This Week in Baseball 5/14 - 5/20

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Watch out for Justin Upton. Upton hit .341 in the Cal League, earning a promotion to AA. In three games there he's 5 for 10 with FOUR home runs.

[treble 0]

Hey, Tony Batista's still playing, I thought he was done after the Twins cut him last year.

 

His batting stance is completely different, too.

[vivalaultra 0]

Haha. Cubs suck. Lol2007!!!

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Watch out for Justin Upton. Upton hit .341 in the Cal League, earning a promotion to AA. In three games there he's 5 for 10 with FOUR home runs.

It's about time he started hitting. He had a bad first year.

[Boon 0]

Tavarez goes 7 innings and gives up 1 run. REPENT!

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Tavarez goes 7 innings and gives up 1 run. REPENT!

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

[Mik 0]

Watch out for Justin Upton. Upton hit .341 in the Cal League, earning a promotion to AA. In three games there he's 5 for 10 with FOUR home runs.

It's about time he started hitting. He had a bad first year.

 

Dude... he's killing AA at 19.

 

Seriously, I can only name three players in my lifetime I can remember being more hyped than Justin Upton. Griffey, A-Rod, and Delmon Young. 2 HOFers and the jury is still out on Delmon.

 

I expect Justin to make it to the bigs by 20, if not this September.

[treble 0]

Michael Kay just said that the 79-65 1995 Yankees probably would have beaten the 100-44 Indians had the Yankees got past the Mariners that year.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

One problem the sabermetric community has is that they insist on performance over scouting, but then they base their judgments on small packets of data. Upton had a down year and *boom*, non-prospect in some circles.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Michael Kay just said that the 79-65 1995 Yankees probably would have beaten the 100-44 Indians had the Yankees got past the Mariners that year.

Dubious. Beyond the win/loss records, the Yankees' bullpen had disintegrated in the postseason. In game five their best option (in their view) was bringing Jack McDowell into the game on one day's rest.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

One problem the sabermetric community has is that they insist on performance over scouting, but then they base their judgments on small packets of data. Upton had a down year and *boom*, non-prospect in some circles.

I wasn't implying that he was no longer a prospect, just pointing out that he had a rough pro debut. One year might not be much, but if you tack on a second year of underperformance things might start looking a little dicey. For the record, a lot of scouts had tempered down expectations for him after last year and his rough patch in the early spring. It's nice to see him hitting again.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I was really hoping that the Sox would have called up Clay Bucholz for a spot start tommorow in place of Josh Beckett.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I was really hoping that the Sox would have called up Clay Bucholz for a spot start tommorow in place of Josh Beckett.

Not me. He's not on the 40-man roster, which means they would have had to DFA someone (or I guess move Clement to the 60-day DL). Plus why start the arb clock on Buchholz just for a spot start? Gabbard, Hansack and Pauley have all done well enough in AAA that we don't need to rush the best prospect in the system.

[fairtoflair7 0]

Big win by the Mets "B" squad today going into the series with the Yankees

[snuffbox 0]

Brewers finally end the downward spiral. Sheets/Cordero combined for 9 innings of 2-runs given up and Gabe Gross hit two homeruns. 3-2 final.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I was really hoping that the Sox would have called up Clay Bucholz for a spot start tommorow in place of Josh Beckett.

Not me. He's not on the 40-man roster, which means they would have had to DFA someone (or I guess move Clement to the 60-day DL). Plus why start the arb clock on Buchholz just for a spot start? Gabbard, Hansack and Pauley have all done well enough in AAA that we don't need to rush the best prospect in the system.

I just wanna see how he fares against ML competition. I know its selfish but the kid looks to be ridiculous and I want a sneak peak.

 

I'm surprised Clement isn't on the 60 day DL. He won't be pitching till July at the earliest.

[devo 0]

Gah. I'm ridiculously pleased with the Mets' win today, sure, but the results were spoiled for me as I just got home from work and planned to watch the archived game. Of course, I just had to go to the Braves' website and check the score of their game beforehand, where the results of the Cubs/Mets game flashed on the headlines at the top of the page. Lesson learned, I guess.

 

Speaking of which, I'm in disbelief that Atlanta dropped three of four to Washington. I'm really happy for Manny Acta, as I liked him a lot with the Mets and feel that he could be a great coach for the franchise if he could just get through this unavaoidably awful year.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm surprised Clement isn't on the 60 day DL. He won't be pitching till July at the earliest.

 

They would only need to place him on the 60 Day DL if they needed another spot on the 40-man roster.

 

I'm going to see Reading/Portland on Sunday. As a bonus, Ryan Madson is scheduled to pitch two innings out of the bullpen.

[vivalaultra 0]

Really good pitching duel going in Houston so far. Roy Oswalt has faced the minimum through 3, giving up only 1 walk, no hits, striking out two while Tim Lincecum has been throwing straight 98 mph gas, giving up just one hit to Lance Berkman, with no walks and 6 Ks through 3 innings. Hunter Pence's 7 AB hitting streak ended...sadly.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Michael Kay just said that the 79-65 1995 Yankees probably would have beaten the 100-44 Indians had the Yankees got past the Mariners that year.

Dubious. Beyond the win/loss records, the Yankees' bullpen had disintegrated in the postseason. In game five their best option (in their view) was bringing Jack McDowell into the game on one day's rest.

 

Joel Sherman (in 'Birth of a Dynasty') contemplates the what ifs of "if only Buck had known what he had" since Mariano Rivera was warming up in the bullpen but never came in.

[KingPK 0]

Tavarez goes 7 innings and gives up 1 run. REPENT!

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

 

He's actually been a serviceable 5th starter, having only given up 5+ runs once. He's also owning lefties (.211 BAA), so he could be a good option if/when he goes to the pen (depending on when Lester gets called up).

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

All the while serving as pitching coach, suggesting to Matsuzaka he hit Yankee batters.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Michael Kay just said that the 79-65 1995 Yankees probably would have beaten the 100-44 Indians had the Yankees got past the Mariners that year.

Dubious. Beyond the win/loss records, the Yankees' bullpen had disintegrated in the postseason. In game five their best option (in their view) was bringing Jack McDowell into the game on one day's rest.

 

Joel Sherman (in 'Birth of a Dynasty') contemplates the what ifs of "if only Buck had known what he had" since Mariano Rivera was warming up in the bullpen but never came in.

Numerous championships have been lost because a team didn't trust a reliever out of the bullpen. The Senators lost the 1925 World Series when they stuck with an injured Walter Johnson instead of Firpo Marberry, the greatest relief ace of his generation. Rivera's 1995 season wasn't impressive, but he did pitch extremely well in that series. Pitching a similar game in game two, Rivera pitched three plus shutout innings until the Yankees finally won on Jim Leyritz's home run. I guess ultimately, a lot of decisions are easier based on hindsight.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Brewers finally end the downward spiral. Sheets/Cordero combined for 9 innings of 2-runs given up and Gabe Gross hit two homeruns. 3-2 final.

 

Yeah...also nice to see that even after a lousy road trip, they're still 11 games over .500 and have a 5.5 game lead in their division.

 

I'm going to be at tonight's Brewers/Twins game at Miller Park. Paul Molitor bobblehead~!

[sfaJack 0]

Going to Rangers/Astros tonight to witness the premium matchup of Robinson Tejeda v. Matt Albers!

[Failed Bridge 0]

All the while serving as pitching coach, suggesting to Matsuzaka he hit Yankee batters.

And serving as Manny's rub-toy.

 

Tavarez yesterday said that had he not been able to break into the ML then he would have gone on to become an Adult Film star. That's just scary and wrong.

[Guest George's Box]

Mike North on WSCR wondered why AJ Eyechart isn't in today's game. So Ozzie called the station, which was doing a remote and did not have the seven-second delay.

 

"Ozzie Guillen is on the line! Hi, Ozzie!"

"Shut the fuck up. Fuck you. Joo no fucking tell me who to poon my lieup."

"WE'RE ON THE AIR DON'T CHOO TALK TO ME LIKE DAT"

"FUCK YOU I THAW WE WERE FRENS!"

 

Ozzie Guillen: endangering CBS's radio licenses and having fun doing it. Oh, fun. The Crosstown Classic can officially begin now.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Out of curiosity, is there anyone else here that hates interleague play? I feel like I'm in the minority on this one.

[sfaJack 0]

I'm with you. I can't stand interleague play.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I'm not really a big fan, mainly because it seems like it goes on forever, it tends to cheapen the World Series, and many of the matchups, outside of the regional rivalries, fail to offer any more entertainment value than the regular everyday pairings. I think I'd have a little more interest in it if they used the league records during interleague play to determine home field advantage for the World Series (rather than the All-Star Game) but, ultimately, the concept does nothing for me.