This Week in Baseball 5/18 - 5/24

[alkeiper]

When I posted my first All-Star ballot, I got criticized for placing Alex Rodriguez on it despite not having played a game yet. What went unnoticed is that I also chose Joe Mauer, who had also not played a game yet. Now 20 games into his season, Mauer already has eight home runs to go along with his .405 batting average. He is clearly the best catcher of this decade, and it would be silly to exclude him from the game for missing a month of the season.

 

[zio]

Texeira's broken bat home run was ridiculous. This stadium fucking sucks.

 

[devo]

I will readily admit that that was a screwjob. The ball Youkilis hit was fair by a good five feet.

Edit: Sean Green sucks so much.

 

[MFer]

Dontrelle pitched well today, too bad the offense didn't show up. Pretty disappointing to lose the series against Colorado. Detroit should be able to gain some ground with their interleague schedule.

 

[Smartly Pretty]

Oh man, Brad Lidge is terrible and I'm loving it.

 

[zio]

Jesus fucking Christ. This is getting to Jose Mesa levels of bad right now. I continue to give Lidge the benefit of the doubt, but this is too much. The Yankees didn't deserve to come back yesterday or tie the game right now. If they win, it'll be that much worse.

I'm still happy with the way the Phils played this series. A sweep it should have been, but they're still among the elite.

 

[treble]

Jays are about to lose their sixth straight and fall out of first. This is right about the time they usually have their big losing streak early in the season, but this year the start was so good, it's not necessarily a season killer, yet.

 

[naiwf]

This was the weirdest 5-5 road trip I've ever seen. Before it started, I would have been happy with that mark. When they started 3-0, I don't think any Mets fan would have gussed that 5 wins on the trip would have been a good finish. However, with all of the injuries and the poor play in general in the last 7, finishing up 2-5 is probably the best we could have done. This team is quite frustrating to watch on a daily basis because their bad games are dregs of the league bad, and their good games are few and far between.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

The Phillies got lucky this game. Yankees had opportunities the whole game and didn't capitalize. But it was a great homestand.

 

[zio]

I don't think even a Yankees fan can possibly say the Phillies got lucky this game. We can go that route and say the Yankees got lucky yesterday. The Phillies are notorious for giving up baserunners but getting out of jams. They did it all last season and this season. As long as the pitching doesn't give up the runs, that's not luck.

The starting pitching for Philly was close to dominant this series. I'll admit they got lucky in the 9th and 10th inning of today's game, but come on. They led basically the whole series and kept the Yankees' hitters in check for what they're capable of in that stadium. Give them their props.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Last I checked, it's a 9 inning game. The Yankees wasted quite a few opportunities early on as well against Hamels, and the Phillies scored on a Gardner dive. Two of the runs would not have scored had he caught that ball.

Yesterday the Yankees gave up 4 runs yet the Yankees got lucky? Shouldn't it go both ways? Keeping a team you don't see in check isn't that impressive. The people who did the most damage on the Phillies were Ibanez, who has seen the Yankees and Ruiz who was pitched like a 9th hitter. They didn't dominate the series, just ousted.

 

[zio]

It was a bad read by Gardner. A smart center fielder would have kept it in front of them. Yesterday the Yankees lineup barely did anything against a young pitcher who you would think would've been the sure loss of the series. They did get lucky with the cheap Jeter and A-Rod homers. Sure, Mayberry's homer was cheap, too.

I don't really like saying one team got lucky over the other most times. If the Phillies got lucky today, the Yankees got lucky yesterday. Basically the same thing happened vice versa. Don't act like the Phillies win today was all luck.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

It was a lucky series all around.

 

[Next USC #55]

Baseball is about luck.

 

[zio]

No, it's not. Anyways, I'm still happy with the road trip and so far this season other than the ring ceremony, this was probably the highlight. Two out of three from the Yanks definitely was what I was hoping for.

 

[geniusMoment]

Wow, wtf are the cubs doing? The northside baseball forum is calling it a season.

Those Lee and Soriano contracts aren't looking too great.

What's crazy is Adam Dunn wanted to go to the Cubs more then anything this offseason. He loves playing and hitting in Wrigley. He loves the atmosphere. He had his agent call the cubs 4 different times this offseason, and was willing to sign for less then Bradley with them. They said they weren't interested. Dunn would be such a huge help in the order.

Dunn is just tearing it up this year, .284 aver., 14 HR's, .420 OBP, 39 RBI's

 

[Next USC #55]

It's not about luck? If it was purely about talent, we'd see more pitchers post sub 2.00 ERAs year in and year out, and we'd see more hitters post at least .400 seasons year in and year out. Luck or lack thereof makes everything the way it is.

 

[Precious Roy]

This was the weirdest 5-5 road trip I've ever seen. Before it started, I would have been happy with that mark. When they started 3-0, I don't think any Mets fan would have gussed that 5 wins on the trip would have been a good finish. However, with all of the injuries and the poor play in general in the last 7, finishing up 2-5 is probably the best we could have done. This team is quite frustrating to watch on a daily basis because their bad games are dregs of the league bad, and their good games are few and far between.

That the Mets are winning any games at all with that lineup and their starting pitchers not named Santana is incredible to me.

Jerry Manuel is not a particularly good manager, but he's seemingly at his best when he gets to whittle victories out of scrubs and retreads. New York is the wrong place for him. He belongs on a team that does not presently exist in major league baseball. The Mets haven't had a really good manager since they ran Bobby V out of town.

 

[zio]

It's not about luck? If it was purely about talent, we'd see more pitchers post sub 2.00 ERAs year in and year out, and we'd see more hitters post at least .400 seasons year in and year out. Luck or lack thereof makes everything the way it is.

Oh, I know there is luck. I thought you were insinuating baseball was all about luck.

 

[zio]

This was the weirdest 5-5 road trip I've ever seen. Before it started, I would have been happy with that mark. When they started 3-0, I don't think any Mets fan would have gussed that 5 wins on the trip would have been a good finish. However, with all of the injuries and the poor play in general in the last 7, finishing up 2-5 is probably the best we could have done. This team is quite frustrating to watch on a daily basis because their bad games are dregs of the league bad, and their good games are few and far between.

That the Mets are winning any games at all with that lineup and their starting pitchers not named Santana is incredible to me.

Jerry Manuel is not a particularly good manager, but he's seemingly at his best when he gets to whittle victories out of scrubs and retreads. New York is the wrong place for him. He belongs on a team that does not presently exist in major league baseball. The Mets haven't had a really good manager since they ran Bobby V out of town.

Gotta agree with everything here. Seems like they're overachieving with only being 1.5 games out of first.

 

[jimmy no nose]

When I posted my first All-Star ballot, I got criticized for placing Alex Rodriguez on it despite not having played a game yet. What went unnoticed is that I also chose Joe Mauer, who had also not played a game yet. Now 20 games into his season, Mauer already has eight home runs to go along with his .405 batting average. He is clearly the best catcher of this decade, and it would be silly to exclude him from the game for missing a month of the season.

I will agree that Mauer is the best catcher of this decade, but do you think he keeps it up for an extended stretch? I noticed a few weeks back that his numbers to this point are extremely similar to what Jason Kendall had posted at the same age. Kendall's numbers, particularly his power numbers, fell of dramatically almost immediately after. Catchers are really tricky guys to figure out.

 

[alkeiper]

I do think he keeps it up. The only question is how long he can catch before he has to move off from behind the plate. Kendall is a good point, but remember it was a gruesome injury that changed the course of his career.

 

[Bored]

The Padres have an odd season to this point. Started 9-2, then had an putrid stretch where they lost 19 of 23, and now they've reeled off nine straight wins to get them back to .500.

 

[CanadianChris]

When I posted my first All-Star ballot, I got criticized for placing Alex Rodriguez on it despite not having played a game yet. What went unnoticed is that I also chose Joe Mauer, who had also not played a game yet. Now 20 games into his season, Mauer already has eight home runs to go along with his .405 batting average. He is clearly the best catcher of this decade, and it would be silly to exclude him from the game for missing a month of the season.

I don't think I criticized you, just pointed it out. Usually I've seen you be a big proponent of voting on the current season instead of on past reputation.

 

[CanadianChris]

Oh, and I was listening to the Jays/Braves game on XM, which uses the home feed. The Braves run an odd contest called the "Lucky 7," where a listener is drawn at random, and wins a largish cash jackpot (I think today was around $11,000) if the Braves manage to score seven runs in the seventh inning. Doesn't seem like it would pay out very often, right? Seems like a pretty strange contest to even come up with, right? I mean, I've seen contests that pay out big prizes if someone hits for the cycle, and things like that, but this one seems like an excessively random idea for a contest.

Of course, it pays out today against my team. Awesome.

 

[alkeiper]

When I posted my first All-Star ballot, I got criticized for placing Alex Rodriguez on it despite not having played a game yet. What went unnoticed is that I also chose Joe Mauer, who had also not played a game yet. Now 20 games into his season, Mauer already has eight home runs to go along with his .405 batting average. He is clearly the best catcher of this decade, and it would be silly to exclude him from the game for missing a month of the season.

I don't think I criticized you, just pointed it out. Usually I've seen you be a big proponent of voting on the current season instead of on past reputation.

I think it's easy to get it confused. I wouldn't advocate putting a past his prime player like Ken Griffey into the All-Star game. But it's ridiculous to hear Jason Bartlett advertised as an All-Star because he had a hot 40 games when his career OPS heading into the season was shy of .700.

The All-Star game is for the best players. I don't understand why people are gung ho about picking players with the best first halves.

 

[the max]

Oh, and I was listening to the Jays/Braves game on XM, which uses the home feed. The Braves run an odd contest called the "Lucky 7," where a listener is drawn at random, and wins a largish cash jackpot (I think today was around $11,000) if the Braves manage to score seven runs in the seventh inning. Doesn't seem like it would pay out very often, right? Seems like a pretty strange contest to even come up with, right? I mean, I've seen contests that pay out big prizes if someone hits for the cycle, and things like that, but this one seems like an excessively random idea for a contest.

Of course, it pays out today against my team. Awesome.

A few years ago, NESN and Toyota had a deal where a person would win a new car if a member of the Red Sox hit a homerun on the opposing pitcher's 100th pitch of the game. Needless to say it never paid out and usually resulted in Orsillo/Mcdonough and Remy being "shocked to death" that someone didn't win.

 

[Bored]

When I posted my first All-Star ballot, I got criticized for placing Alex Rodriguez on it despite not having played a game yet. What went unnoticed is that I also chose Joe Mauer, who had also not played a game yet. Now 20 games into his season, Mauer already has eight home runs to go along with his .405 batting average. He is clearly the best catcher of this decade, and it would be silly to exclude him from the game for missing a month of the season.

I don't think I criticized you, just pointed it out. Usually I've seen you be a big proponent of voting on the current season instead of on past reputation.

I think it's easy to get it confused. I wouldn't advocate putting a past his prime player like Ken Griffey into the All-Star game. But it's ridiculous to hear Jason Bartlett advertised as an All-Star because he had a hot 40 games when his career OPS heading into the season was shy of .700.

The All-Star game is for the best players. I don't understand why people are gung ho about picking players with the best first halves.

In defense of Jason Bartlett, when it comes to picking the back up shortstop on the A.L. squad (since we can assume Jeter will be voted the starter) he's probably going to be the best option. It's very, very weak position in the league right now with a dearth of proven talent outside of Jeter.

 

[JHawk]

For the first time in history, a manager wins an argument. Joe Mauer got hit in the hand, the umpire called it a foul ball initially, then changed it after Ron Gardenhire's argument without even consulting with the other umpire. The next batter hits a grand slam and what was a good game becomes 6-1 Twins in a hurry.

Is "the ump changed his call without a conference" a legit reason to protest?

 

[alkeiper]

For the first time in history, a manager wins an argument. Joe Mauer got hit in the hand, the umpire called it a foul ball initially, then changed it after Ron Gardenhire's argument without even consulting with the other umpire. The next batter hits a grand slam and what was a good game becomes 6-1 Twins in a hurry.

Is "the ump changed his call without a conference" a legit reason to protest?

It's hyperbole to say it's the first time, it's certainly not. The Mets' comeback in game five of the 1969 World Series was sparked by a reversed HBP call. And it's not a legitimate reason to protest, the umpire is under no obligation to consult with his crew.