MLB Thread

[Mexal]

How about a little more Nationals talk? Ryan Zimmerman has a 29 game hit streak at the moment. It's the longest hitting streak for a 3B since Wade Boggs in 1985. It looks like the kid is finally reaching his potential. He had a real good rookie year in which he showed promise, regressed a bit in his sophomore year, played decent when he wasn't injured in his junior year and now is really finding his stroke. I'm happy for him even though he does play on the Nationals. I look forward to their future.

Also, Justin Upton is on a tear as well with a 18 (or 17) game hitting streak. He started out really badly but .390 in May, with 5 HRs so far.

I don't think there are any two players hotter than these 2 at the moment and they're both players that have come into the past few years with huge expectations. I'm happy to see them hitting well.

[boiled leather]

I don't think there are any two players hotter than these 2 at the moment and they're both players that have come into the past few years with huge expectations. I'm happy to see them hitting well.

I love when you say things like that..and I can exercise my brain to see if you are right. I will not disagree that both are hot and doing great. I'm only looking at "the Hottest".

I'm using the Expert's league set of stats as a basis -- though I would be more thorough if I could down load more.

Over the last month:

Runs HR RBI OPS

Longoria 23 7 36 1.065

Pujols 26 9 24 1.069

Bay 25 7 28 1.086

Kinsler 22 8 22 0.948

Braun 19 8 26 1.192

Zimmman 22 7 22 1.091

Upton 20 3 18 1.049

I tend to look at OPS as the be all and end all, when looking for only 1 Stat. Zim is #2 and basically tied with Braun. Braun, Longoria and Bay have more RBI, but that is also a function of their team.

and when we use the "experts league" contributions for stats, these are Hitters 2-7 and 14 (for Upton). Crawford is actually #1, but that is based on 22 steals.

If we look at the last week -- Upton has an OPS of 1.255 (rank 6) Zim has a nice 1.215 OPS (9), though several players have OPS Over 1.4 in the short period -- Johnny Damon is nearly 1.6.

I tend to like to look at 2-3 weeks for streak, but I don't have access to the raw stats.

Clearly they are both doing well. Me, I'd still rather have Longonria, Braun, Bay or Pujols. Longoria is the one that surprises me. I expected him to be good, just not otherworldly -- moving the batting average from 270 to 358 will do that.

(hell he is on track for 50+ HRs and 200+ RBI -- both of which I doubt, based on 600 ab)

[Mexal]

Clearly they are both doing well. Me, I'd still rather have Longonria, Braun, Bay or Pujols. Longoria is the one that surprises me. I expected him to be good, just not otherworldly -- moving the batting average from 270 to 358 will do that.

(hell he is on track for 50+ HRs and 200+ RBI -- both of which I doubt, based on 600 ab)

Oh, I would too. Longoria has been on a massive tear and I didn't realize how good Braun has been of late. But with respect to Braun, Bay and Pujols, they've done it before. Pujols is the best hitter in the league bar none. Braun has put up the numbers over the past few years and Bay is pretty solid. Longoria, like you said, has been a bit surprising but the talent was there. I just didn't expect him to put it together so fast.

What I was getting at with Zimmerman and Upton is that there has been a ton of hype around both of them over the last few years and they just haven't lived up to it. As of late, they're starting to and that's really fun to watch.

You've made some really good points though.

[boiled leather]

I want Upton for 2011 and 12.. that makes him 24-5, right? till time to improve up to 27....

[Mexal]

I want Upton for 2011 and 12.. that makes him 24-5, right? till time to improve up to 27....

Yea.

I see Upton hitting his stride in the next year or two as well.

[Week]

For those who missed it...enjoy Aubrey Huff giving Joba a taste of his own medicine. No Joba, you should not be fist pumping after a strike out right after losing the lead or any other random goddamn time you sloppy bastard. He's currently going down the Ugueth Urbina path which we all know leads to attacking people with a machete and gasoline before getting thrown into a Venezuelan jail.

I already liked Huff before...now I love him.

[Mexal]

For those who missed it...enjoy Aubrey Huff giving Joba a taste of his own medicine. No Joba, you should not be fist pumping after a strike out right after losing the lead or any other random goddamn time you sloppy bastard. He's currently going down the Ugueth Urbina path which we all know leads to attacking people with a machete and gasoline before getting thrown into a Venezuelan jail.

I already liked Huff before...now I love him.

I saw that. The best part about it though is Huff did it while Joba was looking the other way.

[Week]

I saw that. The best part about it though is Huff did it while Joba was looking the other way.

I think he was holding back tears.

[Jaime L]

How about a little more Nationals talk? Ryan Zimmerman has a 29 game hit streak at the moment. It's the longest hitting streak for a 3B since Wade Boggs in 1985. It looks like the kid is finally reaching his potential. He had a real good rookie year in which he showed promise, regressed a bit in his sophomore year, played decent when he wasn't injured in his junior year and now is really finding his stroke. I'm happy for him even though he does play on the Nationals. I look forward to their future.

Yeah, it's really nice to see. After his flop of a sophmore campaign, felt like most people (myself included) downgraded him to a standard good player: fantastic defense, decent hitter. But this hit streak has revived hope that he still has some potential superstar in him. We'll see how this season goes, but he's absolutely raking at the moment, and when you combine it with his stellar defense, he's one of the more valuable guys around. I mean the Nats took him over Ryan Braun for his defense. He still doesn't hit like Braun, but he just has to be in hailing distance of Braun's offense to be as valuable as a player.

The Zimmerman boys and Strasberg give the glimmer of a future for the Nats.

For those who missed it...enjoy Aubrey Huff giving Joba a taste of his own medicine. No Joba, you should not be fist pumping after a strike out right after losing the lead or any other random goddamn time you sloppy bastard. He's currently going down the Ugueth Urbina path which we all know leads to attacking people with a machete and gasoline before getting thrown into a Venezuelan jail.

I already liked Huff before...now I love him.

I saw it as it was happening. Was first thinking: "Wow, Huff's really pumped by that HR!"..then he did it again, and I realized what was going on. Was pretty entertaining to watch.

Really surprised Joba didn't plunk him his next time up though.

[grozeng]

For those who missed it...enjoy Aubrey Huff giving Joba a taste of his own medicine. No Joba, you should not be fist pumping after a strike out right after losing the lead or any other random goddamn time you sloppy bastard. He's currently going down the Ugueth Urbina path which we all know leads to attacking people with a machete and gasoline before getting thrown into a Venezuelan jail.

I already liked Huff before...now I love him.

Papelpbon does the same thing (well not fist pumping - but screaming after a K to end an inning). Lots of pitchers do it. I know you hate Joba, but it is not limited to him.

So I was watching ESPN at the gym and they had Clemens speaking about how it would be stupid for him to do steroids because he has a history of heart disease in his family. His examples were his brother had a heart attack at age 40 and his step father died of a heart attack. I know athletes are not geniuses, but come on. At this point he should just keep his mouth shut and wait to be indicted.

[Week]

Papelpbon does the same thing (well not fist pumping - but screaming after a K to end an inning). Lots of pitchers do it. I know you hate Joba, but it is not limited to him.

Joba was doing it after an inning when he gave up runs and lost the lead...that is a lot different from say, fist pumping after striking out Upton and Crawford with 2 outs, me on second and third and a one run lead. No? Papelbon can go a little over the top, however he has a sense of the situation and behaves more appropriately based on that. I saw an interview with him about it after people first started getting angry at Joba and Papelbon basically said that with a one run lead in Yankee stadium, all bets are off for him..but..a 3 run lead in KC? That's just doing his job, so he doesn't over celebrate.

[Caliban]

I dont have a problem with hitters watching homers and pitchers showing emotion after a tough out or what have you. They should keep it in reason, and when they dont, I dont have a huge problem with them getting retaliated against. That said the thing that pisses me off the absolute most is when teams overretaliate. Like hitting a guy who has been dominating you.

In Huff's case, he clearly crossed the line. Yea, its kinda entertaining, but since i dont really care about any team or player involved (which isnt really true because the Os are my AL team now), I can unbiasedly say that Huff deserves one between his shoulder blades, and Im sure he'll get it. Wew all knew Huff was really bizarre and has a penchant for saying the wrong thing, but this was really over the top.

[Mack Kilimaro]

Joba the Hutt is a punk bitch. Sadly, the joy of Huff Daddy's fist-pumping was mitigated by a 7th inning bullpen meltdown causing the Orioles to actually lose the game. I hate the fucking Yankees.

But Huff has really turned it around with the Baltimore fans. After calling Baltimore a "horseshit city" and being booed at Opening Day 2008, he's now high up on everyone's favorite Orioles lists and now people kind of hope he sticks around for another year after this one. He's kicking ass lately and this tweaking Joba's nose is only the most recent awesome thing he's done.

[boiled leather]

How about a little more Nationals talk? Ryan Zimmerman has a 29 game hit streak at the moment.

Here's Mexal's Jordan Zimmermann update. I was at the game tonight.

the Good: wow. consistently 95-96 on the fast ball (ok, 94-95 in the 6th and last inning)

Lots of Ks. A ton of poise and promise.

The bad: he's a rookie and It's clear he is uncomfortable pitching from the stretch. In the first, he mows down burriss. He gets Renteria 0-2 and then hits him. and its down hill from there. a single and a long double. From the wind up wow. from the stretch he was throwing 1:1 balls to strikes. and he messed up his sacrifice with a man on 2nd and 0 outs. Bunted too hard and the play at third was easy.

so, overall, He might be lincecum light in a year or two. Not quite as dominating, but very good.

and R. Zimm really lined his two singles up the middle on his 4th ab, when there were men on base, they had burriss (playing 2nd) positioned nearly behind 2nd. Easy 1 hopper to him, but R Zimm looked good.

and yes, sandoval tripped over his own feet, but he redeemed himself in a big way. Not quite the way Bob Brenley did after a 3 error game, but nearly.

[Mexal]

Here's Mexal's Jordan Zimmermann update. I was at the game tonight.

the Good: wow. consistently 95-96 on the fast ball (ok, 94-95 in the 6th and last inning)

Lots of Ks. A ton of poise and promise.

The bad: he's a rookie and It's clear he is uncomfortable pitching from the stretch. In the first, he mows down burriss. He gets Renteria 0-2 and then hits him. and its down hill from there. a single and a long double. From the wind up wow. from the stretch he was throwing 1:1 balls to strikes. and he messed up his sacrifice with a man on 2nd and 0 outs. Bunted too hard and the play at third was easy.

so, overall, He might be lincecum light in a year or two. Not quite as dominating, but very good.

and R. Zimm really lined his two singles up the middle on his 4th ab, when there were men on base, they had burriss (playing 2nd) positioned nearly behind 2nd. Easy 1 hopper to him, but R Zimm looked good.

and yes, sandoval tripped over his own feet, but he redeemed himself in a big way. Not quite the way Bob Brenley did after a 3 error game, but nearly.

Thanks :) He's never pitched higher than Double A so I expect there to be quite a few growing pains. But he does show a lot of promise.

[Ser Kevan]

Watching Justin Verlander pitch yesterday made me a believer. Overpowering stuff. He had 3 out pitches. I now think he has a shot for most K's in the A.L. at the end of the season. Halladay is on pace for something like 25 wins this year ! Nice to see good pitching return. :)

[Mexal]

Watching Justin Verlander pitch yesterday made me a believer. Overpowering stuff. He had 3 out pitches. I now think he has a shot for most K's in the A.L. at the end of the season. Halladay is on pace for something like 25 wins this year ! Nice to see good pitching return. :)

Verlander looked absolutely filthy. His last 4 starts have been nuts. He did run out of gas towards the end though and then his bullpen promptly fucked it up. But he does look like he's over his early season troubles and pitching at the elite level that he belongs to.

[Mack Kilimaro]

Zach Greinke goes 7 innings against the Orioles and gives up only one run and his ERA ticks up. That shit ain't even right. And this was after a 2 hour and 30 minute rain delay before the game even started. His ERA is now 0.60.

Oh yeah, opposing him on the mound was Adam Eaton. I usually like the reverse lock theory, but I don't like it that much.

Rich Hill coming off the DL to start tomorrow. I hope he has a nice debut for us.

[Caliban]

Rich Hill coming off the DL to start tomorrow. I hope he has a nice debut for us.

I want to see this.

Watching the Cubs play right now. Oswalts throwing his game. Mad respect. Probably the consistantly best pitcher in the NL Central for a decade. A hall famer in my book.

[Jaxom 1974]

Say it with me, Cal: "Kevin Gregg sucks. What the hell was Hendry thinking???"