2011 Baseball Season Discussion!

[Eel Snave]

Since I didn't see a thread about this, I figure I'll leap into the void. Brewers/Phils tonight, Marcum/Blanton (he of the 10+ ERA). Hope Marcum can keep up his momentum.

[PeteRock]

As has become our M.O., I am expecting to drop the first game in the series as we have in our last two, but then we've come back to win the next two games to take each of those series. 

Enjoy facing Sloppy Joe Blanton, because tomorrow we're pitching Roy Halladay.

[Scuzz]

How about those Dodgers huh? Why couldn't McCord have bought the Red Sox?

[godhugh]

11 straight non-quality starts for the Cubs pitching staff. Awesome. I'm honestly surprised we're 7-8. Thank the heavens for Starlin Castro.

[Devil]

Angels already way better than I thought. See how long it lasts!

[Isgrimnur]

2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton out 6-8 weeks with a broken arm after obeying an iffy instruction by his 3rd base coach to try for home on a short popup in the first inning.  Lose 2 of 3 to Detroit, lose 2 of 3 to the Yankees.   

[PeteRock]

Angels already way better than I thought. See how long it lasts!

 

I will never understand your sports allegiances.  Ever.

[McBa1n]

This about sums it up bein a Mutts fan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWfbD5Z5nZs

[leo8877]

Go Giants!  Went to a game last week against LA and we won.  It's looking like we're turning things around after a pretty ugly start.

[Devil]

It's very simple

Lived about 20 miles outside Boston all my life but...

1) Chico Resch gave the kid next to me a stick at my first pro hockey game in 1980: Rockies/Devils Fan

2) Tim Raines was my favorite player as a kid: Expos Fan
2a) Vlad went to the Angels as the doors were closing in Montreal: Angels Fan

3) Doug Moe + Alex English + Fat Lever + Michael Adams + 140 points a game: Nuggets Fan

4) Grandfather's friend played for Philly: Eagles Fan

See! All laid out for you!  

[Koz]

You aren't a Patriots fan? I thought you liked one Boston team.

[PeteRock]

If we're going to keep losing the first game in every series (all five of our losses so far), why take so fucking long to do so?   

[Eel Snave]

I'm just glad we beat the easy pitcher. It doesn't get any easier from here. Just like your mom told me last night, "That staff scares me."

[Devil]

You aren't a Patriots fan? I thought you liked one Boston team.

I am a Pats fan too (this puzzles Pete as well), but when I was a kid, the Pats where never on TV for home games so I split my allegiance with the Eagles. Still do. Not as interesting a story though.  

That's my only local team that I am a fan of. Don't care too much about the Sox and Celtics either way. HATE the Bruins and BC.

[PeteRock]

I'm just glad we beat the easy pitcher. It doesn't get any easier from here. Just like your mom told me last night, "That staff scares me."

That's alright.  She told me shortly after that despite your best efforts it was yet another no-hitter. 

[Eel Snave]

Two balls, no strikes?

[leo8877]

Back on topic, Timmy was awesome last night and the Giants took the first game from the Rockies.  Keep it up!!

[Asharak]

Two balls, no strikes?

Everyone knows good pitchers can't be afraid to come inside.

- Ash

[Eel Snave]

Thread over, Ash wins.

What do you guys make of Mauer's "weak legs?" There's an article on espn.com saying he shouldn't catch anymore, but he loves to catch and doesn't want to switch.

[Asharak]

Thread over, Ash wins.

Yes! Wait... what do I win? Given the nature of this contest, I'm really not sure I want the prize...

What do you guys make of Mauer's "weak legs?" There's an article on espn.com saying he shouldn't catch anymore, but he loves to catch and doesn't want to switch.

Last I heard it was being attributed to a viral illness. If true, then this really has nothing to do with his able or lack thereof to catch long-term -- you don't catch a virus from, er, catching and viral-induced fatigue will clear when the infection does. This isn't a result of wear and tear, in other words. A writer who is using this incident to dredge up the "should Mauer catch or not" debate is someone who couldn't find any real news to write about. We know nothing more or less now about Mauer's viability behind the plate than we did after the baseball community had this discussion the last time he was hurt.

That said, I'm sympathetic to the argument that catching long-term is hard on anybody's body. The problem for most catchers is that their bat isn't good enough to play anywhere else and so they have to keep catching or quit playing. Mauer, on the other hand, is a good enough hitter to play a corner, so I've never understood why this discussion is usually framed as a negative ("is Mauer too frail to catch?") instead of a positive ("when should the Twins take advantage of the luxury of being able to extend the career of one of their best hitters by moving him?").

Mauer should catch until he can't do it anymore, because that's where his bat provides the most value. After that, he should play a corner until he can't do that anymore. And then he should be a DH. Unless anyone has a good argument for why catching now will shorten the length of time Mauer is able to play as a 3B/1B/DH by so much that it more than offsets the extra value the Twins are getting from keeping him behind the plate now, he should keep catching until he proves he can't catch anymore.

- Ash

[CeeKay]

Thread over, Ash wins.

Yes! Wait... what do I win? Given the nature of this contest, I'm really not sure I want the prize...

you get to be the catcher at the next GT Gang 'Bang a Drum' Ballgame.

back on topic, I'm surprised at how well the Indians still seem to be doing.  I may have to break out my fair weather fan t-shirt this year.

[Eel Snave]

Mauer says he wants to catch for all 8 years of his contract too. I dunno. There's no safe place on the baseball diamond, after all. You could move him to third and he'd take a hard slide or dive for a ball or get hit by a line drive and then be back in the same position. "Should Mauer be playing third? Maybe they should move him to the outfield! Maybe they shouldn't let him out of the dugout! Maybe they should move him to a safe deposit box at M&I Bank!"

Although, it is worrying that he had leg problems last year too. We'll see.

[pr0ner]

As has become our M.O., I am expecting to drop the first game in the series as we have in our last two, but then we've come back to win the next two games to take each of those series. 

Enjoy facing Sloppy Joe Blanton, because tomorrow we're pitching Roy Halladay.

Blanton:  7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 98 pitches, 69 strikes

Halladay: 6.2 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 112 pitches, 73 strikes

 

[Eel Snave]

Shhhhh, don't tell him. He's about to commit hari-kari as it is.

[EddieA]

It looks like someone flipped the AL Central standings from last year.  It's so nice to be at the top rather than the bottom 

[Hiccup]

As a Twins fan, I'm cautiously optimistic.

On the plus side, it's been entertaining watching the games and asking the wife stupid questions when she's tired.

Wife: "Who are they playing?"
Me: "Baltimore.  Do you know which state that's in?"
W: "Chicago."
M: "...Chicago?"
W: "No wait! Illinois"

[Teggy]

The Mets suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck 

[CeeKay]

Any Dodgers fans?  I just heard that the MLB is taking over the Dodgers for now.

[Scuzz]

Any Dodgers fans?  I just heard that the MLB is taking over the Dodgers for now.

This was announced yesterday. The current owner of the Dodgers has run up $430 million in long term debt and is now borrowing to meet payroll. MLB will take over and then you will see the Dodgers put up for sale.

If your a Dodger fan this is a good thing.

[msteelers]

So I went to the Marlins and Pirates game last night. The last Pirates game I went to was back in 1997 when they had a combined no-hitter against the Astros. I don't remember many specifics from the game, other than being really disappointed when Cordova didn't come out in the 10th inning to finish his no-hitter. I do remember having an amazing time though.

Last night's game? Not so much. And it had very little to do with the game, because I barely got to see any of it. We live about 2 hours away from the stadium, and with it being a weeknight we knew we were going to miss the first couple of innings. By the time we got to the stadium it was the top of the third and the Marlins were already winning 5-1. Our first order of business was to get a couple of beers and hot dogs and then go find out seats. Easier said than done.

We walk around towards where our seats are, but notice that none of the food vendors that we have passed are even open. But there's a beer vendor, so we walk up and get our beers (total transaction time: 3 minutes) and have to walk back to where we came in to find an actual food vendor. They have one pizza vendor open, and one grill vendor. The line is long but none of us are in a real rush to get to our seats, so we wait. And wait.

And wait.

We're not moving. The workers are moving. Food is being cooked and brought up to the front, but nobody is leaving. Finally the workers make an announcement that the credit card machines are down and it's cash only. Luckily we had cash so no big deal, but for others at the front of the line who have been waiting forever and don't have cash they are understandably pissed off. Eventually though the lines start moving and we make it up to the front. Having stood in line for at least forty-five minutes at this point, we knew exactly what we wanted: 1 order of chicken tenders, 2 french fries, 5 hot dogs. The cashier's response was the last one I expected to hear at a baseball game.

"We only have three hot dogs."
"What?"
"We only have three hot dogs, we can't give you five. We ran out."
"You ran out of hot dogs at a baseball game? How do you run out of hot dogs at a baseball game!?"

Our beer was long gone by this point so we got our food, got more beer from the beer vendor (again, the only thing slowing the transaction down was the amount of time it took to pour the beers), and finally made our way towards our seats. It was the top of the 6th by the time we finally sat down.   

Then we started eating. Drumroll please...

Spoiler for Hiden:

The hot dogs tasted like shit.

Which if you think about it is the only logical conclusion to our quest for hot dogs.

The seats were fantastic though. Right off the third base line across from the big scoreboard. We sat down to the Pirates with loaded bases, and they drove in three runs and didn't give up anymore hits throughout the rest of the game. So in my mind it was a 3-0 no-hitter victory for the Pirates last night. We all had a great time hanging out at the game, but that's mostly because I got the tickets free through my work. If I would have had to pay for those tickets, I would have been apocalyptic.

[leo8877]

Man steelers that sucks.  I often see the games from other stadiums on TV and a lot of them are empty, but I would never have expected that the concessions were not even running.  I've been going to Giants games for a few years now thanks to free tickets through work and the place is always rocking, at or near sell outs.  It really makes for a fun experience when there's a full house of fans cheering with you.

[Eel Snave]

We were planning on going to the Brewers/Stros game tomorrow and then my wife got sick, so that ain't happening. Still, that story blows. At least they were free.

Also, Ryan Braun is playing for my team until I'm 39! That feels weird to say.

[PeteRock]

<<awfulness>>

 

That does not sound like fun.  And definitely unfortunate.

Next week the Phillies are coming to Arizona to play the D-bags and we have tickets to two out of the three games (Monday right behind the Phillies bullpen, then Tuesday 2 rows behind the Phillies dugout as our friend got tickets from her law office).  Due to exams and schoolwork we won't be able to attend all three games in the series like we did last year, but we'll at least get to see two of them.  Certainly a nice benefit when considering how far we live from Philadelphia, so it'll be nice to see the Phils play live during their visit to AZ.   

[PeteRock]

As has become our M.O., I am expecting to drop the first game in the series as we have in our last two, but then we've come back to win the next two games to take each of those series. 

Enjoy facing Sloppy Joe Blanton, because tomorrow we're pitching Roy Halladay.

Blanton:  7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 98 pitches, 69 strikes

Halladay: 6.2 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 112 pitches, 73 strikes

 

Given your enjoyment of being incendiary, you must have missed Halladay's more typical game yesterday:

8 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 14 K, 130 pitches, 94 strikes

All pitchers have the occasional "off" day.  But few have as many "on" days. 

[Teggy]

So they are talking about expanding the playoffs to 10 teams next year, with one additional Wild Card team playing the other Wild Card team in a short series (maybe best 2 of 3) before the playoffs proceed as they have in the past.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AtEoHhoFSTpSajRztS_B6KARvLYF?slug=ap-expandedplayoffs

I have to say I'm with the players on this and it sounds kind of dumb. I've always been against short series, especially early in the playoffs. Baseball teams play 162 games for a reason, and a team that has played consistently well over a long season shouldn't have to throw their whole season away because they wind up playing one bad game. I guess since it is only the wild card teams it minimizes the issue, but it doesn't seem necessary.

[PeteRock]

So they are talking about expanding the playoffs to 10 teams next year, with one additional Wild Card team playing the other Wild Card team in a short series (maybe best 2 of 3) before the playoffs proceed as they have in the past.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AtEoHhoFSTpSajRztS_B6KARvLYF?slug=ap-expandedplayoffs

I have to say I'm with the players on this and it sounds kind of dumb. I've always been against short series, especially early in the playoffs. Baseball teams play 162 games for a reason, and a team that has played consistently well over a long season shouldn't have to throw their whole season away because they wind up playing one bad game. I guess since it is only the wild card teams it minimizes the issue, but it doesn't seem necessary.

Technically, one of the two teams presumably "throwing their whole season away because of one bad game" wouldn't necessarily have been in that position to begin with.  I don't see this as such a bad premise, especially given how limited the MLB playoff system is.  Granted, short series aren't always representative of a matchup, but later playoff games are already played into cold weather.  Although that could have been alleviated by teams like Minnesota or Colorado building indoor stadiums.     I still don't understand why a team in Minnesota's climate wouldn't consider indoor facilities, especially since their football team does play indoors.   

Regardless, I think considering a complete wild card round is a good idea, but I'm with you on disliking short series. 

[leo8877]

I liked the idea of an expanded playoffs.  Whatever they do, add instant replay though....good grief MLB!

[Scuzz]

I liked the idea of an expanded playoffs.  Whatever they do, add instant replay though....good grief MLB!

As long as MLB doesn't become like the NHL or NBA with 75% of the teams making it.

[leo8877]

I liked the idea of an expanded playoffs.  Whatever they do, add instant replay though....good grief MLB!

As long as MLB doesn't become like the NHL or NBA with 75% of the teams making it.

I think the proposal was for 1 more team in each league to make it for a total of 10 teams instead of 8.

[Isgrimnur]

I say we introduce relegation. Send down the bottom teams and let the top two AAA teams take their place. It would serve as an economic catalyst for the teams to get a park expansion and increased revenues, while the Pirates, Orioles, and Royals would eventually be put out of their misery.

I imagine that the contract clauses for big-time players would have some interesting language.