GDT 5/19/19 Colorado Rockies (Freeland) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Eickhoff)

[LoneStarPhan]

Out walking the opposition 7 to 1 usually happens in a win.

A pair of two run home runs also help.

[donaldorc]

I think it tells us something about Neshek and why he is so “odd”.

Not only is his on-field behavior odd, he has the oddest delivery I have ever seen.

[Purduke]

From Wiki: Neshek has a very unorthodox style of delivery that transitions from starting at a submarine angle to finishing sidearm with an explosive thrusting motion. Near the release of the pitch, his torso and arm angle in a moderate "V" shape. He developed the delivery after being struck in the forearm with a ball in high school by C. J. Woodrow (a former Philadelphia Phillies farmhand). He then began to throw sidearm and play shortstop due to his injury. When it healed, he could not change back to over the shoulder and his unique delivery stayed the way it is. He still has a lump in his forearm where he was struck.

[donaldorc]

Thanks for that information. What an interesting course his path to the majors has taken.

[julio]

This guy might actually be more odd than Odubel, just in a different way.

Neshek is "odd." Herrera is "odd."

The world's population is made up of sheep and goats. Mostly sheep. The sheep see the goats as "odd," because the goats aren't sheep - they don't just go along and do everything the way all the other sheep do things.

If it were not for the goats, we all would be stone-age hunter-gatherers, because all progress, all innovation, all creativity, are provided by the goats.

[Austinfan]

The bad news is "good" Franco only lasted a month, now he's trying to pull everything again.
Hopefully Bohm can continue his rapid ascent.

[zambonir]

We've got two offensive (and defensive) question marks right now and Kingery will probably take time from both.

[phillychuck]

Continuing down the philosophical digression...

The world is actually made up of sheep, goats, cows, pigs, boars, lambs, llamas, Meer-cats, etc. All sorts of human animals. Divided based on all sorts of criteria (racial, ethnic, religious, intellectual, economic, geographic, language, etc.). Almost all of those in one category see the people in the other categories as "odd". This is OK if we're aware of our biases and we don't devalue people we see as "odd"; in fact, lots of research across cultures shows that the perception of "otherness" is pretty universal and almost unavoidable, so we need to learn to value "oddness".

In the baseball world, we have a lot of WAR piled up by pretty "odd" players. An object lesson on our method of perception. Love odd, gimme more...

So I disagree to an extent with julio, depending on who is looking, we're all goats. I personally know very few sheep, and once I get to know someone I think is a sheep I nearly always find a lot of "goatiness."

[phillychuck]

We've got two offensive (and defensive) question marks right now and Kingery will probably take time from both.

He's going to play 1B???

[julio]

So I disagree to an extent with julio, depending on who is looking, we're all goats. I personally know very few sheep, and once I get to know someone I think is a sheep I nearly always find a lot of "goatiness."

Fair enough, PC. I just react really badly when I see a ballplayer characterized as "odd," I guess - because it's such a hide-bound industry that it's not uncommon for "normal" players, managers, etc., to have trouble dealing with "odd" guys, often regardless of their real capabilities. "Flakiness" is too often seen as "bad." But you touched on that in your first paragraph - people see others who are different than they are as "odd" - and that often translates to "unwelcome," or "dangerous," etc. We seem to be hard-wired to categorize other humans as either "us" or "not us," and our instinct is to distrust/fear the "not us" humans; it's something that we have to control intellectually, because the instinct that likely made sense when we were learning to stand erect on the savannah doesn't necessarily serve us well in modern human society.

[bkox]

The world is actually made up of sheep, goats, cows, pigs, boars, lambs, llamas, Meer-cats, etc. All sorts of human animals

Can I be a platypus?

[julio]

Can I be a platypus?

Sure, if you really want to be. Platypuses certainly are unique.

[phillychuck]

Gonna be hard to find a mate...

[bkeich]

I see a ballplayer characterized as "odd," I guess - because it's such a hide-bound industry that it's not uncommon for "normal" players, managers, etc., to have trouble dealing with "odd" guys, often regardless of their real capabilities. "Flakiness" is too often seen as "bad."

I never said it was bad, I have been a huge fan of Neshek in his time here. Just commenting on his on field play, which I find to be interesting. He is a very, very high strung guy on the field, which I find "odd" because in interviews he does not present that way. It is almost another version of Dave Hollins "Mikey" personality.

There is no indication that anyone has any issues with Neshek on the team, athletes often have aggessive, alternate personalities on the field, it is not at all uncommon and most (all?) players are probably used to it and it does almost seem "normal".

Odubel is clearly an odd guy on and off the field, but I have heard very little (nothing?) from his teammates about his oddity. In fact there have been some good natured ribbing of him over the years. Andres Blanco, in particular, seem to have taken him under his wing when he was with the team.

I completely disagree on "oddity" being seen as bad. Some of the most famous (and most revered) players in baseball have been "odd" in the way they did things. In fact, I would say in baseball "odd" is "normal"

[zambonir]

Baseball does love its oddballs, but it's all relative. Fans and media perceptions of the quirks as postive or negative are always filtered through a lot of other things. As well as performance. I mean, surely Steve Carlton was the weirdest Phillies player of all time.