New Sully Baseball Video "It Wasn't Bill Buckner's Fault"

Maybe it is appropriate that I bring up the Bill Buckner play the day after the Red Sox did the Great Faceplant of 2011.

In the latest Sully Baseball video, I am starting a new series.

"Baseball Myths and Facts." And it turns out there are so many of them that I will do a few videos on this topic.

I tackle the Buckner error first because even really good baseball people get that one wrong.

Enjoy the video.

And as always, you can see all the videos at my ShortForm TV page.

The Braves are happy the Red Sox lost

How happy are the Braves that the Red Sox flopped so badly?
The Braves collapse was almost as bad as Bostons!
And they blew a 9th inning lead and couldn't score a run in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th which could have forced a playoff with the Cardinals.

And yet it won't get 1/100,000,000,000th the attention as the Red Sox collapse.

I guess there ARE advantages to playing in Atlanta instead of New England.

If the Red Sox only were mediocre at the beginning and end

So the Red Sox blew the incredible lead to play golf this October. They were shockingly dreadful in September.

But remember how they lost their first 6 games and 10 of their first 12?
The Red Sox finished the season 90-72.

And they were 11-15 in April and a eye popping 7-20 in September.

In other words they were 18-35 in April and September and 72-37 the rest of the season.

Imagine if they weren't awful but merely mediocre at the bookends of the season.
Instead of being 17 games under .500 in those 2 months, what if they were just 1 game under .500?

That would be a 26-27 record in the 53 games of April and September. Not unreasonable for a consensus World Series pick.

And if they did that and played the rest of the season the same way, they would have had a 98-64 record... a game ahead of the Yankees.

If only they rose to the level of "eh."

Do you really expect me to write about tonight?

It was the greatest regular season day in baseball history.
And I stand by my opinion that if today, with the Braves extra inning loss, the Rays mind boggling come from behind win, the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Tigers and Rangers fighting for home field advantage on LABOR DAY it would be the biggest sporting event of the summer.

Alas.
The Red Sox did a face plant.
An all time face plant.

This was worse than the 2007 Mets.
This will stink over the Red Sox franchise until they win another World Series.

Ah well.

Time for beddy bye.
I am sure I will have many profound things to say tomorrow.

Marlins flopping on the deck

On April 19th, I said the real test for the Marlins would begin.

We would see if their 11-1 record had more to do with playing a hapless Nationals team or was a sign that they were indeed a contender.

I think we got a definitive answer.

They are now 2 games under .500... OVERALL!!!!

In a month they completely squandered a 10 game cushion. They are 6-18 since then.

Imagine how much easier Santiago's life would have been if he caught a marlin this lifeless!

But I am not giving up on this team. I picked that they would win 90 games and I pick the destination, not the journey.

Besides, May is not a good months for marlins. As Hemmingway said May is "the month when the great fish come. Anyone can be a fisherman in May"

Maybe it will be harder to reel them in in June

How many baseball blogs drop a Hemmingway reference on you this early in the morning?

A-Rod's plan isn't working

Back in April, I thought I had figured out A-Rod's exit strategy:

1. Have the best regular season any Yankee fan had ever seen.

.314, 54 HRs, 156 RBI, 1.067 OPS and more walk off homers and clutch hits than I can remember. CHECK!

2. Act relaxed and have fun.

A-Rod smiles! A-Rod and Jeter seem to like each other! Heck, he even goes to strip clubs! CHECK!

3. Win the fans over and have them want him to stay.

Lots of fans wearing #13... lots of fans saying "He's got to stay." The very fans who were going to run him out of town and saying how much he sucks... now love him.

4. Because the team doesn't make the playoffs, he doesn't have to hear about his October failures... and when he bolts with New York asking him to stay he can say "Don't blame me for this one!"

Whoops.

A-Rod has as many hits in October as Maya Angelou and suddenly he has become the focus of the Yankees disappearing offense and sudden 0-2 hole.

He's not the only person to blame, of course. Posada and Matsui are hitless.
Damon is 0-8 after his leadoff homer in game 1.
Saint Derek Jeter has 1 hit.
Robinson Cano has 1 hit.
Wang stunk.
Torre mismanaged the bullpen.

But when you sign the biggest contract in sports and then bat 4-for-47 (.085) with no RBIs in his last 14 post season games... you have to be ready to take the grief.

And if he goes 0 fer in game 3 and the Yankees go quietly, the very fans who were giving him curtain calls in May will be chasing him out of New York with torches and pitchforks.

Imagine any other fan base chasing a 2 time MVP out of town!
54 home runs thrown right down the drain.

His plan would have been perfect... if only the Yankees didn't have that great comeback!