This Week in Baseball 7/21 - 7/27

[Smartly Pretty 0]

And as I said, I don't believe that Fernando Martinez is our best prospect. A 19 year old outfielder with a history of leg injuries won't amount to shit.

[MFer 0]

Fuckin' Tigers...can't hit with RISP to save their lives.

[snuffbox 0]

Hey, Milwaukee, you should score a few more runs in the early innings. Lot of clogged hearts in this state.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

No more lead in the NL Central. Brew Crew capitalizes on the Cub loss with a win and Czech finally hangs himself.

 

This is taking on some eerie similarities to the NL Central race last year with the roles reversed. The Cubs finally caught up to the Brewers on Aug. 1 after a very sluggish starter. The Brewers, after a similarly shaky start, have caught the Cubbies a few days short of that date. Gonna be a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way.

[naiwf 0]

After leaving 2 on in the 10th, 2 more in the 11th and the bases loaded in the 12th (the 1st base ump blew a call which eventually cost us a run), Pujols just DESTROYED one of Heilman's pitches for a no doubt 2 run homer and after coming back from 4 runs down and 3 runs down the Mets are still going to lose this game. I want these 5 hours of my life back.

[strummer 0]

That's the 3rd mind numbingly frustrating loss since the All Star Break.

 

I don't know how the Met bullpen is going to survive the last 2+ months with all the innings they've thrown.

 

Heilman threw near 70 pitches tonight.

 

They almost have to make a deal

[Guest]

Derek Lowe 1-hit the Nationals tonight. Almost back at .500. Almost back in first.

[jimmy no nose 0]

I've seen a couple different reports now that say the big deal of the trade deadline might end up being Jason Bay to Oakland. Never saw that one coming.

[NYU 0]

Now imagine being at that Mets game last night and sitting through those fourteen innings only to watch them screw up opportunities in the 11th, 12th, and 13th. But hey, at least I got to watch Mr. Met run around and throw T-Shirts into the crowd as the team continued to choke into the wee hours of the morning.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

That god damn Billy Wagner.

[Dandy 0]

Imagine being a Reds fan.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Has anyone noticed how good the Yankees' bullpen has become? Of their current seven, five have season ERAs below 3. Mariano Rivera is having his best season. David Robertson and Edwar Ramirez have established themselves. Dan Giese's ERA out of the 'pen is 0.66 (Jeez, I sung his praises for years in the Phillies' farm system). And all with Joba Chamberlain in the rotation. A great deal of this is the first dividends of trusting the farm system, and it has put the Yankees in a good spot heading into August.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I think they've also shined in part by being without Joe Torre's bullpen management incompetence, which is very nice to see.

[geniusMoment 0]

Chip back in Wrigley!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It's like old times.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Ok, I was wrong vis-a-vis a series split at Wrigley. Jason Marquis is awful and with the pen drained and a four-game set starting in Milwaukee tomorrow, we're gonna have a repeat of Marquis' start at The Cell two years back.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

I'm pretty much resigned to my fate of two months of third-place baseball following the Brewers series. Such is life. MAYBE we can challenge for the wild card at the end?

 

EDIT: oh wait , baseball decided that a team in the midwest that plays next to a giant fucking lake should play all its home games in virtual wintertime and evacuate town during September. They're fucked

[Mike wanna be 0]

Santana finds the best way to actually get a decision when starting is to not leave the game. 8 1/3 of one-run ball from Johan according to the Yahoo boxscore because I can't be bothered to turn on SNY to check the real-time score.

[naiwf 0]

Thankfully Santana pitched a CG giving up just 1 run and 6 hits so the bullpen got to breathe after last night's debacle where we used up everybody, and even had Perez warm up just in case.

[Mik 0]

We're in for an old-fashioned pitcher's duel in Wrigley this afternoon. 5-5 in the 4th.

[NYU 0]

That god damn Jason Marquis.

[Dandy 0]

Well the Rockies have looked like the new fucking Murderer's Row in this series. Great pitching and defense as well.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It was nice to see Soriano tie it up, but you knew it wouldn't last with Marquis throwing BP out there. He's one of the most frustrating pitchers to watch if you're a Cubs fan.

 

At least there's still the idiocy of Ned Yost, who left Suppan in to give up seven runs in the fifth inning and didn't even have anyone warming up in the pen.

[the pinjockey 0]

Possible Phillies trade on the horizon. JA Happ was pulled early from his AAA start. After the Blanton trade (ugh), I'm a scared.

[MFer 0]

Tigers at least saved a little face by winning today. Fernando Rodney is now the closer in Detroit.

 

Oh, and Zumaya had to leave the game due to tightness in his tricep...great.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I know it's no secret, but the Marlins' defense is dreadful. I hadn't gotten a chance to see much of it until this series, but it's some cringe-inducing stuff and probably what keeps them from being a legit contender in the long run.

[snuffbox 0]

The Cubs, much like last year when Czech behaved the same way, will have nothing to worry about as long as Ned Yost leaves pitchers on the mound to make asses of themselves with 7-run innings.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Florida's fielding didn't look that bad to me, certainly not when they were playing against Alfonso Soriano. Ramirez and Uggla both made good plays. Bastards can hit like damn, though. It frustrates me like hell to see Jeffrey Loria's team do anything more than lose 110 games a year, to say nothing of contending for a playoff berth.

 

Lilly v. Sabathia doesn't bode well for the Cubs, since Lilly gives up tons of homers and the Brewers hit tons of them, plus CC has decided never to allow another run again. Maybe he's on some sort of "Scotch eggs for goose eggs" incentive program. This isn't even taking into consideration the fact that the Cubs shut down on the road. I'm excited for Harden v. Bush, the only slightly inferior sequel to Bush v. Wang. Bush can be hit, Parra can be reached on a bad day, but getting to Sabathia and Sheets right now requires prayer.

[Boon 0]

Back again after a long absence, the "Manny Ramirez wants out of Boston" show has returned.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The Os finally won a Sunday game, vs the Angels of all the teams they could do it against.

 

I really hope it wasn't because Millar had the whole team wearing thongs, I haven't heard if they did or not.

 

 

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Just imagine if they had won those other Sunday games. Their record would be better.

 

Yeah, I'm guessing by the end of June, early July, they rattle off nine straight wins against divisional opponents and get right back in it. Isn't that how it's gone every year since 2004?

Yeah, pretty much.