Confessions Of An Idiot
This is incredibly embarrassing to admit, but I apparently know nothing.
I attended the Advanced Class A Inland Empire 66ers' game in Adelanto last night, and saw Claudio Vargas make his first rehabilitation start since being placed on the 60-day DL on April 6. If you click on the headline above, you will see my game story.
What you will notice is that some things were changed about my report. In the interests of full disclosure, I have never seen Tim Sexton pitch before last night, so I was unfamiliar with him. I thought he came in to relieve Vargas in the fifth inning, when in fact Sexton entered the game to start the second inning.
That's right, I kept score and tracked pitches for three innings, too preoccupied to notice that Claudio Vargas was in fact not on the mound anymore. I did not realize my mistake until after I got home from the game, when I read three different reports noting Vargas only pitched a single inning. It was a stupid error, and I don't have an excuse for making it.
You readers of this site deserve better, and it is my pledge to deliver a better performance to you going forward.
almost 3 years ago
Eric Stephen
31 comments
0 recs |
Comments
I appreciate the thought.
Did they not announce the change in the press box? Don’t beat yourself up too much.
No change was announced…in fact I was sitting next to the official scorer who calls in the updates every half inning to MILB.com in NY. At some point (I think the 6th), the online box score showed Vargas still pitching, but they retroactively made th change.
I assumed they over-corrected, and I was still holding out hope that the other stories (Gurnick, et al) simply pulled information from the “erroneous” MILB.com box score. I waited until this morning when I got confirmation from one of the 66er announcers (who was actually there) before I corrected my story.
by Eric Stephen on Jun 3, 2009 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Don't worry about
Honest mistake and you are doing a great job following the Dodgers and their minor league teams.
vr, Xei
No problem
I trust you a hell of a lot more than Gurnick, which is why I bashed him for apparently reading a box score without any insight.
Mistakes happen. Thanks for the correction.
Appreciate the full disclosure
I appreciate that you didn’t simply bury a small retraction or leave it alone.
It happens
but cool of you to confess. Just do two Hail Tommys and a prayer with the Roseboro beads and you’re absolved.
(I could totally see doing this, too. Though I’d imagine Sexton looks a little different from Vargas, it’s harder when the PA announce isn’t clear about the change.)
don’t beat yourself up, it is amazing how the slow pace of baseball seems like it is on turbo mode while posting, commenting, thinking up recap angles, surfing Dodger scores, and trying to keep track of an A+ game of players you’ve never seen before.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Don't worry, Eric...
2009 LA Kings Hockey: thanks to Joe Sakic's snowblower, WE'RE BETTER THAN THE AV'S!!!!
I'm confident that his wasn't an underhanded attempt on your part to pad Claudio's stats.
Still, it speaks to your ethics that yo addressed the mistake promptly.
It’s funny, in the grand scheme of things.
Finished
That’s it, I’m never reading this site again.
by Reflections of Blue on Jun 3, 2009 2:10 PM PDT reply actions
Lineup: O-Dog gets day off #1
Pierre, LF
Furcal, SS
Loney, 1B
Blake, 3B
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Kemp, CF
Castro, 2B
Billingsley, P
With Randy Johnson going for #300 tonight
Here’s a timely piece by Tim Brown of Yahoo. It seems The Unit wasn’t well-liked by the current Diamondbacks:
Already viewed by some as a teammate in uniform only, whose on-field glares and body language became burdensome to tender psyches, Johnson secured his reputation among them in the season’s final week. Despite months of uneven play, the Diamondbacks had won three games in a row – two in Colorado and one in St. Louis – to draw within two games of the first-place Dodgers.
As the division race tightened and hope sprouted, Johnson chose not to attend the three-game series in Colorado or the first of four games in St. Louis. He did, however, rejoin the team for the second game in St. Louis, which was his day to pitch. He strode into the clubhouse that afternoon, clamped on his headphones, and a few hours later gave up four runs to the Cardinals in the first inning. The Diamondbacks lost that game and the next two and their season was done.
So then here's the question
Does that attitude matter? Many Dodger fans (myself included) lobbied for the Dodgers to offer Johnson a contract (assuming it was reasonable.) Brown appears to assigning blame to Johnson for the 3 game losing streak that doomed their season— and the reason for that was lack of clubhouse chemistry. From the outside, the Dodgers appear to have great chemistry. I thought Johnson would be better than Wolf this year, and assuming Johnson was better than Wolf, would hearing about stories like the one above make you hesitant to sign Johnson?
by Michael White on Jun 3, 2009 3:00 PM PDT up reply actions
I also lobbied for Johnson over Wolf.
I’m glad Ned ignored our advice. I was hard on Kent for his attitude so I should be consistent. Some teams it probably doesn’t matter but for young teams like the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, they might need more leadership from the HOF veterans instead of stern looks of disapproval.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Speaking of LHP 300-game winners
The Braves just released Tom Glavine (also reported on ESPN Radio).
It could happen to anyone
With your apology, you’re still qualified for the Hall of Fame in my book.
Eric, when you are the only one in the world going to cover 66ers for the Dodgers,
the bar is set pretty low anyways. Your already way ahead of the pack. When you make a mistake that no one else would even notice, don’t worry about it, you’re so far over everyone else you got a lot of wiggle room (kind of like the Lakers with a 4th quarter lead).
And us readers don’t deserve better, we don’t even deserve what we get. Thanks for the coverage.
Can’t speak for Eric, but I’d imagine he’s the type that isn’t satisified with substandard reporting, no matter how trivial the subject is. I am like that also — big on accruacy.
See, look
I spelled “accuracy” wrong. It happens. :)
by silverwidow on Jun 3, 2009 3:24 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs



















