MLB 2008

[papsrus]

You don't suppose this means he'll soon be offering up his pearls of wisdom from some lucky TV studio somewhere, do ya?

(I actually think he'd probably be good on TV).

[BERIGAN]

Though i will admit a Cubs Vs Red Sox world series would be great ...if the Cubbies could even win a game ?

News flash: I'd root for the Cubs in that scenario. Or else I would just sit back and enjoy the games, and change who I root for with each match-up. Ellsbury at first? Steal 2nd, kid! Papi, Manny, D-Lee, Fukudome, A-Ram at the plate? Muscle up, batter! Paps or Wood on the mound? Blow it by him!

But in all honesty, should the Cubs make the Series, I'd want them to win, specifically for my now ailing Father. Should the Cubs get there and lose to the Sox, there'd be a very tiny silver lining in a very dark cloud.

Sorry to hear your Dad's not doing too well Dan!

[Dan Gould]

Though i will admit a Cubs Vs Red Sox world series would be great ...if the Cubbies could even win a game ?

News flash: I'd root for the Cubs in that scenario. Or else I would just sit back and enjoy the games, and change who I root for with each match-up. Ellsbury at first? Steal 2nd, kid! Papi, Manny, D-Lee, Fukudome, A-Ram at the plate? Muscle up, batter! Paps or Wood on the mound? Blow it by him!

But in all honesty, should the Cubs make the Series, I'd want them to win, specifically for my now ailing Father. Should the Cubs get there and lose to the Sox, there'd be a very tiny silver lining in a very dark cloud.

Sorry to hear your Dad's not doing too well Dan!

Thanks Conrad. He's actually seemed to regain a measure of health in the past three months - his doctor actually told him today that he looks the best he's seen in the last two years. So that's reassuring but at the same time, he's 82 and you just can't know ...

[Soulstation1]

I saw Schilling pitch once vs the giants about 4\5 years ago

IIRC it was bonds first game back after his father past away

[papsrus]

Sorry to hear your Dad's not doing too well Dan!

Echo those sentiments. Both my parents are 84 and always a concern.

[BERIGAN]

....

The National League stinks , i mean the Sox just beat Philly without Manny and Ortiz and shuting them out in one game.

....

Let's see...last night, the Reds beat the Yankees. Pirates beat the Jays. Houston beat Tampa Bay. San Diego beat Detroit. Washington beat Texas. Cubs beat the White Sox. Did I forget anyone??? Oh yeah, the big bad Cards, minus their one superstar Albert Pujols, and with a guy on the mound who any team could have picked up for next to nothing in the middle of spring training getting the win against the Red Sox...Yeah, you're right, the NL does suck!

Seriously, Dave Duncan has to be the best pitching coach in all of baseball, right??? Kyle Lohse has 9 wins right now, hasn't had more than 9 wins since 2003??? 3.63 ERA this year, 4.73 for the career?Jeff Weaver gets released by the Angels in 2006, ends up a WS star that same year with the Cards??? Is terrible in 2007, and gets released from AAA this year???? He should write a book if he hasn't already.....

Edited June 21, 2008 by BERIGAN

[BERIGAN]

Switch-pitcher causes commotion in Minor League game

[papsrus]

....

The National League stinks , i mean the Sox just beat Philly without Manny and Ortiz and shuting them out in one game.

....

Let's see...last night, the Reds beat the Yankees. Pirates beat the Jays. Houston beat Tampa Bay. San Diego beat Detroit. Washington beat Texas. Cubs beat the White Sox. Did I forget anyone??? Oh yeah, the big bad Cards, minus their one superstar Albert Pujols, and with a guy on the mound who any team could have picked up for next to nothing in the middle of spring training getting the win against the Red Sox...Yeah, you're right, the NL does suck!

Seriously, Dave Duncan has to be the best pitching coach in all of baseball, right??? Kyle Lohse has 9 wins right now, hasn't had more than 9 wins since 2003??? 3.63 ERA this year, 4.73 for the career?Jeff Weaver gets released by the Angels in 2006, ends up a WS star that same year with the Cards??? Is terrible in 2007, and gets released from AAA this year???? He should write a book if he hasn't already.....

It's fairly even over the years, actually.

Since interleague play began in 1997, the AL is out in front with 1,387 wins vs the NL with 1,317 wins (excluding 2008)

It looks like so far in 2008, the AL is 79-61 vs the NL, somewhat above the historical average, with about one week to go.

The NL's best year looks like 2003, when they went 137-115. The AL went 154-98 in 2006 (wow!).

LINK

Edited June 21, 2008 by papsrus

[Dan Gould]

Motherfucking Christ we're in deep trouble.

Dice-K makes his return - and barely gets out of the first inning, down 4 runs, and stranding runners at second and third. He can't throw over 89. He cannot fucking be right in the shoulder. How can you take an extra ten days after you are eligible to come off the DL and be back throwing softer than before? And with less command.

I better fucking pray that Houston somehow wins again tonight - just like Cincinnati managed to beat the Yanks two in a row.

Otherwise its sayonara to first place.

[Soulstation1]

No NBA or NFL

[zen archer]

Motherfucking Christ we're in deep trouble.

Dice-K makes his return - and barely gets out of the first inning, down 4 runs, and stranding runners at second and third. He can't throw over 89. He cannot fucking be right in the shoulder. How can you take an extra ten days after you are eligible to come off the DL and be back throwing softer than before? And with less command.

I better fucking pray that Houston somehow wins again tonight - just like Cincinnati managed to beat the Yanks two in a row.

Otherwise its sayonara to first place.

Whats wrong with Dice-K ??????......this is NOT good news , 7 earned runs ?

[BERIGAN]

Motherfucking Christ we're in deep trouble.

Dice-K makes his return - and barely gets out of the first inning, down 4 runs, and stranding runners at second and third. He can't throw over 89. He cannot fucking be right in the shoulder. How can you take an extra ten days after you are eligible to come off the DL and be back throwing softer than before? And with less command.

I better fucking pray that Houston somehow wins again tonight - just like Cincinnati managed to beat the Yanks two in a row.

Otherwise its sayonara to first place.

Whoever first said that you can never have too much pitching...was a genius!!!! If there ever was a team that seemed to have an embarrassment of starters, it's the Red Sox. I'd still say you guys were "ok" if Buchholz straightens his act out, and Beckett stays healthy. And how many Sox fans said get rid of Wakefield already this year? Perhaps you guys will be doing more than just driving up the price on Sabathia!

[Dan Gould]

Well if I'm right that Dice-K is hurt, the good news is that Buchholz is starting to throw well at Pawtucket. I think he threw a five or six inning shutout last start.

[Big Al]

....

The National League stinks , i mean the Sox just beat Philly without Manny and Ortiz and shuting them out in one game.

....

Let's see...last night, the Reds beat the Yankees. Pirates beat the Jays. Houston beat Tampa Bay. San Diego beat Detroit. Washington beat Texas. Cubs beat the White Sox. Did I forget anyone??? Oh yeah, the big bad Cards, minus their one superstar Albert Pujols, and with a guy on the mound who any team could have picked up for next to nothing in the middle of spring training getting the win against the Red Sox...Yeah, you're right, the NL does suck!

And it looks like tonight's gonna be another good night for the NL with wins for the Cubs, Reds, Cards, Braves, Brewers, Pirates, Rockies... the Fish are on top of the A's in the ninth and the Padres are leading the Tigers in the 7th.....

Thankfully, one of the losing NL teams was the Nationals.... beaten by the Rangers!!!! I know, I know, they're at .500 for the umpteenth time this season. Like to think at some point this season they'll stay above .500 for longer than a day.

[BERIGAN]

Paps, thought you might find this interesting...from mlbtraderumors.com

Rays Promote Price to Double-A

MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli writes that the Tampa Bay Rays have promoted David Price to AA Montgomery. Price, the #1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, is on the fast-track to the major leagues, and there has been speculation that he could join the big league club before season's end. This most recent promotion could be a step towards that outcome.

Price made six starts for Class A Vero Beach, going 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA and posting a brilliant 37:7 K:BB ratio in 34.2 IP. He could start for Montgomery as soon as Thursday.

A lot could happen over the next month or two, but if Price continues to baffle minor league hitters, he could shoot up to the major leagues quickly and be a factor as the Rays try to secure a spot in the postseason. Remember, Andrew Miller didn't even have a month's worth of experience when the Tigers brought him up to the big league club back in 2006.

[Dan Gould]

My brother is a Vandy graduate and has been talking up Price as long as I can remember, it seems. It would really kill him if Price makes the difference in the Rays going to the playoffs and the Yanks staying home.

Meantime, what an insane game at Fenway. I was brooding throughout as it looked like Piniero of all people was going to shut down the Sox and complete a pathetic three game sweep at the hands of the Cards. Then in the eighth, Crisp hit a fly to center that Ankiel misjudged a bit and then fell flat on his back trying to back up for it, and Crisp wound up at third, and scored the tying run on a Lugo sac fly. Then Lady Luck smiled again as with two outs and Pedroia at first, he was called safe on a SB attempt, where he easily could have been called out. Back to back walks and the Sox had the lead, with Papelbon coming in.

I was actually in the middle of posting this summary when it all fell in on Paps. Two outs via K, and suddenly he gives up the first walk of the year at Fenway. He goes back to business, gets to two strikes, and can't put away the hitter. A splitter doesn't split, it short hops the CF fence, and we've got a tied game.

I was certain when they put in Okajima that the game was lost. It wasn't.

I was certain that when Ellsbury hit a leadoff double, the game was won. It wasn't.

I was certain when Mike Lowell hit a leadoff double, the game was won. It wasn't.

I was certain that when Pedroia hit a leadoff double, the game was won. It wasn't.

But when Lowell lined one off the Monster and was held to a single, I said to my wife, maybe the key is not hitting a leadoff double. Maybe a leadoff single is what will do it.

And a moment later, Youkilis hit his second homer of the day.

Thank God.

[papsrus]

Paps, thought you might find this interesting...from mlbtraderumors.com

Rays Promote Price to Double-A

MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli writes that the Tampa Bay Rays have promoted David Price to AA Montgomery. Price, the #1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, is on the fast-track to the major leagues, and there has been speculation that he could join the big league club before season's end. This most recent promotion could be a step towards that outcome.

Price made six starts for Class A Vero Beach, going 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA and posting a brilliant 37:7 K:BB ratio in 34.2 IP. He could start for Montgomery as soon as Thursday.

A lot could happen over the next month or two, but if Price continues to baffle minor league hitters, he could shoot up to the major leagues quickly and be a factor as the Rays try to secure a spot in the postseason. Remember, Andrew Miller didn't even have a month's worth of experience when the Tigers brought him up to the big league club back in 2006.

Here's hoping that the ... ah ... Price is right! ... I was hoping for the summer, sometime before the trade deadline, so they could make a deal with some other arms somehow. Probably not in the cards.

Kaz seemed to lose his location a bit today after he passed 100 pitches (sixth inning). That's the second game in a row, I think, that he's reached 100 in the fifth or sixth. Slider wasn't great and he just wanted to throw high heat. He just pounds it in there and the batters keep fouling them off -- and the pitch count keeps climbing. ... I wish he'd go to some off-speed stuff more than he does, especially for a strikeout pitch when everyone in the park knows the batter is sitting on fastballs.

Yankees are getting a little too close for comfort. And they go to Pittsburgh now, although the Pirates did handle the Jays pretty well ... but ... the Jays stink, apparently. Toronto and Seattle have to be the two biggest flops of the year so far. They Jays, especially, given that everyone figured their pitching would have them battling for the division. Doh!

[Dan Gould]

Pirates can score some runs and its at Pittsburgh, with no DH. The Yanks need to bring some pitching and score with Matsui or Damon or Giambi sitting.

[Soulstation1]

one day i gotta watch a red sox game with dangerous dan

[Tim McG]

one day i gotta watch a red sox game with dangerous dan

Just keep your hands and arms inside at all times.

Nobody gets hurt.

Edited June 23, 2008 by GoodSpeak

[Tim McG]

Giants bullpen rides again.

Lincecum left the game leading 10-3 and the Arson Squad blows a 7-Run lead to lose 11-10.

Dave Righetti must die.

Grrrrrrr

Edited June 23, 2008 by GoodSpeak

[BERIGAN]

This proves J.P. Ricciardi is an idiot. And how you liking the offense without Frank Thomas??? Dumbass!!!

Dunn doesn't show it much, but he loves baseball

by Ken Rosenthal

Timothy Kremchek, the Reds' team physician, had an immediate reaction when he heard the criticisms that Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi leveled at Reds left fielder Adam Dunn.

"I laughed," Kremchek said. "I thought, 'If you only knew.'"

Kremchek, unlike Ricciardi, knows Dunn quite well. The two met in 1998, shortly after the Reds drafted Dunn, in the private box of the team's late owner, Marge Schott.

In addressing the notion that Dunn lacks passion and dislikes baseball, as Ricciardi alleged last week during a radio interview, Kremchek said that just the opposite was true.

"There is no player in this game that I've ever treated who had the things that he had and continued to play," Kremchek said.

Dunn, a former quarterback who received a football scholarship to the University of Texas before turning to baseball full-time, maintains his football mentality with injuries.

In 2005, he played with a broken right hand for a substantial portion of the season. The injury was not revealed until the following January when Jerry Narron, then the Reds' manager, said that Dunn, "broke his hand twice last year and wouldn't let us X-ray it because he wanted to play."

"I could feel the bone moving in his hand," Kremchek said. "It wasn't something that was going to cause permanent damage, but it hurt like hell. When I pushed on it, you could tell."

Kremchek also recalled a night when Dunn, 6-foot-6 and 275 pounds, ran into a wall, required 12 to 15 stitches to repair a gash in his leg and played the next day.

Then there was the time, Kremchek said, when Dunn bowled over a catcher in San Diego, wound up with a swollen, bruised leg and again remained in the lineup, refusing to acknowledge the injury.

Finally, Kremchek talked about Dunn playing with an injured right knee for nearly two seasons before finally undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus last Sept. 26.

"Last year, early in the season, he couldn't stop in the outfield," Kremcheck said. "But he didn't come out of games. He never complained. He never told the manager he couldn't play."

Dunn missed the final six games, but only after appearing in 152. He also played in 160 or more games in each of the previous three seasons, as well as 158 in 2002, his first full season. His only career trip to the disabled list was in '03, when he did not play after Aug. 15 due to a sprained ligament in his left thumb.

Kremchek acknowledged that Dunn does not always show passion on the field, at times looking lackluster, like he doesn't care. But he strongly disputes Ricciardi's suggestion that Dunn is some kind of baseball slacker,

"It's not true," Kremchek said. "It isn't. I will tell you that for a fact."

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8276984...3162&ATT=49

Edited June 24, 2008 by BERIGAN

[papsrus]

Man, Percival barely hung in there again last night to get the save, walking four in the ninth. He is shaky as hell, but they stick with him. I dunno. If it wasn't for the Marlins pen imploding and walking in two runs, and some stellar defense by Longoria, Rays would have been toast.

[Dan Gould]

Man, Percival barely hung in there again last night to get the save, walking four in the ninth. He is shaky as hell, but they stick with him. I dunno. If it wasn't for the Marlins pen imploding and walking in two runs, and some stellar defense by Longoria, Rays would have been toast.

It was only a matter of time before the Rays beat them - I watched that pathetic pitcher go to 3-0 twice with the bases loaded, then get the out. The third time, I knew his luck was running out. And it did. Maybe the Rays luck will run out with Percival but it hasn't very often, and its not like he's Borowski or Jones trying to nail down wins. I'm just happy that the Sox rallied late (very late) to beat the D-Backs and have a chance to finish this homestand 3-3. And I was extra happy to see the Bucs clobber the Yanks. That team may have crappy pitching but they can really hit the ball. I give them a puncher's chance to win the series against the Yanks, which would be really bad for them, losing back-to-back series against the Red and Pirates, heading into four games at Shea (well, one in the Bronx) with Ponson and a 31 year old career minor leaguer pitching.

[Soulstation1]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Carlton-Fisk-1975-Worl...1QQcmdZViewItem

Dan

check this out

1975 WS Tix Stub