Kind of reminds me of the old MAD magazine parody of the Tigers ("Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, in the ballparks of the night; you're in first place and sitting pretty, then lose 6 straight to Kansas City!").
2007-08-29 04:04:25 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
I don't think they will hold off the Padres. They kind of remind me of the 2005 Indians. So young and inexperienced. They have found a way to win all the close games this year and you can't expect that to continue. They have actually been OUTSCORED this year. They have some good,young talent but they are another year or two away from the playoffs.
2007-08-29 04:49:15 · answer #1 · answered by red4tribe 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm skeptical that the Diamondbacks win the West. I think that Eric Brynes is the most overrated player in baseball and that he will come back to earth in September (he's 31 and he's just now having his first half-decent season). The Diamondbacks only really have 1 reliable pitcher (of course Brandon Webb is one of the Cy Young favorites along with Jake Peavy and Cole Hamels). They are filled with players who can't hit on their offense.
The most telling sign is that their Pythagorean record (a sabermetric stat based upon runs scored and allowed) is currently 62-70, while their actual record is 74-58. Teams usually finish within 3 games of their Pythagorean record and the fact that the Yankees were far below theirs at the All Star Game was the telling sign that the Yanks would be back in the 2nd half (I actually root for Boston in the AL, but I noticed that while visiting baseball-reference.com during the All Star Game).
The Diamondbacks play in a hitter's park (park factor of 107, which means 7% more runs than an average park) and yet they have the 2nd worst offense in the NL (only the Nationals have less offense and they are actually worse than everybody in the AL at a pathetic 4.22 runs a game). Yes, the Diamondbacks allow only 4.48 a game (the average is 4.65 runs per game this year), but that doesn't matter when you have no offense.
I see a regression to the mean (which means that they'll "choke" and either the Padres or Dodgers will win the West).
2007-08-29 05:44:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, their record is not a reflection of how they've played this season. They've been outscored, and their adjusted record in every case has them at the bottom of that division:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/standings.php
I don't think they're choking at all, I think they're just regressing to where their performance indicates they should be. At this point, it would be shocking if they actually held on to first. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them finish third in the division by year's end.
2007-08-29 04:19:45 · answer #3 · answered by Craig S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeh, it could happen! the word is: CHOKE!! AND THAT IS WAHT THEY WILL DO!1 THE PADRES WILL WIN DIVISION! ARIZONA WILL FALL INTO THIRD BEFORE THIS IS OVER! DODGERS WILL CLIMB UP AND GRAB SECOND!!
2007-08-29 04:10:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
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2007-08-29 04:08:45 · answer #5 · answered by Thiago s 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋