2010 MLB Season

[Matthew]

Barry Zito got lit up by the A's last night.

How many more years does he have left on his contract...?

The nightmarish gift that just keeps on giving. Ugh.

Hey Goodie, you have to admit Zito was very good the send half of the season last year, after the All-Star game, he went 5-4, with a 2.83 ERA. I'd take that any day of the week for a number three starter. If he's even close this year, that's going to be a killer top three: Lincecum, Cain, and Zito. I think the Giants can go a long way in a weak National League.

I would too if the season was only 80 games long.

In short: Zito sucks.

Zito really sucked tonight: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 BB, 5 K's. Get rid of the bum....

See me in July.

Then we see how smug you are.

What the heck??? Zito has a very good second half of the season last year, has a great first start, and all of a sudden, that's smug? Geesh, give a player his due....

[Man with the Golden Arm]

My understanding is that the Fens is not a particularly "hot spot" outside of baseball season (its more or less residential) so I am not sure why a club like House of Blues would set up shop there when a sports bar would make more sense.

Googled it and no sign of a House of Blues near Fenway. Just thought I saw a sign for it real quick out of the corner of my eye earlier. Swing and a miss for me, I guess.

The rather new HOB (Club Avalon for ages) is on Lansdowne Street ... along with a slew of bars and clubs.

Those beyond the Coke Bottle Papi's & Manny's of yore would land right in the club's doorway.

The street is a buzz of nightlife (well, twilight life, since it is Boston) on the Green Monster side and crazy crowded on weekends no matter when.

[Quincy]

What the heck??? Zito has a very good second half of the season last year, has a great first start, and all of a sudden, that's smug? Geesh, give a player his due....

Of all things he was brought up recently on the Dan Patrick Show when SI writer Verducci was a guest. Supposedly Zito decided to devote his energy to being a baseball player, rather than a musician and other things that interest him. Yeah I know, with what he's being paid you'd think he'd have been plenty interested before, but that's the way it was phrased. Though not a Giants fan I hold out hope for this. What can I say, I like soft-throwing lefty pitchers who are a little bit flakey but kind of interesting human beings. He's not Bill Lee (who is?), but I'll take what I can get.

[ghost of miles]

For any Sox fan, tonight's loss would be a tough one to swallow. You get a solid start from John Lackey and then, really, nothing from the pen. Bard might throw as hard as anyone, but he has a tendency to put the ball right in the hitter's wheelhouse. Never a good sign. And Papelbon continues his now you see him now you don't act which would drive anyone nuts. Kudos to Curtis Granderson for nice start. I still don't think he's going to hit lefties worth a darn, but he's sure going to hit some home runs. Nice bounce back from Chan Ho Park who pitched three innings, gave up one hit and collected the win. On to Tampa and another tough series. Let's hope guys like Johnson and Texiera who are 0-9 and 0-12 respectively, will start to get their groove on.

That was a great start from Lackey--glad that Pettite was pretty much able to keep up with him. (One wag said Lackey was pitching like he was still mad at Scioscia for pulling him in Game 5 of last year's ALCS.) Glad to see the NY bullpen (and esp. Park) doing much better in Games 2 and 3 of the series, and a fine start indeed for Mr. Granderson. Yes, Dave, the 2-3-4 hitters aren't doing squat so far, outside of a couple of A-Rod doubles and Mr. Johnson's numerous walks (hitless in 3 games, but with a .400 OBP!) At least it's a better beginning against the Bosox than we had last year...I still have a feeling that final series at Fenway this year will end up being rather meaningful for both teams.

Edited April 8, 2010 by ghost of miles

[Matthew]

Can Seattle please call an end to the Milton Bradley experiment? No good is coming from it.

[WorldB3]

Can Seattle please call an end to the Milton Bradley experiment? No good is coming from it.

I don't know, he looked really good on that 2 run homer that almost landed in the Berkeley Hills and had a great catch later in the game that prevented a bases clearing double. I didn't see the last play of the game so can't comment on that except I am glad the A's won.

[BERIGAN]

Man, hate to say it, but I have to agree with the Yankees Prez. Any team that takes handouts from the richer teams, should have to say what they do with the moola. At least the brewers spend some of it, but they draw 3 million and cry like they are some teeny tiny market. I know, they don't have a tv contract like the Yankees, but teams like them(and especially, the Padres, Pirates, and Marlins) should have to show they are know just pocketing the free money... that they are using it to strengthen the farm system, and to sign some of their players long term.

The Marlins did do that with a few key players, but didn't even sign one free agent this off season(at least I think I just read that)

Do what the NFL does and spit the TV revenue. Teams that have the benefit of drawing 3-4 million a year and sell luxury box seating get to keep and do whatever they want with the profits.

Red Sox and Yankees should have an advantage due to location and loyalty but they shouldn't have a 500 dollar million advantage just for TV revenue. They wouldn't make that kind of money playing split squad games so give the other team some of that like the NFL. In this case have a minimum cap but not a maximum cap to see if helps change things.

Agree. The money the Yankees take in from YES dwarfs what other small market teams can get from their TV markets.

From the article....

Randy Levine:

"We play by all the rules and there doesn't seem to be any complaints when teams such as the Brewers receive hundreds of millions of dollars that they get from us in revenue sharing the last few years.

In the initial seven years of the luxury tax, the Yankees have paid teams nearly $175 million in revenue sharing, according to the BizofBaseball.com.

Okay Randy let's do the math - $175 Million divided by 29 teams = $6 Million per team Divided by 7 years = less than $1 million per team per year. That's significantly less than the "hundreds of millions of dollars" that he claims the Brewers received from the Yanks the last few years.

WorldB3, I am too tired right now to do more digging, but I am pretty sure only the bottom half(bottom third?) get any revenue sharing moola. In fact, my fuzzy brain is recalling the luxury tax isn't even part of revenue sharing....says so at the bottom of this page.

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/

(Actually, not the bottom of the page, this story http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4272:mlbs-luxury-tax-revenue-sharing-the-yankees-and-the-randy-levine-story&catid=26:editorials&Itemid=39 )

So, the Yankee prez overstated things, but the Brewers are still very much Selig's team, and will forever whine about money issues.

I would like to see something like NBA salary caps, something to allow teams to keep their best players, IF they are willing to.

Edited April 8, 2010 by BERIGAN

[Big Al]

Rangers lose 3-1 after carrying a shutout into the 9th, only to have Francisco give up three runs in the top of the ninth.

New season, same old bullshit.....

[Tim McG]

Barry Zito got lit up by the A's last night.

How many more years does he have left on his contract...?

The nightmarish gift that just keeps on giving. Ugh.

Hey Goodie, you have to admit Zito was very good the send half of the season last year, after the All-Star game, he went 5-4, with a 2.83 ERA. I'd take that any day of the week for a number three starter. If he's even close this year, that's going to be a killer top three: Lincecum, Cain, and Zito. I think the Giants can go a long way in a weak National League.

I would too if the season was only 80 games long.

In short: Zito sucks.

Zito really sucked tonight: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 BB, 5 K's. Get rid of the bum....

See me in July.

Then we see how smug you are.

What the heck??? Zito has a very good second half of the season last year, has a great first start, and all of a sudden, that's smug? Geesh, give a player his due....

He won a game, Matthew. One.

BFD.

Like I said: See me in July, then we see how "great" he is, fair?

[papsrus]

Rangers lose 3-1 after carrying a shutout into the 9th, only to have Francisco give up three runs in the top of the ninth.

New season, same old bullshit.....

Yeah that was tough. Francisco didn't have much at all. Tough way to go down.

Watching Joe West's comments now on espn on the slow pace of Yankees-Red Sox games. Yikes.

Initial player reaction was along the lines of, "What do you want us to do, swing at balls?"

But I'm not sure I buy that response. Do they really throw more balls in Yankee-Red Sox games than the average? I doubt it. There has to be a reason beyond balls and strikes that those games often seem to take longer.

Having said that, it doesn't really bother me. Baseball games find their own pace.

Now if it was Nationals-Pirates games that were going on 4 hours, that'd be a different story.

[Dan Gould]

Paps, the point is that both of these teams have highly selective hitters that wear down pitchers. Selective hitting leads to more pitches, which leads to worn down pitchers which lead to early exits for the starters, which results in playing mix & match with the relievers the rest of the way, which results in a slow game. That, and did anyone else notice the length of the commercial breaks? If you make three minute blocks in between every half inning, the game takes longer, too.

West could bitch about it if he could point to anyone who steps out of the box incessantly or pitchers who work extra slow - like Matsuzaka. But there was none of that, and his complaints are a pile of steaming poo, just like most of his calls.

[Brad]

Barry Zito got lit up by the A's last night.

How many more years does he have left on his contract...?

The nightmarish gift that just keeps on giving. Ugh.

Hey Goodie, you have to admit Zito was very good the send half of the season last year, after the All-Star game, he went 5-4, with a 2.83 ERA. I'd take that any day of the week for a number three starter. If he's even close this year, that's going to be a killer top three: Lincecum, Cain, and Zito. I think the Giants can go a long way in a weak National League.

I would too if the season was only 80 games long.

In short: Zito sucks.

Zito really sucked tonight: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 BB, 5 K's. Get rid of the bum....

See me in July.

Then we see how smug you are.

What the heck??? Zito has a very good second half of the season last year, has a great first start, and all of a sudden, that's smug? Geesh, give a player his due....

Take it one game at a time dudes. Saw his line the other day; great way to start the season.

[papsrus]

Paps, the point is that both of these teams have highly selective hitters that wear down pitchers. Selective hitting leads to more pitches, which leads to worn down pitchers which lead to early exits for the starters, which results in playing mix & match with the relievers the rest of the way, which results in a slow game. That, and did anyone else notice the length of the commercial breaks? If you make three minute blocks in between every half inning, the game takes longer, too.

West could bitch about it if he could point to anyone who steps out of the box incessantly or pitchers who work extra slow - like Matsuzaka. But there was none of that, and his complaints are a pile of steaming poo, just like most of his calls.

Yeah I buy that. I think you're probably right that it's due to strategy and TV commercials.

West didn't do himself any favors by criticizing how the game was being played, as long as it's within the rules.

[Neal Pomea]

Nice win for Washington over Philadelphia yesterday, when the game see-sawed back and forth. Now, if we could only change our name to Internationals, we could be the Internats (instead of Nats). I am convinced that the multitudes embracing the word Nats, which sounds like Gnats, are jinxing us to hell.

[Tim McG]

Ooops.

[Chalupa]

Hey Braves fans.... Hayward went 0 for 5 today with 4 strike outs. At this rate he's on pace to strike out 324 times this season. Maybe they should have seasoned him a bit longer in the minors? Just sayin'...

[Dave James]

Looks like Javier Vasquez hasn't lost a thing. He's just as bad now as he was the last time he pitched for the Yankees. Here's his line tonight against The Rays:

5.2 IP

8 Hits

8 Runs

8 Earned Runs

3 Home Runs

5 K's

2 Walks

12.71 ERA

Not sure this is quite what the Yanks were looking for out of their five hole.

[Tim McG]

Hey Braves fans.... Hayward went 0 for 5 today with 4 strike outs. At this rate he's on pace to strike out 324 times this season. Maybe they should have seasoned him a bit longer in the minors? Just sayin'...

And the Giants won.

Only undefeated team in the MLB.

BOO-ya!

[Chalupa]

I love the first couple of weeks of the season when all of the stats are skewed. Like Hayward being on pace for 324 strike outs, I mean the kid is probably a little over matched right now but he's not going strike out 300+ times. Anyway with that in mind check out the Phillies batting averages of the starting 8 through 4 games.... Rollins .476, Polanco .579, Utley .438, Howard .400, Werth .333, Ibanez .267, Victorino, .111(WTF?), Ruiz .364. Then again when you're facing the Nats and the Astros pitching staffs to start the season it's like getting an extra week of batting practice before the real games begin.

Edited April 10, 2010 by J.H. Deeley

[Matthew]

Hey Braves fans.... Hayward went 0 for 5 today with 4 strike outs. At this rate he's on pace to strike out 324 times this season. Maybe they should have seasoned him a bit longer in the minors? Just sayin'...

And the Giants won.

Only undefeated team in the MLB.

BOO-ya!

A couple impressions from this game: Tim Hudson looks like he's going to have a great year. The Giants have the look of a team that can be special this year. The J-Hey Kid seems like he's going to be up-and-down this year, but, for a twenty year old, he can be special. Edgar Rentaria is playing great now that he's healthy, and even Aaron Rowand is looking good. I'm sticking with my prediction of the Giants in the World Series.

[Chalupa]

Cliff Lee out until May...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=507199

[BERIGAN]

Hey Braves fans.... Hayward went 0 for 5 today with 4 strike outs. At this rate he's on pace to strike out 324 times this season. Maybe they should have seasoned him a bit longer in the minors? Just sayin'...

Hey, I would take 324 strikeouts, if it would go along with those 41 HR's and 203 RBI's that espn projects as well!

J.H., I don't know if you saw any of the game, but the home plate ump sucked (for both teams) K Zone, or whatever sports south calls their stike zone box, showed one pitch to Heyward was...oh, I don't know, 4-5 inches outside. Even beyond a Gregg Maddux strike.

Teams are clearly going to try to catch the outside corner. And nothing but offspeed stuff, which is to be expected. Still, guess who saw more pitches(31) than anyone else on either team??? Not your typical 20 year old, for sure.

[BERIGAN]

Hey Braves fans.... Hayward went 0 for 5 today with 4 strike outs. At this rate he's on pace to strike out 324 times this season. Maybe they should have seasoned him a bit longer in the minors? Just sayin'...

And the Giants won.

Only undefeated team in the MLB.

BOO-ya!

A couple impressions from this game: Tim Hudson looks like he's going to have a great year. The Giants have the look of a team that can be special this year. The J-Hey Kid seems like he's going to be up-and-down this year, but, for a twenty year old, he can be special. Edgar Rentaria is playing great now that he's healthy, and even Aaron Rowand is looking good. I'm sticking with my prediction of the Giants in the World Series.

I was one of those scratching their heads as to why the Braves re-signed him for a pretty penny. He looks a lot better now than when he came back(in less than 12 months) last year.

The crappy home plate ump missed Rowand's bat hitting McCann, but still, you can tell the Giants are not the team of last year. If Renteria can hit .290 and Huff hits like he did a few years back(I love how folks will act like he is washed up at 33) you might just be right...at least I would say a playoff team.

[ghost of miles]

Looks like Javier Vasquez hasn't lost a thing. He's just as bad now as he was the last time he pitched for the Yankees. Here's his line tonight against The Rays:

5.2 IP

8 Hits

8 Runs

8 Earned Runs

3 Home Runs

5 K's

2 Walks

12.71 ERA

Not sure this is quite what the Yanks were looking for out of their five hole.

Yes, he was good through the first three innings and then quickly lost the thread. I still think he'll be a solid #4 starter over the whole of the season, though. Man, David Price sure has NY's number, doesn't he? One last note: I'm not sold at all on Girardi's platooning Marcus Thames in place of Brett Gardner (aka Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner, or GGBG, as they like to refer to him over at Pinstripe Alley) against lefties. If nothing else, Thames didn't catch a two-RBI double early on last night that Gardner surely would have. And Gardner hit .291 vs. lefties last year, better than his .264 vs. righties...so it's not like he's Curtis Granderson against southpaws. Plus he's a menace on the basepaths whenever he gets on. So I really hope Joe G. isn't planning on benching him every time NY faces a lefthander.

P.S. Memo to Tex: please get a hit soon!

Edited April 10, 2010 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Man, CC came so close to a no-hitter! 7 2/3 IP... Tex, A-Rod and Cano all made great plays in the 7th and 8th, but Tampa Bay finally got one off him. Great game today though for NY after last night's blow-out...and gotta say I've developed a real soft spot for Francisco Cervelli and his gung-ho attitude.