The Braves definitly do a good job farming talent. The Cards have caught up though. It should be fun to see what happens. Regardless of who has the best record though, the D-Backs are gonna be tough in a short series. They are a hard nosed team with a great manager who they love to play for. If the Giants don’t fix their pitching (which just seems weird) they are in trouble, but I think they’ll figure it out. The Rockies will soon begin their freefall to .400.
[quote]Anonymity wrote:
[quote]sonnyp wrote:
^^Cardinals, Reds and the Pirates all have better records than every other team in baseball. NL Central? I know it’s very very early, but still. This is awesome![/quote]
I think ATL will surge ahead at some point and never look back on the way to best record in baseball.[/quote]
I would love to be able to agree but if they don’t get their pitching sorted and figure out what to do with the black holes of Uggla and BJ Upton (I think Heyward will come around), they won’t be able to sustain the lead they currently have now. And at least Upton gives you decent fielding, Uggla on the other hand…
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
[quote]sonnyp wrote:
Yet another Cardinals pitcher, Michael Wacha, will make his big league debut tomorrow night. He’s supposed to be special. Here’s the interesting thing, the Cards couldn’t have drafted him without the extra draft spot they got from the Angels after the Cards made Pujols a qualifying offer that he refused. I hope he gives me yet another way to put a positive spin on Pujols’ leaving.[/quote]
I think most everyone sees the Angel’s signing Pujols to such a long term contract as a huge mistake. The guy was 32 with 2 bad knees when he signed and I’ve read he may even be older, lol. No chance that contract doesn’t come back to haunt them for many years. [/quote]
Unless he turns things around in a hurry, I’d say that contract is already haunting them. On top of that, Josh Hamilton looks like he fucking relapsed. I can’t stand the fucking guy. All he is is one excuse after another. He can’t hit during the day because he has blue eyes, he can’t hit late in the season because he was going through dip withdrawal, he can’t hit because he was going through caffeine withdrawal, he can’t hit because he’s distracted by his latest relapse and the specter of his wife divorcing him because he has an overwhelming predilection for banging chicks ten years younger than him in shithole bar bathrooms, blah, blah, blah.[/quote]
Serious question, not trying to troll you at all. Why don’t you show Josh Hamilton any compassion for his trouble with his vices, but expect people to show you compassion for your past troubles?
So I got my first view of this Gattis guy after hearing about him in this thread and in baseball news.
Only a small sample of ABs I’ve seen but he’s a pretty crazy hitter. I saw him hook a 3-2 pitch heading into the dirt over the fence. Plus he must be the last or one of the last players to hit bare handed.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
[quote]sonnyp wrote:
Yet another Cardinals pitcher, Michael Wacha, will make his big league debut tomorrow night. He’s supposed to be special. Here’s the interesting thing, the Cards couldn’t have drafted him without the extra draft spot they got from the Angels after the Cards made Pujols a qualifying offer that he refused. I hope he gives me yet another way to put a positive spin on Pujols’ leaving.[/quote]
I think most everyone sees the Angel’s signing Pujols to such a long term contract as a huge mistake. The guy was 32 with 2 bad knees when he signed and I’ve read he may even be older, lol. No chance that contract doesn’t come back to haunt them for many years. [/quote]
Unless he turns things around in a hurry, I’d say that contract is already haunting them. On top of that, Josh Hamilton looks like he fucking relapsed. I can’t stand the fucking guy. All he is is one excuse after another. He can’t hit during the day because he has blue eyes, he can’t hit late in the season because he was going through dip withdrawal, he can’t hit because he was going through caffeine withdrawal, he can’t hit because he’s distracted by his latest relapse and the specter of his wife divorcing him because he has an overwhelming predilection for banging chicks ten years younger than him in shithole bar bathrooms, blah, blah, blah.[/quote]
Serious question, not trying to troll you at all. Why don’t you show Josh Hamilton any compassion for his trouble with his vices, but expect people to show you compassion for your past troubles?
[/quote]
I don’t make millions of dollars and I don’t have all sorts of people paid to surround me and keep me out of trouble. I didn’t turn my life around all by myself, but I certainly didn’t need the sort of help that Hamilton has had. And besides, when I have asked for compassion? Not once have I asked for anyone to feel sorry for me or show me compassion. All of my problems are of my own making. And I accept responsibility for those problems. I relapsed a couple times early in my sobriety and, sure, I blamed some problems I created on relapsing. But that was bullshit. It was a copout. I have compassion for Hamilton’s addiction issues. I simply think it’s bullshit to try and separate relapsing from himself. There is no Josh Hamilton the addict and Josh Hamilton the baseball player. There is just Josh Hamilton. So when he tries to place the blame for his struggles on a relapse, it’s bullshit, because the blame lies squarely on his shoulders and his alone. All of his problems are of his own making. Rather than blame the relapse for his struggles he should accept full responsibility and blame himself and himself only.
And for fuck’s sake, would it kill him to simply ignore the questions about it from the media? No one wants to hear his fucking sob stories. I’m simply into solution-based discussions when it comes to people’s sobriety and addictions, so if they’re talking about their struggles with addiction, I want to hear a plan of action, a solution, or nothing at all.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
So I got my first view of this Gattis guy after hearing about him in this thread and in baseball news.
Only a small sample of ABs I’ve seen but he’s a pretty crazy hitter. I saw him hook a 3-2 pitch heading into the dirt over the fence. Plus he must be the last or one of the last players to hit bare handed.[/quote]
His power in general is off the charts, but if you watch some of his opposite field blasts…wow…not even getting great contact and still going several rows up. It’s almost miguel cabrera like, or arod when he was juiced.
http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=27509895&c_id=mlb
http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=27348287&c_id=mlb&topic_id=vtp_must_c
[quote]rugbgod wrote:
[quote]Anonymity wrote:
[quote]sonnyp wrote:
^^Cardinals, Reds and the Pirates all have better records than every other team in baseball. NL Central? I know it’s very very early, but still. This is awesome![/quote]
I think ATL will surge ahead at some point and never look back on the way to best record in baseball.[/quote]
I would love to be able to agree but if they don’t get their pitching sorted and figure out what to do with the black holes of Uggla and BJ Upton (I think Heyward will come around), they won’t be able to sustain the lead they currently have now. And at least Upton gives you decent fielding, Uggla on the other hand…[/quote]
I think once they get beachy back they will be in nice shape. Teheran could be poised for a great rest of the season, medlen hasn’t been pitching to his true ability yet.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Jays and Padres coming up this Friday… Are you ready strungoutboy :P[/quote]
Woo, 2 out of 3. Almost had the sweep. 
One of my favorite stories this season - the WTF forkball:
Hey Raj, how’s RA Dickey been doing lately?
Dickey: 5.18 ERA, 4-7
Zito: 3.88 ERA, 4-3
Not really the stuff of aces, huh? I told you man, never trust a knuckleballer with a very short track record of success. Especially not in an indoor bandbox with fast turf.
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?[/quote]
Boy, you Canadian girls sure do complain a lot, huh?
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?[/quote]
Boy, you Canadian girls sure do complain a lot, huh?[/quote]
lol, ouch.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?[/quote]
Boy, you Canadian girls sure do complain a lot, huh?[/quote]
I have to admit though, so far you’ve been right. Though, I have a hard time seeing him being a shitbag. I still think he can be an above average pitcher. Plus for half the season he was dealing with upperback/neck issues, I’m guessing that’s skewing his numbers with respect to his talent level.
If I’m wrong, he and Cain will be the two of the biggest albatross contracts next year starting pitchers wise.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?[/quote]
Boy, you Canadian girls sure do complain a lot, huh?[/quote]
I have to admit though, so far you’ve been right. Though, I have a hard time seeing him being a shitbag. I still think he can be an above average pitcher. Plus for half the season he was dealing with upperback/neck issues, I’m guessing that’s skewing his numbers with respect to his talent level.
If I’m wrong, he and Cain will be the two of the biggest albatross contracts next year starting pitchers wise.
[/quote]
Yeah, well injuries do have a way of magnifying issues when you’re a 38 year-old pitcher. And let’s not kid ourselves about his talent level. He’s a knuckleballer for a reason. It’s an extremely volatile, shaky pitch. Throwing one is like gambling; you get on good runs every once in a while but you’re playing against the house and the house always wins in the end. That’s why there’s really only been one “successful” knuckleballer in Phil Niekro.
But all in all, I’m ready to conclude the Jays are done this year. The combination of bad luck, injuries and under performance has done them in. Barring a 20-6 month when Reyes comes back, it’s pretty much over. Oakland and/or NYY has to fall off in order for the Jays to have a shot at the 2nd wildcard.
Luck:
Jose, Melky and Edwin all struggled at the same time. Every hitter goes through slumps throughout the season, but all your best hitters can’t have them all at the same time. Their numbers are all great now but that 10-21 start killed them. They’ve gone 13-11 since then.
The Yankees have gotten star performances from shitbag players such as Wells, Overbay, Ben Francisco and probably some others. They’re only NOW showing slowing down, but their regulars are now returning from injury so it’ll soon be moot.
Injuries:
Josh Johnson and Brandon Morrow have barely pitched and when they have, they haven’t been good. JA Happ isn’t good, but he’s a serviceable 5th starter and he took that liner to the head. With all the injuries to the starting staff, the bullpen has been stretched out considerably. IIRC, the the Jays bullpen has thrown the 2nd most innings thus far only behind Houston. I’m not ready to say Morrow/Johnsons/Happ have underperformed since they haven’t pitched enough to this point.
Jose Reyes goes down 10 games into the season. He was on absolute fire when the season started. Had he not gone down, I believe the Jays would still be afloat and avoided the 10-21 start.
Brett Lawrie has struggled, started to turned it around and then gets injured. Of course.
Also the Jays setup man (lights out when healthy) has been injured most of the season
Underperformance
RA Dickey - He’s had some atrocious starts. I’m hoping this can be chalked up to his injury, but I’m not so sure. We’ll find out.
Ricky Romero - The guy was a freaking all star in 2011! Now that year he enjoyed a lot of luck but holy crap, they guy can no longer even throw strikes. It’s insane that a guy who had several pretty good years in the majors to the point he makes the all star team isn’t even good enough to be pitching in AAA at the tender age of 28. How the fuck does that happen? Based on his career numbers, one should expect a 3.5-4 ERA and 200IP.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Boy, you California assholes love piling it on, huh?[/quote]
Boy, you Canadian girls sure do complain a lot, huh?[/quote]
I have to admit though, so far you’ve been right. Though, I have a hard time seeing him being a shitbag. I still think he can be an above average pitcher. Plus for half the season he was dealing with upperback/neck issues, I’m guessing that’s skewing his numbers with respect to his talent level.
If I’m wrong, he and Cain will be the two of the biggest albatross contracts next year starting pitchers wise.
[/quote]
Yeah, well injuries do have a way of magnifying issues when you’re a 38 year-old pitcher. And let’s not kid ourselves about his talent level. He’s a knuckleballer for a reason. It’s an extremely volatile, shaky pitch. Throwing one is like gambling; you get on good runs every once in a while but you’re playing against the house and the house always wins in the end. That’s why there’s really only been one “successful” knuckleballer in Phil Niekro.[/quote]
Dickey has been successful for 3 years as a knuckleballer. Before the start of this year, he was only underwhelming as a Cy Young candidate
Tonight should be fun though.
Johnson vs Lincecum
Dickey vs Zito tomorrow
[quote]therajraj wrote:
But all in all, I’m ready to conclude the Jays are done this year. The combination of bad luck, injuries and under performance has done them in. Barring a 20-6 month when Reyes comes back, it’s pretty much over. Oakland and/or NYY has to fall off in order for the Jays to have a shot at the 2nd wildcard.
Luck:
Jose, Melky and Edwin all struggled at the same time. Every hitter goes through slumps throughout the season, but all your best hitters can’t have them all at the same time. Their numbers are all great now but that 10-21 start killed them. They’ve gone 13-11 since then.
The Yankees have gotten star performances from shitbag players such as Wells, Overbay, Ben Francisco and probably some others. They’re only NOW showing slowing down, but their regulars are now returning from injury so it’ll soon be moot.
Injuries:
Josh Johnson and Brandon Morrow have barely pitched and when they have, they haven’t been good. JA Happ isn’t good, but he’s a serviceable 5th starter and he took that liner to the head. With all the injuries to the starting staff, the bullpen has been stretched out considerably. IIRC, the the Jays bullpen has thrown the 2nd most innings thus far only behind Houston. I’m not ready to say Morrow/Johnsons/Happ have underperformed since they haven’t pitched enough to this point.
Jose Reyes goes down 10 games into the season. He was on absolute fire when the season started. Had he not gone down, I believe the Jays would still be afloat and avoided the 10-21 start.
Brett Lawrie has struggled, started to turned it around and then gets injured. Of course.
Also the Jays setup man (lights out when healthy) has been injured most of the season
Underperformance
RA Dickey - He’s had some atrocious starts. I’m hoping this can be chalked up to his injury, but I’m not so sure. We’ll find out.
Ricky Romero - The guy was a freaking all star in 2011! Now that year he enjoyed a lot of luck but holy crap, they guy can no longer even throw strikes. It’s insane that a guy who had several pretty good years in the majors to the point he makes the all star team isn’t even good enough to be pitching in AAA at the tender age of 28. How the fuck does that happen? Based on his career numbers, one should expect a 3.5-4 ERA and 200IP.
[/quote]
Cry me a fucking river. Have you seen how the Giants have been playing lately? They can’t pitch worth shit and their defense looks like they’re having a snowball fight out there.
It wasnt just the California boys that were right…just sayin