This Week in Baseball 4/28 - 5/4

[randomguy 0]

Great pitching on both sides two games in a row. I feel a little sorry for the Jays.

[treble 0]

I think the offense is maybe middle of the pack in the AL. Fuck, they're FOURTH in the league in OBP, but 12th in runs. Fuck. I hate to be 'the season is over and it's not even May', but fuck. Did I mention fuck.

 

Anyway, firing Gibbons would be pointless, but I can see it happening. This is almost all on Ricciardi, though, so he'll do whatever he can to keep his job, throw anything at the wall and hope that it sticks.

[CanadianChris 0]

I think the offense is maybe middle of the pack in the AL. Fuck, they're FOURTH in the league in OBP, but 12th in runs.

They're 12th in slugging, which is the root of their problems. There's no one to drive in all these guys who keep getting on base. Rolen coming back should help, if for no other reason than he sends Scutaro back to the bench.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Derrick Turnbow's either hurt or DONE. He's not finding the plate on anything other than his fastball and that's getting teed to the not-yet-ivy walls.

[Guest College Party]

Yeah, fuck those not-yet-ivy walls. It's the Friendly Confines, not the Oppressively Cold And Windy With Dormant Brown Vines Confines. 18 home games in the first two months, please.

 

Here's Derrick Turnbow's rough day at the office.

1. Blanco, K

2. DeRosa, BB

3. Fontenot singled to left

4. Pie, F9

5. Murton singled to center (DeRosa scored)

6. Johnson, BB

7. Theriot, BB (Fontenot scored)

8. Cedeno doubled (Johnson, Theriot, Murton scored)

9. Ward doubled (Cedeno scored)

10. Blanco, BB

Turnbow pulled for Mitch! Stetter!

6 runs on 4 walks and 4 hits over two-thirds of an inning.

[the max 0]

I think the offense is maybe middle of the pack in the AL. Fuck, they're FOURTH in the league in OBP, but 12th in runs.

They're 12th in slugging, which is the root of their problems. There's no one to drive in all these guys who keep getting on base. Rolen coming back should help, if for no other reason than he sends Scutaro back to the bench.

 

If only they had a player who could put a hurting on opposing pitching...a BIG HURT if you will.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I got a laugh out of this, especially coming from ESPN

 

Welcome to the future of the American League East.

 

The Orioles are in first place, percentage points ahead of the Red Sox. Boston, hanging on to its dynasty by its fingernails, is the only thing standing between Baltimore and the fast-rising Tampa Bay Rays.

 

Page 2 invites you to take a closer look at the next great sports rivalry … Orioles-Rays...

 

the day that ESPN shows an Orioles/Rays game on Wednesday/Sunday night will be the day before ESPN's facilities implode. And yes, I do remember about 4 years ago or so, ESPN did carry an Os/D-Rays game on the alternate ESPN feed, but that must have been a fluke or something. The last Os game that ESPN carried was last years Opener vs Minnesota

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah, the Brewers have to face up and either trade Turnbow for next to nothing, probably eating some of his contract, or just DFA him already and get him off their 25 man roster.

[snuffbox 0]

I have no idea why Turnbow was allowed to stay on the team for this season.

 

Gallardo might have tweaked another leg.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Hmm, another meltdown for Wood. People are going to be screaming for Marmol as closer, but his appearance earlier illustrated why that's not going to solve everything. He came in with runners at the corners in a two-run game and got out of it without giving up a run. Then he set them down the following inning. Marmol doesn't make the appearance and there's likely no game for Wood to save in the ninth.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Well that was a real kick in the ass, even though the Cubs made no less than three big base-running blunders in the second half of the game and were probably lucky to be winning in the ninth.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Big win for the Brewers, obviously. Gagne looked pretty strong, other than the one walk to start the inning. I think my favorite part of the game was Ryan Braun fielding a ball, and some Cubs fans throwing garbage onto the field...staying classy as always.

[CanadianChris 0]

And the pitching news just keeps getting worse in the Bronx: Phil Hughes is out until at least July with a broken rib.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I get tired of the Cubs' fanbase always taking such a beating from everyone else. I'm not justifying it, but I've seen PLENTY of instances of fans in other ballparks throwing something (usually a beverage) near a player at the warning track.

[Guest College Party]

Yeah, you know what, FUCK that shit. Are you trying to tell me that stupid drunk white people terminate roughly north of Kenosha, south of the Stevenson Expressway, and west of Peoria? That's some bullshit. I've taken shit from some Brewer fans who don't know shit about baseball other than "Prince Fielder, man." Do the Cubs have some shitty fans? Yes. That's a function of being one of the most popular sports teams in the country: as you have a larger pool of people to draw from, you're going to have a higher chance that the fanbase encompasses douchebags. Look at all the cocksuckers in Red Sox hats. I think the real mathematical anomaly is that the White Sox have a fanbase a fraction of the size, and seem to have an equal number of utter fuckheads. That we've cornered the market on assholes is utterly fallacious. That fans of the Brewers are well-behaved long-suffering walking baseball encyclopedias is utterly fallacious. The Cardinals are the BEST FANS IN BASEBALL because their nationally employed broadcaster tells us so. And if the Brewers and Reds fans/management are going to pout and stomp that we "INVADE THEIR PARK" by purchasing their specially-inflated-for-Cub-game tickets and keeping their checks from bouncing, maybe they should fill up their own damn parks themselves for a change and prove that they're smarter fans than we are, better fans than we are, nicer fans than we are, and all the other shit being increasingly propagated to anyone who's bitter and dumb enough to buy it. I'm damn tired of it and it's only May.

[Precious Roy 0]

And the pitching news just keeps getting worse in the Bronx: Phil Hughes is out until at least July with a broken rib.

 

I haven't heard anything about Roger Clemens lately, I wonder what/who he's been doing.

 

Seriously though, the Yankees need to acquire a veteran pitcher. Kennedy has been pretty bad so far and I don't necessarily trust Moose to keep pitching this well. Give Igawa a shot but he was pretty bad last year.

 

I know Freddy Garcia is unsigned but I have no idea if he's anywhere close to pitching. Ditto John Patterson. Supposedly the Rangers might be looking to trade Millwood. Matt Morris was cut by the Pirates (!) so he's gotta be cooked. Eric Milton...christ....there's nothing out there.

 

Fuck it, get David Wells on the phone!

[Guest College Party]

Eric Milton...

And to think, we just brought Anglesault back.

 

[CanadianChris 0]

I can't help but think that the Joba-to-the-rotation talk is going to pick up really soon.

[randomguy 0]

The Yankees are falling apart. The team is almost entirely old guys or near-rookies. Way too many guys who are 1B/DH types, and every pitcher is either at the start or the end of their career.

 

They don't need any more veterans, what they need are some middle-of-the-road middle-aged guys who can just pitch a competitive game. Not great and not even good, just competitive.

[Precious Roy 0]

The Yankees are falling apart. The team is almost entirely old guys or near-rookies. Way too many guys who are 1B/DH types, and every pitcher is either at the start or the end of their career.

 

They don't need any more veterans, what they need are some middle-of-the-road middle-aged guys who can just pitch a competitive game. Not great and not even good, just competitive.

 

Well that's what I mean by veteran pitchers. I'd be happy with a guy who can go 6 innings, give up 3 runs 5-6 hits and a walk or 2, but it's not going to be easy to find a guy like that UFA.

 

They may need to break down and trade one of Tabata/Jackson. It's not like we really need to keep both of them with the way Melky is turning out.

 

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

What the Yankees need to do is take guys like Shelley Duncan, Kei Igawa, etc. Plug them in and find out exactly what they can do. It should not be the end of the world if the Yankees miss the playoffs, though their fans will certainly think so.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Tulowitzski's out until the All-Star break at least. I can't see the Rockies making another push this year.

[Precious Roy 0]

What the Yankees need to do is take guys like Shelley Duncan, Kei Igawa, etc. Plug them in and find out exactly what they can do. It should not be the end of the world if the Yankees miss the playoffs, though their fans will certainly think so.

 

Well, Igawa is going to get his shot now, but I don't expect him to do well. I thought Duncan deserved to make the roster out of Spring Training but I guess there just wasn't enough room for him. Giambi is playing pretty well, but you can bank on him getting hurt at some point and then Duncan will get a chance. If the Yankees are serious about Duncan he'll get a real shot next year, but I get the feeling they'll go after a FA 1B rather than give Duncan the job. Duncan strikes me as an Andy Phillips type that the Yankees will keep around part-time until they find something better.

[NoCalMike 0]

So the A's had a promotion going tonight that for every hit they got, they would take $1 off Plaza level seats for Sunday's game against the Rangers. Well they ended up with 20 hits, so the $24 tix are only $4(this is on top of the fact that they are giving away 60's retro jerseys to the first 10k fans who show up).....so I tried to jump on the offer but because I follow directions I got fucked. See, the A's gave a website out to go to after the game and it said that website would give instructions for the promo code and purchasing instructions. Welll it turns out that going to that website was just a big waste of time because all you REALLY NEEDED TO DO was go to the regular ticket purchase website and enter in the promo code. So silly me is doing what they said to do and I am refreshing the shit out of the website they gave out during the game....and it keeps saying "check back for the instructions later" so out of frustration I just try on the tickets page to enter the promo code, and the fucking thing works but by now you can pretty much only get single tickets.....>GODDAMMIT.

 

EDIT: Well fuck me in the ass, sideways.....I went back to the site and kept refreshing out of frustration and a bunch of tickets must have been released because I just bought three seats together.....WHOOOO!!!

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

After my last trip to Citizens Bank Park, I would never take advantage of another cheap ticket deal. It attracts too many college kids who spend the money they saved on alcohol, getting pissed.

[CanadianChris 0]

Yeah, the Brewers have to face up and either trade Turnbow for next to nothing, probably eating some of his contract, or just DFA him already and get him off their 25 man roster.

And so it came to pass.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Gallardo has a torn ACL. I can't believe Yost let him stay in after that.

[Guest College Party]

Oh sweet Lord, Ned Yost has to be the dumbest manager in America. If ever there were a time to use a second pitcher of the THIRTEEN pitchers on your roster, THAT was the time.

[devo 0]

FSN Arizona's Diamondbacks coverage is beyond awful. They're spending more time making boxing analogies and focusing on random schmucks in the audience than discussing the game itself.

[The Man in Blak 0]