The Baseball Thread

find it pretty amazing that the braves are just 8 games over .500 after 20,000+ games...

The Braves were really good in the 1890s, the 1950s, and for a fourteen year stretch starting in the 1980s. Apart from those times (and brief blips, like 1914 and 1969), they sucked. It is strange, though, that it all evened up after 135 years.

"Mets manager Terry Collins was told not to play Beltran."

San Francisco, here he comes...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-mets-beltran

an argument for replay...

"McKenry had caught all 18 1/3 innings, crouched for all 303 pitches, destroyed his knees for 6 hours, 39 minutes of baseball, and this was how it ended: with the worst call ever, or at least the worst call he and his teammates and anyone at the ballpark had ever seen, worse, probably, than the call from the junior high kid who blew one at the Little League game in your city last week and worse, maybe, than that time the umpire who didn’t like you called a third strike just for the hell of it and worse, almost certainly, than the time Jim Joyce did what Jim Joyce did."

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Aix6qvtMdvfyZJ4MK7gaRE0RvLYF?slug=jp-passan_pirates_braves_blown_call_replay_072711

anybody else ever wonder what happened to Kei Igawa?

he still resides in NYC, and takes a limo to pitch in Scranton.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Stuck-Yankees-pay-Japan-8217-s-Kei-Igawa-big-m?urn=mlb-wp13697

(he briefly inflated the ERA of the squirrels a coupla years ago)

the ump was in perfect position to see the tag -- not sure why he missed it...
maybe he was tired and just wanted to go home?

I think the ump's explanation is that it was a swipe tag and he didn't hear any contact between the glove and the runner. That's the kind of play where, if the ump is right on top of it, he might miss it. The tag is pretty obvious the further away you get from it. Still doesn't excuse it -- that was a really bad call.

Former Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-hidekiirabu

sad news...

trade deadline is sunday @ 4:00pm ET.
expect a flurry of deals today...

Thanks for that bit of information Rockhead. He had a few troublesome times in recent years.

Jeff Passan is alternately a decent writer and a whiny bitch.

The call was worse than Joyce's? Wasn't that the call that cost Armando Galaraga a perfect game?

I don't ******* think so.

Next time the Pirates should trying scoring more than 1 run in 19 innings. That's the real problem. I don't know the exact number, but I suspect Pittsburgh has eked out a lot of one-run games this year. That's how a team with no offense finds itself over .500 at the end of July.

I'm not knocking what they've accomplished, particularly compared to what they didn't accomplish the past 14 years, but let's get real.

Sorry to tell you, Garg, that the Pirates are 15-12 in 1-run games, while your Brewers are 23-14.
So I guess your last phrase is good for Milwaukee, too.

I'd like the Brewers to make it to the playoffs but, let's get real, the better team in that division is St. Louis.


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/standings?year=season_2011&type=expanded

Oh, I don't at all mean to imply that fan bias has clouded my perspective of the Brew Crew. The sheer number of one-run games they have played alarms me, regardless of their record. Really, what separates the AL East juggernauts from every National League team except the Phillies is their ability to beat teams by 3 or more runs fairly regularly.

Volatility could very well swing the wrong way for the Brewers. However, I would say their offense is far better than Pittsburgh's and that, even with Weeks injured, the final standings will reflect that--though it looks like I'm wrong about the Bucs having a lopsided record with respect to close games. So much for that theory.

I really don't see how, position by position, the Cards outmatch the Brewers. I think they're just a popular pick to win the division because of their track record. Either team will have to face either Lincecum-Cain, Hanson-Jurjens, or Halladay-Lee. Who the sacrificial lamb will be is a toss up, I think.

Pirates are a batless team. Very good pitching has helped them to be where they are now. I also don't think their pitching staff will do as well in the remaining two months. They'll fall to third place.

The Brewers have the better line-up among contenders, it's the juggernaut starting pitching that baffles me. Gallardo & Greinke are good examples: a couple of good starts and then a terrible one. Marcum doesn't last enough innings and the other 2 are below average.

St. Louis have a decent rotation, their bullpen is not as bad as they say, and they have depth. Depth may be the key. And injuries.

As for the playoffs, any given team can beat any other given team on any given series. KC just tied a series at Fenway.

as a matter of fact, KC is pounding Cleveland tonight.

7-0 in the 4th.

and I gotta go work instead of watching it...

hmmm.

got ugly. pitches thrown at heads. benches emptying. pitcher tossed, and his manager scolding him...

glad I'm not an Astros fan.

there is absolutely no reason to go watch them lose now.

Philadelphia got a lot better, though...

not sure whom to root for now.

like me some Giants still...

the indian's pitcher claimed the pitch to butler slipped... yeah, right!

baseball thought for the day...

cabrera is the new molina.

and Ubaldo is going to be an Indian. (they are losing again to the royals. hottest team in baseball, the royals...)

edit:

ooops spoke too soon. blown save soria.

again...

the sawx are looking for a cheaper two-month rental than ubaldo.
they almost pulled the trigger on oft-injured rich harden, but it fell through in the wee hours.
expect them to grab a pitcher today (bedard?) as insurance for buchholz, who's wonky back injury refuses to heal...

He's no rental.

Jimenez has three years and just $18 million left on his contract.

(it hurt me to say just...)