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Joey Mayo at NY Baseball Digest dispells the myths that Mike Francesa of WFAN has been perpetuating regarding David Wright not being a clutch player.
Myth #3 on his list is that Evan Longoria is better than David Wright:
“Could he be in the future? Sure. Is that guaranteed? Nope. So why would Mike call me ridiculous when I said I wouldn’t trade Wright for Longoria? Because Mike probably doesn’t know that when David Wright was 22 he was putting up a .911 OPS in the majors, compared with Longoria this year putting up an .875. Once again this might be lost on the math challenged Mike.”
“Than again Mike might just think Wright has been 25 since he broke into the major leagues. I also enjoy the notion that Mike Francesa is a connoisseur of young talent…yes the man who once asked “Who’s David Wright?” when he was the Mets top prospect, the man who laughed at Dustin Pedroia being anything more than average, the man who said the Rays would never win the division, would like you to take him seriously when he says he can see Longoria has the tools to be better than David Wright.”
…i pretty much stopped listening to francesca when it was him and the mad dog…they understand the medium of talk radio, which has become getting listeners riled up so they can debate their opinions…i just don’t feel like playing their game…
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I like him batting 5th for a few more years…he was good there and clutch…i do think he will be a great #3 hitter in a few years but i think if we get a big bat (#3) then we can do reyes, beltran, #3, delgado, Wright. and it takes a lot of pressure off of him
I wish I stopped too. For some reason I need my fix like a junkie — 10+ years of sports radio on 660 during drive time is a hard habit to shake.
I have to say tho, I used to love when Dog or Mike were alone, until that became the longterm reality recently. Now he is worse than ever and from what I hear, so is Dog.
As for this discussion, David Wright looks white and lost at times in the big spot, and even in long ABs where he works the count he seems to give in and pop up, and then again looks like he doesn’t know what happened on his walk back to the bench. But he can be clutch one day, because I believe his pressing is due to trying too hard and one day he will be confident in those situations, when he learns that’s how it gets done. A guy like A-Rod will have a harder time, because his pressing seems to be a more personal issue — trying hard to get people’s approval and to be liked. They both have it in their heads but Wright I believe is being unfairly judged on his youth.
I disagree, sort of. The problem is this conception of “clutch” can be deceiving. If Wright hits a 2 out, 2 run double in the 1st inning of a 0-0 game, that’s clutch right? Then the bullpen blows a 5 run lead. Now Wright is up again in a tie game. This time it’s the 8th inning. This time he strikes out or pops up. You cannot expect a guy to get a hit every time he comes up in a “clutch” situation. Heck a .300 hitter fails 7 out of 10 times. So, if those 3 hits come with nobody on base the guy stinks right?
To me, clutch is when there is more pressure on a player and they play without any effect. There is more pressure in the late innings without question. It is not an easy thing to be able to perform the same with additional pressure. It’s not always late innings. ARod performed poorly an entire season because the fans were booing him, adding more pressure to him. Setup men melt in the 9th because of the added pressure. Benitez was lights out until the game had more pressure.
To your example, Wright’s 1st inning hit was clutch because he had more pressure on him than if no one was on base with no out, however, in the 8th inning there was more pressure. This is not strat-o-matic baseball where you get a hit 3 out of 10 and hope there are players on base when you get one.
The one thing that CAN be deceiving is the fact that pitchers too feel pressure and can groove a pitch, allowing a hitter deemed “unclutch” to connect every so often. I am not going by stats, I am going by the look on Wright’s face when he is playing in a more pressurized game or situation, and at this point, I believe he has a different look in those spots.
I wish mike knew what he was talking about when he said that ” the mets cant win with wright or reyes and that we have to shake up the core”. I don’t think he realizes that the mets didn’t make the playoffs because Wagner got hurt. I don’t think that it was the hitters fault that they blew 20+ saves. Mike should just shut his mouth because it just makes him sound stupider every time he talks.
yeah, i remember both him and Dog ripping Pedroia prematurely, saying that he had no business getting mad at A-Rod’s bush league slide into second base…
A-Rod can do whatever he wants. He is a Yankee.
The nails-on-the-chalkboard like New Yawk accent and insane ego had me changing the station way before I could realize how ridiculously ill-informed his opinions were
I think he is jealous becuase the yankees dont have 2 of the best young players in the game in wright and reyes, the best CF and the best pitcher in the game.these players are not the problem, the problem is the supporting players around them.
Just wanted to let everyone know that D-Murph was hurt Friday night during a collision in a “Rising Stars” game in Peoria.
ladieslockerroom.blogspot.com/2008/10/afl-daniel-murphy-injured.html
He was injured trying to steal 2b in the very 1st inning. No breaks so it is nothing to worry about as he is still playing LF in upcoming winter ball.
wow. thanks for the info. were u there? how’d u find out?
to be fair..nobody predicted the rays to win the division
The difference was that Tampa was leading the wild card by 5 games or so over the Yanks in mid-July and MIke still dismissed them and said “talk to me in August”
ah ok….i dont listen to his show..
That’s very wise of you!
Except when he is wrong, you can’t “talk to him in August.”
See my post below on his Delgado rant from June also…the guy never admits when he is dead wrong, which is often.
no, but the “stat heads” said that they were going to improve significantly this year.
On a separate topic, has anyone noticed that the philthies have become the crankiest lot in the WS since Albert Pooholes? They won’t talk to the media when they are asking about their average with risp. They won’t talk with the media when asking about last nights game conditions.
Geez the Mets would never get away with such boorish behavior. I’m sure they are more than happy to talk about all the errors, misplays, bounces and bad calls that have gone their way.
Yes, I am still bitter.
lol or the worshiping on the top step of the duggout when blanton hit the hr….yea those damn mets..damn reyes……
Yup, and just the other night the picture of Werth rounding first with his hand in the air and his finger pointing to the sky. But, I thought only Reyes did that?
They are in the WS…The Mets have a celebration dance when someone farts in the dugout.
Again, who the F cares? Everyone does the same cr@p! But it’s only the Mets who people get their panties in a bunch over. That’s what annoys me.
In a demented sort of way I would love a guy like Jose Guillen or Milton Bradley to sic on some of the teams in the division.
When you win, you can do it
The Phillies are thin-skinned whiners. What do you expect?
Evan Longoria is better than David Wright because he plays in the mighty AL East…the Real Man’s Division. Just the fact that he can maintain his numbers while facing the mighty, storied Yankees 18 times…including 9 times in historic Yankees Stadium where he must face the ghosts of Yankee greats past and his own nerves at being on such an incredibly humbling stage make him far superior.
I mean David Wright only has to contend with The Shadow of Jeter 6 times per year, while Longoria and the other studs of the AL East must do it 3x as often. Let Wright cut his teeth in the Mighty AL East and then he can talk.
lol the real mans division….
whats the NL then…the real BASEBALL division?
I’m sick of SAWKS YANKS too, but you have to admit, being Tampa, Baltimore or Toronto is like playing on All-Madden. Wright’s a better third baseman, but all the Rays deserve bonus points for winning that cruel joke of a division.
Agreed. I listen to Michael Kay or Michael Basiden in the PM now. Tub of goo is dead to me. Now, if the rumors are true that his regular co-host might soon be Evan Roberts or Ed Coleman, then, maybe then, I might listen to the WFAN in the PM again.
where do i start…while wright at some points in his career can be seen as not being “clutch” i also think that some people underrate him…in the second half wright is a career .325 hitter with a .953 ops and .400 obp.
He has a higher batting avg. and more career hrs and rbis in aug and sept than any other months throughout the season.
To show how important he is to this team…in wins he hits .340 with a 1.033 ops.
For all of those idiots who say he can’t hit with the bases loaded bc of 1 ab this year…(albeit a huge at bat were trying to look at the big picture here) he’s a .393 hitter with a 1.212 ops
In “late and close” games he’s a .307 hitter…the only stat that write tends to struggle in is risp with 2 out where he is only a .259 avg. but he is a .300 career hitter with risp no matter how many outs.
And is a .386 career hitter in extra innings.
Maybe we should also remember Francesa’s rant following the Mets game 1 drubbing of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the day night doubleheader, including highlights such as
“anyone who thinks this is going to spark some sort of comeback for Delgado is nuts. He had a good day off some horrible Yankee pitching…that’s it!”
and “Pelfrey was no better today than Geise! He is afraid to pitch. This guy is not a good pitcher Met fans.”
To paraphrase Al Franken, Mike Francessa is a Big Fat Idiot !
Wright is a star and Mike is a moron, happy to not listen to him. The point is, though, that he’s the type of guy that tends to press in the really big spots, and gets out of his game. I know folks laughed as if it was some sort of “extreme” thing or black mark for him to see a sports psychologist, but either that, or someone who can get him to change some of his mental approach in “must hit” situation would turn him from a solid clutch hitter, which he is, into an insanely dangerous one, which he could become.
Frankly, I think he’s become too pull-happy and it hurts him in situations when teams simply won’t pitch him in. But he’s a star that still has work to do to perfect his game. The nice thing is that I think the main work he has to do is in his mental approach. I think time and the right coach/person can easily help him there.
The stats don’t really bear out that Wright presses in clutch spots.
I gave up on that station. Now I listen to NPR all day and get my sports insight from statistics-minded blogs.
Also, I don’t know if Francessa is still making that same point about Longoria but he hasn’t exactly been “clutch” during the Series.
Virtually NO ONE has been clutch in the WS. Even the annointed ones have been chokers.
smugcesa the bore
does anyone here listen to maddog on sirius…i’d love to know how he is on that
Francesa is like the Fox News of sports radio, all bluster and no substance.
More like the CNN of sports radio, totally biased and agenda driven, and no credibility. Take your head out of your diaper, Joey Baby……and stop eating its contents.
I havent heard much talk from mike now that longoria is 1 for the world series.
exactly… mike doesn’t understand that that is baseball… is dustin pedroia not clutch b/c he got one hit against the angels?
Before the season he said Lidge would be awful for the Phillies. We know how that turned out.
To be fair, a lot of us were saying that.
He’s still an idiot though…
Wright is a worthless scared b*tch
Longoria had more clutch hits this postseason than Wright will ever have. Hey, he stunk the joint up in the LCS don’t forget.
And there was nobody who couldn’t see how scared Wright was in the pivotal AB of the season. Pinella knew it.
Wright = stat padder.
Woopee. Rollins is going to get a ring and we’ve got Wright and Reyes. This blows
And that ring has more to do with the Phillies pitching, particularly their bullpen, than anything Rollins has done. In fact, Rollins has hit only .241 with 2 homers and 2 rbis in the postseason. In fact only 3 Phillie regulars, Werth, Howard and Victorino are having what you would deem a better than mediocre postseason. The strength of the Phillies all season and especially in the postseason has been their bullpen. Particularly, Madson and Lidge. Who have been phenomenal. Between them, they’ve pitched 20 1/3 innings in the postseason and giving up only 13 hits and 3 runs.
for god’s sake stop responding to this retard
I think its fair to say Wright wasn’t good in a lot of clutch situations this yr, but he’s been very good in those spots over the course of his career, so its not fair to label him “unclutch”. He did seem to press in a lot of RISP spots this season, for what reason- just not being able to get his struggles out of his head, or the team’s struggles, I don’t know.
But I think he will be fine, and I don’t see the ened to drop him out of the 3 spot. He’s one of the best hitters in the league.
I love David Wright but Longoria is better.
Really? Because Wright put up better stats as a 22 year-old. Look it up.
XM Satellite Radio folks. Dog’s show has actually been very good, it took him a few weeks to find his comfort zone, and if you don’t like him you have plenty of other sports talk options to get your fix. Francessa is a condescending piece of garbage who knows baseball history like an encyclopedia, but when it comes to today’s game is so lost. His relevant points mostly come from a caller who he says “Great Point there” to, and then hammers the point home all day like it was his.
Today a caller called in to say how unfair it was that the Cardinals had to play the Giants in Arizona on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, then fly cross-country to Philly to play the Eagles who have a game against the Ravens the previous week. The caller made a phenomenal point about this, Mike proceeded to bring this up no less than 10 times in the next 2 hours like it was something he had figured out on his own.
Before everyone goes crazy for Evan Longoria, can he do it for more than one season first. Have people forgotten such young one season wonders such as Joe Charboneau and Norm Cash already. Hell, just look at Jeff Francouer in Atlanta.