Michael Young is an awful fielder.
Well that was embarrassing.
This is the worst fucking call I’ve ever seen. He was called out on this play
WTF?!?!?!
So how about them Orioles?
Looks like he was out to me.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
This is the worst fucking call I’ve ever seen. He was called out on this play[/quote]
Hey at least Helton made a good pick on the play, haha. Don’t feel bad for the Dodgers though.
Man what is up with Heath Bell this year? He already has four blown saves and had a total of five last year with the Padres. Perhaps he is getting a little old?
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
Man what is up with Heath Bell this year? He already has four blown saves and had a total of five last year with the Padres. Perhaps he is getting a little old?[/quote]
Nah, it what I expected. He played in a ballpark so big they’re actually considering moving in the fences and he had a tendency to pitch up in the zone.
The combination of pitching up in the zone, playing in a neutral park and a better hitting division has shown his true colours. Just look at his stats before he joined the Padres and pitched for the Mets. You don’t go from 5+ ERA to a ~2 ERA without a reason.
I actually predicted it last year that he would get lit up.
Best game all season so far, Braves /Phils. 5/2/12.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I just bought the MLB At-bat app for my phone. Has anybody else ever bought it? It’s the first app I have ever paid money for…
[quote]therajraj wrote:
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
Man what is up with Heath Bell this year? He already has four blown saves and had a total of five last year with the Padres. Perhaps he is getting a little old?[/quote]
Nah, it what I expected. He played in a ballpark so big they’re actually considering moving in the fences and he had a tendency to pitch up in the zone.
The combination of pitching up in the zone, playing in a neutral park and a better hitting division has shown his true colours. Just look at his stats before he joined the Padres and pitched for the Mets. You don’t go from 5+ ERA to a ~2 ERA without a reason.
I actually predicted it last year that he would get lit up.[/quote]
You would be correct thus far except for two things. He’s blown three of his four saves on the road this year and his home ballpark, while not as pitcher-friendly as Petco, is still one of the toughest parks to hit home runs in this year. The fact is that he’s blown saves or had bad outings in a hitter’s park (Cincy), at a pitcher’s park (@NY, @SF and at home), against a good offense (Houston) against an average offense (Cincy, Ari and NY) and a bad offense (SF).
I watched him blow the save last night. Last year he was consistently 94-95 with a sharp curve. Last night he topped out at 93, sat around 91, 92 mph, and his curveball looked like it was breaking much less sharply and late than it did last year. His stuff isn’t the same. It’s the pitcher, not the ballpark or the teams he’s facing.
If you looked at things more analytically and less intuitively you’d be aware of this.
If what you say is true, that it’s the pitcher not the change of scenery up to this point, then he might be a complete disaster for the life of the contract.
I think by the end of the season what I wrote will be completely true.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
If what you say is true, that it’s the pitcher not the change of scenery up to this point, then he might be a complete disaster for the life of the contract.
I think by the end of the season what I wrote will be completely true.[/quote]
Well, didn’t you write that he would stink it up due in large part to moving out of a pitcher’s park? He’s simply moved from one pitcher’s park into another.
Besides, it’s not like he’s facing great offenses over in the NL East. Going into the season, on paper anyways, he was probably ON the same team as the best offense in that division. Phillies couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat, their last game not withstanding. The Mets’ offensive numbers are better this year, but that’s because they moved the fences in from last year as much as anything. No one in that lineup scares anyone. The Braves were anemic last year and don’t look much better this year, and the Nationals weren’t that great of an offensive club WITH Michael Morse, let alone without him.
I fully agree with you that he’ll stink it up for most of the year, or at least be significantly less-effective than he was in SD. But I think the reasons you cited for that downfall will prove to be inaccurate.
Check out the park factors though:
According to this site their new stadium is perfectly in the middle, while Petco is the WORST hitter’s park. It may sway a few spots by the end of the season since there’s no previous data but it will still be a substantial improvement from Petco.
I think overall the NL East is still a noticeably better a hitting division than the NL West. What National League division would you say is the best hitting division? The Central?
Brewers ? not very good
Astros? Their offense won’t last, they’re fielding a triple-A team
Cardinals? Okay they’re genuinely good
Pirates? - they suck minus mcCutchen
Reds? - Votto + question marks
I forgot about the Cubs, but their offense isn’t very good either.
[quote]pat wrote:
Best game all season so far, Braves /Phils. 5/2/12.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I just bought the MLB At-bat app for my phone. Has anybody else ever bought it? It’s the first app I have ever paid money for…[/quote]
What is different from that and the ESPN Scorecenter app?
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Check out the park factors though:
According to this site their new stadium is perfectly in the middle, while Petco is the WORST hitter’s park. It may sway a few spots by the end of the season since there’s no previous data but it will still be a substantial improvement from Petco.
I think overall the NL East is still a noticeably better a hitting division than the NL West. What National League division would you say is the best hitting division? The Central?
Brewers ? not very good
Astros? Their offense won’t last, they’re fielding a triple-A team
Cardinals? Okay they’re genuinely good
Pirates? - they suck minus mcCutchen
Reds? - Votto + question marks
[/quote]
Are you kidding me? You posted a link to a site that made this evaluation of the Marlins’ ballpark before any games had been played in it!
I wouldn’t say that the NL East is significantly better than the NL West at all. The Dodgers can hit, the D’Backs can hit, the Rockies can hit and the Giants still suck, but not as bad as last year, although they JUST lost Sandoval for a month.
As far as the NL Central goes, the Brewers are a very good hitting team, as are the Cardinals. The Reds are legit; they also have Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce in that lineup. The Astros may have a young team, but they have a lot of talent on offense: JD Martinez, Jordan Schafer, Jose Altuve, and of course, El Caballo, Carlos Lee.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
Are you kidding me? You posted a link to a site that made this evaluation of the Marlins’ ballpark before any games had been played in it![/quote]
And I accounted for this. Even if their assessment is off significantly, that will still be a marked improvement over Petco. Unless you’re asserting this new park will play like Petco or be negligibly different, I don’t understand your objection to my point.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
I wouldn’t say that the NL East is significantly better than the NL West at all. The Dodgers can hit, the D’Backs can hit, the Rockies can hit and the Giants still suck, but not as bad as last year, although they JUST lost Sandoval for a month.[/quote]
Don’t forget the Padres. I’m going to check out the Dodgers stats when I get a chance, but who outside of Ethier and Kemp do you foresee being a major contributor to the offense? Do they even have another above avg hitter?
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
As far as the NL Central goes, the Brewers are a very good hitting team, as are the Cardinals. The Reds are legit; they also have Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce in that lineup. The Astros may have a young team, but they have a lot of talent on offense: JD Martinez, Jordan Schafer, Jose Altuve, and of course, El Caballo, Carlos Lee.[/quote]
I did forget about Jay bruce, he’s really good too.
As for the Astros you’re out of your mind if you think they’ll have a good offense this year. They finished 26th in runs scored last year and that was with Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn for 100 games. Look for them to be 28-30th in offensive rankings. What you’re looking at is nothing more than a statistical mirage, just like the Baltimore Orioles who will end up being no better than the 2011 Cleveland Indians/Pittsburgh Pirates.
[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
[quote]pat wrote:
Best game all season so far, Braves /Phils. 5/2/12.
It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I just bought the MLB At-bat app for my phone. Has anybody else ever bought it? It’s the first app I have ever paid money for…[/quote]
What is different from that and the ESPN Scorecenter app?[/quote]
Phils were screwed.
Just another bad game of umpiring.
You paid for atbat 12? Isn’t it free?
http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/atbat/
The main advantage for non-mlb.tv subscribers is apparently a free streamable game. Personally I have a 6gb limit on my phone so I would never stream games on my phone if I were away from home anyway.
I personally haven’t found a better app than this:
I love it and it’s free