This Week in Baseball 4/7 - 4/13

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Last night's loss was a bit frustrating.

 

 

I guess Ted Barrett had better things to do than umpire a 13th inning.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

In honor of Brett Myers's start tonight, here's a song by one of my favorite bands from Philadelphia, the Dead Milkmen.

02_RC_s_Mom.mp3

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Attachments don't work for me Czech. What song is it?

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

"RC's Mom." In honor of Brett Myers's start tonight, here's a song by a group I kinda don't like at all, the Black-Eyed Peas.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Observations from last night:

 

-Alan Horne left the game after two innings with a biceps injury.

 

-Jay Bruce needs to work on his baserunning yet. Twice he was thrown out at home in the series, last night he ran through a stop sign at third to do it. On another occasion, he failed to score from second on a single that would have meant the tying run.

 

-Gary Majewski is absolutely toast. When your stuff loses a step in the majors, you get hammered. Most pitchers on that level can still get out minor league batters with guile and deception. When AAA batters hammer a veteran, there's something wrong.

 

-Remember Jimmy Dugan's speech in "A League of their Own"? With two on and a 4-1 lead, center fielder Chris Dickerson attempted to throw out the second runner trying to score at home. He had no shot, and the batter advanced to second on the throw. That batter scored on a wild pitch and balk.

 

-Think Shelley Duncan got upset at getting demoted? A home run and THREE doubles.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

My observation from last night: Eric Bruntlett SUUUUUUCKS at bunting.

[devo 0]

Nelson "Stopgap" Figureoa turned in a pretty good start tonight (6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K). The performance would have been more enjoyable if the announce team hadn't been reminding us of his Brooklyn heritage every five minutes, but whattaya gonna do.

 

The team's been through enough temporary fixes to know I shouldn't get my hopes up for this guy, but if nothing else, it was a pleasant surprise for tonight.

[tonyjaymzretro 0]

I know there's generally too much O's talk but man, Pena is killing tonight against them. He hits a 2 run homer in the 1st, and then a 3 run clutch homer in the 7th, tieing the game.

[randomguy 0]

Wang against the Red Sox has thrown 70 pitches in 7 innings. Crazy.

[KingPK 0]

79 through 8. I don't think he had a count past 2-2 all night.

[geniusMoment 0]

The lack of reds offense is frustrating, another game with 0 runs after 7 innings.

 

Make that being shutout by the pirates, who used three lefties. Once again the reds struggle against left-handers, year and year out it happens. And once again it's another year where they have way too many lefties. With Griffey, Dunn, Votto, Patterson, Hatteberg, Valentin all left handed it simply doesn't work, oh and Jay Bruce is left handed too. They really need to package some pieces and prospects together to get a right handed power first base bat.

[CanadianChris 0]

Kaz Fukumori came into tonight's game for the Rangers with an ERA of 20.25. And amazingly, with three runs on four hits and a walk in a third of an inning, he made it worse (32.40).

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

The Guy Who Is Not Good Enough To Be An Ace's line tonight at Fenway:

 

9.0 IP / 2 H / 1 R / 0 BB / 3 K / 93 PT

 

Raising his record to 3-0 and dropping his ERA to 1.23. One hit was a home run by JD Drew over the laughably short fence in right-center, which appeared to nick off of Abreu's glove and he misplayed it, the other hit was a bunt in the 9th by Cavelli Crisp. The 3 strikeouts were Ortiz and two on Ramirez.

[Brett Favre 0]

Too bad he's not an "ACE".

[naiwf 0]

The Guy Who Is Not Good Enough To Be An Ace's line tonight at Fenway:

 

9.0 IP / 2 H / 1 R / 0 BB / 3 K / 93 PT

 

Raising his record to 3-0 and dropping his ERA to 1.23. One hit was a home run by JD Drew over the laughably short fence in right-center, which appeared to nick off of Abreu's glove and he misplayed it, the other hit was a bunt in the 9th by Cavelli Crisp. The 3 strikeouts were Ortiz and two on Ramirez.

 

In the postseason his IP will drop by 4, his hits allowed will increase by about 8, his runs allowed will be up by 4+ and his pitch count will be the same. Anyone who thinks Wang is a big game pitcher hasn't seen his balls shrink in the postseason the last two years.

[Brett Favre 0]

His first two postseasons were pretty good. Last year he had a rough division series.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO

+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+

2005 ALDS NYY LAA L 1 1 1.35 0 1 0 0 6.2 6 1 0 1

2006 ALDS NYY DET L 1 1 4.05 1 0 0 0 6.2 8 3 1 4

2007 ALDS NYY CLE L 2 2 19.06 0 2 0 0 5.2 14 12 4 2

 

His '07 was horrible, and the previous two postseasons to that dispute your argument.

 

From BR

[NYU 0]

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. Wasn't it primarily Yankee fans that criticized Wang for not being an ace last October for giving up eight runs and nine hits over 4 and 2/3 innings in Game 1 against the Indians, followed by a rousing start of four runs and five hits over 1 inning in Game 4?

 

In fact, Zoo, in the Divisional Series thread, it was you who said:

 

I hope Torre realizes that Wang sucks ass on the road.

 

and

 

Hughes should have started the game.

 

You don't say an ace sucks ass on the road, and you don't say an unproven, unestablished pitcher should start Game 1 of the Divisional Series instead of an ace. That's why he's an ace.

 

I understand Wang has had a stellar start so far this year, but let's not pretend as if it was always Yankee fans who believed in Wang as their ace while everyone else criticized him. Following the playoffs last year, Wang was essentially criticized by all for his shoddy pitching and inability to throw in the clutch. If I were a Yankee fan, I'd be thrilled with how he's looking right now, but to turn this into some revenge fantasy of "Yeah Wang, let's avenge those who ever doubted you" when it was pretty much everyone that was doubting him -- Yankee supporters and non-Yankee supporters alike -- after the series with the Indians is silly.

[Brett Favre 0]

So because I feel he's better at home, which he is, he can't be an ace? I'm just playing the percentages.

 

Would you call Jake Peavy an ace? Cause he sucks ass in the playoffs. Brandon Webb had a bad start last year. Sabathia wasn't anything special. Wang is better at home, so let him pitch at home (although he sucked there last year in the division series as well).

[CanadianChris 0]

Judging from that line, the Sox were uncharacteristically impatient at the plate. That's something Wang needs to be successful.

[naiwf 0]

Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO

+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+

2005 ALDS NYY LAA L 1 1 1.35 0 1 0 0 6.2 6 1 0 1

2006 ALDS NYY DET L 1 1 4.05 1 0 0 0 6.2 8 3 1 4

2007 ALDS NYY CLE L 2 2 19.06 0 2 0 0 5.2 14 12 4 2

 

His '07 was horrible, and the previous two postseasons to that dispute your argument.

 

From BR

 

Giving up 3 runs, 8 Hits and a BB in less than 7 innings in his one start in '06 doesn't dispute anything. They won the game because their offense was good (they put up a 5 spot in the 3rd and 2 more in the 6th) not because of Wang. When Wang leads the Yankees to a single postseason SERIES victory and looks dominant then we can anoint him as an ace. Otherwise he compiles nice regular season stats because he puts in his ~200 innings/30+ starts and the Yankees score about 900 runs a year.

[Brett Favre 0]

I guess the only ace in the league is Josh Beckett.

[NYU 0]

I'm not looking to turn this into a long debate about what constitutes an ace and what does not, but look. How can somebody be considered the ace of your staff if you can't expect him to pitch well in Away games? Your ace is the guy you trust handing the ball to when you really need that win. Not the guy you can only hand the ball to when you're pitching in your own stadium, but if God forbid you happen to play away, you look to hand the ball to somebody else, anybody else, even the guy who's still an unproven minor leaguer more or less.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. Wasn't it primarily Yankee fans that criticized Wang for not being an ace last October for giving up eight runs and nine hits over 4 and 2/3 innings in Game 1 against the Indians, followed by a rousing start of four runs and five hits over 1 inning in Game 4?

 

I've never been one of them. Wang has basically been the ace of the staff since he debuted. Remember the shit they were throwing at the wall, hoping something would stick in 2005?

 

SuperClemens was a huge goat in the Cleveland series himself. He was booed off the mound in his final game cause everybody was finally sick of his shit.

[Brett Favre 0]

If he's 2 runs better at home, I'll start him at home. Just because you have an ace doesn't mean you don't have anyone else capable of pitching a postseason game. I felt Hughes was good enough to start game 1, and since Wang struggles in away games, or at least pitches better at home, I rather see him pitch at home.

[naiwf 0]

I guess the only ace in the league is Josh Beckett.

 

Would you trade Wang straight up for Beckett? Peavy? Santana? Webb? Sabathia? etc. Would any of those teams trade their legit ace for Wang? Would any of those other teams' fans pull for an unproven rookie to start a postseason game ahead of any of those guys? That's the difference to me, and most Yankees fans in the tri-state area according to the lynch mob that wanted Wang's head last October.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

That's because most dopes are reactionary idiots. Ever listen to WFAN?

[Brett Favre 0]

When Wang leads the Yankees to a single postseason SERIES victory and looks dominant then we can anoint him as an ace.

 

Peavy, Santana, Webb, and Sabathia aren't aces then. So why the hell would you call them legit aces?

 

I think better of Hughes than a lot of people, so don't think of it as an insult to Wang.

[naiwf 0]

Put Peavy, Santana, Webb or Sabathia on the Yankees and you guys would have won at least one WS in the last 3 years. The offenses behind them suck and their teams mainly made the postseason because of what they did every 5th day. Wang is not a dominant pitcher and he'll prove it again this October provided that the combo of the aforementioned Hughes and Kennedy pitching twice every time through the rotation doesn't end up costing the Yankees a spot in this year's postseason. I don't think this discussion's going anywhere so I'll drop it here and mock Wang in the clutch when he comes up like Tom Glavine yet again.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I think better of Hughes than a lot of people

 

You must think he's Sandy Kofax, Bob Gibson, and Nolan Ryan all in one because everyone that I know of thinks that his potential is off the charts since he was drafted.