- 02:47 AM
- 11/22/09
Really, really glad to see Greinke win. Guy totally deserves it.
posted by MKUltra at 09:08 AM on November 18
So exactly how does Madson's successful ninth inning in a must-win game mean the Phillies don't have a prayer? What could he have done in the ninth to show you otherwise?
Not give up 3 hits, for starters. His ball/strike ratio was something like 2:3. Those are not indicators of reliability. If Jeter (who is not one to GIDP in the 9th inning of a playoff game) had simply grounded out, there would have been a much bigger threat. The Phils just don't have a guy they can turn to in the late innings and know it's locked down.
posted by MKUltra at 12:41 AM on November 04
Madson got the save and gave up only one earned run, MK. He came on with runners on the corners and shed two outs like a waterproof deck. The Series ain't over at all.
Wait, what? Madson pitched the entire 9th, by my memory (and the play-by-play). If Jeter doesn't hit into a DP, we may have been having an entirely different discussion.
The Phillies just don't have an automatic late inning guy, and the Yanks are a team known for late-inning heroics. Rivera, on the other hand, looks just as much the machine he's looked for years while both teams' pitching staffs are clearly breaking down.
Also, is anyone with more insider credibility than the opposing team's hometown paper saying anything about Gaudin starting? There's no way.
posted by MKUltra at 07:18 PM on November 03
Sending out Ryan Madson in the 9th instead of Brad Lidge, and not really having him fare much better, is reason #1 the Phils don't have a prayer.
posted by MKUltra at 11:51 AM on November 03
I'm not going to scourge the internet for prove that the runner was safe, but the replay showed that the runner was safe. I saw no doubt. The announcers showed no doubt. Everything I've read today says the runner was out.
Wow, you're right. Couple of crazy close calls there.
posted by MKUltra at 01:44 PM on October 30
Great game, great pitching from both teams. Lot of batters on both sides were made to look really dumb at the plate.
The umps missed the call in the eighth when the Yanks turned an inning-ending double play. Utley was safe at first and Ryan Howard should have come to the plate with a chance to tie the game.
Got a video replay of this to back your claim up? He looked out to me.
posted by MKUltra at 12:39 PM on October 30
Unless, by "intangibles" you meant that A-Rod gets ahold of a bad batch of steroids, or maybe Madonna shows up in the dugout and "drains" his energy.
LOL AROID IS A CHEATER AMIRITE!!!!!!11111one
posted by MKUltra at 01:06 PM on October 27
Jeter Rivera Posada Cano Melky Gardner Joba Hughes
With all due respect, with or without Pettite, that isn't a championship team.
"Bought" talent on the '08 World Champion Red Sox: Beckett, Dice-K, Okajima, Big Papi, Lowell, half-season of Manny. It's not a situation specific to the Yankees.
MLB charges free-spending teams for every dollar above the Luxury Tax threshold and then sends that money back to small-market teams.
Which many small-market team owners put in their pockets rather than on the payroll. The Luxury Tax system is a poor solution to a real problem.
Who are the Yankees when they go?
Cano. Joba. Phil Hughes. Melky, despite not being a stud, is clearly a great clubhouse presence, though I have a feeling he'll get dealt in the offseason.
posted by MKUltra at 04:47 PM on October 21
Perhaps because Red Sox and most other teams don't buy 5-7 of the highest priced free agents each year. They actually have organizations focused on building internally.
Yeah, because the BoSox weren't interested at all in picking up Tex. I don't know for sure about CC and AJ, but I have to imagine they were in the mix for those two as well. Don't pretend Boston is some bastion of home-grown talent.
Besides, what's completely lost in this assertion is that the Yankees are fielding a lot of players they've brought up from their farm system:
Jeter
Rivera
Posada
Cano
Melky
Gardner
Joba
Hughes
That's just off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure there are some more folks in the bullpen I'm missing. Even Pettitte's a "native" Yankee- he came up with them, left, and came back.
posted by MKUltra at 02:06 PM on October 21
Eh, big deal. Does anyone still care about Zambrano? He's been in decline since '06, and the only year he got more than 16 wins was '07, when his peripherals took a sharp turn downward. He doesn't pitch deep into games and his K-rate is way down (his last start notwithstanding). And he seems like too much of a hothead to turn himself into a finesse pitcher.
The best thing that can come from this is that the new Cubs ownership gracefully accepts his retirement, then pointedly asks Soriano to follow suit.
posted by MKUltra at 01:24 PM on September 29
Why will baseball not just go ahead and post the damn list?
Hasn't this been covered a million times already?
Because they made a deal with the players to test under anonymous conditions. I agree it's frustrating to have "selected" names be leaked, but it's not fair to the players to release all the names because of some lawyers with an axe to grind.
What they really should do is release the names of those who leaked from the list, and have them disbarred (if not indicted, since I think what they did is illegal).
posted by MKUltra at 11:29 AM on August 10
Should I drop Magglio Ordonez for him?
posted by MKUltra at 11:24 AM on July 13
They signed the top 2 pitchers and the top hitter during the off season. If they end up being the beast of the east, those are your reasons.
There's no denying that Sabathia and Teixeira are dominant at their positions, but Burnett hasn't been much better than the rest of the rotation.
I think a lot of the Yankee resurgence stems from an attitude change, probably due to finally shedding the last of George Steinbrenner's fixation on short haircuts, suits, and other such "proper behavior". The Yankees, for the first time in years, actually look like they're enjoying themselves.
posted by MKUltra at 04:07 PM on June 03
Yankee Stadium has had a ban on "Boston Sucks" shirts for years. I believe Fenway has a similar policy.
Are you sure? I haven't been to Fenway in decades, but they're sold all over Boston. Honestly, I doubt there's a ban at Yankee Stadium because no one cares about that crap here.
Incidentally, there's an unbelievably fascinating piece in This American Life that talks about the two guys who came up with that shirt and what happened when they decided to go to Iraq.
posted by MKUltra at 09:50 AM on May 30
On the one hand, Canseco's a douchebag and a publicity whore.
On the other hand, he hasn't been wrong yet.
posted by MKUltra at 11:42 AM on April 07
If this doesn't make the case for Sabathia getting the NL Cy Young, nothing will.
posted by mkultra at 05:23 PM on September 29
I wonder how this will work. American Football, for example, penalizes coaches who (more or less) abuse it by docking timeouts. In baseball, there's no equivalent penalty you can dole out to a manager who suddenly wants to start challenging "close" plays to give his bullpen more time to warm up. Any ideas?
posted by MKUltra at 03:53 PM on June 14
As much as I detest Crybaby Thomas, this is a good move for Oakland, whose best offensive player this year has been... Bobby Crosby. They desperately need a power bat.
posted by MKUltra at 10:38 PM on April 24
I don't get it. I'll give you a hint- her former best friend's name is Daria Jeter.
posted by MKUltra at 09:20 AM on April 04
FPP link is from last year. The updated "dirt" is via Joe Lavin's blog, from the first comment: As for Alex Rodriguez, Canseco says he didn't inject Rodriguez, but that he "introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids." Canseco didn't mention Rodriguez in the first book because he "hated the bastard." He was worried that people would have "questioned [his] motives" had he included Rodriguez. Why all the hatred, you ask. Well, Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife. Apparently, even after Canseco had been nice enough to help A-Rod find a friendly steroids supplier, A-Rod kept calling Canseco's wife. And, in case there's any further confusion about Canseco's true feelings, he ends the chapter by saying: So A-Rod, if you're reading this book, and if I'm not getting through to you, let's get clear on one thing: I hate your f***ing guts. His argument is (a) I introduced Arod to someone who sold steroids, and (b) he had the hots for my wife. Classy. As much as Canseco probably knows about the inside dealings on MLB steroids, he seems determined to undermine his own credibility at every opportunity.
posted by MKUltra at 11:24 AM on March 26
What does Isiah have on New York Knicks owner James Dolan anyway? Shouldn't his ass be out the door like 50 games ago? My friend and I were just joking about this the other day. We concluded that he must have some pics implicating him in kiddie porn or something. There's just no other explanation.
posted by MKUltra at 10:48 AM on November 25
Put an average player at third in A-rod's place and the they're still playoff contenders. That's just ridiculous. Arod pretty much single-handedly carried the team on his back (bat?) during a couple months when the rest of the team was doing nothing offensively.
posted by MKUltra at 10:46 AM on November 25
I'm just surprised that FOX managed to fit the A-Rod announcement in between its exhaustive coverage of a fast food promotion and reminding us about a car company's love affair with the game. Here, here. Considering the shamelessly crass broadcasting job Fox did during the series, Arod's announcement was one of the less offensive moments.
posted by MKUltra at 03:38 PM on October 30
I put the blame much more on Jeter- team captain, worse performance from someone who is supposed to be "Mr. Postseason"- than Arod. As a Yanks fan, I hope Torre stays, but Steinbrenner just isn't a rational person. I came to NYC having grown up a Phillies fan, which in the 80's was not easy. I became a Yanks fan when Torre took over, and it's been an amazing tenure. I think Posada will be back, but as 1B. Who's going to sign him as a starting catcher at this point? He's got a year, maybe two, left behind the plate, but he's a good bat and a solid teammate. I hope Arod comes back- he's a dirty, dirty player, but he's amazing to watch perform every night. The problem is not enough Paul O'Neill/Tino Martinez/David Cone type guys on the team. Definitely true, but you can see this coming together around Cano, Cabrera, and (to a lesser extent) Abreu. I think Melky would move into the dugout if he could.
posted by MKUltra at 01:54 PM on October 09
Wait, wait, wait. Did I just read an article that essentially claims Braun will win because he's Jewish? Wow, the Global Zionist Conspiracy reaches farther than I imagined...
posted by MKUltra at 02:12 PM on September 10
-- Good news for me: I don't have any Orioles pitchers on my fantasy team, either. If you're fielding Burres, Bell, or Shuey on your fantasy squad, your problems started well before last night ;) Littleton's got the best stat line in the game, IMO. How many times do we see a 3-inning save, let alone a save in a game that ultimately had a margin of (opposing roster X 3)?
posted by MKUltra at 10:47 AM on August 23
1. Milwaukee Braves v. Cincinnati, June 8, 1961, 7th inning. (Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock, Frank Thomas) Wait, that can't be right- Frank Thomas? Not even born yet...
posted by MKUltra at 10:03 AM on April 23
Zack Greinke Wins American League Cy Young
Wow, such contention! For the record, I did mean "deserve" from a stats standpoint, rather than a flashier choice- let's be honest, wins and team finish tend to count disproportionately in this race. It's great to see someone chosen purely based on how well he pitched.
Or, put another way- has Sabremetrics finally infiltrated the mainstream?