MLB Thread - 2010

[Mr. TM]

The amount of times I cried after watching an Angles series, always a team that takes it to us. Cant wait to play the Twins, love the Twins (my second favourite team), but we always beat them.

Shifting to the other side of the city, former Dodger and Canadian great Eric Gagne retired today. Its pretty sad, I think he was named Canadian Athelete of the year in 2003 when he was dominant gonig 55 for 55 in saves and won the Cy Young that year. But injuries and lack of arm strength ended his career early.

 

[People's Champ]

Bad loss yesterday for my Giants. For the 3rd straight start Zito looked sharp. He has pitched well to start the season and that is a plus, considering the last few years he has looked rather bad. However Romo cannot give up that HR. You can't pitch to Manny in that situation. After the game he defended himself saying he is a strike guy and is not going to change his strength. Fine. I like a little attitude. However up 2-1 oon the guy, you gotta make him chase.

And the fact that it was against the hated Dodgers makes this loss suck hard. We won't see them again for another 70 games so we have a lot of time to mull over that loss.

 

[Mr. TM]

At least my day started earlier in a good way. Toronto, coming back from getting the sweep against by the Angels, went into Kansas City with Morrow starting. Yet again the Jays get close to a no-no as the Jays beat up on the Royals 8-1. Overbay, who is hitting a tad over .100, but he went 2-2, getting 2 runs and 2 walks. But the star hitter was Bautista who his a three and a two run homerun. Jays keep getting homeruns from their team, and with them, win games.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

The Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks today 4-2 bringing the Redbirds to 9-4, Brad Penny has been looking good this year and so far has been a great pick up by John Mozeliak so far. The cards have only seemed to lose in dramatic fashion this year losing in walkoffs and the 20 inning marathon game. Looks like another Central Division title this year, I just hope we stay healthy and have a better post season then last year.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

At least my day started earlier in a good way. Toronto, coming back from getting the sweep against by the Angels, went into Kansas City with Morrow starting. Yet again the Jays get close to a no-no as the Jays beat up on the Royals 8-1. Overbay, who is hitting a tad over .100, but he went 2-2, getting 2 runs and 2 walks. But the star hitter was Bautista who his a three and a two run homerun. Jays keep getting homeruns from their team, and with them, win games.

TM that game set a record for attendance, in the bad way. What's up with that, the Jays have a decent team this year even without Halladay. Why is it so dead there?

 

[People's Champ]

So now the Giants are on a 3 game losing streak and can't seem to find their offense. Sanchez pitches briliantly yet the Giants throw up the goose egg. Our rotation has to be the best in baseball right now. LTimmy, Cain, Zito, and Sanchez have all pitched fantastic here to start the season. Yet the offense now is struggling. If they continue this pattern, with the schedule we have this April, this could be a long month. But we are use to it by now- great pitching, poor offense.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

Cards won today in Arizona, Carpenter pitched a great game even though he almost had to kick some ass after getting beaned. St. Louis has won every series so far this season and is looking great, I can almost smell the pennant. My only concerns with the team are the closer and the excess of homeruns. Ryan Franklin has already allowed two walk-offs this year and I'm afraid more are to come. The Red Birds have also been relying on the long ball a little too much and not playing any small ball, homeruns are fine and dandy but you need to be able to manufacture runs when the bats get cold and the Cards haven't done much of that as of yet.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

I just saw that Carlos Zambrano is being moved to the bullpen when Ted Lilly gets activated. Big Z has a 7.something ERA so far this season so you can't blame the Cubbies for putting their huge money power pitcher in the bullpen. I for one am laughing my ass off at the Cubs because they never get any breaks. But as it pertains to the Cardinals I couldn't be happier because if Zambrano isn't Zambrano, the Cards biggest threat in the division is no more, because recent history has proven that the Cubs come and go with Zambrano. I guess Big Z could just beat one of his team mate's asses again to get him back in the groove. Have fun this season Cubbies

 

[Stormtrooper]

Last night was a very important night for the Yankee fans. One of the questions going into the season was who is going to be the 5th starter? It was essentially a 2 man race between Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, but it was widely expected that Hughes would win. Hughes did win the race, and everyone was left wondering if he would be successful. Well, Phil Hughes has been successful. His first start was solid, going 5 innings, 2 runs. However, last night, he was magnificent. Hughes carried a no hitter into the 8th inning, walking only 2 people. At one time, he had retired something like 17 in a row. Unfortunately, he was pulled with 2 runners on, and Joba came in and gave up a hit, which caused Hughes to give up a run. Either way, Phil Hughes has answered the call early in the season, and after a performance like that, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts to work his way up the rotation come October.

 

[The People's Peep]

Last night was a very important night for the Yankee fans. One of the questions going into the season was who is going to be the 5th starter? It was essentially a 2 man race between Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, but it was widely expected that Hughes would win. Hughes did win the race, and everyone was left wondering if he would be successful. Well, Phil Hughes has been successful. His first start was solid, going 5 innings, 2 runs. However, last night, he was magnificent. Hughes carried a no hitter into the 8th inning, walking only 2 people. At one time, he had retired something like 17 in a row. Unfortunately, he was pulled with 2 runners on, and Joba came in and gave up a hit, which caused Hughes to give up a run. Either way, Phil Hughes has answered the call early in the season, and after a performance like that, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts to work his way up the rotation come October.

living on the east coast, the game started at 10 and i was tired. i was watching the beginning of the game and saw that hughes was throwing some nasty stuff. he was putting his fastball almost wherever he wanted. he was awesome. in like the 4th or 5th inning i saw he had a no hitter. then i fell a sleep and woke up to find out he lost it in the 8th. i knew when i fell asleep he was gonna do something similar to when he had 6 1/3 no hit innings vs texas, but in texas he got hurt. i was just happy he didnt get hurt this time. now all we need is javy vasquez to pick it up.

 

[Stormtrooper]

living on the east coast, the game started at 10 and i was tired. i was watching the beginning of the game and saw that hughes was throwing some nasty stuff. he was putting his fastball almost wherever he wanted. he was awesome. in like the 4th or 5th inning i saw he had a no hitter. then i fell a sleep and woke up to find out he lost it in the 8th. i knew when i fell asleep he was gonna do something similar to when he had 6 1/3 no hit innings vs texas, but in texas he got hurt. i was just happy he didnt get hurt this time. now all we need is javy vasquez to pick it up.

Being in the East, I just didn't give a shit about sleep, and watched the whole thing. The 1 hit was a comebacker that went off the heel of Hughes' glove, and he was unable to locate it. The trainers came out, but he shooed them off pretty quick. It was scary for a second, because I remember when he got hurt. The kid definitely has no hit stuff, and if he can keep it up, there isn't any stopping the Yankees.

Vazquez does need to step it up, but his last start was an improvement over his previous 2. He is a good pitcher, and even if he doesn't have a great year, the one thing he will do regardless is give the Yankees 200 innings, which is important, especially for a 4th (soon to be 5th) starter.

EDIT 2: also, Peoples Peep, A good little cheating device I use when the Yanks are on the West Coast is to record the game, and watch what I miss in Fast Forward in the AM. Usually it takes about 30 minutes to an hour tops, and I don't even find out what happened beforehand.

 

[People's Champ]

Stormtrooper you meant "peep" not "champ". I can see our names are causing some issues here.

Well my Giants offically have come back to reality, which is scoring no runs, or I should say a poor porr offense. Tomorrow we start a series with the Cards and then the Phils. The Freak is on the mound tomorrow so hopefully we can find a way to score some runs for him as I'm sure he will be sshutting down that Cards offense. But as a Giants fan its frustrating seeing this pitching go to waste. Well good pitching except for Wellemyer. He ain't doing so good. If he can't correct his problems look for someone down below to take that 5 spot in the rotation. Hopefully Bumgardener came be what we all expected him to be.

 

[Stormtrooper]

Stormtrooper you meant "peep" not "champ". I can see our names are causing some issues here.

Yeah, I messed up, and fixed it via editing my post. My bad.

Well my Giants offically have come back to reality, which is scoring no runs, or I should say a poor porr offense. Tomorrow we start a series with the Cards and then the Phils. The Freak is on the mound tomorrow so hopefully we can find a way to score some runs for him as I'm sure he will be sshutting down that Cards offense. But as a Giants fan its frustrating seeing this pitching go to waste. Well good pitching except for Wellemyer. He ain't doing so good. If he can't correct his problems look for someone down below to take that 5 spot in the rotation. Hopefully Bumgardener came be what we all expected him to be.

That unfortunately shouldn't be surprising. The Giants had a piss-poor offense last year, and didn't really do anything in the off-season to fix that. I know they got guys like Mark Derosa and Aubrey Huff, but they aren't guys who can turn around an offense. Isn't Bengie Molina the cleanup hitter or something? I know he was last year at one point, and anytime you have one of the Super Molina Bros. batting cleanup, your offense is shit.

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

Pirates lost today......... 20-0. Looks like the Bucs are going to make it 18 in a row this season, I really don't see anybody on their current roster that they are even building their team around. I think that if you take all the players they have traded away in recent years you could make a playoff team. When will it ever turn around for the Pirates?

 

[A.J.]

Last night was terrible for my Angels. We were riding high after sweeping the Blue Jays and taking the first two from Detroit, but as luck would have it we lost...no not just lost but blew the game. Brian Fuentes finally off the DL comes in to close and blows it. I knows Brian is our closer as that is his role, but I thought with him just coming back off the DL the Angels would have givin him a few game in the minors before closing again. Rodney was doing well in place of the then injured Fuentes and I just feel when you are on a winning streak no need to mess with bullpen, when things were going so smoothly.

No wthat I have said that....I can look forward to the Yankees series next as we always play the Yankees well.

 

[lostsoulforever]

A-Rod in 'total d**chebag' shocker.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9503546&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The guy just can't help himself.

 

[Stormtrooper]

A-Rod in 'total d**chebag' shocker.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9503546&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The guy just can't help himself.

Really? REALLY? Sorry, I guess walking back to the base after a foul ball is such a bad thing to do. Dallas Braden needs to man up and ignore a baserunner walking back to the base.

Let me fix this here for you.

Dallas Braden in 'total d**chebag' shocker.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9503546&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The guy just can't help himself.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

Really? REALLY? Sorry, I guess walking back to the base after a foul ball is such a bad thing to do. Dallas Braden needs to man up and ignore a baserunner walking back to the base.

Let me fix this here for you.

That's the truth, just like most of their fans too, If your an A's fan, your Raider fan as well, I see too many of these douche bags walking around every day, scum of all fans. Dallas Braden must of used the wrong size tampon, what a pussy.

So on to my San Diego Padres, riding a six game win streak, after sweeping the D-Backs and the Giants, they now have sole possession of first place. This young Padres team played over 500. baseball after the Peavy trade (8 games over I do believe) last season, with many of the same young players starting now.

The starting pitching has been pretty solid, but the bullpen has been amazing, the offense has picked it up as well, Eckstein is a little bitch at the top of the order, but that's what makes him so good, he's been clutch late as well. Adrian and Headley have been holding it down in the middle of the order as well. I have a feeling these young guys will at the very least, contend for 1st in the NL West, and if we keep winning we can keep Boston away from Adrian, unless the offer up the farm system, the way Boston has started they just might.

 

[The People's Peep]

A-Rod in 'total d**chebag' shocker.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9503546&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

The guy just can't help himself.

is this a joke? are you being sarcastic? Braden was flipping out like he just gave up 5 runs and all that happened was A-Rod walking back to the base? ive been watching baseball my whole life and i know a boatload about the game, but i have never heard about any unwritten rule regarding walking on the mound. i do know about respect in the game though and A-Rod > Braden. he cant go threatening him like that.

 

[People's Champ]

For everyone who is all over this Braden/A-Rod thing as if this is some rediculous thing, hey I liked it. You can sit and say who is this guy, he's not on A-Rod's level and yada yada. But I liked it. The firre and balls to jaw at A-Rod was great. He didn't like the fact that he stepped on his mound. So what? If he didn't like it then that's his choice. I found it entertaining and liked someone stepped up and mouthed off to him, whether or not it was for something stupid.

 

[lostsoulforever]

Maybe A-Rod could have just, you know, risen above it?

Nah, he makes a reference to the number of games Braden has won in his career, like that makes a difference. A-Rod just has no class at all, great player, but a total ass.

 

[INDYjon22]

The Yankees and the Devil Rays have both looked phenomenal through the first couple weeks of the season. I think these two teams are in for a long, close season and it will be very hard to pick a winner for that division until the very end. Also, the Blue Jays look very good as well. If they can get some more consistent bats in the line up then I think they could potentially make a run at the wild card spot down the line.

The Red Sox and my Orioles are the bottom feeders right now. It is never easy being an O's fan in Indiana but even worse when they only have two wins. If they can steal 2 out of the next 3 games from the Red Sox then they may be able to turn their season around. Unfortunately the Red Sox are hot right now and look to run through the O's. Both teams need to make a lot of changes to their line ups. Both bullpens have shown to have major holes in them. I honestly believe that if the O's could get one ace in their line up that they could challenge for third in the division but that won't be happening anytime soon.

 

[lostsoulforever]

The Yankees and the Devil Rays have both looked phenomenal through the first couple weeks of the season. I think these two teams are in for a long, close season and it will be very hard to pick a winner for that division until the very end. Also, the Blue Jays look very good as well. If they can get some more consistent bats in the line up then I think they could potentially make a run at the wild card spot down the line.

The Red Sox and my Orioles are the bottom feeders right now. It is never easy being an O's fan in Indiana but even worse when they only have two wins. If they can steal 2 out of the next 3 games from the Red Sox then they may be able to turn their season around. Unfortunately the Red Sox are hot right now and look to run through the O's. Both teams need to make a lot of changes to their line ups. Both bullpens have shown to have major holes in them. I honestly believe that if the O's could get one ace in their line up that they could challenge for third in the division but that won't be happening anytime soon.

The big question for the Rays is to trade Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena or not. Both are free agents this winter. But the Rays might be good enough to win it all this season. It will be interesting to see where they are come the deadline. Big decision to make if they are in the race, and other teams are sniffing round Pena and Crawford.

 

[Mr. TM]

Sure was a nail biter yesterday for the Blue Jays. I came into the game up 5-0 against Tampa Bay, getting to see Cecil get his first Blue Jays start. Unfortunately, I did not see the stuff that led him into the 6th with only one hit allowed, as a few long balls (Jays had one as well) made it 6-4 causing him to sit down and watch nervously for the rest of the game. With another run to make it 6-5, I was hoping the Jays were able to take the win against a Rays team that could make the playoffs this year. But they were able to hold the lead in the 9th and get the win.

The Jays are only 2 games out of first, and by sweeping this series could go to the top of the division early. They have to keep beating Baltimore all season, while also taking the majority of the divisional games like they have, and they actually have a chance of finishing well, with their exception hitting, and their power and stealing ability.

 

[lostsoulforever]

The Mets seem to be turning things around, won three in a row, including both games of the series against the *spits* braves.

Hilarious error from them last night, infield fly rule in effect, Larry and their shortstop bump each other trying to catch the ball, it bounces away, and the runners on 1st and 2nd advance. McCann picks the ball up, throws it to first, where Eric Hinske tags Jose Reyes (already out on the infield fly rule), leaving homeplate free, so Angel Pagan runs in to score from third.

Then today, Larry strikes out twice before leaving injured, and we win 3-1, on his birthday.