The WGOM

you're not trying hard enough

I guess I can't argue with that. I guess when I say the 800m is easier, I'm talking mentally easier, not physically. We called our 400m sprinters "no-minds", because that's how you run it - you're put in a lane, and you run in that lane until you stumble over the finish line. The 800m has jockeying for position, drafting...much more mentally stimulating.

I think that's true to a certain extent, but we had some sprinters that would move up to the 800 from the 400 at the end of the season, and they ran it nearly like back-to-back 400's--and they generally beat the crap out of anyone else on the team who ran what might be considered a more cerebral race.

Perkins four starts have come against the exact same teams and two of them (Boston and Detroit) are better against lefties.

Oh, I'm sorry. Perkins has had four good starts and Boof has had five bad starts. Clearly that is all that matters, and Perkins>Boof.

That Perkins got good results doesn't change that Boof faced a bunch of good hitters.

You argued that one of the reasons he's pitched poorly lately is the opposition. Socaltwinsfan pointed out that Perkins has faced the same opposition. I guess I don't see how this warrants the sarcastic faux apologetic tone.

I guess I'm just at the end of my rope with all of this small sample size theater nonsense. What is socaltwinsfan's point exactly? That those hitters aren't especially good based on the four games that Glen Perkins pitched? Or that Glen Perkins is really great based on those four games?

Bonser's had five bad games against good hitting teams. Despite that, there's reason to believe he'll be just fine going forward. Perkins has had four good games against good hitting teams. Despite that, there's plenty of reason to believe he's way over his head and he'll regress.

Where's the evidence that ERA trumps peripherals over the course of a month? Where's the evidence that ERA trumps peripherals over the course of a season? Where's the evidence that we should throw out Bonser's track record over five bad games? (Because I guarandamntee that no one wanted Boof out of the rotation when his ERA was 3.75.) Where's the evidence that 60 career innings is enough to disregard a pitcher's consistently awful control throughout his entire career?

This is the exact same thing that we went through with Kyle Lohse, except that Lohse was a jerk so no one felt bad really laying into him. We heard all kinds of BS about how Lohse "just wasn't getting it done" based on his flukish ERA in 2006, when there was every sign in the world that it would come back to earth. And what has happened since then? Lohse has stayed healthy and had a league average ERA for every team he's pitched for since he's left the Twins.

To a lesser degree, it's the same thing that happened with Ponson last year. Did his ERA suck? Sure, but he'd only pitched seven games and there were indications that he was a better pitcher than that. So far this year, he's actually had a lucky ERA, but he's still pitched better than, say, Livan Hernandez. But Sidney was fat and had character issues, so no one minded running him out of town.

When you finish building your time machine, see what you can do about eradicating the Win, Loss, and Save stats, too. And say hello to Doc Brown for me.

+ 1.21 jiggawatts

1) I have never had a bad month hitting in the major leagues.

2) I agree with you on most of your points above. I think Boof will bounce back at some point. However, watching Boof, he just does not look confident. Can he find his groove again at the major league level, or would it actually benefit him to pitch out of the bullpen or in AAA for a while?

3) I totally agree with you on ERA. It drives me crazy when I guy gets off the hook for 6 runs in an inning because an error occured earlier in the inning.

Or a bad career in a month, for that matter.

I tend to favor hanging on to Perkins in this case. I'm not a Perkins fan by any means, but if it's close to a push, then I'd at least like to have a lefty available in my starting five.

However, watching Boof, he just does not look confident.

To me, that's one of those things that you can't tell by watching. The only person who really knows about Boof's confidence is Boof. [Side rant: this is one of my pet peeves with Bert--he assumes certain things about a pitcher's mindset based on his actions, when it's just not clear that there's a direct correlation. When a pitcher is taking a long time between pitches, he always takes that as a sign that he's timid or something, but it could just be that the pitcher is being deliberate or trying to calm himself down or a dozen other things. If I had never seen Joe Nathan before in my life, and then I saw him step into the ninth inning to pitch, I would tell you that he looks like a nervous wreck out there--and maybe he is nervous as hell when he's on the mound, but it sure hasn't affected his performance.]

I don't necessarily have a problem with speculating on such matters, it's just that I think it's good to keep in mind that it's generally difficult to correctly discern someone's emotions from their actions and it's tough to say how those emotions are going to affect their performance even if we know their emotions perfectly. In the same way that Tom Kelly said that momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher, sometimes a pitcher's confidence could be as simple as whether he's facing the Red Sox or the Royals in his next start.

That said, players are human, and sometimes it's a good idea to give them an easier assignment to give them some additional confidence. (Again, this is a tricky business, because sometimes a demotion can equally ruin someone's confidence.) But that's the sort of thing that Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson know more about than I do. The difference between Bonser and Perkins for a few starts probably isn't a big deal either way, but I guess that my inclination would be to stick with Boof for now.

but if it's close to a push, then I'd at least like to have a lefty available in my starting five.

Why? I can understand the utility of having a lefty in the bullpen, but unless you are specifically juggling the rotation so that Perkins faces teams that are vulnerable to left-handed pitching, by putting a lefty on the mound, you lose platoon advantage with more hitters than you gain it with.

I can understand the utility of having a lefty in the bullpen, but unless you are specifically juggling the rotation so that Perkins faces teams that are vulnerable to left-handed pitching

Exactly. I'm thinking ahead to the post-season. \snark

In that case, we should be hiding Perkins in AAA to bring him up with the K-Rod rule at the end of the season, so we have an edge in handedness and catch them by surprise.

In that case, we should be hiding Perkins...

ubel, it's superior thinking like this that explains why you're The Man!

Seriously, "The Captain"? Of what? His chess club? The Wusses of America Club? The New York Yankees?

What a lame shtick.

He is the Captain of cool music!

He is the Captain of the Keyboards!

I also find it humorous that their own label screwed up the name of the act on that disk sleeve. "Captain and Tennille", not "The Captain..."

and yes, I'm proud to know that factoid.