[ls7plus]

Let's see, now, 18 homeruns in 136 at bats--approximately one every 7.5 trips to the plate; .353 batting average. Should he maintain the homerun pace, as a follow-up to the 54 homer year literally out of nowhere, he would hit around 72 in a full season's worth of AB's. Conclustion: Bautista's homers are clearly every bit as legitimate as those of Bonds, Sosa and McGwire! There's a part of me that still likes McGwire, although I remain conflicted. But frankly, the way I look at it, if you guys think Bautista is OK, then there's nothing, literally nothing at all, I should hold against Big Mac. Thanks for the help in the conflict resolution!


Sure he's a late bloomer--he went from being Ron Swoboda, career-wise, to being every bit as good as the three gentlemen mentioned in the first paragraph. It doesn't matter how many supposed similar cases you guys try to come up with. IT IS, BEYOND THE REALM OF ANY REASONABLE DISPUTE, ASSUMING HE CONTINUES AT ANYTHING RESEMBLING THIS PACE, AN UNASSAILABLE FACT THAT THERE ARE EXACTLY ZERO OTHER SIMILAR EXAMPLES.

But I tire of the discussion, as there really seems to be virtually nothing to discuss. I just think we all went down the very same path in 1998-2001 or so, and we can all take off our blinders now. With the way pitching has evolved today, with so many pitchers having a repetoire that includes a four-seam fastball with peak velocity, that comes in straight, or even with a hop; two-seam fastball that sinks; change-up which moves the opposite way as a curve;
slider and/or curve, hitting has become significantly more difficult, rendering it even less likely such a phenomenon could even conceivably occur naturally.

Thanks for all of your inputs,

Larry