Comments on: Phil Coke shows that anybody can pitch the ninth

By: beelza

beelza — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:07:53 +0000

Short-minded, Is how Jim Leyland chose to patronize the Detroit home team fans. Jimmy, I’ll leave your line-ups to you and you leave the fans to act how they choose. Over 3 million of us this season have shown up at Comerica Park this year. If you bring Valverde out of the bullpen at home consider a few things: Valverde will be booed, and your decision will also booed. Their is no way, no baseball reason or gut feel or metric or sabr metric to justify Valverde taking the mound at all this season. Their will be many aspects of negativity associated with Valverdes appearance: probably gives yanks a mental bump of confidence, probably distracts Tigers bench. So if the upside of bringing Valverde out is so great that it negates all the said negative effects, so be it it’s your call. Possibly losing the home team fans to satisfy your pathological loyalty with certain players is a massive risk. High stakes indeed.

By: xmatt0926x

xmatt0926x — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:46:07 +0000

Yeah because people who have actually played the game should go away with their meaningless opinions, Matthew. Instead, bloggers with their laptop resting firmly on their beerbelly should be consulted on these matters. Yeah…that makes sense. After all, you have all the evidence you need. Phil Coke pitched the 9th!!! It wouldn’t shock me of the Yankees tried to replace Mariano with Coke. Another deep thought from Matthew Pouliot. Did Moilina choke again tonight? I’ll have to check the game highlights.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:29:18 +0000

I have wanted to knock that smile (shit eatin’ grin in my opinion) off his face his entire career.
In fact, I became convinced the ONLY time this would NOT be the case if he played for my team. Until the last couple years anyway. I have now decided I would like to knock it off his face regardless of the team he is playing for.

By: wlschneider09

wlschneider09 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:12:01 +0000

sigh….

By: creek0512

creek0512 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 03:26:11 +0000

Closers blow more games in the ninth inning than anyone…

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:09:44 +0000

Coke did OK, but he’s no Matt Capps.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:08:32 +0000

Cano? Is that you?

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:07:33 +0000

Go talk to an Angels fan

By: missthemexpos

missthemexpos — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:56:03 +0000

Still can’t believe the Jays traded Mike Napoli to the Rangers for Frank Francisco!

By: RickyB

RickyB — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:45:08 +0000

Of course, on the flip side, most managers will base their belief that a guy can’t pitch the ninth on a sample size of 1 or at most 2. The only way to determine if a guy can pitch the ninth is to give many chances. But if you fail early you have no chance of proving you can. Those that do succeed early, they get to become “proven closers” until they fail too many times or that they are Mariano Rivera.

By: mybrunoblog

mybrunoblog — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:32:40 +0000

Good observation Frank but I’m frustrated Yankee fan who is at the point of speaking jibberish and standing on street corners yelling at passing cars indiscriminately. The post season is getting to me……

By: frank433

frank433 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:18:20 +0000

Isn’t the 9th the only inning the Yankees have done anything in the playoffs?

By: yahmule

yahmule — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:07:21 +0000

Typical of anyone trying to advance a particularly specious argument.

By: philliesblow

philliesblow — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:06:31 +0000

Have a Coke and a Smyly!

By: js20011041

js20011041 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:42:14 +0000

Matthew, while I agree with your sentiment, it doesn’t help your cause that you use a sample size of 1 inning to prove your point. Thats a major stathead no-no.

By: mybrunoblog

mybrunoblog — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:36:20 +0000

Anyone can pitch the 9th when your pitching to the 2012 post season Yankees. And by the way. Am I the only Yankee fan that wants to knock that ridiculous smile off Nick Swishers face already?

By: tigers182

tigers182 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:32:36 +0000

I’m really high on Coke in these playoffs.

By: amaninwhite

amaninwhite — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:29:42 +0000

Here’s a name of someone who can’t pitch the ninth: Jose Valverde.

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:28:56 +0000

Francisco can pitch the ninth. It’s just that when the other team is good at baseball, he performs very poorly.

By: Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:26:55 +0000

Pretty easy to pitch a scoreless inning against any team that just wants to go fishing.

By: icanspeel

icanspeel — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:25:33 +0000

I think the thing is you need a proven closer, but a lot of teams have the mentality that its the proven closer or bust. Sometimes the proven closer just doesn’t have it so it’s good to mix things up.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:21:26 +0000

So, you are using a one game sample size to draw your conclusion? Interesting….

By: xjokerz

xjokerz — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:20:17 +0000

phil coke just a stud……..

By: sdelmonte

sdelmonte — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:19:14 +0000

If anyone could pitch the ninth, why can’t Frank Francisco?

By: dondada10

dondada10 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:15:58 +0000

“Phil Coke Shows that Anybody Can Pitch the Ninth Against a Team that is Really Struggling”

Fixed it.