Psycho Pspeaks Pstupidly
Via Sons of Steve Garvey, here’s Eric Collins and Steve Lyons during last night’s Dodgers-White Sox game:
Lyons: Do you follow some of the other whacked-out statistical categories that are nouveau to the game of baseball?
Collins: I do. It’s —
Lyons: What are they?
Collins: Well, you got defensive — for the first time ever you have —
Lyons: The WHIP —
Collins: For the first time ever you have categories that measure defense. The UZR: Ultimate Zone Rating. It makes a difference. Everyone talked about it last year. Tampa Bay making it to the post-season because of pitching and defense. Defense matters nowadays.
Lyons: It’s fictional.
That’s just a taste, my friends. Read the whole transcript and ask yourself whether you would have any chance at keeping your job if you exhibited such hostility to the developments in your field. Not harmless ignorance, people, hostility.
(Thanks to Jon M. for the link)
And dammit, the world IS FLAT!
Lyons is just as bad an announcer as he was a player. Baseball’s better for these stats, as is front office decision-making, you hack.
I hope Stairs announces some day. God I love that man.
From that transcription:
“Collins: Batting Average on Balls in Play?
Lyons: Stupid. Doesn’t tell me if the guy is a player. Doesn’t tell me if the guy can play. Is he a gamer? Does he get dirty? Does he go out there and play hard? Is he a good teammate? None of that stuff tells me any of that.”
(Full disclosure: I’m so old that I remember how Lyons got his nickname. He ended an inning by getting caught trying to steal third in a close game. Wade Boggs was at the plate.)
Like it or not, Lyons is absolutely correct: BABIP cannot tell you anything about the ####-for-brains factor.
Lyons is also a big proponent of the “rally-killing HR” theory.
Ok, funny joke. That exchange cannot be for real. Ken Tremendous came out of retirement and wrote that whole spiel… right?
(How do the Lyons, and Morgans and McCarvers of the world have jobs?)
God, he’s like Joe Morgan without the HoF career to make it halfway credible.
There’s a reason he’s in the booth and not with one of the 30 MLB organizations.
I miss Fire Joe Morgan so much on days like this.
Considering WHIP has been around since what, the late 70s…
…when exactly do we expect that baseball commentators will understand steroids?
I laughed out loud after the first exchange. Lyons doesn’t understand OPS because it’s a number. Priceless.
My head nearly exploded on this one:
Collins: Runs batted in means nothing. You could be leading your team in runs batted in, but if you’re hitting, whatever, .195 when you’re doing it, you’re just getting more opportunities than other people.
Lyons: Yes, but that’s a different way of thinking about the game. You’re hopefully getting more opportunities because you’re put in the spot in the lineup where those opportunities will fall in your lap. And that’s why your manager is hitting you there.
The problem with computer rankings and all this stuff is they’re trying to put a logical spin on a game of baseball that just isn’t all that logical. You’re saying the guy’s getting more opportunities to drive in runs. Well, is that his fault? It’s just the way the game gets played.
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Remember when FOX fired Steve Lyons for making a racist crack about Lou Pinnella stealing his wallet?
That’s not really relevant, but if Lyons is going to be so tremendously stupid, well, he deserves it.
On the other hand, I saw an FSN broadcast of a Mariners’ game today where the announcers spoke approvingly of Seattle having two of the top five outfielders in RZR (Revised Zone Rating). Some stats are getting through to some mainstream broadcasters.
The real question, of course, is whether Lyons was wearing pants when he said this.
Regarding the comment by jlive…
Lyons has a fine point there, if he means basically that it’s a dimensionless number, just a number without a context for having a ‘feel’ of it. “I had six of ‘em but the wheels fell off.” Then Collins backtracks and starts giving context. It’s easy to be new to OPS, and it *is* kind of a weird hybrid number without a direct, straightforward meaning like rbi or oba has.