TWiB 8/21 - 8/27

[mike546 0]

Good thing the Mariners suck, their bullpen full of hard throwing lefties is really giving the Yankees trouble.

[alfdogg 0]

Ross homers, 4-3 Reds in the 8th.

[Hawk 34 0]

David Ross went David Ross on the Giants and put the Reds ahead.

 

Castro provides a little insurance as they should hold on and that'll tie up the NL Central once again.

[naiwf 0]

Reds lead 6-3 Top 9 now. I want the Cards out of the postseason if they're gonna play with fire like this. Even though the Mets just swept 'em, I'd rather not have to beat Pujols in the NLDS.

[mike546 0]

Sox beat the Angels, thanks to the fucking retarded Angels third base coach sending a runner on a base hit, even though there were NO outs in the inning, and it would have been 1st and 3rd no outs with the Angels only trailing by one.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Aaaaand NOW the blister problems start for Beckett. The man needs new hands.

 

Beckett has been so screwed up this year. He shut just shut it down, and start working towards next year.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Tim Kurkjian seems to have figured out what no other mainstream writer has even though the rest of the sabermetric world did two years ago. The A's have left the world of OBP behind and have built their team on pitching depth and defense. Perhaps it will cause some of his colleagues to figure out that Moneyball was about finding and exploiting market ineffiencies, not drawing walks.

[KingPK 0]

Sox beat the Angels, thanks to the fucking retarded Angels third base coach sending a runner on a base hit, even though there were NO outs in the inning, and it would have been 1st and 3rd no outs with the Angels only trailing by one.

 

The funny thing about that play was that he actually just beat the throw and should have been safe.

 

And they say that Beckett didn't have a blister, just a cut on his middle finger.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

More words of wisdom from Dusty Baker.

 

I understand removing him won't solve all of the team's problems, but when you have a guy saying things like: “On-base percentage just to clog up the bases isn’t that great to me," he's a problem. He obviously thinks these teams that draw walks are just padding numbers; never mind they automatically raise their chances of scoring by doing so.

 

But here's the one that just kills me:

 

“I think the problem we have to address as much as anything is the home run problem,” Baker said. “They have out-homered us 2-1 in our own ballpark. That’s the bigger problem.”

 

Oh.my.god.

 

What has Dusty been promoting and forcing on Cubs fans the last two years? Speed, speed, speed! Of course your power numbers are going to blow has when you insist on filling the diamond with guys who are really fast, but not particularly good at baseball.

 

And while I'll take power over speed, let us not forget the Cubs were among the homerun leaders in the NL in recent years, but still had offensive woes. That's because they didn't have all of that high OBP "clogging" up the bases when those homers happened.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Cubs' offensive rankings in the National League

 

Runs: 16th

HRs: 10th

Total Bases: 8th

Batting Average: 5th

On Base Percentage: 16th

Slugging Percentage: 12th

Strikeouts: 2nd (meaning 2nd least)

Walks: 16th

Stolen Bases: 5th

Sacrifices: 2nd

 

This should stand as an object lesson in offense. The Cubs hit for a high average. They don't strike out. They steal lots of bases. They move runners. And they CAN'T SCORE RUNS. Why? Because they don't work the count.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

And I suppose to respond to his own comments about the Cubs' lack of power, here's tonight's lineup:

 

A day after complaining about the lack of homers the team hits, he breaks out his big sticks:

 

- Pierre

- Bynum

- Ramirez

- Jones

- Barret

- Mabry

- Pagan

- Cedeno

- Mateo

 

Just what a struggling Cards team needs to see.

[Guest Felonies!]

HE DOESN'T HAVE HIS HORSES DUDE GEEZ

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Pagan's in there.

[Guest Brian]

Twins score four in the top of the sixth to go up 4-3.

[Guest Brian]

Zito with the unmentionable through seven.

[Bored 0]

Figured it'd end soon after ESPNews jumped on it. Why was I watching ESPNews instead of the game? Because it's not televised locally. First place, late August, night game...not televised. A's local t.v. deal has been a joke for years now.

 

Now I hope they just hold on for the win and keep the pressure on the Angels.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Cubs...just do...something. Need a STL loss.

 

Phils gotta stay strong in NY with the Reds/Cards both getting "lay-up" series with two sinking/sunk dog teams.

 

If they can take 2/3 from the Mets, that'd be very good, and hopefully be the last big fight before the craptastic September teams roll up.

 

Although if Leiber can do well tomorrow against a BAD Mets starter and Moyer can go long enough for a win, that'd be really sweet and we'd no doubt gain at least a game on someone (likely the Reds), as I don't see both teams sweeping.

[naiwf 0]

I just got back from Shea. It was a fun game, even without the desired outcome. The MVP race keeps heating up at Shea with Howard, Pujols & Beltran all going nuts this week.

[mike546 0]

A-Rod is just brutal right now. Lost at the plate. K'd in 7 of his last 8 ABs. He needs a vacation, or something.

 

edit: I hate the fucking Angels. Their one of those teams that load the bases with no outs, then get two outs on purpose making you think your team will get out of the jam, but then just laugh at you through the TV and piss you off after they get that bloop hit that brings in the runs with two outs.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Looks like the tie in the NL Central will only last one day. Cards won and the Reds can't do anything against Matt Morris. They were down just one in the eighth. There were two outs and they intentionally walked the batter to get to Matt Morris. That put them at the corners and naturally, Morris doubled to score both of them.

 

Morris should easily get the complete game.

 

And while it was a good win for St. Louis, it wasn't exactly a pretty one. They left something in the neighborhood of 15 guys on base and their only two runs came from Cubs miscues (Jones catching the flyball flat-footed, assuming Bennet wouldn't tag and Ramirez' error that eventually scored). But with the kind of lineup the Cubs put out there tonight, two was plenty.

[Vern Gagne 0]

A-Rod is just brutal right now. Lost at the plate. K'd in 7 of his last 8 ABs. He needs a vacation, or something.

 

edit: I hate the fucking Angels. Their one of those teams that load the bases with no outs, then get two outs on purpose making you think your team will get out of the jam, but then just laugh at you through the TV and piss you off after they get that bloop hit that brings in the runs with two outs.

 

They didn't do that against the Red Sox. Maybe that's the why you hate the Angels.

[strummer 0]

This was covered on the Fire Joe Morgan Blogspot last year and it's coming up again this year. Oh and it's really fucking annoying. Every telecast, whether game or a recap show, announcers are bringing up Beltran's great year and then follow it up with the wishy washy "With those numbers he has to be considered an MVP candidate" WTF? Why can't they just come out and say "He's going to be an MVP candidate" or "He's had a great year and he will be in the running for the MVP" Jim Kaat was saying the same shit about Arod last year. It's like they're afraid to make a definitive statement.

[mike546 0]

Its kind of sad I was looking foward to an A-Rod strikeout right there.

 

What do you call a 5 K game anyway?

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Reds and Padres both lose games they needed to win.

 

(Wonder what happened to "Brian" up there...)

[naiwf 0]

Its kind of sad I was looking foward to an A-Rod strikeout right there.

 

What do you call a 5 K game anyway?

 

The/a platinum sombrero.

[mike546 0]

Ahhhh I thought Melky hit that out.

 

How do the Angels lead the AL in errors? they always seem to make these amazing plays every time we play them.

[naiwf 0]

Mr. Kennedy should easily win this with a sac fly to anyone in the outfield but Melky.

[mike546 0]

Abreu's arm is just as good as Melky's.

 

EDIT: WHERE THE HELL WAS THAT!?!?

[naiwf 0]

But Abreu's not clutch

 

It doesn't matter though since Dotel's gonna get the K here and a grounder to Jeter to take this to the 10th.

 

EDIT: Or you guys can get squeezed and lose on a sac fly that shouldn't have been.

[mike546 0]

Fucking BS, that was strike three.