2010 MLB Season

[ghost of miles]

It was good to hear and read remembrances of Roberts last autumn (when he was still alive) during the build-up to the Phillies-Yanks World Series.

[Neal Pomea]

Well, I wonder how fans will react if the Nats lose out by 4-5 games...games that Stephen Strasburg could have won??? I mean, don't want to see him become the next Mark Prior, but he's clearly ready. If no one is on in the minors, he won't be slowing down from the stretch there either....

I don't understand contracts too much, but I believe that the reason Strassburg will not be up before June is in order to secure sole rights to his contract for a longer period of time. If the Nationals brought him up any sooner, then he would become a free agent sooner. It's discussed that way on Nationals Journal, the Washington Post's online discussion group.

Anyway, the kid is like 21 years old and has no record of pitching past the 5th inning in the minors, so he probably also needs some minor league work.

The one I want to see sooner rather than later is Drew Storen, a reliever. The bullpen could turn into our strength rather than the disaster it's been since 2006, but especially last year.

[mikelz777]

The Twins are off to a great start and just swept the Tigers in our last series. I'm looking forward to see how they match up against the Yankees in the weekend series. They always seem to have our number so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out this season with what (so far) appears to be a strong Twins team.

[papsrus]

Ten unwritten rules of baseball.

[Dan Gould]

Well, I wonder how fans will react if the Nats lose out by 4-5 games...games that Stephen Strasburg could have won??? I mean, don't want to see him become the next Mark Prior, but he's clearly ready. If no one is on in the minors, he won't be slowing down from the stretch there either....

I don't understand contracts too much, but I believe that the reason Strassburg will not be up before June is in order to secure sole rights to his contract for a longer period of time. If the Nationals brought him up any sooner, then he would become a free agent sooner. It's discussed that way on Nationals Journal, the Washington Post's online discussion group.

Its six seasons to free agency, so cutting short his first year allows them to push their control over more like six and a half years. First two seasons a team has total control in setting a player's salary (aside from the major league minimum set for the in the player's agreement). After that its four years of negotiating salary year by year or having it set by arbitration. There's also something called "Super 2s" but I'm not really clear on it. I think it allows players who perform at a certain level to be eligible for arbitration early - and it certainly looks like Strasburg could qualify.

But if he is that good and the Nats are smart, they'll at least try to get cost-certainty by signing him to a contract that buys out his arbitration years. But if the Devil's Spawn is his agent, he'll be like Jacoby Ellsbury and go year-by-year until he gets to free agency.

[Neal Pomea]

That sounds familiar, Dan. There's some sort of dread over in Nationals Land about what will happen to him in 2012.

[Tim McG]

Zito is 5-0 w/ 1.49 ERA. What say you now, Goodie?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300505128

Finally.

Glad he's having a good start...only took three seasons. Nice to have a little competition between our top starters, actually....and some wins!

Meanwhile, Rowand goes yard for the third time and Romo atones for a couple bad outings, too.

Prediction: Guillermo Mota will take the closer role from a very shakey Bryan Wilson. You saw it here first.

Edited May 6, 2010 by GoodSpeak

[PHILLYQ]

How's Mota doing without the 'roids?

[Van Basten II]

In the whoops category

http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2010/05/05/cake-honoring-bobby-cox-has-unfortunate-misspelling/

[Tim McG]

How's Mota doing without the 'roids?

Dunno.

How's A-Rod doing without the steroids?

[Dan Gould]

More than a month after Opening Day, the Red Sox finally are again 1 game over .500. I have no idea if they have any chance of catching the Rays or Yankees (let's see where the standings are after either of those teams hit a bump in the road or lose two OF for a month to injury) but even considering that its only May and it won't take much to win the AL West, this sweep (and eight game losing streak) demonstrates to me that the Halos will not sniff October this year:

the bullpen that was such an advantage sucks;

there is no ace on the pitching staff;

the offense isn't what it was.

They're done.

As to the Sox, the best I can say is that there are good trends in place right now:

the starters are pitching much better than they were (Lackey has had a quality start in every game but one, Lester has completely turned it around, and earlier than he has in the past, Buchholz is pitching very well, and Beckett put up the exact same numbers last year as he has so far this year and he turned out OK)

key arms in the bullpen are getting their acts together, despite some hiccups (Delcarmen has pitched well pretty much from the start, Bard has screwed up a time or two but his stats are also good, Papelbon has gotten the job done for the most part too)

the offense is coming along: they are third in doubles, home runs and OPS but ninth in runs scored - that should change as poor situational hitting stats even out over time.

Say what you want about Big Papi but his four home runs is about six weeks ahead of last year's pace and also happens to equal the home runs of Mr. Leigh Teixeira and A-Roid combined.

They'll still need help to make it to October.

[Neal Pomea]

Somebody needed to tell Matt Diaz of the Braves not to take so many called third strikes last night! (Same for Adam Dunn of the Nationals, I know!)

A near no-hitter for Scott Olson and the Nationals still could have lost that game! Well, at least some of last year's dread in the late innings seems to be going away.

[Patrick]

It moved with Manny Acta to Cleveland...

[Neal Pomea]

Zing!

[Dan Gould]

In the Jim Mora "Playoffs? Playoffs?" tradition, the Indian TV announcer rants for five minutes about the team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9-DIKDGGA&feature=player_embedded#at=163

[ghost of miles]

Dallas Braden to A-Rod: Get ready to fight

Hey Dallas, here's another "unwritten rule" of baseball... after throwing a temper tantrum, you learn to shut your mouth eventually and let your actions speak instead--like, say, striking A-Rod out three or four times the next time you face him, if you're still fuming so much over his "diss." Continuing to whine and carry on about it in the press is pathetic.

Dan: Boston has definitely picked up the pace, both pitching and hitting--great momentum coming out of that Angels sweep. I wouldn't be surprised to see you guys take the series from us this weekend. Re: injuries, though, we've already got Granderson on the DL for a month, Park out of commission for much of the time, and Posada missing 1/4 of the schedule so far. (Throw in the issues w/Pettitte and Rivera, and the joke is that the "Core 4" are on the verge of becoming the "Sore 4" as a result of the SI jinx. Jeter doesn't buy it, but the makers of Bubble Wrap are offering him extra protection .)

And yes, Tex and A-Rod's HR production has been extremely disappointing so far. Still, A-Rod's driven in 17 runs to Ortiz's 7 (Tex is at 14), so he's found other ways to get runners across the plate. NY's lineup will be that much better when (and I think it's much more a matter of when, rather than if) the #3 and #4 hitters really start to break out. (Not to mention Nick Johnson, who despite a .171 BA has an OBP hovering around .400, due to his plethora of walks.) So, given all of the above, I'm pretty happy to see NY at 19-8.

In the meantime, Cano's having a banner year so far, Brett Gardner is making #9 a double leadoff position, Nick Swisher's proving yet again to be one of the shrewdest pickups NY's made in a long time, and guys like Pena and Cervelli have become key role players. I think our big vulnerabilities are yes, age, and also the uncertainty of the middle relief situation (which will hopefully improve with Park's return). Robertson has been an utter disaster so far and nearly gave the game back to the O's the other day. Girardi keeps up a dizzying pace with the pitching changes, so maybe it's too early to get a feel for who might emerge as a strong set-up person for the Joba-8/Mo-9 formula...but it's certainly a point of the game where I grow anxious these days, after the starter leaves. As for starters, JV is our Dice-K, I think... hard to say what's going to happen there. Everybody else is going strong so far (and going stronger for sure when Cervelli's catching...as I've said before, interesting dilemma there, but at least it sure makes it easy to give Posada all the rest he needs at age 38).

AL East--the Bloody East!

Edited May 7, 2010 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

In the Jim Mora "Playoffs? Playoffs?" tradition, the Indian TV announcer rants for five minutes about the team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9-DIKDGGA&feature=player_embedded#at=163

Did anybody else see this Wall Street Journal article touting a survey that shows the Indians as the "most-hated team in baseball"? The Indians?! Really?! Gotta wonder about Nielsen's methodology there.

[papsrus]

Rays' run differential a whopping +83. They are doing this with a couple of notable laggards in the lineup. Upton is hitting a tepid .240 and Pena is batting just .204. Navarro is below the Mendoza line, but Jaso is picking up the slack there nicely.

Pitching staff has ERA of 2.84 -- third in the majors behind Cards and Giants. Middle relief looks shaky at times, but the return of lefty Howell should shore that up a bit.

Stats are inflated a little I think partly due to a rather soft schedule so far. They've faced the Yankees once -- at home -- dropping the series 2-1, and swept the BoSox when Boston was struggling. Other than that, it's been a pretty steady diet of the likes of the Orioles, KC, Seattle, ChiSox. Schedule remains pretty favorable this month. After the Angels, it's back home for the Mariners and Indians, then they hit the road again for the Yankees and Astros. They wind up the month with homestands against the BoSox and ChiSox.

If they continue pounding the weaker clubs and can manage splits with the Yankees and BoSox, they should be hanging in there at the end of the month.

Edited May 7, 2010 by papsrus

[papsrus]

Classic rant by the Indians guy. I work with a guy who is a long-time Indians fan and he's at the point already where he's saying he hopes they lose 130 games. So I can believe the 'most-hated' poll. If this guy is any indication, pretty much their whole fan base has jumped ship.

[Dave James]

Hank Azaria as baseball announcer Jim Brockmire. MLB is taking this video down wherever they find it, so there's no telling how long it'll be avaiable. Pretty funny stuff, if a bit on the edge. As some folks who have seen this have commented, Azaria missed his calling.

http://sportscracklepop.com/2010/05/04/jim-brockmire-the-greatest-sportscaster-of-our-time

[skeith]

In the Jim Mora "Playoffs? Playoffs?" tradition, the Indian TV announcer rants for five minutes about the team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9-DIKDGGA&feature=player_embedded#at=163

Did anybody else see this Wall Street Journal article touting a survey that shows the Indians as the "most-hated team in baseball"? The Indians?! Really?! Gotta wonder about Nielsen's methodology there.

I saw it and it can only mean that their fans are disappointed... I mean they haven't been dominant enough to hate like the Yankees!!

In the Jim Mora "Playoffs? Playoffs?" tradition, the Indian TV announcer rants for five minutes about the team:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9-DIKDGGA&feature=player_embedded#at=163

Thanks Dan - this was funny. I guess we won't be seeing the Bosox in the ALCS.

[BERIGAN]

In the whoops category

http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2010/05/05/cake-honoring-bobby-cox-has-unfortunate-misspelling/

Thats funny! Must be a relation of the person that screwed up Julia Louis-Dreyfus' name on the walk of fame!

There is a long time poster on the AJC baseball blog with the nic Bobby's Cocks.

Somebody needed to tell Matt Diaz of the Braves not to take so many called third strikes last night! (Same for Adam Dunn of the Nationals, I know!)

A near no-hitter for Scott Olson and the Nationals still could have lost that game! Well, at least some of last year's dread in the late innings seems to be going away.

ISBY, Diaz is about the worst looking good hitter in baseball. Well, he was till this year...Nats looked good. Braves looked like the last place team they are. Can't hit to save their lives. And no Brian McCann is having vision problems again. You really, really shouldn't get lasik eye surgery if you play baseball, IMHO.

[Dave James]

Nice sixth inning if you're New York. Not so nice if you're Josh Beckett. I'm a little concerned about Pena running for Cano. Hope Cano isn't injured.

[BERIGAN]

WOW!!!! Jamie Moyer at the age of 47, just pitched a 2 hit complete game shutout against the Braves!

:eye: :eye:

Will the Phils pull him from the rotation now that Happ is coming back?????

Any fan that thinks their team sucks(I'm talking to you Dan! )

it doesn't...if you grade on a curve. We have a rookie who has 8 homers, is 3rd in the majors in the RBI's and still are a last place team. Now Heyward is injured(The dopey manager had him pinch hit yesterday, like some panicky rookie manager fearing for his job) We have a HOF manager that is terrible, a hitting coach that is horrible, but neither one will be fired, they are special.

Look at Moyer's record this year....

@ HOU: 6 IP, 5 ER

vs FLA: 6 IP, 5 ER

@ATL: 6 IP, 0 ER

@SF: 6 IP, 4 ER

vs NYM: 6 IP, 5 ER

vs ATL: 9 IP, 0 ER

I'm only 43, I bet I still have a decent curve and slider...I'm going to try out....

[Chalupa]

Wow. Just finished watching 47 year old young Jamie Moyer* throw a 2 hit complete game SHUTOUT vs. the Braves tonight. Un-freaking-real.

*oldest pitcher in MLB history to throw a complete-game shutout

Edited May 8, 2010 by J.H. Deeley