The Baseball Thread 2007

[Chalupa]

I'M BURSTING WITH FRUIT FLAVOR!!!!

[papsrus]

We have this guy at work who grew up a Mets fan. The kind of dude who keeps one eye on the TV when the Mets are on, who jumps out of his chair and yells, "YEAHHHH!" when they win (in the office). ... I remember one day early in the summer the Mets beat the Cubs (when the Cubs were tanking big time) and after the game he said, "We're going all the way this year." ... after beating the Cubs, who sucked at the time. I admire his faith. It's one of the things that makes baseball great. ... Poor bastard.

[BERIGAN]

I'M BURSTING WITH FRUIT FLAVOR!!!!

Hey Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't told this embarrassing tale on this board before, but I was at that game where the Braves came back and beat the Phils 9-8 after being down 8-2 in the 8th.

My Dad's best friend was in town, and hadn't seen a ML game in 10 years, and wanted to see one more game in person before he dies(Only 71, but lives in Louisville)So, he bought us tickets, and we go to the game. Braves stink up the joint, Phils offense runs like the well oiled machine it is....my Dad and his friend were getting tired, and bored(It was fairly hot) so, they look at me down 8-2, let's get going, said my Dad's friend. I came so close to saying, well lets just watch the braves here in the 8th...but, noooooooooo, I didn't pay, they're old...lets go. So, I got to hear the best comeback of the year in a car, stuck in rush hour traffic!!!! I thought, shoot we just ruined their chance to get in the playoffs, and they are so good, you can tell offensively speaking, they were clearly a playoff team...but, they didn't give up, even after a horrible loss like that. Hat's off to the fightin' Phils, hope they go deep in the playoffs!!!!! Cubs or Phils Vs Red Sox, that would be great(Watch, it will be the Padres vs. The Angels)

[BERIGAN]

And the Padres and the Rockies will play a one game playoff tomorrow!!!!!!!!! Really hoping the Rockies can get in. Best defensive team in baseball, great offense, very good young pitching. Padres just leave me cold like the Angels do for some reason.....

[GARussell]

Chalupa/Deeley, does this make up for 1964?

[jlhoots]

And the Padres and the Rockies will play a one game playoff tomorrow!!!!!!!!! Really hoping the Rockies can get in. Best defensive team in baseball, great offense, very good young pitching. Padres just leave me cold like the Angels do for some reason.....

Go Rockies

[Quincy]

Some manager & coaching trivia(l) ties coming up in the NL.

1) The one game playoff features managers who had their best playing years with the Royals with the Padres' Bud Black vs. the Rockies' Clint Hurdle. Closest the Royals have come to the playoffs in a long time.

2) A pair of Tiger greats, former teammates at that are opposing bench coaches. Kirk Gibson is the Diamondbacks' bench coach, meanwhile Alan Trammell is Pinella's with the Cubs.

Edited October 1, 2007 by Quincy

[Matthew]

I really would like the Padres to win today, just for old times sake.

[Big Al]

Having watched the Dallas Mavericks collapse in two straight seasons, I can honestly say I know how it feels to be a Mets fan this morning.

[Dan Gould]

Well, the Sox have announced the rotation for the ALDS, and it turns out I was wrong. It will be Beckett, Dice-K and Schilling in that order, with Wakefield in the bullpen. If the series goes 5 and the Sox win, Schilling would be lined up to start the ALCS.

I really thought Dice-K would start game 3 in Anaheim, because of the big difference in his ERA on the road vs at home (4.86 vs 4.02). There is one advantage though and that is that LA didn't see Dice during his rookie year. That should help - it certainly did against Minnesota in the clinching game when he went 8 innings with 8 Ks and only six hits.

I really like our chances against Anaheim with Lackey going twice potentially. He's really had trouble against Boston this year and throughout his career. I can't see him beating us twice.

[Patrick]

I really like our chances against Anaheim with Lackey going twice potentially. He's really had trouble against Boston this year and throughout his career. I can't see him beating us twice.

I agree, and having Vlad and Matthews Jr at less than 100%, also helps.

Tribe hasn't announced their roster, beyond announcing that rookie starter Aaron Laffey will make the postseason staff as a lefty long reliever. That almost certainly makes it official, the Cliff Lee era in Cleveland is now over. Given the dearth of starting pitching that will be available in the offseason, Tribe should be able to get something decent for him, even with his nightmare season this year. Shapiro, please trade him to the National League so that when he bounces back, you and the Tribe will see him at most once or twice a year. If they do trade him, only Grady Sizemore will be left from one of the greatest Tribe trades of all time: Bartolo Colon (rental) and Tim Drew to the Expos for Sizemore, Lee, Brandon Phillips, and Lee Stevens (contract). If only Phillips hadn't been handed a starting infield position when he wasn't ready (...kind of like Andy Marte, come to think of it...), and then dispatched. Wouldn't have to be training Josh Barfield now...

[Tim McG]

Grand slam by Adrian Gonzalez!

Go Padres!!!!

5-4, Pads...bottom of the 5th.

[alocispepraluger102]

my cable company today added tbs hi-def, which will be carrying the league championship series, and i am loving it.

interesting game, too.

into inning 8, the makings of a classic game.

Edited October 2, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[Quincy]

Wow! Tough going there Matthew, but what a game.

The expanded rosters meant all sorts of fringe players were playing in crucial situations that you wouldn't see in a regular playoff game.

Poor Hoffman, it's been a rough couple of days on future hall of fame pitchers, and he blew one on Saturday too. The career numbers looked favorable vs. Holliday & Hawpe, though Helton has owned him. But with Hawpe on deck having been so dominant of late was a scary sight, yet it was Carroll who got the sacrifice. What a game.

[Free For All]

my cable company today added tbs hi-def, which will be carrying the league championship series, and i am loving it.

FFA thinks it sounds like the high-tech aloc will no longer be leaving the house

[BERIGAN]

Wow! Tough going there Matthew, but what a game.

The expanded rosters meant all sorts of fringe players were playing in crucial situations that you wouldn't see in a regular playoff game.

Poor Hoffman, it's been a rough couple of days on future hall of fame pitchers, and he blew one on Saturday too. The career numbers looked favorable vs. Holliday & Hawpe, though Helton has owned him. But with Hawpe on deck having been so dominant of late was a scary sight, yet it was Carroll who got the sacrifice. What a game.

Quincy, what a game, eh?????????????? And I was out for much of it, and couldn't find it on "regular" TBS(Didn't know they were going to split TBS, it has been the same channel in two places, and too low to be a HD channel(Don't get them anyway) so, I was pissed having to watch Baseball tonight for highlights(Of course, my receiver showed WS Poker on , and it was just dumb luck that I found them on ESPN2) Finally found the other TBS in the extra innings. I thought the Rockies were done for sure after being down 8-6....

I really wanted the Rockies to get in, they have been on a roll like the Phillies.(14 wins in 15 games) Padres never have had much offense, and to lose Bradley and Cameron, I couldn't see them doing much in the playoffs.

I do feel sorry for Hoffman though, really rough way to lose. Slow stuff doesn't usually fare well come October. I think some guys do lose there stuff a bit in Colorado, I think even Rockies players can tell breaking balls don't break as much ther..... But, as you mentioned, other HOF in the future guys like Maddux sucked of late. Peavy didn't get the job done today either. And the umps blew that home run call earlier, Rockies should have won the game much earlier.....Don't think too many teams want to face either the Rockies or the Phillies right now, even AL teams!

[Dan Gould]

No doubt one of the greatest one-game playoff games in MLB history, sad for Hoffman to blow it twice in three days when his team just needed one win, but extra sad that the umpires blew two critical calls. No doubt in my mind when I went to bed that he was blocked from the plate, and what was the ump doing, waiting til the catcher started to go apply the tag to make the call? I know he's slow on the balls/strikes thing, but if the guy tags the plate and the ball scoots away, signal safe! If the guy misses the plate and the ball scoots away, don't signal anything. That was really pathetic.

[MartyJazz]

No doubt one of the greatest one-game playoff games in MLB history, sad for Hoffman to blow it twice in three days when his team just needed one win, but extra sad that the umpires blew two critical calls. No doubt in my mind when I went to bed that he was blocked from the plate, and what was the ump doing, waiting til the catcher started to go apply the tag to make the call? I know he's slow on the balls/strikes thing, but if the guy tags the plate and the ball scoots away, signal safe! If the guy misses the plate and the ball scoots away, don't signal anything. That was really pathetic.

Totally agree. I was amazed that the Padres didn't argue at all. Home plate ump should have waited. The guy scoring the winning run should then have been tagged and called out, you now have two outs and a decent shot of getting to the 14th inning tied again.

[Matthew]

That one will linger for the Padres for a long while. Then again, if you can't hold a two run lead going into the last inning, you deserve the win. What a way for Hoffman to go out, I don't see him coming back after this one.

[papsrus]

I'm pissed. I watched the Patriots scrimmage against the Bengals and missed all but the very end. ... what a mistake.

[Chalupa]

Chalupa/Deeley, does this make up for 1964?

Well I was still in diapers when the '64 collapse happened, so for me - yes. The definitive answer, however, comes from two Philly sports writers who covered the '64 collapse. Bill Conlin and Stan Hochman. You can read their feelings on the subject here and here.

[Matthew]

That one will linger for the Padres for a long while. Then again, if you can't hold a two run lead going into the last inning, you deserve the win. What a way for Hoffman to go out, I don't see him coming back after this one.

I mean: you don't deserve the win.

Believe or not, there are some rumblings that Seattle might be interested in Bonds for DH next year. Oh, that'll be fun.

[Quincy]

Believe or not, there are some rumblings that Seattle might be interested in Bonds for DH next year. Oh, that'll be fun.

Where's the emoticon that has something lodged in its throat?

When CBS ran the story about Bonds not being asked back for next season they phrased it like he had been dropped that day (whenever that was, about 2 weeks ago.) They next reported that he could possibly end up in Baltimore or Seattle. I wrote it off as sloppy speculation. But I suppose if Vidro is your DH, there will be rumors like this.

[Dan Gould]

Well, now that the teams are set, time to entertain with my impressions/judgments of the contenders.

NL:

There are basically three teams that for various reasons are lucky to be where they are, and then there are the Cubs, who always seem to need some luck to reach the post season and in this case had the good fortune to have the Brewers as their main competition.

Rockies/Phils:

Too bad that the two hottest teams in the senior circuit have to play each other, as one or the other will find itself booted after going through major tribulations to get this far. Logic says that the Rockies are the more balanced team, but somehow I think the Phils will move on to the NLCS.

Cubs/Diamondbacks:

First of all, I think we should all hail the D-Backs for turning the whole "Pythagorean" theorem of win percentage prediction on its head. Its one thing when the Pythagorean theorem predicts that a team with a negative run differential should have a losing record, but who would guess that team would have the best record in the league and be the only team with 90 wins? Score one for the Baseball Gods against the stat heads.

So will the D-Backs keep it up or can the Cubbies come up big and reach the NLCS? I really don't know the answer, I just wish that the games weren't on so late on the east coast.

AL

Red Sox/Angels:

I know I was on record as preferring that the Angels play the Yanks but that was only because of their consistent success against Joe Torre. With John Lackey carrying a lifetime 1-9 record against the Sox and lined up to start two games, I have a hard time seeing the Angels win this series, and that is before considering that both setup men had poor second halves, Gary Matthews is hobbled by knee and ankle problems, and that elbow problems may force Vlad to DH.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, are my slight favorites to win it all. Best record in the league and most balanced combination of run production (second in the league to the Yanks) and pitching (best in the league in ERA). What keeps me from making them prohibitive favorites are question marks about the bullpen, specifically Okajima and Gagne, concern about Dice-K and Schilling, and concern about Manny and his troublesome oblique.

Yankees/Indians:

The reasons that the Yankees may bring home the long-awaited 27th championship can be summed up very simply:

The offense

Joba Chamberlain + Mariano Rivera

But there are big question marks about the rest of the team. The team ERA trails every other playoff team except the Phils. Andy Pettite has been a big-time October performer, but his September ERA was nearly 6. Wang had a better September and season, but he's lined up to start on the road, where he had an ERA of 4.91 and BAA of .300. After that its Clemens/Mussina/Hughes and no one has a clue what will happen there. Add to that the fact that Torre has no good options in his bullpen outside of Chamberlain/Rivera and that the Yankees will have to win on the road to get to the WS, I expect that the wild ride of 2007 will come to a premature end.

The Indians are a deep and dangerous team with the best 1-2 combination at the top of their rotation, excellent setup relievers, and a deep lineup that replaces one or two big boppers with a lineup with a lot of guys who can rake. The one obvious flaw is the closer and his staggering 5+ ERA. If the Division Series go as I expect, the biggest challenge the Indians will face will be closing out a win or two at Fenway.

[MartyJazz]

Chalupa/Deeley, does this make up for 1964?

Well I was still in diapers when the '64 collapse happened, so for me - yes. The definitive answer, however, comes from two Philly sports writers who covered the '64 collapse. Bill Conlin and Stan Hochman. You can read their feelings on the subject here and here.

Thanks for the above links. The mention of Dennis Bennett in the first column evoked a personal memory. Back in '67 I was working part time at a lounge located in the Commodore Hotel in Cleveland, a place where a lot of athletes, particularly from visiting teams, showed up. Anyway, Bennett comes in as a member of the visiting Red Sox, orders a drink from me and we get involved in a conversation. When he tells me his name, I make the gaffe of asking, "Weren't you a member of the Philly team in '64 that CHOKED the last week of the season?" Immediately, I apologized for use of the word "choked". He was gracious enough to state, and I'm paraphrasing here, "That's all right, 'cause you're absolutely right". Classy, I thought. Anyway, here's a link to his career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Bennett_(baseball)

Edited October 2, 2007 by MartyJazz