The 2010 MLB Season Thread

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's a day late, but worth wishing everyone Happy Lee Elia Day! 27 years ago...........

[korme]

Suck it, Oswalt! Bronson Arroyo joins Brandon Claussen in Reds lore as the only starters to beat O'. .500! Smells good.

4 games back of the New Gashouse Gang. Continuing our win streak is essential, methinks.

[Scoobz0202]

Think we got it in us to take two out three from the Cards? Penny and Carpenter I believe are expected to start in the 1st and 3rd game.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's a day late, but worth wishing everyone Happy Lee Elia Day! 27 years ago...........

Awesome

[JPhillips]

Thanks MBBF. That's the first time I've heard it without bleeps.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Think we got it in us to take two out three from the Cards? Penny and Carpenter I believe are expected to start in the 1st and 3rd game.

Hopefully we get Brad Penny and not Cy Penny (3-0, 0.94 ERA)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Thanks MBBF. That's the first time I've heard it without bleeps.

I'm not sure how much you'd even hear if every curse word was beeped out.

[Logan]

Wow, no idea how I never heard that before. Props.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Here's another oldie but goodie tirade from Hal McRae. This one's censored, but they didn't censor out the sound of things being thrown against walls.

[RedKingGold]

Mike Pelfrey is who we thought he is!

[dawgfan]

M's on national TV and Felix has his worst start in about a year. For anyone that has never seen Felix before, that's pretty much as bad as you'll see him.

[Comey]

Very nice to see the Phils' offense return from their vacation. Regardless of his reputation, Pelfrey was obviously pitching very well coming in, and looked really good for the first four innings. I don't know if he unraveled in the fateful inning or not; two of the hits could have been outs. I missed the homer, but it seems like Halladay's single unnerved him.

Ballsy running by Utley, too. That play, if caught, swings momentum big time; I won't say if the Mets would have won (I mean, come on...Halladay was dominant), but perhaps the Mets figure out a way to scratch one out.

Hopefully the Phillies can use this win to get themselves turned around.

[k0ruptr]

Paul Konerko hit 11 home runs in April.

[Berger]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

Mike Pelfrey is who we thought he is!

+1 I picked him up for my fantasy team and this is how he repays me...

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

So after last year's discussion of UZR and its limitations (like how different parks are) Fangraphs adjusted the formula... and now Jason Bay was a +1.9 last year. Don't think they quite got it right yet.

I don't think that's a terrible rating for Bay. Apparently Boston told teams inquiring about Bay in free agency that their in-house defensive metrics had Bay better than he was getting credit for and based on the limited about I've seen him play at Citi I'd have to agree. I've seen disasters in left (Hundley, Daniel Murphy) and Bay isn't that bad or even close to it.

[sterlingice]

Banner week for the Royals as GMDM continues to baffle

Cruz gets DFA'd last week and the team eats $3M. Silly as he wasn't the worst arm in the pen.

So, Friday they go and trade a ML-ready reliever in Carlos Rosa to the DBacks for a toolsy low-A SS prospect who isn't even on any top 10 lists. Of all the people down on the farm, he could have helped the most but instead he was shipped out.

Today, Zack drops his season ERA down to 2.27 while losing 1-0 and dropping his record to 0-3. I can't wait to hear the two Yankee fans at work tomorrow: "He just doesn't know how to win. He sucks. CC should have won the Cy Young last year."*

So, after the game, Alex Gordon gets shipped down to AAA again. Gordon needs a full season (or two or three) in the MLB or more just to see what he can do. We know he can torch the minors and, frankly, his BABIP was horrible this year (.230) which is just bad luck. However, his eye was still there and his OBP was like .330 even with a .190 batting average. Basically this was to make room for Mike Aviles, but really to make room for Chris Getz who got off the DL yesterday. We're all fully expecting Gordon to get traded for pennies on the dollar to help the Getz-Callaspo-Gordon-Butler-Guillen 2B-3B-1B-DH logjam when who really needs to go are Willie Bloomquist and Jose Guillen (hopefully Guillen at the trade deadline if he can keep up his hot streak).

*FYI: Greinke sounds like he's back and concern earlier was a bit premature. He's strung together three straight really good games: 7IP/2H/2R, 7IP/6H/0R, 8IP/4H/1R. His season WHIP is 0.98! He's doing just fine, minus the run support and defense.

SI

[EagleFan]

Way to be scared away from pitching to Moyer...

[RedKingGold]

Step right up and beat the Mets!

POSTED: May 3, 2010
Crowd rattles Santana; Phils roll Mets

By PAUL HAGEN
Philadelphia Daily News
[email protected]

JAMIE MOYER HAS BEEN there and done that. And been there again and done that again. And the veteran lefthander says it shouldn't matter to the pitcher how long and how loud the paying customers yell, even if they make the whole stadium shake.
"It shouldn't be a problem," the 47-year-old reasoned. "Forty thousand-plus people don't have bats."

It sounds logical. But there was nothing logical about what happened in the bottom of the fourth inning last night at Citizens Bank Park when the Phillies jumped on Johan Santana for eight runs to overcome an early deficit and then cruise to an 11-5 win.

Maybe it was just one of those things. But it looked for all the world like Santana, one of the league's very best pitchers, melted down in the face of a verbal firestorm that started when Moyer stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.

All Santana had to do was retire the pitcher and he was out of the inning with the Mets still ahead by two runs. Except that he had just walked Carlos Ruiz on four pitches, undoubtedly working around him with the pitcher on deck, and when he went 2-0 to Moyer the fans smelled it.

Moyer fouled off a 3-2 pitch. Somehow, it got even louder. And when Santana walked Moyer to force in a run, the sellout crowd howled like feral animals.

It evoked unmistakable memories of Brett Myers' nine-pitch walk against CC Sabathia in Game 2 of the 2008 Division Series against Milwaukee, especially when Shane Victorino followed with a grand slam just as he did that memorable day.

For those of a certain age, it also recalled Game 3 of the 1977 National League Championship Series when Dodgers righthander Burt Hooton came unglued in the face of a firestorm of sound at the Vet.

"I was just trying to get on base," said Moyer, pointing out correctly that Myers fouled off several pitches before Sabathia walked him.

Victorino, however, felt the vibe. "I was definitely getting caught up in all that," he said. "It was pretty loud. That's the atmosphere this crowd has created. I guess you could say it was a déjà-vu situation."

He was reluctant, however, to apply a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the noise of the home partisans and the fact that Santana faced three more batters after the walk to Moyer . . . and gave up two homers and a single before being lifted.

"Did that have something to do with it? Maybe," he said. "There were 45,000 people screaming and yelling and maybe he got a little flustered. I don't know but maybe it got to him a little bit."

This much can be said with certainty: Santana had allowed just seven runs in 30 1/3 innings coming into play. Last night, he allowed 10 in 3 2/3 innings and eight in the Phillies' nine-run fourth alone.

"Just a rough night," Santana said. "I tried to command my fastball, but it was all over the place. It was one of those days where whatever I did, didn't work out."
The big win allowed the Phillies to take two out of three from the Mets after dropping three of their previous four series.

And just 2 nights after a dismal 9-1 loss to the Mets that had manager Charlie Manuel grumbling about his club's lack of spark, the Phillies seem to have at least temporarily righted the ship by scoring 21 runs in their last two games.

"It means a lot because we were just talking about something being missing," Victorino said. "But I never second-guessed this team."

They needed a big offensive night, too. Moyer gave up three runs in the top of the first and two more in the top of the fourth. Most nights, with Santana on the mound, that would have been enough for the Mets. But this clearly was different.

Manuel said Santana's velocity was down slightly from last season, but that's been the case all year. And in two of his previous starts, he allowed one run and in two others he shut out the opposing team. So that doesn't fully explain why he fell apart.

After Rod Barajas homered to give New York a 5-2 lead in the top of the fourth, the Mets had only one of their last 18 batters reach base, a walk of Jason Bay by Chad Durbin in the eighth.

Moyer was asked if he ever expected to see Santana knocked around the way he was.

"I guess we're all human," he said.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Banner week for the Royals as GMDM continues to baffle

Cruz gets DFA'd last week and the team eats $3M. Silly as he wasn't the worst arm in the pen.

So, Friday they go and trade a ML-ready reliever in Carlos Rosa to the DBacks for a toolsy low-A SS prospect who isn't even on any top 10 lists. Of all the people down on the farm, he could have helped the most but instead he was shipped out.

Today, Zack drops his season ERA down to 2.27 while losing 1-0 and dropping his record to 0-3. I can't wait to hear the two Yankee fans at work tomorrow: "He just doesn't know how to win. He sucks. CC should have won the Cy Young last year."*

So, after the game, Alex Gordon gets shipped down to AAA again. Gordon needs a full season (or two or three) in the MLB or more just to see what he can do. We know he can torch the minors and, frankly, his BABIP was horrible this year (.230) which is just bad luck. However, his eye was still there and his OBP was like .330 even with a .190 batting average. Basically this was to make room for Mike Aviles, but really to make room for Chris Getz who got off the DL yesterday. We're all fully expecting Gordon to get traded for pennies on the dollar to help the Getz-Callaspo-Gordon-Butler-Guillen 2B-3B-1B-DH logjam when who really needs to go are Willie Bloomquist and Jose Guillen (hopefully Guillen at the trade deadline if he can keep up his hot streak).

*FYI: Greinke sounds like he's back and concern earlier was a bit premature. He's strung together three straight really good games: 7IP/2H/2R, 7IP/6H/0R, 8IP/4H/1R. His season WHIP is 0.98! He's doing just fine, minus the run support and defense.

SI

Meanwhile, they've got a guy sitting in the minors who, even in a down year last year, got on base nearly 40% of the time and they refuse to give a shot. I'm shocked no one has taken The Kila Monster off the Royals' hands, since they obviously have no intention of giving him any playing time - until he's approaching 30, I suppose, when they think he's finally matured enough to hit.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Meanwhile, they've got a guy sitting in the minors who, even in a down year last year, got on base nearly 40% of the time and they refuse to give a shot. I'm shocked no one has taken The Kila Monster off the Royals' hands, since they obviously have no intention of giving him any playing time - until he's approaching 30, I suppose, when they think he's finally matured enough to hit.

Might that be because his Major League Equivalency for last year at Omaha was a .210 BA, with 13 HR, an OBP of .324 and an OPS of .672.

[Ksyrup]

No, I don't think such sophisticated measures have much to do with The Process. Not when the same guy had an OPS of 1.080 the year before (in AA and AAA) and they went out to address their 1B/OBP issue by trading for Mike Jacobs.

At 26-27 years old, he's capable of 20 HRs and a .350-.375 OBP in the majors right now. More to the point, he's demonstrated he can be a functional major league player, and the Royals have repeatedly refused to give him a chance or use him as trade bait for someone they find useful. As a result, he's about to hit his peak sitting in their minors. Either way, it's inexcusable.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

So, after the game, Alex Gordon gets shipped down to AAA again. Gordon needs a full season (or two or three) in the MLB or more just to see what he can do. We know he can torch the minors and, frankly, his BABIP was horrible this year (.230) which is just bad luck. However, his eye was still there and his OBP was like .330 even with a .190 batting average. Basically this was to make room for Mike Aviles, but really to make room for Chris Getz who got off the DL yesterday. We're all fully expecting Gordon to get traded for pennies on the dollar to help the Getz-Callaspo-Gordon-Butler-Guillen 2B-3B-1B-DH logjam when who really needs to go are Willie Bloomquist and Jose Guillen (hopefully Guillen at the trade deadline if he can keep up his hot streak).SI

Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Mutual of Omaha’s Alex Gordon

[sterlingice]

Re: Kila

Honestly, I think they did the same thing to Ryan Shealy the last couple of years because he was injured one year (2008, maybe). They had a cheap, in-house solution and instead we were subjected to a year or two of Ross Gload's "veteran presence". At least this year, it's Butler playing 1B "blocking him" and I'm good with keeping him there for now so he doesn't get pigeonholed into being a DH so damn early in his career.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Mutual of Omaha’s Alex Gordon

Ah, Joe (and a disproportionately high number of stat-savy Royals fans). One of the few things that makes watching the Royals worth, well, living

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Has a pitcher ever gone winless and won the Cy Young Award?

[dawgfan]

What's Kila's defensive rep? I wonder if the M's shouldn't investigate trading for him and dropping Sweeney. We seem to have forgotten that the "H" in DH stands for "Hitter"...

[Ksyrup]

He's not good. My understanding is that he's your typical unathletic, bad body guy - basically, the kind of guy who should be up in the bigs showing what he's got now (if anything), becaude if you wait until he's near 30, whatever he has will be gone soon. The Royals really fucked up by not giving him 1B last year and at least giving him 400 ABs to show what he can do. The Mike Jacobs thing was an absolute joke.

[dawgfan]

Not good defensively? I figured that's probably the case. He seems to have enough power and patience to be worth giving a shot to for his hitting though...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Mutual of Omaha’s Alex Gordon

That's well-written, entertaining, and all that. But the comparison to "what if he's only Tim Wallach" are hard to handle when, to date, he's actually Kevin Orie or Rick Schu.

And it makes pretty good sense that he's at Omaha because of it.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, all 21 MLB ABs definitely seems to be the just reward for posting a 1.080 OPS at the age of 25 - on a shit team going nowhere, that's got 2 players under the age of 26, as Poz points out.

I think even Kevin Orie got more ABs than that to prove (or disprove) himself.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

Step right up and beat the Mets!

We are coming for you...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Yeah, all 21 MLB ABs definitely seems to be the just reward for posting a 1.080 OPS at the age of 25 - on a shit team going nowhere, that's got 2 players under the age of 26, as Poz points out.

I think even Kevin Orie got more ABs than that to prove (or disprove) himself.

Umm ... we're talking about Alex Gordon, right? Where does a 1.080 OPS come into that discussion?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That's well-written, entertaining, and all that. But the comparison to "what if he's only Tim Wallach" are hard to handle when, to date, he's actually Kevin Orie or Rick Schu.

And it makes pretty good sense that he's at Omaha because of it.

Oh, wait, you're actually trying to compare a guy who had nearly 1200 PAs at the ages of 23-24 and posted a league-average OPS for those 2 years with a couple of scrubs who - combined - went over 450 PAs in a season just once and posted a combined career OPS under 90? For a minute there I was confused since I didn't think that comparison made any sense at all (aside from a 3-second persual of Similarity Scores).

Gordon showed great promise at 23 and 24, was injured and had less than 200 ABs last year, and was given a grand total of 31 ABs this year. Schu was a career bench player, and Orie was basically out of baseball by 27.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

and Orie was basically out of baseball by 27.

And that's where Gordon is headed if he doesn't start hitting, that's what got him sent to the minors in the first place.

Gordon had one okay year, one good year, one lost year where his numbers sucked when he did play, and he's hitting like a Braves veteran this year. But there are people are upset that he's off the roster until he figures out how to hit again (if he ever does)? Damn, I thought the Royals mgmt was bad but that's just stupid.

[Ksyrup]

If you think you can judge a player on less than 200 ABs during a lost injury-plagued season and 31 ABs at the start of the next season, after he's shown you something at the MLB level at the ages of 23-24... that's ridiculous. And it's not like this is a good team that can't afford to have a struggling player in the lineup and let him work out his problems. This is a team putting Yuni B, Jason Kendall, and Rick Ankiel in the lineup every day, not to mention Pods and Getz. The team sucks. That's what makes the treatment of guys like Gordon and Kila so hard to understand. The alternatives they are running out there have no potential for upside, are past their prime, and cost more - to get them to the same 90 loss season they always get.

If they're just putting Gordon down there to straighten himself out for a couple of weeks - OK. But that's not the way this team operates. That would be ascribing a rational motive to a team that makes a living doing anything other than making rational decisions.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This is a team putting Yuni B, Jason Kendall, and Rick Ankiel in the lineup every day, not to mention Pods and Getz.

Most of whom have been outperforming Gordon.

Sorry, we're all free to rant about our teams (or anybody else's teams for that matter) so knock yourself out if it makes you happy. But I've watched enough players implode after a brief run of success & more than enough players get run out there repeatedly while they purely suck to have a hard time criticizing a team for getting fed up with it.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

We are coming for you...

The pitching matchups look downright frightning for this series:

Monday at 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis LHP Jaime Garcia (2-1, 1.04) vs. RHP Joe Blanton (season debut).

Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (4-1, 2.13) vs. LHP Cole Hamels (2-2, 5.25).

Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis RHP Brad Penny (3-1, 1.56) vs. RHP Kyle Kendrick (0-1, 7.61).

Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis RHP Kyle Lohse (0-1, 5.28) vs. RHP Roy Halladay (5-1, 1.47).

I wish Roy could pitch three times a week (who knows, maybe he actually could).

[rowech]

Gordon, if he's going to be anything, needs to get traded.

[stevew]

is it a service time savings with Gordon? Would make sense if you can work an extra year of control from his struggles.

[Travis]

So this Cecil kid is looking pretty good for the Jays tonight. Nice to see a lot of the younger arms stepping up this year, now if more of the bats would do the same.

[Travis]

Oops

[Scoobz0202]

If your pitcher is hitting .364 (sample size I know) is it really smart to bring in a guy hitting .111 to hit for him?

[JS19]

Holy crap, this Herrera dude on Cincy looks so out of place, he so damn small. I think Gary Cohen just said he's 5'6".

[Scoobz0202]

Oh, and Jay Bruce was on the bench in that pinch hit situation as well...

*sigh*

[MizzouRah]

[quote=RedKingGold;2276908]The pitching matchups look downright frightning for this series:
[quote]

Jamie starts it off! Can we keep the lead?

[Atocep]

Tavis Snider is off to one of the unluckiest starts I've seen. He's on pace for 25-30 homers and 35 doubles, but his line is only .167/.278/.385. He's somehow managed to have a .151 BABIP despite a 23.2% linedrive rate.

Probably worth stashing him on the end of a fantasy bench if you have room because he's due for a big spike in production.

[JPhillips]

Jay Bruce had similar numbers in mid-April and has now started to really boost production.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Travis

So this Cecil kid is looking pretty good for the Jays tonight. Nice to see a lot of the younger arms stepping up this year, now if more of the bats would do the same.

A former first round pick shows why tonight. He was a reliever at UMD but they've successfully converted him to starting. He sure beats Brian Tallet.

[molson]

MLB's first on-field fan tasering (guess the city):

[Logan]

Just updating EagleFan's post from The Puke thread:

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Let's play name the city...


- Full on brawl between players and fans at an NBA game...
A) Philly
B) Detroit
C) New York
D) Chicago

- Fan throws cell phone at outfielder
A) Philly
B) Detroit
C) New York
D) Oakland

- Fan attacks umpire at MLB game
A) Philly
B) Detroit
C) Chicago
D) San Francisco

- Fans attack first base coach at MLB game
A) Phily
B) Detroit
C) Seattle
D) Chicago

- Bottles thrown on field at NFL game
A) Philly
B) Cleveland
C) Detroit
D) Chicago

- Fans fight with opposing players in/near bullpen
A) Philly
B) Chicago
C) Detroit
D) New York

- Raiders players pelted with snow balls spiked with batteries
A) Philly
B) Denver
C) Chicago
D) Green Bay

- Snowballs pelt Chargers sideline, one knockng and equipment manager unconscious
A) Philly
B) Chicago
C) New York
D) Detroit

- Mound charged by a fan from the stand (led to one funny ass kicking)
A) Philly
B) Chicago
C) Detroit
D) New York

- First baseman hit by knife thrown from the stands
A) Philly
B) New York
C) Chicago
D) Detroit

- Nickel beer night leads to forfeit in MLB game due to flying bottles
A) Philly
B) Cleveland
C) New York
D) Detroit

Fan throws beer on outfielder attempting to make catch at the wall
A) Philly
B) Chicago
C) New York
D) Denver

- Fan throws baseball at outfielder waiting to make a catch in an MLB playoff game
A) Philly
B) New York
C) Denver
D) Boston

- Fan runs out onto field acting like a jackass during game, gets tased

A) Philly
B) New York
C) Chicago
D) Dallas

Answer key (B, D, C, D, B, B, B, C, C, B, B, B, C, A)

Carry on.