MLB (Baseball)

[Raw Toast]

Must be time for a thread on this, or a new thread if an old one exists somewhere.

Probably still going to be a horrible season for my Padres (bloody cousins in San Diego, so I follow them and the chargers). But their start to the season has been a ripper, with two come-from-behind wins against the Phillies.

BTW I reckon the MLB site has the best game-day coverage of any major sport.

[GVGjr]

BTW I reckon the MLB site has the best game-day coverage of any major sport.

The most professional sports callers around. They really have to know their stuff.

[Scraggers]

I'm a Boston Red Sox fan myself (since visiting the fair city in 2002 during the world series loss to New York Yankees)

Speaking of the Yankees ... did you see the top of the second innings routing Cleavland gave the Yankees ... 14 runs scored in one innings, and eventually winning 22 - 4 ... now that makes me smile :)

Betcha Derek Jeter's nachos don't taste so good now :D

[Remi Moses]

New York Mets fan. Love the game

[The Underdog]

Must be time for a thread on this, or a new thread if an old one exists somewhere.

Probably still going to be a horrible season for my Padres (bloody cousins in San Diego, so I follow them and the chargers). But their start to the season has been a ripper, with two come-from-behind wins against the Phillies.

BTW I reckon the MLB site has the best game-day coverage of any major sport.

Thanks to One HD there's been more MLB on than I can possibly fit into my life (just ask my wife). I'm a massive Cubs fan which just adds to the pattern of the sad sad supporting history I have. Cubs are big favourites to win the NL Central but have some weaknesses that will keep them close to the pack. St Louis are looking ok too, which is a shame.
Padres have had a great start to the season RT but the big surprise so far has to be the Marlins. These guys spend less on their team than the Yanks spend on a free agent pitcher and they've started 11-1.

[Remi Moses]

Thanks to One HD there's been more MLB on than I can possibly fit into my life (just ask my wife). I'm a massive Cubs fan which just adds to the pattern of the sad sad supporting history I have. Cubs are big favourites to win the NL Central but have some weaknesses that will keep them close to the pack. St Louis are looking ok too, which is a shame.
Padres have had a great start to the season RT but the big surprise so far has to be the Marlins. These guys spend less on their team than the Yanks spend on a free agent pitcher and they've started 11-1.

No great surprise with the Marlins,as they do this every 5 or 6 years. They load up win a world series then conduct a fire sale.Finally the mets have fixed that deplorable pen from previous seasons.Hope like most sports fans that the Cubs can break that 101 year old drought.I love the diplomatic answer a cubs fan when asked ''How the Cubs haven't won a world series in 100 years'' reply was Anybody can have a bad century

[Glove38]

Never really been able to get into baseball, if i had to choose a team it would be the Chicago Cubs.

[strebla]

Is an Indians supporter missed the game and could not believe the result when I saw it we are now 4-9 but it is still early in the year it really must be a bulldog thing the indians last won the world series in 48

[western monkey]

Slow start for the tribe....will come good though!! Still very cold in Cleveland once it warms up the results will get better!!

[The Underdog]

Is an Indians supporter missed the game and could not believe the result when I saw it we are now 4-9 but it is still early in the year it really must be a bulldog thing the Indians last won the world series in 48

Indians should be alright. Reasonably good pitching and some excellent hitters. I really like Sizemore & DeRosa was a great utility guy for the Cubs who goes all out. They're also 5-9 but only 2 and a half back, so it's not like they have huge ground to make up. Cliff Lee also had a slow start but he'll win 15+. That division will be tight all year I reckon.
A few other surprising starts are Pittsburgh at 9-6 and Seattle leading the West, although I think once the Angels get back to full strength and the shock of the Nick Adenhart tragedy is a bit further off they should take the West comfortably.

[strebla]

Indians should be alright. Reasonably good pitching and some excellent hitters. I really like Sizemore & DeRosa was a great utility guy for the Cubs who goes all out. They're also 5-9 but only 2 and a half back, so it's not like they have huge ground to make up. Cliff Lee also had a slow start but he'll win 15+. That division will be tight all year I reckon.
A few other surprising starts are Pittsburgh at 9-6 and Seattle leading the West, although I think once the Angels get back to full strength and the shock of the Nick Adenhart tragedy is a bit further off they should take the West comfortably.

Have always been a Sizemore fan don't know much about DeRosa but am looking forward to catching him this year i need a set top box so I can can ten 1

[The Underdog]

Well the Cubs are in the middle of sucking and have dropped from 8-4 to 9-9 including losing 2 out of 3 to the Cards. The Red Sox swept the Yanks which I think gladdens the hearts of all non Yankee fans and the Marlins have dropped pretty much every game since I commented on their amazing start to the season. I've tried keeping up with the games on OneHD including watching the Padres-Giants game which was scoreless until Bengie Molina hit a game winning double in the bottom of the 10th and that was with Barry Zito pitching 7 scoreless innings for the Giants. Two small ball teams who might just go alright if their pitching holds up.

[The Underdog]

Big news with Manny Ramirez being suspended for 50 games for breaking the MLB drug policy. Big hit to the Dodgers. Fortunately for them they only need to play .500 baseball until he comes back to still be leading what is a fairly weak division. They've had a great start to the year (13-0 at home) although some would argue they've beaten up on some weak teams thus far.

[Remi Moses]

Another blackeye for the sport,I'm sure some will fob it off as Manny being Manny. Baseball has to get toughter with drug cheats.:mad::mad:

[Glove38]

Can anyone recommend any books or DVD's, which highlight the history of baseball in America?

With the addition of the new ABL, i have really started getting into the sport of baseball. Would like to read up on the history of the sport in America, to get a better understanding of the game.

[comrade]

Can anyone recommend any books or DVD's, which highlight the history of baseball in America?

With the addition of the new ABL, i have really started getting into the sport of baseball. Would like to read up on the history of the sport in America, to get a better understanding of the game.

Baseball is one of the most written about sports ever, with a number of classics. WOOFers with a keen interest in the sport will no doubt be able to recommend some beauties.

[The Underdog]

Can anyone recommend any books or DVD's, which highlight the history of baseball in America?

With the addition of the new ABL, i have really started getting into the sport of baseball. Would like to read up on the history of the sport in America, to get a better understanding of the game.

If you've got time seek out Ken Burns nine part TV series simply called Baseball. It's an incredibly in depth history of baseball with a wider social context. It's exceptional viewing but very long.

[Glove38]

Cheers, guys.

I will start the hunting around for stuff, i am definitely going to be keeping an eye on the next MLB season.

[The Underdog]

Cheers, guys.

I will start the hunting around for stuff, i am definitely going to be keeping an eye on the next MLB season.

Interweb wise, hardballtalk.com is a good site to get an overall idea of news from different sources.
I really enjoy Joe Posnanski's work on SI.com, he's also written a couple of books.

Also check out dirkhayhurst.com . He's a borderline major league pitcher who's written a book called the Bullpen Gospels which is highly recommended.

I also download the ESPN Baseball today podcast. It's daily during the season and intermittent during the offseason but it's well worthwhile.

[Glove38]

Thanks Underdog, i am actually heading out to watch the Aces on Sunday. I have been meaning turn up to a match and have a look, can't wait.

[Glove38]

Have decided on an MLB team, not sure if Underdog is going to like it :)

Funny though, when i never really cared about baseball, i didn't mind the Cubs.

[The Underdog]

Have decided on an MLB team, not sure if Underdog is going to like it :)

Funny though, when i never really cared about baseball, i didn't mind the Cubs.

You're dead to me now (not really).
The Sox are a pretty strong chance to win the AL Central this year, even if their manager is a lunatic. Do some research on Ozzie Guillen and the things he's said in the past. You'll be well entertained.

[Glove38]

You're dead to me now (not really).
The Sox are a pretty strong chance to win the AL Central this year, even if their manager is a lunatic. Do some research on Ozzie Guillen and the things he's said in the past. You'll be well entertained.

This season will be a learning curve for me, i just hope to watch a few winning Sox games.

Do you know how many games a week we get here?

[The Underdog]

This season will be a learning curve for me, i just hope to watch a few winning Sox games.

Do you know how many games a week we get here?

OneHD usually does 2-3 a week. Not sure about cable.

[The Underdog]

OneHD usually does 2-3 a week. Not sure about cable.

For those looking forward to the MLB season starting this week, One HD is showing an opening day (for most teams) double header of Colorado hosting Arizona at 7am followed by Tampa Bay hosting Baltimore at 10 am. Monday morning at 9am there is Oakland vs Seattle.

Not great match-ups but looking forward to seeing Jiminez pitch for the Rockies and Price for the Rays as well as checking out the Orioles new infield.

I've been reading my 2011 baseball prospectus and trying to get my head around some of the stats in there in anticipation of the upcoming season.

[anfo27]

For those looking forward to the MLB season starting this week, One HD is showing an opening day (for most teams) double header of Colorado hosting Arizona at 7am followed by Tampa Bay hosting Baltimore at 10 am. Monday morning at 9am there is Oakland vs Seattle.

Not great match-ups but looking forward to seeing Jiminez pitch for the Rockies and Price for the Rays as well as checking out the Orioles new infield.

I've been reading my 2011 baseball prospectus and trying to get my head around some of the stats in there in anticipation of the upcoming season.

Can't wait underdog been counting the days till opening day.

How do you feel about the Cubs chances this season?

Give us your predictions for the National League playoff hopefulls?

I think my Tigers have a pretty good shot at a playoff spot this season. Looking forward to seeing Victor Martinez in the old english D and hoping our young starting rotation can take another step.

Why why why Glove do follow those damn White Sox? I hate those bastards.a

[The Underdog]

Can't wait underdog been counting the days till opening day.

How do you feel about the Cubs chances this season?

Give us your predictions for the National League playoff hopefulls?

I think my Tigers have a pretty good shot at a playoff spot this season. Looking forward to seeing Victor Martinez in the old english D and hoping our young starting rotation can take another step.

Why why why Glove do follow those damn White Sox? I hate those bastards.a

I've wierdly got a reasonable feeling about the Cubs but realistically they are probably looking at 4th place in the NL Central. The teams above them aren't elite by any means though. The Cards losing Wainwright is pretty huge. I like the Brewers to win the division if Greinke gets fit and is halfway decent. Not sure about the Reds. The talent is there but I feel like they could fall off a bit.
The Phillies should be a lock with their rotation but if Utley doesn't play this year then their offense looks pretty ragged, especially as they've lost Werth's production. The Braves should be good for 2nd in the NL East and might battle the Phillies to the end.
The NL West has me lost. I like the Rockies but they have lots of holes, the Giants have a great rotation but their O could disappear as quickly as it showed up last year (and they've brought in Tejada so there's some E's coming at SS). Probably the Giants just.

The Red Sox on paper are by far the strongest lineup. The AL Central should be a pretty good race between your Tigers, the White Sox and the Twins.
There is also always a team from nowhere.

[Glove38]

Why why why Glove do follow those damn White Sox? I hate those bastards.a

Any sporting i follow in America comes out of Chicago, had to pick one of them.

[anfo27]

I've wierdly got a reasonable feeling about the Cubs but realistically they are probably looking at 4th place in the NL Central. The teams above them aren't elite by any means though. The Cards losing Wainwright is pretty huge. I like the Brewers to win the division if Greinke gets fit and is halfway decent. Not sure about the Reds. The talent is there but I feel like they could fall off a bit.
The Phillies should be a lock with their rotation but if Utley doesn't play this year then their offense looks pretty ragged, especially as they've lost Werth's production. The Braves should be good for 2nd in the NL East and might battle the Phillies to the end.
The NL West has me lost. I like the Rockies but they have lots of holes, the Giants have a great rotation but their O could disappear as quickly as it showed up last year (and they've brought in Tejada so there's some E's coming at SS). Probably the Giants just.

The Red Sox on paper are by far the strongest lineup. The AL Central should be a pretty good race between your Tigers, the White Sox and the Twins.
There is also always a team from nowhere.

That Phillies rotation looks scary and look to have one foot in the world series already but we all know baseball ain't played on paper. Like yourself i like what the Brewers have done in the off season and they seem to finally have a very good rotation to go with that big hitting offense.
What have the Cubs been up to in the off season?
The Bo Sox have been the biggest spenders and have picked up some great talent especially that Carl Crawford who i was praying would come to us but what do you think about their pitching? I don't think they are that strong in this department, their bullpen was up & down last season.
I was surprised the Yankees didn't go out and get some starting pitching and i know they were after Cliff Lee but once that fell through they didn't go for anything else and now the back end of their rotation looks a problem.
The AL central looks like a dogfight and those damn twinkies are always so competitive and the White Sox look pretty strong also.
I'm pretty happy with what Detroit have done but am a bit concerned that our bullpen is a bit thin of quality arms & hoping Miggy can get over his personal demons to have another 30hr 100+RBI.

Good luck to your Cubs, who have you got first up?

How do you follow the baseball? Foxtel or an Internet subscription?

[anfo27]

Any sporting i follow in America comes out of Chicago, had to pick one of them.

Just kidding Glove, be prepared for a slugfest in the Central and I'm sorry to say that my beloved tigers don't have a great record against your Sox. I also remember reading that Callan Ward is baseball fan and follows the White Sox.

[The Underdog]

What have the Cubs been up to in the off season?

Good luck to your Cubs, who have you got first up?

How do you follow the baseball? Foxtel or an Internet subscription?

Cubs traded some prospects for Matt Garza from the Rays and also signed Carlos Pena (he of the sub.200 BA and 20+ homers) from the Rays to a 1 year deal to play 1B. Both OK moves with upside, although the price we paid for Garza could come back to haunt us.
Rotation is potentially ok if Zambrano can keep it together.

Got a home series against the Pirates to begin which on paper is a good (if cold)way to start.

I generally read as much as I can from SI.com, the Chicago newspaper websites, ESPN and other sports sites and watch whatever games One HD throws up. MLB.com is one of the best sporting websites around and I try and watch the Cubs highlights on a daily basis.
I haven't got it at the moment but highly recommend MLB.TV subscription. Around $100 and access to every game of the season live and in replay and radio broadcasts.

[anfo27]

Cubs traded some prospects for Matt Garza from the Rays and also signed Carlos Pena (he of the sub.200 BA and 20+ homers) from the Rays to a 1 year deal to play 1B. Both OK moves with upside, although the price we paid for Garza could come back to haunt us.
Rotation is potentially ok if Zambrano can keep it together.

Got a home series against the Pirates to begin which on paper is a good (if cold)way to start.

I generally read as much as I can from SI.com, the Chicago newspaper websites, ESPN and other sports sites and watch whatever games One HD throws up. MLB.com is one of the best sporting websites around and I try and watch the Cubs highlights on a daily basis.
I haven't got it at the moment but highly recommend MLB.TV subscription. Around $100 and access to every game of the season live and in replay and radio broadcasts.

I couldn't remember where Garza & Pena ended up, i knew it was the NL but thats it. Garza is a good get and you would think that Pena would hit for better average this year.

We start of at Yankee Stadium on Friday morning and they don't come any bigger than that. CC vs Verlander would have been an great game for one HD to pick up.

I've been following it MLB.com for a few years now with gameday and highlights. last year though i did purchase the MLB.TV subscription and found it great value as i was watching it every weekend but haven't got around to renewing my subscription.

[The Underdog]

Just noticed that One will be showing the Reds vs Brewers Opening Day clash tomorrow morning from 5am.
There's like 5 games on One in 5 days. I'm going to have trouble keeping up.

[Flamethrower]

Just noticed that One will be showing the Reds vs Brewers Opening Day clash tomorrow morning from 5am.
There's like 5 games on One in 5 days. I'm going to have trouble keeping up.

Too much baseball? There's no such thing!!!

TV schedule for Opening Day:

ESPN Triple header - Tigers at Yankees, Padres at Cards, Giants at Dodgers
OneHD - Brewers at Reds
MLB TV - Braves at Nationals, Angels at Royals

[Flamethrower]

Prediction time........division winners and wild cards.....

National League

East Philadelphia Phillies

Central Cincinnati Reds

West Colorado Rockies

NL Wild Card Atlanta Braves


American League

East Boston Red Sox

Central Minnesota Twins

West Los Angeles Angels

AL Wild Card New York Yankees

[anfo27]

National League

East: Philadelphia Phillies
Central: Milwaukee Brewers
West: San Francisco Giants
Wild card: Atlanta Braves

American League

East: Boston Red Sox
Central Detroit Tigers
West: Texas Rangers
Wild card: New York Yankees

[The Underdog]

NL
East: Phillies
Central: Brewers
West: Giants
Wild Card: Braves

AL
East: Red Sox
Central: White Sox
West: Athletics
Wild Card: Yankees

[Remi Moses]

Fear a horror year for my Mets .
The Phillies will win that Division in a canter with the Braves second
Mets might even finish behind the Nationals:eek:

[The Underdog]

Fear a horror year for my Mets .
The Phillies will win that Division in a canter with the Braves second
Mets might even finish behind the Nationals:eek:

Considering they'll probably start selling off players by June I think the Mets are going to be a much worse team than the Nats by September. It's going to get really ugly before it gets better, especially considering the financial state of ownership.

[Glove38]

The official MLB site the best for news?

[anfo27]

The official MLB site the best for news?

I'm on it everyday and i think its better than any other sports website I have come across by the length of the Flemington straight.

[Glove38]

Thanks, anfo.

[Glove38]

Is it a surprise Baltimore are doing so well? or was it expected?

[The Underdog]

Is it a surprise Baltimore are doing so well? or was it expected?

It's a surprise but it will likely even out and they'll be a 75-80 win team.

[anfo27]

Is it a surprise Baltimore are doing so well? or was it expected?

Not a big surprise. A big surprise was Boston getting swept in Cleveland and waiting till their 7th game to get their first win. I knew the Rays would struggle a little after losing a few players in the off season but 0-6 i didn't expect that. As i write this Dan Johnson hit a 3 run bomb at the top of the 9th to give the Rays a 2 run lead against the Sox. Sorry Glove but i love to see the Sox lose. Hopefully the Rays can hold on for their first win of the season.

Also i love the live look ins that MLB gameday provides.

[anfo27]

It seems that Manny Ramirez has announced his retirement today. Apparently he has tested positive to a performance enhancing drug in spring training and by retiring he doesn't have to face any charges. A shame that a great career has to be ended under these circumstances. He certainly was a character Manny and a great clutch hitter.

[Glove38]

Can't wait to see who will lose the game for us in the 9th tomorrow.

[Glove38]

Cubs sign a son of a hockey great.

[The Underdog]

Cubs sign a son of a hockey great.

Who Keith Law says should have gone to college and needs a heap of development but hey the "Great One's" son is a Cub.
Now maybe it'll be "Jesus Saves, Gretsky Scores...from first".
Anyway good to hear some positive Cubs news in a season which has gone horribly wrong

[The Underdog]

Giants trade for Beltran to add a big piece for them (ie. someone who provides offense). They should comfortably win the division. The Mets did well getting a top level prospect for him too.
Cubs offload Fukudome to the Indians for not much and the Cardinals get a poor to average return for Rasmus (yay). Be an interesting couple of days leading up to the trade deadline.

The races for most divisions are looking fairly boring. Yanks and Red Sox should easily be the AL East and Wildcard, one way or the other. The Tigers are favourites to win the AL Central although the White Sox are only 3 games back and the mediocrity of the division is keeping the Indians in it. Rangers should burn off the Angels to win the West.
NL East is a mirror of the AL with the Phillies and Braves running away with the division title and wild card. The Central is also a mess with 4 teams in it althought the Reds might be close to gone. Still like the Brewers although the loss of Weeks, hurts the offense and their infield defense sucks.

[Glove38]

Recently got Foxtel put on, loving the extra baseball coverage.

[anfo27]

Giants trade for Beltran to add a big piece for them (ie. someone who provides offense). They should comfortably win the division. The Mets did well getting a top level prospect for him too.
Cubs offload Fukudome to the Indians for not much and the Cardinals get a poor to average return for Rasmus (yay). Be an interesting couple of days leading up to the trade deadline.

The races for most divisions are looking fairly boring. Yanks and Red Sox should easily be the AL East and Wildcard, one way or the other. The Tigers are favourites to win the AL Central although the White Sox are only 3 games back and the mediocrity of the division is keeping the Indians in it. Rangers should burn off the Angels to win the West.
NL East is a mirror of the AL with the Phillies and Braves running away with the division title and wild card. The Central is also a mess with 4 teams in it althought the Reds might be close to gone. Still like the Brewers although the loss of Weeks, hurts the offense and their infield defense sucks.

Seemed like a trade for the Giants that would help them get some breathing space from Arizona but the Diamondbacks just keep coming and now have a 2.5 game buffer on the Giants. Do you think Arizona have been the biggest surpise packet this year?

Surprised with the Fukudome trade as the Indians did need some offensive help but can't see Fukudome helping too much in this area. Do you think the Indians gave up too much in the Ubaldo trade with Colorado?

The White Sox are still hanging around in this pennant race in the weakest division. They have really good pitching but their offense of Dunn & Rios are terrible. Amazed to see Dunn struggling so much. If we didn't have Verlander we would be a mess. Other than Justin our rotation has been way too inconsistent and might just cost us the division. Wasn't that pleased with the Fister & Pauley trade with the Mariners. Also i think the Tigers infield D is the worst in baseball.

I wanted to ask you about the trade situation after the non-waiver deadline. We picked up Delmon Young a few days ago from the twinkies, how is it that a guy who hit a tad under 300 last year with over 100RBIs can slip through waivers? Also if a team claims a player on waivers do they just take him or do they have to agree to a suitable trade?

Do we still all think the Phillies are the team to beat?

Who do you think will win the MVP and Cy Young awards?

[anfo27]

Recently got Foxtel put on, loving the extra baseball coverage.

Only thing with this is you don't get to see your team play that often. If you have been to MLB.com this season they are giving 1 free game of baseball to watch live every day.

I bought the $100 package from MLB.TV and get to see the Tigers play every weekend and day off as well as the odd early game during the week to see Verlander take the mound. Great pitcher to watch and would happily give up hours of sleep to watch him go to work.

[Glove38]

Only thing with this is you don't get to see your team play that often. If you have been to MLB.com this season they are giving 1 free game of baseball to watch live every day.

I bought the $100 package from MLB.TV and get to see the Tigers play every weekend and day off as well as the odd early game during the week to see Verlander take the mound. Great pitcher to watch and would happily give up hours of sleep to watch him go to work.

I did today :)

Although we lost :(

[Remi Moses]

Been getting a lot of Baseball Tonight, the Yanks have great sportscasters.
Some of our presenters should watch and learn. My mob The Mets are doing okay In a tough division

[Glove38]

Commentators giving a bit to Castro of the Cubs today, is this a common occurrence?

[The Underdog]

Commentators giving a bit to Castro of the Cubs today, is this a common occurrence?

If it's about his fielding or his allergy to taking a walk, probably.
On the upside the Cards just blew a series to us and are not going to catch the Brewers.

(Sorry to anfo too, I'll explain Waivers and post deadline trades when I don't have 2 children yelling at me)

[Glove38]

If it's about his fielding or his allergy to taking a walk, probably.
On the upside the Cards just blew a series to us and are not going to catch the Brewers.

(Sorry to anfo too, I'll explain Waivers and post deadline trades when I don't have 2 children yelling at me)

Yep, exactly what they were talking about.

[The Underdog]

Yep, exactly what they were talking about.

I'm not sure the plate discipline will come. His OPS is only about 25 points over his batting average so it's fortunate his batting average is good. He's only had 22 walks in 532 at bats.
Probably give him another year or so at SS and then if he isn't getting better it'd make sense to make him a 2B. Still he is only 21 so he's doing pretty good.

[The Coon Dog]

Wow!! October comes early to the MLB.

Both wild card play off places will come down to the final & 162nd game of the season tomorrow with the Boston Red Sox & the Tampa Bay Rays tied in the American League & the Atlanta Braves & the St.Louis Cardinals tied in the National League. If they remain tied there will be a one game play off (Tampa & St.Louis would host these games due to a better head to head record during the regular season).

American League Divisional Winners are:
- New York Yankees
- Detroit Tigers
- Texas Rangers

National League Divisional Winners are:
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Arizona Diamond Backs

[anfo27]

Wow!! October comes early to the MLB.

Both wild card play off places will come down to the final & 162nd game of the season tomorrow with the Boston Red Sox & the Tampa Bay Rays tied in the American League & the Atlanta Braves & the St.Louis Cardinals tied in the National League. If they remain tied there will be a one game play off (Tampa & St.Louis would host these games due to a better head to head record during the regular season).

American League Divisional Winners are:
- New York Yankees
- Detroit Tigers
- Texas Rangers

National League Divisional Winners are:
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Arizona Diamond Backs

Really looking forward to Game 1 on Saturday morning. I'm hoping the Rangers get done by the Angles and the Tigers beat the Indians to give us home field advantage for Saturday against the Bo Sox who would beat Tampa in a play off. That would be my ideal scenario but can't see the Rangers dropping a game to LA when they are not trying to win.

St. Louis should get through with the Braves facing the Phillies. What an exciting WC race it has been for the last few weeks.

Looking at the teams that have made the playoffs (assuming the Bo Sox & Cards make it) my predictions at the start of the year are nearly spot on. I didn't pick Arizona to win their division but who did? they have had an amazing year and their amazing come back win this morning tops it off.

So lets have some predictions people. I'm tiping my beloved Tigers to go all the way to the World Series and beat that juggernaut outfit out of Philly.

Verlander for Cy Young & ALMVP & WSMVP, GO TIGERS.

[The Underdog]

Really looking forward to Game 1 on Saturday morning. I'm hoping the Rangers get done by the Angles and the Tigers beat the Indians to give us home field advantage for Saturday against the Bo Sox who would beat Tampa in a play off. That would be my ideal scenario but can't see the Rangers dropping a game to LA when they are not trying to win.

St. Louis should get through with the Braves facing the Phillies. What an exciting WC race it has been for the last few weeks.

Looking at the teams that have made the playoffs (assuming the Bo Sox & Cards make it) my predictions at the start of the year are nearly spot on. I didn't pick Arizona to win their division but who did? they have had an amazing year and their amazing come back win this morning tops it off.

So lets have some predictions people. I'm tiping my beloved Tigers to go all the way to the World Series and beat that juggernaut outfit out of Philly.

Verlander for Cy Young & ALMVP & WSMVP, GO TIGERS.

Bad luck anfo, the Tigres won but so did the Rangers, so the Tigers will go to NY to face the Yanks, Cards also won. At the time of writing the Braves/Phils game is in the 12th inning with the Braves blowing a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th. If they lose the Cards play the Phils in the NLDS. The Rays also have gone from 7-0 down going into the bottom of the 8th, scoring 6 runs in the 8th and then tieing the game on a solo homer with their last out in the 9th. Now going into extras. This team will not die.
The Red Sox are leading 3-2 in the middle of the 7th in a game that's been rain delayed for an hour or so.
Just a super exciting last day.

[The Underdog]

And to follow up, the Phils beat the Braves 4-3 in the 13th. The Rays hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the 12th and the Red Sox blow a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 9th to the Orioles to miss the play offs. So no one game playoffs after all but the following match-ups and an epic collapse by the Red Sox who were 9 games up in early September.

AL
Yankees vs Tigers
Rangers vs Rays

NL
Phillies vs Cardinals
Brewers vs Diamondbacks

My tips
ALCS - Yanks vs Rangers
NLCS - Phillies vs Brewers

World Series
Rangers vs Phillies

Winner
Rangers

[Remi Moses]

Incredible last day with the Red Sox and Braves imploding.
Personally can't stand the Red Sox or Braves,remember the mets leading the NL East by 7 with 17 to go in 07 ( they put in extra seats at Shea, for post season)Mets fell apart!
Great to see the Rays one of the smaller salary ball clubs play post season, must have a great farm system as they lose stars to free agency. Phillies and Tigers to play in the W/S.

[Captain Groenewagon]

Incredible last day with the Red Sox and Braves imploding.
Personally can't stand the Red Sox or Braves,remember the mets leading the NL East by 7 with 17 to go in 07 ( they put in extra seats at Shea, for post season)Mets fell apart!
Great to see the Rays one of the smaller salary ball clubs play post season, must have a great farm system as they lose stars to free agency. Phillies and Tigers to play in the W/S.

No one mentioning the Yanks throwing this game to keep the Sox out?
Leading 7-0 at the end of the 7th innings.
Stinks to high heaven.

[anfo27]

Seeing the Rays got through over the Red Sox I'm quite happy we get to face the Yankmees and not the great pitching Tampa has.
What a last day of baseball, just wish I could of watched more than the snippets i saw at lunch time.

I think Tampa will get over the Rangers purely on starting pitching. Looking forward to the Verlander vs CC Sabathia contest come Saturday morning.

Anyone watching the playoffs this weekend as it won't be on free to air.

[Flamethrower]

I have been following The Show since the early 1980s and I can't remember a final day quite like it. Two big rallies in the AL East that decided the Wild Card, and yet another collapse by the ATL bullpen to hand the NL Wild Card to the Redbirds.

Evan Longoria would be about as popular as Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone in Red Sox Nation now.

[The Underdog]

No one mentioning the Yanks throwing this game to keep the Sox out?
Leading 7-0 at the end of the 7th innings.
Stinks to high heaven.

Perhaps the Red Sox should have held their 9th inning lead against the Baltimore freakin' Orioles. At least they would have forced a playoff. Nobody to blame but themselves.

[Raw Toast]

Incredible last day with the Red Sox and Braves imploding.
Personally can't stand the Red Sox or Braves,remember the mets leading the NL East by 7 with 17 to go in 07 ( they put in extra seats at Shea, for post season)Mets fell apart!
Great to see the Rays one of the smaller salary ball clubs play post season, must have a great farm system as they lose stars to free agency. Phillies and Tigers to play in the W/S.

Home sick, and I pay for MLB TV (for work purposes of course, grin). I generally only watch Padres games, but flipped it over to the key WC games which were compelling. Just an amazing night (US time), with lots of people saying it was the best night of baseball they'd seen, especially in the American League (though the Braves game was pretty compelling as well).

No one mentioning the Yanks throwing this game to keep the Sox out?
Leading 7-0 at the end of the 7th innings.
Stinks to high heaven.

It might have looked like that, but I saw the last few innings, and this was no intentional throw of the game.

Don't know your level of baseball knowledge, but a team in the Yankees position typically does exactly what they did - namely, play their starters for only half the game, and not use their elite closer at the end. Rest is super important at the end of a 162 game season, and this is done by pretty much all teams (making the Phillies triumph over the Braves even more impressive).

That said, the Yankees kept on playing hard. Tampa Bay were down to their last strike before hitting the tying home-run in the 9th, and even then the Yankees kept on generating opportunities. It was only a bit of a fluke play (combined with stupid base-running) that kept them from taking the lead in the 11th inning.

Boston on the other hand, were gloriously abysmal. They should have iced the game a number of times, and then got Baltimore down to their last strike before giving up three straight hits. The rage of Red Sox fans was amazing to read, and I look forward to the same from Collingwood or Geelong barrackers this Saturday, or even better, next Saturday (I'm praying for another draw).

[Raw Toast]

Perhaps the Red Sox should have held their 9th inning lead against the Baltimore freakin' Orioles. At least they would have forced a playoff. Nobody to blame but themselves.

Yup, and none of the Red Sox fans were actually really blaming the Yankees, except to suggest that it was part of a horrid plan to agonise them as much as possible (which might have been true, grin).

As a San Diego fan, I must say that I took a lot of pleasure in the demise of Adrian Gonzalez's new team. Their last few weeks have been epic (as have the Braves), and they ended up with the same win-loss record that we had last year which was pretty funny.

Did you see the triple play the Death Rays had against the Yankees the day before?

And how are you feeling about dem Cubs? I actually have a soft spot for them, but envy their money and know that we Padres fans celebrate 1984 too much...

[anfo27]

Yup, and none of the Red Sox fans were actually really blaming the Yankees, except to suggest that it was part of a horrid plan to agonise them as much as possible (which might have been true, grin).

As a San Diego fan, I must say that I took a lot of pleasure in the demise of Adrian Gonzalez's new team. Their last few weeks have been epic (as have the Braves), and they ended up with the same win-loss record that we had last year which was pretty funny.

Did you see the triple play the Death Rays had against the Yankees the day before?

And how are you feeling about dem Cubs? I actually have a soft spot for them, but envy their money and know that we Padres fans celebrate 1984 too much...

Yeah i did see that. Great play and it was kinda funny to see Martin dive for the bag at first to try at beat the throw.

Did anyone see the walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 11th ( i think) from Arizona the other day? Arizona are like the Rays in that they are nevr beaten till the last out.

[anfo27]

Slightly off topic from the play offs. I saw a preview last week of the movie Moneyball and it looks like my kind of movie. Just wanted to know if anyone has read the book and whether you recommend reading it.

[The Underdog]

Yup, and none of the Red Sox fans were actually really blaming the Yankees, except to suggest that it was part of a horrid plan to agonise them as much as possible (which might have been true, grin).

As a San Diego fan, I must say that I took a lot of pleasure in the demise of Adrian Gonzalez's new team. Their last few weeks have been epic (as have the Braves), and they ended up with the same win-loss record that we had last year which was pretty funny.

Did you see the triple play the Death Rays had against the Yankees the day before?

And how are you feeling about dem Cubs? I actually have a soft spot for them, but envy their money and know that we Padres fans celebrate 1984 too much...

Saw the Rays Triple play, as per anfo's comment, not sure why Martin dived into first but a massive play with the bases loaded.

The Cubs are in a total rebuild mode. New GM to be hired, probably followed closely by a new manager (Quade was a terrible hire). Then they only need a 1st, 2nd and 3rd baseman, a legit outfielder, 3 starting pitchers and to get rid of Soriano and Zambrano and they'll be fine. They may go all in for Pujols or Fielder but that would seem to be putting the cart before the horse.

Slightly off topic from the play offs. I saw a preview last week of the movie Moneyball and it looks like my kind of movie. Just wanted to know if anyone has read the book and whether you recommend reading it.

Moneyball the book is fantastic. I'm a bit scared the movie won't do it justice.

[The Underdog]

Here's a cool video timeline of the day from mlb.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110929&content_id=25386418&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

[The Underdog]

The Rays will be starting rookie lefty Matt Moore in game one vs the Rangers in Texas. It will be his 2nd major league start. He has pitched 4 and 2/3 innings of relief though so he's virtually a veteran. Apparently the kid is fantastic but that's some serious pressure.
I know the Rays starting pitching is above the Rangers but I like the Rangers relief and their lineup is a step above what the Rays can put up as far as runs. However a 5 game series is a lot more prone to upsets.

[Captain Groenewagon]

Don't know your level of baseball knowledge, but a team in the Yankees position typically does exactly what they did - namely, play their starters for only half the game, and not use their elite closer at the end. Rest is super important at the end of a 162 game season, and this is done by pretty much all teams (making the Phillies triumph over the Braves even more impressive).

My level of baseball knowledge is reading anything Bill Simmons writes which fair to say is "slightly" Boston-centric.
This includes the immortal 500 page opus "Now I can die in Peace".
In game strategy of this nature does not get much of a run.

I could tell you which Beverly Hill 90210 characters were most like Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra though........

[Captain Groenewagon]

Slightly off topic from the play offs. I saw a preview last week of the movie Moneyball and it looks like my kind of movie. Just wanted to know if anyone has read the book and whether you recommend reading it.

Agree that the book is great reading.
The reality of what happened to a lot of the players Bill Beane valued back in 2002 throws it off in a historical context, but that is a minor flaw

[The Underdog]

The Rays will be starting rookie lefty Matt Moore in game one vs the Rangers in Texas. It will be his 2nd major league start.

And he's pitched 2 hit shutout ball over 5 innings and the Rays are leading 8-0, through 2 homers & by Kelly Shoppach (yes really) and 1 from Johnny Damon (yes really)

[anfo27]

And he's pitched 2 hit shutout ball over 5 innings and the Rays are leading 8-0, through 2 homers & by Kelly Shoppach (yes really) and 1 from Johnny Damon (yes really)

Just watching the game now and I'm not surprised to see the Rays leading. All the experts have not really given the Rays much of a chance of advancing but doesn't good pitching and defense always beat good offfense in the play offs?

[The Underdog]

The Red Sox and Francona have parted ways too...come on Cubbies get in on that action.

[The Underdog]

Just watching the game now and I'm not surprised to see the Rays leading. All the experts have not really given the Rays much of a chance of advancing but doesn't good pitching and defense always beat good offfense in the play offs?

True but I felt that the differences in starting pitching weren't that great on output and that the Rangers had a massive advantage in relief pitching and that their lineup is vastly better than Tampa's. Anyway still 4 games to go from here.

[anfo27]

True but I felt that the differences in starting pitching weren't that great on output and that the Rangers had a massive advantage in relief pitching and that their lineup is vastly better than Tampa's. Anyway still 4 games to go from here.

Thats true and if last year is anything to go by this will go all the way down to game 5. Funny that last year when these teams met the home team lost every game.

[Raw Toast]

My level of baseball knowledge is reading anything Bill Simmons writes which fair to say is "slightly" Boston-centric.
This includes the immortal 500 page opus "Now I can die in Peace".
In game strategy of this nature does not get much of a run.

I could tell you which Beverly Hill 90210 characters were most like Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra though........

Simmons is glorious, and the ESPN literary sports-writing website he created - http://www.grantland.com/ - is well worth looking at. I see there's a game 162 diary to read plus angry Red Sox mutterings to feast upon, grin.

(San Diego was on the wrong side of a semi-similar loss last year when WC rival won against a better opponent, but no mutterings despite pulling out of key players bc that is the tradition if you're already through to playoffs.

The Yankees were bad in the 8th inning comeback by Rays, but the players on the field were still trying to impress their manager, and Rays made some incredibly clutch hits...)

The Red Sox and Francona have parted ways too...come on Cubbies get in on that action.

Wow, Red Sox fans were v, v angry yesterday, but I didn't think that the head they were calling for would actually roll given the success he has presided over.

[anfo27]

Got up early this morning to watch the Tigers Yankees game and I'm glad i did. Great result for us and now we take it back to Detroit for game 3 & a Verlander CC Sabathia showdown take 2. Rapt with the result this morning particulary after game 1 where we come out and didn't fire a shot. We were poor in every area and Fister did i great job for the most part.
Valverde did give me heart palpatations though but it doesn't matter how he finished it as long as he finished it.
Not sure if anyone else caught the game but one thing that really ticked me off was a couple of times when Yankee players were struck out they made it known to the umpire that they were not happy with the 3rd strike call. I don't usually have an issue with this but when the strike is an obvious strike and players like Jeter & Swisher who are very experienced ball players question the call it seems to me that they are trying to influence the calls. Am i wrong in thinking this?
It was also good to see the Cards take one off the Phillies.

[Remi Moses]

Always great to see a Yankee loss
Nearly as amusing as the Boston Yankees meltdown

[anfo27]

Always great to see a Yankee loss
Nearly as amusing as the Boston Yankees meltdown

Make that another loss to the Yankees. You little beauty the tigers lead the series 2-1 with a Rick Porcello and AJ Burnett match up to come tomorrow. What a game that went right down to the wire with Valverde again leaving 2 runners on. JV was jumped on early but after that he was exceptional, he did lose it for 3 batters there that got them back in it. CC battled all night and would have walked 6 or so i think.
Anyway hopefully Rick can come through with the goods tomorrow so we don't have to go back New York and face Nova again.

[The Underdog]

Make that another loss to the Yankees. You little beauty the tigers lead the series 2-1 with a Rick Porcello and AJ Burnett match up to come tomorrow. What a game that went right down to the wire with Valverde again leaving 2 runners on. JV was jumped on early but after that he was exceptional, he did lose it for 3 batters there that got them back in it. CC battled all night and would have walked 6 or so i think.
Anyway hopefully Rick can come through with the goods tomorrow so we don't have to go back New York and face Nova again.

Massive game to win. Porcello vs Burnett is a total lottery. Both capable of pitching a shutout, both capable of being knocked out with a 7 run first. Detroit have to be favourites now though.

[anfo27]

Massive game to win. Porcello vs Burnett is a total lottery. Both capable of pitching a shutout, both capable of being knocked out with a 7 run first. Detroit have to be favourites now though.

You're right, both have had periods of pitching really well and then have had periods of not getting past the 3rd inning. I'm worried about this game cause hitters like A Rod & Teixeira have done nothing thus far so Rick really needs to get that sinkerball working and hit his spots for us to have a chance. Ricks last 4 outings have been good ones so at least he is coming in with some form.
Reading the forums it seems as though even the Yankees fans are not confident with AJ taking the hill.
I'm spewing I have to go to work tomorrow so I won't be able to watch Jim and his boys pull off a 3-1 series win, heres hoping anyway.
I'm hoping Arizona can pick up a game or 2 off the Brewers cause they have been a great story this year and it would be a shame to see them get swept.
The Rays still a chance tomorrow with Hellickson, not a bad pitcher to come out as your 4th starter. They are up against it but you never rule out these guys.
GO TIGERS

[The Underdog]

Rangers beat the Rays 3 games to 1 to be the first team through to the ALCS.
Beltre hits 3 solo homers in Game 4.
Hopefully the Tigers can get over the Yanks today.

[Remi Moses]

Disappointing with the Rays being out.
Yippee get to see more of Jnr and old man Bush!:rolleyes:

[Remi Moses]

Make that another loss to the Yankees. You little beauty the tigers lead the series 2-1 with a Rick Porcello and AJ Burnett match up to come tomorrow. What a game that went right down to the wire with Valverde again leaving 2 runners on. JV was jumped on early but after that he was exceptional, he did lose it for 3 batters there that got them back in it. CC battled all night and would have walked 6 or so i think.
Anyway hopefully Rick can come through with the goods tomorrow so we don't have to go back New York and face Nova again.

Verlander must be frightening! He is unhittable, was it Valverde who said the series won't go back to New York? Not looking good

[The Underdog]

Verlander must be frightening! He is unhittable, was it Valverde who said the series won't go back to New York? Not looking good

The series is going back to New York barring a miracle. My money's on Valverde to blow the save in game 5;)
D'back's look like forcing Game 4. Hopefully the Cards lose their series at home tomorrow.

[anfo27]

Verlander must be frightening! He is unhittable, was it Valverde who said the series won't go back to New York? Not looking good

Verlander is great to watch when he's firing an all cylinders. There was batch of about 4 innings where he was unhittable and getting strike out after strike out. He threw plenty of triple digit fastballs but its the 3rd strike curveball that i love.
It was Valverde who said that but it was all tongue in cheek though.

[anfo27]

The series is going back to New York barring a miracle. My money's on Valverde to blow the save in game 5;)
D'back's look like forcing Game 4. Hopefully the Cards lose their series at home tomorrow.

Tigers couldn't come through today, no thanks to former tiger Granderson who made 2 great plays. Back to NY and another date with Nova.
Valverde will not blow a save, he is 50 from 50 so far this season. He might load the bases though but he'll come through in the end and give us that famous dance of his.

[Captain Groenewagon]

Tigers couldn't come through today, no thanks to former tiger Granderson who made 2 great plays. Back to NY and another date with Nova.
Valverde will not blow a save, he is 50 from 50 so far this season. He might load the bases though but he'll come through in the end and give us that famous dance of his.

Worth noting Papelbon was something like 84 from 84 this season before Game #162.
You never know.
As Boomer says That's why they play the game..........

[anfo27]

Worth noting Papelbon was something like 84 from 84 this season before Game #162.
You never know.
As Boomer says That's why they play the game..........

Thats not right at all. Valverde is the only closer who hasn't blown a save this year and he leads all of baseball with saves this year. 84 from 84 would be close to the all time record if not more so I'm not sure where you have got your stats from Captain.

Not blowing a save in the regular season means nothing in the post season, the pressure just doesn't even come close.

[The Underdog]

Thats not right at all. Valverde is the only closer who hasn't blown a save this year and he leads all of baseball with saves this year. 84 from 84 would be close to the all time record if not more so I'm not sure where you have got your stats from Captain.

Not blowing a save in the regular season means nothing in the post season, the pressure just doesn't even come close.

Just how Valverde didn't blow a save this year is a miracle. The guys stats are middling. He's way overdue. Papelbon is toast though. Guarantee he gets traded to a team with grand designs in the off season and is awful next year.

[anfo27]

Just how Valverde didn't blow a save this year is a miracle. The guys stats are middling. He's way overdue. Papelbon is toast though. Guarantee he gets traded to a team with grand designs in the off season and is awful next year.

His stats when its not a save situation is not good at all so thats elevated his ERA a bit but during a save situation he has been outstanding. The closest he has come to blowing a save was getting the 3rd out on the throw at home plate from centre field.
What do you think about his dance after the final out?

[Remi Moses]

Verlander is great to watch when he's firing an all cylinders. There was batch of about 4 innings where he was unhittable and getting strike out after strike out. He threw plenty of triple digit fastballs but its the 3rd strike curveball that i love.
It was Valverde who said that but it was all tongue in cheek though.

The Young closer at the Braves was also(pimble?) untouchable until September.
Notice one of the Geelong Boys had the Beard ( Brian Jones, not Huddo) as his fancy dress.
Impressive

[anfo27]

The Young closer at the Braves was also(pimble?) untouchable until September.
Notice one of the Geelong Boys had the Beard ( Brian Jones, not Huddo) as his fancy dress.
Impressive

Close, his name is Kimbrel. He had an outstanding year and broke the rookie record for most saves but unfortunately he was the one with the blown save against the Phillies in the last game of the year to hand the play off spot to St. Louis.
He gets a lot of attention now Brian Wilson because of that beard but i have to say i think he is a little over rated.

[The Underdog]

His stats when its not a save situation is not good at all so thats elevated his ERA a bit but during a save situation he has been outstanding. The closest he has come to blowing a save was getting the 3rd out on the throw at home plate from centre field.
What do you think about his dance after the final out?

For what it's worth I don't place much stock in saves anyway. I don't think Valverde is that good. The Jackson throw to save the game is a classic example of being lucky and having good defense to make you look better. If Jackson isn't playing that ball shallow enough to throw the man at home out then the run is in.
As for the dance, I'm pretty ambivalent. Good on him but not really my style.

[anfo27]

For what it's worth I don't place much stock in saves anyway. I don't think Valverde is that good. The Jackson throw to save the game is a classic example of being lucky and having good defense to make you look better. If Jackson isn't playing that ball shallow enough to throw the man at home out then the run is in.
As for the dance, I'm pretty ambivalent. Good on him but not really my style.

Before we had Valverde closing we had Fernando Rodney who was terrible in that role and if he didn't blow the save he did a very good job in trying to blow it. I guess thats why I love Valverde so much. He does have some luck but Detroit is definately not known for their defense.
It seems that the older baseball fan thinks along the same lines as you and don't have much time for closers. I do hear the 'its only 3 outs no big deal' line a bit but I have only been a baseball nut for about 5 years so i don't know the game without the closers.

[anfo27]

Great to see Arizona square up the series at 2 and maybe we might see a St. Louis vs Arizona NLCS.

Big game tomorrow with game 5 in the Bronx. Hopefully Fister can outpitch Nova this time and we can advance to ALCS and a date with Texas. Please can we get a damn hit from Jackson and Avila, just one would be nice.
Go Tigers.

[The Underdog]

Before we had Valverde closing we had Fernando Rodney who was terrible in that role and if he didn't blow the save he did a very good job in trying to blow it. I guess thats why I love Valverde so much. He does have some luck but Detroit is definately not known for their defense.
It seems that the older baseball fan thinks along the same lines as you and don't have much time for closers. I do hear the 'its only 3 outs no big deal' line a bit but I have only been a baseball nut for about 5 years so i don't know the game without the closers.

Valverde has had a good season particularly the 2nd half, although his September was his best month and the competition was poor. I think the whole no blown saves thing made his season look better. The closer thing is more about the way manager's use guys only in certain situations and the lack of flexibility this leads to from my perspective, plus the saves stat is a poor and arbitrary one.
Great to see Arizona square up the series at 2 and maybe we might see a St. Louis vs Arizona NLCS.

Big game tomorrow with game 5 in the Bronx. Hopefully Fister can outpitch Nova this time and we can advance to ALCS and a date with Texas. Please can we get a damn hit from Jackson and Avila, just one would be nice.
Go Tigers.

Good start with 2 runs in the first. How about Delmon Young with a 1.020 OPS and 2 HR's in the series so far? Nobody saw that coming. Anyway hope the Tigers win. Same with the
Phils and the Brewers. As a Cubs fan I hope Halladay throws a perfect game against the Cards tomorrow.

[anfo27]

Valverde has had a good season particularly the 2nd half, although his September was his best month and the competition was poor. I think the whole no blown saves thing made his season look better. The closer thing is more about the way manager's use guys only in certain situations and the lack of flexibility this leads to from my perspective, plus the saves stat is a poor and arbitrary one.


Good start with 2 runs in the first. How about Delmon Young with a 1.020 OPS and 2 HR's in the series so far? Nobody saw that coming. Anyway hope the Tigers win. Same with the
Phils and the Brewers. As a Cubs fan I hope Halladay throws a perfect game against the Cards tomorrow.

Today makes it 3 home runs. WOW Don Kelly hitting a home run is huge surprise, only got the start cause Betemit has been rubbish so far. Keep it going Tigers.

[The Underdog]

Today makes it 3 home runs. WOW Don Kelly hitting a home run is huge surprise, only got the start cause Betemit has been rubbish so far. Keep it going Tigers.

Phil Hughes in for Nova in the 3rd...things are looking up for the Tiger's:)
Not sure why Kelly was in but it worked for one AB at least

[anfo27]

Phil Hughes in for Nova in the 3rd...things are looking up for the Tiger's:)
Not sure why Kelly was in but it worked for one AB at least

Top of the 7th and Tigers are still up 3-1. Hopefully your prediction of Valverde blowing it will not happen. Please don't happen.

Apparently Nova was taken out with a tight forearm.

[anfo27]

Looks like you're going to get your wish Underdog. Bottom of the 9th the tigers up 3-2 with Valverde to come. COME ON PAPA GRANDE

[anfo27]

You little beauty, Tigers get through in a thriller. What a game and what a series.

[Remi Moses]

Quiet crowd:p
Verlander game 1 and later in the series .
Good result . One run ball game hostile crowd, powerful Yankee order.
That's pressure

[anfo27]

Quiet crowd:p
Verlander game 1 and later in the series .
Good result . One run ball game hostile crowd, powerful Yankee order.
That's pressure

Loads of pressure for the tigers relief pitchers. Benoit had bases loaded with one out in the 7th and came through with a strikeout of Swisher. Jeter in the 8th nearly hit one out but got caught on the warning track. Valverde in the 9th was great against the heart of that Yankees batting order. Striking out A-Rod to end it was sweet and ended a very nerve racking game.
Going out to a wedding in a few hours so I'll be getting on it to celebrate the downfall of those cocky yankmees.
Good night yankess and hello Texas.

[The Underdog]

Loads of pressure for the tigers relief pitchers. Benoit had bases loaded with one out in the 7th and came through with a strikeout of Swisher. Jeter in the 8th nearly hit one out but got caught on the warning track. Valverde in the 9th was great against the heart of that Yankees batting order. Striking out A-Rod to end it was sweet and ended a very nerve racking game.
Going out to a wedding in a few hours so I'll be getting on it to celebrate the downfall of those cocky yankmees.
Good night yankess and hello Texas.

Congrats anfo, enjoy. Your boys came through some tight situations to take it in NY against a very good team. Good series coming up with Texas. I haven't watched the game yet but looking forward to it (especially the save;)).

[The Underdog]

Brewers win in the 10th against the D'Backs with a walk-off single. Cards have a 1-0 lead in the 4th against the Phils. Might be enough, the Phils pitching is excellent but their offense sucks.

[anfo27]

Brewers win in the 10th against the D'Backs with a walk-off single. Cards have a 1-0 lead in the 4th against the Phils. Might be enough, the Phils pitching is excellent but their offense sucks.

Looks like 3 game 5 thrillers. Top of the 9th with cards still up 1-0.

[Remi Moses]

Phillies offense went cold. Hopefully the Brewers beat the Cards( think it's compulsory to be over 60 at Busch stadium) To win 100 games and not make the NLCS series, ouchhhh! Did they replace Wearth? Just have to look at the seats behind home plate in Texas to who'll I'll be Rootin' for!

[anfo27]

Huge result for the cards, to be 10 1/2 games back in the wild card race and then make and beat the Phillies in the first round is an amazing result.
Game 1 starts in 30 minutes with Verlander taking on CJ Wilson. Huge blow for the tigers with Delmon Young being ruled out for the whole series. We don't have a whole lot of depth and he was in great form with 3 homeers in ALDS which is a tigers record.
GO TIGERS

[GVGjr]

It's marvelous in baseball how some teams are able to be super competitive even though the spend a fraction of the money that teams like the Yankees do. The Tampa Bay Rays only spend about 20 to 25% of the salary the Yankees do.
It doesn't always happen but every now and then some teams surprise.

Found this article to be interesting

Baseball (http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/08/money-is-no-issue-in-mlb-playoffs)

[westdog54]

Looks like 3 game 5 thrillers. Top of the 9th with cards still up 1-0.

I've been on nightshift the past week and have been lucky enough to catch some replays of the playoffs on One HD. Some cracking games of baseball, plenty of twists and turns. Can't remember a post season this close for a long time.

[anfo27]

It's marvelous in baseball how some teams are able to be super competitive even though the spend a fraction of the money that teams like the Yankees do. The Tampa Bay Rays only spend about 20 to 25% of the salary the Yankees do.
It doesn't always happen but every now and then some teams surprise.

Found this article to be interesting

Baseball (http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/08/money-is-no-issue-in-mlb-playoffs)

The Tampa Bay Rays are a great example of being a very smart organisation. They are in the toughest division where they are competing with the huge payrolls of the Yankees & Red Sox just to make the post season and they have made the post season 3 out of the last 4 years.
As the article tells us the Yankees have a payroll of $200 million, Red Sox $160 million while they are working with a budget of $40 million and have to find a way to compete. They look at these bigger organisations and think 'how can we compete with these guys'. They know they can't out spend these teams so they have decided that the only way they can compete is to out develop these bigger ball clubs. They put all their resources into development & drafting and have done a terrific job. When they get their draft picks they nail them and they use the free agency to their advantage.
They lost some damn good players in the off season to free agency (Crawford, Benoit, Soriano, Garza, Bartlett, Balfour) and they made no real attempt to keep these players, yet they still made the post season. They prefer to concentrate on nailing the compensation picks to further stregthen their farm system. The depth of talent the Rays have in their organisation is amazing and they will continue to be a power in their division for many years to come.
There is a lot to admire about the rays and a lot lessons that can be learnt by the way they operate. With free agency coming into the AFL next year maybe its not all doom and gloom for clubs like ours as has been touted.

[anfo27]

I've been on nightshift the past week and have been lucky enough to catch some replays of the playoffs on One HD. Some cracking games of baseball, plenty of twists and turns. Can't remember a post season this close for a long time.

really disappointed there has been no live games on ONE HD thus far. To have nearly one live game every Mon-Fri during the regular season and not one live game post season is piss poor.

[GVGjr]

There is a lot to admire about the rays and a lot lessons that can be learnt by the way they operate. With free agency coming into the AFL next year maybe its not all doom and gloom for clubs like ours as has been touted.

When AFL clubs visit overseas sporting organizations they tend to follow the big boys rather than the ones punching above their weight and I think we should be focusing on what the clubs like Tampa Bay are doing to see what opportunities there are for us.

[anfo27]

When AFL clubs visit overseas sporting organizations they tend to follow the big boys rather than the ones punching above their weight and I think we should be focusing on what the clubs like Tampa Bay are doing to see what opportunities there are for us.

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. This may sound stupid but I thought why don't we pay 92.5% of the cap and use that money we save in upgrading our drafting & development areas. Then when we lose players to free agency we can get the best kids out there to replace them. Might sound too simple to work but was just a thought.

[Raw Toast]

It's marvelous in baseball how some teams are able to be super competitive even though the spend a fraction of the money that teams like the Yankees do. The Tampa Bay Rays only spend about 20 to 25% of the salary the Yankees do.
It doesn't always happen but every now and then some teams surprise.

Found this article to be interesting

Baseball (http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/08/money-is-no-issue-in-mlb-playoffs)

Money is still a huge issue in the MLB, but a salary cap won't work because the biggest problem is that the revenue sharing is completely unfair - teams get to negotiate their own tv contracts, and thus the teams in the biggest media markets have much better deals than the rest. Tampa Bay has been able to go against this as anfo notes below.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a great example of being a very smart organisation. They are in the toughest division where they are competing with the huge payrolls of the Yankees & Red Sox just to make the post season and they have made the post season 3 out of the last 4 years.
As the article tells us the Yankees have a payroll of $200 million, Red Sox $160 million while they are working with a budget of $40 million and have to find a way to compete. They look at these bigger organisations and think 'how can we compete with these guys'. They know they can't out spend these teams so they have decided that the only way they can compete is to out develop these bigger ball clubs. They put all their resources into development & drafting and have done a terrific job. When they get their draft picks they nail them and they use the free agency to their advantage.
They lost some damn good players in the off season to free agency (Crawford, Benoit, Soriano, Garza, Bartlett, Balfour) and they made no real attempt to keep these players, yet they still made the post season. They prefer to concentrate on nailing the compensation picks to further stregthen their farm system. The depth of talent the Rays have in their organisation is amazing and they will continue to be a power in their division for many years to come.
There is a lot to admire about the rays and a lot lessons that can be learnt by the way they operate. With free agency coming into the AFL next year maybe its not all doom and gloom for clubs like ours as has been touted.

The problem with us trying to follow the Rays model is that we don't have the same kind of inefficiencies in our system. The MLB draft goes for 50 or so rounds, and Tampa Bay invest more in scouting than bigger teams and get a much deeper list through the compensation picks and better drafting.

In the AFL the Dogs still don't have resources to invest more in the draft than the bigger teams, and the biggest growing problem is that the Pies et al have realised that they can beef up their footy depts much more than we can. So unless they become lazy, we're not going to be able to get a huge advantage.

Also, baseball players typically take 4-6 years to get to the parent team, and then the team has them under control for 6 years. (To use the language of major league baseball.) It's a fair bit easier to build a very competitive team on a fairly constant stream of very good to excellent prospects in their mid-20s, than it is to rely on a few comp picks when you lose your free agents.

Comparisons with NFL also fail a bit because their top draft picks can make often a big impact in their first year, definitely by their second year.

really disappointed there has been no live games on ONE HD thus far. To have nearly one live game every Mon-Fri during the regular season and not one live game post season is piss poor.

Indeed. ONE HD has become significantly worse since it's ownership changed to include some people with investment in Fox. I'm crazy enough to pay the mlb (and nfl) for the privilege of watching their games live, but wish ONE had lived up to its promise.

[Raw Toast]

When AFL clubs visit overseas sporting organizations they tend to follow the big boys rather than the ones punching above their weight and I think we should be focusing on what the clubs like Tampa Bay are doing to see what opportunities there are for us.

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago. This may sound stupid but I thought why don't we pay 92.5% of the cap and use that money we save in upgrading our drafting & development areas. Then when we lose players to free agency we can get the best kids out there to replace them. Might sound too simple to work but was just a thought.

Both of these were posted while I was writing my too long post :o

I agree that we should be visiting successful teams from smaller markets who have been clever enough to flourish with fewer resources.

I still don't think we can get the kind of advantage we need in recruiting, because the bigger teams are already trying to outspend everyone else with this anyway.

[GVGjr]

The problem with us trying to follow the Rays model is that we don't have the same kind of inefficiencies in our system. The MLB draft goes for 50 or so rounds, and Tampa Bay invest more in scouting than bigger teams and get a much deeper list through the compensation picks and better drafting.



Granted they are very different codes and vastly different with salary caps and drafts etc but the main fact is that an under resourced club has found the best way for them to compete against richer and better resourced clubs. They just had to or learn to be content just to make up the numbers. I think there are better lessons to learn from clubs the Rays than some high profiled soccer clubs.

[anfo27]

Both of these were posted while I was writing my too long post :o

I agree that we should be visiting successful teams from smaller markets who have been clever enough to flourish with fewer resources.

I still don't think we can get the kind of advantage we need in recruiting, because the bigger teams are already trying to outspend everyone else with this anyway.

I agree its not an area that we can get a big advantage over clubs like Collingwood but its an area we need to get a hell of lot better at. If we could spend more money in this area then we can make every pick count. Having a highly talented list that we can develop will give us a more realistic chance to compete for a flag.
I've heard time & time again that you can't compete unles you pay 100% of the cap and i think thats rubbish. You can't compete if you can't get the best kids to your organisation or you can't develop those kids.

[The Underdog]

really disappointed there has been no live games on ONE HD thus far. To have nearly one live game every Mon-Fri during the regular season and not one live game post season is piss poor.




Indeed. ONE HD has become significantly worse since it's ownership changed to include some people with investment in Fox. I'm crazy enough to pay the mlb (and nfl) for the privilege of watching their games live, but wish ONE had lived up to its promise.

Pretty sure One don't have the rights to show the playoffs live. Fox must own them. They've always showed the playoffs on delay. It sucks but at least it's something.
Thank Christ for my DVR, it's full of baseball playoffs that I might finish watching around Christmas.

Wild win by the Brewers today. Go Brew Crew.

[anfo27]

Pretty sure One don't have the rights to show the playoffs live. Fox must own them. They've always showed the playoffs on delay. It sucks but at least it's something.
Thank Christ for my DVR, it's full of baseball playoffs that I might finish watching around Christmas.

Wild win by the Brewers today. Go Brew Crew.

Why on earth would you pitch to Prince if you have a free base open? Kirk Gibson made that mistake a few times in games 1 & 2 and paid for it but he is a rookie coach, La Russa is one of the most experienced managers going around and he makes the same mistake.

Some more bad news for the Tigers, as well as losing Delmon Young for the series we have lost Ordonez for the season with a broken ankle. Looks like Don Kelly & Ryan Raburn will be playing every day now, not good news.

[The Underdog]

Some more bad news for the Tigers, as well as losing Delmon Young for the series we have lost Ordonez for the season with a broken ankle. Looks like Don Kelly & Ryan Raburn will be playing every day now, not good news.

Young has been brought back to replace Ordonez. Not sure how fit he'll be or if he'll have any power.

[Remi Moses]

Going to win plenty of ball games when the pen goes 8 1/3 without conceding!

[The Underdog]

Tigers with some work to do. Rangers have deeper hitting and relief pitching and probably level on starting pitching at this point.
Brewers are going to have to win some games away. I've got a bad feeling the Cards are all of a sudden big favourites in the NLCS. Pujols destroyed in game 2. Brewers starting pitching is looking bad.

[anfo27]

Tigers with some work to do. Rangers have deeper hitting and relief pitching and probably level on starting pitching at this point.
Brewers are going to have to win some games away. I've got a bad feeling the Cards are all of a sudden big favourites in the NLCS. Pujols destroyed in game 2. Brewers starting pitching is looking bad.

not a great start for my tigers. Our relief pitching consists of benoit, coke & valverde & when we use anyone else we're in trouble. We have no depth in our pen at all and this when your weaknesses get shown up. whats really disappointing is our hitting. Players like Cabrera, matinez, Avila, Peralta, betemit can not get the job done when they couldn't stop driving in runs during the regular season. Avila in particular has had 2 hits in 7 games.

Not over yet but we are in a massive hole right now.

[The Underdog]

not a great start for my tigers. Our relief pitching consists of benoit, coke & valverde & when we use anyone else we're in trouble. We have no depth in our pen at all and this when your weaknesses get shown up. whats really disappointing is our hitting. Players like Cabrera, matinez, Avila, Peralta, betemit can not get the job done when they couldn't stop driving in runs during the regular season. Avila in particular has had 2 hits in 7 games.

Not over yet but we are in a massive hole right now.

The deals the Rangers made for Adams, Uehara and Gonzalez may be the ones that get them a WS win. On the upside Don Kelly is hitting for the first time in his life.
BTW, how is that Dirks drop in the 11th not scored an error. He dropped a straight forward catch FFS.
Looks like One only have the rights to the NLCS :(
Seriously wish the Phillies had of got through so at least there was some pitching left in the NL. If the Rangers get through to the WS they might put up 10 runs a game against the NL (Carpenter aside)

[anfo27]

The deals the Rangers made for Adams, Uehara and Gonzalez may be the ones that get them a WS win. On the upside Don Kelly is hitting for the first time in his life.
BTW, how is that Dirks drop in the 11th not scored an error. He dropped a straight forward catch FFS.
Looks like One only have the rights to the NLCS :(
Seriously wish the Phillies had of got through so at least there was some pitching left in the NL. If the Rangers get through to the WS they might put up 10 runs a game against the NL (Carpenter aside)

Yeah the Rangers picked up some good arms on the trade deadline while we picked up Pauley for our pen and he has been rubbish.
Don Kelly 0-4 tonight and they were hitting him after Victor.
Haven't seen the Dirks catch yet, maybe One will show replay one day so i can catch it.
Marcum and Greinke haven't been great for the crew but at least they are there with a chance. If my Tigers get there I'll be licking my chops with the pitching duels.
Did you see Beltre today? he fouled the ball 3 times into his legs and he was hobbling for most of the game. He looks to be in a lot of pain and so does Victor. We're still alive.

I hear the Cubs are into Theo Epstein big time and are waiting for his decision to go to the Cubs or see out his contract with the Red Sox. Happy with this move?

[The Underdog]

Yeah the Rangers picked up some good arms on the trade deadline while we picked up Pauley for our pen and he has been rubbish.
Don Kelly 0-4 tonight and they were hitting him after Victor.
Haven't seen the Dirks catch yet, maybe One will show replay one day so i can catch it.
Marcum and Greinke haven't been great for the crew but at least they are there with a chance. If my Tigers get there I'll be licking my chops with the pitching duels.
Did you see Beltre today? he fouled the ball 3 times into his legs and he was hobbling for most of the game. He looks to be in a lot of pain and so does Victor. We're still alive.

I hear the Cubs are into Theo Epstein big time and are waiting for his decision to go to the Cubs or see out his contract with the Red Sox. Happy with this move?

I usually use ESPN highlights which is where I saw the Dirks drop. Good win by the Tigres, had to win it to be realistically alive.

If Theo ends up with the Cubs that's freakin' awesome, if Francona comes with him, I may need a moment alone

[Raw Toast]

If Theo ends up with the Cubs that's freakin' awesome, if Francona comes with him, I may need a moment alone

Glorious, though how would you survive the Cubs actually doing well?

Pretty amazing stories are coming out re the Red Sox collapse: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/10/12/red_sox_unity_dedication_dissolved_during_epic_lat e_season_collapse/?camp=misc:on:twit:rtbutton

And my MLB subscription covers the playoffs, so I'm open to the possibility of having people around on Saturday (and maybe Sunday).

[anfo27]

Glorious, though how would you survive the Cubs actually doing well?

Pretty amazing stories are coming out re the Red Sox collapse: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/10/12/red_sox_unity_dedication_dissolved_during_epic_lat e_season_collapse/?camp=misc:on:twit:rtbutton

And my MLB subscription covers the playoffs, so I'm open to the possibility of having people around on Saturday (and maybe Sunday).

Wow, i had a read of that article and i don't think i have ever red anything as ridiculous as that. They don't hold back over there do they?

[KT31]

Wow, i had a read of that article and i don't think i have ever red anything as ridiculous as that. They don't hold back over there do they?

Agree no holding back in that article.
How could the Red Socks members and management let it get to this point ?

[The Underdog]

Glorious, though how would you survive the Cubs actually doing well?

Pretty amazing stories are coming out re the Red Sox collapse: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2011/10/12/red_sox_unity_dedication_dissolved_during_epic_lat e_season_collapse/?camp=misc:on:twit:rtbutton

And my MLB subscription covers the playoffs, so I'm open to the possibility of having people around on Saturday (and maybe Sunday).

It looks like it's going to happen, although reports are that Francona is unlikely.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111011&content_id=25609938&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

I think the Globe story has elements of beat-up. Baseball clubhouses are pretty different environments from many sporting organisations, although the allegations of not being in the dugout with teammates during such a dire run and lack of commitment to conditioning are pretty unprofessional. As another article I read said, Francona wasn't responsible for his starters having a 7+ ERA in September. And they went 81-40 also while he was living in a hotel and going through a marriage break-up.

[The Underdog]

Tigers with an early 2-0 lead. If they can win and tie the series at 2-2 then they are probably favourites all of a sudden with Verlander on the mound tomorrow.

[The Underdog]

Well Valverde didn't blow the save but he blew something. Why the hell did they intentionally walk Beltre to get to Napoli in the 11th?
Nelson Cruz has to be the series MVP whatever happens from here.
Tough road for the Tigers from here.

[anfo27]

Well Valverde didn't blow the save but he blew something. Why the hell did they intentionally walk Beltre to get to Napoli in the 11th?
Nelson Cruz has to be the series MVP whatever happens from here.
Tough road for the Tigers from here.

Only reason i can think of is that they were trying for a groundout double play. We had our chances again but couldn't come up with the hits when we really needed them. Big play from the Rangers in the 8th to throw Cabrera out at home.
Valverde has an ERA of over 6 when its not a save situation. We just don't have the depth in our pen to hand a lead to Valverde.
We're just about cooked. We should win tomorrow but we will need a miracle to take both games off Texas as home. We'll need Scherzer & Fister to pitch 7 innings and hand the ball to Benoit with a lead otherwise we got no chance.
Nellie does it to us again.
GUTTED.

[Raw Toast]

Big play from the Rangers in the 8th to throw Cabrera out at home.

I chatted with a friend in the US about this who is much more knowledgeable about baseball than me. I thought Detroit should have pinch-run with Cabrera on 3rd. He said you can't take out your best player, but I replied that I'd love to have the guts to make a decision like that (which might just show my ignorance).

[The Underdog]

I chatted with a friend in the US about this who is much more knowledgeable about baseball than me. I thought Detroit should have pinch-run with Cabrera on 3rd. He said you can't take out your best player, but I replied that I'd love to have the guts to make a decision like that (which might just show my ignorance).

Problem is if Young and the following batter strike out you've taken out your best hitter. However given it looked like Cruz threw out a boat travelling down the 3rd base line it would have been a gutsy and good call. manager's tend not to make the call's that can get them roasted after though. Nobody questions the safe decision.

[anfo27]

I chatted with a friend in the US about this who is much more knowledgeable about baseball than me. I thought Detroit should have pinch-run with Cabrera on 3rd. He said you can't take out your best player, but I replied that I'd love to have the guts to make a decision like that (which might just show my ignorance).

Jim Leyland has pinch run for Victor a few times towards the end of the regular season in tight situations and everytime its backfired. We didn't get the run, it went to extras and we didn't have Victor there when it was his turn to hit. Jim was never going to make a call like that especially with Young up next who hasn't got a hit in the series and Avila to follow who is 2 for 32 in the post season. The way Nellie threw that ball in the only person who might have beat the throw was Austin Jackson.
On a side note i'm amazed that the runner coming home has the green light to run straight through the catcher. I don't like it and they should change the rules there. Did anyone see vision of Buster Posey having his season ended from this exact situation?

[anfo27]

Tigers hanging in there with a tight 7-5 win over the rangers. Still looks like mission impossible to take 2 games in Texas. Looks like we finally got some luck from the baseball gods with big Miggys grounder hitting 3rd base and jumping over Beltre head for an RBI double and starting a 4 run 6th inning. Hoping we can ride lady luck for a little while longer.

[The Underdog]

Amazingly the Brewers get the win behind an effective Randy Wolf to tie it up, so both series go at least to game 6.
Haven't seen any of yesterday but on my favourite subject of stupid intentional walks, I realised yesterday that in the 8th inning of game 4 the Rangers intentionally walked Cabrera to START the inning. none on, none out intentional walk. Why would you do that? Baseball seems to be a game where often teams can prosper despite their manager. The Rangers being a pretty good example.

[anfo27]

Amazingly the Brewers get the win behind an effective Randy Wolf to tie it up, so both series go at least to game 6.
Haven't seen any of yesterday but on my favourite subject of stupid intentional walks, I realised yesterday that in the 8th inning of game 4 the Rangers intentionally walked Cabrera to START the inning. none on, none out intentional walk. Why would you do that? Baseball seems to be a game where often teams can prosper despite their manager. The Rangers being a pretty good example.

I did see that and also found it odd but i think his reasoning was they tried to pitch around him earlier but he chased an 0-2 pitch high and off the plate and hit down the 1st base line for 2RBI double. I guess he thought being such a tight game with Cabrera at the plate he is in scoring position already and with Martinez, Kelly & Young not hitting behind him then he thought he'd take his chances. Being a tigers fan i never like seeing the big fella get walked especially with nobody on.
Being a Cubs fan are you more interested in the NLCS or ALCS or it doesn't really matter?

[The Underdog]

I did see that and also found it odd but i think his reasoning was they tried to pitch around him earlier but he chased an 0-2 pitch high and off the plate and hit down the 1st base line for 2RBI double. I guess he thought being such a tight game with Cabrera at the plate he is in scoring position already and with Martinez, Kelly & Young not hitting behind him then he thought he'd take his chances. Being a tigers fan i never like seeing the big fella get walked especially with nobody on.
Being a Cubs fan are you more interested in the NLCS or ALCS or it doesn't really matter?

Yes but you increase his chances of getting on base from maybe 40% to 100% and he has Martinez hitting behind him, it's not like it's the pitcher coming up. If he had of ended up as the winning run then Washington should have been crucified.

If I had my choice I'd rather watch the ALCS, better pitching, better teams.

[anfo27]

Yes but you increase his chances of getting on base from maybe 40% to 100% and he has Martinez hitting behind him, it's not like it's the pitcher coming up. If he had of ended up as the winning run then Washington should have been crucified.

If I had my choice I'd rather watch the ALCS, better pitching, better teams.

Since i'm a tigers supporter i follow the AL about 90% of the time so even if the tigers were not in it i would spend most of my time following the AL as i now the rosters more. The NL i know the main hitters and pitchers and thats about it.

At least with walking Cabrera they limit the impact he has on a game. I'd be happy if Leyland intentionally walked Cruz from now on, he has single handedly beaten us. This guy is unbelievable, he took Verlander deep off a 100m/hr fastball for his record breaking 5th home run. He has all of the rangers home runs. If i was Wash i would have nellie in the 3 or 4 spot.

The cards up 3 games to 2. It seems that both teams can't get their starters to go more than 4 or so innings. If that was the tigers with our bullpen we would get smashed 4-0.

[The Underdog]

Since i'm a tigers supporter i follow the AL about 90% of the time so even if the tigers were not in it i would spend most of my time following the AL as i now the rosters more. The NL i know the main hitters and pitchers and thats about it.

At least with walking Cabrera they limit the impact he has on a game. I'd be happy if Leyland intentionally walked Cruz from now on, he has single handedly beaten us. This guy is unbelievable, he took Verlander deep off a 100m/hr fastball for his record breaking 5th home run. He has all of the rangers home runs. If i was Wash i would have nellie in the 3 or 4 spot.

The cards up 3 games to 2. It seems that both teams can't get their starters to go more than 4 or so innings. If that was the tigers with our bullpen we would get smashed 4-0.

Sorry I'm anti-Intentional walk in 95% of situations. I just don't believe in putting extra runners on the bases.

[anfo27]

Sorry I'm anti-Intentional walk in 95% of situations. I just don't believe in putting extra runners on the bases.

Even with a base open and dangerous hitter on deck? I see baseball as a heavily tactical sport so the intentional walks make sense to me.

[The Underdog]

Even with a base open and dangerous hitter on deck? I see baseball as a heavily tactical sport so the intentional walks make sense to me.

But even with a dangerous hitter you're usually at least a 66% chance of getting them out. I understand the reasoning behind it, it's just that there is a fairly large body of evidence that suggests that it is statistically much better to pitch to batters rather than intentionally walk them. Generally it just helps produce more runs. Sure if the pitcher is coming up it's fine to intentionally walk someone but mostly it should be avoided.

[Remi Moses]

Just wondering how a team ( Brewers can be so incredible at home and so deplorable on the road? Brewers defense is awful, and the AL series seems better quality.

[The Underdog]

Just wondering how a team ( Brewers can be so incredible at home and so deplorable on the road? Brewers defense is awful, and the AL series seems better quality.

In the end I think it's pretty random, probably won't be repeaed again. But yes they are defensively awful. When McGehee is at 3rd they are close to the worst infield going around. Betancourt is a butcher at short, although I think his year this year wasn't too terrible.
Starting pitching in the NL series is poor. Can't see any way the Brewers win 2 to win the series with their pitching match-ups.
I think if the Tigers can pull out the win tonight then the game 7 match-up of Fister vs Lewis is a very good one for them. I like Holland of the Rangers though so Scherzer will need to be good.

[anfo27]

In the end I think it's pretty random, probably won't be repeaed again. But yes they are defensively awful. When McGehee is at 3rd they are close to the worst infield going around. Betancourt is a butcher at short, although I think his year this year wasn't too terrible.
Starting pitching in the NL series is poor. Can't see any way the Brewers win 2 to win the series with their pitching match-ups.
I think if the Tigers can pull out the win tonight then the game 7 match-up of Fister vs Lewis is a very good one for them. I like Holland of the Rangers though so Scherzer will need to be good.

I agree with you there Underdog. If we can somehow find a way to win today then I'm very confident about tomorrow. Fister has been better than Verlander since we picked him up and nobody has a better record than Verlander. We knocked Holland out in 3 innings in game 2 and Scherzer has pitched very well in his 2 post season starts so far so we have glimmer of hope. We just need to stop that damn Nellie Cruz.

Prediction for today. Scherzer to pitch 7 innings of 1 run ball and pick up the win as the Tigers come through 5-1. Please lets win without giving me heart palpatations. GO TIGERS

[anfo27]

Game over already. We are getting smashed.

[The Underdog]

Game over already. We are getting smashed.

Long way back from here...

[The Underdog]

Wow a 9 run 3rd inning from the Rangers.
ESPN Gamecast has Rangers as a 97% chance to win. Need a miracle anfo.

[anfo27]

Wow a 9 run 3rd inning from the Rangers.
ESPN Gamecast has Rangers as a 97% chance to win. Need a miracle anfo.

I'm praying but i don't like my chagnces. We just don't have the depth in our hitting to get these runs back and the Rangers pen will make sure it won't happen.
Oh well its been a good ride and we have won division title for the first time in 25 years. We have something like $20 million coming off the books this off season so hopefully we can spent it wisely and be back next year with a stronger bullpen and a more consistent batting line up.

[Remi Moses]

Need to envoke the sympathy rule.
This is ugly

[anfo27]

Need to envoke the sympathy rule.
This is ugly

Its always ugly when Brad Penny is on the mound. This guy is a hack of the highest order and if i see him wearing the old english D next year i'll spew up.

Cruz 6 home runs and 13 RBIs for the series is something out of this world.

[Raw Toast]

Nothing against the Cubs, but if they pilfer from our (Padres) front office, I'm going to be pissed!

[The Underdog]

Nothing against the Cubs, but if they pilfer from our (Padres) front office, I'm going to be pissed!

Well we mightn't have farm talent, more than 3 good major leaguers, a decent manager or a world series win in a 100 years but we have got cash (and at some point President Epstein). If I were you I'd be more annoyed if we got Hoyer than Byrnes particularly as his would likely be a lateral move. Probably not going to be announced until after the Series now anyway. Can't believe that the Red Sox first ask as compensation was Garza!

Anyway, onto the Series, my tip is Rangers in 6. They've got the Cards covered in nearly every area but funnier things have happened particularly in this post season. Rare to see 2teams with such average starting pitching playoff for the championship.
Can I just say what a joke it is that a team that won the NL wild card gets home team advantage against a team that won their division? This needs to be changed.

The only other thing I want to say is

GO RANGERS

[The Coon Dog]

Can I just say what a joke it is that a team that won the NL wild card gets home team advantage against a team that won their division? This needs to be changed.


I asked the Yank that I work with how they decide who has the 4-3 home advantage in the World Series. He said it used to be rotated each year between the AL & the NL, but now he said its decided by which league wins the All Star game.

[The Underdog]

I asked the Yank that I work with how they decide who has the 4-3 home advantage in the World Series. He said it used to be rotated each year between the AL & the NL, but now he said its decided by which league wins the All Star game.

It is a joke. They did it to try to make the All-Star game meaningful in this age of inter league series and players who treat it as a junket. It didn't work and just made something else worse. Wait until they bring in more play-off teams...yippee.

It should just go to the team with the best record. Is it that hard?

[Raw Toast]

Well we mightn't have farm talent, more than 3 good major leaguers, a decent manager or a world series win in a 100 years but we have got cash (and at some point President Epstein). If I were you I'd be more annoyed if we got Hoyer than Byrnes particularly as his would likely be a lateral move. Probably not going to be announced until after the Series now anyway. Can't believe that the Red Sox first ask as compensation was Garza!


Very strong rumour is that it will be Hoyer and %*%$#$#@$#$ McLeod as well. While Hoyer's move is lateral on the face of it, the money will be much more, as will the cash he can spend. This is going to make me hate baseball, and the Cubs, for at least awhile, though apparently Byrnes might make a decent GM.

SD unlikely to make any compensation requests cause owners are friends, and SD owner (Moorad) loved Byrnes enough to give him an 8 yr GM deal at Arizona.

[Remi Moses]

Separated at birth NOlan Ryan and Billy Brownless!
See the Rangers have their own TV Deal beginning in 2015.
Can't remember the exact figure but it's in the billions!:eek:

[The Underdog]

Very strong rumour is that it will be Hoyer and %*%$#$#@$#$ McLeod as well. While Hoyer's move is lateral on the face of it, the money will be much more, as will the cash he can spend. This is going to make me hate baseball, and the Cubs, for at least awhile, though apparently Byrnes might make a decent GM.

SD unlikely to make any compensation requests cause owners are friends, and SD owner (Moorad) loved Byrnes enough to give him an 8 yr GM deal at Arizona.

Yep it looks as though Hoyer will come over to the Cubs and that Byrnes has been promoted to the GM position. No compo likely. Don't be too worried, you're at least a 50% chance of being better than us next year. Reports that the Padres would take Lackey from the Red sox if they paid most of his wage. Scary.

The reports from the Epstein thing are getting more and more hilarious. now it's being reported they asked for Castro initially, as compensation and then Garza 2nd. At least they weren't being unreasonable :rolleyes:

[Raw Toast]

Yep it looks as though Hoyer will come over to the Cubs and that Byrnes has been promoted to the GM position. No compo likely. Don't be too worried, you're at least a 50% chance of being better than us next year. Reports that the Padres would take Lackey from the Red sox if they paid most of his wage. Scary.

The reports from the Epstein thing are getting more and more hilarious. now it's being reported they asked for Castro initially, as compensation and then Garza 2nd. At least they weren't being unreasonable :rolleyes:

Next year is not really the issue. Baseball is broken, and the rich are just once more plundering the poor without even giving a burrito of thanks. How one team can be allowed to raid another's front office, pick up someone for a lateral move when he is under contract for a few more years, and not even provide compensation, is just crazy.

At least Epstein apparently wanted Byrnes first, Hoyer second, but the whole thing is very dispiriting.

[Raw Toast]

Apparently some compensation is now mooted - 2 lower level minor leaguers - but I still think the whole situation shows how stuffed mlb is.

[The Underdog]

Apparently some compensation is now mooted - 2 lower level minor leaguers - but I still think the whole situation shows how stuffed mlb is.

#OccupyBaseball

[Raw Toast]

#OccupyBaseball

Indeed, grin. I did tweet yesterday with the hashtag occupymlb, but haven't checked to see if it has taken off yet...

[comrade]

I'm not up to speed with all this. Can someone explain why MLB is stuffed?

[The Underdog]

I'm not up to speed with all this. Can someone explain why MLB is stuffed?

Because RT's team is poor and the rich team's plunder them for resources. To be honest I think there are other sport's that are worse. At least with MLB there's plenty of way's for intelligently run organisation's with fewer resources to compete, Tampa being the classic example.

[westdog54]

Indeed, grin. I did tweet yesterday with the hashtag occupymlb, but haven't checked to see if it has taken off yet...

Somehow I can see Occupyxxx becoming something of an internet meme in coming years.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Somehow I can see Occupyxxx becoming something of an internet meme in coming years.

Pardon my ignorance, what does it mean?

[westdog54]

Pardon my ignorance, what does it mean?

Internet Meme or Occupyxxx?

[anfo27]

Pooholes is a machine. Just showing why he is the BEST hitter in baseball. Entertaining game to watch but i always felt the rangers are always still a chance with that batting line up but after Pujols 2nd bomb they need a miracle. Great to watch a hitter of that calibre do it on centre stage.
Will he be there next year though?

[Raw Toast]

I'm not up to speed with all this. Can someone explain why MLB is stuffed?

Longer answers can be given, but basically the mlb model is highly unequal. There is no salary cap, and teams derive most of their money from tv rights deals. Bigger market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have payrolls for their players in excess of $150 million, while small market teams might have payrolls as low as the $30 millions. It's a huge disparity, and the best free agents tend to be snapped up by the biggest clubs. The Red Sox paid San Diego's best player, Adrian Gonzalez $20 million plus, more than half of what San Diego the total player payments San Diego made this year.

The saving grace, is that loading up on free agents is no guarantee of success. The draft order is determined like the AFL's, and smaller market teams can invest in the draft and put together a relatively competitive, relatively sustainable team.

Teams are not allowed to offer deals to players under contract - in what is termed anti-tampering laws. But the fact that teams can offer deals to non-players eg managers and general managers is crazy, and further weighted in favour of the bigger teams.

Because RT's team is poor and the rich team's plunder them for resources. To be honest I think there are other sport's that are worse. At least with MLB there's plenty of way's for intelligently run organisation's with fewer resources to compete, Tampa being the classic example.

Agree with Underdog to a certain extent on both points. But Tampa Bay is one of the few under-resourced clubs that manages to regularly compete. Major League Baseball is not as ridiculously unfair as EPL might be, but there are serious reasons to believe that the NFL has surpassed MLB as America's biggest sport because of the relative success of its equalisation strategies.

[Remi Moses]

Watched a bit of Catching Hell the other day. Terribly sad and tragic story .

[Sockeye Salmon]

Internet Meme or Occupyxxx?

I've only just got the occupy thingy from the latest protests (I assume it's just a catchcry for protesters?)

What's a meme?

[The Underdog]

Longer answers can be given, but basically the mlb model is highly unequal. There is no salary cap, and teams derive most of their money from tv rights deals. Bigger market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have payrolls for their players in excess of $150 million, while small market teams might have payrolls as low as the $30 millions. It's a huge disparity, and the best free agents tend to be snapped up by the biggest clubs. The Red Sox paid San Diego's best player, Adrian Gonzalez $20 million plus, more than half of what San Diego the total player payments San Diego made this year.

The saving grace, is that loading up on free agents is no guarantee of success. The draft order is determined like the AFL's, and smaller market teams can invest in the draft and put together a relatively competitive, relatively sustainable team.

Teams are not allowed to offer deals to players under contract - in what is termed anti-tampering laws. But the fact that teams can offer deals to non-players eg managers and general managers is crazy, and further weighted in favour of the bigger teams.



Agree with Underdog to a certain extent on both points. But Tampa Bay is one of the few under-resourced clubs that manages to regularly compete. Major League Baseball is not as ridiculously unfair as EPL might be, but there are serious reasons to believe that the NFL has surpassed MLB as America's biggest sport because of the relative success of its equalisation strategies.

I'm not going to argue that the system is in any way fair. Anytime a team can spend $100 million more on it's team than another then it patently isn't. EPL and big European soccer leagues were definitely uppermost in my thoughts regarding less equal situations. I do think that the nature and structure of the season and the depth required to build a team in baseball allows teams to compete successfully with far less resources. The Cubs have thrown money at free agents for years and it's usually got them nowhere and if anything the rebuild required will take Epstein and Hoyer 3-4 years to achieve. The NFL surpassing MLB as America's team has a lot more to do with the immediacy and physicality of the game itself and the religion of "Sundays" then any equalisation that's gone on in my opinion.
Baseball hasn't been totally ignored attempts at equalisation either but the ability of some teams to make local TV deals (or have their own TV stations) makes a huge difference.but I've heard a few compelling arguments against a salary cap in baseball.

[The Underdog]

On a brighter note the World Series is now tied 2-2 with Derek Holland throwing a gem today. Taken out in the ninth but was still throwing 95 mph at that point.

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

[westdog54]

I've only just got the occupy thingy from the latest protests (I assume it's just a catchcry for protesters?)

What's a meme?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

The term Internet meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet.[2] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena

[Mantis]

On a brighter note the World Series is now tied 2-2 with Derek Holland throwing a gem today. Taken out in the ninth but was still throwing 95 mph at that point.

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

A couple of dumb questions from a noob....

What is the usual rest period between starts for starting pitchers?

Does this change much between the regular and post season?

[Doc26]

Albert Pujols 3HR game in game 3 was unbelievable. The man's a freak and the Cards have to sign him (which will prevent the Cubs from doing so). He's worth a twice as much to that franchise as he'd be to anybody else. Cards have the pitching advantage in game 5. I wonder if it goes to 7 if the Rangers will bring Holland back to pitch it. He's got to be a better bet than Harrison.

Agree, was amazing to sit back and watch Pujols in Game 3. They put a stat up saying how with that performance he had tied with Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for HRs in a World Series game. No doubt his RBIs would've been pretty high as well.

[anfo27]

A couple of dumb questions from a noob....

What is the usual rest period between starts for starting pitchers?

Does this change much between the regular and post season?

regular season pitchers pitch every 5 days. Post season can be anywhere between from 4 days rest to 2 days rest depending on the situation.

[Remi Moses]

What a season Mike Napoli is having . Two run double, throwing out base stealers!
Great coverage as well

[The Underdog]

I know they're up 3-2 but how the Rangers haven't put Beltre in the 3rd spot and dropped Hamilton who is clearly hurt, down the order confuses me. Cruz or Napoli would probably be better in the 4 spot than Young at this point too.
You're right Remi, Napoli has been unbelievable. and the Angels traded him because Scoscia didn't like his defense.

[The Underdog]

Looking forward to watching Game 5. Keith Law tweeted that it was one of the worst managed games he's ever seen.

[Captain Groenewagon]

Looking forward to watching Game 5. Keith Law tweeted that it was one of the worst managed games he's ever seen.

Unbelievable game today. Cards have scored two runs in the 9th and in the 10th to keep it alive.
The tension, the drama, the buzz..........

[anfo27]

WOW. What an unbelievable World Series we are witnessing. I think you don't even have to be a baseball fan to be loving this drama filled, thrill a minute, edge of your seat, battle of the titans, winner take all finale. Hats off to both teams for giving it everything and inturn creating such a spectacle.
I saw the vision of Napoli rolling his ankle and it did not look good, great effort to keep going and picking off Holiday at 3rd.
So much for Texas having such a quality bullpen, this pen is leaking like a sieve in this series. That damn Ogando owned Detroit but he can't seem to get the job done now.
I know what you mean Underdog wean you talk about about Wash being an rdinary manager. The Rangers had bases loaded, 2 outs in the 5th with Lewis stepping up to the plate and he didn't pinch hit for him. For the life of me I can't understand why he would leave him in there.
Looking forward to game 7, hopefully another cracker.

[Raw Toast]

It was an extraordinary game. Crazy stuff, with tactics enlivened by the absence of a designated hitter. Will game 7 go into extra innings as well?

[anfo27]

I'm watching MLB.com and Sean Casey has chosen the Rangers to take game 7. So far in the World Series Sean Casey is 0/6 in his predictions, put the house on St. Louis to win.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Currently in the US. St. Louis were all over them tonight.

Had a 4am start yesterday to catch a plane and would you believe I fell asleep during the 7th innings and missed it all. Cruz was getting hammered on TV today for missing that catch last night.

[Remi Moses]

Havent't watched Game 7 yet, game 6 was the most intruiging game I've seen.
To lose after so many little league errors from the Cards, and being 1 strike away twice has to be soul destroying. Very 1997 Bulldogesque

[Remi Moses]

WOW. What an unbelievable World Series we are witnessing. I think you don't even have to be a baseball fan to be loving this drama filled, thrill a minute, edge of your seat, battle of the titans, winner take all finale. Hats off to both teams for giving it everything and inturn creating such a spectacle.
I saw the vision of Napoli rolling his ankle and it did not look good, great effort to keep going and picking off Holiday at 3rd.
So much for Texas having such a quality bullpen, this pen is leaking like a sieve in this series. That damn Ogando owned Detroit but he can't seem to get the job done now.
I know what you mean Underdog wean you talk about about Wash being an rdinary manager. The Rangers had bases loaded, 2 outs in the 5th with Lewis stepping up to the plate and he didn't pinch hit for him. For the life of me I can't understand why he would leave him in there.
Looking forward to game 7, hopefully another cracker.

Tim Mccarver was all over it, very conservative from Washington.
What was the no doubles field all about ?

[KT31]

I'm watching MLB.com and Sean Casey has chosen the Rangers to take game 7. So far in the World Series Sean Casey is 0/6 in his predictions, put the house on St. Louis to win.

Sean Casey is now 0 from 7.
Thats a pretty fair effort.

[anfo27]

Tim Mccarver was all over it, very conservative from Washington.
What was the no doubles field all about ?

I found this quite strange Remi. A no doubles field is just that and to have a field set for no doubles and have the ball hit over Cruz's head for a double is unforgivable. Cruz needed or had to be deeper so the only way the ball was going over his head was if it was a home run. Cruz was not paying attention & Wash and the rest of his coaches didn't notice that Nellie was out of position and they paid the ultimate price. If Cruz was in the position he was meant to be in then the Rangers win the World Series 4-2.

The Rangers have missed a golden oppoutunity. In the end their starting pitching just wasn't good enough so i'm not sure what they can do to significantly improve this. There best pitcher in CJ is a free agent so they might have their hands full in getting him back. I'm not sure how good the rangers farm system is but they have given up a lot of prospects in the last 2 years.

[anfo27]

Sean Casey is now 0 from 7.
Thats a pretty fair effort.

Sean Casey is the kiss of death, what did the rangers ever do to Sean to deserve that?

[anfo27]

Watched a bit of Catching Hell the other day. Terribly sad and tragic story .

Watched it 2 nights ago on youtube and found it fascinating. If Alou makes that catch i have no doubt the Cubs win that game. It looked like fan interference to me, it was line ball but it did look like it was just in the field of play. Can't believe dusty did not have a pitcher in the pen warming up in the 8th inning. Post season game with Prior reaching 100 pitches thrown and nobody warming up in the pen seems strange to me.
Poor Cubs fans look like they were just waiting for something bad to happen. Amazing how that incident just deflated the whole stadium. Reminds me of being a dogs fan, we have been hurt so many times that we are scared to believe.
I watched 4 days in October on youtube as well that night. It was about the Red Sox coming back from 0-3 down in ALCS against the Yankees in 2004 to win 4-3. The Red Sox also had history against them but became the first team in history to come back from 3 games down. What i found the amazing was the attitude of the Sox players. These guys still believed that they could do it and the phrase 'why not us' was used endlessly. This attitude filtered down to the fans and the whole town of Boston still believed that they could win.
Its amazing the difference in attitude from the Cubs to the Red Sox when both clubs have curses hanging over their heads. No wonder the Red Sox were successful.

[mjp]

What i found the amazing was the attitude of the Sox players. These guys still believed that they could do it and the phrase 'why not us' was used endlessly. This attitude filtered down to the fans and the whole town of Boston still believed that they could win.
Its amazing the difference in attitude from the Cubs to the Red Sox when both clubs have curses hanging over their heads. No wonder the Red Sox were successful.

Not sure about that. Watch the '4 Days in October' docco....Boston's come back was remarkable but they were down and out - and so was the entire city - 3-zip down against the Yankees. Dave Roberts pinch running/base steal in the bottom of the ninth gave them hope and Ortiz delivered...a remarkable player.

[Remi Moses]

I found this quite strange Remi. A no doubles field is just that and to have a field set for no doubles and have the ball hit over Cruz's head for a double is unforgivable. Cruz needed or had to be deeper so the only way the ball was going over his head was if it was a home run. Cruz was not paying attention & Wash and the rest of his coaches didn't notice that Nellie was out of position and they paid the ultimate price. If Cruz was in the position he was meant to be in then the Rangers win the World Series 4-2.

The Rangers have missed a golden oppoutunity. In the end their starting pitching just wasn't good enough so i'm not sure what they can do to significantly improve this. There best pitcher in CJ is a free agent so they might have their hands full in getting him back. I'm not sure how good the rangers farm system is but they have given up a lot of prospects in the last 2 years.

How costly was not being able to get Cliff Lee.
Their bullpen just imploded, they were superb until the WS!
The cards Just like in 06 ( mets were the best NL team) somehow found a way.
Will they keep Albert?

[anfo27]

How costly was not being able to get Cliff Lee.
Their bullpen just imploded, they were superb until the WS!
The cards Just like in 06 ( mets were the best NL team) somehow found a way.
Will they keep Albert?

If they get Cliff Lee then they probably don't get Beltre and he was super this year but they needed an ace in the World Series and they didn't have one.
Surprised by the bullpen though, aquired some good arms before the trade deadline and seemed to have the deepest pen going around, maybe the pressure just got to them.
Again the cards win it from the wild card.
Albert did turn down $20+ million a year for 8 or 9 years (i think) last year so i can't imagine what he will end up signing for.

[anfo27]

Not sure about that. Watch the '4 Days in October' docco....Boston's come back was remarkable but they were down and out - and so was the entire city - 3-zip down against the Yankees. Dave Roberts pinch running/base steal in the bottom of the ninth gave them hope and Ortiz delivered...a remarkable player.

I think the only reason they were still alive was the Sox players still believed, the fans were out but the players still believed. I keep remembering Millar going around to every player in warm up and telling them 'don't let us win game 4 cause after that we have Pedro and Curt and anything can happen in game 7'. Their belief got them close and big papis clutch hitting got them over the line. Interesting doco.
Can't forget Curt courageous pitching effort in game 6 with the blood seeping through his sock.

[The Underdog]

If they get Cliff Lee then they probably don't get Beltre and he was super this year but they needed an ace in the World Series and they didn't have one.Surprised by the bullpen though, aquired some good arms before the trade deadline and seemed to have the deepest pen going around, maybe the pressure just got to them.
Again the cards win it from the wild card.
Albert did turn down $20+ million a year for 8 or 9 years (i think) last year so i can't imagine what he will end up signing for.

They needed a manager in the World Series but they had an idiot instead. I have no idea why he started Harrison in game 7 over Holland considering their performances in the previous games.

[The Underdog]

Anyone seen the new Miami Marlins uniforms? Pretty damn awful.

The Phillies may have knocked off the worst free agent contract straight up giving Papelbon 4 years and $50 million. That'll take some beating. $50 million for a closer who may already have past his peak. The Phillies are going to go downhill fast in a few years and be full of bloated contracts.

The Cubs should make a manager appointment soon. Going on the media interviews so far I'd be favouring Mike Maddux.

[anfo27]

Anyone seen the new Miami Marlins uniforms? Pretty damn awful.

The Phillies may have knocked off the worst free agent contract straight up giving Papelbon 4 years and $50 million. That'll take some beating. $50 million for a closer who may already have past his peak. The Phillies are going to go downhill fast in a few years and be full of bloated contracts.

The Cubs should make a manager appointment soon. Going on the media interviews so far I'd be favouring Mike Maddux.

Yeah i saw the new Miami outfit. I didn't think they were too bad but the caps are the worst looking hats in baseball. I like to collect mlb hats but that one might be the last on the list. Looks like they might land some big fish to go with their new GM, name and stadium. I've read they have entertained Reyes, Pujols & buehrle with Prince to follow thus far. Interesting to see where they sign, any predictions there Underdog?

It is a lot of money for papelbon but the phillies have alot of money to spend and they won't stop with the one big signing. I see they also signed the 100 year old Jim Thome which seems a little strange since he can't field. Surely he won't be spending time at first with Howard out for a chunk of the season? I wonder if they will bring Oswalt and Rollins back.

Hopefully we can sign a 3rd & 2nd baseman and a quality reliever or 2.

Would you be happy with Maddux?

Have you seen the moneyball movie yet?

[Remi Moses]

They had the prize for the previous worst cap with that aqua green autrocity.
The black looked good

[The Underdog]

Yeah i saw the new Miami outfit. I didn't think they were too bad but the caps are the worst looking hats in baseball. I like to collect mlb hats but that one might be the last on the list. Looks like they might land some big fish to go with their new GM, name and stadium. I've read they have entertained Reyes, Pujols & buehrle with Prince to follow thus far. Interesting to see where they sign, any predictions there Underdog?

Would you be happy with Maddux?

Have you seen the moneyball movie yet?

The Miami logo looks like it's for public transportation or something.
At a guess I'd say Miami sign Reyes, Pujols stays in St. Louis, Fielder to the Angels. Not sure about Buehrle. Apparently the Nats are going hard for Oswalt.

Be very happy with Maddux, although you never can tell, but on first appearances he seems very polished and has had success in his area wherever he's been as a coach.

Haven't seen Moneyball yet, heard varying reports though.

[Happy Days]

Anyone seen the new Miami Marlins uniforms? Pretty damn awful.


Florida moved? Maybe this means that the prophecy from BTTF2 of the Cubs beating Miami in the World Series will come true now.

[The Underdog]

Florida moved? Maybe this means that the prophecy from BTTF2 of the Cubs beating Miami in the World Series will come true now.

Part of the deal for the city helping finance the new stadium was changing their name to Miami. Makes sense now that their is a team in Tampa too.

[Flamethrower]

Will Albert Pujols be trading in his Cardinal red for Angel red?

The twittersphere is abuzz with breaking news (@Ken_Rosenthal) about the LA Angels offering Pujols a 10 year contract for well over $200 million, far more than St Louis or Miami have offered.

If this is true then new Angel GM Jerry DiPoto is a heck of a poker player, as there has been nothing at all leaked about any interest in Pujols from the Angels until now. All of the talk on the Angels forums is about whether we should go after CJ Wilson, and if so how much we should offer him.

[The Underdog]

Will Albert Pujols be trading in his Cardinal red for Angel red?

The twittersphere is abuzz with breaking news (@Ken_Rosenthal) about the LA Angels offering Pujols a 10 year contract for well over $200 million, far more than St Louis or Miami have offered.

If this is true then new Angel GM Jerry DiPoto is a heck of a poker player, as there has been nothing at all leaked about any interest in Pujols from the Angels until now. All of the talk on the Angels forums is about whether we should go after CJ Wilson, and if so how much we should offer him.

No chance from the looks of it. The Marlins seemed to be the only serious player but it looks like by the end of the day he'll still be a Cardinal. Looks like the Angels are the favourites for Wilson and the Marlins have decided to go hard for fielder although some have reported he prefers the mid-West or West Coast.

[Remi Moses]

Gee disapointed to lose Jose Reyes.:(
Someone tell me how the marlins are so cashed up?
Tend to recall a few Marlin fire sales over the years.

[The Underdog]

Gee disapointed to lose Jose Reyes.:(
Someone tell me how the marlins are so cashed up?
Tend to recall a few Marlin fire sales over the years.

New stadium opening is the basis of it. They are pushing to spend money to put a winning team in it and hopefully keep people coming back once the novelty wears off.
Missed out on Pujols and got Mark Buehrle instead. Given Buehrle's age and Reyes' injury history, these are some big money moves that could seriously backfire down the track.
They're alos apparently one of the 2 final teams in on C.J Wilson, along with the Angels.

[The Underdog]

Wow the Angels got Pujols after all, as well as Wilson. The Wilson contract is a pretty good deal. He reportedly took 20+ million and a year less thento come back to his home state.
The Pujols deal of 10 years for $254 million is a good deal for the next 3-4 years and then a massive mistake. 10 years for a 31 yo who is possibly older is crazy. On the upside, he can't beat up on my Cubs anymore.
Wonder if the Cards will go after Fielder now?

[Flamethrower]

You read it here 1st.

Albert Pujols signs with the LA Angels. $254m over 10 years is what it took to get him to move from St Louis.

CJ Wilson also signs with the Angels on a 5 year deal, so the local boy comes home.

We will have a nice rotation next season. Weaver, Haren, Wilson and Santana.

Light up the Halo!!!!

[The Underdog]

You read it here 1st.

Albert Pujols signs with the LA Angels. $254m over 10 years is what it took to get him to move from St Louis.

CJ Wilson also signs with the Angels on a 5 year deal, so the local boy comes home.

We will have a nice rotation next season. Weaver, Haren, Wilson and Santana.

Light up the Halo!!!!

It was nice of them to backpay him for all of those super productive underpaid Cardinal years. I really thought from the outset that giving that much time & money only made sense for the Cards. I don't think my opinion has changed.

[anfo27]

Wow the Angels got Pujols after all, as well as Wilson. The Wilson contract is a pretty good deal. He reportedly took 20+ million and a year less thento come back to his home state.
The Pujols deal of 10 years for $254 million is a good deal for the next 3-4 years and then a massive mistake. 10 years for a 31 yo who is possibly older is crazy. On the upside, he can't beat up on my Cubs anymore.
Wonder if the Cards will go after Fielder now?

WOW, i didn't see that coming. Good work from flamethrower to get the scoop first as i heard it here first even though i've been following the hot stove on MLB.com every day. Thats a huge commitment from the Angels on Pujols but i read somewhere that the halos will be getting an extra $3o million in television rights because of this move, not sure how true that is though. Dissapointed my tigers will be pitching to this monster for the next 10 years.
I don't think CJ is worth $15 million a year. I'd be doing cartwheels if i was flamethrower, I bet he can't wait for the season to start.
The Tigers added Dotel to their bullpen this morning, haven't seen a lot of him but reports suggest he is good pick up. Now for a 3rd baseman who can handle a bat and we're just about done. What about Ramirez Underdog? he has good numbers at Wrigley but i read that his numbers would drop significantly in the pitching friendly Commerica Park and his glove at 3rd is ordinary. i also hear we are keen on Gio Gonzalez from the A's which worries me, i know he is suppose to be good but that woudln't be good news for our top prospect Jacob Turner.

[anfo27]

You read it here 1st.

Albert Pujols signs with the LA Angels. $254m over 10 years is what it took to get him to move from St Louis.

CJ Wilson also signs with the Angels on a 5 year deal, so the local boy comes home.

We will have a nice rotation next season. Weaver, Haren, Wilson and Santana.

Light up the Halo!!!!

Isn't there some talk that Santana will be traded? what will you do with Trumbo?e

Great get Flamethrower, always exciting picking up a gun but Pujols is more than a gun. I was doing cartwheels when the Tigers traded for Miguel Cabrera a few years ago and thought we were destined for big things that year and preceded to finish last in our division.

That is a more than handy rotation you have there but any bullpen with Fernando Rodney in it is a worry.

[The Underdog]

Isn't there some talk that Santana will be traded? what will you do with Trumbo?e

Great get Flamethrower, always exciting picking up a gun but Pujols is more than a gun. I was doing cartwheels when the Tigers traded for Miguel Cabrera a few years ago and thought we were destined for big things that year and preceded to finish last in our division.

That is a more than handy rotation you have there but any bullpen with Fernando Rodney in it is a worry.

Well anfo, you must be pretty happy about picking up Prince. Unexpected, but with Martinez going down I guess they needed an extra bat. 9 years and $214m worth of bat is probably overkill but he was certainly the best one out there.
Not convinced on moving Cabrera to 3rd. Verlander might want to stick with striking guys out with the guys he has at the corners. Would seem almost a certainty to win the Central next year though. Good on Ilitch for ponying up the cash.
Any bets on whether Prince's OBP will be more than his weight by 2020?

[anfo27]

Well anfo, you must be pretty happy about picking up Prince. Unexpected, but with Martinez going down I guess they needed an extra bat. 9 years and $214m worth of bat is probably overkill but he was certainly the best one out there.
Not convinced on moving Cabrera to 3rd. Verlander might want to stick with striking guys out with the guys he has at the corners. Would seem almost a certainty to win the Central next year though. Good on Ilitch for ponying up the cash.
Any bets on whether Prince's OBP will be more than his weight by 2020?

Woke up this morning and checked the MLB website and could not believe my eyes when i red we signed Prince. I was doing cartwheels in my living room over this news. To get the shattering news that Victor was going to miss the year and to replace him with the big fella was a huge shock. i heard that we were talking to him for a 1 year deal and thought we had no hope as he was after big money and years like Albert.
You're right our defense is going to take a hit but i think either Cabrera or Prince will DH when ground ball pitchers like Porcello & Fister are on the mound with Inge taking the hot corner. Cabrera is a big boy so moving him to 3rd will cost us runs but hopefully the good will far out weigh the bad.
I have also red that we are very keen on Cuban Cespedes who filed for free agency today after gaining residency in the DR. Don't think we will have the cash to bid on him now but i can live with that now.
You surprised the Cubs haven't really made a splash yet in trades or free agency with Epstein at the helm?

[The Underdog]

You surprised the Cubs haven't really made a splash yet in trades or free agency with Epstein at the helm?

Yeah the hit the Tigres will take in the field doesn't matter as much when you've got the best 3-4 in baseball. Problem might be in 2014 when they have 3 DH's.

Not surprised the Cubs haven't made a splash this year. It's all about trying to offload some contracts, rebuild the farm system and go from there. Apparently we're in pretty heavily on Cespedes though. It's going to take a few years to turn it around. Really liked the trade with the Reds for Travis Wood and a couple of prospects and the trade with Padres for Rizzo.
Our offense looks like it's going to be awful this year and the pitching is a lot of back of the rotation types.
Still waiting to see what happens with Garza too. There was rumours of Detroit being interested but not sure where that sits now.
To be honest I'm pretty glad we didn't commit to paying Pujols or Fielder $20m+ a year for 9 or 10 despite how nice it is to have those guys on your team.

[The Underdog]

MLB season starts tonight with a game in Japan between the Mariners and the A's. Not a huge match-up but enough in there of interest to make it worth watching. King Felix is worth checking out and the local fans should go nuts for Ichiro. Seeing Yoenis Cespedes play his first game for the A's also.
Rest of the teams start their season's next week. I subscribed to MLB TV the other day which is a great deal for what you get.

[anfo27]

MLB season starts tonight with a game in Japan between the Mariners and the A's. Not a huge match-up but enough in there of interest to make it worth watching. King Felix is worth checking out and the local fans should go nuts for Ichiro. Seeing Yoenis Cespedes play his first game for the A's also.
Rest of the teams start their season's next week. I subscribed to MLB TV the other day which is a great deal for what you get.

caught some highlights of the opening 2 games, actually forgot it was on. I saw the big cuban squat his first big league homer, looks ok thus far.
They play a lot of grapefruit and cactus league games, we talk about the Nab cup being too long but this stuff is overkill.
Looking forward to the season opener against the red sox, can't come quick enough. Who have the cubs got first up?
I haven't got my subscription yet and unfortunately i'm not sure when i can so i'll have to stick to game day for a while until things improve.
All the best for the season underdog. GO TIGERS.

[The Underdog]

caught some highlights of the opening 2 games, actually forgot it was on. I saw the big cuban squat his first big league homer, looks ok thus far.
They play a lot of grapefruit and cactus league games, we talk about the Nab cup being too long but this stuff is overkill.
Looking forward to the season opener against the red sox, can't come quick enough. Who have the cubs got first up?
I haven't got my subscription yet and unfortunately i'm not sure when i can so i'll have to stick to game day for a while until things improve.
All the best for the season underdog. GO TIGERS.

Cubs play the Nationals at home to start the season. Strasburg's comeback on opening day,which'll be fun.
Looks positive for the Tigers coming into the season. Easily the best lineup in a weak division.

[anfo27]

Cubs play the Nationals at home to start the season. Strasburg's comeback on opening day,which'll be fun.
Looks positive for the Tigers coming into the season. Easily the best lineup in a weak division.

tough start to the season facing Strasburg, didn't he get something like 12 SO on debut?

Yeah i'm excited about the tigers prospects this season as it does look like the central is the easiest division to win. The twins & white sox are rebuilding & the indians will be there abouts but the royals will be the one to watch. They have a lot of talent down there in KC but still a bit light on for starting pitching to pose a real threat just yet.

[The Underdog]

tough start to the season facing Strasburg, didn't he get something like 12 SO on debut?

Yeah i'm excited about the tigers prospects this season as it does look like the central is the easiest division to win. The twins & white sox are rebuilding & the indians will be there abouts but the royals will be the one to watch. They have a lot of talent down there in KC but still a bit light on for starting pitching to pose a real threat just yet.

Strasburg blew out his arm though and had Tommy John.

Looks like ONE will be showing MLB again. They are down to broadcast the Cards / Marlins game on Thursday from the looks.

[anfo27]

Strasburg blew out his arm though and had Tommy John.

Looks like ONE will be showing MLB again. They are down to broadcast the Cards / Marlins game on Thursday from the looks.

yeah i know he has had issues with that arm so will be interesting to see the type of year he has.

how about we get some predictions for the upcoming season. Winners of all divisions and the wildcard.

[The Underdog]

yeah i know he has had issues with that arm so will be interesting to see the type of year he has.

how about we get some predictions for the upcoming season. Winners of all divisions and the wildcard.

Bit late but:

AL East: Yankees, AL Central: Tigers, AL West: Angels
Wildcard: Red Sox, Rangers (Rays to miss by a game)

NL East:: Phillies (for the last time in a while), NL Central: Cardinals, NL West: Giants
Wildcard: Braves, Reds

World Series: Angels vs Reds

[anfo27]

Bit late but:

AL East: Yankees, AL Central: Tigers, AL West: Angels
Wildcard: Red Sox, Rangers (Rays to miss by a game)

NL East:: Phillies (for the last time in a while), NL Central: Cardinals, NL West: Giants
Wildcard: Braves, Reds

World Series: Angels vs Reds

A bit late but 161 games to go.Valverde has his 51 game save steak ended on opening day.
I did forget that they introduced the extra wildcard this season, any idea how the post season will now be structured?

AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Texas Rangers
Wildcards: New York Yankees & LA Angels
Its dangerous leaving the rays out as they always surprise and have a damn good record within their division

NL East: The Phillies again even with Miamis spending spree.
NL Central: Cincinnati Reds
NL West: Arizona
Wildcard: Giants & Cardinals

World series: The tigers to beat Kirk Gibsons Arizona Diamondbacks

[The Underdog]

Got up yesterday morning just in time to see the Cubs blow a 1 run lead in the 8th (walking in the tying run). Also watched the Rays walk off today against the Yankees in a game with surely the worst home plate umpire in baseball ("Country" Joe West's strike zone is rubbish).
Also just watched Pujols first AB as an Angel, he scorched a couple but made an out at SS. Coincedentally was followed shortly by Trumbo's first E at 3B. The Tigers and A's may have signed the marquee 1B this offseason but their current plans at 3B ate fielding travesty's.

Looking forward to watching Hosmer for the Royals develop this season. KC will score some runs this season but their opening day pitcher is Bruce Chen for christ sake.

Recommend the following read - http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/23416/blowing-up-baseballs-most-dangerous-stat

[Raw Toast]

Also watched the Rays walk off today against the Yankees in a game with surely the worst home plate umpire in baseball ("Country" Joe West's strike zone is rubbish).

Joe West is a horrible excuse for an mlb umpire - made an appalling call against the Padres last year when he called a player out for not touching 3rd base before going home on a sacrifice fly, when he hadn't even looked, just took for granted the appeal of the fielding team (replays clearly showed West wasn't looking and the player was on the bag!).

But Umpire Dale Scott made an even more egregious call today. Scores level, top of the ninth, the Padres batting against the Dodgers had runners on first and second with no outs. The batter shaped to bunt, had a ball thrown at his chest and semi-bunted it while stumbling away. Scott also moved back, put his hands in the air signifying a dead ball and supposedly even called it foul. The ball then bounced into play (most likely off the player's body, which would make it a foul anyway), the catcher picked it up, and as he threw it to third base, umpire Scott changed his call to fair, and the Dodgers got a triple-play and then walked off in the bottom of the 9th. It was horrific, though the fan reaction has been fun in parts (Padres fans wrote his name so often in a thread about it, that its now the 3rd thing that comes up from a google search of 'Dale Scott Umpire'! The thread is: http://www.gaslampball.com/2012/4/15/2950993/umpire-dale-scott-assisted-triple-play-helps-dodgers-beat-the-padres).

Recommend the following read - http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/23416/blowing-up-baseballs-most-dangerous-stat

This is a really interesting read.

[The Underdog]

But Umpire Dale Scott made an even more egregious call today. Scores level, top of the ninth, the Padres batting against the Dodgers had runners on first and second with no outs. The batter shaped to bunt, had a ball thrown at his chest and semi-bunted it while stumbling away. Scott also moved back, put his hands in the air signifying a dead ball and supposedly even called it foul. The ball then bounced into play (most likely off the player's body, which would make it a foul anyway), the catcher picked it up, and as he threw it to third base, umpire Scott changed his call to fair, and the Dodgers got a triple-play and then walked off in the bottom of the 9th. It was horrific, though the fan reaction has been fun in parts (Padres fans wrote his name so often in a thread about it, that its now the 3rd thing that comes up from a google search of 'Dale Scott Umpire'! The thread is: http://www.gaslampball.com/2012/4/15/2950993/umpire-dale-scott-assisted-triple-play-helps-dodgers-beat-the-padres).





Looking at the play, it may ultimately have been a correct call, but given he called the ball dead initially, giving the Padres runners no chance to move up safely, he's made a massive mistake that has directly impacted the Padres opportunity to win the game. If he doesn't call it foul I think at worst it ends up a double play and the Padres probably have a man on 3rd with 2 out. The consequences of his initial call were huge.

[Raw Toast]

Looking at the play, it may ultimately have been a correct call, but given he called the ball dead initially, giving the Padres runners no chance to move up safely, he's made a massive mistake that has directly impacted the Padres opportunity to win the game. If he doesn't call it foul I think at worst it ends up a double play and the Padres probably have a man on 3rd with 2 out. The consequences of his initial call were huge.

Yup, though only the correct call if the ball didn't hit the batter, and this pic indicates it might have: http://www.gaslampball.com/2012/4/15/2950993/umpire-dale-scott-assisted-triple-play-helps-dodgers-beat-the-padres#98987311

mlb have said the ump used improper mechanics:

http://www.gaslampball.com/2012/4/16/2952975/mlb-reviews-triple-play-umpire-dale-scott-used-improper-mechanics

But as this pic shows, the call was clearly for a dead ball: http://www.gaslampball.com/2012/4/16/2952750/that-signal-was-given-regardless-of-whether-or-not-scott-said#comments

Anyway, it sucks and better fire the team up!

[Remi Moses]

Just watched Baseball tonight .
Verlander is a freak, constantly makes over 100 pitches .
Has an arm of concrete!
Mets starting well on the back of David Wright

[Remi Moses]

Melbourne Aces pitcher Travis Blackely made his debut for the Giants yesterday.
He did well, pitched 2 innings of relief work.
Sidenote. Big blow for the Yanks with Rivera doing his knee in outfield catching practice.
Fancy and hope the Rays win that division.