2011 MLB Season

[Tim McG]

Watch out Yankees, the Giants now hit into five double plays in six innings...

That's Giants Torture. And they're very good at it.

Hey, they still won; fourth in a row, too

Edited April 17, 2011 by GoodSpeak

[Matthew]

Watch out Yankees, the Giants now hit into five double plays in six innings...

That's Giants Torture. And they're very good at it.

Hey, they still won; fourth in a row, too

Zito getting hurt helped a lot with the win, he looked terrible... again.

[Tim McG]

Watch out Yankees, the Giants now hit into five double plays in six innings...

That's Giants Torture. And they're very good at it.

Hey, they still won; fourth in a row, too

Zito getting hurt helped a lot with the win, he looked terrible... again.

I hate to see a guy get injured [even Zito], but Mota looked sharp in relief.

Edited April 17, 2011 by GoodSpeak

[ghost of miles]

Holland found his zone, but not until giving up 3.

Make that 5. Hope it's a character-builder.

Bring on tomorrow.

It's a Sunday night ESPN broadcast, ergo NY is doomed from the start. Seems like they lose every time they're on ESPN, especially on Sunday nights... posters at PA joke about the ESPN "curse". Hopefully (from a Yankees perspective, of course ) NY will snap out of it against your truly-tuff Rangers. You guys aren't even at full strength right now, what with Hamilton out of the lineup, and you've still got one of the best records in the MLB.

EDIT: Not to mention that Ogando's been just about unhittable so far this year.

EDIT 2: From today's NY Times, Rangers Move On And Fire Away Without Lee

Edited April 17, 2011 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

Ogando has been scary his first two times out, which of course means nothing about what will happen in his third, fourth, fifth, etc. times out. Pitchers can get figured out pretty quickly in the bigs. But his stuff so far seems the real deal, and his attitude is fearless.

The hot question raging in these parts (other than how the heel did John Rhadigan get the TV PBP gig and what do we have to do to get rid of him?) is this - between Holland, & Ogando, who goes back to the pen when Tommy Hunter comes off the DL. Myself, I'm not a big Tommy Hunter fan, so I'm kinda like, hey, let him go to the pen, but it's a nice debate to be able to have, to say nothing of an unexpectedly pleasant surprise.

But don't let that record fool you - we've lost 3 out of 4 with Hamilton out, two walkoff losses in Detroit and the one yesterday. Yesterday was just one of those "it ain't gonna happen today" days, but the two in Detroit were winnable - but didn't get won due to a lack of RISP hitting, which is not at all The New Rangers M.O.. Once Kinsler & Andrus get on track, it'll be ok, but still...having Hamilton is better than not having Hamilton.

Duh.

[Neal Pomea]

3 outs away from a 3-game sweep of the Brewers and an 8-7 record!

Great doubleheader for Danny Espinosa. He was already leading all rookies in the NL in runs batted in, had 6 RsBI today!

[JSngry]

Other than those homers, Mr. Ogando, how did you enjoy the play? A real character-builder, you say? Imagain what a character-builder it'll be when you give up those home runs and win!

2-4 over of the last 6, three of those losses (including this evening's) could have been wins with a littler better focus at on time or another, and we open at home against the hot Angels. Cruz looks to be cooling off with the bat, Elvis might be coming around, but that's hardly a fair trade. Kinsler really needs to start making contact. The only two real confidence inspires in the order now are Beltre & Young.

When this team is firing on all cylinders, they're scary good. If 2-4 is how they play when they're not...it ain't gonna be so much fun.

[ghost of miles]

(although Russell Martin thus far is persuading me that our off-season wasn't quite as disastrous as it seemed).

Redux, and throw Eric Chavez into that equation as well.

And Mo already has seven saves!

Edited April 18, 2011 by ghost of miles

[Quincy]

Oh enough about the games. What's really important is the Coca Crisp has gone Oscar Gamble!

Edited April 18, 2011 by Quincy

[PHILLYQ]

Oh enough about the games. What's really important is the Coca Crisp has gone Oscar Gamble!

Now that's a 'fro!!!

Edited April 18, 2011 by PHILLYQ

[Chalupa]

Yanks just demoted Phil Hughes to their AAA Scranton farm team.

Cliff Lee was once sent down after being a starter for 3 full seasons and at an older age than Hughes. And when he came back he was CLIFF LEE.

While there's no guarantee he'll have that kind of a dramatic improvement it's obviously a necessary move, and who knows, maybe it'll straighten him out.

But there was a huge difference in the reasons why each were sent down. Lee was sent down because of location issues. He never had a problem w/ his velocity.

[Quincy]

Yanks just demoted Phil Hughes to their AAA Scranton farm team.

Cliff Lee was once sent down after being a starter for 3 full seasons and at an older age than Hughes. And when he came back he was CLIFF LEE.

While there's no guarantee he'll have that kind of a dramatic improvement it's obviously a necessary move, and who knows, maybe it'll straighten him out.

But there was a huge difference in the reasons why each were sent down. Lee was sent down because of location issues. He never had a problem w/ his velocity.

Good point. It's just our Yankee fans here fret so much I was just trying to make them feel optimistic for a change.

Whew, the Red Sox are playing mighty earlier this morning if you live on the west coast. I feel like such a slacker.

[Matthew]

Yanks just demoted Phil Hughes to their AAA Scranton farm team.

Cliff Lee was once sent down after being a starter for 3 full seasons and at an older age than Hughes. And when he came back he was CLIFF LEE.

While there's no guarantee he'll have that kind of a dramatic improvement it's obviously a necessary move, and who knows, maybe it'll straighten him out.

But there was a huge difference in the reasons why each were sent down. Lee was sent down because of location issues. He never had a problem w/ his velocity.

Good point. It's just our Yankee fans here fret so much I was just trying to make them feel optimistic for a change.

Whew, the Red Sox are playing mighty earlier this morning if you live on the west coast. I feel like such a slacker.

The Yankee fans need to become Mariner fans -- we don't fret about anything, in fact, we're years away from a good fret...

[skeith]

The big story is of course, The Tribe !!!!

[Chalupa]

Yanks just demoted Phil Hughes to their AAA Scranton farm team.

Cliff Lee was once sent down after being a starter for 3 full seasons and at an older age than Hughes. And when he came back he was CLIFF LEE.

While there's no guarantee he'll have that kind of a dramatic improvement it's obviously a necessary move, and who knows, maybe it'll straighten him out.

But there was a huge difference in the reasons why each were sent down. Lee was sent down because of location issues. He never had a problem w/ his velocity.

Good point. It's just our Yankee fans here fret so much I was just trying to make them feel optimistic for a change.

Whew, the Red Sox are playing mighty earlier this morning if you live on the west coast. I feel like such a slacker.

Yeah what time did that game start here? They were in the 2nd inning around 11:40(EDT)

Actually there is some reason to hope for Hughes. The year after the Phillies won the WS Cole Hamels had a horrible year. His velocity was way down. He was out of shape from partying all Winter and his arm strength never got to were it should have been. Last Spring, after upping his off season workout regimen his velocity came back but he struggled w/ his location. Part of the location issues was that he was learning how to throw a cutter, which apparently is a hard pitch to master. Anyway, he finally got it together right after the all star break and he was pretty darn good the 2nd half of the season. He would have had 6 or 7 more wins easy if he had any run support. Besides one outing vs. the Mets when the ump was SQUEEZING him he's been outstanding again thus far this season. So yeah I think an off season conditioning program will benefit Hughes. I'm not sure what a stint in the minors will do for him right now other than give him a mental break from the NYC sports microscope.

[Quincy]

The Yankee fans need to become Mariner fans -- we don't fret about anything, in fact, we're years away from a good fret...

I'm considering borrowing the Royals for this season at least. Because of Bill James, Rob Neyer and Joe Posnanski I actually got sick of the Royals getting so much ink for so little quality baseball. But James hasn't really written a ton about the Royals since the '80s and Neyer disappeared (at least from my haunts), and I've been skipping Pos's articles for a year anytime they're Royal specific. So no more Royal fatigue for me! And Billy Butler reminds me of Charlie Brown which is reason enough to root for a team. And if they fail I'll just jump onto the Indians bandwagon.

I'll still check in on the Mariners though I have yet to listen to a radio broadcast. I'm still in denial about Neihaus and will have to face up to that eventually. In the meantime I'll cruise the airwaves with the iPhone app.

[JSngry]

Has Dave Anderson had a stroke that's gone undetected?

[Patrick]

Joe West remains a brutal umpire.

[JSngry]

[JSngry]

A quirky little stat that should be noted before it becomes invalid - 16 games into the season & the Rangers have yet to bat in the bottom of the 9th.

Is that a record?

[Dan Gould]

How many home wins is that? I don't know the record for home wins at the start of a season but I suspect its more than 9 or 10 games.

Meanwhile, some may say the Red Sox are on the way out of their depths but I retain my doubts, even as I was amazed that Matsuzaka could pitch as well or efficiently as he did on Monday.

OTOH, Pete Abraham points out that they are 4.5 games out with 147 to play so they only need to pick up one game every 37 games they should be OK.

I'm not sure they can do it frankly but this West Coast road trip is pretty important. Stay hot and they might wipe out a lot of bad mojo. Bats slump in Oakland - look out below.

[ghost of miles]

Boston has plenty of time. A lot of ink spilled about their bad start, but look at the 2007 Yankees--they were 9-14 at the end of April, 21-29 as of May 30, and still ended up winning 94 games, finishing just two behind the Red Sox. And the 2011 Red Sox are (IMO will prove to be, anyway) a much better team than the 2007 Yankees were. If Beckett's regained his form, that's huge for you guys. I still think you're going to win at least 100 games and take the AL East... the start of the season will end up being a quirky statistical anomaly in the annals of Red Sox history.

[Matthew]

How many home wins is that? I don't know the record for home wins at the start of a season but I suspect its more than 9 or 10 games.

Meanwhile, some may say the Red Sox are on the way out of their depths but I retain my doubts, even as I was amazed that Matsuzaka could pitch as well or efficiently as he did on Monday.

OTOH, Pete Abraham points out that they are 4.5 games out with 147 to play so they only need to pick up one game every 37 games they should be OK.

I'm not sure they can do it frankly but this West Coast road trip is pretty important. Stay hot and they might wipe out a lot of bad mojo. Bats slump in Oakland - look out below.

The Oakland series will be tough, the A's are a good team with very strong pitching. What I hate about Red Sox games in Oakland is all the wanna-be, bandwagon, Red Sox fans in the stands, the pink BoSox caps actually make me physically sick, I hate them so much.

[JSngry]

How many home wins is that? I don't know the record for home wins at the start of a season but I suspect its more than 9 or 10 games.

Oh, I'm sure it is, but the question is how many games overall at the start of the season w/o having to hit in the bottom of the ninth, which by definition includes road games in between homestands, Right now, the Rangers have played seven home games and nine road games.

Looks like the 2009 Dodgers could have the record - they had 13 home wins to start a season (7 road games, 6 consecutive home wins, 9 road games, and then 7 more home wins before a home loss) , : http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/2009-schedule-scores.shtml

but...

their second home game - their ninth overall game of the season - was won in the bottom of the ninth: http://www.baseball-...200904150.shtml

Here we have some information about the 81 A's: http://sportsillustr...24410/index.htm

Their 11 consecutive wins were a modern record for the most at the start of a season, surpassing the 10 straight run up by the 1955 Dodgers, the 1962 Pirates and the 1966 Indians.

Read more: http://sportsillustr...m#ixzz1JzUtixpW

But...their first loss was at home, in Game 12 of the season: http://www.baseball-...hp?y=1981&t=OAK So they made it 11 games into the season w/o having to bat in the bottom of the ninth.

16 games into the season w/o having to bat in the bottom of the ninth...an odd little streak, basically w/o any real importance in and of itself, which could easily come to an end this evening. But is it a record?

Edited April 19, 2011 by JSngry

[Dan Gould]

The Oakland series will be tough, the A's are a good team with very strong pitching. What I hate about Red Sox games in Oakland is all the wanna-be, bandwagon, Red Sox fans in the stands, the pink BoSox caps actually make me physically sick, I hate them so much.

You and me both, buddy.

Right now the most exciting thing about the season is watching Jed Lowrie treat major league pitching like its slow-pitch softball. He did very well last year when he was finally over his mono and he's picked up right where he left off. I wonder if in the future they'll get him ABs as a backup outfielder. His bat is so solid but I am not sure he is a starter anywhere. I was so excited by his 2008 season, its nice to see him healthy and making good on the promise he showed then (which he did entirely with the broken wrist that led to his missing 2010 entirely).

There are a lot of bats that have to pick up for them to get out of the hole they dug - Crawford (and Salty) being the most obvious but A-Gon, Ellsbury and Youk have also struggled most of the time, with Ellsbury and Youk showing glimpses that the struggles may end.