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Punching (and Padding) Doors
Ryan Sweeney broke his pinky finger
Update: Here’s Sweeney talking about the injury before today’s Sox game: “I’ve talked to a lot of guys. Everybody’s thrown their helmet or thrown their bat or hit something.” As I said, players hit things out of frustration. It’s a human reaction. Let’s protect them.
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As Sox fans now by now, Red Sox backup outfielder Ryan Sweeney is likely out for the year after fracturing a knuckle in his pinky finger. Sweeney was frustrated after going 0 for four Monday night and took out his rage against a door. The door won.
Now without a doubt, it was a dumb move by Sweeney. But it was also unlucky. Players punch things all the time. That door has punched many times this year. Just look at what Valentine said after the game:
“The door he had actually hit was dented, so it wasn’t the first time. He must have went at it in the wrong direction, because there’s been multiple whacks at it.”
First off, if players are punching the door enough to dent it, it’s time to pad the thing already. Baseball can be extremely frustrating and players need a place to take their frustration out. Anybody who has played the sport can attest to that. There are plenty of times when you come back to the dugout and just want to punch something. In a little league season with a game every few days, that frustration dissipates in between games. In a 162 game season where that frustration has the chance to build game after game, often it can explode.
So here’s an idea: knowing this, why not protect players? We can call them dumb all we want, but frustration boiling over is a human trait and we see it happen all the time. Think how many times you see SportsCenter show players throwing a water cooler or smashing a bat or something like that. I’m sure it happens frequently down the tunnel and in the locker room too, as Valentine indicated by saying the door has been punched before. How about we pad these things then? Or even better, put a punching bag there, put a punching bag in the dugout. Give the players something to take their frustration out, not something int he weight room, but something immediately as they come off the field. It’s not going to stop all the dumb injuries, but it can certainly help. (Image Via)
Why Are The Yankees So Much Better in Day Games
Sorry for the lack of posts. I have a bunch of stuff up on the Washington Monthly‘s site and if you click the page to the right, all the links to my articles are there. I’ll also be guest blogging a bit this week at Ryan Cooper’s site (ryanlouiscooper.com) so check that out as well.
But this is just a quick one on a theme I’ve begun to notice more and more: the Yankees win an unusually high percentage of their day games. It’s not just that they win say 60 percent of them, which wouldn’t be that abnormal given how many games they win in a season. But they win a huge percentage every year. Check it out:
If you continue back a few years, the trend generally continues though it is not quite as clear cut. Except for in 2009, the Yankees have won a much higher percent of their day games each year than their overall record (which is skewed upwards by those day games as well). In fact, the Yankees have won 65.5% of their day games since 2008. That’s a huge percent.
My question is, why? I don’t understand why the Yankees play so much better in day games. Anyone have an explanation? Have their pitchers just happened to line up well for the past half-decade? Do they play more home day games each year? It’s a large enough sample that I doubt that’s the case, but it’s worth checking in to. Either that, or the Yankees have figured out something about day games that other teams haven’t
Avs Get Great Deal with Matt Duchene
The Colorado Avalanche have just resigned center Matt Duchene to a two-year, $7 million deal, a great deal for the team. The Avs have done a good job locking up their players this offseason, having already agreed to deals with forward David Jones, defenseman Matt Hunwick and captain Milan Hejduk. But this deal is the best they’ve made so far. Just look at Duchene’s stats so far in his career:
Due to knee and ankle injuries, Duchene played in just 58 games while tallying 14 goals and 14 assists. While those stats make the deal seem like fair value, Duchene’s first two years in the league demonstrate his true worth. The third-overall pick in the 2009 draft tallied 51 goals and 122 points in the two years while missing just three games.
The best part for Colorado: Duchene is just 21 years old. That means he still is going to improve quite a bit. There’s no reason that he cannot score 35 goals and dish out 50 assists each season for the next few years. If Duchene had had those stats this year, he would have been fourth in the league in points and tied for 11th in goals. That’s an entirely realistic target for such a young player and yet Colorado is paying just $3.5 million per season for him. The injuries are certainly worrisome, but if Duchene stays on the ice, this will be a great deal for the Avs.
