2010 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[GypsySoul]

And I'm sure you already know, but the reason they had Neil Diamond perform is because they play "Sweet Caroline" during the 7th inning stretch at Fenway and the crowd sings along.  So it really doesn't have anything to do with him being a Sox fan, or where he's from.

This is from CBS news website

Diamond, whose "Sweet Caroline" is played at Fenway after the top of the eighth, stepped onto the field to sing it in person. The Brooklyn native wore a blue Red Sox hat with a red "B" and a dark jacket with the words "KEEP THE DODGERS IN BROOKLYN" on the back, Boston CBS station WBZ reports.

[Bill 213]

Went to Citi Field Monday for the Mets opener........wow an awesome time!! Strawberry threw out the first pitch and David Wright blasted a two run homer his first at bat!  Bay had a triple, Barajas had a nice hit and Gary Matthews Jr. made some great catches.  Johan tore it up on the mound also!  Hopefully the rest of the rotation can shake off any bad karma from last year.

[JuicySwoos]

Twins win twins!

[pilferk]

Went to Citi Field Monday for the Mets opener........wow an awesome time!! Strawberry threw out the first pitch and David Wright blasted a two run homer his first at bat!  Bay had a triple, Barajas had a nice hit and Gary Matthews Jr. made some great catches.  Johan tore it up on the mound also!  Hopefully the rest of the rotation can shake off any bad karma from last year.

I'm REALLY looking forward to Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Should be a blast!

[Bill 213]

Went to Citi Field Monday for the Mets opener........wow an awesome time!! Strawberry threw out the first pitch and David Wright blasted a two run homer his first at bat!  Bay had a triple, Barajas had a nice hit and Gary Matthews Jr. made some great catches.  Johan tore it up on the mound also!  Hopefully the rest of the rotation can shake off any bad karma from last year.

I'm REALLY looking forward to Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Should be a blast!

I'm thinking Granderson is gonna have a blast at Yankee stadium.  He is looking damn good so far. 

[faldor]

I know we're only 3 games into the season, but after watching the Sox/Yanks those Yankees are going to be tough to beat.  Every year I can tend to pick out a slight weakness and see an opening.  I'm not so sure I can do that this year.  The lineup is so deep.  There's no break and even if they're not hitting they wear pitchers down by working the counts.  Their pitching is good, both starting AND bullpen.  I guess the only silver lining maybe their somewhat questionable OF defense, but that's not too much to go on.  And they are still getting old, but I've been saying that for the last 5+ years and it hasn't made a difference yet.

And again I know it's early, but it looks like the Sox ARE going to need to add a bat if they want to contend.  They really should have come out of the gate using a platoon at DH with Ortiz/Lowell.  I know they want to show faith in Ortiz and hope he recaptures his stroke but Lowell is still on the team so you might as well use him against lefties.  He should have started against Pettitte last night but of course that wasn't going to happen after Ortiz's tirade towards reporters from the previous night.  But it should have been decided upon before the series even started, regardless of what happened the first 2 games.  Francona's usually very good about using his bench and getting those guys AB's.  So far though, it's been the same lineup all 3 games.

[JuicySwoos]

Twins win Twins!!  Morneau Mauer Co-MVP.

[pilferk]

I'm thinking Granderson is gonna have a blast at Yankee stadium.  He is looking damn good so far. 

His swing is TAILOR made for the Stadium.

On another note, the Yanks finally made official what pretty  much everyone else already knew:  WS rings (and the banner) are going up on Tuesday.  Bernie's gonna throw out the first pitch.  Whitey and Yogi are going to hand out the rings....Gonna be fun to watch from out in the bleachers.  AND, so far, the weather looks OK (60 and sunny...which isn't 80 and sunny of the past 2 days, but is perfectly acceptable baseball weather!).

[pilferk]

I know we're only 3 games into the season, but after watching the Sox/Yanks those Yankees are going to be tough to beat.  Every year I can tend to pick out a slight weakness and see an opening.  I'm not so sure I can do that this year.  The lineup is so deep.  There's no break and even if they're not hitting they wear pitchers down by working the counts.  Their pitching is good, both starting AND bullpen.  I guess the only silver lining maybe their somewhat questionable OF defense, but that's not too much to go on.  And they are still getting old, but I've been saying that for the last 5+ years and it hasn't made a difference yet.

And again I know it's early, but it looks like the Sox ARE going to need to add a bat if they want to contend.  They really should have come out of the gate using a platoon at DH with Ortiz/Lowell.  I know they want to show faith in Ortiz and hope he recaptures his stroke but Lowell is still on the team so you might as well use him against lefties.  He should have started against Pettitte last night but of course that wasn't going to happen after Ortiz's tirade towards reporters from the previous night.  But it should have been decided upon before the series even started, regardless of what happened the first 2 games.  Francona's usually very good about using his bench and getting those guys AB's.  So far though, it's been the same lineup all 3 games.

It's funny.

After game one, the Yanks faithful (and the Sox antagonists) were giving the Yanks all sorts of grief.  CC had blown it, the bullpen (especially Chan Ho Park) was terrible, etc, etc.  And the Sox fans crowing about their offense and how everyone had underestimated them (as if they were a shoe in to score 1000+ runs this sesason).

2 more games and the complete reversal is on.  The Sox faithful are crying in their cups and lementing Lester and Beckett's performance, Papelbon's implosion (which, as implosion's go, was pretty minor, IMHO), their lack of power and hitting (which, IMHO, is the need they really have to address), Big Papi's 1-fer while looking completely lost at the plate, etc.  And suddenly everyone thinks the Yanks are unbeatable, that Joba is back, that Chan Ho Park might be the next incarnation of David Cone, and that Granderson is going to hit 81 home runs.

Everyone (on both sides) needs to calm down (and I'm not talking, specifically, about you, faldor).  First, the two best teams just played 3 games in APRIL.  There's a lot of season left.  Second, any flaws that were exposed by the other team are likely NOT going to be exposed by other teams.  These two teams have the deepest rotations in MLB (with the possible inclusion of the White Sox).  Neither team is going to face this kind of pitching every night.  The Sox offense will be just fine vs the other 28 or 29 teams most nights.  And they'll address their "bat" problem, by the trade deadline, I'm sure.

The Yanks will hit their rough spots, I'm sure.  They have a LOT of tools, I agree, though.  My biggest worry is their outfield defense (specifically the corners...Granderson is fine in CF), whether Gardner can get on base to use that speed, consistently, and whether Cano can really hit in the 5 hole.  We'll see.

[faldor]

Yeah I wasn't necessarily basing my comments off of the first 3 games.  That's pretty much how I felt entering the season and the 3 games didn't do anything to change that.  I thought the Yankees had a better team, more solid all around.  And I thought the Red Sox would eventually need to trade for a bat later in the season to really contend for/in the playoffs.  And I had doubts about the bullpen, and NOT Papelbon really.  So again, the 3 game series did nothing to ease my worries at all.  But rest assured.  I do realize not every game is going to be against the Yanks and the Sox will most likely be right there at the end when all is said and done. 

And watch out for those Rays too.  Can't forget about them.  They may have slipped a little last year, but they look like they could be quite solid again this season. 

[tim_m]

What's everyone's thoughts on Joe West's comments regarding the pace of the games between the Yankees and Red Sox? I think calling them embarrassing and pathetic was way out of line. If a player/coach made comments about his umpiring they'd be fined. Thoughts?

[faldor]

I agree his comments were out of line, but they were absolutely spot on.  Every Yanks/Sox game is a 5 hour marathon.  It's ridiculous sometimes how long a batter takes in the box or a pitcher takes on the hill.  That inning the other night that Okajima pitched seemed to last forever.  I was complaining at that point for them to institute some sort of "shot" clock, or at least baseball's equivalent.

But, West isn't the guy who should be talking about these things.  At least not to the press.  If you want to make headlines and do something about the situation at the same time, start issuing balls and strikes due to slow play.

Also, West has HATED the Red Sox for years now.  Not sure if Yankee fans feel the same way about his attitude towards NY.  This would tend to signal that he hates both teams.

[tim_m]

I agree he has a point but the way he put it was clearly out of line. Your job is to be impartial. You don't specifically call out two teams like that and bad mouth them. An ump that is that biased against the teams he is officating should not be allowed to umpire their games.

[faldor]

I agree he has a point but the way he put it was clearly out of line. Your job is to be impartial. You don't specifically call out two teams like that and bad mouth them. An ump that is that biased against the teams he is officating should not be allowed to umpire their games.

Have you noticed him being biased against the Yankees in the past, before these comments?  Because I have suspected/known for years that he HATED the Sox.  He has made a number of shitty calls against them and thrown guys out of games at the drop of a hat.  Maybe he's more a fan of the underdog.

[pilferk]

Have you noticed him being biased against the Yankees in the past, before these comments?  Because I have suspected/known for years that he HATED the Sox.  He has made a number of shitty calls against them and thrown guys out of games at the drop of a hat.  Maybe he's more a fan of the underdog.

Bias??  Maybe a bit.  I'm not sure if it's bias, though, or the fact he likes to be "on stage".

But the guy was voted (along with Angel Hernandez, who was also on the crew for this series, and "coincidentally" is also a showman) one of the four WORST umps in the majors.

West, and any of the rest of his crew who agree, should shut their mouths and do their jobs. If the players are breaking the rules of MLB....reprimand or report them. But until the commish's office starts to limit the number of times a batter can step out, or enforces the rules about pitchers coming to the plate in a reasonable amount of time...West should shut his pie hole and work on doing his job. It needs his attention much more than the Yanks/Sox games...which get monster ratings and make everyone a nice tidy sum (a sum, I might add, which contributes to his salary).  Hell, if he decided to call a legit (and consistent) strike zone...THAT might speed the game up, too!

I guess now we know why Angel Hernandez was being the "time out" Scrooge on Tuesday, now.


Here's my objection to THE CONTENT of his comments:

Most people say the reason they take so long to play the games is that both teams have guys that step out of the box so much.  That's partially true, but it's not the whole truth.

One reason the guys step out so much is because the pitchers take so long to come to the plate...it's a catch 22 sometimes. Sure, there are some "repeat offenders", like Jeter and Ortiz who step out CONSTANTLY, too, for their own reasons.  But just as many (witness Thames in game 2) ask for time because the pitcher has just stood there staring at them for a pretty decent period of time. 

And if we were just talking about THAT, I'd see his point (but still think he should keep his mouth shut...because it's not his place to comment).

But the thing is...the first two games were relatively high scoring in sum total. 9-7 and 6-4...that's 26 runs (evenly split, as it so happens) in two games. The umps need to take that into account, too. And Wednesday nights game went to extra innings and was UNDER 3.5 hours long. SURELY West can't expect an extra inning game to be close to the national MLB average (2:55)!

Add the fact that any national game (and these were all on ESPN) always gets somewhere between 1 (during the "in period" breaks) and 3 (near the top and bottom) minutes of extra commercial time during each break.

And add to THAT the fact that both these teams are GOOD. Which means there is a lot of patient hitters, and the games are usually competitive. That's going to provide a sort of automatic ""lengthening" to the process.

But West basically says he doesn't think THAT's the reason the games are so long.  Honestly, if he doesn't think those are factors...the guy is a flat out idiot.

You're gonna have long games between these two.  Even if you did things to quicken the pace of the pitchers and batters, these games (at this point) are GOING TO BE LONGER THAN AVERAGE.  They'd be shorter than they are now...yes....but they'd still be longer than everyone elses.

[JuicySwoos]

Twins win twins! Lineup is looking like the yanks. 8 dingers in the first series. Bye bye small ball.

[cotis]

Just completed two fantasy deals that solidified my fantasy team...

CandianDevil gets:
Mark Reynolds (Ari - 1B,3B)
J.J. Hardy (Min - SS)
Barry Zito (SF - SP)

NJ Bombers (me) gets:
Bobby Abreu (LAA - OF)
Kendry Morales (LAA - 1B)
Josh Beckett (Bos - SP)
Neftali Feliz (Tex - RP)


then I was offered this trade, and thought I was an IDIOT if I didn't accept...

HUDSON gets:
Chipper Jones (Atl - 3B)
Carlos Pe?a (TB - 1B)
Javier V?zquez (NYY - SP)
   
NJ Bombers (me) gets:
Aramis Ram?rez (ChC - 3B)
Hanley Ram?rez (Fla - SS)
George Sherrill (LAD - RP)



I don't know why he sent me that trade, but I accepted right away. He said he wanted an ace and a big HR hitter, so I said - hey sure!

Now my lineup looks like this...

C- R.Martin (LAD)
1B- K.Morales (LAA)
2B- J.Lopez (SEA)
3B- A.Ramirez (CHC)
SS- H.Ramirez (FLA)
OF- M.Kemp (LAD)
OF- J.Ellsbury (BOS)
OF- J.Heyward (ATL)
UTIL- Y.Escobar (SS/ATL)
UTIL- J.Rivera (OF/LAD)
UTIL- P.Konerko (1B/CWS)
UTIL- B.Abreu (OF/LAA)
UTIL- C.Ross (OF/FLA)
BN- A.Jackson (OF/DET)
BN- B.Inge (3B/DET)

SP- A.Pettitte (NYY)
SP- J.A.Happ (PHI)
SP- C.Zambrano (CHC)
RP- M.Rivera (NYY)
RP- C.Marmol (CHC)
RP- J.Mijares (MIN)
P- R.Franklin (STL)
P- N.Feliz (TEX)
P- G.Sherrill (LAD)
BN- C.J.Wilson (TEX)
BN- J.Lester (BOS)
BN- J.Beckett (BOS)
DL- S.Kazmir (LAA)


Had the sixth overall pick and I think I made out pretty nice....

[JuicySwoos]

Twins win twins!

[cotis]

Is that all you post?

[JuicySwoos]

They keep winning. Never mess with a winning streak remember?