As a New York Mets fan, this is not the start to the season I was hoping for. As of today the Florida Marlins are in first place. The Marlins!!!!! WTF!!!!! Ok, rant over now.
2008 MLB Thread
- Thread starter senob44
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- baseball mlb red sox suck! red sox!
Hey Ape, Marty Brennaman says hello. -hehe
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008...s-fans-are-the-most-obnoxious-in-major-leagu/
I keed, I keed!
I never thought it was that big of a deal that managers don't hit and run. On the other hand you're right about Torre use of pitchers. Most of the time his strategy on when to bring people in tended to suck, but for the longest time so did most managers.
I hope the Cubs can keep up their excellent play
I'll be happy if Ben Sheets stays off the DL for more than half the season.
Low expectations.
Low expectations.
yep, Instead of Jones they should have really tryed to go after A-Rod and see if they could get him to not resign with the Yankee's. Oh well.
Jones was a hugh mistake though. He dosent even look like he really wants to play.
As for 3rd base. I think Laroche will eventually get the starting role, but who knows. With the recent Nomar Issue's and Laroche's issue's one could be starting until the other gets hurt, and just keep flip flopping. DeWitt was solid at 3rd though while he played.
I think our pitching is decent though. We have solid starters and hopefully Kuroda can pitch pretty decent. We also have a solid bullpen especially with Broxton and Saito.
It just seems like the Dodgers cant put anything together right now. Torre keeps messing around with the OF's. The same three are never starting. He keeps flopping the line up. Sometimes Kemp/Either are 2nd and 3rd sometimes they are 7th and 8th. Sometimes Martin is 2nd, sometimes 6th.
Oh well, we do have a solid team we just need to put it all together.
I think Torre is trying to stimulate the lineup by doing what he is. But he's got to understand consistency has its value too. It's still so early in the season that doing all the tinkering he is may be hurting the club. He's got to understand that not every player thrives in a platoon role and that he's sending all sorts of mixed messages by juggling the lineup. I understand he's trying to find the right combination, but I've always been a believer that a lot of this game is mental. Sometimes having the confidence in someone to make them a starter or solidifying the lineup so everyone knows their role can work wonders. A guy like Torre, what he thinks of a player means a lot to them. I agree though, that the Dodgers look like a solid team. Their pitching will keep them competitive even if the lineup drags a little at times.
I'm not a dodgers fan but i wish they would give their younger players more time Either and Kemp need to play every day to get better. the Tigers seem to be crushed by expectations. hell look at the A's and rays nothing expected of either and the A's are in first and the rays are in second. NL central will be a wild race all year
red001
red001
Orioles fan here. We're in a rebuilding year, but we're actually at the top of the standings in the AL East tonight. Playing over our heads for sure, but it's still nice. Lot of young players: stud OF prospect Adam Jones manning center, stud 3rd year player Nick Markakis in RF, and a lot of good young pitching prospects in Baltimore and our high minors. Add to that the stud switch-hitting catching prospect Matt Weiters (considered the best bat in last year's draft) and we'll be looking at contending in 2010.
Yes, the Orioles have been a surprise. Plus you're right about the young players and the ***** league system. Unlike many other teams, the O's have not had a policy of dealing their prospects for big free agents. They have bided their time and it could very well pay off.
Brooks, it happened prior to the season, but I was wondering what you thought about the release of Jay Gibbons. Despite his poor performance this spring, his injury troubles and steroid allegations, I was kind of shocked when I first heard of this. The O's have to eat a huge amount of money releasing him like that while he was under contract. It's almost unprecedented in baseball that such a high-profile player is straight-out released. Then again, I understand he probably would not have even made the roster out of spring and they had little choice to do what they did. What do you think?
I can't believe Clint Hurdle stuck with Mark Redman through the whole inning and even through 6. I guess it just happened so fast. To Redman's credit though, he did pitch well for the rest of his outing, not even allowing a run. That guy has been subpar for the last 3 or 4 years though and tonight was more of the same.
I see home-plate ump Kerwin Danley was struck in the jaw with a pitch in that game. Was briefly *********** and is in the hospital. Here's the story:
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/n...ent_id=2596519&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
The following is an article that bodie and magnet or any Dodgers fan might like to read. It's regarding juggling the lineup and what we were discussing about Joe Torre.
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/n...ent_id=2596726&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
Thanks for the link, senob :thumbsup:
I didn't realize Schmidt was getting close to a comeback. Let's hope he makes it.
It didn't take long for Nomar to end up back on the DL, did it? :crash:
A fine days work for Andruw Jones again Sunday: 3 at bats, 3 Ks
:ban:So what's your assessment of the Mets? Do they have enough pitching?
I think it was the right move. Gibby was supposed to be our power threat, but for whatever reason he has not hit for power in the past few years. Considering the sizable hole in his swing, the power outage cost him any value on the field, especially considering our acquisition of LF Luke Scott from Houston in the off-season. Also, the Orioles have been awash in steroid controversy the past few years, from Jason Grimsley's Baltimore stint to Raffy Palmeiro's finger pointing and failed **** tests, so there was a conscious decision by the front office to get rid of that PED cloud. That was one of the driving reasons for trading Miguel Tejada, aside from the prospects he brought back, of course. I like Gibbons, and he was a fan favorite, but he wasn't producing, and his spot on the team would have blocked a guy better suited for our team, so I think the O's made the right decision.
It had really gotten bad, anyway. When Gibby wasn't injured he was outmatched at the plate, and fans would boo him. His nickname for the past few seasons has been Captain Popup. It was time for a fresh start, for him and the club.
Thanks for the link, senob :thumbsup:
I didn't realize Schmidt was getting close to a comeback. Let's hope he makes it.
It didn't take long for Nomar to end up back on the DL, did it? :crash:
A fine days work for Andruw Jones again Sunday: 3 at bats, 3 Ks
So what's your assessment of the Mets? Do they have enough pitching?
Jones is in decline. Even if he started producing a bit more, I doubt he ever gets back to his previous level of excellence. That was a bad signing, although I'm sure a big market team like the LAD can handle it. Hopefully he comes on at the end of the year for you guys and helps make a postseason push.
I can see perhaps one reason a team might do that if they get scored on that much in the first inning. I don't know if this is why they did it though. I could be reasoned that the chances of catching up are pretty slim at that point and they are going to loose anyhow. In that scenario they might have thought it best not to use up any more pitchers than they had to when the loss was probably inevitable.
That sounds like a sound assessment. In fact Becks mentioned something similar to me today when we were talking about it. She suggested that they felt they were out of it and that Redman just had to "take one for the team" and eat up some innings.
I think I jinxed him when I mentioned it in that other post....wasn't exactly a tough prediction though....
Well I never was a pitcher in all my years of baseball, and my assessments of pitching sometimes come up lacking, but lemme give it a shot:
First of all, let me answer the question posed with a resounding "yes". Santana is still a world beater IMO. I also believe in Maine and Oliver Perez as being good at the very least #3 or 4 starters still with potential to improve. They are currently the best the Mets have to suffice though at #2 and #3 starters right now. This is because of course Pedro and El Duque are injured. Now the up to date reports on them is that Pedro will throw off a mound within 2 weeks (so figure him to be back in about 25 days or so) and El Duque will still be out for awhile as his protective boot on his foot is only set to come off two weeks from now and he'll be out God knows how long after that.
I feel we are in good shape considering Pedro will be back soon. And I'm not even counting on El Duque at all for the rest of the season, as you almost never know what you're going to get out of him. Anything would be a plus.
The reason I am not worried is the surprise emergence of Nelson Figueroa. He wasn't even on the map at the start of the season and he comes out of nowhere and has pitched quite serviceably in 4 starts. I've seen a couple of his games and he actually looks good. I am thrilled with his performance because we didn't really have any right to expect ANYTHING out of him since he hadn't pitched in MLB since 2004 and even then he wasn't that great. His continued success is very important for right now. He has to keep the Mets at least in the game in his starts. He did so today in what was arguably his worst start of the year allowing 3 runs in 5.1 IP, but he still got the win against John Smoltz.
Mike Pelfrey is the last starter. He has also pitched servicably this year and has a similar role to Figueroa IMO; keep the Mets in the game. As long as he does that 2 out of 3 times, we'll be fine.
The bullpen of the Mets has been a study in contrast. Billy Wagner has converted 6 of 6 and has been lights out allowing only 1 hit and 0 runs in 10 IP. Duaner Sanchez is also yet to allow a run in 7 appearances. Lefty specialists Schoenweis and Pedro Feliciano have been brilliant. Right handed submariner Joe Smith has pitched well and shouldered a lot of the load becoming a favorite of Willie Randolph for getting tough right-handed outs in the heart of the game.
But there are two problems, named Heilman and Sosa. They have both performed ******** so far. This is especially troublesome since these are the two guys out of the bullpen who were figured to pitch the most innings. Heilman is the setup man and as a former starter is sometimes asked to pitch multiple innings in relief. Sosa was supposed to be the solid middle reliever and spot starter, eating innings either way. His ERA is over 7.00 and Heilman's is not much better. MARK MY WORDS: If these guys start pitching even reasonably well, the Mets will likely start to become dominant in the NL East. These two guys IMO are 50% of the Mets so-so start.
But the other 50% is actually lack of hitting rather than pitching. Delgado and Beltran have been anemic (until Delgado's 2 HR today) along with Endy Chavez and Reyes to a lesser extent. The only Mets who are performing above average at the plate have been Ryan Church and the catchers, Brian Schneider and Raul Casanova.
But anyway, hell yeah I think the Mets have enough pitching. It's a good question though, because a lot of people are panicking about that.
People say the Mets are off to a mediocre start, but the team is now at 13-11 looking up at only the Marlins. Everyone knows the Marlins will likely fade, and I think these Mets will be SCARY good once Heilman, Sosa, Delgado, Reyes and Beltran come around. All these guys are veterans who have proven track records and I think they WILL get better. (especially Reyes and Beltran) If they don't, then Willie's got to make the tough decisions he's paid for. I'm very optimistic about the Mets' chances this year though.
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