Riding The Hot Hand

Just curious, but for all the fans out there who want to "ride the hot hand", would you be in favor of yanking Kershaw from the postseason rotation if he gets shelled today? After all, if he gets hit hard, he might be rusty due to the time he missed. Can't have that in the playoffs, right? As for me, I think you all know how I feel about that idea, so i'll just leave it be.

I do have another question though, and it's for what I believe to be a similar group of individuals. May I ask how you feel about these performances?

STL, @STL, PHI, @PHI

Two absolutely horrid starts, one solid start, and one mediocre start. I don't know about you, but I don't come away impressed. If you think you can't wait for Garland to start in the playoffs, well neither can Albert Pujols.

The only thing I find interesting about those four games is how good an average pitcher can look when he starts twice against Arizona, twice against Pittsburgh, and once against the Giants.

I know the next question asks how Billingsley fared, but everybody knows he has had a poor second half, so I doubt the answer will change anybody's mind.

@PHI, @STL, STL

One horrid start, one great start, and one solid start. Not elite by any stretch, but he fared better than Garland did. And for all you win maniacs out there, can you guess which team Billingsley's last win was against? Yup, St. Louis.

Regardless, this post isn't so much about proving that Billingsley is better than Garland in a broad context, as anybody with a brain should be able to see that. Rather, this post is just me, once again, pleading with people to remember that just because things are possible doesn't mean they're probable.

Look, i'm fully capable of recognizing that mediocre players like Marlon Anderson, Ronnie Belliard, and Juan Uribe have the ability to go nuts from time to time. My problem with those players, as always, is that doing so is simply improbable, and from my experience, you never want to bet against stacked odds.

Is it possible that Garland and Padilla win six postseason games for this team? Sure. And if they start in the playoffs, I hope they do. However, I just don't think it's a probable occurrence. To me, it seems like many fans are in a war against logic, and like betting against stacked odds, that's not a side I want to be on.

GT