2009 MLB Regular Season Thread

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

No, I think the GM bears the blame on this one. When the GM goes out and overspends on a bad setup guy, the manager is pretty much forced to use him, isn't he? That signing was ridiculous, even before Farnsworth threw a pitch this year.

Agreed, but I thought there was at least a recognition it was a bad move when they brought in Cruz at a similar cost (and a 2nd round draft pick) after the market had fallen apart.

Anyways, way to win the damn game today with Cruz and Soria, your two best arms in the pen, doing their level best to help us win with a total of... 0 IP. That still falls at the foot of the manager as well as the GM.

SI

[Ksyrup]

I agree, but having Farnsworth at all is a bad move. But I agree that he should be relegated to 6th/7th inning at best. And more than 1 run lead, too.

[DeToxRox]

The Rodgers Center has suspended the serving of alcohol for tonight, and two other events (I thought it said one Argonauts game?) because of the Jays fans throwing shit on the field yesterday.

[Logan]

Was there a singular reason for them acting batshit insane, outside of being Canadian?

[ISiddiqui]

Do they need another reason?

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

The Rodgers Center has suspended the serving of alcohol for tonight, and two other events (I thought it said one Argonauts game?) because of the Jays fans throwing shit on the field yesterday.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=274136

Looks like it wasn't actually for what happened yesterday.

[Izulde]

Loving the 4-2 White Sox win to open the year.

Now if we can just get Dewayne Wise out of the damn lineup.

[Big Fo]

It's so weird watching the Braves on Peachtree TV. There are no commercials, they just show the field in the background with the sound muted.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs2

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=274136

Looks like it wasn't actually for what happened yesterday.

Yeah, a guy on this Tigs forum said it was from yesterday but apparently it was from them serving Minors a while back.

Still no idea WTF happened yesterday. Jays were up 7 when they went nuts.

[Big Fo]

A few Toronto FC fans got arrested when they traveled to Columbus for an away match, for boozing up and fighting with security apparently. Gotta keep an eye on those Canadians...

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

It's so weird watching the Braves on Peachtree TV. There are no commercials, they just show the field in the background with the sound muted.

Huh?

[Big Fo]

Yeah. They show the top/bottom half of an inning, once three outs are made the sound goes out and the camera crew shows a shot of the players going out to their positions and throwing the ball around. Once the "commercial break" is over and the players are ready to begin again, the sound comes back and the game is broadcast normally.

Also, no other programming shows up on this channel other than when the Braves play once or twice a week. I think it's because I live in the Southeast but rather far (five hours) from Atlanta or something.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

I think it's because I live in the Southeast but rather far (five hours) from Atlanta or something.

Okay, now I get it, I wasn't sure where you were. Sounds like you're part of the deal they cut with Comcast and a couple of other cable systems to give them better access to the Braves in some of the FSN territories. It helps the team overall because it lengthens their reach and in theory gives the local systems some additional inventory to sell.

The problem in some of the markets (yours sounds like one) is that I knew about the deals that were struck several weeks before anyone bothered to even tell the local cable sales people. Kind of hard to sell it if you don't even know it's available. Of course given the reduction in sales force at Turner (which owns Peachtree TV) it wouldn't have been completely out of the realm of possibility that they had unsold inventory too. What you're seeing is basically the raw feed, same as the one that shows up on the concourse at the stadium.

[DeToxRox]

LOL Blue Jays ..

Tigs have runners on 2nd and 3rd, Inge up, Everett on deck. They go for the IBB and Purcey overthrows the catcher. Guillen gets caught between home and 3rd and Thames is 3/4 of the way to third, so it looks like a base running clusterfuck, when Barajas throws the ball to second, except it's a shitty throw and sails into CF, scoring Guillen and sending Thames to third.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I agree, but having Farnsworth at all is a bad move. But I agree that he should be relegated to 6th/7th inning at best. And more than 1 run lead, too.

Agree. Rany summed it up well today: "The worst part of all this is that we all saw it coming. Every last one of us knew from the moment they read Hillman’s words about keeping Farnsworth in the eighth-inning role that it would cost the Royals dearly at some point. We didn’t know it would be Opening Day, against one of our chief rivals, with the justice meted out by one of our greatest nemeses. But we knew it was coming. With the Royals, no bad decision ever goes unpunished."

I was posting a bunch over at royalsreview at the time and we all knew it was coming. That's what's so damning. And Rany was also right to point out that Farnsworth is no less than the 3rd most responsible person because GMDM never should have signed him so Hillman couldn't have stupidly played him. But, again, at least GMDM signed Cruz at the cost of a draft pick so he at least recognized his mistake a little.

(also, from Rany: "Regardless of whether he learns or not, Hillman is getting no slack with me this year. He cost us this game, plain and simple. He cost us a two-game swing in the standings with a divisional rival. The odds that the outcome of this game – the outcome of Hillman’s decision – keeps the Royals out of the postseason are something like 1%. Think about that: it’s still Opening Day, and there’s a one-in-a-hundred shot that the Royals just blew the division.")

SI

[DeToxRox]

Well the great signing that was Brandon Lyon wasted an Edwin Jackson gem tonight. The only solace is my 3 pitchers in the FOFC hardcore league tonight were Jurrjens, Jackson and Bedard.

[sterlingice]

We'll trade you the Professor for Lyon straight up

SI

[Easy Mac]

Braves 2-0
Phillies 0-2

This feels good

(taking the time to gloat, because I don't think it will last.)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Loving the 4-2 White Sox win to open the year.

Now if we can just get Dewayne Wise out of the damn lineup.

It's a good thing that Thome hit that homerun. The White Sox looked terrible outside of that one inning. They're going to need a lot of 3 run homers this season to make up for their total lack of overall speed.

[sterlingice]

Sure, they have three piano movers in the middle of their lineup but it's not as if team speed has been one of the key ingredients in lineup construction since the Reagan presidency.

SI

[lordscarlet]

This is going to be another long season.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Sure, they have three piano movers in the middle of their lineup but it's not as if team speed has been one of the key ingredients in lineup construction since the Reagan presidency.

SI

It cost them a couple of runs yesterday. I guess it all evens out in the end. Watching the White Sox is like watching Big 10 basketball. You can win with it, but it can be pretty painful to watch.

I'm not sure that there was a worse scenario for the Royals than a 2-0 count against Thome. That dude can flat-out mash the ball when he's provided that kind of advantage. The Royals really need to make sure that Soria is ready in that situation going forward. It wouldn't kill him to get a 4 out save.

[sterlingice]

Someone at RR summed it up well. It's not that this was just bad luck and hindsight that people are jumping on. Everyone in the gameday thread knew- we didn't all just think- we all knew- what was coming when he came in to start the 8th. The problem wasn't that pitching Farnsworth was the worse of two bad options. I remember Soren talking once about Buddy Bell and his criticizing his bullpen management when all he had were guys who could add gas to the fire and saying "would you like death by shark or death by alligator" or something to that effect. This isn't the case here- they have some bullpen depth and even had the option of sending Gil out for the 8th.

Hillman picked the fifth best option he had and they go something like this (in order of preference):
1) Juan Cruz- he should be your setup guy as he's your second best bullpen arm. Oh, and he's a lefty which helps when 3 of 5 guys coming up are lefties.
2) Bring in Soria for 4 (or 5 or 6) outs. He hasn't pitched since Sunday. Easily this is the most high leveraged situation in the game. Put in your best player.
3) Go to Mahay to face Thome. Again, Thome kills straight fastballs and Farnsworth throws- you guessed it. Mahay is a lefty and Thome's lefty/right splits are quite pronounced. You take him from a 1.050 OPS hitter down to .750.
4) Pitch Meche for the 8th. He was cruising and only had 91 pitches thru 7. I'm ok with bringing a guy out too early to keep wear from his arm, tho, so this is not the best option.
5) Go to the pr0FF3ss0r

SI

[Logan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Hillman picked the fifth best option he had and they go something like this (in order of preference):
1) Juan Cruz- he should be your setup guy as he's your second best bullpen arm. Oh, and he's a lefty which helps when 3 of 5 guys coming up are lefties.

Cruz is mos def a righty.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I'm not a stat geek, but you obviously present a great case for bringing in Cruz (unless he's not a lefty). I wasn't watching the game, so I'm not sure if Soria/Cruz was even warming. I would have taken Soria as a viable alternative. There's no way Thome could sit on the fastball that much given Soria's ability to locate that big curveball.

Thank God they play daily in MLB and we can move on.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Logan

Cruz is mos def a righty.

Yeah, my bad. I was thinking Mahay. Cruz just is a lot better pitcher overall

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Thank God they play daily in MLB and we can move on.

Amen. Time to watch Zack today

SI

[sterlingice]

MLB Network has Thursday Night baseball and I just saw their schedule. 16 different teams on their initial 8 games so it's not just Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, etc

Thursday Night Baseball on MLB Network | MLB Network: TV Schedule

SI

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Thank God they play daily in MLB and we can move on.

IMHO this is one of the best parts of baseball regular season. Less teeth-gnashing over every single loss.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

IMHO this is one of the best parts of baseball regular season. Less teeth-gnashing over every single loss.

Yeah, football has a whole sport talk news cycle where Monday is a day for overreactions (good or bad), Tuesday is for looking around the league, Wednesday is for "deeper reflections", Thursday is for looking forward to the next week, and Friday is full-on game preview.

I really like sports talk during baseball season so much more.

SI

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Yeah, football has a whole sport talk news cycle where Monday is a day for overreactions (good or bad), Tuesday is for looking around the league, Wednesday is for "deeper reflections", Thursday is for looking forward to the next week, and Friday is full-on game preview.

I really like sports talk during baseball season so much more.

SI

Agreed! Plus, while it's nice to have football season where every game means so much and there's so much buildup, it's also nice to have baseball season where losing one game is not that big of a deal and things are more leisurely.

[Big Fo]

Atlanta is putting another hurtin' on the Phils, their season looks about over. Time to focus on the Mets.

[sterlingice]

Yup, 3 into 162 is time to quit on a team

I mean, if you didn't like the makeup of the team before the season started, that's one thing. But, really, after 1 bad series?

SI

[Mr. Sparkle]

Hey now, my Giants are 1-0. It's clearly their division to lose.

[Big Fo]

I'm just letting myself get a little giddy at their nice start. The past three years have been rough for Braves fans, especially when you consider that they won the division every year from when I was in third grade until after my college graduation.

In the end I suspect they'll finish in third around .500

[Mr. Sparkle]

I think the Braves might have more of a shot than they're getting credit for. I look at the NL East, and they might have most solid starting 5 from front to back, especially when Hanson comes up. The Mets and the Phillies don't have nearly that deep of a staff. I don't know if the Braves can compete offensively with those two teams, but it wouldn't surprise me if their pitching made the division more than a two team race.

[SackAttack]

consecutive bases-loaded walks for Philly to make it a 3-run game, and now Jimmy Rollins gets a chance to actually do something positive for my fantasy team this year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sparkle

I don't know if the Braves can compete offensively

Or in the bullpen.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

consecutive bases-loaded walks for Philly to make it a 3-run game, and now Jimmy Rollins gets a chance to actually do something positive for my fantasy team this year.

Does a bases-loaded walk count as an RBI? If so, I guess that'll have to do for my 'something positive.'

[Mr. Sparkle]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Or in the bullpen.

Hah, yeah.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Epic bullpen fail, wow.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Does a bases-loaded walk count as an RBI? If so, I guess that'll have to do for my 'something positive.'

Yep.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's a good thing that Thome hit that homerun. The White Sox looked terrible outside of that one inning. They're going to need a lot of 3 run homers this season to make up for their total lack of overall speed.

They have more speed than last year, though that's certainly not saying much.

I didn't get a chance to see the game and could only follow for an inning or two on the MLB Gameday thing or whatev, but the White Sox nearly lost the game when they only got 1 run after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sparkle

Epic bullpen fail, wow.

Nice of the Phillies offense to finally wake up.

[RedKingGold]

Heh, maybe Lidge blows his first save on his first save opportunity.

That'd be ironic.

[RedKingGold]

Then again, maybe not.

Nice to get that monkey off our backs.

[Big Fo]

Four bases loaded walks in one inning is remarkable. If the Braves have to lose at least they have done so in an unconventional manner.

[RedKingGold]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

consecutive bases-loaded walks for Philly to make it a 3-run game, and now Jimmy Rollins gets a chance to actually do something positive for my fantasy team this year.

Heck, I could've told you to stay away from Rollins. He's done, maybe even as soon as this year. There's a reason the Phils didn't trade Jason Donald.

[adubroff]

For those of you who are into symmettries, in game 3 of the 2008 season the Phillies(0-2 at the time) came back from 6-1 down to win 7-6. It was not a walkfest like this one (although the winning run scored on a walkoff walk in the 10th), more of a single fest.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Atlanta is putting another hurtin' on the Phils, their season looks about over. Time to focus on the Mets.

Yep, just about over there .