Posted on 07/18/2005 7:10:39 AM PDT by ken5050
OK, FR baseball fans. Here's our first weekly baseball discussion thread. I'll post it either late every Sunday night, or mid-Monday morning...we'll keep it running though the week. It'll be in Chat from now on..if you want on the ping list, let me know..BTW, all you NFL and NHL fans...superfluous comments are unnecessary..we already know that baseball is the greatest game of all, America's passion..
Let's review the pennant races first. Central division races in both leagues are over. BTW..even though a team may be within a few games, until they have a .500 record, I'm not going to mention them here.
National League
NL EAST: Nationals lead Braves by 1.5, Phillies by 5.5, Mets and Marlins by 7.0. Nats are coming back to the pack..they're 3-7 over their last 10, and they had a loss via a "walk-off" balk. Dontrell Willis had 2 very bad back-to back outings for the Marlins. Indicating problems, perhaps? I don't think we'll see much of him pinch hitting or pinch running again this season.. Again, FYI, ALL the teams in the NL EAST are at .500 or better.
NL WEST: Padres have a 5.5 lead over the Rattlesnakes. Not sure if the Pods are for real, but less sure that Arizona is either.
NL WILDCARD:
Braves lead Phillies by 4.0, Cubs by 5.0, Marlins and Mets by 5.5
NL EAST teams will be beating up on each other for most of the remaining games. IMHO..it's wide open.
American League
AL EAST: Red Sox lead Yankees by 0.5, Orioles by 1.0. Sawx give away a few to the Yankees..but the NY rotation is still very suspect. Question for the tin-foil hat brigade. Did Leiter "tank" his last few Marlin starts to get released? He wasn't the same pitcher last night, f'sure.
AL WEST: Angels leads Rangers by 7.0, Athletics by 7.5. LAA continues to look very strong. Vlad should be the AL MVP. A's are also a hot team..pitching looks awesome, and in a short series..well, if they get to the post-season, they can run the table..Rangers begin a series with the Yankees tonight. IMHO, they have to win it to take themselves seriously.
AL WILDCARD: Twins and Yankees are tied. They lead Orioles by .05, Rangers by 2.0, A's by 2.5, Indians by 3.0. Put a blanket over all of them..though the Chisox sweep of the Indains has to hurt the Tribe, big time. Indians are 1-9 over the last 10, and the Twins are 3-7 in the same period. Are the wheels coming off these two.
Miscellaneous notes:
Can anyone call a Las Vegas sportsbook to get the odds on an all Chicago World Series? Cubbies continue to hang around. Seems somehow fitting they finally make it after Sosa gets traded.
Will we have a TRIPLE CROWN winner this year? Derrek Lee has a huge 33 point lead in the batting race, and leads in HRs and RBIs. He makes the Cubbies go..
Trading deadline is going to be wild this season. I think most teams, and there are 21 teams who are in some level of contention....snd that list should pare to about 12 after this week...they'll be a lot of activity..The sellers will want to extract the maximum from the buyers....What rumors have you all heard?
Special to Red Sox fans: Is it time to get a new third base coach?
Personal note to LisaFab: A big portion of humble pie consumed by yours truly. I thought the Yankees were dead, buried, finito two weeks ago..
again, if you want ON the ping list..let me know...
#1? Get me on the ping list please. I'm heading out the door for work but a quick congrats to Rafael Palmeiro for hit #3000 in Seattle last week
The weekend was brutal for this Red Sox fan. Even worse, the Sox third base coach gave two games.
Shilling looked ok in his second outing, maybe a happy omen.
You're on the ping list..I just found it...LOL..my bad..regards
Please ping me!! AL Wild Card will come from the East. Indians and Twins are showing themselves to be nice teams, but unable to beat quality competition.
I once played Mario Brothers against Al Leiter. It was about 17 years ago. I was at Bucky Dent's baseball school in Delray Beach Florida. Al Leiter hadn't yet played in the pros, but I think was a hot prospect. Anyway, I played Mario Brothers (the original) against him in the little arcade at the school.
FYI
7 players ejected at Comerica park yesterday after 4 or 5 players were hit by pitches from both sides. Personally I blame the umpires for not tossing pitchers from both sides sooner.
It finally boiled over when Hernandez hit Guillen in the head with a fast ball then told him to get his a$$ in the dugout.
If I had to pick a hero in the whole mess it would be Jose Lima. Good level headed guy who was trying to make peace.
Lemme in on the ping!!
Dude..you just called Jose Lima "levelheaded"..(g)
IP H R ER BB K HRA. Leiter (W, 4-7) 6.1 3 1 1 3 8 0
Just what the Yankees needed!
Ken, didn't I tell you about underestimating the Yanks?
Now ping me.
Re Leiter: I'd say it's even money his next start he doesn't make it out of the 3rd inning..
I was listening to a guy on the radio who worked in the Braves PR department and he was joking about those days back when Fulton County Stadium decided to replace the turnstiles with a guest book.
Shocking isn't it? Apprently he's good friends with most of the Tiger players and really helped to get things settled down.
Multiple times....Many multiple times....and you're on the ping list..I'm finally getting the hang of it..I still don't think the Yankees rotation can hold up. MUssina and RJ didn't look real strong last two outings..and they're NOT gonna get 8+ runs scored per game for them every time..and they're the two BEST pitchers..
Either way, he was worth the money to take the wind out of the BoSox.
And every 'guest' had their own individual beer vendor.
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