The Hardball Times:John Gibbons must go…

• walshj58

  +1

  Hey John,

   Let's see, 30 out of 58 runners scored from third, fewer than two outs?  That would be 52%.  Do you know what the leauge-average percentage is for runners scored from 3B, fewer than two outs?

  The answer is here:

  THT piece on RBIs

  It turns out to be ... drum roll please ... 52%.  Those chokers!

  Just yankin' your chain, dude.  It was a fun piece.  

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• John Brattain

  +1

  Heh … it’s the old lies, damned lies and statistics eh? It’s why I posted the breakdown of how it was done. Other than the games on the fifth and fifteenth of the month where they went 9-for-11 in cashing in runners from third, they’re 21 of 47 (44.7%) in that situation with a double and four singles as the only hits. In their 16 other situations the guy from third was brought in through an out (or two), errors, walks and wild pitches.
  
  Ugh.
  
  It’s the same bugaboo they had last year--the occasional spurt in the odd game followed by long stretches of incompetence.
  
  Best Regards
  
  John 

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• MBrannon

  +1

  John - thanks for the article! Ironically a few days ago I was perusing some stats trying to figure out why the Jays seem to stink, despite decent overall metrics (AVG/OBP, HR, etc.) I think the answer I came up with was that essentially they weren't hitting any doubles with men on. It turned out that Lyle Overbay was a microcosm of the team - decent numbers until you break it down and see a pretty linear drop when going from low impact situations to high impact situations (e.g. 2 out, RISP).

  Next is to see how quickly we can expect this team to break the record for 1-run losses...

   

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• illgamesh

  +1

  Ah, the weekly Blue Jays lament.  I'll be looking forward to them all year.

   And by the way; Halladay has 3 complete game losses already this year.  What's that all about?

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

  • MBrannon

    +1

    It seems to be about bad, bad luck. Tonight they'll lose 8-7 and Halladay will sit there muttering to himself and glaring at the batters as they come into the dugout having put together an offensive "breakout" that will once again be just shy of that elusive W. No I'm not bitter.

     Peter Gammons said something interesting the other day, about there being something dysfunctional about the Jays team but that he couldn't put his finger on it. I've had that same feeling for 2 years now...

    Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• willkoky

  +1

  The dread pirate roberts approves.

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• John Brattain

  +1

  Ah, the weekly Blue Jays lament.  I'll be looking forward to them all year.

  Weekly? I've been slacking off!

  Best regards

  John 

   

  Posted 4/30/2008 [reply] [flag]

• baseball chick

  +1

  need power? need hits?

   good thing they threw reed johnson out on his worthless butt...

  Posted 5/1/2008 [reply] [flag]

• MBrannon

  +1

  I always liked Reed. Sure he had no power but he just seemed like one of those good "clubhouse guys" as much as I hate that term. And it was always fun to yell "Reeed" when he did something good.

   Looks like my earlier prediction of an 8-7 loss was wrong.... it was only 2-1. At this point I'm hoping the Sox figure out a way to score 0.5 runs tomorrow and win 0.5-0.

  Ugh.

  Posted 5/1/2008 [reply] [flag]

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Links (3)

Grade 2 Quad Nighty Cap
Published 4/30/2008 by edwzipper at Sports Frog
... "This year, with a groundswell calling for his head, I find myself defending the man. As you no doubt are aware, the Blue Jays' clutch numbers reveal that they are clutching both their bats and their throats far too firmly." ...

Random Blue Bird Droppings
Published 4/30/2008 by Dustin Parkes at Drunk Jays Fans
... As each day passes and each loss is tallied, John Gibbons future as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays becomes more and more in doubt. While the blood-hungry media begin doing their shark circles around the clubhouse, a reasonable assessment of this situation can be found inside the mind of John Brattain (which I imagine would look eerily similar to Vincent D'Onofrio's in The Cell, but with less modern art and more baseball paraphernalia). ...

Your Embrace and My Collapse: Game 28, Toronto at Boston
Published 4/30/2008 by hugo at Bluebird Banter: Front Page Posts
... By the way, John Brattain, who called Gibbons out last year for not making enough use of small ball, is now defending him . He's got an in-depth look at how the Jays have faired in "gimme" situations (runner on third, less than 2 outs), and it's not pretty at all. Brattain was as persuasive last season as I've ever seen anyone arguing for the sac bunt and hit-and-run to be used more, and always has an interesting point of view. If you care to chat on this issue, Bebo's got a great take ...