In the AP story on last night's Mets/Braves game, there is a really strange quote by Jeff Francoeur. It is even stranger than Dusty Baker's quote of a couple years ago when he said in all seriousness that he did not like walks (from an offensive perspective) because base runners "clog the bases".
As background, in the fourth inning last night, the Mets had like a mega-rally where they reeled off 10 hits erasing a 4-0 deficit.
Jeff Francoeur had this to say about the inning: "That was a lot of fun. You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don't want to do is hit a home run. That's a rally-killer."
I can't tell if Francoeur was speaking "tongue-in-cheek" or not here. I sure hope he was because if not, he needs to go back to "baseball school" where on the first day he will learn that a home run is the best result a batter can get in any situation; bar none.
If he was speaking "tongue-in-cheek", I give Francoeur credit as that is kind of a funny quip for that circumstance. If he was completely serious, it is also funny but in a different, less flattering, kind of way and again some remedial education would be probably be necessary here.
I can just see Jerry Manuel telling Francoeur just as he was leaving the dugout for the on-deck circle: "Whatever you do, do not, I repeat DO NOT hit a home run here. We're on a roll and I don't want to mess things up. Understand?"
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2 comments:
I kind of get what he was saying... It does plate runs, but kinda kills the spirit of the rally. With the bases full, more guys on the team are involved-the defense is different, the pitchers approach is completely different. Someone hits a home run, it takes away a little bit of the spirit of the rally. Takes pressure off the next batter and gives the chance to fail and have it still be okay because there is no one on base. Just 2 cents from a tattooed freak...
I gotcha. Assuming that he was serious, I think that is what he was getting at.
Even in an extended rally, I will take a home run and the sure plating of that run over a single, double or triple where that runner could get stranded. The rally has to end sometime.
I think I was also probably reacting in a knee-jerk manner to a player like Francoeur who has such a poor plate approach and pitch recognition offering his opinion on how to play the game. It seemed a little absurd; and more so coming from him.
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