Blogger's Opening Day
One of the things I missed the most this offseason was the commentary each week at Mike’s Baseball Rants on Joe Morgan’s weekly chat on ESPN.com. This week Mike posted his takes on the first session of the season. Part of me always feels badly for laughing – both at Joe’s answers and Mike’s comments – because I sometimes enjoy listening to Joe Morgan on the Sunday night broadcasts. But at the same time Joe’s hokum and uninformed dismissal of statistics and analysis is disappointing and a disservice to young fans and those just becoming acquainted with the game.
Look at that – I think I just wrote my own Joe Morgan-quality contradiction.
In this week’s edition, Mike not only proves that he is funny, but also knows big words. I think this was my favorite line in the whole piece – “A great Morgan moment: he is the necromancer who can alloy gold with dross.”
Later Mike comments on Joe’s assessment of Derek Jeter’s fielding ability.
“There are a few things that go into fielding: getting to the ball, catching the ball, positioning oneself to throw the ball, and making a strong and accurate throw. Jeter has zero range. Well, that's unfair. He has below average range for a major-league shortstop. He just doesn't get to balls that other SS's do. It's evident from watching the games as well as the stats. Jeter does do everything else well so it appears to the untrained eye (by which, I mean YES broadcasters) that he is a decent shortstop, but he's not. Jeter is a superior offensive shortstop and if he can maintain that for another five years, he's probably a Hall of Famer, but he's not a good defensive shortstop. Let's all just take a breath and get over it.”
Look at that – I think I just wrote my own Joe Morgan-quality contradiction.
In this week’s edition, Mike not only proves that he is funny, but also knows big words. I think this was my favorite line in the whole piece – “A great Morgan moment: he is the necromancer who can alloy gold with dross.”
Later Mike comments on Joe’s assessment of Derek Jeter’s fielding ability.
“There are a few things that go into fielding: getting to the ball, catching the ball, positioning oneself to throw the ball, and making a strong and accurate throw. Jeter has zero range. Well, that's unfair. He has below average range for a major-league shortstop. He just doesn't get to balls that other SS's do. It's evident from watching the games as well as the stats. Jeter does do everything else well so it appears to the untrained eye (by which, I mean YES broadcasters) that he is a decent shortstop, but he's not. Jeter is a superior offensive shortstop and if he can maintain that for another five years, he's probably a Hall of Famer, but he's not a good defensive shortstop. Let's all just take a breath and get over it.”
posted by Mike @ Wednesday, April 14, 2004
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home