***Home Plate***

[J Larsen]

How can you not like the Yanks?

You're being facetious, right?

[BFrank]

... and the NL West is already over.

[J Larsen]

... and the NL West is already over.

Not so fast! In 1918 the Giants started 18-1, played .500 ball for the rest of the season and finished second in the NL. In 1938 the Giants started 13-1, played .500 ball for the rest of the season, and finished third in the NL. Last year the Giants started 6-0, floundered in late June and July, appeared as though they'd miss the playoffs, picked up Lofton at the last second and barely grabbed a welfare (oops, I meant wild) card spot. I love the Giants as much as a man can love a sports team, but I'm cautious about their hot starts. I'm equally cautious of the Dodgers slow starts - they always seem to turn it on over the summer even if they don't have teh personnel.

[J Larsen]

I'd love to see a repeat of the '62 World Series!

Me too. With the opposite outcome.

[chris olivarez]

A friend of mine told me tonight that one of the stats that they keep on pitchers was one called whip and he wanted to know what it meant and I didn't know.If anyone knows what that stat means I would appreciate hearing from you but if you don't feel free to insert joke here.

[Matthew]

WHIP comes out of Fantansy Baseball, and it is a stat that tells you the quality of a pitcher. The math is this: WHIP Ratio (WHIP) = (Walks + Hits) / Innings Pitched. How does this work? Say a pitcher went 7 innings and gave up 10 hits and 4 BB's, which adds up to 14. So it's 14/7=2.00whip. 2 is consided bad, anything below 1.2 is very good, with anyone, especially a starter, under 1.00 is fantastic, and the kind of pitcher you would love to have on your team.

Makes sense?

[Matthew]

Bonds lines out to second -- game and series over. The more things change.....

[chris olivarez]

WHIP comes out of Fantansy Baseball, and it is a stat that tells you the quality of a pitcher. The math is this: WHIP Ratio (WHIP) = (Walks + Hits) / Innings Pitched. How does this work? Say a pitcher went 7 innings and gave up 10 hits and 4 BB's, which adds up to 14. So it's 14/7=2.00whip. 2 is consided bad, anything below 1.2 is very good, with anyone, especially a starter, under 1.00 is fantastic, and the kind of pitcher you would love to have on your team.

Makes sense?

Thanks Matthew.

[J Larsen]

I haven't been in much of a mood to talk about baseball lately. (If you recall which team I'm a fan of, and you follow the standings, you'll realize why.)

[Dan Gould]

Well, the will they or won't they finally ended yesterday with the trade of Red Sox third baseman Shea Hillenbrand to the D-Backs for BK Kim. I wasn't too thrilled when I heard about it because Hillenbrand led the team in RBIs and was clearly the best first baseman option they had, but Kim is a major upgrade for the bullpen and its clear that to get to October we need pitching upgrades more than we need hitting.

Of course, Kim's history against the Yanks is not exactly something a Red Sox fan wants to remember!

[catesta]

I was surprised to see so many mixed opinions on this trade lastnight.

On ESPN, Bobby Valentine doesn't think Hillenbrand brings enough to the table.

I think it does address the D-Backs problem they have had this year of getting runs in, and the Red Sox needed help with pitching.

I was happy to see it done.

[Dan Gould]

If Hillenbrand keeps his batting stroke through the whole season, Arizona will love him. If his average/production continues to trail off and he doesn't show some plate discipline, you'll hang your GM.

They're both All-Stars but I do think Kim is a more complete player, meaning that he has all the skills needed to perform at this level while Hillenbrand is still a work in progress. He does have great upside potential. But Kim is already higher up the talent level.

[BERIGAN]

So....no one cares about baseball anymore??? Strange, I live in Atlanta, and felt like many that John Schuerholz was completely insane trading Millwood for a back-up catcher, letting Glavine(Who started with the Braves) go, yet offering Maddox arbitration so he could get what, 14 Million? Robert Fick as the Braves first baseman? 61 and 63 RBI's the last two seasons? He is going to be the first baseman?Well, That backup catcher is still in AAA because 32 year old Javy Lopez, (Another example of Schuerholz's mental shakiness because he signed him for 2 more years during the offseason, after 11 52, .233) has in just 203 at bats has hit 23 Homers, and has 46 RBIs! Greg Maddox is 6- 7 4.45 . Fick has 42 RBIs even after being on the disabled list....and the Braves Pitching is still great..for the most part, and they are in first place, completely....I really wanted to see the braves do poorly this year so that they would have to use their megabucks to get some pitchers who actually throw faster than the speed limit, so the braves could get past the first and second rounds, and beat the damn Yankees!

But, the Braves are hitting homers like I never, ever thought possible, so perhaps the junk the pitchers toss will just throw Soriano, Jeter, etc timing off, and we will win it all

Edited 27 Jun 2003 by BERIGAN

[catesta]

I'm down with it still.

I had about given up on the D-Back's with all the injuries and poor play, but the youngsters have been kicking ass lately. 8 wins in a row, I hope they can keep it going.

[Soulstation1]

the d-cakes are kicking some azz

schilling and johnson have rehab starts in tucson this week.

i should go and see one of them.

[slsmcgrew]

Well, Pettite and Mussina bailed the Yanks out and gave them a split with the Bosox, keeping NY four games in first... they'll have a three-game re-match later this month at Fenway. Seattle's cooling off a bit... What do you guys think of the new All-Star game rule, giving the winning league home-field advantage in the World Series?

At this point I don't like the new rule for the All-Star game. It takes some of the fun out of that mid-season break. On the other hand if the American League happens to win and then my Mariners get to the World Series I might just feel a little different.

[J Larsen]

I almost never bet, but I really wish I had put money on the pre-break standings. I picked every division leader but the Royals. It's going to be really interesting to see what happens before the trade deadline. I think we'll all be surprised at how low-key most of the moves are. There don't seem to be many natural trade partners out there, especially with the White Sox and Royals (!!!) in contention and the Marlins (supposedly) taking Lowell off the table. (I'm not convinced they aren't simply trying to up the ante.) Benitez might wind up in a different uniform, but I'm not so sure. Does any team really want to hand him the ball in a crucial situation in a pennant race? As a Giants fan, I'd just as soon stick with Worrell.

[catesta]

Hillenbrand smacks 3 home runs and 7 RBI's.

D-Backs kick the shit out of the Rockies, and move into the wild card slot.

[Soulstation1]

finally pay-rod wins a game the actually matters.

too bad the rangers are 20 out.

giambi hit the shizzznet out of the ball on his home run.

tony pena a l manager of the year!

i remember he use to catch the ball in that weird stance, with his leg out to the side.

i must be getting old, i don't know nothing about some of these all star playas.

the braves' outfield is pretty solid.

the indians are in troube.

i am sticking with my pre season pick red sox/ cubs in da world series.

ss1

[BFrank]

I only saw a few scant moments at the end of tonight's All Star game, but I couldn't be more turned OFF by the incessant hyping of this time it counts BS. I don't think I could have handled it through an entire game. They would have easily lost at least ONE viewer.

[BERIGAN]

I think for the first time since I was 8, I completely forgot about the game being on tonight! So, of course it was a high scoring(for an Allstar game) affair....drat.... So, I hear this game mattered, is that true?

[BFrank]

Joe Morgan speaks out!

A great All-Star Game? Yes, but it always counted

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Joe Morgan

Special to ESPN.com

I'm glad the 2003 All-Star Game turned out to be exciting, but I'm glad it's over for at least one reason: If I hear the slogan "This time it counts" one more time, I might jump off a bridge.

The phrase referred to the inaugural All-Star Game that awarded home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league (in a two-year experiment). It was TV hype to attract All-Star viewers. It was in FOX's promos, and it was even emblazoned in large letters across the outfield fence at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on Tuesday night.

But that slogan was and is an insult to all the great All-Stars of the past. It's a slap in the face to Pete Rose, who bowled over catcher Ray Fosse for the winning run in a classic All-Star moment. It's a slap in the face to Willie Mays, who played 13 innings once to help the National League win. It's a slap in the face to the late Ted Williams, who played entire All-Star Games to try to help the American League win.

All of a sudden it counts now? It always counted to the players who were true All-Stars.

The media tried over and over to get one of the 2003 All-Stars to say that this year's game would be different than past games because of home-field advantage. But to a man they said they'd play the game the same way they've always played it -- to win.

In fact, the main difference in this All-Star Game was not how the players approached it but how the managers approached it. Rather than trying to get every player on the roster into the game, the managers tried to win. I've said before that the All-Star Game should be managed as if you're trying to win a pennant-race game, and that's basically how it was managed this year.

Tuesday's game -- a 7-6 American League win on a pinch-hit, eighth-inning home run by Hank Blalock -- would have been great regardless of any home-field incentive. The pitchers dominated early and the hitters dominated late. It offered everything you could ask for in a baseball game.

[Soulstation1]

ken grumpy junior is out for the season.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0717/1582320.html

seems like he doesn't want to make the h.o.f.

he needs to get his butt back to the american league and just d.h.

ricky's back

[J Larsen]

No one can tell me that Griffey has an adequate off-season training program. You just don't get this many injuries for no reason.

[BFrank]

he needs to get his butt back to the american league and just d.h.

ricky's back

DH-ing wouldn't help Griffy because his latest injury was running the basepaths (like most of his injuries, actually). Maybe he should learn to pitch.

I never EVER thought I would see Ricky in a Dodger uni.

Edited 18 Jul 2003 by BFrank