Great game. Braves win. Julio Teheran played staff ace, allowing the Phillies only two runs on eight hits over seven innings. Julio struck out seven, walked nary a soul and had a Home Julio kind of day.
The Braves scored in two — count ’em! — two innings in the same game, and they scored more than a single run both times! Jace Peterson had three hits, including two singles, one a bunt, and a three run home run. The homer came in the fifth after Chris Johnson had singled in the tying run. Who’da thunk it?!
The final two runs came in the seventh. Jonny Gomes drove in Eury Perez with a single (off a right- handed pitcher!!), then Ryan Lavarnway singled in Gomes.
The bullpen kept the Phils off the board in their last two innings, and the Braves are headed home with a win. Let’s keep the bats smoking tomorrow and raze Cain.
How sweet the sound. Victory at once. Thank you coop, courage under fire and not for the first time.
Moving on, I need help please. In this week’s New Yorker, a magazine renowned for its almost fetishistic addiction to fact checking, getting it right- there have been two recent, longish articles on the use of commas – this has appeared in the middle of a review of books published on the subject of stage fright..
“Performers are often reluctant to discuss stage fright. They think it’s bad luck. (Likewise, most baseball players do not want to discuss the yips.)”
Really? Golfers, sure, unable to draw the putter back or bring it forward through the ball, The server in tennis – you very occasionally hear of someone unable to throw the ball high over his head standing on the baseline but the word itself I don’t recall ever being used. Soccer, cricket, ice hockey, NFL, basketball? Again, I don’t see the word, I don’t hear it used.
So then who are these baseball players the majority of whom who suffer from the yips and don’t want to talk about it? And how/when/how often/and about what are they yipping? What form does it take, can we see it as it happens, do the fans recognize it when they see it? Do they boo/cheer? Has Joe P done 500 words on the yips? Has coop?
As I said, I need help. A mere 25 years exposure to the game, watching it, reading about it, is not apparently enough. I can think of only one example and it’s far from a perfect match for the word – Rick Ankiel, in his original incarnation. But even there was the actual word used? And about what physical act, specifically?
Don’t tell me the New Yorker got it wrong!
Thurman went 7 innings, striking out 7 and only allowing a double.
I’m always more interested in the lesser prospect in a big deal, seems like a GM has more freedom on the throw-in.
Also, any word on Winkler?
I’ve heard it used when players lose the ability to make simple throws, like catchers throwing back to the pitcher. I think Mackey Sasser had it, and maybe Dale Murphy. Chuck Knoblauch comes to mind at 2nd base.
I associate the yips with golfers, but I did date a girl once whose dog had the yips constantly.
@3
Could be because baseball already had it’s own term for the phenomenon — Steve Blass Disease. Closer to home, Mark Wohlers was an excruciating example. Dontrelle Willis, maybe. Melvin, Jr., possibly.
@3..
..right, Knoblauch and his ilk, forgot that…was the yip word ever used for that? in it’s purest form it would need him to be unable to release the throw, not just throw it wide.
…and dale Murphy and other catchers unable to return the ball to the mound, yikes, you got me. That is a pure yip .
Steve Blass – remember the name…what could he not do? a yip?
coop – hope you ditched her, you know what they say about we all end up looking like our dog.
@5…
Melvyn…he had a most unusual yip, a passive one…CS3…called strike 3
saw him do it again the other night against the Mets…2 on of course.
Steve Blass lost his control all of a sudden between the ’72 and ’73 seasons, and went from being one of the best pitchers in the game to completely out of the league in less than two years.
I mention Melvin because he’s seemed unable to pull the trigger on hittable pitches, which to me seems like a manifestation of the yips — self-doubt causing a momentary freeze at the crucial juncture.
I’ve definitely heard it called the yips. Rick Ankiel’s playoff meltdown (as a pitcher) and John Lester’s pick-off throw misadventures also come to mind.
Don’t forget the catcher from Major League 2!
Pretty sure Steve Sax had a case of the yips, at least for a while.
@2 – He lost about ten starts, as he was one of the kids injured in the bus crash earlier this year but, he’s having a pretty good year.
Go Mets.
I don’t know if anyone here ever watched the TV show Psych, but they had an episode named “Shawn Gets the Yips”. Chuck Knoblauch is mentioned on the show when the main character Shawn is no longer able to make the throw to first base, and I laughed really hard the first time I watched it. Whenever I think of the yips now, that is what I think of.
I wonder how a course of electroconvulsive therapy would do for the yips. It certainly couldn’t hurt Melvin.
Anyone remember a young Rick Ankiel in a playoff game against our Braves?
@17
Yes, i remember that game…painful in two ways – watching him hurting, and us still losing..i think.
@9
…that is most interesting and you could very well be right…it makes sense which very little about him did…and if that’s what was happening the inability to start his swing with 2 strikes and men on base, say, would exactly equate with the golfer unable to start the putter back. So it’s a yip!
so thanks to all for stirring an old man’s memory tonight…well, whaddya know, the Fact Checkers, they were right!
I would distinguish between Steve Blass Disease (Mark Wohlers, Rick Ankiel) and a fielder with the yips (Knoblauch.)
@19..
right…would you agree that for Knoblauch and his ilk to qualify for the yipp label there would have to have been occasions when they were quite unable to release the ball at all, had to double clutch and try again? Not just wild throws.
And Dale Murphy when he was still catching, that was a release problem too, right? I seem to remember he used a circuitous route via other infielders to get the ball back to the pitcher. Or not? What year/years was this please?
The manifestations may be different, but my guess is the psychological underpinnings are similar. Something that says “don’t throw” or “don’t swing”, but there is no “not throwing” in baseball (although there is certainly “not swinging”).
@21
yes, perfect summary…like everyone else i sat and watched him through last summer and tried hard to figure out what was going on in his head – big brother/little brother/big contract etc…it was increasingly obvious it was mental.
But then we started to see something else, another dimension…more and more of his CS3’s were occurring with men on base, and particularly with men in scoring position.
So 2 new stats for the sabers – CS3 and CS3MISP – compared with everyone else of course etc etc. ha!
Seriously, i don’t suppose even today’s computerized megadata hoards can pick out that sort of thing, would be fun if they could though.
Dear Melvyn, i’m beginning to feel sorry for him, all over again. But then i remembered another stat…$$CS3MISP$$
Murphy’s problem wasn’t throwing to the pitcher. That was Mackey Sasser. Murphy’s problem was throwing out runners. He’d often put it in CF.
Sasser’s problem was bizarre, as he didn’t really have problem making throws to bases. It was just the toss back to the pitcher. He just freaked out thinking about it. He’d usually resort to a weird sort of high flip toss as he was falling backwards. He tried sports psychologists, even hypnotism. It eventually got to be a front page story on the Wall Street Journal. And so, yes, classic of the yips.
A kid I coached in LL went on to play for the local high school and developed a similar issue on his throws as a 1b. If he had to make a live throw in a game, first to third, and didn’t have time to think about it, he’d throw a strike. But in fielding drills, etc., he’d short hop it or air mail it 90% of the time. So he became a DH.
@23
Wow! thanks.
I haven’t watched this, but it’s a 30 for 30 on Sasser and this issue.
@25 perfect timing!
I heard Steve Sax on this podcast, talking about his yips.
http://snapjudgment.org/yips
Don’t know if anyone posted this already, but even Braves failed trades do some good in this world: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lory-ankiel-ourbaseballlife_55b927a0e4b0a13f9d1b5379?curator=SportsREDEF
@20 – I just see it as any simple physical action one used to do well, but can no longer for psychological reasons.
The yips are all mental. Your brain gets in the way of your muscle memory. If you can get past the synapse collapse you’re fine.
Also, for the Fredi basheristas, take a look at Matt Williams “usage” of his pen in the Mets sweep this weekend. Three games. Two closers. No appearances.
Matt Williams and Fredi are capable of being bad at their jobs simultaneously
I think there is at least a strong possibility that Matt Williams is even worse at his job than Fredi Gonzalez. But Fredi still should have been fired last fall.
@31
Terry Collins is the best manager in the east. I am not sure that says a lot about him though.
Fredi is a great manager for the next few years while we’re “rebuilding”. He’s a lightning rod for fans and it draws attention away from the failings of ownership/front-office, and from the failings on the field. I can definitely see the method to this madness.
@34: it’s sort of like my father always told me about Israel being God’s chosen people: look at what HE had to choose from.
Caveat: This is not meant as any kind of religious or political commentary.
Here is the average career WAR per player by draft position from the MLB draft since 1965 (per baseball reference):
1st 21.1
2nd 14.1
3rd 12.6
4th 13.5
5th 12.9
6th 14.4
7th 8.9
8th 7.9
9th 8.4
10th 10.8
11th 5.4
12th 9.4
13th 11.7
14th 8.3
15th 11.8
16th 8.6
17th 8.3
18th 5.3
19th 9.5
20th 13.6
21st 5.2
22nd 11.8
23rd 5.9
24th 3.9
25th 6.2
26th 5.2
27th 4.3
28th 4.3
29th 9.5
30th 12.5
The above is incorrect. Please ignore. It is the average WAR of the players who made the majors, not the average WAR of all players drafted at that position. The fraction to ever play in the bigs declines pretty heavily over the first round.
@37
that’s a fascinating stat over such a large sample…how odd the three ‘tens’ – 10, 20, 30 – are all anomalies.
Or is that although the term of years is large numerically this is still a small sample?
just saw your correction – still, the same thought applies i think.
@28 That’s pretty cool!
@39, it’s a heavily right skewed sample. The farther down you go, the more the mean is influenced by a couple 30-60 WAR outliers. So it’s just a coincidence that a few prominent players got drafted #20 instead of #19 or #21
my pet hate interviewee…
a mass of cliches interspersed with a hundred ‘you knows’…
@41
got it.
#PrayForHuddy
Holy cow this is boring baseball. I’m done for tonight. Bring em thru all!
Young pitching, eh…
Looks like Cain and the Giants are raising us.
Raising Cain, razing Folty?
Might be time to shut Freeman down for the year, accept the inevitable 95-100-loss disaster that awaits and be healthy and ready in February.
Hey a homer.
Muchos Garcias!
I like that, spike. Thanks. I needed the smile.
The Braves right now are the MLB-licensed version of Depression Quest.
Lance McCullers had a 162.00 ERA for tonight’s game
Way to get some value back CJ.
You. Knew. This. Was. Coming.
Mets up 9-0 in MIA. Nats down 5-0 in ARZ. No one can really tell if you replace their “Let’s Go Mets!” chant with “Fuck The Nats!”
Right oblique injury for Freeman. Day to day (aren’t we all?)
Ok I couldn’t stay away. Tuned back in to see Jace crank one and now Dorn looking like Steve Garvey
When Jim Powell says “vodka and baseball might sound like an odd pair” I wonder if he’s actually been watching the games.
That makes 92 AB without a walk for Ciriaco. What is the record?
@58
As is said daily on Rockies broadcasts in my neck of the woods, “We’re in the bottom of the fifth! If you’re at the bottom of your fifth, get to Applejack Liquors.”
@59: John, this may help you: http://research.sabr.org/journals/they-could-run-but-couldnt-walk
Well now that was unexpected!
Wait, AJ misread the script.
That was great. Glad I tuned back in
I am in total shock.
A season in which I have fond thoughts of AJ Pierzynski AND the New York Mets. Unthinkable.
Why was Maybin running there. Really stupid but ok!
Bad Adonis. No biscuit.
I don’t have any problem with someone trying to get into scoring position with two out. Obviously, it looks better when it works.
They’re talking about signability now regarding Posey. Any historical draft position analysis generally leaves that out of the equation. So many potential #1 picks went lower bc of that, which elevated guys like Matt Bush to #1 over guys like JD Drew (or to stay in the same year, Justin Verlander)
@69, I don’t either unless it’s 2-0 on the batter and the pitcher can’t find the zone
Mucho macho Garcia!
ADONIS!! WE DID THAT THING WHERE WE DON’T LOSE!!
Hard to remember, but signability also affected the choice of Joe Mauer over Mark Prior.
ADONIS GARCIA!!
So we finish another 12.
Win, win, win.
I don’t believe what I just saw.
WHAT A GAME! Woo!
What the ever-loving xxxx?
That was a pleasant surprise.
Well, how ’bout that?
demigod did it!
Brandon Crawford is the gift that keeps on giving
I don’t know how one can say this team has quit on Fredi. Non-major leaguers Chris Johnson and Adonis Garcia hit home runs tonight, and below average major leaguers AJ Pierzynski and Jace Peterson hit home runs too. When that’s your offense, it’s hard to look like a good manager.
I just went from “screw Posey!” (again) to “that was awesome!” in the span of five minutes. That’s why they play the game, EMIRITE?
Coming into tonight, the Braves hit 64 home runs in 106 games (last in the majors and 8 behind the 29th team). Tonight, they hit 4 home runs. Fun night.
Arodys Vizcaino is sporting a gaudy 2-0, .77 ERA line.
Folty gave up 4 HR. Gonna have to stop that.
1/2 price papa johns…..good day
Folty needs to be a reliever
We’ve been through this before. Minor, Teheran. There’s growing pains even with talented guys. I’m not quitting on Folty just yet.
Besides, like Rob Cope said above. Jace Peterson, AJ Pierzynski, Chris Johnson and Adonis Garcia all hit homers tonight. Our team was averaging .60 homers per game for the season, and we hit 4. The ball was absolutely jumping tonight.
And our old buddy, Mike Hessman, just became the Minor Leage Home Run King:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MudHens/status/628373334632308736/photo/1
Crash Davis
@91 – The Hessman story is amazing. 37 years old and 433 minor league home runs. If the guy could only hit a curve ball he would be dangerous. As much as teams are looking for power, the guy has to get at least one more chance in the big leagues.
My favorite part of that replay is the guy in the outfield. Adonis Garcia’s homer hits him right in the stomach and he doesn’t catch it. Then he holds his head in his hands and you can feel his shame.