2011 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[faldor]

Congrats to Falcon and his Cardinals.  What a game pitched by Carpenter!  What happened to that guy?  I didn't think he was having a particularly good season.  Apparently he righted the ship down the stretch though.

Tough loss for sandman's Phils.  I know the hurt.  Especially with that team so stacked in the pitching department.  They were the prohibitive favorite to win it all this year and they didn't even make it out of round 1.  That's gotta be tough.  They were a flawed team offensively though, and all the pitching in the world can't help if you can't score ONE run.  I'm sure they'll be back strong next year.  It'll just be a long wait.  Hang in there.

Going forth, I'm predicting a Brewers/Tigers WS.  But I wouldn't be surprised with any team winning.  It's really so wide open.  I can't remember a season with so much parity, and no clear cut favorite.  Hell, you could make a strong argument that St. Louis is the favorite.  They played their asses off down the stretch to erase and 8.5 game deficit to get in to the playoffs and just knocked off a 100 win team.  Should be fun.

[Falcon]

It's pretty cool when two pitchers, teams and a game lives up to the hype - what a game.

Let's hope Ryan Howard's injury isn't as bad as it looks, the scene of him lying in between home and first wasn't the way that ballgame should've ended.

Even though things fell short for the Phils, they'll be back.  They're class from top to bottom and play the game right.

Unfortunately, my picks are blown - but I'm good with that.

[cotis]

My beloved Yanks are gone, think I will be hopping on the Brewers bandwagon...

Go Tony Gumbo!

[sandman]

Congrats falcon. The cards outplayed the phils throughout most of the series. Lots of big plays, clutch hitting from the 7 and 8 hitters.

Baseball is a funny game. If u had asked a million people who would have a bigger impact in the playoffs Pence or n. Morgan, a million people would have said pence. Yet morgan was huge and his team advanced.

I think its a complete tossup with these 4 teams. I'll pick the cards though. They've been the hottest for quite some time now.

[Falcon]

Thanks sandman, it was a helluva series.

And you're right, baseball is indeed a funny game - so many twists and turns along the way made for a very compelling series. 

Lots of subplots/storylines in the NLCS although it'll have a hard time living up to what we just saw in the NLDS, that was a nailbiter for about 42 of the 45 innings played.

[tim_m]

Delmon Young is off the ALCS roster with an oblique strain. Huge bat lost for the TIgers against the Rangers.

[Falcon]

Looks as if the Cards/Brewers ill will has been taken up another notch with this exchange between Brewers NLCS Game 1 starter Zack Greinke and St Louis Post Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz:

http://interact.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=832766&sid=82828cfa7ab1b835954bf87b61035516

Milwaukee pitcher Zack Greinke gets on Carpenter....

Here's the verbatim exchange:

Q: After being around it for 18 games do these two teams legitimately dislike each other?
 
Greinke: "Maybe now. I think no one really likes Carpenter. But besides that I think they respect mostly everyone on their team."
 
Q: So what do the guys have against Carpenter?

Greinke: "I don't know. They think his presence, his attitude out there is sometimes a phony attitude. But -- and then he yells at people. He just stares people down and stuff. And most pitches just don't do that. And when guys do, I guess some hitters get mad. But when you do that some people will get mad. There's other pitchers in the league that do it, but a lot of guys on our team don't like Carpenter."
 
Brewers aren't being bashful.

[D]

My recently adopted Rangers are looking great early against Verlander!

[tim_m]

My recently adopted Rangers are looking great early against Verlander!

Too bad the weather isn't looking so great for this game finishing tonight and the forecast is worse tomorrow.

[faldor]

Man, Verlander brings the rain when he pitches of late.

Doesn't look to good for Ryan Howard either.  Torn achilles, out till mid-May, June of next year.  Talk about adding injury to insult.

[tim_m]

Man, Verlander brings the rain when he pitches of late.

Doesn't look to good for Ryan Howard either.  Torn achilles, out till mid-May, June of next year.  Talk about adding injury to insult.

So that's official? I had been trying to find info all day. That really sucks. I feel bad for the guy. I may dislike the Phillies but never wanna see something like that.

[Falcon]

Man, Verlander brings the rain when he pitches of late.

Doesn't look to good for Ryan Howard either.  Torn achilles, out till mid-May, June of next year.  Talk about adding injury to insult.

So that's official? I had been trying to find info all day. That really sucks. I feel bad for the guy. I may dislike the Phillies but never wanna see something like that.

Yep, it's official and it does indeed suck.

Very unfortunate.

[tim_m]

That's a real shame. You just hate seeing things like that. I see they can't even do the surgery and find out how severe it is until the swelling goes down. It looks quite possible he won't play until may or june.

[tim_m]

Well the rangers get to Verlander and take game one. Well pitched game by the rangers.

[tim_m]

Well game 2 is postponed cause there is supposed to be more rain developing tonight and be even worse than last night. Game 2 tomorrow at 4:19pm.

[tim_m]

Wow.... can't the rangers find someone that knows the words to the national anthem? Can of the free and the home of the brave? really?

[tim_m]

Espn is reporting that Theo Epstein is close to going to the cubs and leaving the sox.

[Jbat81]

Im a Yankees fan but im now pulling for Detroit. With tht said, why was Porcello worried about Andrus so damn much!!!!?? He ended throwing the ball away and ended up scoring on Young's hit! In the playoffs lil things will "send" you home... we'll see how this ends. Its 3-2 in the top of the 7th...

[LongGoneDay]

What a pathetic mess this whole Red Sox collapse has turned into.
Everyone needs answers. Maybe it's just as simple as they sucked down the stretch?
Not good enough. Not only is Francona fired, but now some coward is leaking information about a possible pill habit and failing marriage as possible distractions.
The smear campaign begins.

Thanks for the 2 World Series, Tito. Now you're fired, and your name is tarnished. Good luck landing you're next gig.

Theo is off to the Cubs, and who could blame him?

All things being equal, I'm not sure why any future free agent would choose Boston with all the bullshit that's going on now.
I bet Gonzalez and Crawford are second guessing their decisions to walk into this shit storm.

Hopefully they get the right GM and Manager, and fast to sort out this mess.
They have a lot of work to do, and this offseason could determine wether the Sox are legit contenders, or a bad joke for years to come.

They are going to have to pay a lot of money just to keep the players they have now.
Gotta sign Pap and Ortiz.
Gotta find a way to dump Lackey off on someone. Pay anyone to take him.



Not looking good for Detroit.
Why the fuck do they keep pitching Cruz inside? He's a dead pull hitter. He's a good hitter, but they are making him look like Barry Bonds. He is up there hacking, make him beat you to the opposite field!

[tim_m]

Sox management should be ashamed of themselves for the shit they are pulling with Francona. No need to stoop to that level.

Detroit is in big trouble