-=> Quoting Terry May to Stephen Frazier <=-
 TM> On 16 Dec 96, Mark Wohlers K'd Stephen Frazier for saying:
Yeah, right. Old high hard one himself. Just give him two strikes on 
fastballs 
and wait for the old slider. It's called the "Leyritz technique":)
                                                                              
 TM> A loss is a loss is a loss.  And both managers and players are human
 TM> and thus,  subject to mistakes, though a managerial decision that
 TM> turns out wrong is not necessarily a mistake (though fans would have
 TM> you believe so).
A loss is a loss, but the PLAYERS are supposed to lose, not the manager.
 SF> And whose fault is it that a baserunner doesn't know to look to the
 SF> COACH when rounding second base? Even  little leaguer knows to do that,
 SF> and they don't earn millions to do it.
 TM> Geez, here's a guess -- Lonnie Smith?  I know you don't want to hold
 TM> any players responsible for their own play, but that would be my
 TM> guess.  After all, "even  little leaguer knows to do that."
The little leaguer wasn't BORN knowing that, someone TAUGHT it to him, or 
kicked his ass to the curb when he forgot it. The same should be true for a 
big leaguer, and it is if the manager is worth a his money.
 TM> Actually, I think the Braves are one of the top teams in terms of
 TM> fundamentals.  They play good defense, do a good job of sacrificing
 TM> runners along, their pitchers hit and bunt well, etc.  I admit,
 TM> though, they didn't do the fundamentals very well in the '96 World
 TM> Series, but that was probably a carry-over from their hitting woes.
They do play good defense, but by fundamentals I mean moving runners, 
bunting, 
hit and run, throwing to the correct base, running or not running at the 
right 
time, communication between coaches and players, infielders and outfielders, 
closing out a hitter who's behind in the count, etc.
Pitchers are SUPPOSED to bunt well, it's the only hitting practice they are 
required to take. The Braves don't EVEN move runners. You can count the hit 
and runs on a hand or two, their sacrifice attempts fail more often than not, 
and I 'd love a dollar for every time they had a runner at second or third 
with less than two out and never scored. Remember the '91 Series?
And it wasn't a lack of hitting that doomed the Braves this year in the 
Series, but a lack of PITCHING.
Stephen
---
---------------