TWiB #8: 5/22 - 5/28

[Bored 0]

Vinny Castilla has been stuck on #316 since April 12th as he tries to tie George Brett on the all-time homerun list and the anticipation is killing me! Anyone know what #317 homerun ball will go for on the open market?

 

Frank Thomas makes his return to Chicago on Monday. I hope for his sake he does something big for 1) To stick it to Kenny Williams and 2) To keep a job. At .178/.300/.373 the A's may end up cutting bait soon and that will be a sad end to his career.

 

Monday

 

Devil Rays (McClung) at Blue Jays (Janssen)

Cubs (Marshall) at Marlins (Nolasco)

Astros (Rodriguez) at Nationals (Day)

Yankees (Wang) at Red Sox (Schilling)

Brewers (Bush) at Reds (Arroyo)

Angels (Escobar) at Rangers (Loe)

A's (Zito) at White Sox (Garland)

Tigers (Velander) at Royals (Affeldt)

Pirates (Perez) at Diamondbacks (Hernandez)

Braves (Smoltz) at Padres (Peavy)

Orioles (Bedard) at Mariners (Moyer)

Rockies (Kim) at Dodgers (Seo)

Cardinals (Mulder) at Bonds (Joe Montana)

 

Tuesday

 

Astros (Nieve) at Nationals (Oritz)

Cubs (Sore Shoulder) at Marlins (Olsen)

Yankees (Wright) at Red Sox (Wakefield)

Devil Rays (Hendrickson) at Blue Jays (Halladay)

Brewers (Eveland) at Reds (Ramirez)

Phillies (Floyd) at Mets (Trachsel)

A's (Saarloos) at White Sox (Vazquez)

Angels (Lackey) at Rangers (Padilla)

Tigers (Rogers) at Royals (Hernandez)

Indians (Lee) at Twins (Santana)

Pirates (Santos) at Diamondbacks (Vargas)

Braves (Sosa) at Padres (Thompson)

Orioles (Penn) at Mariners (Pineiro)

Rockies (Jennings) at Dodgers (Penny)

Cardinals (Marquis) at Bonds (Bobby Bonds)

[Hawk 34 0]

I think if Oakland cuts Thomas, NYY will just scoop him up.

[jwest27 0]

Well, ESPN probably won't have to wait long to start playing all the video packages I'm sure they have at the ready. Bonds has pretty great numbers against both Marquis and Mulder.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

So when Barry hits 715, does that mean we can stop hearing about him for a while? Or will it suddenly becoming: The Chase for Aaron?

[Hawk 34 0]

So when Barry hits 715, does that mean we can stop hearing about him for a while? Or will it suddenly becoming: The Chase for Aaron?

 

What you think?

[vivalaultra 0]

My bet is on it suddenly becoming "The Chase for Aaron". I mean, after all, he'll only have 39 more to go to tie and 40 to break the record. I just wonder how long it will take them to set up a "The Chase for Bonds" thing for Pujols, if he keeps his current pace up. (meaning for the single season homerun record. Not Barry's all-time record...yet.)

[razazteca 0]

So when Barry hits 715, does that mean we can stop hearing about him for a while? Or will it suddenly becoming: The Chase for Aaron?

 

What you think?

Bonds will retire the day after he hits 716.

[Hawk 34 0]

My bet is on it suddenly becoming "The Chase for Aaron". I mean, after all, he'll only have 39 more to go to tie and 40 to break the record. I just wonder how long it will take them to set up a "The Chase for Bonds" thing for Pujols, if he keeps his current pace up. (meaning for the single season homerun record. Not Barry's all-time record...yet.)

 

They have already starting comparing Pujols to Bonds record season doing the date by date comparison.

[vivalaultra 0]

Yeah, I saw that tonite. Bonds was one game faster to 22 HRS than Pujols, I think. Honestly, I bet Pujols totally obliterates the record this season, and I bet that there'd be a lot of baseball execs thrilled about it. Hopefully, they won't do the Barry Bonds-esque "break away to every single at-bat" thing with Pujols. I hate that.

[A Happy Medium 0]

I cannot wait to purchase a Frank Thomas A's jersey. Just like a Namath Chargers jersey.

[Bored 0]

Pujols is chasing...

Homerun #224 and he ties Grich for 215th all-time. Feel the excitement!

[jwest27 0]

Do you think there will be a "Countdown to Grich" feature on ESPN?

 

 

No? Yeah, probably not.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I'm going to the Yankee game vs. KC on Sunday.

[devo 0]

Fairly important series coming up here for the Mets, as they not only have to fend off the best threat to their chances of winning the division but must do so with the tail end of a crippled rotation. Trachsel should be fine tomorrow, but Gonzalez is completely unreliable and I'm unsure about who's going to pitch in the five spot on Thursday. Judging by Gammons' report during the game last night, it might be Alay Soler, the Cuban refugee the Mets picked up in the offseason. It'd be interesting, to say the least, to see him get the nod in that situation.

 

Edit: Annnnd here's confirmation.

 

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/new...t=.jsp&c_id=nym

[naiwf 0]

I was just looking at the recap for Mets/Yankees last night and it said that Chacon was indeed put on the 15 day DL after the game, and that Terrence Long's contract was purchased from Triple-A Columbus.

 

I'm not too upset with the idea of bringing up Soler instead of Pelfrey, especially since anybody they call up will be better than Lima. I'm hoping Maine comes back soon just so the team can figure out if he's any good before having to make another move. Bannister seems to have inherited Beltran's hammy from last year, so I'm guessing he won't be seen until about the AS break.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

ESPN says the Yankees have signed Erubial Durazo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's not an outfielder.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

They're signing Richard Hidalgo, too.

[2GOLD 0]

ESPN says the Yankees have signed Erubial Durazo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's not an outfielder.

 

 

He played right field and first base with the Arizona Diamondbacks so he does have experience playing the outfield. He's just slower that a 330 pound little leaguer when he's out there.

 

And if the Yankees want a slow moving outfielder who can barely hit but sometimes does get lucky then Sammy Sosa is always sitting at home waiting for an old timers game.

[Brett Favre 0]

Durazo should add some depth at DH. Good signing.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Here's the thing about Pujols. He still needs 53 home runs to set the single season home run record. He's never hit more than 46 in a season. That's after a 1/4 of the season is through. He's going to set a good mark I bet, but 73 is a lot tougher than people think.

[Hawk 34 0]

Also, I'm getting sick already of the talk radio monkeys who are insisting that Selig is trying to coax managers and umpires into making things easier for Pujols to break past 73. Why do idiots always try to create theories and what is even more pathetic is that people buy into them.

[jwest27 0]

Yeah, I don't really think he'll get there either. He'll have a career year certainly, and probably be consensus MVP, but I'm thinking he'll end up with 55-60ish home runs.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

It'd be nice to just see Pujols get to 60, as he, presumably, would be the first clean person to do it since Maris.

[naiwf 0]

I'd like to see Albert hit 62, to set the juice free record. However, I see him stalling out at about 57 or 58 just because at some point he'll end up taking 2 or 3 IBBs in every critical game and I don't know how he'll react to only getting 3 or 4 pitches per game to go deep with.

[Guest]

Here's the thing about Pujols. He still needs 53 home runs to set the single season home run record. He's never hit more than 46 in a season. That's after a 1/4 of the season is through. He's going to set a good mark I bet, but 73 is a lot tougher than people think.

My question is, is provided he passes Maris, will his HR mark be the one that becomes widely recognized due to the known use of steroids by Bonds, McGwire and Sosa?

 

I know I'm dabbling in huge hypotheticals, but it's something I wonder about.

 

So much of his success is due to the ability of the people that hit before him to get on base.

[naiwf 0]

PTI claims the Cubs are working on an extension for Dusty. I'm beginning to think that the Cubs and Knicks are owned by members of the same family.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Here's the thing about Pujols. He still needs 53 home runs to set the single season home run record. He's never hit more than 46 in a season. That's after a 1/4 of the season is through. He's going to set a good mark I bet, but 73 is a lot tougher than people think.

My question is, is provided he passes Maris, will his HR mark be the one that becomes widely recognized due to the known use of steroids by Bonds, McGwire and Sosa?

 

I know I'm dabbling in huge hypotheticals, but it's something I wonder about.

 

So much of his success is due to the ability of the people that hit before him to get on base.

I hope not, because it tends to set off the trend of people who will not shut up about how "my era was better," that tends to come into every discussion about the single season home run record. Plus, there is NO proof that Sammy Sosa took steroids behind circumstancial evidence. There's no Balco, Andro, congressional testimony, anything like that. I know some writers would proclaim it the real record, but I hardly listen to what they write anyway. Besides, who is to say that Pujols is clean. I'm tired of analysts who are shocked, SHOCKED, when a player tests positive.

 

EDIT: Understand I am not accusing Pujols of steroid use. I'm just saying there is much more to steroid use that we do not know.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

PTI claims the Cubs are working on an extension for Dusty. I'm beginning to think that the Cubs and Knicks are owned by members of the same family.

Must be because of yesterday's win. Apparently on the North Side of Chicago, five wins in May is considered a success.

[Guest]

Sosa's case is mysterious. Nobody really knows what happened.

 

Funny story. I was flipping channels yesterday and came across the Reds/Tigers game. I thought that was odd, since I never paid for the MLB package, so I called to see what was up. While I called, I decided to cancel NHL CI, which I had ordered way back in October. I called, they said that I was paying for nothing extra. They said there was nothing to cancel, and that the channels were showing repeats. I said ok, and asked them how long they would show repeats for. They said they were showing "repeats" from now on, meaning forever, and that the channels are mine.

 

So, apparently, I have all those channels for free from now on. That also means that I will have access to the rest of the baseball games for this year, every NFL and College Football game in the upcoming season, and NHL and NBA action next season. All for free.

 

I love my cable company.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Tonight, Matt Murton, the guy with the third-highest OBP on the team (not counting Derrek Lee), is being protected by: the pitcher. Awesome. I guess he should be thankful his protection isn't the pitcher AND Neifi Perez.

 

Meanwhile, Cedeno's been moved back into the two spot, despite an OBP of .313. Here I thought we'd left the 1980s, where some managers actually thought speed at the top was more logical than high OBP at the top.

 

Oh well, it's just the Marlins, but surely some of the Cubs' offensive woes could be fixed without roster moves or the return of Derrek Lee (whose legend is becoming more powerful than Christ's, thanks to Jim Hendry).