You would think that fans of a game with 162 games in a season would understand that bad games would happen. Not so for some commenters on Peter Schmuck's blog post about the bad night Brian Roberts had against the Mets last night.
"We play a lot of games,'' Roberts said afterward. "It's not the first time I've gone 0 for 5, not the first time I've made an error, not the first time I've done both in the same game. It's not fun, but we play a lot of games in our careers and that happens. I'm going to go home and get a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow."
A fair assessment and a good mindset for a baseball player. But then there's this from the comments:
Please Mr. Macphail, complete this turnover and try to trade Roberts also while your at it...this is just too much... I'll run the ball out for one tenth of what he makes.
...and this...
I thought AM should have traded Brob. I still think he should try.
...or...
And don't forget the weak grounder with the bases loaded in the ninth! He definitely looked less focused than usual.
Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. Or maybe we should remember that he's hitting .368/.458/.526 over the past week or .351/.405/.486 over the last 14 days.
But Roberts is right, it's not the first time he's gone 0-5 with an error.
Date Opponent Score W Error Type
Sun, Jun 30, 2002 Phillies 8-5 PHL Botched grounder in the 6th
Mon, Aug 4, 2003 Twins 3-2 MIN Throwing error in the 6th
Fri, Jun 18, 2004 @Rockies 5-3 COL Throwing error in the 4th
Sat, Aug 6, 2005 @Rangers 10-3 TEX Botched grounder in the 9th
Sun, Jul 9, 2006 @Indians 5-4 BAL Botched grounder in the 2nd
Sun, Sep 24, 2006 Twins 6-3 MIN Botched grounder in the 3rd
Sun, Jun 17, 2007 Diamondbacks 6-4 ARI Throwing error in the 8th
Odd there are so many Sundays on this list. So Brian is right, it's happened before. Apparently, he's good for one of these games about once a year. So the good news is that it's out of his system for 2009.
Onward!
2 comments:
Thanks for the perspective, Heath. I didn't catch the game last night other than a quick score check in the middle innings, so I was admittedly concerned when I read comments about Roberts' lack of hustle and focus. Seemed inconsistent with Roberts' reputation. I appreciate the context you've provided with this post.
Fans jump the gun, and what makes it harder, is losing year after year.
Those comments are a bit ridiculous to me but I was a fan of keeping Roberts.
I don't think those fans agree with that move.
I love how Roberts keeps things in perspective. This is why we don't play the game.
Great post.
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