How about, "He was in the outfield while the batters were taking batting practice, and he threw a ball back into the infield"? From Pete Abraham's blog -- Joba's split stats by inning: First inning: 6 innings, 13 hits, 9 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 3 HR. 13.50 ERA All other innings: 29.2 innings, 23 hits, 6 earned runs, 14 walks, 17 strikeouts, 1 HR. 1.82 ERA. Very strange.
^ Can't have him in the bullpen at this point. Coming out of the pen, he'd would only pitch an inning, and that inning would be equivalent to pitching the first inning...
JOba has been our best starter so far. The bullpen talk should end already. But boy do we need some bullpen help. Is Johnny Damon on roids?
1. Coke has been good. 2. Having Bruney back will help. 3. If Mo pitched more like Mo, the team would have two additional wins, and fewer concerns about the bullpen. 4. The starters have done more to hurt the pen than anyone else. The point of all of that is... the bullpen doesn't necessarily need help that isn't already there (with the exception of Bruney, I suppose). Mo should be Mo (or Mo-ish, at least). Coke is solid. And if/when the starters start pitching longer into games, the pen will be less exposed and more rested. Any time the starters can't get out of the fifth inning or a game goes into extra innings is going to tax the pen.... the Yanks had a lot of those games in April and early May.
Great read some 36 years later..10 million, can you imagine? There are any number of bums on this team that wouldn't even pay for a year. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn....e/MAG1087036/index.html?eref=sircrc&eref=sisf
so Joba gets ripped a new one for pumping his fist. But when Papelbon does it, it makes its way to the front of ESPN.com, in a good way.
There's a big difference between getting that excited after three straight Ks of three outstanding hitters with the go ahead run in scoring position to end the game, and a routine strikeout to end the 5th inning when you're losing. Let alone the fact that one is a meaningless situation, there is also a difference between celebrating a win and celebrating a strikeout. If you notice, Papelbon didn't do that after striking out either Pena or Upton.
Who cares about the celebration? To date...Mark DeRosa, Aubrey Huff, and a bunch of old-time baseball fans...Big deal. And I don't care the situation when anybody does it, whatever...Joba, Papelbum, KRod, a hitter...So?
Because it was the middle of the inning. You'll notice Joba (and others) never do it for the first or second outs. It's always been the last out to get out of a jam or something.
I don't understand what the big deal is. I used to get upset, whatever, 15 years ago, when DEs would do the whole "sack dance" when their team was down 17 with 4:00 left in the game. As I've grown older, I've given up giving a crap. So what? Players celebrate being better than each other. Isn't that what we encourage in sports anyway? Why shouldn't a player celebrate being better than another player? If you defeat your adversary, you're the victor, and to ye go the spoils. Anyway, any Red Sox fan talking shit about Joba celebrating might want to kindly remember two words: 1) Manny 2) Papi.
If Papelbon is in the game, it's always a meaningful situation. Does he pump his fist every single time he gets someone out? Just saying. I'm indifferent one way or the other with my feelings towards celebrations.
