Bird

 .................

I didn't make square contact with the cutter that Spec threw in there.  He went cutter on back-to-back pitches and this time we stomped on the back foot and squared it up ... :- )

Both Clement and Smoak were picked in the 1st round out of college at 21, signed during the summer and went to the Midwest League:

.... [series of age-arc parallels given ]

But . . . Clement did show the kind of stats that indicate the ability to play in the majors.  He slugged close to .500 time and again.  He drew walks.  He didn't strike out all that much.  In fact, he put up pretty much the exactnumbers as Justin Smoak.

My puzzle is: where is the red flag that tells me Clement is a bad bet?

Now I gotcha.  Thanks for leaving it out-and-over.

........

Where, in Adam Morrison's college basketball career, was the red flag that told you his game was not going to fly in the NBA?  

Morrison was possibly the best player in college, and there was absolutely no red flag, anywhere, before his arrival in the NBA.  That is because his game was more than enough to ruin any amateur situation he came up against.  But the flaws that did not hurt him in the NCAA, were exploited by bigger, quicker, longer-armed athletes.  

They took advantage of his physical shortcomings to prevent him from getting space for his shot, and Morrison lacked the Larry Bird-type compensations that Michael Jordan (!) thought Morrison would have.

 .... 

Q.  Wow, 8 receptions, 136 yards, unfriendly environment, money game.  

A.  Reminds me of Steve Largent as a rookie.  No pre-hype, no special emphasis towards him in the playbook.  Just catches all over the field, from game one, and "who is this guy?" 

One bona fide Doug Fister find, if it's out of nowhere, can take an org several yards forward.  Doug Baldwin is making a whale of a difference for the 2011 Seahawks.

.

Q.  Were the Seahawks just lucky to get Doug Baldwin?

A. A team brings a great college football coach into the NFL, it gains one huge advantage:  that coach is a specialist in the current college player pool.  The Seahawks gained a two-year grace period in which Carroll's value grabs are going to better than other people's.

The NFL figured that Baldwin was small, and that he was succeeding because of playing with a legendary NCAA quarterback (Andrew Luck).  Pete Carroll, however, coached against Baldwin in the Pac-12, obviously watched film on him, and took a deeper look at Baldwin.

I am a late buy-in to Mike Carp, but suddenly I'm psyched about Ackley-Carp-Smoak going all Edgar-Olerud-Boone on us.

=== IP 4 - Michael Cuddyer - Groundout Other Way ===

Again I'm taken by Pineda's emerging interest in --- > the Catfish Syndrome, taking liberties with the outside corner.

Actually ... you amigos would probably relate to that better if I called it the Maddux/Glavine syndrome, eh?  :- )