Chat Wrap With...

A fucking retard.

Ladies and gentleman: Jayson "Proper statistical analysis is for queers" Stark.

This weeks' question? WHICH MLB TEAM IS IN TROUBLE AFTER 6 GAMES? IS IT THE ROCKIES OR THE TIGERS. I MEAN, FUCK, THERE'S ONLY LIKE 156 GAMES LEFT.

THE CASE FOR THE ROCKIES

Let's be honest. This may have been a dominant team for 22 games last September and October but that's about it. Throw out that 21-1 streak, and the Rockies are 75-79 since Opening Day 2007.

Let's be honest. What the fuck is the point of using single season records if you are just gonna pick out large hunks of data and throw them out the fucking window? Take away a horrendous June 1-9 road trip, and the rockies suddenly win the NL west by 9 games! Wow, Look at that!

Dan (Chicago): When a team is sub .500 for 90% of the year and .950 for 10% of the year, I tend to believe in the larger sample size.

Jayson Stark: Well put. In their defense, and in the interest of presenting accurate facts, they were four games over .500 for 90 percent of the year (through Sept. 15) before that 21-1 magic kicked in.

Jayson and Dan from Chicago using big 9th grade statistics vocab here! "Percent" and "Sample Size?" I'm not sure how the average ESPN.com user will deal with these difficult words. Here's the thing though: when a hitter can't really hit for average and strikes out a lot, but hits for power (ie a shitload of home runs,) when he makes contact, we (as smart baseball fans) say he still has plenty of value. Why in the world would you throw out a streak like that when looking at the 2007 rockies? It makes no sense.

Plus that streak plays into the overall sample size for the 2007 season, which said that the Rockies were without a doubt one of the elite teams last year.

For reference, the rockies in 2007 had the best run differential of any team, the lowest second half ERA (and they play at Coors Field) and a pretty good lineup.

Nevertheless, the Rockies are in a very difficult division to dig their way out of.

Speaking of sample size: THE 2008 SEASON IS LIKE, A WEEK OLD!

Also, so this quick post isn't all Rockies-centric, here's this gem:

I refuse to believe, by the way, that Trevor Hoffman will have this many issues all year. People can't wait to write that guy off, for some reason. And he's one of the five greatest closers of all time.

Um, Jayson, maybe it's because:

1. he's getting up there in years
2. Has shown a steady decline over the past few season in all his peripherals (WHIP, k/9, k/bb etc), not to mention the easy to observe decrease in the velocity and movement of his pitches. Oh but i forgot, he's one of the greatest closers of all time. stupid me

I didn't realize until like half an hour ago how much I hate Jayson Stark. But man do I hate that guy