2010 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[Falcon]

Getting settled in for Rangers/Yanks and heard former Cardinal great (tongue in cheek) Tino Martinez is throwing out the first pitch in NYC tonight..

Sarcasm aside, gotta love Tino - replacing Donnie Baseball then Big Mac would be tough acts to follow for anyone.

In other Cardinal news, The Godfather will be back in the STL at least another year - more here:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_881a3d88-daf4-11df-b737-00127992bc8b.html

[cotis]

Well, this game sucked. Just shows how dominant Lee really is.

Going tomorrow and Wednesday, should be (hopefully) better than this shoddy display of offense by the Yankees.

[D]

Sorry yankee fans but Texas are obviously the better team. IF not for a giant meltdown, they'd be going for a sweep.

[faldor]

Yeah, aside from ONE disastrous inning, the Rangers have dominated this series so far.  They certainly aren't intimidated by the Yankees like some other teams seem to be. I'm looking at you Minnesota.

I'd imagine CC will get the start tomorrow night against Tommy Hunter.  A clear pitching advantage for the Yanks, so maybe they can pull even.  Also, CC would be on normal rest tomorrow with the off day thrown in, so why would Burnett even had been an option anyway?

[tim_m]

At this point Burnett can't be an option we need a win. I mean its possible he could throw a gem and pull us even but that's not a chance we can take. If we win tomorrow maybe you can put him out there in game 5 but doubtful. Yankee pitchers with the exception of Pettitte haven't shown up this series. I would expect Sabathia to be better tomorrow assuming they go that route. Tonight was a game i expected to lose honestly though. Lee is just unreal.

[D]

With Cliff Lee going game 7.. the Yanks better win 3 straight.

[tim_m]

Completely agree D. I'd say we have a decent shot at 2 of 3 but i'm not sure about 3 in a row. The only plus of a game 7 is we would have Sabathia on regular rest going. I think Lee has clearly become the best pitcher in basball. Any arguments? This off season the yankees would be stupid not to do everything they can to get this guy to sign with them to replace Burnett or Vazquez just so he can't beat the shit out of us. I feel bad for Pettitte. He pitched a great game nearly matched Lee pitch for pitch just that one bad pitch in the first keeping us close and giving us a chance late. Then Roberetson pisses it all away in the top of the 9th.

[faldor]

The Yankees will give Cliff Lee whatever he wants and they'll be a World Series favorite every year with Lee/Sabathia at the top of the rotation.  That's why Texas HAS to win this series.  Likely their only chance.  Unless somehow Lee is charmed by life in Texas and would like to continue on there.  They do have a nice young team, with some money to spend.  So I guess it's possible.  But I'd expect the Yanks to make an insane offer that would be tough for Lee to pass up. 

The Yankees at least have to win the next 2.  They could take another shot at Lee in a game 7, anything can happen.  But if they're down 3-2, having to win 2 games at Texas including beating Lee, you can't like those odds.  Hughes didn't look very good in game 2, so I'm not sure how confident you'd be in him going out there and shutting down the Rangers lineup.

[cotis]

Well Girardi said CC won't be starting and that it will be Burnett in the post game news conference...

The Yankees will give Cliff Lee whatever he wants and they'll be a World Series favorite every year with Lee/Sabathia at the top of the rotation.  That's why Texas HAS to win this series.  Likely their only chance.  Unless somehow Lee is charmed by life in Texas and would like to continue on there.  They do have a nice young team, with some money to spend.  So I guess it's possible.  But I'd expect the Yanks to make an insane offer that would be tough for Lee to pass up. 

The Yankees at least have to win the next 2.  They could take another shot at Lee in a game 7, anything can happen.  But if they're down 3-2, having to win 2 games at Texas including beating Lee, you can't like those odds.  Hughes didn't look very good in game 2, so I'm not sure how confident you'd be in him going out there and shutting down the Rangers lineup.

Weren't the Rangers in bankruptcy a few months back?

[pilferk]

With Cliff Lee going game 7.. the Yanks better win 3 straight.

Yanks actually hung around til the 9th....and even had a couple wasted opportunities to score.  I mean, this was a 2-0 ballgame until the bullpen (Logan and D-rob) melted down.

Yanks didn't do themselves any favors last night, either.  They were swinging at stuff WAY out of the strike zone, and watching stuff right down the middle.  Sure, some (OK, a lot) of that is Lee.....but not all of that.  As soon as the Rangers took that 2-0 lead, you could see the Yanks lineup start to press.  And they almost NEVER play well, that way.

If Burnett goes tonight, Girardi should NOT be offered a contract for next year and Cashman should be drawn and quartered.  I'll tell you the same thing, tomorrow, even if Burnett goes and pitches a complete game no hitter.   He's too risky in this spot.

So CC should go today, Burnett tomorrow.  'Cause if they win, they're tied 2-2 and they can afford to go back to texas down 3-2 if Burnett loses.  And if they lose, they'd be down 3-1 and basically cooked, anyway.

[pilferk]

Well Girardi said CC won't be starting and that it will be Burnett in the post game news conference...

I'll believe it when he takes the mound.  If Girardi and Cashman are capable of that kind of idiocy.....they deserve whatever fate they bring on.

[cotis]

According to the Lo Hud Yankees blog, Cashman & Girardi both reiterated today that Burnett will be on the mound.

So, we'll see how things go - hopefully the offense comes alive, that's more important than AJ I think. You can't win scoring 0 runs.

[D]

Hanging around 2-0??

how many teams have ever won scoring 0 runs? that is hardly,hanging around.

being down 2-0 to Cliff Lee is the equivalent of being own 6-0 to Colby Lewis.

Sad thing is, plenty of teams could've had Cliff Lee.... weird how so many took a pass.

[GeorgeSteele]

According to the Lo Hud Yankees blog, Cashman & Girardi both reiterated today that Burnett will be on the mound.

So, we'll see how things go - hopefully the offense comes alive, that's more important than AJ I think. You can't win scoring 0 runs.

That lineup is too good, they're due to produce about 7-8 runs, which will be more than enough to win, even if (when) AJ inevitably implodes in the 4th inning... I figure he gives up 3 runs tops before Girardi gives him the early hook.  I'm guessing 8-5 Yanks tonight.

Also, if it goes to Game 7, Lee is far from automatic.  He's on a great run and, yes, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball right now, but better pitchers than him have been gotten to in the postseason.  Even last year, the Yanks put 5 runs on the board against him the second time they faced him in the WS. 

[tim_m]

It definitely looks like it will be Burnett. Hopefully he can turn in a start like the first two he had last postseason.

[russkwtx]

GO RANGERS!!

Take away one inning and we'd be going for a four game sweep tonight.

[D]

I hate how everybody is writing off AJ Burnett and are outraged he is starting game 4.

how did CC and Hughes do?

Not like he can do much worse. This is one of those situations where all these doubters will have crow to eat tomorrow.

AJ 7IP 2ER's 7strikeouts  Yanks win 6-4

[tim_m]

Well he's off to a pretty good start.

[tim_m]

Series over. The Yankees just don't seem to be playing like they care.

[D]

OOPS boy was i wrong.

how bout that Rangers vs Giants World Series.

TV Execs are committing suicide.