The Layoff

[cardsfansince82]

I am already tired of hearing all this media talk about the layoff the Rockies had as if that's the reason why they are losing the series. Just how exactly do you go about determining if a team is affected by a layoff? I'm not sure the players themselves could even tell you for sure if they were affected negatively. Yet that's all the media wants to talk about. The Rockies have a built in excuse. Either they win, or it was those eight days off why they lost. Is it not possible that the Red Sox are the better team? Or maybe the fact that they are on the road and going up against superior pitching? Nah, they forgot how to play baseball over a span of eight days. Dumb.

[jim]

I am already tired of hearing all this media talk about the layoff the Rockies had as if that's the reason why they are losing the series. Just how exactly do you go about determining if a team is affected by a layoff? I'm not sure the players themselves could even tell you for sure if they were affected negatively. Yet that's all the media wants to talk about. The Rockies have a built in excuse. Either they win, or it was those eight days off why they lost. Is it not possible that the Red Sox are the better team? Or maybe the fact that they are on the road and going up against superior pitching? Nah, they forgot how to play baseball over a span of eight days. Dumb.

Easy. If they lose, it affected them. If they win, it didn't.

Even with recent history as a guide they still want to bring this up. I'm not saying the layoff isn't a factor, I'm saying you can't really tell by the fact that they lost 2 games. I saw a dominant Beckett in game 1, now last nights game Schilling wasn't nearly as dominant but he was still pretty good.

[Leroy]

It just gives the talking heads something to be talking heads about between ciallis ads and the Budweiser hot seat.

Did anybody notice...in the opener (and maybe even last night), they announced all of the players, coaches, and the starting lineups. They then went to commercial. When they came back, they had Todd Helton introduce the 'Dick's Sporting Goods starting lineup'. Like the unadvertised one wasn't good enough.

But I agree. They could have played the day after the Rockies beat the Padres in that long game, and Boston would still be better.

[skmsw]

Nah, they forgot how to play baseball over a span of eight days. Dumb.

I've never played in the major leagues, but I've played pretty competitively. In my opinion, when you're in mid-season form this layoff is a non-issue. Skills and timing do not erode in a week or two. In fact, if you're staying fit and in shape, most guys at that level can step in cold after a month or two.

Rather than focusing on the layoff -- an obvious pseudoexplanation -- people should wonder what the likelihood was that a team that was on a 20-1 roll would simply never lose again, even when finally matched up against an arguably better team from a better league. Talk about candidates for regression towards the mean . . .

It just gives the talking heads something to be talking heads about between ciallis ads and the Budweiser hot seat.

Did anybody notice...in the opener (and maybe even last night), they announced all of the players, coaches, and the starting lineups. They then went to commercial. When they came back, they had Todd Helton introduce the 'Dick's Sporting Goods starting lineup'. Like the unadvertised one wasn't good enough.

I don't know which I find more frustrating -- the opportunism MLB engages in, for instance, by doing two lineups to make sure there's a sponsorship in there somewhere -- or what the content of all those ads tells us about what our society has become.

[ghostrunner]

I don't know which I find more frustrating -- the opportunism MLB engages in, for instance, by doing two lineups to make sure there's a sponsorship in there somewhere -- or what the content of all those ads tells us about what our society has become.

If you have a problem with sporting goods, just come right out and say it.

[jim]

I don't know which I find more frustrating -- the opportunism MLB engages in, for instance, by doing two lineups to make sure there's a sponsorship in there somewhere -- or what the content of all those ads tells us about what our society has become.

If you have a problem with sporting goods, just come right out and say it.

The White Sox sold the starting time for weekday games this year. First pitch is at 7:11.

I wonder how many commercials I missed because the game took almost 4 hours to play and I got bored?

[AJ]

I think the media is lazy, like most people. The layoff is low hanging fruit, a story that wrote itself before the World Series even began. Heaven forbid two teams get the same amount of time off before a World Series and the media has to find another reason why a team lost.

[ghostrunner]

I don't know which I find more frustrating -- the opportunism MLB engages in, for instance, by doing two lineups to make sure there's a sponsorship in there somewhere -- or what the content of all those ads tells us about what our society has become.

If you have a problem with sporting goods, just come right out and say it.

The White Sox sold the starting time for weekday games this year. First pitch is at 7:11.

I wonder how many commercials I missed because the game took almost 4 hours to play and I got bored?

I was kinda just funnin'

[TimMcCarver15]

I've never played in the major leagues, but I've played pretty competitively. In my opinion, when you're in mid-season form this layoff is a non-issue. Skills and timing do not erode in a week or two. In fact, if you're staying fit and in shape, most guys at that level can step in cold after a month or two.

Steve, this is interesting and I'm not saying I disbelieve you, but how do you know this to be true? What is the control on this? Where have players at this level (or near) been asked to step in after a month's being off, and perform at the same level? The only thing I can think of would be after a strike. The '81 players strike was two months, but they did some training etc and had an all star game before playing games again.

[GatewaySnayke]

There's no reason for an 8-day layoff. I went back and looked at the 1999 and 2000 ALCS -- which ended rather quickly. The time between the ALCS and WS? Five days and four days. There's no reason to have a day between Game 4 and Game 5 and then again between Game 5 and Game 6. FOX whines (usually) about how no one watches, but considering the horrible scheduling, the extremely gratuitous amounts of advertising and the fact that the World Series might as well wait until Christmas, they have no one to blame but themselves.