Comments on: Drew Storen was dealing with “excruciating” back pain during the NLDS

By: breastfedted

breastfedted — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:06:12 +0000

Haha, OF COURSE he was in “excruciating pain”. Excuses, excuses. Stop trying to justify the excuses, Nats fans, you’ll start sounding like the Ryan Braun defenders.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:39:32 +0000

I couldn’t care less about splitting Jayson Werth’s hairs. Hell, you’d be at it for weeks what with all those hairs.

What seems more pertinent to me is, why was a near-crippled pitcher entrusted with the most critical game of their year if the manager knew what shape he was in, and/or if the manager didn’t know, what the hell was Storen’s excuse for not telling him? It’s not like there was nobody else in their bullpen.

By: byjiminy

byjiminy — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 07:18:09 +0000

I think it makes a big difference whether you’re talking about your own injury, or someone else’s. If a guy refuses to use his own injury as an excuse, I can see wanting other people to know what he was going through, if he’s too proud to mention it. That seems more like support for a teammate. If the question was, why didn’t you win the world series, and Werth answered, well, people don’t know this but Storen was injured, otherwise we would have won, you could certainly call that an excuse. I don’t know the full context of the remarks, but it sounds like the reporter was going around specifically asking about the extent of Storen’s injury, because Storen wouldn’t tell him. If so, what’s wrong with giving an honest answer now? Last season is long gone. But Storen’s qualification’s as a closer are a hot topic, what with the signing of Soriano, which is the context of the discussion in Heyman’s article. (By the way: $28 million for two years???)

By: Stiller43

Stiller43 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:00:26 +0000

Because he said “im not blaming the fact he wasnt healthy for us losing, but be wasnt healthy.”

THATS the definition of an excuse.

By: ptfu

ptfu — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:19:47 +0000

Do not confuse an excuse with an explanation. An excuse tries to get someone off the hook for something–to say that they’re not responsible because of X. “The dog ate my homework, so it isn’t my fault I couldn’t turn it in. I don’t deserve to fail.”

An explanation is an impartial description of what happened and why. You can describe what happened without avoiding responsibility. “The dog ate my homework, so I couldn’t turn it in. I did not meet my obligation and so I deserve whatever grade I get.”

IMHO Werth is offering an explanation, not an excuse.

Why is Werth talking about it now? Who knows? It’s Jayson Werth, he’s a weird dude.

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:44:19 +0000

Its an excuse. If he wasn’t blaming his injury, why did he have to mention it?

(hint: its because he’s blaming his injury)

His best bet is to not talk about it. Why mention it five months later?

By: andreweac

andreweac — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:18:31 +0000

Sounds like he was injured. Sounds like a pretty rationale for his performance last October. How does being against facts make one a “loser”? I’m actually quite curious.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 02:01:40 +0000

Right – the guy who hit the walkoff HR to win game 4 of the NLDS is a “loser.” OK.

People who are confused by a direct statement like “I’m not blaming his injury, he just wasn’t healthy” and insist instead that it means the opposite of what was explicitly said are losers at understanding English. No excuse.

By: thebadguyswon

thebadguyswon — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:18:02 +0000

“I’m not blaming his injury,” Werth said. “He just wasn’t healthy.”

So, you are blaming his injury, then.

Excuses are for losers.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 01:15:37 +0000

Gritty.