This sure is good crow!

[PopTop]

Mmmmmm-mmm! Why, I do declare, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a more savory plate of crow :smokin:

Don't want to really say why I'm eating this crow right now, certainly don't want to mention the player by name lest it ruin his good run. Besides, while he's been "in my doghouse," he's done very well, so we might as well leave him there for now.

We got into a discussion about this certain Astro, and there were some who agreed with me, some who sorta' agreed with me, some who sorta' disagreed with me and some who really disagreed with me about the man's game. Since we had that conversation, he's really exploded in a lot of ways. Again, don't want to mention his name and I don't have the exact stats in front of me. But I promise y'all, he's been swinging-&-missing a lot less and he certainly hasn't let too many fat pitches go by without getting that bat off his shoulder.

I still want to see him keep the effort up, but thought it right to at least publicly eat a small dish of crow at this time. I hope by season's end, y'all serve me another dish and it's super-sized :Pimp

[Sandy]

No crow necessary, Pops.

If this is who I think it is, (and I won't name names either - being well versed in proper streak ettiquette), I don't think his value can be adequeately measured EITHER when he's slumping or streaking. The nature of the beast is that *ALL* players go hot and cold from time to time - just some do it in a more extreme manner than others.

To mention some OTHER guys that I've followed this year (due to impact on my fantasy team rosters).

David Dellucci - Thru mid-May he was putting up Brian Giles-like numbers: Leading the AL in walks, hitting .300, and on a pace for 25-30 HRs. Of course, he hit a slump (I'm thinking the interleague schedule exacerbated his problems), and it would've been easy to give up on him. The thing is - even thru the slump, though his average plummetted, the walks kept coming. That's one thing that isn't appreciated about patient hitters (IMO) - that even when slumping, they tend to contribute walks anyway -- they may not be able to HIT strikes for awhile - but they can still lay off balls. Dellucci has snapped out of his slump, and is once again hitting dingers, and his average is starting to rise again. In a FP league, where walks are worth just as much as singles, he's definitely a nice guy to have these days.

Andruw Jones has given me much mirth this year. During Spring Training, he was a monster - and people were projecting him to have a breakout season. I warned people he has ALWAYS been streaky. So, he gets off to a slow start - a fairly typical Andruw slump - where he's swinging at crud. Then, WHAMMO! (tm), he's back in a groove, and leading the majors in HRs.

He'll likely have a career year in the end - but I can guarantee there will be at least one more dreadful slump before October. This is just one reason that 'direct observation' *can* be so deceiving -- it takes a whole season (or more) to get a 'true' feel for a guys total package -- and for younger players, it can be even worse, as they'll often be making adjustments in the blind (no idea whether the adjustments will work). The vets, at least, can have some idea of adjustments they've tried that have NOT worked - and avoid those.

Baseball may be unique in the way players get 'in' or 'out' of "the zone" for weeks at a time. The best any fan (or player) can hope for - is that the streaks are long and the slumps short.