2009 MLB Thread

i remember at the beginning of the season when the media kept chanting the fact that no world series team ever had a short stop that started the season at age 35 (or something like that).  talk about worthless statistics.  correlation vs. causation.  
anyways, with the score 12-1 in the 5th, it the doesn't look like a sweep is going to happen.  not for the Sox anyways :)  heh heh.

I'd still have faith in the Sox to be able to turn it around in this game...but I guess Francona has given up--putting in his entire bench and hanging Bowden out to dry. 

Well, when I wrote the above post,  I think the Yanks only had 12 runs.  I had told my Yankee-fan son "don't get too comfortable, the Sox'll be back."  And they ended up scoring 11 runs in the game.  And look at how many other scoring opportunities they had in this game.  I think they left the bases loaded twice.

I am really upset my the way Francona managed this game tonight.  It seems like he gave up on it very early on...letting Bowden go way too long, playing the infield back with a runner on third & one out...putting his entire bench (including Varitek) into the game very early. 

What would've happened if Varitek had gotten hurt?   This is your #1 catcher who has been benched the last few games with neck spasms...and suddenly he's okay to go into a game you have deemed a blow-out?

By keeping it closer, we might've forced the Yanks to go to more of their quality bullpen guys to help with the rest of the series.  And we might've forced things to break a little differently. 

Just awful.  Francona should know as well as the next guy that you don't give up on games at Fenway because of an early deficit...no matter how large. 

I cannot begin to imagine what's going to happen to the kid who's got to start tomorrow against Burnett (on national TV)...and what the Sox' game plan is if he doesn't go deep into the game. 

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Here's another Jayson Stark trivia question.  One of the answers to this question really blew my mind.

Name the three active major leaguers who have notched 1700 strikeouts since 2000. 


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

Mike,
Victor Martinez got hurt tonight fouling off a pitch on his big toe.

Oh.  Thanks, Robert.  I must have stepped out of the room when that happened. 

There's a lot of that going around this week.  Damon really got hurt doing that yesterday...and Ortiz this afternoon.  That was weird the way he crumbled his backswing and popped Posada on the top of the head.

Interestingly, though, Girardi emptied off his bench today...with a couple innings left to play.  Of course, he still had both catchers available if something happened to one of them...but he was out of position players completely if something had happened.  I cannot believe Molina didn't get a chnace to make a play at third this afternoon.  I thought the ball is always supposed to find you!    I bet he got an eyeful at a couple of those line drives that flew past him down the left field line though. 

Anyway, I'm surprised to see managers completely empty off their benches with innings-to-go. 

"I cannot begin to imagine what's going to happen to the kid who's got to start tomorrow against Burnett (on national TV)...and what the Sox' game plan is if he doesn't go deep into the game."

Mike,

I believe Tazawa will do just fine.  I predict the BoSox will score about fourteen runs, and that the kid will allow no more than one run to the Yankees.  In fact, I guarantee it. :)

I was pulling for the Rays (a rare thing for me to do) tonight.  And once the Rangers-Rays series is over, Texas travels to New York to play the Yankees.  Interesting who BoSox fans might find themselves pulling for in that series, depending on where teams stand in a few more days.

Actually, now that I think about it...I don't remember missing much of the game.  But, I did listen to the WCBS broadcast (No YES network for me any more).  Maybe Sterling and Waldman didn't mention it?  

Nah.  I was probably on a walkabout. 

Sterling was way off his game Friday night.  I never heard him screw up so many baserunners and scores before.  Granted, there was a lot going on...but I'm not about to start making excuses for him.

That's how Danny Tartabull ended his career 3 games into the season
after he signed with the Phils, I was at that game.

a while back i was complaining about Michael Kay as a commentator of the Yankees... tonight i watched the Rangers/Yanks game from the Texas booth, and they were freakin TERRIBLE... i mean, i've been critical of Kay's views, but i've always thought he was a good talker, in his rhythm and cadence.  these guys tonight were like what i would imagine minor league broadcasters to be.  the colour guy was passable but the play by play guy was quite annoying.  he was a homer for sure, but it was just too obvious. and worse, his voice was really whiny :)  i could not watch an entire season of that guy.  and they're not the only ones.  there are so many sub-par broadcasters.  or maybe the good ones are just harder to notice because they let you just watch the game.  Joe Buck and Joe Morgan may occasionally say stupid things (most broadcasters do), but at least they have good voices and are easy to listen to.
i remember years ago, before every major league game was avaibable to tv to anybody, i used to listen to alot of local Blue Jays games on radio and they had a GREAT duo of Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth.  i could listen to those guys every night (and often did). 

Why, Eric!  That's Baltimore Oriole great Ken Singleton who was doing play-by-play tonight...and the color guy was none other than Yankee great David Cone.  Singleton suffers from Rick Sutcliffe syndrome in that he affects a dramatic nuance which skews the actual import of events happening on the field.  Cone is just plain awful.  They should give him the heave-ho.  Nothing against him personally...but he shares no insights of value, has an awful voice/delivery for broadcast and adds nothing of value to the telecast--except for being (as you put it) a real "homer."

I could tell they were in trouble tonight when they started the broadcast and Singleton threw a softball question at Cone about the Yanks' performance on their recent road trip.  Cone instead panicked and offered up something about Derek Jeter.  Singleton then fed him the question about Jeter (now out-of-order from the production meeting!) and Cone stammered his way through an answer. 

As I said a while back, Kay is a real homer, too...but is able to couch it in a way that it usually isn't in-your-face.  As Robert pointed out during that past discussion, he holds it in enough so that some Yankee fans feel that he doesn't actually go far enough in support of the home team. 

Singleton is better as the color analyst when he's in the booth with Kay...but the Yankees should be doing so much better for broadcasters.  They really missed the boat by not bringing back Jim Kaat when he became available again.

no, no, no.... i meant i was watching the Texas broadcast.  :)  i don't know those guys' names, nor do i want to.

i actually don't have a problem with Singleton or Cone.  they're watchable.

i think i put more emphasis on the voice and speech patterns of a broadcaster as opposed to what they're saying.  if i disagree with their points, at least that i can tune out.  but the actual sound of their voice, much harder to tune out.

one broadcaster for Blue Jays games is Pat Tabler, an ex-Jay who's claim to fame is having the highest life-time batting average with the bases loaded (i think it's around .500).  anyways, his way of speaking is hilarious.  every time he makes a point, he speaks really slowly and over-enunciates like he's speaking to an idiot or a someone who doesn't really understand english.

like i said, i like the way Kay talks.  i was suprised to learn he was an ex-player, i though his roots were in broadcasting.

Edited by EricW - 8/25/09 at 8:52pm

And now you've misunderstood me if I gave you the impression Kay was ever a ballplayer.  Nope.  Broadcasting background only.  I was describing Singleton & Cone as ballplayers.

But don't misunderstand me that Cone is not very good at broadcasting baseball games.  He could pitch 'em from the mound...just not from the booth. 

I guess its just kind of funny that your description of the two Texas broadcasters fit my description of what I think of Singleton & Cone.    And that's where the original misunderstanding came in.

OUCH, i am an idiot.  you didn't give me the impression that Kay is an ex-player - Kay always talks about his playing days (especially with Paul O'Neill) but i guess it's just a running joke between them that i took literally and i never bothered to look it up. 

Yeah.  I really kind of like the silliness & general humor of Kay & O'Neill together in the booth--although sometimes they cross the line and get a little too goofy.

The thing I like about O'Neill is that he's honest in his remarks.  He doesn't try to affect anything or try to hard to over-analyze every single thing that appears on the screen (think: Joe Morgan).  O'Neill tells you how he (or other players he knew) approached the game, approached particular at-bats, etc.  Nothing more, nothing less.

Kay went to Fordham for broadcasting.  Lots of good sportscasters came out of Fordham...including Vin Scully.  Which is weird because I doubt Fordham had a broadcasting degree when Scully attended... 

May I ask a dumb question?  Does this mean he swung and hit the top of the pitched ball so that it went straight down and hit/broke his big toe? 

Grienke pitches a team best, 15 strike out game, dropping his ERA to 2.43, now a full run better then anyone else in the AL.. but only 12 wins to show for it (boggle)

But at least the Royals aren't the only emberrassing thing in the league lately.. this out of a recent Dodgers game makes it clear to me that the MLB needs a rule.  If you're going to sing the national anthem, you MUST know the damn words and not make up your own.

THAT is exactly what it means.  Hitters do it all the time.  You never know exactly where the ball is going to go.  Sometimes it goes straight down onto the plate (or foot).  Sometimes it goes straight back into the catcher or umpire off the bat.  I've even seen it goes straight down and then come back up and hit the batter on the leg or even the upper body.  It can go in either dugout, into the on-deck circle...just about anywhere.

But those direct hits into the batter's own foot must really smart. 

Couldn't find footage of a major leaguer doing it...but here's a kid in a batting cage hitting one right off his toe.

Because he hit the ball and the ball later contacted his body, does this mean he tagged himself out? 

The ball strikes the player while he is in the batter's box, that is a foul ball.  For the batter to be out by contacting the ball, the ball would have to be in fair territory (ground ball hitting a runner in the base path, for example).

Well, I'm pleased about this.  Penny had a few good outings, but I really never felt like he was good enough to be in the starting rotation.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4425741

It's also odd that not too long after I asked for Smoltz to be released, he was gone.  And then Smoltz has his best performance of the year!  I do wish him well, unless he plays in the World Series against Boston, of course.

I think I can live with these pitchers for the remaining thirty-six games (and hopefully, the post-season):

Beckett
Buchholz
Halladay (er, I mean Tazawa)
Lester
Wakefield (a wonderful outing for Tim last night -- too bad the score didn't remain 2-1 Boston while he was still in there)

and

Bard
Delcarmen
Okajima
Ramirez
Saito

and

Papelbon (R)
Wagner (L)

Edited by Ockeghem - 8/27/09 at 8:39am

Okay, here's something remarkable -- and depressing if you are a Cubs fan:

Since August 3, 26 days ago, the Cubs have not gained an inch of ground in the standings on any day.  They have either stayed the same or fallen further behind every single day since August 3.







Edited by Brian Perry - 9/1/09 at 8:10pm

That does sound depressing.  It reminds me in some ways of the Cavaliers - Celtics run at the best record before Christmas 2008.  The Celtics won nineteen straight, and gained one game on Cleveland at that time.

Grenke does it again today.  Complete game one hitter.  The hit came in the second inning and Grenke retires the last 22 he faces. 

Crazy. 

The Sox have been playing pretty well lately.  They had another version of Cy Young on the mound today in the person of Paul Byrd.  I doubt he'll be able to keep that kind of performance up. 

The Sox have won 14 of their last 20 games.  But they'll never make up any ground on the Yankees if they keep winning at this incredible pace.  The Yanks are currently 20 for their last 26. 

As the Cubs have been realistically eliminated from the division chase (10 behind the Cards), hope turns to the wild card.  However, it is difficult to assess their chances for that because while they are 5.5 games back (4 in the loss column), they are also behind four other teams.  I've seen people theorize that you need to add up the games you are behind all the other teams to give you an approximation of how that equates to being behind one team.  I can understand the reasoning behind it (because all the teams ahead of you will not usually lose on the same day, you can only gain ground gradually).  But that would mean we are the equivalent of 18 games back!

So that's the question -- would you rather be behind one team 10 games, or behind 4 other teams an average of 4 or 5 games each?  (I know, you'd rather be the Yankees. )

  ANYTHING but that! 

It's hard sometimes for people to really grasp how incredible Greinke has been this season.  He plays on one of the worst teams in the league.. he has a defense behind him that on a good day could be called porous.  They have the second most errors of any team (96) and one of the lowest fielding percentages.  Combined with the lowest rate of double plays.  

 

Greinke has by far the worst run support of any pitcher in the league, and yet he holds them in there.   Sports Illustrated nails it down:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/08/26/zack.greinke/

That was before his one-hitter Sunday.

It is kind of shameful his talent is being spent here.  But the season he's having is one of the most insane things I can remember.  A "good" pitcher can go to a great team and put up some great numbers.  They have the advantages of a good defense and run support.  Greinke has neither of those.

Kansas City fans need to take a moment and really appreciate what we have here.

After all the recent dangerous beanings, Rawlings it hauling out a more heavy-duty batting helmet.

That article says that the Cubs are pioneering the use of the improved batting helmet.

Do the Cubs think actively going after bean-balls will improve their chance at getting a runner on base? 

   Can't hurt.  Well...yes, I guess it can.