Willie Randolph had his chance tonight when the games mean something to bat David Wright second, but didn’t.
I read this to mean he doesn’t really want Wright there in the first place, and he had his look-see during spring training. Carlos Beltran is in the two hole because Randolph said he’d like to bunch his speed up top when he gets the chance (that means, when Paul Lo Duca doesn’t play).
The reason Wright is batting fifth tonight is the same why he’s been there all season, and that’s because that slot gives him more RBI opportunities and he’s a run producer. He just won’t get as many chances in the two hole.
5 Comments
Won’t get as many chances? SO what? Whoever IS hitting in the 5-spot will get those chances. RBIs are the silliest, most meaningless statistic in baseball, except for maybe the win and the save. They have nothing to do with individual performance, and individual performance has nothing to do with them.
/vitriol… looking forward to the game
You must be joking when you say RBI are ``the silliest, most meaningful statistic in baseball.’’ They are about driving in runs and runs determine the outcome of the game. You might want to re-think that comment.
I’m not joking. RBI as a statistic are symptomatic of results-based thinking that is logically fallacious. Its value is extremely marginal since RBI are based mostly on circumstances beyond a player’s control. So the number does not represent in any clear way an intrinsic relationship between a certain batter and his ability to produce runs and wins for his team. The extent of RBI’s utility is to recap the results of a particular game or series of games, as a sort of rough picture of how productive a player has been in run-scoring opportunities. Over the long term, and compared to other players on the same team or on other teams, the number becomes more and more dependent on the quality of the other players in the lineup, the ballpark in which the team plays, and the quality of the league, and less and less a reflection of how well the player is doing. Thus RBI certainly should not be used when deciding whom to bat where in the lineup, because those RBI themselves were mostly determined by where the player had been batting in lineups.
This just in. Baseball is a game played on the field! Watch it. It’s a lot of fun. Really…
oy…stat heads.
“RBIs are the silliest, most meaningless statistic in baseball, except for maybe the win and the save.”
Talk about a fallacious statement…RBI’s are the CAUSE of the WIN. No RBI, no win. It’s impossible to win a game with out RBI’s. You can’t have a save opposrtunity without an RBI. RBI’s are probably THE most important and impactful stat the game has.