I read a bit of the David Schoenfield baseball chat from a few days ago and found this quote from "Andrelton Simmons, Mechanicsville, GA." I thought it was worth sharing in its entirety.
Andrelton Simmons (Mechanicsville, GA)
Look, Johnny Gomes scares me. A.J. Pierzynski REALLY scares me. Bethy and Jace and me, we're hustling to first and trying to break up the double play at second because we don't wanna (tick) those dudes off. Heck, Callaspo came in to camp looking like Kung Fu Panda's less athletic brother, and now look at him - he's like freakin' Usain Bolt all of a sudden.The point is, you want to talk about how we're maybe the 29th worst team in baseball? Second only to the Phillies? You're not paying attention, or maybe you're just paying attention to the wrong stuff. Yeah, we lost three of our quote-unquote best hitters to trades, but you may have noticed it didn't take much to make that list on our team last year. You might also notice that some guys, like me and Angry Chris Johnson, had pretty down offensive years last year and are maybe due for some regression. You might further notice that our starting pitching and bullpen have thus far given every indication that they can equal the numbers put up by last year's good-but-not-great arms.Most of all, you might notice that we have the best record in the National League, and that the focus and intensity with which we're playing the game (so that Gomes and A.J. don't beat us up) is palpable on the field and seems, to this point, to be translating into Royals-esque success on the field in every aspect of the game. Wil we win the division, or even a wild card? Probably not. But if you think the fact that nine out of every ten sportswriters in the country projected us to be on par with the Phillies - THE PHILLIES! - doesn't grate on us like a rock in our sock, doesn't give us every possible reason to give that much more effort, to leg out every grounder, to take every extra base, then you're not paying attention.Our offense last year wasn't just crap, it was boring. Are you not entertained?We WILL play hard every day. We WILL put in the extra effort that other teams think they don't have to. We WILL stay loose, even as Bryce Harper alienates his entire team and Matt Williams' TMJ threatens to shatter his tense little skull and the Washington Nationals underachieve as they do almost every year, possibly because you guys keep calling them Sweet Baby Jesus and setting them up to fail.We will not be terrible. We will beat last year's Braves win total of 79. We might even break .500. And then, as those who laughed at us prepare to revise history, we will walk away with our headphones on and go get ready to come back and own this league again by 2017. If not earlier.I'm not kidding, man. Those dudes scare me.
Andrelton Simmons (Mechanicsville, GA)
Look, Johnny Gomes scares me. A.J. Pierzynski REALLY scares me. Bethy and Jace and me, we're hustling to first and trying to break up the double play at second because we don't wanna (tick) those dudes off. Heck, Callaspo came in to camp looking like Kung Fu Panda's less athletic brother, and now look at him - he's like freakin' Usain Bolt all of a sudden.The point is, you want to talk about how we're maybe the 29th worst team in baseball? Second only to the Phillies? You're not paying attention, or maybe you're just paying attention to the wrong stuff. Yeah, we lost three of our quote-unquote best hitters to trades, but you may have noticed it didn't take much to make that list on our team last year. You might also notice that some guys, like me and Angry Chris Johnson, had pretty down offensive years last year and are maybe due for some regression. You might further notice that our starting pitching and bullpen have thus far given every indication that they can equal the numbers put up by last year's good-but-not-great arms.Most of all, you might notice that we have the best record in the National League, and that the focus and intensity with which we're playing the game (so that Gomes and A.J. don't beat us up) is palpable on the field and seems, to this point, to be translating into Royals-esque success on the field in every aspect of the game. Wil we win the division, or even a wild card? Probably not. But if you think the fact that nine out of every ten sportswriters in the country projected us to be on par with the Phillies - THE PHILLIES! - doesn't grate on us like a rock in our sock, doesn't give us every possible reason to give that much more effort, to leg out every grounder, to take every extra base, then you're not paying attention.Our offense last year wasn't just crap, it was boring. Are you not entertained?We WILL play hard every day. We WILL put in the extra effort that other teams think they don't have to. We WILL stay loose, even as Bryce Harper alienates his entire team and Matt Williams' TMJ threatens to shatter his tense little skull and the Washington Nationals underachieve as they do almost every year, possibly because you guys keep calling them Sweet Baby Jesus and setting them up to fail.We will not be terrible. We will beat last year's Braves win total of 79. We might even break .500. And then, as those who laughed at us prepare to revise history, we will walk away with our headphones on and go get ready to come back and own this league again by 2017. If not earlier.I'm not kidding, man. Those dudes scare me.
