This Week in Baseball 8/6 - 8/12

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Brad Lidge is horrible at baseball and he should retire.

[strummer 0]

Guillermo Mota should join him.

 

Maybe Aaron Heilman too

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Aaron Heilman is no Joba Chamberlain.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Nick Punto trumps everyone.

[vivalaultra 0]

Brad Lidge might not be Joba Chamberlain, I just wish he also wasn't Kyle Farnsworth.

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

He's only pitched three innings! That's not just a small sample size, it's a miniscule sample. Gagne is not a shell of his former self. He was lights out all year long in the best hitter's park in the American League. I'll admit that he hasn't looked good in Boston so far, but I'm not even close to giving up hope yet.

 

Papelbon hasn't made it through a full season as a closer. Okajima is going to shatter his career high in innings pitched. MDC has been inconsistent his entire career. Donnelly has to have Tommy John surgery. This team needed another insurance arm for a postseason run. Gagne was the best reliever on the market and they got him for practically nothing. It was an excellent move to make at the time whether it works out or not.

 

True enough. It's easy for me to jump on the bandwagon after watching last night's game in shock. But you're absolutely right, and I agreed from the beginning that it was a great addition to the team. I just think there were more vulnerable areas that should've taken priority, like right field (and I'm not convinced Kielty is the answer there).

 

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Czech's annual Yankee jealousy shines through.

 

Does Bobby Keilty in Boston signal the end of the Eric Hinske Era?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Czech's annual Yankee jealousy shines through.

 

Does Bobby Keilty in Boston signal the end of the Eric Hinske Era?

 

I have no idea honestly. I would guess that they'll just carry one less pitcher instead of dumping WMP or Hinske. Rosters expand soon anyways so it shouldn't really be a problem.

 

As for Hinske, the Brandon Moss promotion signalled the beginning of the end for him. But who knows if Kielty ever makes it to Boston. His Pawtucked debut saw him go 0-6 with 5 Ks.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Moss and Kielty are both in Pawtucket at the moment. Kielty as Cheech noted had an awful debut.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Glad to see the Brewers won't the only team the Rockies decided to punish with a blowout win this week.

 

And how about Rick Ankiel, eh?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Glad to see the Brewers won't the only team the Rockies decided to punish with a blowout win this week.

 

And how about Rick Ankiel, eh?

I may have sounded dismissive earlier about Ankiel. Regardless of what he does the rest of his career, this is probably the greatest story of the season. One of the most vivid memories I have of the 2000 postseason is Rick Ankiel's brutal first inning of game two of the NLCS. Timo Perez led off the game, Ankiel worked a 3-2 count somehow and Perez struck out on the pitch with the take sign on all the way.

 

Ankiel showed flashes but was maddingly inconsistent. The Cards let him DH in the Appalachian League and he hit ten home runs. Nice to see, but not so impressive in Rookie Ball. Ankiel finally gave up pitching after '04. He hit 21 home runs between two levels in 2005, but missed 2006 due to injury. A hitter missing a year of development at age 27 should be death on its own merits. This season Ankiel now hit 35 home runs. 35 F'n home runs!

[CanadianChris 0]

Lucky me -- a look at the schedule tells me that Johan Santana's turn in the rotation is coming up the day I go to Camden Yards to see the Orioles and Twins.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The Yankees have a team OPS of .956 since the All-Star break. That's just insane. It's like playing with a lineup of 9 Albert Pujols.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Al (or anyone else who watched the PHils/Braves game on Sat.) - did the announcers say anything about why nobody was warming up while JD Durbin was walking the bases loaded? I was at the game, and nobody around could figure out what was going on. He managed to escape the jam, but still, I can't believe nobody else was getting ready to come in.

[migoli 0]

Cleveland and Detroit are pretty much telling Minnesota you're welcome to make this a three team race. The Twins seem content finishing third.

 

Four team race. The gap between Minnesota and Chicago White Sox is smaller than the one between Minnesota and Cleveland.

Nah, it's just two teams. Minnesota doesn't have the pitching to make a comeback, and the Sox need to go 27-20 just to finish at .500, not to mention passing three teams. It's just Detroit and Cleveland, realistically.

 

 

Ah yeah not so much, its more of a hitting problem,but good try at trying to sound informed

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Brad Lidge save attempt against the Brewers Take 2.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Bobby Jenks tied the MLB record with 41 straight hitters retired! Set by Jim Barr of the Giants in the 70s.

 

Thats 13 and 2/3rds innings of perfect baseball so far.

 

Anyone know the streak for retired hitters without giving up a hit? I assume its still Johnny Vander Meer's 57 (or plus, how far in the third game did he get before giving up a hit?

[CanadianChris 0]

Cy Young holds the hitless innings record with 24 1/3 in 1904, including a perfect game.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Kyle Snyder pitching in the bottom of the 10th. Good choice, Tito.

[CanadianChris 0]

I can't believe Boston is going to blow this lead.

[mike546 0]

What is it with managers and their obsession with closers only coming in to "close" games in extra innings on the road? It's a lot easier watching it happen when its a Red Sox situation and Kyle Snyder is pitching instead of Papelbon, but Torre does it all thetime and its fucking stupid.

 

edit: 4 games!

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Cy Young holds the hitless innings record with 24 1/3 in 1904, including a perfect game.

 

Geez, are there any pitching records NOT owned by him and Nolan Ryan?

 

By the way, had a staunch anti-baseball guy make an argument that the notion that any of the greats of past eras that generally still get mentioned as greats of all time, (Ruth, Cobb, Walter Johnson, Young, ect) would do as well today (or somewhat) as they did in their era is quite silly.

 

I guess if one considers that you'd get laughed at if you try to make a case that a basketball, football, hockey, tennis, golf, ect player from, even 40 years ago would do well in today's game.

[KingPK 0]

What is it with managers and their obsession with closers only coming in to "close" games in extra innings on the road? It's a lot easier watching it happen when its a Red Sox situation and Kyle Snyder is pitching instead of Papelbon, but Torre does it all thetime and its fucking stupid.

 

edit: 4 games!

 

Managers get stuck in their ways. Everyone has a "role" on the team and it's hard to deviate from it.

 

Gagne looks horrible, small size or not. The guy has little velocity left.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Cy Young holds the hitless innings record with 24 1/3 in 1904, including a perfect game.

 

Geez, are there any pitching records NOT owned by him and Nolan Ryan?

 

By the way, had a staunch anti-baseball guy make an argument that the notion that any of the greats of past eras that generally still get mentioned as greats of all time, (Ruth, Cobb, Walter Johnson, Young, ect) would do as well today (or somewhat) as they did in their era is quite silly.

 

I guess if one considers that you'd get laughed at if you try to make a case that a basketball, football, hockey, tennis, golf, ect player from, even 40 years ago would do well in today's game.

There is certainly an argument as objective sport records such as timed events (track & field) are consistently improving. The problem with the argument is that the old-timers would also have access to modern training methods so their performances would improve as well. A player like Ruth or Cobb would still star today, though improved competition would bring their stats closer to the pack.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Going to do a live chat at 8pm ET.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

What a downer the last 10 days have been.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

What is it with managers and their obsession with closers only coming in to "close" games in extra innings on the road? It's a lot easier watching it happen when its a Red Sox situation and Kyle Snyder is pitching instead of Papelbon, but Torre does it all thetime and its fucking stupid.

 

Francona brought in Papelbon yesterday because of the bullpen's near implosion in the ninth inning. He blew through Okajima, Gagne and MDC in the 8th and 9th inning. Timlin was already used in the 7th. Snyded was really the only choice, but only because of his own poor bullpen management.

 

As for bringing in closers in save situations, it's usally just a comfort thing. Pitchers are still human and they get used to getting mentally set for their save situations. There are a lot of elements that go into bullpen usage that fall outside of what might be optimal given numbers of expecatations.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I can't believe Boston is going to blow this lead.

 

Boston has the second best record in the American League since the All-Star break. It's not so much that the Red Sox are blowing it as the Yankees are playing out of this world and look like the hands-down best team in baseball. It's no longer about the Yankees coming back. They are in it today and it's going to be a fight the rest of the year.

 

Gagne looks horrible, small size or not. The guy has little velocity left.

 

Gagne was still hitting 95 today. It has nothing to with his velocity. It's pitch calling and location. Gagne is not this bad. Something is wrong, whether it's his comfort level pitching in a set-up role, his relationship with Varitek, hiding an injury or some other factor. I don't want to absolve Gagne for what's happened, but something is clearly not right. He just cost us two games in a weekend series. His ERA is 14.55 in Boston. No one could have seen this coming.

[Precious Roy 0]

Going to do a live chat at 8pm ET.

 

for what?

[tominator89 0]

Phillies/Braves game, probably.