TWiB 9/25 - 10/1

[vivalaultra 0]

No lead is safe with the Cardinals bullpen. It's looking like 1.5 games back with 2 games to go. It's the proverbial nut-cuttin' time.

[CanadianChris 0]

I do like how the Braves fans gave Clemens a standing ovation as he left the game. They really do think he is going to retire.

Obviously, Atlanta fans are rather naive.

[Guest NYankees]

Reds win, Astros lose. This would be ideal if Milwaukee would beat St. Louis, which is looking less and less likely by the second.

 

 

That Really is wishful thinking now that St Louis is going to have a magic number of 2 after tonight.

[devo 0]

I realize. But hey, Cincinnati's only possibly going to be alive for a couple more days. I can afford to be unrealistically optimistic for that long.

 

Edit: As if on cue, a Corey Hart homer cuts the Cards' lead to five.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Tigers blew a 5-0 lead, but loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately for them, Brent Clevin tried to tag on a shallow popup to center and was out by plenty. As the ball hung in the air, the announcers said it wouldn't get the run in and were shocked when Clevin tagged and tried to score. They didn't say much when he was thrown out. It was more like a series of strange groans and other noises.

[Guest]

If the Dodgers win tonight, we are SO close.

[Brett Favre 0]

Kyle Farnsworth is wild thing. He wears glasses now.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Houston we have a problem!!! =

 

Yeah...that nevergets old. Neither does "Asstros" or "Lastros". Is there no originality anymore?

 

 

Do the Astros have any talented young offensive prospects in their system? It is funny to think that Robinson Cano since August 8th when he came back from his injury has almost more Rbi's than the second place person on the Astros has all season.

 

Charlton Jimerson (who's on the roster now) is a speedy outfielder with some pop. The best prospect is Hunter Pence, another outfielder. Drives the ball well, hits for average and has some power but is considered more of a doubles hitter. Maybe JR House, a 1B/C. Not quite sure where he'd pan out in the majors though.

[vivalaultra 0]

JR House didn't do jack-shit when he was with the big club earlier this year. He did hit about .500 in AA and AAA, though. He had a cup of coffee with the Pirates a couple years ago. He was uh...a college football player. I think he has arm problems. I don't think he'll ever amount to much. Charlton Jimerson is early Preston Wilson re-incarnated. He's one tool shy of being a five-tool player. If he can cut down on the strikeouts and make contact, he'll be a keeper. There's a reason he's 28 years old and hasn't been on the big club for any length of time. Hunter Pence is the crown jewel of the Astros farm system. I hope he's more Berkman than Jason Lane. Then there's a couple lower level guys that are supposedly good-Josh Anderson and a few others. The Astros don't really have alot of can't-miss position prospects. They've got some good pitching, though.

[Brett Favre 0]

Pence is good in baseball mogul.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Damn, the Royals with 19 hits against Detroit tonight.

 

This ninth in Minnesota's about as exciting as regular season can get. Too bad it's all up to Nevin.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It took Jenks 29 pitches to get two outs in the inning and three to strike out Nevin. Ugh. Looks like we'll still be tied in the AL Central.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I hope I didn't jinx it. Tigers just plated two to pull to within two.

[naiwf 0]

The Twinkies just saw their season fade tonight because there's no way they beat the Yankees even if Johan gets 2 wins in a 5 game series. Detroit or Oakland will do the j-o-b in 5 and the Yankees will win their 27th World Series pretty easily too since none of the NL postseason teams have any kind of pitching.

[Brett Favre 0]

You're too optimistic.

[The Man in Blak 0]

A story on the AP reports that Randy Johnson has a herniated disc and may not be able to pitch in the opening series of the playoffs:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-y...p&type=lgns

 

If Johnson is truly out for the whole series, Santana, Bonser, and an emotional start behind Brad Radke may make for a more interesting best-of-five than you think.

[mike546 0]

Since when has Brad Radke done shit against the Yankees? We hit him when he was healthy in 03 and 04, so now hes going to even come close to shutting us down with a torn labrum and broken shoulder? I'd be more scared of Garza or Baker.

[naiwf 0]

A story on the AP reports that Randy Johnson has a herniated disc and may not be able to pitch in the opening series of the playoffs:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-y...p&type=lgns

 

If Johnson is truly out for the whole series, Santana, Bonser, and an emotional start behind Brad Radke may make for a more interesting best-of-five than you think.

 

Even if Johan wins 2, who gets the 3rd victory for the Twins? Boof Bonser? C'mon now. The Twins will be the Yankees stiffest test of the postseason which is why I didn't want to see it happen in the ALDS. The Tigers/A's winner will rollover and probably lose a couple of the games by 8+ runs. Kenny Rogers will be lucky to pitch 5 innings in 2 games, and their youngsters will likely get shelled too since the Yankees can easily make someone throw 100 pitches by the 5th inning if they decide to be patient. With Pedro gone, the biggest "stud" pitcher left in the NL is probably going to be Chris Carpenter. A nice guy who will get lit up by the Yankees in both starts if the Cards make the WS. Their is no Schilling, Beckett or DBacks era Randy Johnson out there, so the only way the Yankees don't win it all is if Mussina suddenly ages overnight or Jaret Wright has to pitch 3 times in the ALCS or WS.

[Bored 0]

You're all of course assuming it will be the Twins playing the Yankees in the ALDS which has yet to be decided. Tigers really blew an opportunity tonight to almost wrap up the division.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

JR House didn't do jack-shit when he was with the big club earlier this year. He did hit about .500 in AA and AAA, though. He had a cup of coffee with the Pirates a couple years ago. He was uh...a college football player. I think he has arm problems. I don't think he'll ever amount to much. Charlton Jimerson is early Preston Wilson re-incarnated. He's one tool shy of being a five-tool player. If he can cut down on the strikeouts and make contact, he'll be a keeper. There's a reason he's 28 years old and hasn't been on the big club for any length of time. Hunter Pence is the crown jewel of the Astros farm system. I hope he's more Berkman than Jason Lane. Then there's a couple lower level guys that are supposedly good-Josh Anderson and a few others. The Astros don't really have alot of can't-miss position prospects. They've got some good pitching, though.

 

The thing with the Astros organization is that they NEVER fast track prospects. It seems like everyone, no matter how solid a prospect he might be, spends at LEAST 5 years in the minors. So, you end up with guys who are 27 and 28 before the make it to The Show (see Scott, Luke). Pence might be the quickest ascent I've seen since maybe Berkman. I'll have to see how man years Berkman spent in the minors.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I love how people are dogging Boof Bonser on the basis of his absurd name.

[vivalaultra 0]

Berkman was drafted in the 1st round in 1997. He played in High A ball in 97 and split time between AA and AAA in 1998. In 1999, he split time between AAA and the big club. In 2000, he started at AAA but came up about 2 months into the season and hasn't went back since. I'm seeing a very similar career path between Berkman and Scott, Luke. I doubt Luke sees time at AAA again. The quickest ascent through the minors that the Astros ever had was Baggy. He was in the Red Sox system for like...a year and a half before being traded. He never spent any time in the Astros minor league system. I don't think he counts, though.

 

I'm pissed that the Brewers lost. I was counting on them pickin' up tonite and tomorrow's game, with Sheets on the mound. I hope that Villanueva kid can shut em down on Sunday against Carpenter. If the Astros start Chris Sampson tomorrow, they've got a chance. I wish Backe wasn't hurt. I bet he'd throw a fuckin' 1-hitter against the Braves. He's clutch.

[naiwf 0]

Boof is 7-5 w/a 4.15 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 16 HR allowed in 95.1 IP. That's the kind of the dude the Yankees will crush.

[Precious Roy 0]

Randy Johnson has a herniated disk in his lower back. He's getting an epidural, but right now he's considered questionable for the playoffs. I don't know what to think about this. On the one hand I hope they can just dope him up and get a couple quality starts out of him, on the other hand, I hate to say it but we might be better off leaving him off the roster rather than risking him dying on us in the middle of a series. The Yankees are going to win or lose with their bats and bullpen though, unless RJ had a dominant 8 inning performance in him (which I wasn't really counting on) I don't see this having a major effect on their chances. Kind of like Pedro and the Mets.

 

And it came up a couple pages back about who people would rather face in the first rd.

 

I can't decide whether I'd rather face the Twins in a 5 game or a 7 game. I guess it doesn't really matter. In a 7 game you're probably looking at Santana 3 times, but then again, the Yankees hit Santana pretty well (not great but better than almost any other team).

 

I don't know, I don't really think it matters in the AL. A's/Central Winner should be a good series either way, and the Twins would be a tougher draw for the Yanks, but I think they'll beat either central team. Historically they have played very well at the Metrodome in October.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

My local team (AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx) signed a 2 year deal to be a farm system for the Mariners last night. We got dumped by the Cubs a couple of weeks ago.

[Precious Roy 0]

Oh, and I might as well add, I'm picking a Yankees-Dodgers series, and I'm picking the Yankees in 6.

 

But this is the one thing that would bug me about RJ being out. I think him pitching at Dodger stadium is a gimmie win for us, and the one series where he's best equipped to singlehandedly win us a game. If he's out....I'm more on the fence and wouldn't be surprised to see an LA upset. Call me crazy...

[the max 0]

I'm picking Twins v. Padres: America Asleep.

[vivalaultra 0]

If my Astros don't make it, I'm going Twinkies and Dodgers. Twins in 6.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

Dodgers score two in the ninth to take a 4-3 lead

[Hawk 34 0]

I'm picking Twins v. Padres: America Asleep.

 

Slot Oakland in Minnesota's place and I'd agree with the tag-line.

 

I'm going with Dodgers Vs Twins.

 

I'm not neccesarily on either team's bandwagon, but of the 8 teams involved, I like those two the most and their chances as well.