I think many managers simply don't believe in the idea that an above average starter is generally a worse pitcher by pitch 110 than a mediocre reliever.

They understand it on an intellectual level (most managers are pretty smart people), but I think deep down in their gut they really don't buy it.

Of course, a day earlier I wrote here about the sheer wonder I had felt watching Royals manager Trey Hillman pinch hit Luis Hernandez for Tony Pena and then Tug Hulett for Luis Hernandez. A couple of brilliant readers pointed out that the trio at this point is slugging .370 COMBINED, which might be the most remarkable statistic in the history of the world.

Awesome.

So do the Royals have the nads to ban Poz?

Let's see.

He's twice won the Best Sports Columnist in America from the ASPE, he won the Casey Award in 2007 for The Soul of Baseball, and he seems to have the cover story for SI on every other issue.

To the Royals, Rany is basically a glorified blogger. Unless they're suicidal, they're not going to go after Joe Posnanski.

To the Royals, Rany is basically a glorified blogger.

Well, he kind of is just a glorified blogger.

Well, he kind of is just a glorified blogger.

Which is why they feel comfortable banning him, but would never consider going after Posnanski.

Which is why they feel comfortable banning him, but would never consider going after Posnanski.

So they don't ahve the nads then? Because there is nothing Rany said that Poz also didn't just write with the added bonus that Poz's writing carries much more weight because of his reputation.

People in this town like Posnanski. A lot. He's pleasant. He's also very good at his job. But in a place like Kansas City, pleasant and polite are important. Banning Poz (which the Royals won't do) would ignite a firestorm.

Ban Whitlock? Sure. No one likes him anyway. But kicking Posnanski out of the press box (which, again, isn't going to happen) would be stupid in a way that even the Royals can't comprehend.

Maybe in general, but when a Dr, who also writes for BP, calls for the head of the trainer it would seem to hold more weight than a guy who's a columnist (and doesn't have a medical background) even if the columnist is highly regarded.

I think Quirk just joined MLB Network.

My main memory of Quirk is repeatedly yelling "you suck" at him after he homered against the Yankees in the late '80s, drawing a reprimand from my father.

Hmm, and now ####### B-R tells me Quirk never homered against the Yankees. So who the #### was I yelling at? And why must the truth ruin a good story? I guess I have no memories of Jamie Quirk.

Hmm, and now ####### B-R tells me Quirk never homered against the Yankees. So who the #### was I yelling at?

John Wathan? Larry Owen? Mike Macfarlane?

Hmm, and now ####### B-R tells me Quirk never homered against the Yankees. So who the #### was I yelling at? And why must the truth ruin a good story? I guess I have no memories of Jamie Quirk.

For almost twenty years, I was convinced that the first game I saw at Yankee stadium was a victory over the Brewers in 1988. Don Slaught hit a homer a few rows back of me. Then I went through and discovered that Slaught never homered at home against the Brewers during his Yankees tenure and that the game was against Minnesota.

Hmm, and now ####### B-R tells me Quirk never homered against the Yankees. So who the #### was I yelling at?

John Wathan? Larry Owen? Mike Macfarlane?

To be fair, all those guys do suck.

MacFarlane is one of the 100 greatest catchers of All-Time (84th to be exact). In fact, I believe that argument is what caused Bill James to come up with lists of the 100 greatest at each position using Win Shares.

I'll guess you saw Pat Sheridan homer.

I think Quirk just joined MLB Network.

Quirk mindlessly sits there with his eyes bugging out of his head as if someone had shoved yet another Secaucus pig up his unexpecting ass.

And he's still better than ##### Williams.

It's probably pretty difficult to scout catchers. Picking out who can be the 95th best catcher of all time from a lineup can't be too easy. I suspect when you get that far down the list, it comes down to whose body can take the beating for an extended period of time. And that's not something you can really scout.

Those 4th and 5th at bats have to be pretty tough for catchers. The 1st and 2nd late in the season probably aren't much of a picnic either with all the dings they must be carrying around by then.

So they don't have the nads then?

That's basically what I'm saying.

Which, if anyone in the KC organization reads this page, will probably get me banned.

It's possible it was John Wathan. I don't think I ever heard of Larry Owen. MacFarlane was pretty good (of course, my yelling had more to do with anger than an objective evaluation of the mystery player's abilities, but I don't think I'd misremember Mac as Quirk for all these years).

Maybe it wasn't the Royals at all. And maybe it wasn't a homer. Maybe I wasn't even at the game. Maybe I was playing Microleague and yelled "Boo cluck!" And my dad actually died before I was born.

Jamie Quirk is really making me doubt everything I've ever thought I knew.

Ban Whitlock? Sure. No one likes him anyway. But kicking Posnanski out of the press box (which, again, isn't going to happen) would be stupid in a way that even the Royals can't comprehend.

You are talking about a team that is carrying Tony (.268 OPS) Pena, Jr., Luis (.382 OPS) Hernandez, AND Tug (.143 OPS) Hulett on the 25 man roster.

Sure, Larry Owen, the old Brave out of Bowling Green. I haven't thought about him in years.

Jamie Quirk is really making me doubt everything I've ever thought I knew.

Dude, chill. You've just passed into a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except Jamie Quirk never homered against the Yankees -- which, as parallel universes go, is pretty easy to handle. It's not like you passed into one where everyone wears a goatee.

Also, is it possible you are thinking of Jamie Quirk's RBI triple (and later run scored) in this game?

Hillman's entire season pretty much invalidates that SI poll regarding which manager players would least want to play for.

Hillman's entire season pretty much invalidates that SI poll regarding which manager players would least want to play for.

Or the notion that the thing that players want most of all is to win is false.

I had thought it might be Brent Mayne, but he started in 1990 and never homered against the Yankees.

This column brought to mind an anecdote Joe Morgan told in either the last espn Sunday night game or the one before it. He was talking about mental toughness in a pitcher and told a story about Don Wilson, a teammate of his on the Astros (from around '66 to '71 when Morgan was traded to the Reds).

Anyway, Morgan remembered some game where Wilson, went back into the clubhouse after pitching something like the 6th inning of a game he'd started. Morgan saw him there and saw that Don Wilson had tears in his eyes, because he was in so much physical pain. But, Morgan proudly recounted that even though his arm was killing him, Wilson went back out and threw another inning or two or maybe finished the game. I forget exactly how Morgan told it. But his story was all about toughness.

And this is how times change, I was staring at the tv screen wondering if Morgan or Miller or whoever else was in the booth would ask whether, leaving aside questions of toughness, it wasn't stupid for Wilson to risk his career or for the Astros to risk the career of a very good pitcher.

Trey Hillman wants his players to have that same mental toughness, it seems.

This reminded me of a story in You Gotta Have Wa. I don't really remember it well enough to tell it properly, but a pitcher with an awful injury (torn rotator cuff or something) decided that he would be able to surmount the injury by throwing 200 pitches per day. I seem to remember him doing this near a waterfall, but that might be a cute Orientalist detail I added. Maybe Hillman picked up some of that wisdom in Japan.

For years I thought the first game I went to had occurred in 1993, the A's lost to the Angels, and Tim Salmon hit a home run. It was actually in 94 (great year to be introduced to baseball, eh?), Tim Salmon did hit a double, but the A's won behind a complete game effort from Bobby Witt (!)

Walt #21, no, I wouldn't remember that game.

I distinctly remember seeing Bobby Bonds of the Giants hit 2 HR early in a Mets game at Shea, then it was rain delayed but I refused to let our family leave BECAUSE HE HAD A CHANCE TO HIT FOUR HOME RUNS IN ONE GAME AND WE COULDN'T TAKE A CHANCE ON MISSING SUCH HISTORY BEING MADE.

But from this thread, I now realize that it may turn out that it was Willie Crawford, and it was two triples, and it didn't rain but it snowed instead, and wait - it happened in Los Angeles.

:)