Cheech Tremendous

Carlos Pena and Dmitry Young won the Comeback Player of the Year awards for their respective leagues. Pena was a total lock in the AL, but Young surprised me. I though Josh Hamilton and Rick Ankiel had the inside track on the award. Matt Holliday's totally clutchy hit last night brought him up to second in the National League in Win Probability Added (WPA - 2nd to Prince Fielder). You could make a case that he won the MVP award solely on last night's performance, both in the traditional and sabermetric way of determining value.

There's no need for an f-you because I don't think he cares at all. He knows he messed up, but realizes it was for something petty that's going to be forgotten in time anyways. No need to try and draw the ire of the league by making moves for the sole purpose of pissing them off. That's just bad business.

Oh and let's all shit ourselves trying to figure out this save us 222 thing when anyone with half a brain knows that it's just Jericho.

People still have sigs? I turned that function off years ago. It's really annoying to look at all that crap when you just want to read a thread.

Did Todd Helton shit in your cereal or something?

The Phillies and Rockies pitchers... in Coors Field and Citizens Bank. The horror. Prepare for some 11-10 ballgames.

What an incredible start to the postseason. Bit of a controversy with Holliday not touching the plate, but what a rally by Colorado in the 13th.

If pictures on the internets have taught me anything, the only thing loose about Britney Spears is her vagina.

So is there any doubt left that Norv Turner is one horrible coach? Can they just go ahead and replace him with Bill Cowher now since we all know it's coming at the end of the season anyways?

Oh for fuck's sake, it's lose. And did you just compare Britney Spears to Chris Benoit? Wow.

Here's a little something that flew under the radar this weekend. Kevin Youkilis tied the major league record set by Steve Garvey with a fielding percentage of 1.000. That's right. He went the entire season without making a single error which is something no other AL 1B has ever accompished. Really impressive feat that should make him a lock for a Gold Glove.

How great is it that after every Chicago media personality ripped PECOTA for predicting a 72-90 season for the Chicago White Sox that the team ends up 72-90? I'm sure none of those writers or front office people will admit how wrong they were now.

From the Preseason Predictions thread. All in all, I'd say I did damn good. Better than most of the "experts" out there.

The 2005 World Series had four excellent games. It just happens that the same team won them all.

AL MVP 1- Alex Rodriguez, NYY 2- Magglio Ordonez, DET 3- David Ortiz, BOS 4- Curtis Granderson, DET 5- Jorge Posada, NYY 6- Ichiro, SEA 7- Vlad Guerrero, LAA 8- Carlos Pena, TBA 9- Victor Martinez, CLE 10- Grady Sizemore, CLE NL MVP 1- David Wright, NYM 2- Chipper Jones, ATL 3- Matt Holliday, COL 4- Albert Pujols, STL 5- Chase Utley, PHI 6- Hanley Ramirez, FLO 7- Prince Fielder, MIL 8- Eric Byrnes, ARI 9- Miguel Cabrera, FLO 10- Jimmy Rollins, PHI AL Cy 1- C.C. Sabathia, CLE 2- Fausto Carmona, CLE 3- Josh Beckett, BOS NL Cy 1- Jake Peavy, SD 2- Brandon Webb, ARI 3- Brad Penny, LAD AL ROY 1- Dustin Pedroia, BOS 2- Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS 3- Jeremy Guthrie, BAL NL ROY 1- Ryan Braun, MIL 2- Troy Tolowitzki, COL 3- Hunter Pence, HOU AL MOY 1- Eric Wedge, CLE 2- Terry Francona, BOS 3- Mike Scioscia, LAA NL MOY 1- Bob Melvin, ARI 2- Manny Acta, WAS 3- Lou Piniella, CHC

I don't have acccess to last year's rankings because I let my membership expire. But let's be clear, it doesn't "predict" anything. It merely measures the probability of postseason success based on the attributes that correlate with teams that win in the postseason. If there are 8 teams in the playoffs, the winner will likely come from one of top teams ranked in upper echelon of the league in SS. For instance, in 2005, the White Sox and Astros ranked 1st and 2nd in Secret Sauce, respectively. That doesn't always happen, but no team ranked in the lower echelon has ever won the World Series.

Baseball Prospectus has introduced a postseason prediction model called Secret Sauce. The system measures a team's chance in the playoffs by weighting certain metrics that most heavily correspond to postseason success (EqK/9, FRAA, and closer WXRL, if you're interested). Essentially they have correlated strikeout rates, defense and strong back-end bullpens most heavily with playoff wins. Anyways, where I am getting with this is that their system predicts that the Cubs have the best chance to win the National League this year. So at least based on historical precedent, Chicago should be the favorite. Scary thought for Cubs fans, I know.

Clay Buchholz has been shut down for the season by the Boston Red Sox, effectively eliminating any chance of him getting a place on the postseason roster. It had been theorized that they lessened his workload to get him ready for a bullpen spot, but the team said that his strength wasn't where they'd like it to be.

Jericho certainly had the attitude and charisma to be a main event level player, but he wasn't from an in-ring standpoint. It's not that he was a poor worker, quite the opposite really, but he worked to too "soft." His offensive repotoire never looked convincing enough, especially for a guy who was visibly smaller than the other main eventers. Smarks can be very forgiving of a guy if he seems talented, but for the mainstream fan there is a level of credibility that has to be conveyed by main eventers.

Santana's got a no-trade clause. So the teams will probably be limited. The no trade clause might actually play into the team's advantage. It is probable that as a condition to waiving his NTC Santana might ask for an extension from the interested team. The trading team, therefore, would be more likely to give up talent if they know that Santana will be there for more than one year. I've also read that Santana's NTC is renewed on a year to year basis. It vests if he finishes in the top 3 of Cy Young voting. Not sure of the particulars though and how it affects him this upcoming year.

A rotation of Liriano/Bonser/Garza/Baker/Slowey doesn't sound bad at all. If they can flip Santana for an outfielder or 3B with some pop and a top notch pitching prospect, they could contend in the Central next year.

Regardless of its true validity, the Johan Santana for Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw trade rumor seems to be gaining a lot of traction in the media. If you're the Dodgers, do you make this deal knowing that Santana could leave in free agency next year? Matt Kemp is probably the team's best hitter going forward (although Plashcke and Little are trying to turn the town against him) and Clayton Kershaw is one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. I also have to think that the Twins could do much better than this package. If Santana is on the market, every team will line up with a package of young talent and primo prospects.

Located below is an article from Jayson Stark explaining the possible tiebreaker scenarios for the National League. I don't think the 5-way tie he describes is even possible now. Arizona and Colorado are meeting for a weekend series with the D'backs two games up. It's impossible for them to end with identical records. Tiebreaker Scenarios Should be a crazy weekend.

I don't really want to muck up the thread with a flame war, but please calm down on the masturbatory Phillies posts when: a. you didn't post here all season except for the occasional Phillies bashing b. the team hasn't won anything yet

There are still three games left in the season. You might want to slow down on the celebration until the Phillies actually clinch something.