sorry old habit.

is due to the ability of this team to win w/out the long ball. In the days of Sosa and Alou we relied on those guys to slug home runs so that we could score now we can win w/out homeruns because guys are getting on base more and moving with sacrifices and playing smarter small ball.

Earl Weaver called the 3-run homer the best play in baseball. Those 3-run homers are wonderful. However, you can’t always depend on the 3-run homer. I don’t know where the great bunters like Brett Butler went. I never could hit a ball more than 250 feet on the fly, but, at least, I could bunt the blame ball. I get frustrated watching major leaguers that can’t bunt. Small ball does matter in close games.

I don’t know if the pitching age has begun, but I don’t think we will have too many more 60-home run seasons in the future. Drawing walks is very important to a team scoring runs. I love seeing the Cubs getting those bases on balls. The homers are nice, but they don’t guarantee success. The Cubs led the NL in home runs in 1987. Dawson led the NL with 49 HR’s. The Cubs still finished last in the NL East that year.

just like the NBA should do.

if players “back in the day” were necessarily better at fundamentals and the like, but I do know this: I, personally, have been hoping for the last couple years that we’ll see a return to the pitching-dominant, defensive-minded game of the 60s. It just seems like it’s time to return to a more nuanced game, a game where 4-3 or 2-0 is a typical score, rather than 8-6, and where your best hitter may be hitting .330, but he’ll have 27 HRs at year’s end instead of 55.

The steriod era’s numbers have belittled or, at the very least, obscured the stats of the past in that it’s become more difficult, especially for the younger fans, to compare modern players with those in the past via their yearly and career numbers.

Except that the All Star game has always been dominated by pitching, even in the steroid age, because of the simple fact that good pitching always beats good hitting. This concept is nothing new.

I’m happy. I don’t want any little kid looking up to a drug-taking role model. And you can’t have a great hitter that isn’t suspected of taking them.

There are so many trends that it is ridiculous to paint with such a broad stroke.

A) International talent pool. We have seen the Latin, then Caribbean influx and now South America is in full measure. Recently the Far East, namely Japan and Korea are adding their talent pool to MLB. In another generation I can see China, India and even some parts of Africa adding to the talent pool. Some are pitchers and some are position players.

B) Ball Parks and stadiums are smaller outside of Petco….which I suspect they will move in the fences.

C) Power hitters in defensive positions, 2B and SS are now power positions. CF and catcher are not that far behind.

D) DH it sucks but I think that is the difference to the AL and NL dominance. But it could change with more balance in the game where pitching is on an even keel.

E) Approach….swinging for the fences

F) Better scouting, better biometrics, better training

Without getting into anything controversial, I don’t see anything major changing.
Using the first three full months of the season as an example, the NL has hit 1325Hrs- last year 1239, 2003- 1368, 2002 1245, 1999- 1362. There were a couple of years in the last ten were the number was over 1500, but generally things are about the same. There has been a lot of well done analysis of this topic- if the thread is still going later, I’ll throw up some links.