Game 106: Penny struggles, Red Sox get swept

But, Kottaras can’t throw anyone out either. The point was that most runners steal off the pitcher, not the catcher. A good throwing catcher can make a slight difference. But, if the runners are getting good jumps, it really doesn’t matter who is behind the plate.

You keep tellin’ us how this current team reminds you of the 2006 Red Sox. To answer you, let me quote a poster from soxprospects.com:

For (expletive possesive) sake! You people need get more sunlight in your lives or something. You’re “reminded of 2006?”
Really? Would that be because tonight Jason Johnson will be followed out of the pen by Kyle Snyder and Rudy Seanez? Or maybe it’s because Jon Lester will last only 3.2 and give up seven earned? No, wait, has to be because the catching duties will split between the warmed-over corpse of Doug Mirabelli and the already rigormortis-striked Javy Lopez (who’ll be batting 5th).

You people do realize that in 2006, a spot in the bullpen was occupied by Jermaine Van Buren, right? And he actually pitched in the so-called Massacre II? This season is nothing like 2006. After the Yankee series, the Red Sox don’t go out west for a nine game road trip. The best catcher on the team isn’t on the shelf. Lester 2009 is not Lester 2006, Beckett 2009 is not Beckett 2006. Buchholz > Jason Johnson anyway you slice it. At the deadline in 2006, Theo did nothing and the Yankees got Abreu. This year we made the big move and the Yankees got… come on, guys. Seriously, stop.

Who really cares that Yogi Berra threw out 49% of potential stealers when he played? The game was very different then. Teams ran far less in the 1940s and early 50s, and many more were caught. In 1947 only 665 steals were attempted in the AL (compared to 1,401 so far this year). 45% of players trying to steal were thrown out. The same percentage of runners were caught in the AL in 1950. AL players only attempted 509 steals in 1950. Today’s game is more athletic and the players are bigger, stronger, and faster.

Link
Click on the headers to change how they’re sorted – I’d recommend that you check out the “WP+PB/G” column. Seems to me that the trade off is arm for reaction time. I think I’ll take Tek stopping only 1/10 steal attempts (THT doesn’t include pickoffs for some reason) than having him allowing the ball to get away from him with runners on once every 2-3 games.

john@gameunicon.com if you want it!