Please, Talk Amongst Yourselves
Sunday, August 19, 2007
(posted by OMDQ)
Today is going to be an extremely light posting day. My son is being baptized, which is pretty much the biggest event thus far in his life (aside from actually being born, of course) and one that my wife sort of expects me to attend. Between the actual ceremony and the "after-party" at my in-laws house, there won't be many any opportunities for computer time until at least the evening (if then).
Being the thoughtful weekend presence that I am, however, I wanted to leave you with some stuff to talk about in my absence (assuming AA doesn't pop in and fill the void). The football fans among you can busy yourselves commenting on the previous post - do you feel the oddsmakers are disrespecting your team, or are things just about right?
For the baseball fans, I have a question: which streak is more impressive, Brandon Webb's 42 consecutive scoreless innings or Bobby Jenks' 41 consecutive batters retired? I tend to side with Jenks because his margin for error is zero, but Webb's is impressive in its own right.
So, talk amongst yourselves...which is better?
4 Comments:
I have to disagree with you guys (sorry to do so on this special day for you, OMDQ.)
While both streaks are impressive, what Webb has done is more so because he has to face the heart of the lineup 3-4 times a game in all those games, while I'm sure Jenks has had a few appearances where he has faced the 7-8-9 guys.
Plus any time you shut down entire major league teams in consecutive games in this day and age, well that's some kind of accomplishment.
Stringing together a bunch of 1-2-3 innings over a couple weeks time is sweet, but blanking five major league teams in succession is almost unbelieveable.
Plus, the guy has as many shutouts as the Stankees, and two more than Tampa Bay.
In this day of PED's, pitch counts, lackadaisical defense, and the like, the fact that Webb has gone 42 innings w/o giving up a run is truly amazing. I was a teenager when Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson were going 50+ scoreless innings, before the pitching mounds were lowered, and this is just as impressive. Not that Jenks' streak isn't, but Webb is doing it over entire games, instead of an inning at a time every other day or so. Just sayin...
"You're not going to be around today? Thank God. Time for me to get out of the whirlpool and shine."
- Joe Morgan
I think you summarized it best and answered the question - 41 straight outs is a hell of a lot more impressive than 42 scoreless innings. Just like a perfect game is more impressive than a complete game shutout (or in this case, 1 1/2 perfect games is more impressive than 4 1/2 shutouts).
Not that I'm disparaging Webb or anything.