This Week In Baseball 8/13-8/19

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Your national slate of games:

 

NO MORE BONDS WATCH! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

 

I think the next milestone chasers are Pedro's 3,000th K and the 500th HRs for ManRam and Thome

 

Monday 10:10 EST ESPN Houston at LA (Oswalt vs Billingsley)

Wednesday 7:05 EST ESPN Detroit at Cleveland (??? vs Carmona)

Saturday 3:55 EST FOX Detroit at Yankees (Durbin vs Pettitte)

Saturday 3:55 EST FOX St. Louis at Cubbies (Reyes vs Marshall)

Saturday 10:05 EST FOX White Sox at Seattle (Danks vs Weaver)

Sunday 8:05 EST ESPN St. Louis at Cubbies (??? vs ????

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Bored weeps.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Junior Griffey is also chasing 600, sitting on 590.

[Bored 0]

Bored weeps.

I feel like Donnie Moore after giving up the homerun to Dave Henderson in Game 5 of the '86 ALCS right about now.

[devo 0]

Subtitle needs to go immediately. C'mon now.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Subtitle needs to go immediately. C'mon now.

For that matter, it's been a week since the Mets increased their lead.

 

I'll take suggestions on a new subtitle.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Ian Kennedy is going to be called up this week. NYYFans says Gammons reported it.

[treble 0]

Subtitle needs to go immediately. C'mon now.

For that matter, it's been a week since the Mets increased their lead.

 

I'll take suggestions on a new subtitle.

Yankees to call up Sidd Finch.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Thought you guys would enjoy this:

http://logan-logsblog.blogspot.com/2007/08...oid-raging.html

[Vern Gagne 0]

Subtitle needs to go immediately. C'mon now.

For that matter, it's been a week since the Mets increased their lead.

 

I'll take suggestions on a new subtitle.

 

 

How happy can Tony LaRussa get this week?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Juan Encarnacion's the latest Cardinal to be publicly air frustration abotu LaRussa.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Juan Encarnacion believes in driving sober and using Albert Pujols in the bottom of the 9th.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Speaking of the Cards, don't look now, but they're only 5.5 games back. Given the ample number of times they meet the Cubs and Brewers, it's not impossible to think Kip Wells may still wind up making a playoff appearance.

 

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

You know, for all this talk about "the dregs of the NL" and other such accusations that the National League sucks, I guess I missed the part where the Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays, Twins, White Sox, Royals, A's, and Rangers were good teams, not to mention the slumping Tigers, streaky Indians, and the double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox. Both leagues suck, if you ask me.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I think a lot of teams are going to be in rebuild mode after this season.

 

LaRussa will not be the Cardinals' manager next season either.

[Precious Roy 0]

Ian Kennedy is going to be called up this week. NYYFans says Gammons reported it.

 

In the Post yesterday it was said that there's a debate between using Karstens or calling up Kennedy to fill Clemens spot this week (Tuesday).

 

JOBA

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

You know, for all this talk about "the dregs of the NL" and other such accusations that the National League sucks, I guess I missed the part where the Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays, Twins, White Sox, Royals, A's, and Rangers were good teams, not to mention the slumping Tigers, streaky Indians, and the double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox. Both leagues suck, if you ask me.

 

 

The Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Angels are all better than any team in the National League. Mariners, Twins, and Blue Jays could all probably win the NL as well.

 

Want a good example of the disparity: Joel Piniero is banished from those double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox for looking like shit with a baseball cap on his head and now he looks like an ace in the NL Central.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Unless they need Jeffy Karstens tonight, he is going to get the call against Baltimore on Tuesday and Kennedy will be staying in Scranton. (Likely until September 1st, but Kennedy isn't on the 40-man) Clemens is skipping his scheduled turn in the rotation altogether and won't go until Saturday. They are going to be facing awesome pitching all this week, too, in Guthrie, Cabrera, Bedard, and Verlander. Time to see what this team is made of.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

You know, for all this talk about "the dregs of the NL" and other such accusations that the National League sucks, I guess I missed the part where the Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays, Twins, White Sox, Royals, A's, and Rangers were good teams, not to mention the slumping Tigers, streaky Indians, and the double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox. Both leagues suck, if you ask me.

 

 

The Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Angels are all better than any team in the National League. Mariners, Twins, and Blue Jays could all probably win the NL as well.

Are we presuming that these teams would be playing baseball correctly, sans DH, like the National League does? Maybe that has to do with some of the disparity. Also, I remember Piniero getting roughed up a few times with the Cardinals, so I think calling him an ace is a reach. Partisan.

 

This so-called disparity offends my baseball sensibilities. I grew up under the impression that the National League was the one that mattered, and the AL was "just the other one," like the NFC and AFC. This may have to do with where my teams reside, but that's what I was led to believe. I'm tired of the AL East Coast arms race with the major sports broadcasting arm conveniently located equidistant of the two, and I'm tired of the oldest organized sports league in America being reduced to an instant punchline because they let the pitchers bat. I want this fixed.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I sure hope that is a joke. Those teams would absolutely mash the NL. The Yankees DH for most of the year has been .240 Damon, and other than that it's just really been used to keep regular fielders fresh once in a while.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

You know, for all this talk about "the dregs of the NL" and other such accusations that the National League sucks, I guess I missed the part where the Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays, Twins, White Sox, Royals, A's, and Rangers were good teams, not to mention the slumping Tigers, streaky Indians, and the double-digit-division-lead-blowing Red Sox. Both leagues suck, if you ask me.

 

 

The Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Angels are all better than any team in the National League. Mariners, Twins, and Blue Jays could all probably win the NL as well.

Are we presuming that these teams would be playing baseball correctly, sans DH, like the National League does? Maybe that has to do with some of the disparity. Also, I remember Piniero getting roughed up a few times with the Cardinals, so I think calling him an ace is a reach. Partisan.

 

This so-called disparity offends my baseball sensibilities. I grew up under the impression that the National League was the one that mattered, and the AL was "just the other one," like the NFC and AFC. This may have to do with where my teams reside, but that's what I was led to believe. I'm tired of the AL East Coast arms race with the major sports broadcasting arm conveniently located equidistant of the two, and I'm tired of the oldest organized sports league in America being reduced to an instant punchline because they let the pitchers bat. I want this fixed.

 

You grew up thinking the NL mattered most because the Cubs are an NL team and you grew up in an NL town. How long has it been since the National League was on par with the American League? Ten years? Fifteen years? The NL is the "senior circuit" and the old-timers think it's more pure. In reality, it's developed into an inferior game partly because of the lack of DH and partly because there are just a bunch of bad front offices in the league right now.

 

But moreso than that, it's just a product of the current environment. It's true that the Red Sox and Yankees have the biggest payrolls in baseball but they also have two of the best front offices in the game. Every team that competes with them has to up their game that much more just to stay in the race. It just increases the disparity. It's not like the Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Mets don't spend money. It's just that they've been really poor at doing so.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Inferior to you, maybe. I think using a designated hitter is inferior because it upsets the balance of the game.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Inferior to you, maybe. I think using a designated hitter is inferior because it upsets the balance of the game.

 

 

It's inferior because the balance of power has shifted. It's why the National League gets smoked in interleague and the All-Star game. It's not like I'm making some argument that I can't back up.

 

Regardless of whether or not the DH upsets the purity of the game, it's part of the fabric of baseball now. And it's a hell of a lot easier to face a pitcher in the lineup every 9 spots than David Ortiz.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Catchers generally can't hit for shit either, why not DH for both while we're at it. Oh, and the Cubs had a winning record against the American League, so there.

 

How will the AL be affected when it inevitably expands to 16 teams?

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

See it isn't the 1890's. Baseball needs to put its foot down and enforce the same rules for both leagues. Either both have pitchers hit or have DH's. I don't get why there has to be a difference. People get upset when there is interleague. Football has had it for years and no one complains.

[The Man in Blak 0]

But moreso than that, it's just a product of the current environment. It's true that the Red Sox and Yankees have the biggest payrolls in baseball but they also have two of the best front offices in the game. Every team that competes with them has to up their game that much more just to stay in the race. It just increases the disparity. It's not like the Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies and Mets don't spend money. It's just that they've been really poor at doing so.

 

I agree with much of this, but I think it's worth emphasizing the fact that the DH provides American League teams with one more everyday player in the lineup, which means more of an immediate ROI for free agent money spent in the AL than in the NL, where the same money may be spent on more volatile resources (pitching). Without having to account for a larger bench & bullpen for substitutions (as a result of the DH), AL teams are free to distribute more money towards higher quality everyday players.

 

Also, I think the DH is an injustice against the very fabric of our country, but I think it's worth keeping in the All-Star Game, just to give managers some options and to allow one more everyday player the opportunity of starting in the game.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Because football is under one league. MLB is more like when there was a NFL and an AFL, sending their champions to a Super Bowl. People want to see interleague happen less often (ie: one series a year or only vs a rival like Cubs/White Sox or Yankees/Mets)-- (Addressed to Undertakerhart)

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think given a choice at this point, the DH would win out. People miss that outside of the Majors, the minor leagues below AA use the DH universally. College baseball has the DH. High school baseball has the DH. International and Olympic baseball has the DH. The National League is the lone holdout.

 

As for disparity, I think it is solely because the Yankees built a super-team and the rest of the league was forced to compete. The National League teams have not had as much pressure to evolve in order to survive. That said, I think the effect is exaggerated.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Another reason the Internet rocks. Thebaseballcube.com has added minor league stats and rosters all the way back through 1978.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I can see it both ways, regarding the DH. On one hand, I do think it is a little silly to have pitchers hitting, when they clearly don't have the discipline or training to do it properly anymore, because their arms are so valuable to their teams. I mean, yeah, you have the odd talented hitter like Carlos Zambrano, but most NL pitchers can't hit for crap. On the other, I do appreciate the added strategy that the lack of a DH requires in the NL. The NL managers have to work a little harder than the AL ones in those situations, I think.