This Week In Baseball 8/27-9/2

[Vern Gagne 0]

You should work for ESPN, Vern. Very effective jinx.

[mike546 0]

Mariners lose AGAIN. Looks like yet another October with both the Red Sox and Yankees. Super.

 

I'm sure most fans of those teams will disagree, but MLB's postseason desperately needs new blood. The prospect of a Sox/Yanks series in October is too grating to even consider right now.

 

 

Because the playoffs last year were THRILLING. If Seattle somehow passes the Yanks and everything stays the same, it'd be the Sox vs Seattle and Anaheim vs Clevland. The Sox would destroy Seattle (Washburn and Weaver as your 2nd and 3rd starters?) and I'd agree the other series would be very entertaing. Maybe its because I'm a Yankee fan obviously but nothing is better than Yanks/Sox in the ALCS. The only team who could put on a better series with both teams is Anaheim.

[Bored 0]

I think I'd rather watch the WNBA than another Yankees/Red Sox ALCS.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I actually want to see Anaheim vs Cleveland or Detroit.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

We had our memorable Red Sox/Yankees series already. Nothing is going to eclipse those, so I'm in no hurry to see the Yankees in the postseason. They'd just lose to the Angels, anyway.

[CanadianChris 0]

I think I'd rather watch the WNBA than another Yankees/Red Sox ALCS.

A chilling prospect, indeed.

 

Put me in the group that doesn't want to see Sox/Yanks again. This is the problem with the unbalanced schedule -- the networks burn everyone out on these teams during the regular season, because they play 6 series against each other and it somehow needs to be a national event every time. I can think of several matchups that would be just as entertaining as Sox/Yanks -- the Tigers, Angels and Indians can be every bit as entertaining as those two teams.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

baez blows a 3 run lead (or, pretty much already has, as its 9-8 runner on 3rd 1 out) SHOCKING!

 

OMG! DOUBLE PLAY! OS WIN! OS WIN!

 

 

[mike546 0]

SACK UP BAEZ!

 

edit: There ya go.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I think for September, Starters for the Os should be mandated to pitch CGs if the team is winning past the 6th. Who cares if your arm falls off, take the rest of the season off and they'll call up a minor leaguer to pitch. To hell with having to see the damn bullpen for one game over the last month..

 

 

[mike546 0]

Who else did the O's sign in the off season for all that money in the pen? Beside Baez and Walker?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Czech makes a great point. Nothing is ever going to top what we saw between these teams in 2004. Anything we get from now on is going to feel inferior.

 

Last year's playoffs were lousy because the Tigers were so dominant. It wasn't because the teams were terrible. I think it'd do the sport some good to give the national audience a glimpse at some of the overlooked guys on contending teams. I'm not saying to disregard Papi, A-Rod, etc., but we've been there, done that. Not all of the great players in the game set up shop in New York and Boston. And a lot of them play for teams with playoff hopes at this point in the season.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Who else did the O's sign in the off season for all that money in the pen? Beside Baez and Walker?

Scott Williamson? But seriously, who cares? Besides Marvin. The O's are up there with the Pirates on the list of ineptly-run organizations. It's even worse because the resources are there. They just have no idea what to spend it on.

[NYU 0]

I'm very happy with the Mets effort tonight. Marlon Anderson redeemed himself a little tonight with that bases loaded double, Delgado is starting to get productive again, and Maine pitched a great game when they were really relying on him to. I didn't expect such production against Hudson tonight, so I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

....but Pelfrey pitches tomorrow. Yikes.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Reds are doing a lousy job as spoilers. Oh wait, that's right, I forgot. They're allegedly contenders.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

I wish Detroit would capitalize on Yankees and Seattle losing and win this game, but it's not looking good.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Not a good night for the Phillies' pitching prospects. Carlos Carrasco gave up six runs over four innings, including a grand slam. Scott Mathieson pitched to one batter and left with arm discomfort.

 

Russell Branyan traded to the Cardinals for a player to be named. Good stopgap for the Cards for a month worth of stretch run.

[KingPK 0]

I think I'd rather watch the WNBA than another Yankees/Red Sox ALCS.

A chilling prospect, indeed.

 

Put me in the group that doesn't want to see Sox/Yanks again.

 

Neither do I. Maybe this year could be a good one due to the pitching matchups, but the fans treat every damn game like an ALCS game, any "mystique" is gone from the Yankees because of 2004 and both teams are basically mirror images of each other: big market teams that throw whatever money they can at someone to sign them.

 

 

[MFer 0]

Thank you Sean Casey.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Exciting 9th but I think I need to get some sleep before work.

[MFer 0]

So much for that...

[At Home 0]

Mariners lose AGAIN.

 

lolololololol Angels win AGAIN

[mike546 0]

The only reason I wouldn't want to see another Yanks/Sox matchup is due to stress. I went to the 2nd game this week and the 9th inning with a one run lead during the regular season stressed me the hell out.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

The most annoying think about another BoSox/Yankees series would be ESPN's hype. I've had enough hearing about A-Rod's un-clutchiness, and Manny being Manny, etc.

 

I still think this is going to be the first year in a long time that the Yankees miss the post-season, though I'll probably end up being wrong.

[TheSSNintendo 0]

Who else did the O's sign in the off season for all that money in the pen? Beside Baez and Walker?

 

Don't forget about Chad Bradford.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The most annoying think about another BoSox/Yankees series would be ESPN's hype. I've had enough hearing about A-Rod's un-clutchiness, and Manny being Manny, etc.

 

I still think this is going to be the first year in a long time that the Yankees miss the post-season, though I'll probably end up being wrong.

It's only annoying if you watch ESPN.

[mike546 0]

I think Yankee fans and Red Sox fans don't get annoyed as much, beside the fact we like the teams is that we don't see them on ESPN as much as everyone else. Yankee fans get YES and Sox fans get NESN, the only time I see the Yanks on ESPN is on Sunday night baseball.

 

But maybe I'm wrong.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Yanks go up 2 in the Wild Card. Ian Kennedy makes his debut and gets the win in 7 solid innings.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Checks the calendar.

 

Yup. That should shut all those bridge jumpers early in the season complaining about how "The Braves are STILL in the Mets heads cause they haven't won a series all year against them!"

 

Last time I checked games in September are weighted more than games in April and May.

 

Not to mention history is filled with pennant and championship clubs who had a losing record during the year to one or more particular clubs. Not something to think less of your team over.

 

Don't get me wrong, those losses hurt, but only media members interesting in generating talk and feeding the paranoia of some fans would suggest that losing series to the Braves in the early months of the season was indictive of the Braves being "in the Mets heads" even though no one on the Mets was a Met the last time it mattered the the Mets couldn't beat the Braves, and only the manager, GM and three players (the Joneses and Smoltz) are left from those Brave squads.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

A game in April is equal in worth to a game in September. It's just that in many cases, there's little room for error in September.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

A game in April is equal in worth to a game in September. It's just that in many cases, there's little room for error in September.

 

Thats why I added that the losses in April and May did hurt.

 

The implication though of the "Ugh, the Braves are STILL in the Mets' heads" crowd would be that they would have no confidence in this weekend's series because the Braves have been beating up the Mets (with the exception of last year) since 1995.

 

So not only did the Mets just take a series against the Braves, they showed those paranoid pessimists that they can beat the Braves when it "matters."

 

Never mind that the Braves aren't the team the Mets should be all that concerned about at this moment (6 and a half out) but somehow they will see this as maybe the biggest series the Mets had all year. Even though the Phillies come to Shea in two weeks.

 

The most absurd notion though about "important regular season games" is a line I read after the interleague series with the Mets and Yanks. I forget which one, but Rivera got out Beltran and one NYC columnist called that at-bat the most important since Beltran's statuesque performance to end the NLCS! Ummm, so did that mean all those ABs against the Phillies and Braves during the spring "didn't count?"

 

Actually that line is made even more absurd because the writer is one of those who often will say the Subway Series is meaningless now for various reasons (2000, where the Yanks and/or Mets are in the current standings, ect)