This Week in Baseball 7/30 - 8/5

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

If somehow he is called up and pitches on Thursday, that means that I will have been to both Chamberlain and Hughes' debuts this year.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Barry Bonds tweaked his knee again and won't play tonight in LA. What bad luck he has :(

 

Anyone know why the Braves didn't use that excuse coming out of Spring Training in 1974 when the purposely tried to sit Aaron for the opening series in Cincy so he'd hit both the homer to tie the Babe and #715 at home in Atlanta?

 

What would Kuhn really have pulled a "If he sits then put him on the DL!" ultimatum or something if the Braves decided to say "Yeah Hank tweaked his knee, can't play this weekend, nudge nudge, wink wink?"

[Bored 0]

Barry Bonds tweaked his knee again and won't play tonight in LA. What bad luck he has :(

Wow I thought he'd at least hit #755 before coming down with a sudden case of "sore legs" for the rest of the road trip. ESPN is gonna be pissed.

 

Speaking of the Giants, I haven't seen mention of the most inexplicable move at the deadline. They traded Matt Morris, not surprising, to the...wait for it...the Pirates!? On top of that the Pirates are picking up all of Morris' remaining salary this year and next.

 

Link

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Brendan Donnelly is going to have Tommy John surgery. I don't think the Red Sox are that worried about losing him

[Guest Smues]

Will Startup and his karate delivery are on their way to the Padres along with Wil Ledezma for Royce Ring.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooo I wanted to see Will in a Braves uniform someday soon.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

If somehow he is called up and pitches on Thursday, that means that I will have been to both Chamberlain and Hughes' debuts this year.

 

 

Joba's definitely ready for a call-up. For Yankees fans' sake, I hope Joe Torre doesn't use his scorched earth mentality with him like he does with his other relievers.

[treble 0]

Rod Black is apparently pretty close to Jesse Litsch, as he just told us that he 'pisses tonight'.

[Guest •]

Sounds like the White Sox want to give an extension to Jermaine Dye as well. They're really committed to keeping this bunch together, I guess. JD's not getting any younger, Kenny.

 

I like Kenny Williams' thought process-

 

My team sucks and I have the worst farm system in the major leagues. I could sell off a bunch of these vets and rebuild this squad for a future run in an increasingly tough division.

 

Oh, what the hell. Let's re-sign everybody and go for it one more time. Don't stop believin'!!

you forgot "the media is too critical of me" and "fuck Frank Thomas," add those in and you're set!

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Shane Victorino and Michael Bourn both land on the 15 day DL. Damn it.

[Dandy 0]

Bourn is lucky he didn't land on the operating table.

[Craig Th 0]

I like him.

 

Well with that argument, I'm convinced!

I do like him.

 

I know he won't be pitching again this year, but he was there at a great time and helped the BoSox during a bad time for pitching.

 

So what happens if Wakefield starts sucking more, Curt isn't what he used to be and his arm is still hurting him and Lester doesn't do that well? Buchholz isn't ready, Ellsbury is coming off the DL and Pauley (who I am a huge fan of) isn't ready yet.

 

Gabbard would have been nice to have. I just hope Gange doesn't get hurt and they lost their 2 month rental.

 

I'm just saying I like him a lot.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Gabbard's a dime a dozen pitcher. He'll have a nice career as 4th or 5th starter somewhere or long man in the pen. But he has no future in the Red Sox organization. With Schilling coming back he heads right back to Pawtucket. Organizationally, he's behind Beckett, Matsuzaka, Schilling, Wakefield, Lester, Buchholz, Bowden and Masterson. They have two other guys just like him in Devern Hansack and David Pauley. Kyle Snyder and Julian Tavarez are both available as spot starters.

 

He's filler and nothing more. He did a nice job when he got called up this year and now he has a shot to make a big league rotation. It's a win-win situation for everybody.

 

And by the way, no one's really talking about David Murphy. He seems more like a fringey 4th outfielder type, but he should be the starting CF in Texas. He will probably put up decent numbers in that ballpark. Like I said in an earlier post, he's essentially Boston's version of Melky Cabrera.

[mike546 0]

If Torre pulls an Edwar Ramirez with Joba, aka pitching him once where he K's the side, not using him for three weeks then expecting him to be ready when he's used (where he sucked 18 pitches 2 strikes 1 Grand Slam) and then sends him back to Scranton, I will kill him.

 

And Melky Cabrera is not a fringey 4th outfielder. He's producing in the major leagues at age 22. He's going to improve.

[Brett Favre 0]

Murphy is like 26. Cabrera killed minor league pitching last year. Murphy hasn't.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Murphy is like 26. Cabrera killed minor league pitching last year. Murphy hasn't.

 

 

Melky's got a higher upside than Murphy and he's actually performed at a major league level. There's no question that he's the more desirable player. That's not the point.

 

He's not good enough defensively to play centerfield on a consistent basis and he doesn't have enough power to stick in the corners. Just because he's 22 doesn't mean he's going to magically acquire these skills that's he never shown at any level of his development. Hence, he's a 4th outfielder type. He's good enough to start for a small market team or be a competent bench player for a good one. He can hit alright and handle a few outfield positions. Like David Murphy.

[Brett Favre 0]

Murphy is like 26. Cabrera killed minor league pitching last year. Murphy hasn't.

He's not good enough defensively to play centerfield on a consistent basis

 

Yes he is.

[mike546 0]

Why do I hear so much about Melky sucking in CF? He has 11 outfield assists and has a GREAT arm. He has decent to good range in CF.

[Brett Favre 0]

He leads the league in range factor for centerfielders, and he's fifth in zone rating.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

My understanding is that the concern from scouts is that Melky will grow out of the ideal build for a center fielder, and his bat does not project for him to play well enough to play in a corner outfield slot.

 

Chris Wheeler noted Chris Roberson stole his first career MLB base, which is false. Roberson stole three last year. Roberson is also a big wrestling fan.

[vivalaultra 0]

And his name is only 5 letters off from mine!

 

Kelly Johnson is kicking the Astros' collective ass tonite. I mean, the trading deadline's passed and we didn't trade Lidge or Oswalt and we're not gonna make a run, but if we're going to lose games, I'd at least like our losses to be advantageous to my fantasy team...and the fact that Chris Sampson sucked tonite and Andruw Jones is the only Brave without a hit does not help me one bit.

[devo 0]

The Brewers fans show quite a bit of class, giving Glavine a very nice reception as exits the game in the bottom of the seventh with the Mets up 2-1.

[Guest •]

Mota blew #300 for Glavine. Now he gets to go for it against Marquis/Cubs, and the Cubs probably won't share first place tonight. Fucking shitty Mets bullpen.

 

EDIT: Cubs did win, though, so that's good.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

There goes 300. Fuck.

[Guest •]

Oh my God, the Mets bullpen is fucking laughable. Oh, and way to not know how to field a motherfucking sacrifice bunt, you dumb cocksuckers.

[Brett Favre 0]

You're overreacting worse than Tom Glavine's wife. Did you guys see the look on her face after Mota blew the game for Glavine?

[Guest •]

Milledge ensures that the game will be LASTING into the 10th!

[devo 0]

Knowing that #300 isn't happening hurts, but now all I give a damn about is getting a win. Also, I take comfort in knowing that I'll never be as hard on the Mets as Czech.

 

Also also, I <3 Milledge.

[Guest •]

Well, excuse me, devo, but this game has implications for me! Im-pli-cay-shins!

 

Wise just got yanked in the middle of an at-bat!

 

EDIT: Oh, I give up. The Brewers are a team of destiny. No other explanation for ten straight balls followed by a double play.

[Guest •]

=?

[devo 0]

"Yooooostie..."

 

Luis Castillo's first hit as a Met was a bunt single. That seems appropriate.

 

Edit: That's the end of that. I can't work up any outrage from this loss since Milwaukee really should have scored in each of the past four innings. It was pretty clear the bullpen was just avoiding the inevitable from the point Mota came into the game.