I don’t have the same set of rules as other people. Because of the mistakes I’ve made in my career, I don’t get the leeway other guys get to a certain extent.”

For a loose cannon Bradley says a lot of rational things. I guess most people I know are on a pretty even keel. Usually fairly consistent personalities, I find it fascinating how Bradley can be perfectly reasonable one moment, and off his rocker the next.

EDIT: I should point out that I'm reading this as Bradley acknowledging that it is only fair that he have a separate set of rules applied to him. This may be an incorrect interpretation on my part.

Well, people are complicated. I don't see Bradley as being crazy, just an overly-sensitive guy who has trouble controlling his emotions.

I've always felt that he was way too thin-skinned for the job he has. Lots of people aren't equipped to deal with it, but it doesn't mean they're nuts.

Piniella needs to relax and smoke up some more.

For a loose cannon Bradley says a lot of rational things. I guess most people I know are on a pretty even keel. Usually fairly consistent personalities, I find it fascinating how Bradley can be perfectly reasonable one moment, and off his rocker the next.

Joey Barton.

You get the split personality thing with some people who come from shitty/neglected backgrounds.

Milton Bradley confirms Lou Piniella’s insult

Wait, so he confirmed that he's a piece of ####?

For a loose cannon Bradley says a lot of rational things. I guess most people I know are on a pretty even keel. Usually fairly consistent personalities, I find it fascinating how Bradley can be perfectly reasonable one moment, and off his rocker the next.

EDIT: I should point out that I'm reading this as Bradley acknowledging that it is only fair that he have a separate set of rules applied to him. This may be an incorrect interpretation on my part.

From the Yahoo! Sports version of this story:

“I don’t have the same set of rules as other people,” he said. “I’ve committed mistakes in my past, so I don’t get the leeway that other people might get. To a certain extent, I guess, that’s fair.”

Or people with bipolar disorder, of course. I'm not psychoanalyzing, just noting.

After sophomore year of college, I was home for the summer, working as a waiter. Got hammered after work, someone dropped me off at home, and I went into my bathroom to throw up. I had the vaguest recollections of this the next morning. However, what apparently happened was that I crashed into the bathroom, threw up all over the floor and then just went to bed.

At 6 AM (2 hours later...), I was awakened by loud noises that I finally deciphered as one very pissed off mother talking very loudly. At one point she used the exact phrase Lou used here. After calming down, she said what I very much hope Lou said to Bradley:

"I'm sorry I said that, but not for thinking it while angry. You're not defined by one thing that you do. You're not a piece of ####, but while you were doing that, you *were* a piece of ####, and if that was the only thing someone knew about you, they'd think you are, too. Think about it."

#4 Can't say I follow the ins and outs, but doesn't Barton make Bradley look like ... Dale Murphy or somebody like that.

#4 Can't say I follow the ins and outs, but doesn't Barton make Bradley look like ... Dale Murphy or somebody like that.

Chris Matthewson.

Joey Barton has no redeeming qualities at all. The only difference between him and his racist axe-murderer brother is that he is somewhat good at kicking a ball.

Barton has the same dynamic going. When you hear his interviews he sounds reasonably self aware and intelligent. Then he'll go off and karate kick another player in the goolies or beat the crap out of a team mate.

As he's from Toxteth this kind of thing isn't totally unusual, it's a real ########.

Sorry to change the topic back to Milton Bradley, but could it be that Bradley's trouble this year is that he's facing pitchers he's not seen before, or in a long while?

I'm not sure I buy the argument myself (after all, he did have about 170 successful plate appearances as a Padre in 2007), but I was looking at his splits today, and noticed this:

(I'm going to condense, because I don't know how to format it well)

Facing starter first time: 140/260/186 (50 plate appearances), .188 BABIP
Facing starter second time: 400/500/700 (48 PAs), .406 BABIP
Facing starter third time: 265/359/471 (39 PAs), .280 BABIP
Facing starter 4+ times: 500/500/500 (only 2 plate appearances)
Facing reliever: 155/300/207 (70 PAs), .231 BABIP

Yes, I know, small sample size. No doubt. However, also no doubt that he's performing way, way better the more he's seeing pitchers.

And, there is this, as long as I'm giving you small sample sizes:

In Interleague Play, 2009: 283/411/370 (56 PAs), .394 BABIP
In NL Play, 2009: 214/327/366 (153 PAs)

I didn't figure his BABIP for NL play, but his overall for the season is .277, so it's obviously much lower than the Interleague figure.

So, is he having trouble getting good, hard swings on pitchers the first time he sees them? Or, is this all small sample size bad luck?