MLB Season 2011

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101

[quote]Axel44 wrote:
I am a soul-less bastard, with an aging infield and
no pitching. [/quote]

Haha! Same here. I guess I’ve really been a Yankees fan this whole time.

In other news: Utley took a cortisone shot to his ailing, arthritic knee and Dominic Brown broke his hand. And he looked outclassed in every at-bat so far this spring anyways. I’m telling you guys, as they are now, the Phils are the most overrated team in the NL. That’s not to say they aren’t good, but I’m convinced they’ll be struck with a lot of nagging little injuries like this throughout the year. Rollins is washed up, Utley looks like it’ll be a miracle if he stays healthy and productive all year, Polanco and Victorino are on the way down now, they don’t have a right-handed bat who can really swing it so they’re left-handed heavy to an extreme, and I still think that for whatever reason, the Giants’ hitters match up well with the Phillies’ starters.

Well, as well as any team in the league does; no one really matches up “well” with that rotation. But the Giants have a lot of good lefties on the staff who can neutralize their good hitters (who are all on the way down) and I think the Braves have the talent to give them a real run for their money in their own division. The Braves starters are young across the board, but with a healthy Hudson again leading the way, I think that staff can easily shut down the Phils’ lineup in head-to-head meetings. And the Braves staff might match up against any team in the NL, this side of the Giants and Phils.

We’ll see. I still think the Giants are the best team in the league, top to bottom. Sandoval’s been tearing the cover off the ball and he’s lost 40 lbs., Belt looks legit so far and the rest of the offense is healthy. If they can stay healthy (a big if, but they’re a young team overall so I think their chances are better than an older team like the Phils) and Sandoval and Belt are significant contributors, then they’re the best team in the league. Best staff 1 through 12 and an underrated offense in comparison to Philadelphia’s overrated one. I’m not sure any other team other than perhaps the Braves or the Rockies or maybe the Reds can lay any sort of claim to best team in the NL other than SF and Ph. though.

102

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
It all comes down to who gets hot in October. It’s a lot easier to get hot when you’ve got 4 ace pitchers, though. :slight_smile:

Anyone here jelly of the Phillies pitching staff?[/quote]

I think the Phils are going to have more trouble scoring runs this year than they’ve had in the past. Oswalt is not going to run up a 1.74 ERA for them again. Lidge is one year removed from a 7+ ERA. No guarantees yet.

Sincerely,
Turd in the Punch Bowl[/quote]

I agree, the Phils have no clutch hitting to speak of, They’ll wind up with a top 3 offense statistically but they’ll shit the bed a lot when it counts.

We don’t need Oswalt to pitch 1.74 era ball. An era around 3.50 as a 3rd or 4th starter will still be freaking awesome.

Closer may be a problem, maybe not.

Still, when all is said and done, I like the Phils chances this year more than I have in any other year I can remember.[/quote]

Not to mention that Utley is starting to fall apart physically. He just got a cortisone injection in his knee again, and their GM said it’s looking worse then just patella tendinitis as they had originally thought.

Bad Knees = No Fun

103

I’d look for the Phils to make some moves after camp to shore up
their lineup. With that pitching staff though, they might only need
to score 2-3 runs a game to win. As far as Utley goes, he’s still a great
player even with a bum knee. These clubs use cortisone by the gallon
bucket along with other thing to keep their 30 something superstars on
the field, but he is probably in for a looooong season. I still think
they are the class of the NL. AL?, I think it’s really up for grabs, so,
I’ll have to concede to my heart a little and pick the pinstripes.

104

C’mon Pirates!!

FML

105

[quote]Mad HORSE wrote:
C’mon Pirates!!

FML[/quote]

Well at least you guys have the nicest stadium in all of baseball.

106

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
It all comes down to who gets hot in October. It’s a lot easier to get hot when you’ve got 4 ace pitchers, though. :slight_smile:

Anyone here jelly of the Phillies pitching staff?[/quote]

I think the Phils are going to have more trouble scoring runs this year than they’ve had in the past. Oswalt is not going to run up a 1.74 ERA for them again. Lidge is one year removed from a 7+ ERA. No guarantees yet.

Sincerely,
Turd in the Punch Bowl[/quote]

I agree, the Phils have no clutch hitting to speak of, They’ll wind up with a top 3 offense statistically but they’ll shit the bed a lot when it counts.

We don’t need Oswalt to pitch 1.74 era ball. An era around 3.50 as a 3rd or 4th starter will still be freaking awesome.

Closer may be a problem, maybe not.

Still, when all is said and done, I like the Phils chances this year more than I have in any other year I can remember.[/quote]

Not to mention that Utley is starting to fall apart physically. He just got a cortisone injection in his knee again, and their GM said it’s looking worse then just patella tendinitis as they had originally thought.

Bad Knees = No Fun
[/quote]

Utley’s been falling apart for years now. At first, his insistence on playing through injury was admirable, but now it is just a liability. It was the same way with his hip a few years back. His production completely fell off yet he refused to take a break; to even say anything was wrong. It is very frustrating as a fan to keep being fed the same cock and bull story. The start of spring training it was general soreness and now there are mumblings of surgery. Why are we waiting until Spring to deal with this? grrrr.

I would love to see the Phils pull out a trade by the end of spring training, but they have no one to deal. Amaro (GM) raped the farm system to build this rotation. He traded a bunch of prospects for Lee in '09. I’m good with that. He trades a bunch more for Halladay in '10 but then turns and trades Lee to Seattle for a collection of bums. So basically we made two trades and got only 1 pitcher out of the deal. Luckily, he didn’t give up a ton for Oswalt (Thank you Ed Wade). Still, that’s 3 deals for 2 pitchers. It makes no sense.

Now we have a ballooning payroll and the only option to fill in the gaps is FA (unless someone wants to make an offer for Ibanez? Anyone? Anyone?) Its like he looked at what Minaya did with the Mets and said, “Yep. Sounds like a good idea”. I saw an interview with Gillick (former GM) and he all but threw his hands up in the air over the entire situation.

Certainly even with all of this, the Phils are still formidable (I’m just being a typical Philly fan; not happy unless I am bitching about something). Howard’s looking good. Francisco is tearing it up. Hamels is a completely new man. If Rollins and Vic can stop swinging for the fences and take a cue from Polanco, Howard should have plenty of RBI opportunities. Of course that is assuming that he has enough protection that they can’t pitch around him.

Is it April yet?

107

Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

Even last year, the Phils got RED HOT in late August through September and I kept telling myself they can’t keep it up through all of the postseason, it would have been a miracle if they did.

One final LOL @ DB for thinking the Braves will challenge the Phils for a division title.

108

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Stranger things have happened…u know why would any team sign a good but not great outfielder to a 7 year 126million dollar contract? A total mindfuck! But hey it happens[/quote]

Nothing personal, but I hope you get hit by a firetruck

109

[quote]SmilingPolitely wrote:

Now we have a ballooning payroll and the only option to fill in the gaps is FA (unless someone wants to make an offer for Ibanez? Anyone? Anyone?)
[/quote]

I’ll trade you Roger Bernadina and Rick Ankiel for him

110

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

Even last year, the Phils got RED HOT in late August through September and I kept telling myself they can’t keep it up through all of the postseason, it would have been a miracle if they did.

One final LOL @ DB for thinking the Braves will challenge the Phils for a division title. [/quote]

Mark my words Lanky, the Braves will compete all the way down the stretch for the division, and I won’t be surprised at all to see them win it.

111

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

[/quote]

You should’ve seen the comments I received in the last playoff thread when I said the Giants got hot at the right time.

112

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]MattyXL wrote:
Stranger things have happened…u know why would any team sign a good but not great outfielder to a 7 year 126million dollar contract? A total mindfuck! But hey it happens[/quote]

Nothing personal, but I hope you get hit by a firetruck[/quote]

Now how could I take that personal lol!

113

Brett Myers to the Yanks? I think that would be a good fit.

114

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

[/quote]

You should’ve seen the comments I received in the last playoff thread when I said the Giants got hot at the right time.

[/quote]

It wasn’t that, it was that you continuously downplayed their talent level and attributed most of their success to them being hot and discounted their talent level as the reason for getting hot. Don’t forget, only really good teams get hot at the right time. When was the last time the Royals or the Pirates got hot at the right time?

Beyond that, if you do believe that getting hot at the right time is a key component to success, why were you still picking against them the whole time?

115

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

[/quote]

You should’ve seen the comments I received in the last playoff thread when I said the Giants got hot at the right time.

[/quote]

It wasn’t that, it was that you continuously downplayed their talent level and attributed most of their success to them being hot and discounted their talent level as the reason for getting hot. Don’t forget, only really good teams get hot at the right time. When was the last time the Royals or the Pirates got hot at the right time?

Beyond that, if you do believe that getting hot at the right time is a key component to success, why were you still picking against them the whole time?[/quote]

Because teams with talented players get hot at the right time. The fact that utility player Cody Ross was consistently clutch (2 homeruns against Roy in one game??) and Edgar Renteria hit more homeruns in the post season than all season is hard to predict. Heck, Renteria has been known for terrible defense in recent times, yet in the playoffs he was getting to balls he hadn’t gotten to in years.

116

Lets wait and see if Cody Ross can put together a solid season. I’m curious.

117

640×732 57.5 KB

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

[/quote]

You should’ve seen the comments I received in the last playoff thread when I said the Giants got hot at the right time.

[/quote]

It wasn’t that, it was that you continuously downplayed their talent level and attributed most of their success to them being hot and discounted their talent level as the reason for getting hot. Don’t forget, only really good teams get hot at the right time. When was the last time the Royals or the Pirates got hot at the right time?

Beyond that, if you do believe that getting hot at the right time is a key component to success, why were you still picking against them the whole time?[/quote]

Because teams with talented players get hot at the right time. The fact that utility player Cody Ross was consistently clutch (2 homeruns against Roy in one game??) and Edgar Renteria hit more homeruns in the post season than all season is hard to predict. Heck, Renteria has been known for terrible defense in recent times, yet in the playoffs he was getting to balls he hadn’t gotten to in years.

[/quote]
I’m not having this conversation again.

118

What do you guys think of Jose Bautista? One season wonder or worth the contract he was given?

119

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Not much else to add about the Phils. I think DB and SP just summed everything up quite nicely.

And like I said before, on paper means nothing, it’s all about who gets hot in October. If the Giants didn’t prove that in 2010 and the Phils didn’t prove that in 2008, I don’t know what will.

[/quote]

You should’ve seen the comments I received in the last playoff thread when I said the Giants got hot at the right time.

[/quote]

It wasn’t that, it was that you continuously downplayed their talent level and attributed most of their success to them being hot and discounted their talent level as the reason for getting hot. Don’t forget, only really good teams get hot at the right time. When was the last time the Royals or the Pirates got hot at the right time?

Beyond that, if you do believe that getting hot at the right time is a key component to success, why were you still picking against them the whole time?[/quote]

Because teams with talented players get hot at the right time. The fact that utility player Cody Ross was consistently clutch (2 homeruns against Roy in one game??) and Edgar Renteria hit more homeruns in the post season than all season is hard to predict. Heck, Renteria has been known for terrible defense in recent times, yet in the playoffs he was getting to balls he hadn’t gotten to in years.

[/quote]
I’m not having this conversation again.

[/quote]

LOL was thinking the same thing.

120

I think Baustita won’t put up those type of numbers again, but I can see him hitting 30+ home runs.

It’s very unlikely Cody Ross could repeat what he did for the Giants in the post season. He was on fire, i’ll give him that.