Quotes, Rants & Other Stuff

From the St. Petersburg Times:

"I think it takes being knocked down, and knocked down hard, and knowing what it takes to get back up again," said the 29-year-old Dohmann, who has allowed just one earned run in his past 15 appearances. "That's what this game is based on, failure. I think the experience factor is a big key, being comfortable in those situations when they arise."

I'm still amazed at the number of people on 'fan' forums for the Rays, who still don't give Scott respect. They are still waiting for him to fail.
As a reliever, the ability to keep your ERA down is important. It's also a tough role because you only pitch 1-3 innings. If you give up even one run, your ERA takes a blow. As a starter going at least 5 innings, you can afford to give up one earned run. So when a relief pitcher goes 15 innings without giving up an earned run, I don't think it's a fluke. Scott did it once before with the Colorado Rockies (not sure how many innings, but I think it was around 18?). Anyway.. it seems to be the same story every season.. Scott has a rough pre-season and then gets dumped in the minors. You would think that if the managers/coaches knew the players, they would also know their history. Ah well.
I support the Rays. I support the pitching staff. I don't complain about the other players because you never know when one of them will bail Scott out. It's happened quite a bit already (Aki, Upton, Young, Pena). They have all made spectacular plays in the field to back Scott.
Then, there are the other relievers... if they come in after Scott has left runners on base, I pull for them to keep those runners from scoring.
If all I did here was pull for Scott and pull against everyone else, how could I call myself a fan?
What good does it do to go on the forum and complain and belittle players? It only shows that you have a keyboard and internet connection and know how to hide behind them. Oh, and it probably does very little for the players who read the comments.

Ok. Enough.
I'm going drink a beer.