The OAO John Kruk is a bag fat idiot thread

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Kurk sounded stupid tonight on a few things, but picking the Angels and Phillies is not stupid. It's a good prediction, as both teams are very good and have improved greatly, plus - it's better than picking the same old crap, Cubs/Sox/Yankees/Stros.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Forget Kruk.

 

Andrew Gammons wiedling the Axe and than interviewing himself on SportsCenter was gold.

[Guest Mosaicv2]

How can the Red Sox lose this year? They have Jesus playing centre field.

forget Mel Gibsons flick... try out Terry Franco & Theo Epsteins The Passion of Damon

[Guest Mosaicv2]

Kurk sounded stupid tonight on a few things, but picking the Angels and Phillies is not stupid. It's a good prediction, as both teams are very good and have improved greatly, plus - it's better than picking the same old crap, Cubs/Sox/Yankees/Stros.

I guess everybody forgot Albert Pujios (sp?) & the Cards?

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Kurk sounded stupid tonight on a few things, but picking the Angels and Phillies is not stupid. It's a good prediction, as both teams are very good and have improved greatly, plus - it's better than picking the same old crap, Cubs/Sox/Yankees/Stros.

I guess everybody forgot Albert Pujios (sp?) & the Cards?

I think it's spelled Pujols, but not 100% sure.

 

 

 

And yes! Baltimore owned the Red Sox ass tonight.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Dumb question: Did Kruk replace Bobby V.?...

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Kurk sounded stupid tonight on a few things, but picking the Angels and Phillies is not stupid. It's a good prediction, as both teams are very good and have improved greatly, plus - it's better than picking the same old crap, Cubs/Sox/Yankees/Stros.

I guess everybody forgot Albert Pujios (sp?) & the Cards?

No.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

John Kruk says that the Orioles are a joke for not hitting a batter after Pedro hit Segui. I guess Kruk didn't notice that both pitchers were pretty wild early on and Curveballs just could not be gripped in the 32(official temp) degree weather.

 

Harold Reynolds said its not about puting your best pitcher out there on Opening Day for the Astros. They should put Clemens or Pettite out there because of the FAN EXCITEMENT~

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Only reason why I watch Baseball Tonight is Carl Ravech and highlights. The crap Harold, Kurk, and sometimes Gammons spits out is just .. ugh .. wow.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Joe Morgan's whole Opening Day commentary is full of stupid shit, like these two gems.

 

"That should be a passed ball because the catcher didn't catch it, so it should be a passed ball"

 

and

 

"In a 3-2 count with the bases loaded maybe you don't throw him a fastball and you walk him, because sometimes walking in one run is better than giving up 3 or 4"

[Guest Mosaicv2]

Kurk sounded stupid tonight on a few things, but picking the Angels and Phillies is not stupid. It's a good prediction, as both teams are very good and have improved greatly, plus - it's better than picking the same old crap, Cubs/Sox/Yankees/Stros.

I guess everybody forgot Albert Pujios (sp?) & the Cards?

I think it's spelled Pujols, but not 100% sure.

 

 

 

And yes! Baltimore owned the Red Sox ass tonight.

we will see

[Dr. Tom 0]

Speaking of Kruk, I'll always remember Kruk vs Randy Johnson at the 93 All Star Game at Camden Yards..

I was there, d00d. It was fucking GOLD.

[Guest Redhawk]

Kruk wasn't that bad on "The Best Damn Sports Show." He was at least less irritating than Tom Arnold, Chris Rose (Ross? Whatever) and Stephen A. "I NEED TO YELL TO MAKE MY POINT BECAUSE IF I YELL I SOUND LIKE I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" Smith.

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

kkk--Yes, cause Valentine is coaching over in Japan. Crazy bastard.

 

NESN wanted to charge? Fuck, as soon as AT&T came on board and bought out MediaOne, we got it for free. And Comcast kept it that way. Just about the only thing they've done right.

 

If you don't get NESN, and the ESPN is blacked out, and you live in New England, I'd see if Comcast is carrying the games on their channel. I know that's what they are doing for a lot of games during the Bruins playoffs.

 

The part of Connecticut north of Hartford needs to defect and become part of Massachusetts. The south ones are the fucked up Yankees fans. Bastards. Although, it seems like they are the only ones who know who the Celtics are. Make up your mind already.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

John Kruk's Debut Page 2 Column......

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=kruk/040416

 

My favorite part......

 

Who knows when that "me first" mentality will creep up. Put it this way. It's late September. Tight game. No outs. Jeter's on second base. A-Rod and Giambi are tied for the league lead in RBI. Does A-Rod sacrifice himself to advance Jeter to third, and give the easy RBI chance to Giambi? Or does he swing away, hoping to knock him in on his own -- risking the win in the process? Who knows?

 

Yes John. You have three chances to score the runner with a hit. Your obvious best move is to give the team the first out in order to add a marginally better situation for the next hitter. Of course, if he strikes or pops out, you've wasted TWO opportunities to score the runner. But hey, bully for small ball. And who has ever cared about the league leader in RBIs?

 

Seriously, Pete Palmer's The Hidden Game of Baseball was published twenty years ago. The sacrifice bunt is an disadvantageus manuever. Why does it still exist as a viable strategy?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I only agree with the sac bunt if a runner is on second and a pitcher has been dominating you all day in a tight game. If you can get a runner 90feet from the plate and that one run could end it then go for it. You have one chance to nail it in the OF for a sac fly and two chances for shallow base hits to score him.

 

Otherwise it is a waste and they should swing away. Unless of course its a pitcher at the plate not named Dontrelle Willis or Mike Hampton. Those pansies need to be moving runners over for real hitters.

[Vern Gagne 0]

When was the last time A-Rod bunted? If it's somehow Enrique Wilson, or Bubba Crosby in that spot than it's understandable. It's Alex Rodriguez however one of the best hitters in the game.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Even those two. I maintain the sacrifice bunt is a bad play for ANY hitter, excluding pitchers. And if your hitting is that bad, there should be a pinch hitter.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Like Frigid said it depends on the situation.

 

Why in the hell Joe Torre would even consider having A-Rod sacrifice bunt is abord. This is just a stupid scenario.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

I just saw this and stopped in to say that as a youngin I was babysat by one of his relatives...his aunt I believe.

 

Never met him or anything, but still... it's cool to know I have some degree of seperation from him.

 

On a related note, my ex-girlfriend's distant cousin is Dwight Yoakum. But whatever.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=kruk/040521

 

If you want to know why the older pitchers have been dominating lately, you aren't going to find the answers by breaking down mechanics and style.

 

It goes all the way back to Little League and all through college and the minors. Bottom line -- today's young pitchers have been babied since they first threw a ball.

 

These kids are taught that pitch count and innings are everything. They throw numbers at them on how someone can break down if they pitch too much too soon. You know what? You put that into anyone's head and I guarantee you they will break down. And how are you supposed to know what a pitcher has if you don't push them? These are kids. Did you ever get tired playing ball when you were a kid?

 

 

When a pitcher finally gets to the major leagues, he goes out and gives the team six innings and he's happy with that? You go ask Terry Mulholland or Curt Schilling if they're ever happy with that. They know their job is to pitch nine innings, but like every other starting pitcher they get pulled because of pitch counts.

 

 

There's only one thing that determines whether or not a pitcher should gets pulled -- the batters.

 

 

I asked Mitch Williams why he decided to retire. He told me he didn't decide -- the batters did. They told him it was time to go. And that's what should determine when a pitcher comes out of a game. Not some statistic about what might happen.

 

 

And forget about this "quality start" stat. What the hell is that? Six innings with three runs or less is a quality start? What happened to the other three innings? I'll tell you, your bullpen is going to get awfully tired if your rotation only gives "quality starts."

 

 

If you don't believe me, like I've said before, look at the numbers. They don't lie.

 

You think Curt Schilling is a happy with a quality start? No -- he wants to go 9.

 

The Phillies had a pitcher in the '50s named Robin Roberts. He had six seasons in a row of over 300 innings. If he played today they would shut him down at 200.

 

Take an Red Sox-Angels game from 1974. Nolan Ryan vs. Luis Tiant. Ryan goes for 13 innings while Tiant goes 14.1. The Angels won 4-3. You think they were counting pitches then?

 

And that was 19 years before Ryan ended his Hall of Fame career. So I don't think all those innings affected him too much. Now if you started telling Ryan when he was 9 years old that a game like that might end his career -- who knows?

 

The other day everyone was talking about Mike Stanton pitching in his 900th game -- same as Cy Young. One small difference: Mike has about 800 innings under his belt while Cy had 7,500.

 

What? Were people made differently back then? No way.

 

Now I'm not saying you have to pitch nine innings. It still all comes down to winning. So when guys like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine tell their manager they have nothing left, you have to respect that. But you can't respect a manager for taking out a guy just because some computer printout says after a certain pitch count he's a sitting duck.

 

Let me break some of this down.....

 

If you want to know why the older pitchers have been dominating lately, you aren't going to find the answers by breaking down mechanics and style.

 

Older pitchers as a group are not dominating. Clemens is. Moyer, Maddux, Wells fall into the middle of the pack. Most pitchers their age are retired.

 

And how are you supposed to know what a pitcher has if you don't push them? These are kids. Did you ever get tired playing ball when you were a kid?

 

Lovely. Kruk never pitched, by the way. Pitching is an unnatural motion, which puts strain on the arm. Youth baseball is littered with pitchers felled by arm injuries.

 

And that was 19 years before Ryan ended his Hall of Fame career. So I don't think all those innings affected him too much. Now if you started telling Ryan when he was 9 years old that a game like that might end his career -- who knows?

 

Here's the problem. Everyone cites Nolan Ryan, Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton, etc. But for every one of those guys, there are hundreds of pitchers brought down by arm injuries. By subjecting talent to an exhausting regiment, we declare success because a handful succeeded? That's nonsense. Teams have too much riding on their players.

 

The other day everyone was talking about Mike Stanton pitching in his 900th game -- same as Cy Young. One small difference: Mike has about 800 innings under his belt while Cy had 7,500.

 

What? Were people made differently back then? No way.

 

It's called the dead-ball era, jackass. Teams scored a handful of runs a game, and pitching was easier. Most simply lobbed the ball across the plate, unless they had runners on base.

 

Its insane. Why are analysists so out of touch with reality allowed to write columns and appear on television?

[Guest Redhawk]

Because they played/coached the game, so supposedly they understand it more than someone who's merely been watching it their whole life. That's the theory, at least, but it's not always right (cough*CHARLEY ROSEN*cough). There's this great clip of Howard Cosell going off about how journalism students are getting screwed out of jobs because they "didn't play second base for the Yankees" or "didn't play quarterback for the Cowboys."

[Bored 0]

I just loved this comment.

The other day everyone was talking about Mike Stanton pitching in his 900th game

Yes I know I'll never forget where I was when Stanton pitched in magical game #900. I'm wearing my commerative Mike Stanton 900th game t-shirt right now.

 

Oh and had to add this one:

But you can't respect a manager for taking out a guy just because some computer printout says after a certain pitch count he's a sitting duck.

Ya you tell them John! We know Dusty Baker don't pay attention to know stinkin' computers and it's worked so well for Prior and Wood.

 

Oh wait.

 

Seriously I want an ESPN debate show featuring Kruk and Rob Neyer.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm assuming he would've left Pedro in as well.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Kruk also said Jared Washburne should win the Cy Young because he has the most wins in the American League. Despite run support of like 7 per game, and an era barely under 5.00.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I like how he just completely shit all over the Reds on last night's show because he's too lazy to actually look up career stats on the pitching staff.