesterday that Wells is kind...

2008-04-27T23:25:00.767-04:00

I commented to Wilner yesterday that Wells is kind of floating out there on defence. I never mentioned his hitting but Wilner still kind of got all up in arms about it (like he does when he doesn't know what to say).

Ack, ya Vernon is half-ass'n it out there. It's brutal.

I love this quote from the Globe's wrap:When asked...

2008-04-27T23:18:29.164-04:00

I love this quote from the Globe's wrap:
When asked how his surgically repaired finger was holding up, he shrugged and said: “Fine … as far as you know.”

Scotty Rolen just looks fucking badass out there. ...

2008-04-27T23:00:29.398-04:00

Scotty Rolen just looks fucking badass out there. Even defensively - looks like he's taking his sweet time, then guns the ball over and still beats the runner by 2 steps.

And when can we start getting on Vern for his half assed defence this year? Now, I haven't looked into stats like zone rating etc - full disclosure - but he just looks fucking terrible to the naked eye. Seems every game there's a ball dropping 2 feet in front of him, whereas years past he'd be on the turf digging those things out. He's half-assed some throws back to the infield for gift bases this season too.

Of course, everything looks like barf in a 6 game losing streak, but....is it just me on this?

Sam Horn! Is he in the Hall of Fame yet? Anyways -...

2008-04-27T22:38:20.484-04:00

Sam Horn!

Is he in the Hall of Fame yet?

Anyways - I liked the new lineup as well, seems a little more balanced.

I think Eckstein is well suited for the number two slot, and don't mind seeing both Hill and Wells batting lower.

Agreed!Eckstein is hitting second now, according t...

2008-04-27T22:32:16.558-04:00

Agreed!

Eckstein is hitting second now, according to Blair. Hopefully Wells stays farther down, but I bet he'll creep up again eventually.

Whats all this bickering about Shitske and Shelton...

2008-04-27T22:29:34.032-04:00

Whats all this bickering about Shitske and Shelton for? The Jays won!!!

Also, I really liked the new lineup Gibby used, discuss that instead.

Um... also, for your sake I'll pretend that Chris ...

2008-04-27T21:47:24.178-04:00

Um... also, for your sake I'll pretend that Chris Shelton actually was a rookie when that happened, even though he was in his second year. Regardless, the fact that one shitty player who had a hot start and then fell to earth was a "rookie", and another shitty player having a hot start who will inevitably fall back to earth isn't... um... that doesn't really make the comparison any less apt. I may only compare Chris Shelton to Kevin Maas? Is that it? ... Well, if we're still pretending Shelton was a rookie.

Please tell me what I'm missing.

Jon, if you really think I didn't know Chris Shelt...

2008-04-27T21:43:14.176-04:00

Jon, if you really think I didn't know Chris Shelton had his hot start this century, you're probably just going to want to quit while you're ahead*.

Also, nobody is pretending that Shitske is the cleverest nickname ever. It's just... that's his nickname. We one time unknowingly shouted it at him all game while sitting about five rows behind his parents, and after that it kinda stuck.

*I'm being nice. You're not really ahead.

Also, considering that, Reed was way less of a sur...

2008-04-27T21:39:11.574-04:00

Also, considering that, Reed was way less of a sure thing. Stewart has 11 straight years where the worst he's hit was .274, including only one year below .290 in the last nine. With splits that are about even against LHP and RHP, meaning that he's way more versatile.

But that's all stuff from when the move happened, which we don't need to go over. The big thing is that the Reed lovers seem to think that four weeks are enough to base conclusions on in a 25 week season. Uh... no.

So... I like to point out flaws in that, because if you only deal in impressions and feelings, like a lot of fans want to do, Reed looks a lot better than what the reality of the situation is. IMHO.

This century's Chris Shelton? That doesn't make a...

2008-04-27T21:38:35.014-04:00

This century's Chris Shelton? That doesn't make any sense. Chris Shelton is this century's Chris Shelton. Remember? He had that great start in the 2000's.

Shelton was also a rookie when this occurred, Hinske is a veteran. Pretty weak comparison. Hack!

Shitske. How clever!

2008-04-27T21:35:11.856-04:00

Shitske. How clever!

Shannon Stewart and Reed Johnson have pretty simil...

2008-04-27T21:32:17.157-04:00

Shannon Stewart and Reed Johnson have pretty similar career numbers, both in fielding and batting. I really don't care about either player as neither one is going to win or lose a World Series for the Jays. The end.