More on Riggleman's Qualifications
Bill Ladson and his hefty (mail) sack chime in on Jim Riggleman's installation as manager:
What did you think about the Nationals making Jim Riggleman the permanent manager?
-- Charlie B., Washington
It was a great move [...] I loved the way Riggleman gives opponents the element of surprise -- hit and run with Ryan Zimmerman at the plate, a surprise bunt, squeeze plays and stealing bases.
Ah yes, taking the bat out of your Silver Slugger-winning third baseman's hands by making him swing at slop so you can put the guy at first in motion. Daring! Unorthodox! Dumb! And the surprise bunt, the Spanish Inquisition of baseball plays!
I don't know about you, but after this I'm psyched for the 2010 edition of The Elements of Surprise by William Ladson and James Riggleman. No one, and I mean no one is going to see that Josh Willingham suicide squeeze on Opening Day coming!
2 comments:
Your ramblings are inane. If you can explain to me why you think a meglomaniac like Bobby Valentine that walked into the Cleveland Indians interview and basically told them he knew nothing about their team is such a great hire, I'd love to hear it.
You'd rather crap all over the guy that the young pitchers/players bonded with. You'd rather crap on the guy that has finally instilled some professionalism in the clubhouse. He's made the players accountable for their performance and has got these guys to respect the game, their teammates and themselves. These guys were 30+ games out at the end of the season and were still playing hard. The results might not have always been positive, but the intensity with which they approached the game (the Braves series in particular) bodes very well for the future.
I'm very happy that Rizzo is running the show and didn't make a ridiculous move like hiring a guy that has been out of MLB for at least 5-7 years. Valentine knows nothing about the Nats and frankly, doesn't know the NL or AL players anymore and cares about one thing only ... Bobby Valentine. That's right, Bobby thought he'd come back to MLB riding his white stallion and whipping it out and everyone would step back and say, Wow! We have to hire this guy. Not.
Ya know, there were other choices out there than Bobby Valentine...
And it's one thing to praise Riggleman's connection to the team or whatever one might think his strengths are, but Ladson praised him for probably his biggest weakness last year. Pretending that wasting outs on plays that almost never worked is insane. It's definitely a "Were Bill Ladson and I even watching the same games?" moment.
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