Well he does have quite a bit of power. He has battled a shoulder injury all year which has deminished his power so its quite amazing that he has hit 7.
They just said he will be getting surgery after the season is over.
2008 MLB Thread
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Well he does have quite a bit of power. He has battled a shoulder injury all year which has deminished his power so its quite amazing that he has hit 7.
They just said he will be getting surgery after the season is over.
I personally think Victorino waited to slide because he wasnt sure where the ball was going to be located because I think he knew he was a dead duck, if it was up and on the line, he probably would have tried to take out Navarro, hes a little guy but hes not afraid to mix it up. When he saw where the ball was it was kind of a bit too late to put down a decent slide.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
One down...three more to go.
The story of Game 1, IMO, was missed opportunities for both teams. Phillies were what, 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and Upton grounding into a double play with the bases loaded were the two big ones for me.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
Good pitching from both sides too. I was glad to see that.
Yep. Hamels and Kazmir were good tonight. Both bullpens solid and Lidge was downright filthy.
I would not say that Kazmir pitched great tonight. He struggled with his control again. He always gets to 100 pitches around the 5th or 6th. Considering some of the bad luck he did face though, I was impressed with his overall performance.
Regarding all the fair weathered Ray's fans... I agree with all of you. It kind of pisses me off too. I don't think the Rays or Marlins will ever have great attendance for a few reasons. 1) There are too many other options of things to do in the this area where the weather is so nice. 2) If you look at a map and see where they put the Trop, you will see they screwed up. Why put it near the water? They should have put it in a more central location to help get fans from Polk County and Orlando. 3) There are so many transplants in the area and it seems people can never leave their allegiances from the cities they moved from. Couple that with all the teams that have Spring Training in the surrounding areas, a lot of people feel compelled to cheer for the team that trains in their city.
I love baseball - one of a few people who understand the nuances and how the count effects a managers decisions but I will never understand why anyone would purchase season tickets for a baseball team unless you live a few blocks from the stadium.
As far as calling Evan Longoria the Ray's best player....I would argue that. I am not sure you can say the Rays have a "best player". They are where they are at because they are a solid "team". That has been their slogan all year and it made no sense to me the first time I heard it, but now I get it. "We are one team".
You don't always have to cheer for a team either...just watch two teams play a game for the title. I also always feel compelled to pick a team too but sometimes it's just best to watch teams battle it out.
Regarding all the fair weathered Ray's fans... I agree with all of you. It kind of pisses me off too. I don't think the Rays or Marlins will ever have great attendance for a few reasons. 1) There are too many other options of things to do in the this area where the weather is so nice. 2) If you look at a map and see where they put the Trop, you will see they screwed up. Why put it near the water? They should have put it in a more central location to help get fans from Polk County and Orlando. 3) There are so many transplants in the area and it seems people can never leave their allegiances from the cities they moved from. Couple that with all the teams that have Spring Training in the surrounding areas, a lot of people feel compelled to cheer for the team that trains in their city.
I love baseball - one of a few people who understand the nuances and how the count effects a managers decisions but I will never understand why anyone would purchase season tickets for a baseball team unless you live a few blocks from the stadium.
As far as calling Evan Longoria the Ray's best player....I would argue that. I am not sure you can say the Rays have a "best player". They are where they are at because they are a solid "team". That has been their slogan all year and it made no sense to me the first time I heard it, but now I get it. "We are one team".
You don't always have to cheer for a team either...just watch two teams play a game for the title. I also always feel compelled to pick a team too but sometimes it's just best to watch teams battle it out.
Kazmir did a solid job, good but not great.
As for the stadium, arent they suppose to be building a new one in the near future? I thought I heard some talk about that.
Longoria may infact be their best player but your right a lot of people have contributed this season to get them where they are.
I am cheering for the rays for two reasons.
1: I like Kazmir and Iwamura.
2: I hate the phillies. Never did like they. I hate Chase Utley, I hate Pat Burrell, and I hate Jason Wyerth. Plus they knocked my Dodgers out.
Okay now I have to ask a question.
I know Lidge has good good stuff. I had a mid to high 90's fastball coupled with a sharp slider.
Lots of guys have good stuff in the league, but why has nobody been able to break him? I know he has good stuff, the hitters have seen stuff like his before, yet they come up empty everytime. What gives?
Good game tonight. The Phillies can't afford to keep missing opportunities though or they may find themselves in trouble. Hamels is their ace, and he is why they won this game. They will probably need more runs to win the next few games. That being said, the Rays have to generate some offense if they want to have a shot. They looked pretty weak tonight.
I agree what Chef said about Upton. He hits the ball hard, but he's not a power hitter. Definitely a doubles hitter more than anything. Apparently McCarver and Buck's memories are stuck on what he has done in the playoffs and they can't think all the way back to the regular season.
Which brings me to another thing. And this goes for all postseason games. I wish they would always show a player's season stats when they are batting. Knowing that they are 7 for 28 in the postseason or 2 for 7 in the series or whatever means jack shit to me. How bout some stats over a decent period of time to refresh me on what type of hitter the guy is? So I say put the season stats up on the screen, and save the comments about how they are doing in the postseason or series for the announcers to mention in passing.
I would say that Lidge throws his slider hard enough that hitters can never be sure whether it is actually the fastball or the slider, until it's too late. In addition to it's fantastic break, Lidge rarely leaves a slider hanging. Plus, he has an outstanding defensive catcher and doesn't have to be afraid for the slider to break all the way into the dirt. The way he throws the slider is enough to be devastating to righties. As for left handed batters, he's somewhat hittable, since the slider breaks down and in, right where lefties sometimes prefer the ball. But even so, he probably gets a lot of hard hit ground balls for outs in that circumstance. I think they said that lefties hit about .280 against Lidge, so that would definitely be somewhat hittable. But let's go back to the fact that he almost never lets a slider hang. Generally, the sliders that get hit for home runs are "frisbee" type of spinning sliders that die in the strike zone. Otherwise, the diving ball is just too low and heavy for the hitter to generate the lift for the long ball.
I agree what Chef said about Upton. He hits the ball hard, but he's not a power hitter. Definitely a doubles hitter more than anything. Apparently McCarver and Buck's memories are stuck on what he has done in the playoffs and they can't think all the way back to the regular season.
Which brings me to another thing. And this goes for all postseason games. I wish they would always show a player's season stats when they are batting. Knowing that they are 7 for 28 in the postseason or 2 for 7 in the series or whatever means jack shit to me. How bout some stats over a decent period of time to refresh me on what type of hitter the guy is? So I say put the season stats up on the screen, and save the comments about how they are doing in the postseason or series for the announcers to mention in passing.
I would say that Lidge throws his slider hard enough that hitters can never be sure whether it is actually the fastball or the slider, until it's too late. In addition to it's fantastic break, Lidge rarely leaves a slider hanging. Plus, he has an outstanding defensive catcher and doesn't have to be afraid for the slider to break all the way into the dirt. The way he throws the slider is enough to be devastating to righties. As for left handed batters, he's somewhat hittable, since the slider breaks down and in, right where lefties sometimes prefer the ball. But even so, he probably gets a lot of hard hit ground balls for outs in that circumstance. I think they said that lefties hit about .280 against Lidge, so that would definitely be somewhat hittable. But let's go back to the fact that he almost never lets a slider hang. Generally, the sliders that get hit for home runs are "frisbee" type of spinning sliders that die in the strike zone. Otherwise, the diving ball is just too low and heavy for the hitter to generate the lift for the long ball.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
I hope so. I absolutely DESPISE domes, no matter what sport they're used in. I hate, hate, hate, hate watching games in domes. Let the weather effect the games you PUSSIES. Every team that has a dome pisses me off and strikes me as being pansies.
They are located in FLORIDA. Why do they need to protect themselves from the year-round GOOD WEATHER?!?!?!? :dunno:
yes Tampa Bay has a stadium on the drawing board although i expect the money needed might be an issue currently. Many of the Marlins players are arbitration eligible this yea rand they are talking about non tendering all of the a partial list includes Uggla,Jacobs and Hermida so expect the Marlins to field an even cheaper team next year although the are building a new stadium. Willie Randolph is a candidate to become the Brewers next manager
red001
red001
Believe it or not, the weather is nice here but the heat would prevent a lot of casual fans from going to games in the summer months. We also get a ton of rain. You can expect it to rain at least once a day during the summer. I would imagine we would have a ton of rain delays and postponed games. That being said, I would still prefer they build an outdoor stadium as well.
The one they were shooting for got shot down by the local community in the first pass. I still think the most important thing they can do is move it out of St. Pete and closer to East Tampa. The other thing they need to work on is the traffic flow in and out of the stadium.
I did not get home until 2:30 am after Game 7. This prevents a lot of families from going to the games when school is in session.
The new ownership of the Rays are top class though and I would like to see them make their money and I hope they get their new stadium. The money is not the issue for the new stadium, it is getting the local community to pass it. The proposed stadium was actually pretty sweet. It was an outdoor stadium with a tent like device...I had never seen anything like it but it accomplished the feeling of being outside but still provided protection from rain/heat.
Go Rays!
The one they were shooting for got shot down by the local community in the first pass. I still think the most important thing they can do is move it out of St. Pete and closer to East Tampa. The other thing they need to work on is the traffic flow in and out of the stadium.
I did not get home until 2:30 am after Game 7. This prevents a lot of families from going to the games when school is in session.
The new ownership of the Rays are top class though and I would like to see them make their money and I hope they get their new stadium. The money is not the issue for the new stadium, it is getting the local community to pass it. The proposed stadium was actually pretty sweet. It was an outdoor stadium with a tent like device...I had never seen anything like it but it accomplished the feeling of being outside but still provided protection from rain/heat.
Go Rays!
Holy shit, you've got to be kidding me! This guy is going to follow me from the NY area to Wisconsin now? It wasn't enough what happened with the Mets, but now he's going to helm my second favorite team? Don't get me wrong, I think Willie is a decent manager, and certainly was not at fault for the end of the season collapse THIS year (since he was gone) but at the same time he is a big reminder of the Mets' underachievement. Personally I would rather he not become the Brewers manager.
According to the GM Melvin, candidates are apparently coming out of the woodwork inquiring about the managerial job. Reports even say that Bobby Valentine would be willing to come back to the states to take the job. I would say he would be a good fit. In any event, now is the time to make a careful decision of who to choose. With so many candidates, there is no excuse not to make a good choice.
I would LOVE to have Bobby V. here.
And Mark Loretta after he retires.
And Mark Loretta after he retires.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
I was actually feeling like tonight would be more of a 2-0 kind of game. It's supposed to be in the 50's, low of 40's tonight in Philadelphia, so I'm figuring that it will be more of a pitching matchup. Especially if it starts raining.
That could be bad for Moyer though who relies heavily on control and off speed pitches. With it being and damp he may not be able to get a good consistent grip on the ball.
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
Not to mention, he's 106 years old. :1orglaugh
ChefChiTown
The secret ingredient? MY BALLS
HA!!! They're chanting "EVA" when Longoria is up. Aaaawesome crowd.
