This Week in Baseball 9/1 - 9/7

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Carlos Quentin has a broken wrist.

 

It's funny how we spent a couple days last week arguing the cases for various MVP candidates, and now Kinsler, Youkilis and Quentin are all hurt and the Indians went back to sucking. Kind of changes the whole dynamic in that race heading into the final weeks.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Too bad there aren't any gold glove center fielders going 30-30. That would make an MVP choice a bit easier.

[Brett Favre 0]

Well, this 30-30 guy really doesn't inspire his teammates like Carlos Quentin does.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Phillies/Mets kick off a three game series tonight, with the Mets up three games in the standings. This is a big series obviously, a Mets sweep would put them in the lead by six games with 19 to play. And how many teams in history have blown a lead like THAT

 

Seriously though, I think if the Phillies don't win at least two of three, they can kiss the division goodbye. The Mets starters had a 5.51 ERA in September last year. They have a much better corps this time around.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Ugh, Utley and Howard back to back. The weakness of the Mets is that their relievers are mostly situational types who struggle against the opposite side. You can NOT let them slide by stacking a lefty for two straight batters.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

"The harder the game sometimes, the more difficult they get."

 

Chris Wheeler, 2008. Yogi Berra he ain't.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Regression to the mean is a bitch. Ted Lily sucks. And I'm wondering if the Cubs are going to win that 86th game any time soon.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

So Carlos Quintin broke his wrist hitting himself with a bat. I think that automatically disqualifies you from an MVP race on general principle.

[NYU 0]

If the Met offense plays the next two games against the Phillies the way they did tonight, you're going to have an awful lot of Mets fans screaming the sky is falling come Monday morning. Me included.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

If the Met offense plays the next two games against the Phillies the way they did tonight, you're going to have an awful lot of Mets fans screaming the sky is falling come Monday morning. Me included.

Chalk it up to Brett Myers being on a serious roll since his promotion back from AAA. Now if the Mets can't hit Moyer, then you might have a problem.

[Matt Young 0]

So Carlos Quintin broke his wrist hitting himself with a bat. I think that automatically disqualifies you from an MVP race on general principle.

 

He didn't hit himself with the bat. He just hit the bat. It was stupid, but not nearly as stupid as the way you worded it made it sound.

 

Also: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT DAMN FUCK FUCK TAINT RIMJOB BLUETOOTH MEECROB PASTRAMI FUCK

[snuffbox 0]

Eric fucking Gagne.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Ned Yost's insistence on making Gange his set-up man, despite mountains of evidence that suggest he'd be a damn fool to do so, might just offset the Cubs' no-win September.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Brandon Morrow is absolutely nasty tonight. No hits through seven innings.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Thanks a lot Jinx Keiper.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Thanks a lot Jinx Keiper.

Can this jinx nonsense die already? No hitters aren't broken up because someone spoke up and broke the delicate spiritual balance. They are broken because a no-hitter is really a statistically difficult thing to do.

 

Morrow is a type one diabetic, incidentally. I can't help but feel good for him.

[NYU 0]

Spoken like a true jinx.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Morrow is a type one diabetic, incidentally. I can't help but feel good for him.

 

Too bad you had to go and blow his no-hitter, jinxy.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Listen, guys, no, losing a no hitter has nothing to do with anyone jinxing anything, but stupid stuff like that is what makes baseball fun. Can we please keep that? A guy isn't going to lose a no hitter because his teammates talk to him in the dugout either, but you still don't do it.

[Slayer 0]

Just for that I'm jinxing keiper's posts

 

Now someone's going to get a hit off of him

[Slayer 0]

...anytime now

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

So Carlos Quintin broke his wrist hitting himself with a bat. I think that automatically disqualifies you from an MVP race on general principle.

 

He didn't hit himself with the bat. He just hit the bat. It was stupid, but not nearly as stupid as the way you worded it made it sound.

 

Also: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT DAMN FUCK FUCK TAINT RIMJOB BLUETOOTH MEECROB PASTRAMI FUCK

 

Also: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT DAMN FUCK FUCK TAINT RIMJOB BLUETOOTH MEECROB PASTRAMI FUCK ?

 

I know it's too little too late, but, man, six in a row for the Jays. Imagine if Cito'd been there since April. I don't mean to be "woe is us, the world's out to get us, etc.", but isn't kind of ridiculous that a team that could win 90 games could finish fourth in the AL East, while three time zones over, a playoff team could be sub .500?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The Jays would need to go 16-6 to reach 90 games, but I understand the point. The problem is that interleague play threw off the standings, so a .500 caliber club in the American League will win something like 85-86 games, while .500 in the NL is closer to 78-79 wins.

 

The bigger news out of the Morrow game last night is that the Yankees lost, and the Sox won. The Yankees are 8.5 games back of the wild card. Finally, I feel comfortable saying it myself. The Yankees are DONE.

 

Re: Carlos Quintin. Boy, does picking up Ken Griffey look good now, doesn't it?

[geniusMoment 0]

The Jays would need to go 16-6 to reach 90 games, but I understand the point. The problem is that interleague play threw off the standings, so a .500 caliber club in the American League will win something like 85-86 games, while .500 in the NL is closer to 78-79 wins.

 

The bigger news out of the Morrow game last night is that the Yankees lost, and the Sox won. The Yankees are 8.5 games back of the wild card. Finally, I feel comfortable saying it myself. The Yankees are DONE.

 

Re: Carlos Quintin. Boy, does picking up Ken Griffey look good now, doesn't it?

 

An immobile outfielder with an OPS of .680 (with the Sox) isn't really hard to find. You could probably find a AAA player to do that. Griffey is done, gone, toast. And I say that wishing him the best as he was my favorite player as a kid.

[garfieldsnose 0]

You know, if the Phillies won more games than they lost, they would have won more games and probably be ahead of the Mets.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

In 76 at bats. I've seen this with Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Jim Edmonds, Frank Thomas, etc. Older star player puts up bad numbers, all the sudden everyone has scouting reports about how bad their swing is. I don't buy it. Griffey at bare minimum was a league average hitter the last few years, all the sudden he's done after a month? I don't buy it, and I've been burned too often.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Oh yeah, the Orioles' wild card hopes have taken a minor hit with their seven game losing streak. The Orioles are now 20 games out of the wild card with 22 to go. Of course, they have an easy stretch coming up in their schedule, so they should take care of business and get back into the race.

[garfieldsnose 0]

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, but holy hell has Brett Myers turned his shit around. I love that Howard Eskin was wrong. I love how most Phillies fans were wrong, including myself. When he got called back up from the minors, where he didn't do that great, I never expected this. He faced shitty teams. But he's done it against some hot teams as of late. I know it's dreaming, but if we could somehow, just somehow, land Sabathia, I think we cement the best starting rotation next year in the league, whoever the 4th and 5th starters are. But hopefully Myers can keep this up, Moyer stays reliable, and Hamels continues to be Hamels (minus the constant whining) and we could still be in the thick of it for not only the division, but the wild card.

[garfieldsnose 0]

Oh, al, I was wondering how Dubee got ejected last night? I was at a bar and I caught the boxscore after the 6th inning on CSN, and it said Dubee was ejected. I didn't catch the highlights, either. Also, I was watching my DVR of AWA on ESPN Classic and it said Steve Smith was suspended for two games for actions towards the umpire last week against the Cubs. What happened? Thanks in advance.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Oh, al, I was wondering how Dubee got ejected last night? I was at a bar and I caught the boxscore after the 6th inning on CSN, and it said Dubee was ejected. I didn't catch the highlights, either. Also, I was watching my DVR of AWA on ESPN Classic and it said Steve Smith was suspended for two games for actions towards the umpire last week against the Cubs. What happened? Thanks in advance.

Dubee presumably argued balls and strikes. He was walking away when the umpire tossed him, no idea what exactly he said. Smith got involved arguing that close play where Howard was called out at first base. That was the game where Soriano hit the go-ahead home run. I think Smith threw his helmet, but my memory could be iffy on that.