MLB 2009 Season

[Dan Gould]

With regard to the Red Sox, they better hope Wagner brings his A game. Bard clearly isn't ready for the show and

{snip}

Yeah that Bard isn't nearly ready - over a strikeout an inning, and he just made Longoria look stupid with three straight doses of his weakest pitch.

[Use3D]

You should try making a point without using fuck every single time

You should keep contributing to the topic instead of babysitting Dan's language. You're starting to irritate me.

[Indestructible!]

What a night. The Sox wrap up the Wild Card in the AL and the Braves lose any possible chance they had in the NL.

Congrats, Dan. And condolences, Berigan.

[MartyJazz]

Okay Dan, if chemistry isn't worth shit and the Red Sox have a better bullpen than the Yankees, care to tell us why the Yankees are in first and the Red Sox are in second right now?

I mean, my God: don't you enjoy this game at all? Or is making sure we all kowtow to your declared superiority of the Red Sox over everyone else your ultimate goal?

I'll save Dan the trouble. The reason we're in first is because the Yanks play 1/2 of their games on a Little League field.

Of course, it would be a "Little Tyke" field and we would have won 100 games by now if our right handed hitters had the benefit of a green Monster in left.

How does the Green Monster help...?

Doesn't it keeps balls in play that otherwise would fly out of there?

Just sayin'.

Well yeah, if you're talking about line drives that hit near or the top of the wall that would carry into the seats in other ball parks, but I've seen far too many pop flies that would be caught in any other ball park, simply carry enough so that instead of being simple outs, arc downward and either go over the wall or hit it just high enough to thwart any thought of a leap by the left fielder to catch 'em.. Hey, the park is a landmark in the history of baseball and personally I don't have a problem with it, but it does giveth and sometimes taketh from the home team. After all, I'm old enough to remember Bucky Dent's pop fly over the wall to win the '78 pennant for the Yanks.

[MartyJazz]

And it seems to me that the Yanks were wrong to duplicate the original measurements of Yankee Stadium in the new ballpark, especially in light of what you refer to as the "jet stream" that apparently aids simple fly balls.

I am surprised that you are repeating this falsehood. It was established at the beginning of the year that while they made the marker points the same, the dimensions are not identical. The old stadium had a bend in the rightfield wall. With the lengthy scoreboard now embedded, the wall has to be straight. The bottom line is that for a substantial distance in right field, the fence is an average of five feet closer. In one section, its nine feet closer! On top of that, the fence is what, two feet lower? Put it all together and its a joke to say that the dimensions are the same.

Honestly didn't know that.

[zen archer]

Okay Dan, if chemistry isn't worth shit and the Red Sox have a better bullpen than the Yankees, care to tell us why the Yankees are in first and the Red Sox are in second right now?

I mean, my God: don't you enjoy this game at all? Or is making sure we all kowtow to your declared superiority of the Red Sox over everyone else your ultimate goal?

One of the Reasons the Yankees are in first and no one has mentioned is the fact that the Red Sox starting pitching has been Beckett and Lester for most of the second half. Who would of guessed that Dice K would never pitch again this season and it looks the same for Wake (who won 11 games before the break)!!!

Bucholz is coming along and now they are relying on Byrd for some innings ,Penny and Smoltz are long gone ...The Yankees should be 15 games in front of them!

The fact that the Sox are hanging in there and have a shot at the Wild Card is amazing!

And as for offense the Red Sox have the Most Home Runs since July 31, so they are hitting more of them than the Yankees.

[Dan Gould]

What a night. The Sox wrap up the Wild Card in the AL and the Braves lose any possible chance they had in the NL.

Congrats, Dan. And condolences, Berigan.

I wish I were as confident as you - we may have put the Rays out of it, but I can hardly count out the Rangers, particularly factoring in remaining schedule (I believe they play more games against below .500 teams) and the fact that the Red Sox are relying on Paul Byrd, Junichi Tazawa and Beckett, who is in the worst stretch since the 2006 nightmare. They are so desperate for starters that I fully expect that only a few days after a cortisone shot in his back, they are going to announce that Wakefield will start in Tazawa's place. And win or lose, then they'll announce that Wakefield will have surgery and is out for the year.

I think you should have just offered condolences to Berigan and Paps and held off on the congratulations.

[ghost of miles]

Interestingly enough, the Yanks and Bosox have nearly identical records at home this year--NY is 45-20, Boston is 45-21. The difference comes almost entirely from their road records--NY is 41-28 in away games, Boston 33-34.

[Dan Gould]

Interestingly enough, the Yanks and Bosox have nearly identical records at home this year--NY is 45-20, Boston is 45-21. The difference comes almost entirely from their road records--NY is 41-28 in away games, Boston 33-34.

Which means, if the Red Sox get lucky and reach the playoffs and take care of the AL West champion and the Yankees take care of the Tigers (I wouldn't want to face Verlander twice in a short series), the deciding factor in who represents the AL might be that extra game at Yankee stadium.

I am surprised though that no one thinks this Yankee team isn't really much different than the other Yankee teams of the century - plenty of hitting, not enough pitching, and when they face teams that can do both, they'll be in trouble. I mean, yeah, they're killing bad teams right now - and of course they beat a not-so-bad team in Boston in back-to-back series - but will the bats be as good in October against Detroit, or Boston/L.A.? Then there are the starters - Pettitte is better than anyone could have hoped, so that's a big plus. But Sabathia has been terrible in the post-season, and Burnett and Chamberlain are complete toss-ups whether they dominate or stink. And if anyone only pitches 5 or 5+ innings, that soft bullpen will have a big challenge.

Probably their biggest advantage is that in about half a season's time, the starters figured out how to pitch in that ballpark, and the hitters are still feasting on those who don't have that experience.

[Quincy]

And it seems to me that the Yanks were wrong to duplicate the original measurements of Yankee Stadium in the new ballpark, especially in light of what you refer to as the "jet stream" that apparently aids simple fly balls.

I am surprised that you are repeating this falsehood. It was established at the beginning of the year that while they made the marker points the same, the dimensions are not identical. The old stadium had a bend in the rightfield wall. With the lengthy scoreboard now embedded, the wall has to be straight. The bottom line is that for a substantial distance in right field, the fence is an average of five feet closer. In one section, its nine feet closer! On top of that, the fence is what, two feet lower? Put it all together and its a joke to say that the dimensions are the same.

Honestly didn't know that.

Overlay showing the difference.

[Dan Gould]

I just heard an interesting stat:

Papi and Manny both took about 50 games off, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Ortiz has hit six more homers and has 28 more ribbies.

[Big Al]

What a night. The Sox wrap up the Wild Card in the AL and the Braves lose any possible chance they had in the NL.

Congrats, Dan. And condolences, Berigan.

I wish I were as confident as you - we may have put the Rays out of it, but I can hardly count out the Rangers, particularly factoring in remaining schedule (I believe they play more games against below .500 teams)

Don't forget that the Rangers have cratered against sub-.500 teams this year. Doesn't necessarily count 'em out, but the Angels seem a lot more catchable than the Sox right now.

[PHILLYQ]

What a night. The Sox wrap up the Wild Card in the AL and the Braves lose any possible chance they had in the NL.

Congrats, Dan. And condolences, Berigan.

I wish I were as confident as you - we may have put the Rays out of it, but I can hardly count out the Rangers, particularly factoring in remaining schedule (I believe they play more games against below .500 teams)

Don't forget that the Rangers have cratered against sub-.500 teams this year. Doesn't necessarily count 'em out, but the Angels seem a lot more catchable than the Sox right now.

I think the Rangers close the season against the Angels. What if the Angels have clinched the division and decide to play the scrubs for that series? That could make it verrrrry interesting...

[Dan Gould]

the Angels seem a lot more catchable than the Sox right now.

Why?

The Sox are relying on 38 year old Paul Byrd. He recorded seven outs tonight while allowing seven runs, all earned, on ten hits. Which is more likely going forward, this Byrd or the one that shut out the Jays, a team that has quit on their season?

The Sox are so desperate to keep Tazawa out of the rotation (he gave up ten runs to Chicago last start, and has given up another five tonight), they are sending Wakefield out five days after a cortisone shot. He needs back surgery, and will probably be that much closer to getting it done after tomorrow (and if he hurts himself, or just sucks, who is left in the bullpen after tonight's 2 1/3 performance by Byrd?).

Their fondest wish is that Dice-K return, and that asshat threw over 40 pitches to record three outs against Double-A competition in his last rehab start.

If you do catch the Angels, I expect the Angels to hold us off. Then I may get my fondest wish, an Anaheim annihilation of NY to keep their streak of Division Series losses intact.

Life may not be so bad after all.

And tonight is why I was so thrilled with Thursday's win. Because with the Orioles playing the Rangers, and Byrd and Wakefield starting the series against the White Sox, I saw this lead getting slimmer and slimmer. Now it will be two games - if not for last night, its down to one game.

[ghost of miles]

Boy, Dan, I haven't read any rundowns or seen any clips yet, just noticed the scores--looks like both of our teams failed to show at the ballpark tonight.

I do wonder, too, how this "pitch Joba every 5 starts, but only for 3 innings" approach is going to shake out ultimately.

[Tim McG]

Okay Dan, if chemistry isn't worth shit and the Red Sox have a better bullpen than the Yankees, care to tell us why the Yankees are in first and the Red Sox are in second right now?

I mean, my God: don't you enjoy this game at all? Or is making sure we all kowtow to your declared superiority of the Red Sox over everyone else your ultimate goal?

I'll save Dan the trouble. The reason we're in first is because the Yanks play 1/2 of their games on a Little League field.

Of course, it would be a "Little Tyke" field and we would have won 100 games by now if our right handed hitters had the benefit of a green Monster in left.

How does the Green Monster help...?

Doesn't it keeps balls in play that otherwise would fly out of there?

Just sayin'.

Well yeah, if you're talking about line drives that hit near or the top of the wall that would carry into the seats in other ball parks, but I've seen far too many pop flies that would be caught in any other ball park, simply carry enough so that instead of being simple outs, arc downward and either go over the wall or hit it just high enough to thwart any thought of a leap by the left fielder to catch 'em.. Hey, the park is a landmark in the history of baseball and personally I don't have a problem with it, but it does giveth and sometimes taketh from the home team. After all, I'm old enough to remember Bucky Dent's pop fly over the wall to win the '78 pennant for the Yanks.

I'm old enough to remember that one, too.

It just seems to me that the Green Monster kills HR chances more often than it gives up cheap hits.

Just my two cents....

[Tim McG]

Hey! My Gigantes come through again!

This could become a habit

Go Giants!

Edited September 6, 2009 by GoodSpeak

[Chalupa]

Bradley Thomas Lidge

10 blown saves, 0-7, w/ a 7.15 ERA.

We're doomed.

[Dan Gould]

Only if Manuel doesn't make a change for the playoffs.

And don't managers "manage differently" come October? If they leave Lidge as closer and he blows a game and the FC defense, then Manuel should be fired.

[Brad]

Bradley Thomas Lidge

10 blown saves, 0-7, w/ a 7.15 ERA.

We're doomed.

Seems like last year was an exception to his steady decline, but what a hell of an exception. I scoffed when the trade was made but it got them a crown so hard to argue with that.

[Tim McG]

Prince Fielder, walk-off HR bottom of the 12th, Giants lose.

Rockies won.

Dodgers won last night.

Grrrr!!!

Edited September 6, 2009 by GoodSpeak

[ghost of miles]

Interesting--Molina's catching Burnett right now against Tampa Bay. I'm sure the doubleheader gave Girardi an "objective" reason to do that, but what if Burnett throws a really great game? (He's given up one run in three innings so far.)

Yanks have scored 8 in the bottom of the third and are still batting.

[Tim McG]

Brad Penny, 2-0!

[Big Al]

the Angels seem a lot more catchable than the Sox right now.

Why?

Hell, after losing 2 of 3 to Baltimore, I'm not sure either team is all that catchable now. I mean, if you can't beat 31-games-outta-first Baltimore, you got no business being in any playoff hunt.

[Dan Gould]

Well you might have a shot at the Angels with seven left against them. Injuries might be taking too much of a toll, who knows. Neither team looks very good; an argument can be made that the Red Sox have the advantage in the final 25 games: 15 at home, 10 on the road; of the ten on the road, seven are against Baltimore and the Royals and three with the Yankees. There are three at home against the Angels and three against the Rays who have lost Pena for the year.

On the other hand, the rotation remains more or less a joke. They are "skipping" Wakefield and possibly planning to use him once every ten games. Even if he pitches OK and helps them reach the playoffs, what use will he be? Critical start for Byrd, to find out if his second start was just a bad one or closer to the reality of his skills. And Matsu-Sucka was so bad he's making another rehab start. Beckett was a little better but hardly dominant against Chicago on Sunday.

Its just ugly. Dreaming of reaching the playoffs when they have no legitimate chance to advance with their starting pitching.