Snodgrass'Muff said:and probably didn't get quite enough love from the hometown fans
Flunky said:Another "but he's our asshole" retires. All of my MFY fans absolutely despised Youkilis. For that alone I will always love him.
And yet they loved Paul O'NeillFlunky said:Another "but he's our asshole" retires. All of my MFY fans absolutely despised Youkilis. For that alone I will always love him.
HriniakPosterChild said:And yet they loved Paul O'Neill
Jesus I'm old.Doc Zero said:Saw his first major league game, son of a bitch hit a home run.
TomBrunansky23 said:Toronto right? I was there too. Pedro v. Halladay. The entire bench ignored Youk when he got back to the dugout, then dogpiled on him.
pokey_reese said:Nice send-off from Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/saying-goodbye-to-the-greek-god-of-walks/
pokey_reese said:Nice send-off from Fangraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/saying-goodbye-to-the-greek-god-of-walks/
Thank you both for these great reads.Frisbetarian said:I was fortunate to talk to Kevin back in the spring of 2011, and made the argument he was possibly the best player in the AL over the 3 seasons 2008 - 2011 in a Maple Street Press annual. I thought he was a very perceptive young man, and was exceptionally down to earth and really nice to a nobody (me).
My article about him is still up on his agent's website if you're interested.
THT: What were you thinking when you hit your first home run and got back to the dugout and everybody pretended nothing happened?
Youkilis: Well, Pedro… You know, my first at-bat, I just missed a pitch from hitting a home run. I just got under a ball just enough, popped it up, just missed the pitch. Game of inches, you know? If I get on top of it just a little bit more, I might have had a chance to hit a home run in my first at-bat.
But Pedro watches the game pretty well. He saw that and told me, “When you hit a home run your next at-bat, we’re going to give you the silent treatment.” I was like, “yeah, right. I’m not going to hit a home run.”
What do you know, I hit the ball and I knew it was gone right when I hit it. Spring around the bases and Crespo, the guy on deck, gave me a hug and I go back to the dugout and everybody was sitting in their seats, and I knew right then.
It was funny, and everything was going so quick. Everything happens so quick when your adrenaline’s up that high. That’s what happened. I just went with it. That was kind of like my introduction to just being a part of the team.
How I reacted, everyone always says, like the guys, that was great. That made me feel welcome to the team.
Did he have a sweaty handshake?brs3 said:Youk is the only Red Sox player I've actually met, way back in 2005. He crashed my cousins wedding. When it came to meeting him, he reached his hand out and said, "hi, I'm Kevin.". I had had about 10 drinks by the time he arrived so my initial response was, "NO SHIT YOURE KEVIN!!". That became a bit of a mantra for me every time he had a big hit after then.
Papelbon's Poutine said:While appreciating what he contributed and how good a player he was, I never liked him. The histrionics in the batter's box wore thin quickly for me. Thanks for everything Youk, but I wish they had traded you before you broke down and we had Beltre and Gonzo at the corners for the last four years.
bigyazbread said:
Or...keeping the GG Youk at first, resign Adrian Beltre, and kept right on going...I'm in the camp that believes the move back to 3b led to his hastened exit from the game due to injury.
The myopic obsession the FO had for Gonzalez still confounds me (and don't get me started on Lugo!)
Kevin Youkilis: 108 career plate appearances with a 3-0 count. 0 at bats, 108 walks.Andrew said:According to that fangraphs artcile, Youkilis never swung at a 3-0 pitch. That's insane.
trim said:Kevin Youkilis: 108 career plate appearances with a 3-0 count. 0 at bats, 108 walks.
J.D. Drew: 213 career plate appearances with a 3-0 count, 0 at bats, 213 walks.
Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
It's not hard to figure at all.
127, 126, 140, 162, 152.
Those are the OPS figures Gonzalez had in the 5 years before the trade to Boston. And then in his first year in Boston he put up a 155.
Youkilis, despite his skills, was really never at that same high level (106, 117, 144, 146, 157, 123).
Andrew said:
This, if true, shows that they never made an out swinging at a 3-0 pitch, but it doesn't show what happened if the AB continued after swinging at (or taking) a 4th pitch strike and the AB continuing.
I don't know if there is a way to verify the "never swung 3-0" thing.