At the risk of repeating myself, one of the most important things that fans and players alike can remember is this:I tend to agree with this assessment. Does this apply to fans in Philadelphia?
When fans boo players or curse them out, it is almost always an editorial comment on the decision by the front office or manager to put the player in the position he’s in.
There are exceptions, of course. Armando Benitez was just an unlikable tub of goo. There are players who don’t try their hardest, don’t run out groundballs, or who curse the fans out. Those players earn their boos. Most of the time, though, a player is getting razzed because he shouldn’t be out there. When Marvin Benard would break in, back, up, and then back again to run after a fly ball, the boos didn’t translate to "Marvin Benard is a bad human being, and I object to his presence on this planet", it translated to "Jeez, guys, can’t you scrounge up a better centerfielder?"
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
On Booing Your Own Player
In a commentary about the booing of Benjie Molina, Grant at McCovey Chronicles explains what it means for fans to boo their own players:
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what's with all the hating on Bengie? he's a solid option as a C and although i agree i mis-typed as a cleanup hitter, it's not like you had a shot at bringing Joe Mauer in or something is it?
ReplyDeletethe only real criticisms that i've found in that article are that he's not viable as a cleanup hitter and the organization doesn't recognize OBP as an important enough stat to an offense. all of baseball knew the Giants didn't have the sticks though right? i certainly knew and i'm half a continent away and not at all a Giants fan (Sandoval is the only stick worth rostering in terms of my fantasy baseball team actually). the fact that they've gone this far in the wild card hunt is testament to how phenomenal that pitching has been for them.
if the Giants were to replace Molina they wouldn't necessarily be in a better place. what they need is a better cleanup hitter, a better stick who can play a corner OF probably.
i can't think of options who may be FA's this winter but i do know that Adam Dunn was a FA last winter and the Giants certainly could've used someone like that, even though his avg over the years has perennially stunk it up.
sfw,
ReplyDeleteI must admit I didn't pay much attention to the post other than why fans boo their own players. I agree, the criticism shouldn't be toward Molina. He should be batting 7th, behind some real hitters, that unfortunately the Giants front office hasn't supplied.