2013 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

And A-Rod, tonight, breaks Lou Gehrig's long-standing record for career grand slams!!!



It's really too bad. I didn't want that to happen. That's one of those great long-time records...and to have A-Rod break it...

 

[Mike Frezon]

Here's what I'd like to see the Sox do the rest of the regular season.

They've got ten series left (30 games--including the one they won tonight versus the O's). If they could win two games in each series...that would give them 97 wins on the year. That should win the division!

An update on the "Frezon Master Plan:"


Baltimore: Won 2 of 3
ChiSox: Won 3 of 3
Detroit: Won 2 of 3
New York: Won 3 of 4
Tampa Bay: Won 2 of 3
New York: Won 3 of 3

19 games down, 11 to go.

If they can keep up my "two wins per series" "master plan," they could now finish the season with 100 wins!

Baltimore: Won 1 of 3
Toronto: Won 2 of 3

25 games down. 5 to go. The Sox currently have 95 wins. They have already won the AL East. The other original premise of the "Frezon Master Plan" was to win 97 games on the season. They should accomplish that.

Running the table on the final five games? Not likely. But let's line up the rotation. On to the playoffs!

And...it looks like Jacoby Ellsbury might actually be back in the lineup for that last regular season series against the Orioles. I really didn't think he'd be back.

Oakland sure is finishing the season strong. They have won 8 of their last ten. And their season numbers (win/lose, home/away, etc.) are VERY close to the Sox.

 

[Patrick_S]

Congrats to the Oakland A's for winning the AL West again.

To think some ignorant baseball fans where talking just a few years ago that the MLB should drop a couple of teams and the A's should be one of the teams.

 

[Mike Frezon]

That wasn't me (not implying that you thought it was!).

But the Athletics have far too rich a history in baseball to consider then as part of any down-sizing.

It IS too frustrating to watch the attendance figures in Tampa Bay as that team continues to claw its way into the post-season. Whenever MLB TV does cut-ins to those exciting, meaningful games all you ever see are empty seats. It's sad.

But the Athletics? Never!

I was going to post a number of images of great Athletics from through the years. But this short clip says it all:



Connie Mack: Maybe one of the first instances of a smart catcher with limited abilities who becomes a manager. And he only managed the A's from 1900 to 1950!!! He holds nearly every managerial record in the book: career wins/losses/games managed.etc.

It was after Mack retired from managing that MLB passed the rule requiring managers in the dugout to wear players uniforms.

 

[Mike Frezon]

And the playoff lineup continues to come together:

NL: Atlanta, LA, St. Louis, Cincy & Pittsburgh

AL: Boston, Oakland. Probably Detroit.

The two AL Wild Card slots are still up for grabs. Tampa and Cleveland are in the lead tonight...but Texas is just one game back, and KC is 3.5 back. The Yanks are 4 games back and Orioles are 5 games back.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Not for the faint of heart.

Just an ugly play yesterday in which up-and-coming Baltimore superstar Manny Machado blows out his knee crossing first base.

Yuck. This could really set back the youngster who had such a terrific season this year. A real five-tool player.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oakland sure is finishing the season strong. They have won 8 of their last ten. And their season numbers (win/lose, home/away, etc.) are VERY close to the Sox.

The "best record" in the AL competition...heading into this week...is very close and very important.

Peter Abrahams of The Boston Globe breaks it down this way:

DENVER — Plenty of questions out there about the tiebreaker for best record in the American League. Here's where it stands and why it matters:

The Sox (95-62) lead the Athletics (94-63) by one game in the race for the best record in the American League. The winner gets to play the wild card team and then has home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

With Detroit looking like the No. 3 seed, that's who the No. 2 seed would play. So finishing with the best record means you can avoid Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Miguel Cabrera, etc. That's a lot of incentive.

The tiebreaker is head to head. The Sox were 3-3 against the A's. The second tiebreaker is intradivision record. The Sox are 43-30 and the A's 42-29.

Here's a list of the other tiebreakers.

So, if the Sox can stick to the "Frezon Master Plan" and take four of their next five games...they WILL end up with the best record in the AL.

 

[Walter C]

Intradivision record does not make much sense as a tiebreaker if it involves 2 teams from different divisions, as not all divisions are created equal. But with so many games in a season, I'm not sure what would be a better system of tiebreakers, unless they decide to adopt the NFL or NBA system.

The Pirates finally ended their playoff drought. Thank goodness for that 2nd Wild Card.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Not for the faint of heart.

Just an ugly play yesterday in which up-and-coming Baltimore superstar Manny Machado blows out his knee crossing first base.

Yuck. This could really set back the youngster who had such a terrific season this year. A real five-tool player.

Amazingly, it turns out that he wasn't hurt too badly.

 

[Ockeghem]

Mike,Some good news.

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/9719922/jacoby-ellsbury-boston-red-sox-cleared-return-wednesday

 

[Mike Frezon]

That IS good news.

I hope Ellsbury is able to maintain playing until the season ends. And, as I've said before...I hope he can be back in a Red Sox uniform next year (although most people are betting against it).

 

[Ockeghem]

Mike,At this point, I think I would have rested Ellsbury for at least the remainder of the regular season, just to give him more healing time. I too want him to be signed long-term, something similar to what occurred with Pedroia.

By the way, here is some more good news (at least for you and I). I didn't realize that the Angels and Athletics played a day game today:

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=330925103&teams=oakland-athletics-vs-los-angeles-angels

 

[Greg_S_H]

With Selig leaving at the star of 2015, does it mean the Frezon era is about to begin? /cringing

 

[Mike Frezon]

I herewith throw my hat into the ring.

I will be meeting with owners during my campaign. My main three planks in my platform:

No Replay.

No Interleague Play.

No Designated Hitter.

Now, what I need is a campaign manager:

 

[Mike Frezon]

An awesome Yankee Stadium farewell tonight to one of the best pitchers ever in baseball history...Mariano Rivera.

A great tribute as Joe Girardi sent Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter out to the mound with two outs in the 9th inning to pull Rivera from the game and allow the sell-out crowd to give a well-deserved ovation.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I cried like a baby!

 

[Mike Frezon]

The YES network was pushing Mo's ERA as best-ever..."based on everything post 1913...when the ERA was begun as an official statistic." They had him edging out Eddie Cicotte of the Black Sox as he lowered his career ERA (2.09) just a snudge under Cicotte's 2.10 before recording four outs in last night's game.

Baseball-Reference.com has the numbers a bit different. I'm not sure why. I figure their ERA stats must've been calculated to include the pre-1913 players...but I still don't know why they'd have Mo's & Cicotte's ERA different.

But here's the thing. Look at the company he's in. It doesn't get much better than this rundown:


Rank Player (yrs, age) Earned Run Average Throws
1 Ed Walsh+ (14) 1.816 R
2 Addie Joss+ (9) 1.887 R
3 Jim Devlin (5) 1.896 R
4 Jack Pfiester (8) 2.024 L
5 Smoky Joe Wood (14) 2.033 R
6 Mordecai Brown+ (14) 2.057 R
7Monte Ward+ (17) 2.099 R
8 Christy Mathewson+ (17) 2.133 R
8 Al Spalding+ (8) 2.133 R
10 Tommy Bond (10) 2.138 R
11 Rube Waddell+ (13) 2.161 L
12 Walter Johnson+ (21) 2.167 R
13 Mariano Rivera (19, 43) 2.209 R
14 Jake Weimer (7) 2.231 L
15 Orval Overall (7) 2.233 R
16 Will White (10) 2.276 R
17 Babe Ruth+ (22) 2.277 L
18 Ed Reulbach (13) 2.284 R
19 Jim Scott (9) 2.298 R
20 Reb Russell (9) 2.334 L
21. Andy Coakley (9) 2.350 R
21 Eddie Plank+ (17) 2.350 L
23. Larry Corcoran (8) 2.355 R
24. Eddie Cicotte (14) 2.380 R
25. George McQuillan (10) 2.381 R

Truly a remarkable career. Too bad he never won a Cy Young Award among his many accomplishments...but it doesn't really matter. His numbers speak volumes for what he got done.

 

[Ockeghem]

Not that it's necessarily going to happen, but just in case.

"AL wild-card tiebreaker: If the Rays, Indians and Rangers are tied after Sunday's games, the Indians would host the Rays on Monday. The winner would become the first AL wild card. Monday's loser would then travel to Texas to play the Rangers to determine the second wild card.

If there is a two-way tie for a wild-card berth, the tiebreaker game would be played on Monday and hosted by the team that won the season series."

Here is the 2013 MLB postseason schedule:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9631326/mlb-2013-major-league-baseball-postseason-schedule

 

[Mike Frezon]

This AL Wild Card race is pretty exciting.

But I'd still get rid of the extra wild card as your commissioner.

 

[Greg_S_H]

There's a good kid.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ny-kid-gives-grand-slam-173442568--mlb.html

''It's the player's accomplishment,'' the boy said. ''He deserves to get it back. He worked hard for it.''