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Youkilis: Portrait of a man who's ignoring his own statistics posted on 06/13/2008

Just want to throw this statistical breakdown out there:

Youk's been complaining/slamming/throwing things a lot this year, largely in response to a perception of an inflated strike zone.  His frustration does have some potential statistical backing, ignoring the possibility that his eyes just aren't what they were in 2006.  With no further ado, some numbers --

 26 walks in 239 AB so far in '08 -- that's a hair under 11% of his at-bats, certainly lower than his career average of walks in about 15% of his at-bats.  On the other hand, he's hitting the crap out of the baseball.  His OBP has barely suffered (5 pts below career average), and he's slugging a cool .520 as of mid-June, a full .070 over his career average.  He's on pace to outdo himself in all offensive categories, and believe it or not, he's striking out less often than he has in the past -- granted we're talking 19% vs. 20% of at-bats, but still -- for a man whose numbers are if anything better than in the past, he sure carries a lot of negativity into his clubhouse after a poor AB, and the last thing this city needs is a baby Paul O'Neill slamming bats while batting .300 in the middle of a stacked lineup.  While tantrums are funny, no doubt, there's no excuse for bringing your teammates down every time you don't succeed in an at-bat, which in the case of even the best players, is about 60% of the time. 

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Manny: Portrait of a Porkchop posted on 06/13/2008
Yes, Manny is still "being Manny," but you can't fault a man for lightness of character when the effort is there.  He's started running out grounders this season -- granted, it's abhorrent that it took him this long, but at least he's doing it.   He still looks like he dogs it in left field, but he gets to the ball and still has one of the best and most effortless-looking arms in the game.  I won't say that he's the be-all-end-all of left fielders, but he does a pretty damn nice job out there given his size and aerodynamic catastrophe of a hairstyle.  Think of his fielding as a less flashy version of the Bernie Williams phenomenon -- Bernie knew exactly how hard/lazily to run to guarantee a diving catch.  Manny knows exactly how hard/lazily to run to

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The conflict posted on 05/23/2008

Rich Harden is starting tonight against the Sox.

Ah, the conflict between team loyalty and fantasy ownership.  Such a burden.

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Gobbles! posted on 05/22/2008

I promise: not every blog post will be titled by a hilarious name followed by an exclamation point.

But really, Jimmy Gobble?  Thank you, Kansas City Royals, for signing a dude who sounds, at least in name, like a retarded turkey.  Really.  I appreciate it.

Also, thanks, Jimmy, for  serving up the second grand slam of the game.  It's currently the difference in an 11-8 game going to the top of the 9th.  Good man, Jimmy Gobble, good man.

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Bartolo! posted on 05/22/2008

You fat sonofabitch, welcome home!

Really, I'm very excited to see this man in a Sox uniform.  He is clearly the spiritual offspring of Pedro Martinez and Rich Garces, and I declare him the harbinger of a brilliant summer for the Sox.  May he be dubbed "El Guapo Segundo".

I figure Lester's no-no will get plenty of accolades without my help, so instead I will mention the following:

(1) Dice has a chance this afternoon to go 7-0 against the self-declared streaky Bannister.  His record does not disagree: he blew open the season going 3-0, but since has lost 5 of 6 starts, his one win coming against the Baltimore "Special Olympics" Orioles.  Actually, that's not fair.  The O's are pretty nasty this year, despite getting blanked by Bannister and no-hit by Lester (oh snap, I went there anyway).

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