Major League Baseball

[Lord O' Bones]

I disagree with my esteemed colleague LoB about asking whether you've ever played the game.

It was a sincere question, as that made the most sense to me given what we were discussing. HOWEVER...

To be perfectly honest, I only played a couple of year of little league growing up, I've never done any scoring, and for a period of time I stopped paying attention to baseball all together (being a Mariners fan can get really depressing, soul crushing even, but I was too loyal to root for another team), so I'm sure you all trump me in both experience and knowledge of the game.

I can totally see how that might seem to be me asking just to be a jerk, and that is not what I intended.

[Paxter]

Heh. So the moment I talk up the Bucs and consider jumping on the bandwagon they promptly embark on an eight-game losing streak :ohwell:. NL Central is rapidly becoming a two-horse race. And the other surprise packet of the first-half is struggling as well now - 3-7 record for Cleveland in their last 10.

As for the trade deadline, the Giants and Phillies look to be the big winners - adding some decent offensive players to complement already strong pitching. I think that Colorado and St Louis might have made mistakes with Jimenez and Rasmus, but only time will tell. Also a bit surprised to see Bell stay put after all the rumours. And from a personal perspective, Tampa Bay's failure to offload Upton was disappointing. BJ would probably benefit from a change and the Rays badly need to boost the middle of their line-up with Longoria still struggling.

[Harlot]

What a miserable game at Wrigley today. I've lost confidence. The Mets, The Astros and now The Cubs. :thumbsdown:

[Lord O' Bones]

Living in Dodger territory, I don't watch a lot of baseball these days. Every time there is an ESPN game on that I'm around for it's almost always Yankees and/or Red Sox and life is miserable enough without having to watch that. Of course there are constant Angels games. But motherfuck THAT.

So, I've pretty much limited myself to watching Dodger games when they play the Giants. It's not optimal, but if I'm forced to listen to Vin Scully that's not a bad thing, and if it's that away douche, at least the Giants are at home.

But this is the second game in a row I've watched of the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. It's freaking weird.

I can't root for anyone. I just want them both to lose. And when you hear shit from Vin Scully like "The Diamondbacks can take first place from the Giants tonight, but the Dodgers are standing in the way." you can't help but almost have a seizure.

I'm sure my evil-goateed mirrors in blue feel about the same.

[Ser Greguh]

I don't know if you saw his injury but I thought he broke his ankle. It was pretty graphic. And now he could be out for less than 20 days? Amazing.

I was actually at that game. It was an ugly thing to see - when Ricky goes down and doesn't get up, you know it's bad - but they're saying it was just a serious sprain.

[Week]

I have to agree with this. I never thought of him as an offensive threat of this magnitude.

IT'S A TRAP!

[TheBigTEA]

IT'S A TRAP!

Lol, I think it is becoming my unconscious habit of leaving small Star Wars quotes in all my baseball posts.

I think I quoted Obi-Wan farther up the thread and did not really even notice it.

Anyway, the Brewers are rolling right now and it is fun to see. Greinke is finally pitching like be should be and the bullpen has been great. It is also nice to see our offense going and not necessarily just Braun and Fielder, even though they are still the most productive duo in the game.

Going to suck when Fielder leaves next year, I never really noticed it before but he is one funny dude. Can play ball too....

Now the big series is coming. I would like to see the Brewers take 2 of 3 from the Cards at home to kind of cement the fact they are the team to beat in the Central. Marcum vs Jackson should be a good matchup. Then Gallardo in finale.

Exciting times!

[awesome possum]

Highlight of the season for the Cubs as they come close to closing the door on the Pirates and Reds. Now if they can remember they're not hapless idiots long enough to sweep the Cardinals, I can go back to ignoring this horrendous sport til next season when the feeling of horrible disappointment has worn off and I need it renewed again.

Well, I'll pay a little bit of attention in October, long enough to watch the Cards or Brewers perform the annual NL Central choke and sweep out of the playoffs.

[TheBigTEA]

Trisk-

Yeah the games are in St. Louis. Not worded well at all in my post. I am not saying this is a definitive series for either of these teams, but it is pretty damn close.

Berkman Holiday and Pujols may be hot, but so are Braun Fielder Hart and even Casey. I would say it loses some punch as it happened against the Astros, but they did it against the Cards too. Of course they did it against the Cards at home which seems to have some sort of magic power for the Brewers, but hopefully it sticks.

Our pitching has been good also and you guys will face our three best road pitchers in Marcum Wolfe and Gallardo. I guess all we can do is wait and see.

Possum-

I really hope this year is a little different than the last. Of course if the NL Central winners play the Phils I don't know that you can call it choking. Those fuckers are good.

[TheBigTEA]

Tris-

At least it was an exciting game right?

I wanna say you missed Molina on D, but his replacement hit the hell out of the ball...broken bat hits all night long!

[Paxter]

Man the AL East is frustrating. It's been a better week for the Rays (now 7 games over .500), but they still find themselves 8.5 games behind NYY in the Wild Card standings :ohwell:.

Fortunately the battles for top spot in NL Central and NL West have provided welcome distractions, although it's been a bit of a shame to see the Reds and Bucs crash out so soon after the All-Stars break. I've enjoyed watching the D-Backs and Giants exchange blows - just when the Giants look like surrendering top spot they've managed to find another win.

[Bronn Stone]

I hate agreeing with Brian Wilson, but the man has a point...

Of course, the next video that comes up is kinda sucky. The one after that is better.

[Lord O' Bones]

I hate agreeing with Brian Wilson, but the man has a point...

So weird. Soooooooooooooo weird.

:love:

ETA: Please yes.

[TheBigTEA]

I have to tip my hat to The Crew. They are just outplaying us right now. That said, unless I see another replay the call in the 9th that Albert didn't touch the bag was a horrifically bad call and Bobby Valentine is officially a senile old man. But I've only seen one shot of it thus far.

The call likely didn't matter though. We'd still have been headed into the last inning down 3-1.

I don't know that there's a must-win game in an MLB season before the final week of the season, but if there is, tomorrow is a must-win for St. Louis. We could either be down 4 getting up off the ground or we could be down 6 having just been swept at home by the team we're trying to catch.

Tris-

You guys have the right guy pitching tomorrow, but so do we. I am excited though, should be a great game, and no matter what I am excited because we took this big series on the road.

[Paxter]

ETA: WTF?? I just saw that both Holliday and Berkman sat today. I have not found an explanation.

Holliday apparently picked up a minor back injury on Wednesday. Berkman's 3-30 record against Wolf probably explains his omission, but personally I think that the Cards could have used him in a Holliday-less line-up.

Meanwhile, the Rays were trailing 7-3 against the Royals today before a 5-run rally in the ninth :thumbsup:.

[Balefont]

I hate agreeing with Brian Wilson, but the man has a point...

Of course, the next video that comes up is kinda sucky. The one after that is better.

hahhaha, so true!!! :-)

[Deaf Dick]

Another W and solid outing for Verlander and save for Valverde. I wish we could rely on more pitchers than those two...but I'm just happy to get out of Cleveland with one win.

[TheBigTEA]

Trisk-

The Crew just didn't seem to have it last night. Gallardo didn't look real sharp and neither did the D. Eh, we took the series so I am OK with that.

The upcoming schedule is pretty good for the Brewers with 10 games versus the Pirates and Cubs and 6 of those at home. Also the Mets and Dodgers...neither team that is exactly scary right now.

That said...the Cards play pretty much the same teams. Should be good.

[Jaxom 1974]

Apparently Carlos Zambrano decided to pack his locker up and tel the trainers he was retiring on his way out the door after being ejected for throwing at Chipper Jones (mind you, I'd throw at Jones on basic principal, but this was after Z had given up 5 homers).

I cannot wait to see how this plays out. The Cubs cannot have him back, and he's seemed to have burned all his MLB bridges for good now...but I do think that this meltdown (and he's had ample opportunity this year if he wanted to blow up) is a direct reaction to his estimation of the guy they have leading the team. I wanted Quade to succeed, but he's got to go. Hendry has to go.

I keep hearing people say that Ricketts has to go to because he's done nothing. That's the thing though. He's done nothing. I cannot judge him as fan because he hasn't shown me that he wants to, or knows what to, do. The offseason will be very telling to me.

And hey, if this Zambrano things actually becomes reality, that's money off the books! Now is only someone other than Hendry is spending it for Chicago next year...

[awesome possum]

And hey, if this Zambrano things actually becomes reality, that's money off the books! Now is only someone other than Hendry is spending it for Chicago next year...

Hell yeah, more than thirty million in cap space available. It's what the Cubs need. They're not going to accomplish anything until the big three albatross contracts are gone, but with Ramirez out of here after this season and Zambrano gone a year early?

Of course, if Hendry stays it doesn't matter. I don't think he will, though. I don't see how he can. The Cubs operate on one of the highest payrolls in baseball. Three winning seasons in eight years just doesn't cut it.

Hendry has to go. Quade too. Hendry should be fired for that alone.