data.3news-bydate.train.rec.sport.baseball.104747 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (Mike Jones)
Subject: Re: Relative value of players
Reply-To: [email protected]
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM.
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[email protected] (Edward Kim) writes:
>In article [email protected] (Joe M Leonard) writes:
>> Before folks jump on me, let me ask the net - would the Jays
>> have won the AL with a good pitcher from AAA in place of Morris (given
>> his run support)? How about an average ML pitcher? I can't believe
>> that Morris' performance in the playoffs and series had a large positive
>> impact on the Jays performance ...
>I know it's very trendy nowadays to dump on Morris, but let's give credit
>where credit is due.
>It is doubtful that the blue jays would have won the AL east without Morris.
>Last year, when the team went 13-15 for the month of August, and all the
>other starters were being shelled, and Milwaukee was making a charge,
>Morris went 5-1 with a pretty good era (I can't remember exactly).
>Also, let's not underestimate the importance his 240+ innings to save
>the bullpen every fifth day. If he didn't help us win the AL east, forget
>about the pennent and the world series.
A guy who threw 240 innings with about .6 run lower ERA would have saved the
bullpen even more. Say, somebody like Frank Viola (238 innings).
>His run support was high (5.98 runs) but so was Stottlemyer's (5.90 runs)
>and he won only 12 games. I do remember Morris winning an inordinate number of
>6-5 and 8-6 ballgames, but this is to his credit. He pitched only as good
>as he needed to be. When he was up 6-1 in a ballgame, he just put it in cruise
>control and threw the ball up there and let the batters "get themseleves out"
>(I hate this expression!). An inexperienced pitcher would wear himself out
>trying to make perfect pitches to keep his era down. But Morris, being a
>veteran pitcher, knows that winning is the only thing that really matters in
>baseball. By saving himself, he was able to reach back for that little extra
>(I hate this too!) when the game was on the line.
Nice audition tape. Send it to:
Baseball Tonight
ATTN: Ray Knight
ESPN
Bristol, CT
Have you, by chance, taken a look at the boxscores from last year to
determine the accuracy of your account? I seem to recall Morris getting at
least 3 or 4 wins last year when the Jays came back from behind after they
had decided to pull Morris at the end of an inning.
Mike Jones | AIX High-End Development | [email protected]
Dictionaries are merely checkpoint records of linguistic history.
- Truly Donovan