When the Dbacks win the division while being outscored, it's because they're winners and anybody, anytime, anywhere. When they lose two games, the other team got lucky.

Would Byrnes work for FOX during the WS if Arizona's eliminated? That might get me to root for them.

At first I thought these quotes were from Josh, not Eric, and I was pretty much floored.

I never fully appreciated just how annoying Byrnes is until I saw him do that little somersault finish on a throw home. Milton Bradley was 100% correct on him.

Milton Bradley was 100% correct on him.

What did Bradley say?

The Rockies have had a little bit of luck, like Torrealba's RBI single hitting the chalk down the rightfield line last night. But Arizona scored its runs last night (a) after a poor-hitting pitcher hit a double, and (b) when a hit batsman came around to score. Their best offensive player has been the 35-year-old backup first baseman. You can call them lucky or unlucky or whatever you want, but the Diamondbacks' offense has looked pathetic.

He said Byrnes was all about false hustle.

The Rockies have had a little bit of luck, like Torrealba's RBI single hitting the chalk down the rightfield line last night. But Arizona scored its runs last night (a) after a poor-hitting pitcher hit a double, and (b) when a hit batsman came around to score. Their best offensive player has been the 35-year-old backup first baseman. You can call them lucky or unlucky or whatever you want, but the Diamondbacks' offense has looked pathetic.

Pretty much. The Rockies have been a bit luckier, but I think the D-backs' bigger problem is that they have been playing stupid baseball while the Rockies have not. Neither team is playing great.

Anyway, Milton Bradley was right: Byrnes is the king of scripted pratfalls. And he's all talk, to boot.

Eric Byrnes is an idiot.

Eric Byrnes is an idiot.

Byrnes is a great athlete, if not a great baseball player, who tries and works very hard. If you don't like that, you are an idiot.

Of course his commentary quoted above is silly. What the hell do you expect from a partisan?

He could hardly have said much else. "Yeah man, we're pretty down on ourselves here... we're getting our butts beaten. Hey, the Rockies are just the better team, what can I say?" That won't play well with his teammates. I didn't read the article, but I doubt it gave much context to Byrnes comments. He was surely asked by a reporter how he liked the Diamondbacks' chances to win the series, which gave him a chance to assert some confidence (warranted or not) in his team. He took advantage of it. Good for him.

Byrnes is a great athlete, if not a great baseball player, who tries and works very hard. If you don't like that, you are an idiot.

concur

Anyway, Milton Bradley was right: Byrnes is the king of scripted pratfalls. And he's all talk, to boot.

Isn't that true of all Irish literature?

Some stuff happens in Dubliners.

Eric, this is the way losers talk.

When the Dbacks win the division while being outscored, it's because they're winners and anybody, anytime, anywhere. When they lose two games, the other team got lucky.

Maybe he should write for Baseball Prospectus.

Did anyone take Byrnes' Irish comment as a veiled shot at the Rockies' collective bench manager in the sky?

I don't use this word lightly, but Eric Byrnes is the greatest American flying squirrel.

Some other famous quotations:

"The Indians didn't win the game, I lost it on behalf of our team. It was getting late and cold here in Boston, and Manny wanted to go home and be Manny, so I took one for the team and gave up the game." --Eric Gagne, 2007

"The Russians didn't win the battle of Stalingrad. Paulus was sick and tired of the Russian winter and the incessant Russian attacks that were crapping his style, so he decided to surrender and go on an extended holiday in Siberia." --Adolf Hitler, 1943

Did anyone take Byrnes' Irish comment as a veiled shot at the Rockies' collective bench manager in the sky?

Byrnes is far too stupid to have any conception of subtlety.

Eric Byrnes is almost as dumb as Tommy Lasorda, who is dumber than ten dogs

Even if Byrnes is correct, which he probably is, don't know if I'd want him saying it. Maybe something like "we aren't getting the breaks but we need to play better so the breaks don't matter." Of course I'm not naive enough to think that's always going to happen, but I think I'd rather hear a player say that than just chalk things up to pure luck.

Byrnes is a great athlete, if not a great baseball player, who tries and works very hard. If you don't like that, you are an idiot.

Uh-oh. Bradley tries much harder--so hard that he tears his American Civil Liberties Union in the time between the action.

Eric Byrnes is almost as dumb as Tommy Lasorda, who is dumber than ten dogs

Didn't Byrnes almost drown a dog on national television?

Inside Edge: Game 3 Scouting Report

Which team has hit the ball hardest in the first two games of the NLCS? It's not even close – the Diamondbacks have 21 well-hit balls in their 73 at-bats, for a .288 well-hit average. The Rockies have hit only six balls on the button in the two games. Their team well-hit average is .085 (6-for-71)...

Four of the five extra-base hits belong to Arizona. Neither club has homered yet in the series, but that can change with series moving to Coors Field.

Eric Byrnes is right. Anyone who watched the two games will tell you that the Rockies have basically sucked offensively. Doug Davis has as many extra base hits as the entire Rockies lineup over the last two games, for fk's sake. The Rockies have been more efficient when they've had their runners on base. Their "big" innings were: the inning in which they scored 3 runs off Webb, on a bunch of bloops and grunts, including 2 out single by Hawpe on a hanging curve; the inning where Helton scored off Davis after Reynolds let the ball go between his legs, and then Torrealbla's flair caught the chalk; and the inning where Spilborgh reached on a foul ball that curved fair and hit the 3b bag... after which Valverde lost the strike zone. The Rockies have indeed been about as lucky as a team can be to score runs the last two games, considering how pathetic they've been at the plate. And yes, the Dbacks have been quite unlucky. It's just the cold reality. You can rip Byrnes for saying it, and he probably should've been keeping quiet, since his struggles in his at bats have nothing to do with luck and everything to do with his suckitude, but basically, Byrnes is right.

Well, luck or no luck, D backs are down 2-0 and have scored just 3 runs in 20 innings and left a small country on base.

The Rockies played GREAT defense in game 2, that wasn't luck. Their pitchers have been pretty damn good, that wasn't luck either, so I will give them plenty of credit. Webb pitched better than his line in game 1, Davis pitched pretty well in game 2, and the bullpen has been great both nights, even Valverde, who just ran out of gas and was left in too long by Melvin.

Miracles happen. Livan winning tonight would be a miracle. But if he can, I have a really good feeling, because I just think Owings will come up big. As improbable as it seems from watching the first two games, Webb pitching a game 5 with the series tied 2-2 just doesn't seem like such a long shot, IF Livan can pitch well tonight and hold the fort.

As for Byrnes comments, of course the Rockies have gotten all the breaks these two games and the D backs got none. It happens. But the D backs haven't played well enough to overcome the bad breaks, so it's a moot point.

So hanging curves and botched routine plays aren't failures on the part of the Diamondbacks, they're just lucky breaks for the other team?

Fwiw, courtesy of TAP on the Dbacks bullpen forum:

First 2 games of NLCS:

COL: 15 hits, 1 XBH, 0 HR, 16 TB, 11 BB, 22 K, .211 BA, .313 OBP, .225 SLG, .539 OPS, 8 runs
ARI: 18 hits, 4 XBH, 0 HR, 22 TB, 6 BB, 18 K, .247 BA, .329 OBP, .301 SLG, .631 OPS, 3 runs

The Dbacks have sucked offensively at the plate, but the Rockies have truly been the biggest bunch of sucks who ever sucked. Except that they scored 8 runs, and the Dbacks scored 3 runs.

That's baseball.

So hanging curves and botched routine plays aren't failures on the part of the Diamondbacks, they're just lucky breaks for the other team?

Well, sure. But it really comes down to the fact that the Rockies have caught the breaks when the Dbacks made mistakes, and the Dbacks came up short when the Rockies made mistakes. Some of that is skill, most of it is luck. And to give credit to the Rockies, they haven't given any extra outs to AZ, and have punished the DBacks whenever they've made mistakes. So that's certainly skill.

Webb pitching a game 5 with the series tied 2-2 just doesn't seem like such a long shot, IF Livan can pitch well tonight and hold the fort.

Of course it's not such a longshot if Livan can hold the fort. That's the longshot.

Luis, go back and read my entire post and stop parsing words. I'm not getting drawn into this.

By the way, which idiot scheduled an evening game for Denver in mid-October?

TBS deserves to have the lowest rated NLCS in playoff history. A bunch of sucks.

[EDIT]

Weather forecast for game time: 42 F, feels like 36 F, showers, 10 mph wind

I don't know what you think you were being drawn into. I know you said Livan pitching a good game would be a miracle. Then you said 2-2 in Game 5 wouldn't be so hard to fathom if Livan pitched well. I said no ####.

I know you're testy right now, but so am I. I'm paralyzed with excitement over possibly getting to see a "Rocks defeat Dbacks: How Sweep It Feels!" post on the Newsblog tomorrow night.

I believe shoewizard was referring to this sentence:

Miracles happen. Livan winning tonight would be a miracle. But if he can, I have a really good feeling

What part of "miracle" don't you understand? The "mi", the "ra", or the "cle"?

Weather forecast for game time: 42 F, feels like 36 F, showers, 10 mph wind

It's 38 and rainy here now, just an ugly day. I'm glad I don't have tickets for tonight.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 57, and 64 on Tuesday, sunny both days. If they (wisely) postpone tonight's game, it will be very easy to get the next three games in before Thursday.

What part of "miracle" don't you understand? The "mi", the "ra", or the "cle"?

I know you said Livan pitching a good game would be a miracle.

What part of that don't you understand?

This series has a weird off-day between games 6 and 7 anyhow, so if tonight's game were postponed, they could move game 6 to that off-day, and still have a travel day b/w games 5 and 6, should there be a need for game 6, of course... But then TBS would have to run 6 episodes of Sex and the City tonight.

Sure, Luis, except that shoewizard was referring to your original post (27), where he asked you to read his words more carefully before you tried making it sound as if he were drinking the Livan kool-aid. In other words, post 27 was unnecessary... but just in case you failed to realize why, I broke down a word in syllables for you, for easier reading comprehension.

Even with the extra off days, they'll play the game tonight unless it rains too hard. The TV schedules are more important than the comfort of the fans.

And would the fans in Denver really care? It's not like they haven't watched sporting events in inclement weather before.

But then TBS would have to run 6 episodes of Sex and the City tonight.

Don't get my hopes up!

In other words, post 27 was unnecessary...

No. What was unnecessary was the part in his original post where he said he didn't think it was a longshot that the series could be 2-2 if Livan held the fort in Game 3. Which is why I essentially said 'No duh.'

you know, the D-Backs do have better hitting stats thus far--maybe they can get a couple of blowouts and lose the series in a 6-game Pythagorean victory...

Tonight, the Rockies were better.

The Dbacks had chances, especially early on, and the Rockies got key outs when they had to, including 3 double plays. The Rockies have come a long way this season, and clearly are the best team in the National League. Best of luck to them.

When his team needed him the most Byrnes boldly declared, "Let somebody else handle it."

0-4, 4 LOB

Eric Byrnes is almost as dumb as Tommy Lasorda, who is dumber than ten dogs.

This one had me in tears of giggling, actually.

In so many ways. Are 10 dogs dumber than, or not as dumb as, say, 9 dogs? 11 dogs? Is the breed of dogs necessary to distinguish? Is this a standard phrase or did jmac make it up?

Whatever it was, thanks.

Also, Byrnes running into the wall tonight was kind of karmic, at least to the Rockies fans, I'm sure.

When his team needed him the most Byrnes boldly declared, "Let somebody else handle it."

Is this Joyce? It sounds familiar.

Even if Byrnes is correct, which he probably is, don't know if I'd want him saying it. Maybe something like "we aren't getting the breaks but we need to play better so the breaks don't matter." Of course I'm not naive enough to think that's always going to happen, but I think I'd rather hear a player say that than just chalk things up to pure luck.

So Byrnes must never have worked on his cliches when he was in the minors.

So Byrnes must never have worked on his cliches when he was in the minors.

Nah, he just missed the day where they informed the class there's a reason why the Jeff Suppans and Jeff Conines don't make public statements like this. All they're going to do is cultivate expectations they can't possibly fulfill and motivate the opposition.

Eric's a star now - everywhere except in between the foul lines, anyway. He probably feels compelled to act like it. It's more sad than anything. He'll be re-introduced to reality the day he leaves Arizona. Just like Gonzo.

Eric's a star now - everywhere except in between the foul lines, anyway. He probably feels compelled to act like it. It's more sad than anything. He'll be re-introduced to reality the day he leaves Arizona. Just like Gonzo.

The problem is that he is going to parlay his stardom into an announcing career-probably about 3 years full time with Fox, since he has that FOX ATTITUDE. He will then inflict his wit and wisdom on some local fan base for 20 years.
And I thought it was hilarious when he ran into the wall chasing the home run last night.

Watching Byrnes run into the wall and fall on his back flinging his legs into the air just gets more comical and absurd each time I see it.

The problem is that he is going to parlay his stardom into an announcing career-probably about 3 years full time with Fox, since he has that FOX ATTITUDE. He will then inflict his wit and wisdom on some local fan base for 20 years.

Eric Byrnes is a far better interview than the other 99% of baseball players. It's just amusing that it's the quotes like this, when he goes out of his way to give a non-cliche answer, are picked out and used by people here to justify their already irrational disdain for him.

He's a good player to have on your team. He may be a nightmare to watch on the field, but it's the way that he knows best to get the most out of his physical gifts. I don't give him extra points for doing flips, but I don't think less of him for it either when the end result is that he's probably the best defensive left fielder in the game. He's been absolutely great at incorporating the young rooks into the fold and making them feel a part of the team (as opposed to oh, let's say the Dodgers) and interviews he's always quick to talk about the achievements of the other players on this team - I can't even count the number of times this season during the on-field postgame interviews where another player made a huge play to win the game, but the interviewer went straight to Byrnes and his first response was always "what the hell are you doing talking to me, that's the guy that is the star for tonight." Just because everyone wants to talk to him doesn't make him a self-aggrandizing jackass. If people like him and want him to appear on their shows, why is that his fault? It's not like he uses the time purely to promote himself. He's one of those types of people that considers it better for a someone to think of highly of his friends, teammates, family and school than to go off spouting about how great he himself is and he acts accordingly with a never ending list of props to give out to those closest to him. It's been extremely refreshing to see from him for this last year.

Just because I'm against the big contract doesn't mean that I'm going to start hating Byrnes just for being who he is. I'll save that animus for where it rightly belongs, Moorad.

Eric Byrnes is a far better interview than the other 99% of baseball players. It's just amusing that it's the quotes like this, when he goes out of his way to give a non-cliche answer, are picked out and used by people here to justify their already irrational disdain for him.

At best, his quotes were inane. Some calls didn't go one team's way? Some balls didn't bounce in a given team's favor? That describes every single game of baseball ever played.

Enlighten me: What is the burden for a rational disdain of Byrnes? Being "a nightmare to watch" isn't enough?

He may be a nightmare to watch on the field, but it's the way that he knows best to get the most out of his physical gifts. I don't give him extra points for doing flips, but I don't think less of him for it either when the end result is that he's probably the best defensive left fielder in the game.

I don't buy your first sentence at all. His flips aren't a constant, even when there is momentum to 'justify' them. Unless you want to claim that they don't have a negative impact on his throws or that they have a positive impact on them, your rationalization doesn't work. He's good in left field because he's athletic - the part before he needs to make a throw.

Just because I'm against the big contract doesn't mean that I'm going to start hating Byrnes just for being who he is. I'll save that animus for where it rightly belongs, Moorad.

What about those who disliked watching Byrnes play baseball long before he ever set foot in Arizona?