This Week in Baseball 7/21 - 7/27

[Bored 0]

ESPN/FOX/TBS Games to Poison Our Youth

 

MONDAY

Brewers (Seth McClung) at Cardinals (Joel Pineiro), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN

 

WEDNESDAY

Phillies (Brett Myers) at Mets (John Maine), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN

 

SATURDAY

Yankees at Red Sox, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX

Braves at Phillies, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX

 

SUNDAY

Marlins at Cubs, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, TBS

Yankees at Red Sox, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

[jimmy no nose 0]

Pitching matchup of the year so far Monday night in Houston.

 

Pittsburgh John Van Benschoten 1-2 9.77

Houston Runelvys Hernandez 0-3 10.29

 

Fun fact: Van Benschoten actually has the worst ERA in MLB history for a pitcher who has made at least 10 career starts.

 

Should be a good time.

[the max 0]

Before anyone else can say: Yes, Red Sox v. Yanks is the focus of the networks this weekend. Yes, it's happened again. We all know your team is more interesting than either one, so just let it all out. That's right. Chase down the fine folks at FOX and ESPN with your pitchforks and torches. I'd rather watch YES or NESN cover the game too.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Pitching matchup of the year so far Monday night in Houston.

 

Pittsburgh John Van Benschoten 1-2 9.77

Houston Runelvys Hernandez 0-3 10.29

 

Fun fact: Van Benschoten actually has the worst ERA in MLB history for a pitcher who has made at least 10 career starts.

 

Should be a good time.

He's third. Charlie Stecher and Hayden Penn have him beat.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Brewers (Seth McClung) at Cardinals (Joel Pineiro)

This is an NLCS preview, fucking Christ.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Kerry Wood is heading to the DL with a blister. A blister isn't anything to scoff at (just ask Josh Beckett), but it sounds like he'll only miss a week and this is more of a precautionary measure.

[The Man in Blak 0]

The blister on Kerry Wood’s right index finger is likely to send him to the disabled list for the 12th time in his career.

 

“We’re coming to the point where we’re going to have to come to a conclusion about what to do,” manager Lou Piniella said Sunday.

 

Wood hasn’t pitched since July 11, so the Cubs can backdate him on the DL to July 12, meaning he can return Sunday against Florida at Wrigley Field. That means Carlos Marmol will assume the closer’s role in Arizona and for most of the four-game series against the Marlins. Marmol pitched a perfect ninth Sunday with a seven-run lead after being booed at Wrigley Field last week when he blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning.

 

“It’d be nice if that day didn’t happen, but that’s life,” Marmol said. “Every day is a different day.”

 

Do Cubs fans expect Marmol to be perfect every time out? “I think so,” he said. “Last time I was there they were booing me. I don’t know why.”

[Bruiser Chong 0]

And Czech, get off the ledger. The Brewers aren't going anywhere and the Cards are probably going to last a lot longer than they have any right to (i.e. May), but the Cubs aren't falling apart, either. They haven't been good on the road all year, so this weekend shouldn't have been a huge surprise. The offense is in its first funk all year. It happens. I'm not exactly comfortable with a two-game lead, considering it was five and a half a little over a week ago. But considering the Cubs didn't snatch first place until August last year, I'm not panicking. This is a better team overall than last year's edition.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Kerry Wood is heading to the DL with a blister.

 

Brewers (Seth McClung) at Cardinals (Joel Pineiro)

This is an NLCS preview, fucking Christ.

 

Do Cubs fans expect Marmol to be perfect every time out? “I think so,” he said. “Last time I was there they were booing me. I don’t know why.”

Because you blew a five-run lead with 26 outs, you fuckhead.

 

Also, haha, the Astros have Runelvys "Lack of Stamina" Hernandez? They should've played Battered White Trash Housewife to Shawn Chacon and kept him around, because even he has to be better than Runelvys.

 

And Czech, get off the ledger.

Heath Ledger?

 

Having watched the Cubs go quietly in a four-pitch inning to replacement-level talent Brian Moehler, I'd argue that the Cubs are out of gas, have lost everything that made them so good in the first half, and are going to be passed up by both teams by the end of August. The pitching is unraveling, the plate patience is gone, Fukudome is like 10 for his last 65, and every possible wheel is falling off this team. Apparently the Brewers are going to snatch every rental under the sun, too. The future is bleak.

[devo 0]

Mets and Phils at Shea, tied for the division lead. Doesn't get much better.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The Cubs have ALWAYS sucked against marginally talented Astros pitching for whatever reason. I think DeRosa should spell Fukudome on days the team faces lefties once Soriano returns. Soto needs more days off or he'll be toast by the end of the season. Lou's not an idiot, though. He's not going to do everything the way he should, but he's not going to stick with a losing formula. Soriano's absence weakens the offense. His DL stint is not the lone reason the offense is struggling, but that's one of their biggest offense cogs missing.

 

I don't know where you get the pitching unraveling thing. Marmol has looked sharp in his last few outings. And the Cubs have been dropping games because of offensive problems more than anything. They gave up six runs this weekend. Take out Marmol's meltdown in that Giants game and they held the Giants' offense in check that weekend.

 

You're overreacting. The Brewers are obviously much stronger because of the Sabathia trade, but are you seriously fretting the acquisition of RAY DURHAM?

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Durham makes them a better team than they were with Weeks. However, he doesn't make them any blacker, surely to the dismay of Gary Sheffield.

[snuffbox 0]

It's much different than the old days of the "trade every good player for jackshit" strategy in Milwaukee.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I'd say they won the Richie Sexson deal.

[Fökai 0]

I did a quick wiki of Sexson out of boredom and found this weird piece of vandalism...

 

Sexson played in every inning of all 162 games, hit .272 and blasted 45 home runs to tie his own record (and Thomas'), while earning a selection to the 2003 MLB All-Star Game. During the all star game, he used a bat which weighed 71 ounces and was 44 inches long.

 

Wait...what?

[naiwf 0]

Posada to the 15 day DL, and he's contemplating season ending surgery on his shoulder so he can be healthy for next season. I know the New York teams have a lot of aging veterans on their bloated payrolls, but I don't ever remember so many DL stints.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Ned Yost's new Bright Idea is to platoon his #5 starters: Dave Bush at home, Seth McClung on the road. I don't understand this, but okay.

 

Also, from what I've seen thus far in tonight's Preview of Champions, as well as other games this season, drama-queen plays in the outfield are evidently more a Cardinals thing than an Edmonds thing.

[Guest]

Kip Wells is getting blasted. Maybe the Dodgers have turned the corner. I don't know. It's too soon to tell.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Ned Yost somehow uses both Mota and Gagne in a 1 run game, and they both pitch scoreless innings.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Brewers get the big win in the 10th inning over the Cards. Here come Sheets and Sabathia.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Legendary sportswriter Jerome Holtzman died today. He was the inventor of the save statistic. Maybe we can bury that with him.

 

Fucking every ball hit off Randy Johnson has been caught at the warning track. This is horrible bullshit. They'll never score another run again.

[The Man in Blak 0]

One bullpen Hindenburg after another. If this wasn't a House Money season for St. Louis, I'd probably consider shooting my television any time that Ryan Franklin or Jason Isringhausen enters into a ballgame with a tie score or a slim Cardinal lead.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

More frustrating about the offensive impotence is that they're not having patient at-bats, anymore. And they're wasting an absolute gem by Rich Harden, who's only given up one hit so far. Unfortunately, that hit was a homer to Alex Romero (WHO?!).

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Czech, you can move a little closer to the ledge. Derrek Lee's 2005 season was definitely flukey, but I'd take anything close to that over the double-play grounding-into fuckhead manning first for Chicago these days.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Why is Liriano still in the minor leagues instead of on the Twins' roster? Do they really not need a dominant left-hander?

 

Speaking of which, I really should get off my ass and go to the AAA game tomorrow, since he's starting.

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Incidentally, I believe he filed a grievance that the Twins are holding him down to keep his service time low or something. Dumb. Call him up and have an ace again. He has to be better than Perkins or Blackburn, right?

 

The Cubs are finished, by the way.

[Mike wanna be 0]

As long as he stays in the minors, Liriano doesn't get any additional "Major league service" time, which is what counts when it comes to whether or not he gets arbitration.

[Guest Smues]

Czech, you can move a little closer to the ledge. Derrek Lee's 2005 season was definitely flukey, but I'd take anything close to that over the double-play grounding-into fuckhead manning first for Chicago these days.

 

He's had a bad last 3 games, and a below average last 9 games. KILL HIM THROW HIS ASS IN THE LAKE OMG WHAT A FUCKING CHOKER.

 

Come on, you're bitching about a guy hitting .304/.368/.501 with 15 homeruns and an OPS+ of 124.

 

The Cubs are finished, by the way.

So if they fail to win it all this year you knew it all along, but what happens if they win?

[MFer 0]

Isn't this what Cubs' fans do though (having that "anything can and will go wrong" attitude)? Which is basically what Red Sox fans did before 2004?

 

BTW, Tony Pena Jr. of the Royals may want to look into a new gig as a pitcher after pitching a 1-2-3 inning tonight (he's currently hitting .154 at SS).

[Guest The Elements of Style]

Those are misleading statistics. Lee has been a woeful 3-hitter since about May; we've been pulling our hair out over his ineptitude way longer than the last nine games. He's being outhomered in road games by Mike Fontenot, who is three feet tall and has hockey hair.

 

I won't claim to have known anything all along. For a long time, I thought this team was really good. Now I see that they're out of gas and being passed by St. Louis and Milwaukee, teams that don't fold in road games.