found this article quite humourous.....even MORE humourous when they talk about the blue jays.
yeah guys, laugh it up when you strike out....:gf:
Toronto second baseman Orlando Hudson struck out four straight times against three Yankees pitchers on April 16. After the last whiff, television cameras caught him in the dugout reacting with an outburst of unbridled ... laughter. Hudson yucked it up despite the 4K performance. "He's just a young kid who knows he's having a tough time right now and all he could do was laugh," Blue Jays hitting coach Mike Barnett said after the game.
Consider it a sign of the times. The taboo culture of the strikeout is officially dead. Long gone are the days when, as Mets bench coach Don Baylor once said, hitters were embarrassed to whiff 100 times in a season. Reds outfielder Adam Dunn might have that number licked by the All-Star break at the rate he's hacking. And the Blue Jays, who come away with nothing but air more than any team in the American League, are the leading example of why strikeouts are no longer considered verboten. Toronto is implementing an offensive philosophy similar to what Oakland and New York have used: see as many pitches as possible, try to get one you can jack out of the park, and don't worry about getting punched out.
"The Yankees showed that it's not such a bad thing to have a lot of strikeouts," Barnett said.
New York led the AL in strikeouts last year (1,171). In what may have seemed like a paradox a generation ago, the Yankees also led the league in runs (897). They were so productive even with all those seemingly wasteful outs because they led the league in walks and were second in home runs.
"Strikeouts by themselves aren't so bad," Barnett said. "It's how they come. If a guy goes up there and chases the first pitch out of the strike zone and grounds out weakly, is that better than a guy who works the count, sees five or six pitches and then strikes out? I don't think so. We're trying to do what the Yankees have done: make the [starting] pitcher work, get his pitch count up and get into the middle relief as soon as we can. Strikeouts are a part of that."
Actually, this season the Yankees, owners of the best record in the majors (16-3) through Monday, are striking out almost 20 percent less than they did last year. Manager Joe Torre has been effusive in his praise of Hideki Matsui for the influence the Japanese outfielder has had on New York's lineup. Matsui's ability to put the ball in play, Torre said, has contributed to the Yankees becoming a better rally team this season.
At the start of this week Toronto had three of the top 12 strikeout leaders in baseball: Eric Hinske, Josh Phelps and Carlos Delgado. The club was on pace for 1,389 Ks making it possible for the Jays to take a run at the single-season team record of 1,399 held by the 2001 Brewers
I'm loving that....
The individual season record for strikeouts -- 189 by Bobby Bonds -- has stood for 32 years, thanks in part to Jose Hernandez sitting out most of the last two weeks of last season and finishing with 188. This may be the year that the record finally goes down, seeing that strikeouts aren't considered so vile any more (at least for those who hit 25 homers or more.) Dunn, Hernandez and Pat Burrell could all make a run at the mark. Don't discount Rocco Baldelli (a rare low-homer, high-strikeout hitter) and Corey Patterson, young players with no plate discipline who rarely walk.
Bonds' record deserves to be eclipsed now that today's players have developed in a thin-handled, big-barreled hitting culture in which taking a huge hack with two strikes is encouraged over putting the ball in play. You whiffed? No problem, bro. You made the pitcher throw a few more pitches and you took a crack at hitting one out.
Think about this: until 1997, there were only 25 occurrences in baseball history in which a batter struck out more than 160 times in a season. In the six years since, it's happened 23 times. So go get 'em, sluggers. With your coaches' blessings, the race for 190 is on.
yeah guys, laugh it up when you strike out....:gf:
Toronto second baseman Orlando Hudson struck out four straight times against three Yankees pitchers on April 16. After the last whiff, television cameras caught him in the dugout reacting with an outburst of unbridled ... laughter. Hudson yucked it up despite the 4K performance. "He's just a young kid who knows he's having a tough time right now and all he could do was laugh," Blue Jays hitting coach Mike Barnett said after the game.
Consider it a sign of the times. The taboo culture of the strikeout is officially dead. Long gone are the days when, as Mets bench coach Don Baylor once said, hitters were embarrassed to whiff 100 times in a season. Reds outfielder Adam Dunn might have that number licked by the All-Star break at the rate he's hacking. And the Blue Jays, who come away with nothing but air more than any team in the American League, are the leading example of why strikeouts are no longer considered verboten. Toronto is implementing an offensive philosophy similar to what Oakland and New York have used: see as many pitches as possible, try to get one you can jack out of the park, and don't worry about getting punched out.
"The Yankees showed that it's not such a bad thing to have a lot of strikeouts," Barnett said.
New York led the AL in strikeouts last year (1,171). In what may have seemed like a paradox a generation ago, the Yankees also led the league in runs (897). They were so productive even with all those seemingly wasteful outs because they led the league in walks and were second in home runs.
"Strikeouts by themselves aren't so bad," Barnett said. "It's how they come. If a guy goes up there and chases the first pitch out of the strike zone and grounds out weakly, is that better than a guy who works the count, sees five or six pitches and then strikes out? I don't think so. We're trying to do what the Yankees have done: make the [starting] pitcher work, get his pitch count up and get into the middle relief as soon as we can. Strikeouts are a part of that."
Actually, this season the Yankees, owners of the best record in the majors (16-3) through Monday, are striking out almost 20 percent less than they did last year. Manager Joe Torre has been effusive in his praise of Hideki Matsui for the influence the Japanese outfielder has had on New York's lineup. Matsui's ability to put the ball in play, Torre said, has contributed to the Yankees becoming a better rally team this season.
At the start of this week Toronto had three of the top 12 strikeout leaders in baseball: Eric Hinske, Josh Phelps and Carlos Delgado. The club was on pace for 1,389 Ks making it possible for the Jays to take a run at the single-season team record of 1,399 held by the 2001 Brewers
I'm loving that....
The individual season record for strikeouts -- 189 by Bobby Bonds -- has stood for 32 years, thanks in part to Jose Hernandez sitting out most of the last two weeks of last season and finishing with 188. This may be the year that the record finally goes down, seeing that strikeouts aren't considered so vile any more (at least for those who hit 25 homers or more.) Dunn, Hernandez and Pat Burrell could all make a run at the mark. Don't discount Rocco Baldelli (a rare low-homer, high-strikeout hitter) and Corey Patterson, young players with no plate discipline who rarely walk.
Bonds' record deserves to be eclipsed now that today's players have developed in a thin-handled, big-barreled hitting culture in which taking a huge hack with two strikes is encouraged over putting the ball in play. You whiffed? No problem, bro. You made the pitcher throw a few more pitches and you took a crack at hitting one out.
Think about this: until 1997, there were only 25 occurrences in baseball history in which a batter struck out more than 160 times in a season. In the six years since, it's happened 23 times. So go get 'em, sluggers. With your coaches' blessings, the race for 190 is on.
