Hey, you're talking to a guy who firmly believes that a primary reason the Cardinals won the World Series last year is that Isringhausen was hurt.

Yeah, but Isringhausen was legitimately bad last year. Lidge wasn't.

But "Pujols ruined Brad Lidge for life" - MyTurn2Raise ca. 2 months ago.

That's why he kept his job, right? Because of his not-badness?

Huh? What does Houston being stupid have to do with anything?

Brad who?

i do think this forum overacts the other way though (too number/stat based)

I've done enough research in behaviorial psychology to know that those things do have significant effects in everything

You cannot show significance without statistical data. Without statisitical data, it's just faith.

hahaha, totally beat me to it

anyway, it would be really great if houston would trade "old and busted" brad lidge to cleveland for a sack of beans. seriously, i mean, joe borowski has so many more saves, he has to be better, right? let's just do it straight up with houston absorbing some of lidge's salary. yes?

How about the common sense of having played sports and knowing that it has SOME effect. People aren't robots. I don't see how people can completely discount the idea that a player (not just Lidge) might have their performance affected by their mental state-of-mind.

I do believe in stats for analysis, but this is something where I think you have to admit the mental side does play a part in performance, even if we can't track it.

Can't possibly be true, stats are the only true measure ^^.

I was listening on the radio a couple of days ago, they mentioned that Nolan Ryan had by far the most strike outs in history and how far Roger was behind. The two guys then argued a little, 1 decided because of this and the fact that Nolan was on significantly worse teams that Nolan was in fact a better pitcher then Roger. I was then floored by the idiots they put on the radio.

I know wins are overrated but Roger has a better era in comparison to league era, better ERA+, better whip but not by much. Yes his winning % is higher but he's better for other reasons. I'm not trying to discredit Nolan either, he was one of the best ever but to say the reason Nolan is still that much better than Roger just b/c of the strikeout differential is crazy.

Unless you are watching the games and seeing him pitch or act different, then wouldn't trying to make a judgment on how being a closer effects his mental state basically be attempting to draw a conclusion from one stat, his 0-3 on save opportunities?

There's a difference between saying "there is no statistical proof of an affect" and "there is no affect".

When the sample space is too small to back up claims, it doesn't validate the claim.

countless studies do show it

there are whole fields of research: behavioral finance, behavioral economics, etc

are you trying to bury your head in the sand, or do you not believe in the scientific method?

You're still not trying to understand this: there is a difference between saying "there is no affect of A on B" and "there is not sufficient evidence to indicate that A is having the proposed affect on B". And no, you can't say "well A had a statistically significant affect on C, D, E, and F, so it has an affect on A!".

EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT let me guess you wrote this whilst four-tabling/writing/watching tv/masturbating

Just to be sure, effect is the noun, and affect is the verb, right? lol. I thought his paragraph looked totally wrong.

Yes.

I couldn't care less about how many strikeouts he gets after blowing a save, I just know it warms my heart to be out at the bars and catch a Sportscenter highlight of Lidge on the mound, crestfallen once more.

Why do you hate Lidge? By all accounts, he's a real class guy.

Because watching Lidge blow saves is more entertaining than watching Kip Wells. Schadenfreude, baby.

nice work Sam, but I think you should find a picture of Rick Ankiel as well

1st save of the year, lock it up!

Lidge is back to his sick sick self. Even coming off an injury, he's 5-for-5 in saves.

May ERA: 1.10 16.1 IP
June ERA: 1.00 9 IP
July ERA: 0.00 7 IP

Overall season stats: 1.94ERA 41.2IP 31H, 19BB 57K's
That includes his DISGUSTING April with a 2.60 WHIP through 9 innings.