The season isn't going to begin until late May. That's being optimistic.
Personally I'll be fine. I NEED my baseball fix and luckily I have the Ducks and the best manager in pro ball, Wally Backman. It's excellent baseball in a beautiful park in Islip and wildly affordable. PLUS this year there's a great new rivalry with the new Atlantic League team from Staten Island, managed by our own Edgardo Alfonso. Those series are going to be fun! Maybe the whole family will trek over to Staten Island to watch Wally's Ducks take on Fonzies' guys. Have never seen that park.
But jeez, here we are favorited to go all the way with this amazin Met team and we have a lockout. This lockout sucks worse than the lockdown.
Oh well, Islip and it's cheap hot dogs & beer & free parking, here we come!
But…ban the shift? Srsly? If hitters are allowed to try to pull every pitch, then fielders are allowed to shift. If that’s a problem for hitters, they should learn to hit the other way. That’s called “good fundies” and good fundies make good baseball!
I agree, but the pragmatic side of me sees the fact that hitters haven't made the adjustment, so do we just continued to berate them or do we make a reasonable tweak to the rules that will lead to more singles and doubles?
I have this great memory of being at Fenway years ago to watch Ken Griffey, Jr. The Sox were terrible, so my brother and I were able to get great seats -- not too high up, right behind home plate. Perfect vantage point to see Junior's beautiful swing. The Sox over-shifted on him, back when that was rare, and three straight at bats he just reached out and poked ground ball singles to the left side. It was so impressive to see how amazing a hitter Junior was (so far superior to the juiced up power hitters of his era), but we did have to pay scalped ticket prices ... so while I will always admire Junior for showing what a smart hitter should do against the shift, I also would have loved to see him hit one 500 feet.
I feel strongly! Baseball was more interesting when it took a lineup of players with diverse skillsets to succeed. Can’t argue with the analytics that pulling/uppercutting is a winning approach, but a lot of that is due to tiny ballparks with no foul territory (and improved fitness of ballplayers). Regardless of cause, offense is cheap these days, which is the real reason the games take forever and pitchers can’t last 6 innngs/game 200/season. Ban the shift? Move back the pitchers mound? Ridiculous! They should find ways to rebalance the game, not throw it further out of balance. How ‘bout deadening the ball? Moving back the fences? Calling the actual strike zone? Those fixes would vastly improve the game.
Call the actual strike zone and don't let hitters step out of the box. We should all go back and watch at bats from the 1986 World Series. 10-pitch, epic at bat, Marty Barrett fouling balls off again and again ... dude did not step out of the box the whole time. 10-pitch at bat probably took same amount of time Jeter took to adjust his wrist bands once.
Players like Jeter & Garciaparra destroyed baseball with their antics after every at bat. Staying in the box and staying on the mound will be the most impactful, least intrusive method to speed up the game. Once that's accomplished, the fundamental hitting approach of putting the ball in play must be taught and cultivated. The all or nothing approach has been a disaster. When players once again put the bat on the ball & hit em where they ain't, the shift will be obsolete.
Better to have 8 hitters who choke up and slap singles all day long than plodding neck-muscle clowns who constantly swing for the fences and strike out over 100 times every season.
Welcome back. May the lockout end soon.
So great to see you back!
Good read especially explaning the CBA
Great to have you back, fellas. Now let’s get the season going!
Glad you are back!! Good Stuff!
The season isn't going to begin until late May. That's being optimistic.
Personally I'll be fine. I NEED my baseball fix and luckily I have the Ducks and the best manager in pro ball, Wally Backman. It's excellent baseball in a beautiful park in Islip and wildly affordable. PLUS this year there's a great new rivalry with the new Atlantic League team from Staten Island, managed by our own Edgardo Alfonso. Those series are going to be fun! Maybe the whole family will trek over to Staten Island to watch Wally's Ducks take on Fonzies' guys. Have never seen that park.
But jeez, here we are favorited to go all the way with this amazin Met team and we have a lockout. This lockout sucks worse than the lockdown.
Oh well, Islip and it's cheap hot dogs & beer & free parking, here we come!
Great to see you back; missed these!
But…ban the shift? Srsly? If hitters are allowed to try to pull every pitch, then fielders are allowed to shift. If that’s a problem for hitters, they should learn to hit the other way. That’s called “good fundies” and good fundies make good baseball!
I agree, but the pragmatic side of me sees the fact that hitters haven't made the adjustment, so do we just continued to berate them or do we make a reasonable tweak to the rules that will lead to more singles and doubles?
I have this great memory of being at Fenway years ago to watch Ken Griffey, Jr. The Sox were terrible, so my brother and I were able to get great seats -- not too high up, right behind home plate. Perfect vantage point to see Junior's beautiful swing. The Sox over-shifted on him, back when that was rare, and three straight at bats he just reached out and poked ground ball singles to the left side. It was so impressive to see how amazing a hitter Junior was (so far superior to the juiced up power hitters of his era), but we did have to pay scalped ticket prices ... so while I will always admire Junior for showing what a smart hitter should do against the shift, I also would have loved to see him hit one 500 feet.
We have a 2-1 split on this issue among the Mets Fix crew :)
2-1 which way???
I’m the lone anti-banner. And I have to admit I don’t feel strongly; could possibly be swayed.
I feel strongly! Baseball was more interesting when it took a lineup of players with diverse skillsets to succeed. Can’t argue with the analytics that pulling/uppercutting is a winning approach, but a lot of that is due to tiny ballparks with no foul territory (and improved fitness of ballplayers). Regardless of cause, offense is cheap these days, which is the real reason the games take forever and pitchers can’t last 6 innngs/game 200/season. Ban the shift? Move back the pitchers mound? Ridiculous! They should find ways to rebalance the game, not throw it further out of balance. How ‘bout deadening the ball? Moving back the fences? Calling the actual strike zone? Those fixes would vastly improve the game.
Call the actual strike zone and don't let hitters step out of the box. We should all go back and watch at bats from the 1986 World Series. 10-pitch, epic at bat, Marty Barrett fouling balls off again and again ... dude did not step out of the box the whole time. 10-pitch at bat probably took same amount of time Jeter took to adjust his wrist bands once.
Players like Jeter & Garciaparra destroyed baseball with their antics after every at bat. Staying in the box and staying on the mound will be the most impactful, least intrusive method to speed up the game. Once that's accomplished, the fundamental hitting approach of putting the ball in play must be taught and cultivated. The all or nothing approach has been a disaster. When players once again put the bat on the ball & hit em where they ain't, the shift will be obsolete.
Better to have 8 hitters who choke up and slap singles all day long than plodding neck-muscle clowns who constantly swing for the fences and strike out over 100 times every season.