..........
"RBI" being a dirty word to saber-only folks, but to Eric Wedge, Carp's RBI are one manifestation of the fact that Mike Carp enjoys bare-knuckle fighting.
Angels up by one run late, bring in Downs precisely to face Mike Carp, and how many times did we see the May-June ballclub roll over and die right there?
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It was one of Bill James' earliest insights that, in 1978 --- > the RBI stat was overrated. And that "clutch hitting" was overstated.
However, it's also sad that non-athlete observers now try to argue that RBI are worthless.
Mike Carp is an RBI man, and since his callup he's been on a 144.9 RBI pace. It's too bad that it's in poor taste to notice this accomplishment.
In Carp's last 176 AAA games, he drove in 140 runs.
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There is a routine baseball game, and then there is a "high-leverage" baseball game.
There is a game in July against the Royals' #4 starter, with both clubs out of the race, and then there is a pennant-race game against the Texas Rangers, and C.J. Wilson, with both teams computerized and booked-up and loaded for bear.
Everybody in pro sports will tell you that, in Game 7 with both sides booked up and breathing fire, there are players who challenge you and there are players who will disappear. When both sides take it up a notch, and bring their "A" games, well ... that level of intensity is too much for some people. They don't have the extra gear.
Opaque to the saberdweeb -- first principles to the man in the arena. As Bobby Fischer put it, "There are nice guys and there are tough players, and I'm a tough player."
Some men are fine until they receive a light shove to the shoulder, and then they start crying (or yelling at the 2B umpire until they're thrown out of the game). Al Pacino did Bobby one better: "Under pressure? Some focus. Others fold."
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The first half of the year, when the Mariners didn't have the RBI man that Baker had called for in March. Did you enjoy that?
If you watched the Mariners in May, and in August, and you still insist that "tough RBI" don't exist as a concept, you are too locked into your preconceptions. The 2011 Mariners have made it easy to perceive the difference.
Carp and Ackley relish the mano-a-mano. Carp wants that at-bat in the 8th, behind by one run. For precisely that reason -- the 4 times up-and-down, and the fact that Carp wants Dan Haren in the 8th -- he should be everybody's favorite Mariner.
You get why Wedge is talking about Carp learning RF in 2012. Where do you put Mike Carp? You put him on the baseball diamond.
In which any particular pitch might get the pitcher a swinging strike, or get him splashed off the fences :- )
The Cafe job for 432 feet, the pitcher complained that he'd missed his spot. However, I didn't notice a lot of missed spots in June...
Pitchers will make good and bad pitches. But the batters that we had in the first half wouldn't hit either kind...
Liddi was able to break that meaningless record for runs scored-season mostly because Carp was hitting behind him. I love RBIs the same way I hate LOB and GBDP.
1B+DH+LF+RF =154 games of Mike Carp
154 Games of Mike Carp = moe likey a lot !
He has proven to be a very nimble 1B with a velcro glove. I'm not convinced that he's our 1B of the future and Smoak DH's.
The game-winning double last night was another example of him sitting on the right pitch. He had, 2 nights earlier, wasted an inside offspeed pitch from a lefty for a GW jack. Think he was getting something offspeed and inside? It was a predictable AB, last night.
Offspeed outside and down, ditto on the 2nd pitch. Fastball....and then fastball, both inteded to be away. Carp set on that 2nd one.
I can't remember watching a Mariner batter so locked in for so long on which pitch he was going to sit on.....and then not miss it.
Edgar?
Ichiro DH's once a week, Carp pikcs up the OF glove and Smoak covers 1B. Wells, Guti, Trayvon play 3 'fer 2 with the other OF spots.
It appears like something such as that is in the works.
I am a bit mystified by the regular Willy Mo sightings lately. Does he have a future with the M's? Unlikely...
moe
... were indeed pretty meaningless, in the sense that Liddi wasn't AS good a hitter as the R and RBI column suggested in this particular year ...
Problemo is, people note heavily any given RBI situation like Liddi's and ignore the composition of the career and single-season RBI leaderboards...
There are times when some pitcher is in the top 10 in strikeouts, but still isn't very good, such as Daniel Cabrera ... doesn't mean that blizzards of strikeouts are to be ignored in all pitchers...