Tidbits

A couple of comments/questions on recent events.

Twins call up a 28 year old rookie. I hope he does well, but that's not
impressive on the surface.

In the 6-5 loss, the AP report states "With two outs and the outfield
pulled in, Murphy hit a fly ball to the warning track in left-center
field". Is that what happened? Unless the batter is a Little Leaguer,
why do you pull in the outfield with *two* outs, and let a warning track
fly beat you? I know nothing about Murphy except what is on his Yahoo
page, which *doesn't* show him as some 150 pounder who has never even
hit a double in his career.

--
John Gregory ashbury at skypoint.com [url]http://www.skypoint.com/[/url] tilde ashbury
Today's literary masterpiece:
From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,
surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and
"Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.

> On Apr 26, 11:44*am, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:
> A couple of comments/questions on recent events.
>
> Twins call up a 28 year old rookie. *I hope he does well, but that's not
> impressive on the surface.

True. I guess they are giving him a taste of the big leagues. Korecky
came over from Philly with Silva and Punto in the Eric Milton trade
back in 2003.

> In the 6-5 loss, the AP report states "With two outs and the outfield
> pulled in, Murphy hit a fly ball to the warning track in left-center
> field". *Is that what happened? *Unless the batter is a Little Leaguer,
> why do you pull in the outfield with *two* outs, and let a warning track
> fly beat you?

Error on the AP writer. The OF was pulled in for the previous batter
with one out. That batter struck out. The OF was put at regular depth
with 2 outs.

On Sat, 26 Apr 2008, powrwrap wrote:

> Error on the AP writer. The OF was pulled in for the previous batter
> with one out. That batter struck out. The OF was put at regular depth
> with 2 outs.

OK, that partially clears things up. I'm still wondering though. The
ball, since it was two outs, must have fallen safely. The play by play
(not referring to the AP story now) says it was to left field, deep.
A different play earlier refers to deep left center, so I take this to
mean straightaway left on the final play. So, Delmon got burned, playing
too shallow? At normal depth, I expect a warning track fly to be caught
almost every time.

--
John Gregory ashbury at skypoint.com [url]http://www.skypoint.com/[/url] tilde ashbury
Thought for the moment:
I plan on living forever. So far, so good.

On Apr 27, 1:21*am, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:


> OK, that partially clears things up. *I'm still wondering though. *The
> ball, since it was two outs, must have fallen safely. *The play by play
> (not referring to the AP story now) says it was to left field, deep.
> A different play earlier refers to deep left center, so I take this to
> mean straightaway left on the final play. *So, Delmon got burned, playing
> too shallow? *At normal depth, I expect a warning track fly to be caught
> almost every time.

It was a gapper that hit about a foot short of the wall.

Video here:

[url]http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_04_25_minmlb_texmlb_1&mode=game day[/url]

> Video here:
>
> [url]http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_04_25_minmlb_texmlb[/url]...

You need to click on the "Wrap" tab to get to the video.

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008, powrwrap wrote:

> On Apr 27, 1:21*am, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:
>
>
>> OK, that partially clears things up. *I'm still wondering though. *The
>> ball, since it was two outs, must have fallen safely. *The play by play
>> (not referring to the AP story now) says it was to left field, deep.
>> A different play earlier refers to deep left center, so I take this to
>> mean straightaway left on the final play. *So, Delmon got burned, playing
>> too shallow? *At normal depth, I expect a warning track fly to be caught
>> almost every time.
>
> It was a gapper that hit about a foot short of the wall.
>
> Video here:
>
> [url]http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_04_25_minmlb_texmlb_1&mode=game day[/url]

Thanks. I took a look. I guess it sounds like second guessing if I say
it looks like he was playing pretty shallow after all.

--
John Gregory ashbury at skypoint.com [url]http://www.skypoint.com/[/url] tilde ashbury
Error message of the day:
File not found. Should I fake it? (Y/N)

> On Apr 27, 9:01*pm, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:

> Thanks. *I took a look. *I guess it sounds like second guessing if I say
> it looks like he was playing pretty shallow after all.

It looks like they were playing shallower than they normally would.
After all, the batter was David Murphy, career record of 4 HRs in 223
ABs.

On Apr 27, 9:01*pm, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks. *I took a look. *I guess it sounds like second guessing if I say
> it looks like he was playing pretty shallow after all.

I said the same thing watching it live. Seemed too shallow.

Matt

On Apr 27, 11:13*am, powrwrap <powrw...@aol.com> wrote:
> > Video here:
>
> >[url]http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_04_25_minmlb_texmlb[/url]....
>
> You need to click on the "Wrap" tab to get to the video.

Shameless spammer!

brianj

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008, powrwrap wrote:

>> On Apr 27, 9:01*pm, John Gregory <ashb...@skypoint.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks. *I took a look. *I guess it sounds like second guessing if Isay
>> it looks like he was playing pretty shallow after all.
>
> It looks like they were playing shallower than they normally would.
> After all, the batter was David Murphy, career record of 4 HRs in 223
> ABs.

Specific scouting would of course trump my analysis from afar, but a
batter who is listed as 6'4" and 205 pounds doesn't seem like a guy
who'll be seeking to place lots of singles, even opposite field. An
equally plausible explanation for the relative lack of home runs might
be "warning track power". That's obviously a bit of Monday-morning
quarterbacking on my part, but it's the only kind I'm capable of.

How is Delmon's arm? Runner on second (play by play on Yahoo doesn't
indicate Duran advanced, after replacing Blaylock, until Murphy's drive),
two outs - playing normal or deep, and gambling that you'll come in on a
flare single and hold the lead runner to third or nail him at home even
if he's fast, presupposes confidence in one's arm. Lacking? OK,
confidence in one's catcher is also presumed, but that's not an issue
here, based on what I saw in the same game if memory serves.

--
John Gregory ashbury at skypoint.com [url]http://www.skypoint.com/[/url] tilde ashbury
Thought for the moment:
At least, I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.