Clearly, Perry never saw Major League.

Recommended minimum of substantive commentary: Chemistry is important between a starting pitcher and his catcher, no? Not to take issue with the article, just a thought I had.

first to chitownsfinest are you dayn mother or something please if team chemisty wast important tell me why did the redsox ship manny off to la for jason bay 1 simple reason the players the management and the fans were fed up bay will probably never be the hitter that manny is and all the redsox had to do was deal with him for a couple of more months but he had become such a distraction to the team that they got rid of him and replaced him with (no knock on jason) a player not of his caliber but one with a good attitude and some that believes in team first oh but wait your from chicago that explains alot its a me first town maybe thats why the cubs havent won anything in a 100 years as for dayn you are still a joke to fox sports as far as why dayn is a joke (chitownsfinest wanted an explanation) read your next to last paragraph and the line when it comes to a story its usually because your not sure what to say or you havent bothered to divine whats really going on with the story you are writing take some time with reggie while writing your book dont butcher his story like you do everything else reggie doesnt deserve that and change your freaking pic

primey for 2

Well Pops I see you have learnd that punctuation is not the Be-All and Kendall of good writing and if you half put words in the right places your meaning will shine through.

4. Jack Keefe Posted: August 08, 2008 at 10:39 AM (#2895018)

Well Pops I see you have learnd that punctuation is not the Be-All and Kendall of good writing and if you half put words in the right places your meaning will shine through.

Either that, or Pops just outed himself as Jack Keefe, and posted as Jack to keep up appearances.

primey for 2

I have to turn down the award a la Milli Vanilli. I copied the first comment on Dayne's article from FOX Sports.

first to chitownsfinest are you dayn mother or something please if team chemisty wast important tell me why did the redsox ship manny off to la for jason bay 1 simple reason the players the management and the fans were fed up bay will probably never be the hitter that manny is and all the redsox had to do was deal with him for a couple of more months but he had become such a distraction to the team that they got rid of him and replaced him with (no knock on jason) a player not of his caliber but one with a good attitude and some that believes in team first oh but wait your from chicago that explains alot its a me first town maybe thats why the cubs havent won anything in a 100 years as for dayn you are still a joke to fox sports as far as why dayn is a joke (chitownsfinest wanted an explanation) read your next to last paragraph and the line when it comes to a story its usually because your not sure what to say or you havent bothered to divine whats really going on with the story you are writing take some time with reggie while writing your book dont butcher his story like you do everything else reggie doesnt deserve that and change your freaking pic

That's intense.

I don't know why FOX lets people put comments, if everything just turns into a flamefest. Or, maybe that's what they want. Idiocy begets idiocy. (Speaking of FOX on a hole, Perry's just at the wrong place at most of the time.)

I don't know why FOX lets people put comments, if everything just turns into a flamefest. Or, maybe that's what they want. Idiocy begets idiocy.

I have seen very little on FOX that tells me that this isn't the case.

I have to turn down the award a la Milli Vanilli. I copied the first comment on Dayne's article from FOX Sports.

My goodness. It read like a satire of a foxsports comments - I can't believe that's actually a comment.

My goodness. It read like a satire of a foxsports comments - I can't believe that's actually a comment.

I thought it read a lot like the old tina post.

Chemistry is important between a starting pitcher and his catcher, no?

AJ Pierzynski has a World Series ring.

Repeat: AJ Pierzynski has a World Series ring.

Chemistry is important between a starting pitcher and his catcher, no?

AJ Pierzynski has a World Series ring.
Good chemistry, bad chemistry, doesn't matter as long as you have chemistry.

Nonetheless, you’ll often hear players and analysts invoke chemistry. Again, though, when they do it’s usually because they’re not sure what else to say or they haven’t bothered to divine what’s really going on with a team. Of course, some within the game do understand what an overblown and mostly meaningless factor chemistry is.

The winning teams I most clearly recall from the time I became a fan were:
The Handlebar Mustache A's
The Big Red Machine
The Steinbrenner Yankees
The '70s Dodgers

No One said those A's and Yankees had chemistry- fistfights were rumored to be a common occurrence (and as it turns out some actually did happen)

Those Dodgers and Reds seemed to be cohesive teams, but later I learned they were not- they had clubhouse tensions and rivalries almost as bad as those of the A's and Yankees.

I've pretty much always thought that "chemistry" as invoked by the MSM was a crock- it ran contrary to what I observed with my own two eyes was essential to winning- those teams had better players... period.

That's why I bought the Bill James Abstract every year it came out after I bought my first one (1982)- he was the first published writer I'd come across who loudly proclaimed what I always saw as a simple truth on that particular topic.

Chemistry is important between a starting pitcher and his catcher, no?

I'm not sure it's absolutely essential. You can work with people you hate. Heck, Abbott and Costello barely spoke to each other offstage. Ditto for Gilbert and Sullivan.

I think a team that over-achieves for a year can be said to have good chemistry (say, the '89 O's or maybe the '07 Rockies), but it also helps to stay healthy and have a regression to the mean in 1-run games.

Chemistry is important between a starting pitcher and his catcher, no?

Heh... Do ace pitchers get to pick their own personal caddies because they're ace pitchers -- or pitchers with personal caddies make them ace pitchers?

Not to take anything away from Randy Johnson or Greg Maddux (just to name two) -- but both have always childishly insisted on a caddy.

Spoken like a guy who has never actually been around a baseball team. Great theory, Perry, too bad the game is played with real players and not Strat-O-Matic cards.

Either that, or Pops just outed himself as Jack Keefe, and posted as Jack to keep up appearances.

Thanks. I couldn't remember the name of the dude that post #2 reminded me of.

On the other side of things, there’s the fact that each season brings us a new round of teams — teams overflowing with board-certified “character guys” — that lose badly and regularly.

Like the Blue Jays. Character counts more than the ability to pound the goddamned ball.

To me, if there is such a thing as "character guys" they would be players that find a way to win when things are going badly, grind out wins and come through in big situations.

I don't think of character guys as nice, happy-go-lucky people that soil themselves when the big play is needed.

Ricciardi said he wants character guys and filled the roster with them. Well, the team blows chunks so give me the buttholes who hate baseball, are hated by their teammates and are capable of hitting more than 11 HR by the second week of August.

Give me Barry Bonds, Adam Dunn and Manny Ramirez and take Brad Wilkerson, Kevin Mench and Shannon Stewart and stick it where the sun don't shine J.P.

Best Regards

John

Ditto for Gilbert and Sullivan.

Maybe that's why all of their work sucks.

I am sure there are exceptions, but in my exp the comment sections on MSM articles at big sites like FOX, for both sports and politics, are often about like what you see here. BTF, warts and all, is a bastion of civility and intellect in comparison--even on politics/race/religion threads.

The Costas/Bissinger stuff happened in part (particularly WRT Costas) because I think they mistook "blogs" for "comement sections at MSM sites."

RR, makes for hilarious reading, though.

YOU CAN HAVE THE BEST PLAYERS LIKE THE YANKEES AND IT DONT MEAN A THING, UNLESS THE TEAM GETS ON A HOT STREAK IN THE FINAL WEEKS LEADING INTO THE POST AND CONTINUING TO PLAY WITH EXTREME LUCK AND CLUTCH PLAY.

HAVING THE BEST PLAYERS ISNT ENOUGH, YOU NEED "CHAMPIONS LUCK"

This jack #### sounds more like an #### with everything he writes. I doubt he has ever played any sports and if he did it wasnt passed little league. I played baseball at a high level and the best teams (talent) didn't accomplish more than the lesser teams I was on. I hate to break it to this #### bur first of all the two examples he gives dates with, 1947 & 1979, were long ago and the game has changed (its obvious he doesnt watch the damn game or he would know that). He also says that Ruth and Gehrig wern't fond of eachother. You don't have to like eachother to respect and play hard for eachother, it helps but not necessary. Chemistry is a lot more than who likes who, it is knowing where your teamates will be when, trusting your teamates and knowing they have your back. This #### should not be able to write about #### he doesnt know about.

If this was ESPN.com this #### would of been fired long ago. You can't win without some talent but you have to have chemistry.

I don't think I could write something funnier.

From the article:

You can make the case that winning basketball, for instance, requires good chemistry.

From the comments:

Look....if team chemistry is a crock why did we not win the gold in mens baskeball at the last olympics.....or maybe explain the 1985 Villanova Wilcats winning the NCAA title...

Presented without comment.