MLB - Discuss Yesterday's action or anything you want

[GeorgeSteele]

According to today's NY Daily News, Torre is considering playing Sheffield at 1st when he comes back.  Sheffield said he'd have no problem with that, adding that if Giambi can play 1st, so can he.

[Mal Brossard]

Isn't Sheffield something like 5'10" or 5'11" or so?  Usually you want someone fairly tall at first to field high throws (especially with tall guys like Jeter and A-Rod across the diamond).  The only sub-6-foot first basemen i can remember are Carlos Baerga, Matt Stairs, and Steve Garvey.

Sheff used to play third and short early in his career, so he can play the infield (although in the last game he played at third, he did make a throw that went about 5 feet over the first baseman's head in his only fielding chance).

[GeorgeSteele]

Isn't Sheffield something like 5'10" or 5'11" or so?? Usually you want someone fairly tall at first to field high throws (especially with tall guys like Jeter and A-Rod across the diamond).? The only sub-6-foot first basemen i can remember are Carlos Baerga, Matt Stairs, and Steve Garvey.

Sheff used to play third and short early in his career, so he can play the infield (although in the last game he played at third, he did make a throw that went about 5 feet over the first baseman's head in his only fielding chance).

Well, the pre-steroids Mark McGwire was only 5'2".  Seriously, Sheff is 6' even, the same height as Keith Hernandez, who was one of the best ever at 1st.  Plus, he's a good athlete, so I think he'll get by and have little doubt that he'd be better than Giambi.

[Mal Brossard]

Well, the pre-steroids Mark McGwire was only 5'2". 

That one had me rolling.  Rimshot please!

We'll see what he can do.  I doubt he'll be any Gold Glover at first, but it can't be worse than Giambi's 10-inch range over there.

[Markus Asraelius]

Here come da pain!

LOL. What do you mean by that?

You know Varitek is injured and Lowell may be injured.

What I mean is, that the NY Yankees are about the unleash a whole mess of pain upon Boston and any other team in the AL looking for a playoff bid
( Carlito's Way line )

LMAO. There is a 5 game series between the red sox and yankees in Boston from August 18th to 21st.

I have it marked on my calendar. I think this is a key series.

[pilferk]

That A-Rod slide last night was funny as hell.  Looked like he was doing a magic trick!

And the Red Sox pull another one out in the 9th....If I were Cleveland, I'd start thinking about optioning Carmando back to the minors.  2 chances, 2 blown saves.

[COMAMOTIVE]

That slide was great

Oakland squeaked past Angels again. I heard today that something like 75% of their games in the last couple of years have been decided by 2 runs or less - Pretty good rivalry brewing there - Say what you want about Billy Beane - That team is competitive every year

[Markus Asraelius]

Yes, they (Oakland) are.

Although the red sox last 3 wins have all been walk-off wins, since the all-star break they are a .500 team at 13-13.

[Mal Brossard]

That A-Rod slide last night was funny as hell.  Looked like he was doing a magic trick!

And the Red Sox pull another one out in the 9th....If I were Cleveland, I'd start thinking about optioning Carmando back to the minors.  2 chances, 2 blown saves.

Carmona is a rookie and hasn't been used in the closer role until just now.  All of his major and minor league experience has been as a set-up man and a starter.  Minors-- 89 starts in 95 games; majors-- 3 starts in 26 games.

Give him a season and he'll be fine.  Don't forget, a great closer in Mariano Rivera was a set-up man, and even made a couple starts, in his first season or two.  Trevor Hoffman was a set-up man his first year.  Dennis Eckersley spent years as a starter before becoming a closer.  Rick Aguilera was a starter, then a closer, starter again, then closer again.  Jose Mesa-- starter then set-up, then closer.  Eric Gagne-- starter, then closer.  Rollie Fingers-- set-up man, spot starter, then closer.  I could go on.

He just needs a year to get used to the role.  Better to do it now in a season that's already over for the Tribe than at the start of next year or in the middle of next year's pennant race.

[COMAMOTIVE]

Good point

[Markus Asraelius]

The Yanks sweep the bluejays. With A Red Sox loss tonight, they will be in sole posession of 1st place.

[COMAMOTIVE]

The Yanks sweep the bluejays. With A Red Sox loss tonight, they will be in sole posession of 1st place.

Hell yeah

[oldgunsfan]

The Yanks sweep the bluejays. With A Red Sox loss tonight, they will be in sole posession of 1st place.

And the more I've been seeing of Abreu; I can't help but be impressed with the quality of his AB's, he difinitly gets his money's worth and lidle pitched a nice game

That 5 game series in Boston is going to be brutal if they can go 2-3 or 3-2 they should be happy

[pilferk]

Carmona is a rookie and hasn't been used in the closer role until just now.? All of his major and minor league experience has been as a set-up man and a starter.? Minors-- 89 starts in 95 games; majors-- 3 starts in 26 games.

Give him a season and he'll be fine.? Don't forget, a great closer in Mariano Rivera was a set-up man, and even made a couple starts, in his first season or two.? Trevor Hoffman was a set-up man his first year.? Dennis Eckersley spent years as a starter before becoming a closer.? Rick Aguilera was a starter, then a closer, starter again, then closer again.? Jose Mesa-- starter then set-up, then closer.? Eric Gagne-- starter, then closer.? Rollie Fingers-- set-up man, spot starter, then closer.? I could go on.

He just needs a year to get used to the role.? Better to do it now in a season that's already over for the Tribe than at the start of next year or in the middle of next year's pennant race.

That's a good point, but....

His confidence is getting crushed.  2 tries at a save, 2 dramatic meltdowns.  The one on Wednesday night was just nerves.  You could see it.  He went from very good for the first 2 outs and 2 straight strikes on, potentially, the last out to not being able to find the plate, pegging 2 guys, walking another...and then the hit.

Mariano started as a setup guy, that's true.  But even then he was almost unflappable.  He just had "it", when he stepped up to the majors.  Carmando looks like a deer in the headlights, and that's why I suggested it might be time to option him down to the minors.  He's just not ready.  I agree he needs seasoning.  The problem is doing it the way they're doing it might shell shock a potential closer for the future, killing his confidence in his "stuff".

Oh and WOOO HOOOOO!!! Yanks are in sole posession of 1st.

And man..who would have thought, at the All Star Break, that Chicago would collapse so quickly.  From 6 up in the WC to 1 down in a month. Yikes.

[oldgunsfan]

Who else is loving this sentence about the AL EAST:

The Yankees are in sole possesion of 1st place
->>all the experts on ESPN still insist the Red Sox has more pitching than the yankees and will miss the playoffs

[Markus Asraelius]

Yeah, even though the yankees have pitched to a 4.31 ERA so far this season, which is 5th in the AL and the red sox are about 7th in the AL.

Last 3 years the team era for the yankees has improved each year:
2004: It was about 4.68
2005: It was 4.52
And now in 2006: 4.31

[Mal Brossard]

Carmona is a rookie and hasn't been used in the closer role until just now.  All of his major and minor league experience has been as a set-up man and a starter.  Minors-- 89 starts in 95 games; majors-- 3 starts in 26 games.

Give him a season and he'll be fine.  Don't forget, a great closer in Mariano Rivera was a set-up man, and even made a couple starts, in his first season or two.  Trevor Hoffman was a set-up man his first year.  Dennis Eckersley spent years as a starter before becoming a closer.  Rick Aguilera was a starter, then a closer, starter again, then closer again.  Jose Mesa-- starter then set-up, then closer.  Eric Gagne-- starter, then closer.  Rollie Fingers-- set-up man, spot starter, then closer.  I could go on.

He just needs a year to get used to the role.  Better to do it now in a season that's already over for the Tribe than at the start of next year or in the middle of next year's pennant race.

That's a good point, but....

His confidence is getting crushed.  2 tries at a save, 2 dramatic meltdowns.  The one on Wednesday night was just nerves.  You could see it.  He went from very good for the first 2 outs and 2 straight strikes on, potentially, the last out to not being able to find the plate, pegging 2 guys, walking another...and then the hit.

Mariano started as a setup guy, that's true.  But even then he was almost unflappable.  He just had "it", when he stepped up to the majors.  Carmando looks like a deer in the headlights, and that's why I suggested it might be time to option him down to the minors.  He's just not ready.  I agree he needs seasoning.  The problem is doing it the way they're doing it might shell shock a potential closer for the future, killing his confidence in his "stuff".

Oh and WOOO HOOOOO!!! Yanks are in sole posession of 1st.

And man..who would have thought, at the All Star Break, that Chicago would collapse so quickly.  From 6 up in the WC to 1 down in a month. Yikes.

He's been effective as a set-up man and starter this year.  Looks like he's ben sent back to the set-up role, as Jason Davis has been dropped into the closer role.  Davis is a guy cut out to be a closer, and I've said for a while if he's not going to be a starter, he should be a closer.  Power pitcher, relies mostly on fastballs and sliders.  He has literally nothing else but those two pitches.

Carmona should stay up but maybe not put into the closer role for now.  He's gotten a taste of the role, knows how it works, and knows what he has to work on before being put into it next year, unless they keep Davis in the closer spot.  Jose Mesa didn't want to be a closer at first, because he didn't think he could handle the pressure.  He was moved there after getting his feet wet as the Indians' 8th inning guy in 1994 (2 saves in a closer-by-committee bullpen).  In 1995, he had 45 saves, has 320 for his career, and currently has the 13th highest save percentage of all-time (ahead of Lee Smith, K-Rod, John Franco, Bob Wickman, and Rollie Fingers).

Sometimes it just takes a little work in the 8th inning set-up role, then a couple tries at closing to get the feet wet.

[Mal Brossard]

And chalk up blown save #3 in a week.

OK, we've seen Carmona needs some work on it and that he should be eased into the role.  Why keep throwing him out there rather than putting Davis in to close?

A sign of mental illness is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result each time.  I think Eric Wedge needs a psychoanalysis.

[oldgunsfan]

Any NY Baseball fans noticw which team has the best record??

[pilferk]

And chalk up blown save #3 in a week.

OK, we've seen Carmona needs some work on it and that he should be eased into the role.? Why keep throwing him out there rather than putting Davis in to close?

A sign of mental illness is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result each time.? I think Eric Wedge needs a psychoanalysis.

4 Losses in 1 week? 3 walk off blown saves, 11 earned runs? In the last 7 games he has a 37.80 ERA, with 11 Runs and 3 Homers.

Ouch.

 I suspect he'll be saying Hello to Buffalo of the International League pretty soon.  You can't put up those kinda numbers and expect your team to keep you around...whether you want to play setup man or not.

Yanks open up a 2 game lead on the Sox, who look lost.  The loss of Veritek is hurting that team big time.....the only thing that may help them is that the Yanks have a brutal 20 games in 21 days, most of them against some very good teams (Chicago, LA Angels x2 series , Boston).  What might help the Red Sox is that they get Kansas City and Baltimore while the Yanks are getting Chicago and LA.  Of course, then things even out quickly...since Boston's going to have to deal with the Buzzsaw that is Detroit.

What's going to be interesting is how both clubs deal with their series against each other.  5 games in 4 days means they're both going to have to "manufacture" a pitcher from somewhere.  The Yanks are probably going to need to start Ponson, which is pretty scary....not sure what the Sox will do.