BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Jayson Stark (ESPN): Strange stuff … in the 2011 postseason

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Jayson Stark (ESPN): Strange stuff … in the 2011 postseason

The postseason edition of trivia and oddbits that Jayson Stark excels at collecting and presenting…

Here’s one I didn’t know:

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

Der-K's no Kliph Nesteroff. Posted: December 26, 2011 at 09:48 PM | 61 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: arizona, brewers, cardinals, history, phillies, rangers, rays, tigers, yankees

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1. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: December 26, 2011 at 10:17 PM (#4023666)

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

Not according to Pythagoras, they didn't!

2. bobm Posted: December 26, 2011 at 10:47 PM (#4023675)

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

So what?

3. Joe Kehoskie Posted: December 26, 2011 at 10:53 PM (#4023676)

Der_K is getting more dogmatic.

When did this happen? 'Der_K' seemed like one of the more reasonable voices around here.

4. Crispix Attacksel Rios Posted: December 26, 2011 at 10:56 PM (#4023678)

If you have frequent tendencies to use the phrase "So what?", reading Jayson Stark's pieces is not for you.

I find him amusing.

5. Crispix Attacksel Rios Posted: December 26, 2011 at 10:57 PM (#4023679)

• When Cliff Lee blew a 4-0 lead in the Phillies' 5-4 loss to the Cardinals in Game 2 of the NLDS, he did something he'd done only once before in his entire career. So he's now 94-2 in games in which his team handed him a lead of four runs or more. And, as loyal reader Rob Gottschalk reports, the winning pitcher in both of those losses was -- who else? -- Octavio Dotel.

I vote that we replace " -- you guessed it -- Frank Stallone." with " -- who else? -- Octavio Dotel.".

6. bobm Posted: December 26, 2011 at 11:24 PM (#4023689)

[4] I also tend to avoid writers who employ the phrase "according to the Elias Sports Bureau" as Stark does in TFA.

7. bobm Posted: December 26, 2011 at 11:38 PM (#4023692)

Thankfully Stark isn't behind the paywall (can't imagine why) or I would have missed this gem:

Finally, on the first day of the regular season at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. Six months later, on the first day of the postseason at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was (yep) CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. How strange -- but absolutely true -- was that?

Not f###### strange at all.

8. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: December 26, 2011 at 11:49 PM (#4023697)

Finally, on the first day of the regular season at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. Six months later, on the first day of the postseason at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was (yep) CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. How strange -- but absolutely true -- was that?

Not f###### strange at all.

Yeah, that one was bizarre. It may not be common, but it's hardly surprising. It's probably only slightly rarer than having two teams face each other in the first series of the season and the first series of the post season. If Arizona had opened the season at Milwaukee, it likely would have been Kennedy vs Gallardo just like in game one of the LDS.

9. The Long Arm of Rudy Law Posted: December 27, 2011 at 12:12 AM (#4023702)

It would have been stranger if the playoffs had opened with a Frank Tanana vs. Frank Tanana matchup, won by-- who else?-- Octavio Dotel.

10. Walt Davis Posted: December 27, 2011 at 12:13 AM (#4023704)

All four teams that advanced to the LCS—the Cardinals, Brewers, Rangers and Tigers—got outscored by the teams they played in the Division Series … and won.

Get back to me when a team advances to the LCS without winning the LDS. :-)

11. SoSHially Unacceptable Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:08 AM (#4023717)

[4] I also tend to avoid writers who employ the phrase "according to the Elias Sports Bureau" as Stark does in TFA.

Not f###### strange at all.

Yeah, you're probably better off following your own advice there Bob.

12. Ray (CTL)

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:19 AM (#4023718)

If you have frequent tendencies to use the phrase "So what?", reading Jayson Stark's pieces is not for you.

In a related story, I do not read Jayson Stark's pieces.

13. cardsfanboy

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:29 AM (#4023720)

I get the feeling that the people who nitpick Jayson Stark articles, are exactly the people that traditionalists are talking about when they say "watch a game" or "get out of your basement".

I mean not every nugget of information has to be useful/analytical. Some of it is just fun tidbits.

14. Ray (CTL)

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:33 AM (#4023721)

I mean not every nugget of information has to be useful/analytical. Some of it is just fun tidbits.

I'll bite: which of them are fun tidbits?

15. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:38 AM (#4023724)

I'll bite: which of them are fun tidbits?

This one:

• In back-to-back-to-back at-bats in Games 6 and 7, David Freese hit a game-tying triple, game-winning homer and game-tying double. How incredible was that? Only one other time in World Series history had a player gotten game-tying or go-ahead hits in three consecutive trips to the plate. And naturally, it was Allen Craig, earlier in this same World Series.

16. Dale Sams Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:41 AM (#4023726)

Maybe Ray and Bob can team up to get the sand out of each others vaginas.

Oh..and Hidecki Okajima gave up a HR on his first pitch and his last pitchs of 2007.

17. cardsfanboy

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 01:49 AM (#4023727)

I'll bite: which of them are fun tidbits?

Every one. Some are more fun than others, some might be trying to hard etc. But yes there were a lot of fun tidbits for those people who actually enjoy watching a baseball game, and carrying on a conversation with their neighbor, without making it all about roids, or Ichiro or how little everyone else knows about the game.

I really liked the one about Chris Carpenter has gone 174 consecutive starts(most in the live ball era) without allowing three runs in the first inning, and then of course he did.

I always enjoy a Jayson Stark tidbit column, I think you have to be a real 'grinch' to not enjoy them, assuming you are a baseball fan.

18. Ray (CTL)

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 02:23 AM (#4023736)

Well, I don't find anything fun about 11:11:11 on November 11, 2011, either. I suppose that if you do, you're also reading a lot of Jayson Stark.

Or like the news stories about the babies that are born on Christmas or New Years. Well, there are a finite number of days in a year; did people expect that no babies would be born on these days?

19. LionoftheSenate Posted: December 27, 2011 at 02:37 AM (#4023742)

Too many humorless robots on this site.

20. Joe Kehoskie Posted: December 27, 2011 at 02:41 AM (#4023744)

Tough crowd around here. I can't imagine being a baseball fan and not reading and enjoying Jayson Stark's columns. Even if you don't like the "Useless Information" series — and how can you not like a series with such a self-deprecating title? — his "Rumbling and Grumblings" columns are arguably the best regular source of inside-baseball (and inside-inside-baseball) in the MLB media these days.

21. cardsfanboy

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 02:42 AM (#4023745)

Well, I don't find anything fun about 11:11:11 on November 11, 2011, either. I suppose that if you do, you're also reading a lot of Jayson Stark.

Or like the news stories about the babies that are born on Christmas or New Years. Well, there are a finite number of days in a year; did people expect that no babies would be born on these days?

no, but the purpose of many of those stories is to bring a particular plight to light by starting with a hook.
I find it oddly interesting that one of the people killed in Arizona, was a girl born on 9-11-01, who is the grandaughter of Dallas Green. It's a bunch of coincendances that creates a unique hook on a tragedy.

During the season a team wins a game and another team loses a game. Who really cares about that? it happens as often as 15 times a day?

22. Der-K's no Kliph Nesteroff. Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:02 AM (#4023771)

When did this happen?

Oh, I've been grumpy w/ my being kind of a lousy reader and poster here over the last month or two - nothing a lot more sleep won't cure - and tweaked my screen name a few days back to remind me to shut up more often.

Anyway, I like you too; thanks for the kind words.

****

I'd defend Stark here, but there's no need. This isn't an attempt at analysis - it's a pile of coincidences and trivia. Some of it's interesting, some of it less so. As suggested in the intro, I think he's better at this sort of thing than most other people who do it regularly.
(I also like Jaffe/Dag Nabbit's THT stuff d'jour columns (among others), which are a slightly different animal.)

23. ERROR---Jolly Old St. Nick

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:06 AM (#4023773)

I always liked the story about the showdown between "America's first citizen and America's worst citizen",** as related by Bill Stern. I don't even remember what it was, but the way he hit you with that rhyming punch line used to crack me up every time I'd think about it.

**George Washington and Benedict Arnold, of course. Knowing Stern, it may have had to do with an argument they had over which of them had invented baseball.

24. bobm Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:57 AM (#4023793)

[21]

Well, I don't find anything fun about 11:11:11 on November 11, 2011, either. I suppose that if you do, you're also reading a lot of Jayson Stark.

Or like the news stories about the babies that are born on Christmas or New Years. Well, there are a finite number of days in a year; did people expect that no babies would be born on these days?

I find it oddly interesting that one of the people killed in Arizona, was a girl born on 9-11-01, who is the grandaughter of Dallas Green. It's a bunch of coincendances that creates a unique hook on a tragedy.

During the season a team wins a game and another team loses a game. Who really cares about that? it happens as often as 15 times a day?

Each one of those murders was senseless and tragic. That "unique" hook is a mere set of events without any causal connection that does not add to the significance, for me.

To Ray's point about birthdays, it takes a group of only 23 people for the chance of two people in a group sharing a birthday (month & day only) to be greater than 50%. There's a fun tidbit to consider when looking at a baseball team's 25-man roster in your scorecard.

EDIT: On the 40-man roster, it's a 90% chance that two players share a birthday (month & day only).

25. bobm Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:39 AM (#4023800)

I ran B-R PI for all 2011 ML batters and pitchers and removed the duplicates, for even more birthday fun. :-)

(Age is presumably B-R age, i.e., as of midnight of June 30.)

There were between 36 and 47 players per team, plus 92 players who had played for more than one team and which I did not take the time to investigate. If I did not make a mistake in sorting and re-sorting the data, here are the birthday pairs by team for 2011:



Player     Month    Day    Year    Age    Tm

David Hernandez    5    13    2011    26    ARI

Robby Hammock    5    13    2011    34    ARI



J.C. Boscan    12    26    2011    31    ATL

Mike Minor    12    26    2011    23    ATL



Blake Davis    12    22    2011    27    BAL

Chris Jakubauskas    12    22    2011    32    BAL

Zach Britton    12    22    2011    23    BAL



Felix Doubront    10    23    2011    23    BOS

John Lackey    10    23    2011    32    BOS



Marlon Byrd    8    30    2011    33    CHC

Sean Marshall    8    30    2011    28    CHC

------------------------------

Jeff Stevens    9    5    2011    27    CHC

Tyler Colvin    9    5    2011    25    CHC



Miguel Cairo    5    4    2011    37    CIN

Sam LeCure    5    4    2011    27    CIN



Joe Smith    3    22    2011    27    CLE

Justin Masterson    3    22    2011    26    CLE

---------------------------------

Michael Brantley    5    15    2011    24    CLE

Rafael Perez    5    15    2011    29    CLE



Edgar Gonzalez    2    23    2011    28    COL

Wilin Rosario    2    23    2011    22    COL

------------------------------

Ian Stewart    4    5    2011    26    COL

Jorge De La Rosa    4    5    2011    30    COL



Carlos Guillen    9    30    2011    35    DET

Danny Worth    9    30    2011    25    DET



Chris Coghlan    6    18    2011    26    FLA

Steve Cishek    6    18    2011    25    FLA



Jason Michaels    5    4    2011    35    HOU

Robinson Cancel    5    4    2011    35    HOU

----------------------------------

Fernando Rodriguez    6    18    2011    27    HOU

J.B. Shuck    6    18    2011    24    HOU

----------------------------------

Brett Wallace    8    26    2011    24    HOU

Xavier Cedeno    8    26    2011    24    HOU

----------------------------------

J.A. Happ    10    19    2011    28    HOU

Jordan Lyles    10    19    2011    20    HOU



Jeff Francis    1    8    2011    30    KCR

Jeff Francoeur    1    8    2011    27    KCR

----------------------------------

Jesse Chavez    8    21    2011    27    KCR

Tim Collins    8    21    2011    21    KCR



Jeff Mathis    3    31    2011    28    LAA

Peter Bourjos    3    31    2011    24    LAA



Jon Garland    9    27    2011    31    LAD

Vicente Padilla    9    27    2011    33    LAD

----------------------------------

Hector Gimenez    9    28    2011    28    LAD

Jerry Sands    9    28    2011    23    LAD



Jeremy Reed    6    15    2011    30    MIL

Michael Fiers    6    15    2011    26    MIL

----------------------------------

Mark DiFelice    8    23    2011    34    MIL

Zach Braddock    8    23    2011    23    MIL

----------------------------------

Logan Schafer    9    8    2011    24    MIL

Mike Rivera    9    8    2011    34    MIL



Chris Parmelee    2    24    2011    23    MIN

Nick Blackburn    2    24    2011    29    MIN

----------------------------------

Kevin Slowey    5    4    2011    27    MIN

Matt Tolbert    5    4    2011    29    MIN

----------------------------------

Danny Valencia    9    19    2011    26    MIN

Scott Baker    9    19    2011    29    MIN



Chris Young    5    25    2011    32    NYM

Scott Hairston    5    25    2011    31    NYM

----------------------------------

Jonathon Niese    10    27    2011    24    NYM

Pedro Beato    10    27    2011    24    NYM

Ruben Tejada    10    27    2011    21    NYM



Ivan Nova    1    12    2011    24    NYY

Luis Ayala    1    12    2011    33    NYY



Brian Fuentes    8    9    2011    35    OAK

Graham Godfrey    8    9    2011    26    OAK

----------------------------------

Gio Gonzalez    9    19    2011    25    OAK

Joey Devine    9    19    2011    27    OAK



Domonic Brown    9    3    2011    23    PHI

Juan Perez    9    3    2011    32    PHI

----------------------------------

David Herndon    9    4    2011    25    PHI

Michael Stutes    9    4    2011    24    PHI

----------------------------------

Brandon Moss    9    16    2011    27    PHI

Michael Martinez    9    16    2011    28    PHI



Kyle Phillips    4    3    2011    27    SDP

Luis Martinez    4    3    2011    26    SDP

----------------------------------

Aaron Harang    5    9    2011    33    SDP

Chase Headley    5    9    2011    27    SDP

----------------------------------

Ernesto Frieri    7    19    2011    25    SDP

Evan Scribner    7    19    2011    25    SDP



Aaron Laffey    4    15    2011    26    SEA

Milton Bradley    4    15    2011    33    SEA

----------------------------------

Josh Lueke    12    5    2011    26    SEA

Justin Smoak    12    5    2011    24    SEA



Darren Ford    10    1    2011    25    SFG

Matt Cain    10    1    2011    26    SFG



Adam Russell    4    14    2011    28    TBR

Kyle Farnsworth    4    14    2011    35    TBR

----------------------------------

Alex Cobb    10    7    2011    23    TBR

Evan Longoria    10    7    2011    25    TBR



Endy Chavez    2    7    2011    33    TEX

Scott Feldman    2    7    2011    28    TEX

----------------------------------

Adrian Beltre    4    7    2011    32    TEX

Brett Tomko    4    7    2011    38    TEX



Darin Mastroianni    8    26    2011    25    TOR

Jayson Nix    8    26    2011    28    TOR

----------------------------------

Jose Bautista    10    19    2011    30    TOR

Rajai Davis    10    19    2011    30    TOR



Ian Desmond    9    20    2011    25    WSN

Steve Lombardozzi    9    20    2011    22    WSN

----------------------------------

Adam LaRoche    11    6    2011    31    WSN

Atahualpa Severino    11    6    2011    26    WSN

26. Jose is an Absurd Sultan Posted: December 27, 2011 at 12:04 PM (#4023819)

Each one of those murders was senseless and tragic. That "unique" hook is a mere set of events without any causal connection that does not add to the significance, for me.

None of this stuff is significant, it's all just fun. You seem offended by that. Not everything needs meaning, sometimes times just a little meaningless fun is enjoyable.

27. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: December 27, 2011 at 02:45 PM (#4023840)

Or like the news stories about the babies that are born on Christmas...

Including Isaac Newton, Pud Galvin, and Humphrey Bogart.

28. dlf Posted: December 27, 2011 at 03:05 PM (#4023849)

Including Isaac Newton, Pud Galvin, and Humphrey Bogart.

And to be vaugely baseball related ... the troubador and beer maker for whom the Marlins former stadium was briefly named.

29. Is Zonk Vermin within the Confines? Posted: December 27, 2011 at 03:06 PM (#4023851)

To Ray's point about birthdays, it takes a group of only 23 people for the chance of two people in a group sharing a birthday (month & day only) to be greater than 50%. There's a fun tidbit to consider when looking at a baseball team's 25-man roster in your scorecard.

Actually, it makes for a great bar bet -- I've won a round of drinks several times with it and only once got skunked. I forget the numbers and percentages - but as I recall, you don't have to bump the number of people up all that much (35 people, I think?) to get the chances in the 90s.

And BTW -- 11/11/11 was the anniversary of my birth...

30. Random Transaction Generator Posted: December 27, 2011 at 03:25 PM (#4023860)

To Ray's point about birthdays, it takes a group of only 23 people for the chance of two people in a group sharing a birthday (month & day only) to be greater than 50%. There's a fun tidbit to consider when looking at a baseball team's 25-man roster in your scorecard.

So what?

31. The District Attorney Posted: December 27, 2011 at 03:31 PM (#4023862)

On the 40-man roster, it's a 90% chance that two players share a birthday (month & day only).

So it's a LOCK?

32. Darren

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:09 PM (#4023880)

I don't really enjoy these type of columns and I don't think it makes me a bad baseball fan. They usually strike me as a bunch of coincidences. They just don't interest me.

And it's not always terrifically written either. The line, "...the winning pitcher in both of those losses was -- who else? -- Octavio Dotel..." is sort of nonsense. It's not like Dotel is Anthony Young, where you'd be particularly shocked to hear that he was the one who won those 2 games. He could have discussed the incident in question, then mentioned that the win went to Dotel, then talked about the only other time it happened. Then he could have said, "And the winning pitcher in that game--who else?--Octavio Dotel!"

Or he could have just written it the same way he did and ended with, ""...those 2 events happened XXX years apart, against two different teams, but had the same winning pitcher: Octavio Dotel!"

(Exclamation points are very important to good writing, apparently.)

33. Guapo Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:21 PM (#4023883)

NEEDS MORE TANANA

34. Jose is an Absurd Sultan Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:29 PM (#4023886)

I don't really enjoy these type of columns and I don't think it makes me a bad baseball fan. They usually strike me as a bunch of coincidences. They just don't interest me.

That's perfectly reasonable. There seems to be a bitterness coming from a couple of people that is in excess of what the column is meant to be. Being upset that this piece doesn't have meaning is like being upset that American Idol is not as good as Hamlet. It's not trying to be genius, it's just "stuff some people find interesting."

35. SoSH U at work Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:31 PM (#4023887)

I don't really enjoy these type of columns and I don't think it makes me a bad baseball fan.

I would agree with this, though I would add that "these" in that sentence can refer to just about anything (historical, statheady, business, etc.).

36. Jose is an Absurd Sultan Posted: December 27, 2011 at 04:42 PM (#4023889)

Finally, on the first day of the regular season at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. Six months later, on the first day of the postseason at Yankee Stadium, your starting pitching matchup was (yep) CC Sabathia versus Justin Verlander. How strange -- but absolutely true -- was that?

Not f###### strange at all.

Out of curiousity, when is the last time it happened? Scanning back I don't see it happening since 2000.

37. greenback does not like sand

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:17 PM (#4023899)

A lot of it is coincidence, fluff, etc., but as a Cardinals fan, I'm still in awe of Game 6. Something like this quantifies the rarity of the event, explaining my gut reaction:

• The Cardinals have played 19,387 regular-season games in their history. Not once had they won a game in which they trailed five times. But that's the mess they overcame to win Game 6 -- when all that was riding on it was losing the World Series. That's all.

God, it must have been miserable to be a Rangers fan that day.

38. Ray (CTL)

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:25 PM (#4023900)

None of this stuff is significant, it's all just fun. You seem offended by that. Not everything needs meaning, sometimes times just a little meaningless fun is enjoyable.

Actually, the people who seem offended are those who like the Stark columns.

39. Ray (CTL)

Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:27 PM (#4023902)

God, it must have been miserable to be a Rangers fan that day.

And Ron Washington, the man who made it all possible, will be back in 2012.

40. Srul Itza Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:35 PM (#4023906)

I don't really enjoy these type of columns and I don't think it makes me a bad baseball fan. They usually strike me as a bunch of coincidences. They just don't interest me.

So why would you imagine that your opinion of these columns would interest anyone else?

41. Mellow Mouse, Benevolent Space Tyrant Posted: December 27, 2011 at 05:45 PM (#4023914)

So why would you imagine that your opinion of these columns would interest anyone else?

He's posting it in an online forum, basically completely based on the idea that posting your opinions and reading other peoples is fun? Just a guess, I mean I could be wrong ... the site could be for posting facts and becomming enraged by them.

Happy New Year everyone.

42. Howie Menckel Posted: December 27, 2011 at 06:12 PM (#4023920)

Mets pitchers Niese and Beato both were born on Oct 27, 1986, the same day that the Mets won their last World Series. Mets catcher Josh Thole was born the next day.

That's why it was no surprise to see Beato close out Niese's Game 7 win this year with a K to Thole's mitt on the 25th anniversary.... wait, what?

43. bobm Posted: December 27, 2011 at 06:16 PM (#4023923)

[36] Out of curiousity, when is the last time it happened? Scanning back I don't see it happening since 2000.

*The schedule makers used to schedule opponents for opening series fairly strictly within divisions IIRC.
*The WC playoff rule used to be that no two teams in the same division could play each other in an LDS.

So, as I understand it, the scheduling rules themselves minimized the odds of such an occurence.

44. Tom Nawrocki Posted: December 27, 2011 at 06:19 PM (#4023926)

He's posting it in an online forum, basically completely based on the idea that posting your opinions and reading other peoples is fun?

I don't understand why none of Jayson Stark's factual tidbits are fun to read, but Ray's content-free opinions are fun to read.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I don't expect any of you to have fun reading it.

45. SoSH U at work Posted: December 27, 2011 at 06:43 PM (#4023942)

*The schedule makers used to schedule opponents for opening series fairly strictly within divisions IIRC.

I don't think schedule-making has changed much since the introduction of three-division play, or at least since the rapid adoption thereafter of the unbalanced schedule. Teams tend to open against division opponents, though at least one team from the ALs East and Central and NL's East and West must play outside the division to open the season, and often more than that do.

*The WC playoff rule used to be that no two teams in the same division could play each other in an LDS.

It still is (at least until the two WC system).

The odds that two teams would open both the regular season and the postseason in the same stadium and each using the exact same starting pitcher have to be somewhat slim (for a variety of reasons, the team's opening day starter probably isn't its Game 1 playoff starter more than half the time). It's not amazing by any stretch, but the observation of it isn't worthy of hostility either, by my reckoning.

46. Jose is an Absurd Sultan Posted: December 27, 2011 at 06:51 PM (#4023945)

So, as I understand it, the scheduling rules themselves minimized the odds of such an occurence.

Put another way; it IS ####### strange.

47. staring out the window and waiting for fenderbelly Posted: December 27, 2011 at 07:40 PM (#4023967)

He's posting it in an online forum, basically completely based on the idea that posting your opinions and reading other peoples is fun?

Baseball threads...

Just a guess, I mean I could be wrong ... the site could be for posting facts and becomming enraged by them.

... and political threads.

Nice job of summing up BTF, Mouse.

48. Mellow Mouse, Benevolent Space Tyrant Posted: December 27, 2011 at 07:43 PM (#4023972)

I don't understand why none of Jayson Stark's factual tidbits are fun to read, but Ray's content-free opinions are fun to read.

I didn 't say Ray WAS fun to read, I just answered why he would think they might be, on a site designed for just such.

For the life of me I will never understand people who complain about other's postings, complain about articles linked to, and so on when no one is forcing them to read either and skipping articles and ignoring (either old fashioned ignoring or high tech Ignoring) other posters is so easy.

I of course never ignore posters, because, well I read the post generally without reading who it is from (a fair amount of the time I can tell though, and Ray is one of those I can guess with depressing frequency) and I find even posters I agree with nearly 100% of the time (The Good Face, SBB, and others) surprise me especially on the oddball topics - and I enjoy being surprised by life.

Mostly though I was just lightly tweaking the person who posted their question, and I am not trying to annoy you, and as such am not aiming this post at you, but into the BBTF aether as it were.

Happy New Year.

49. Walt Davis Posted: December 27, 2011 at 07:44 PM (#4023973)

I'll bite: which of them are fun tidbits?

#### Ray, how many visits from the Ghost of Christmas Future do you need before you get the point?

50. The Good Face Posted: December 27, 2011 at 08:26 PM (#4023995)

I don't understand why none of Jayson Stark's factual tidbits are fun to read, but Ray's content-free opinions are fun to read.

I would rather read Ray's grocery list than a Jayson Stark piece. Hell, I'd rather read your posts than a Jayson Stark piece.

51. Tom Nawrocki Posted: December 27, 2011 at 08:31 PM (#4023997)

Hell, I'd rather read your posts than a Jayson Stark piece.

I'd rather read the Jayson Stark piece.

52. Nasty Nate Posted: December 27, 2011 at 08:37 PM (#4024000)

...Ray's grocery list...

can someone give this a shot?

53. Tom Nawrocki Posted: December 27, 2011 at 08:42 PM (#4024004)

Never saw him shop.

54. Gazizza, my Dilznoofuses! Posted: December 27, 2011 at 09:33 PM (#4024030)

Including Isaac Newton, Pud Galvin, and Humphrey Bogart.

Not only do those people share the distinction of having been born on Christmas, but they have also never been in my kitchen.

55. Ivan Grushenko of Hong Kong Posted: December 27, 2011 at 10:34 PM (#4024061)

Including Isaac Newton, Pud Galvin, and Humphrey Bogart.

Not only do those people share the distinction of having been born on Christmas, but they have also never been in my kitchen.

So Rickey Henderson didn't make the first list because he has been in your kitchen?

56. Mellow Mouse, Benevolent Space Tyrant Posted: December 27, 2011 at 11:28 PM (#4024084)

I of course never ignore posters, because, well I read the post generally without reading who it is from (a fair amount of the time I can tell though, and Ray is one of those I can guess with depressing frequency) and I find even posters I agree with nearly 100% of the time (The Good Face, SBB, and others) surprise me especially on the oddball topics - and I enjoy being surprised by life.

Ack. Even posters I do not agree with. Sigh. Stupid multi-tasking while typing in English. Oh well. It still kind of makes sense.

But about Ray's grocery list, ummm, no.

57. Jarrod HypnerotomachiaPoliphili (TeddyF.Ballgame) Posted: December 28, 2011 at 12:07 AM (#4024096)

I started to address this question to the group at large, but I realized that it's probably less offensive-sounding if I just ask it directly: Ray, is it possible that you're on the autism spectrum somewhere? I don't mean to suggest that you're cognitively impaired, as you're an obviously intelligent guy, but you continually question basic elements of human behavior in a way that makes me think you may have difficulty reading emotions and non-verbal cues. I really don't intend any insult by bringing this up, and I apologize if I've overstepped. I just find your posts easier to to swallow if I imagine them translated for a neurotypical audience.

Or maybe it's just the way the internet works that makes us all seem autistic.

58. Mellow Mouse, Benevolent Space Tyrant Posted: December 28, 2011 at 03:26 AM (#4024164)

My eldest son is in the autism spectrum, he is high functioning but definite issues. He definitely does not understand parts of human behavior. The sad part (as a parent) is he recognizes the lack but still doesn't get there.

For example he is convinced he has no friends. He has his brother and people he goes to school with and children of my friends, but no one he considers a friend. He is also the nicest person I know, always looking out for his brother and others. He also never lies - though he has figured out lies exist, he just doesn't do it well and so never does.

I'm am not answering your question (not that I could, or that it was addressed to me) but I suspect it is impossible to diagnose anything like Autism via internet postings. But hey, Ray, if you are, you are in very good company.

59. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: December 28, 2011 at 03:51 AM (#4024176)

Including Isaac Newton, Pud Galvin, and Humphrey Bogart.
Ray, is it possible that you're on the autism spectrum somewhere

was you ever bit by a dead bee?

60. Greg K Posted: December 28, 2011 at 03:51 AM (#4024177)

I actually enjoy this kind of article, and consider it separate from the main thrust of my baseball fandom.

I take a similar approach to history. I enjoy the colourful coincidences of history that don't carry much significance, but I would never include them in an academic piece. They're just fun little tid bits that make up the tapestry that is baseball. Sure, if someone assigns some analytical meaning to them, they'd be wrong, but that doesn't mean they're not interesting to know. Personal mileage may vary, but I don't quite get anyone who feels the need to shoot them down. Seems like the definition of a wet blanket.

EDITED due to all the drinking.

61. Downtown Bookie

Posted: December 28, 2011 at 04:00 AM (#4024181)

For the life of me I will never understand people who complain about other's postings, complain about articles linked to, and so on when no one is forcing them to read either and skipping articles and ignoring (either old fashioned ignoring or high tech Ignoring) other posters is so easy.

Me neither.

DB

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Jayson Stark (ESPN): Strange stuff … in the 2011 postseason

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