Capriciously yours

Doug:
Well, well, well... there's hope for your dentally-challenged people back in the old country after all – whiskey flavored toothpaste.

 

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Bill:
Heh. Speaking of doing the extra for good health, our favorite bariatric chambah sleepah gets some adoring pixels from Amelie B.

 

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Doug:
But is Drew's lack of popularity when compared to othah's really because he doesn't put up enough highlight reel homah's and RBI and that fans are too stupid to appreciate OBP?

 

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Doug:
I always thought the fan malaise towards Drew was due to his perrenial case of the ouchies and his looking like he's attending a wake rathah a ballgame?

 

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Bill:
Well, that does get addressed &nash; "There are some who don’t trust him. There are some who always will believe Drew is soft."

 

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Doug:
So what?

 

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Doug:
I mean if that stuff isn't important compared to the numbahs, than why even talk about it?

 

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Bill:
Seriously. You can apply science and stats to whole lot of facets of the game, and I'm so, so glad Theo and the Red Sox do just that, but there is nothing logical or predictable about why a fan likes one guy more anothah.

 

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Doug:
Tell me about it. You're looking at a guy who still misses Manny for reasons I don't fully undahstand.

 

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Doug:
Put that in a friggin spreadsheet and graph it.

 

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Comments

[Joe in Jersey]

You miss Manny for the same reason I don't; you knew he could rocket a line drive any time up regardless of who was pitching and how good they're stuff was, only player ever to make me worry when Mo was pitching. I'm glad he's in the NL.

[Yossarian]

I think Drew had his personality surgically removed many years ago.

[Bob]

Drew just reminds me of the food they served me while I was in Mass. General. Even though the nutritional stats say it's beef or chicken or pork, it looks and tastes like bland gruel.

[da kine]

Bob FTW.

Amelie B. would get touched like all the bases after a Manny homah.

[da kine]

(And by that, I don't mean lackadaisically and with a slight grin, I mean frequently and with gusto.)

[jfm]

Friend of a Friend Anecdote... but I know a guy who played ball with FSU palyers and Alumni in a beer league in tallahasee. Apparently the consensus is that JD is the way he is because hes so stupid hes borderline retarded. Hes can play ball though. His lack of emotion could be just that there isnt that much going on up there.

[Steve in MD]

Or just maybe health of his children is a little more important to him than what the fans think of his personality. Jeesh, give the the guy a break.

[TimW (No, not that one)]

I dunno, I've come around on the guy. Generally ouchie-free last season, killah post-season numbers, and some of the very best stats for his position. I won't go as far as AB did and say he's underpaid, but you can't argue that his market value isn't in keeping with players in that position, in this time.

I'm kind of thinking of him as the anti-Manny. No personality, but if he's on the field, he's actually playing, and even when he's off, it's because he's actually injured. (Even the people in the clubhouse who don't like him don't accuse him of dogging it.) I was second to nobody in my man-love for Manny, but he definitely and openly dogged it, and was often a disruptive bellyacher who bragged that he was out to sabotage his contract. So would I rather have a guy who's one of the all-time greats, whom I love, but am only sometimes able to count on...or a guy who's hard to engage with, but among the best at his position by any objective measure? Well, the part of me that's objective has to go THAT way...and maybe it's the role of Theo et al to be just that objective.

And speaking of which, not like Theo has personality to burn....

[TimW (No, not that one)]

Oops, sorry about that - no idea where my carriage returns went...

[h.b.]

"and maybe it's the role of Theo et al to be just that objective."

Wasn't that the point of the entire strip?

Also, I don't think anyone, and certainly not the characters, is saying they don't want Drew on the team.

It's just that you can't make fans like someone despite their numbers.

For instance, for me personally, even when Drew hit the grand slam in the 2007 playoffs, I absolutely adored him in that moment, but the next day it'd pretty much worn off.

Doesn't mean he's a bad guy. Doesn't mean I'm a bad guy. Just is.

I also don't like salmon.

[madraider]

I think HB is saying JD Drew isn't that 1 1/2" thick ribeye, he's your damned lima beans and he's good for you, dammit inspite of the craptastic taste and texture.

[jhammo]

I like the guy for the same reason many don't. He is inscrutable and unfazed by the circus around him, too even-keeled for the fanatical fanatics' taste. And AB writes a great point when listing the alternatives the Sox had when they signed JD--all of which we can all agree would be pretty sad to still see wearing a Sox uni.