2009 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[tim_m]

These announcers are seriously annoying. Enough with the stupid captain obvious comments.

[tim_m]

Burnett is dealing tonight! Wow!

[tim_m]

Another horrible call ends a rally. I'm getting sick of this. Its marring a great postseason. Baseball has got to do something, force the umpires to talk it over to get it right or use replay. Its getting fucking ridiculous.

[Loaded NightraiN]

yup.... horrible call

[tim_m]

yup.... horrible call

Even after discussing it they still got it wrong. How the hell can the umpire standing BEHIND the first baseman make that call? And another bad call. This one against the Phils.

[Loaded NightraiN]

Well we got the make up call hehe

[tim_m]

Well we got the make up call hehe

Haha yeah and it was another potential game changing call. I'm glad it went our way but i wanna see this series decided by the players not the damn blind umpires.

[faldor]

And let me just remind you that back in 2003 when Little left Pedro in to die, the Sox bullpen was firing on all cylinders.  I believe they had a scoreless post-season up till that point, or at least close to it.  Yet another reason why the 2 situations are not comparable.

You had 2 guys who had been shaky at the end of the regular season, but pitched well in the post.

We have 5 guys who pitched well during the regular season, 2 of which (Marte and Hughes) have not pitched well in the post. Bruney is a throw away pitcher, at best, at this point.  But that leaves Robertson and Joba as the bridge, who have pitched just fine.

Keep tryin', but it ain't workin'. 

Leaving for the Stadium RIGHT now! 

What good does pitching well in the regular season do if you can't carry it over to the post-season?  Nada!  The Sox bullpen was pitching well at the most important time.  THE PRESENT!

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

[tim_m]

And let me just remind you that back in 2003 when Little left Pedro in to die, the Sox bullpen was firing on all cylinders.  I believe they had a scoreless post-season up till that point, or at least close to it.  Yet another reason why the 2 situations are not comparable.

You had 2 guys who had been shaky at the end of the regular season, but pitched well in the post.

We have 5 guys who pitched well during the regular season, 2 of which (Marte and Hughes) have not pitched well in the post. Bruney is a throw away pitcher, at best, at this point.  But that leaves Robertson and Joba as the bridge, who have pitched just fine.

Keep tryin', but it ain't workin'. 

Leaving for the Stadium RIGHT now! 

What good does pitching well in the regular season do if you can't carry it over to the post-season?  Nada!

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Well we got the good pitching tonight. Burnett was lights out. That should've been a shutout. A-Rod should've had that ground ball. Calling it a hit was VERY generous.

[faldor]

And let me just remind you that back in 2003 when Little left Pedro in to die, the Sox bullpen was firing on all cylinders.  I believe they had a scoreless post-season up till that point, or at least close to it.  Yet another reason why the 2 situations are not comparable.

You had 2 guys who had been shaky at the end of the regular season, but pitched well in the post.

We have 5 guys who pitched well during the regular season, 2 of which (Marte and Hughes) have not pitched well in the post. Bruney is a throw away pitcher, at best, at this point.  But that leaves Robertson and Joba as the bridge, who have pitched just fine.

Keep tryin', but it ain't workin'. 

Leaving for the Stadium RIGHT now! 

What good does pitching well in the regular season do if you can't carry it over to the post-season?  Nada!

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Well we got the good pitching tonight. Burnett was lights out. That should've been a shutout. A-Rod should've had that ground ball. Calling it a hit was VERY generous.

You did, but the bridge to Rivera was avoided.  Burnett straight to Mo.  I doubt they can pull that off 3 more times.  Some reliever(s) not named Mariano is gonna have to produce eventually.

Oh and by the way, Pedro pitched great tonight.  Much better than I expected.  It was a typical Yankee vs. Pedro game.  Chip away just enough to beat him.  I didn't think he had that in him though.  Too bad it just wasn't enough, and he got no help on the offensive side since Burnett was just a little better.

[tim_m]

And let me just remind you that back in 2003 when Little left Pedro in to die, the Sox bullpen was firing on all cylinders.  I believe they had a scoreless post-season up till that point, or at least close to it.  Yet another reason why the 2 situations are not comparable.

You had 2 guys who had been shaky at the end of the regular season, but pitched well in the post.

We have 5 guys who pitched well during the regular season, 2 of which (Marte and Hughes) have not pitched well in the post. Bruney is a throw away pitcher, at best, at this point.  But that leaves Robertson and Joba as the bridge, who have pitched just fine.

Keep tryin', but it ain't workin'. 

Leaving for the Stadium RIGHT now! 

What good does pitching well in the regular season do if you can't carry it over to the post-season?  Nada!

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Well we got the good pitching tonight. Burnett was lights out. That should've been a shutout. A-Rod should've had that ground ball. Calling it a hit was VERY generous.

You did, but the bridge to Rivera was avoided.  Burnett straight to Mo.  I doubt they can pull that off 3 more times.  Some reliever(s) not named Mariano is gonna have to produce eventually.

Oh and by the way, Pedro pitched great tonight.  Much better than I expected.  It was a typical Yankee vs. Pedro game.  Chip away just enough to beat him.  I didn't think he had that in him though.  Too bad it just wasn't enough, and he got no help on the offensive side since Burnett was just a little better.

Yeah most likely not. I think the two best options to bridge right now is Chamberlain and Robertson. I have no confidence in Huges right now at all.

He did and it was better then i thought he would too. Yep they always seem to beat him that way don't they? Burnett shut down a great offense tonight. Being able to get that first strike with the fastball made that nasty curveball unhittable. Phillies really never had a chance against him aside from that one inning.

[pilferk]

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Pssst....you brought it back up...after saying we'd have to agree to disagree.

[pilferk]

What a freaking game!!  Got in about 3 AM, got 3 hours sleep, and am DRAGGING!

I don't know how it came across on TV but...YOWZA was it loud! The stadium was electric last night! The "Daddy chants" were rockin' all night long!

Burnett was on FIRE, Pedro gave a master class in "nasty junk" pitching, and what I thought would be a shoot out ended up being somewhat of a pitchers duel.  Go figure.

WHEN are managers going to realize that Pedro can NOT throw past 100 pitches.  I know you want to get length, but....Charlie "Grady Little" Manuel (yes, that's meant to be hyperbole) should not have trotted him out for those last batters.  After the homer to Matsui, you pretty much could tell he was done.  He threw his 100th pitch to Hairston (I think) and I turned to my buddy and said "Rally time".  Sure enough....bang, bang, bang. 

The umps screwed that call on the grounder to Howard.  It was a short hop and I think EVERYONE in the stadium pretty much knew it (except the ump).  The replay really fired the crowd up.  Didn't effect the final outcome, but likely took a run or two off the boards for the Yanks.  Likely it would have been 4-1 or 5-1 by the end of that inning...bases would have been loaded with ONE out.

Also looked like Utley might have been safe at first on the inning ender in the 8th.  I didn't see the replay on that one but live it looke like he JUST beat it.

If they were BOTH bad calls, there's two more for the umps.  And now the WORLD SERIES has been marred by bad officiating too.  And in a vacume, they'd probably be no big deal....but considering the officiating so far in the post, I expect this story will get a lot of play.

1-1 going into Philly.  Yanks gotta take one of the next 2 to really keep this thing competitive.  I like their chances with Pettite vs Hammels.  But you won't see any more 6 out saves until/unless the Yanks are in a clinching/elimination game.  Can't do it in Philly, where it's 3 straight games and you might need Mo every night.  I suppose you could see it in game 5 IF game 4 was a blowout and no Rivera.

I agree, Yank bullpen needs to be able to get outs if they're gonna win this thing.  But at least it's a series now and they're not down 0-2.

[faldor]

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Pssst....you brought it back up...after saying we'd have to agree to disagree.

Absolutely, because the Yankee bullpen blew up again in game 1, which further proved my point.  I can't help it that more evidence came my way to support my point.

Those were both bad calls, but they weren't obvious.  Not nearly as bad as the blown calls we've seen in prior games.  So they're making progress if you wanna look at the bright side.

[sandman]

another great game. if this thing goes at least 6, it may just live up to the billing.

not only are the two teams similar, but games 1 and 2 were actually kinda similar. two great pitching performances, but one clearly better. winning team takes the lead with 2 solo shots. controversial fly-out call.

both calls were wrong. howard trapped it, and utley was safe. the home plate ump was bad too. he just started calling everything a strike after the 2nd or 3rd inning.  

the yankee fans have come up real small. Buck and mccarver called them out at least 3 times. it wasn't until they took the lead that actually started making noise.

phils have won game 1 and lost game 2 in each of their last 4 series.  

[faldor]

Just goes to show you how hard these things are to predict.  I expected runs to be scored  in droves, but AJ and Pedro go out there and pitch their asses off.  Go figure. 

I thought the Stadium sounded loud at the beginning and end of the game but kind of dragged a bit in the middle.  I didn't agree with Buck and McCarver saying it was subdued at the start.  You could clearly hear the Daddy chant going when Pedro took to the hill.  You couldn't have expected them to keep that up the entire game though.  I'll give them a pass.  Pilferk was there and said it was rocking, I'll take his word for it.  Crowd noise doesn't always translate to TV.

I'd have to give the Yanks/Pettitte the advantage for game 3 just because Hamels has been struggling of late.  If he can pull it together though, we could have another dandy on our hands.

[Falcon]

So much for it being a "bullpen game", huh??

Starters were (again) great, I didn't think there was anyway in hell either one would come up that big but both did.

The stadium (beyond the "Daddy" chants) came off relatively quiet on TV - I'll take pilf's first hand review though.

Both games have met/exceeded expectations, now onto Game 3.

First impulse leads me to Philly although I think the pitching matchup favors the Yanks.
This one could be the high scoring affair we all expected in Game 2 leading to whichever bullpen throwing the least amount of kerosene on the proverbial fire.

[sandman]

yeah, game 3 could be decided by the bullpens. i could see both starters giving up about 3 runs and getting pulled in the 6th. but neither of the games have gone as i pictured.

anyone know the yankees plans for SP the rest of the way? i know CC for game 4....will burnett pitch on short rest in game 5? will they have to use a 4th starter for game 6?

i'm not sure what the phils plans are. i think lee could be a possibility for game 4.

the interesting thing is that the weather is looking like a wash out for game 3. which would mean game 4 is played monday night with Lee and CC both available on regular rest.

[pilferk]

You can keep trying if you want to, but we're going around in circles. 

Pssst....you brought it back up...after saying we'd have to agree to disagree.

Absolutely, because the Yankee bullpen blew up again in game 1, which further proved my point.  I can't help it that more evidence came my way to support my point.

Those were both bad calls, but they weren't obvious.  Not nearly as bad as the blown calls we've seen in prior games.  So they're making progress if you wanna look at the bright side.

No, it doesn't.  For the reasons I explained, they were, and are, similar. And then, when I explained the reasoning beind it...you commented on "going around in circles" because you simply didn't want to hear it.  Either you don't want to discuss it, and we agree to disagree....or I'll continue to make may case.  Your choice.  I could go on like this for weeks...but I doubt either of us are going to change our minds.

The trap was pretty obvious to almost everyone in the crowd. Even screened from the ball aways back, you could see the poof of dirt, and the bounce. It was likewise obvious to EVERYONE about 5 seconds later when the replay was on the screen.  The first base ump was behind the play, so maybe it wasn't obvious to HIM...but then, if you're screened of the play, you're not really doing a very good job. He had time to move up the line to get a better view.  Another +1 for replay.

The Utley call wasn't obvious, but it looked close.  I've since seen the replay and...he was safe.  Not by much, but he was.  It would be a little hypocritical of me to only call out the bad "Yankee call" and not give the Utley call it's due.

[pilferk]

yeah, game 3 could be decided by the bullpens. i could see both starters giving up about 3 runs and getting pulled in the 6th. but neither of the games have gone as i pictured.

anyone know the yankees plans for SP the rest of the way? i know CC for game 4....will burnett pitch on short rest in game 5? will they have to use a 4th starter for game 6?

i'm not sure what the phils plans are. i think lee could be a possibility for game 4.

the interesting thing is that the weather is looking like a wash out for game 3. which would mean game 4 is played monday night with Lee and CC both available on regular rest.

Yanks pitch Andy, CC, and then ??.

I think it depends on what happens in the next two games.  If they're up 3-1, I think they pitch Chad G.  Down 3-1, I think you see Burnett.  2-2?? I have no idea.  I'd GUESS Chad G, just so Burnett can go on regular rest back at home in game 6 and you'd have CC AGAIN in game 7 (with Andy available in the pen) or maybe vice versa...but I don't know for sure.  Girardi hasn't said.

I'd be SHOCKED to see Lee in game 4 on 3 days rest after throwing a complete game and 122 pitches.  Maybe, but by bringing him out to pitch the 9th, up 6-0..I suspect that was Charlie saying "regular rest".  I think he's your game 5 starter.

I thought the rain was supposed to be just light showers?  Weather.com shows 30% to 50% of "a few showers" blowing through.

Heck, the should just play a 1 PM game on Saturday....but Fox would never go for it.