Seems like as good a place as any to ask, anybody have experiences (good or bad) with the MLB.com Gameday Audio program? It seems like a pretty inexpensive way for me to be able to listen to a lot of the BoSox games. I don't really need to watch them, but I like to listen...

Anybody good/bad? Or should I just jump in?

/tk

we talked about this earlier in this thread. basicly it's a good deal

Doh. I missed that. And now I'm signing up for it. :)

/tk

I see rain! Call the season. Royals either win the Central or Wild Card and qualify for the playoffs! Woo!

SI

must be fun to be in Kansas right now

It's one of the better sports days I can think of. And even better is that I just have 48 hours to just enjoy it as the Royals don't play until Wednesday and KU doesn't play until Saturday :)

SI

Lathum, you're a dumb ass. I know that pitching wins, but this whole argument stems from Eric Byrnes batting third. Plain and simple. I defended my points, but apparently you ignore all logic. And here I thought saldana was the female.

dude, WTF was your point? That a guy who is 32 bats third, big fucking deal. That the Dbacks had the most wins in the NL but didn't score alot of runs? That Byrnes isn't a typical 3 hitter? Who the fuck cares? They win. It works for them.

Maybe rooting for shit teams like the Reds and Bengals has warped your sense of a winner,, but your probably like all the other knuckle draggers down here who would rather see Ocho Cinco do a clever endzone celebration then win.

Dumbass, grow the fuck up dude.

Meanwhile Jayson Stark looks like Idiot #1 with his Braves prediction.
Back to back nights when the bullpen blows another one.

edit to add: Meanwhile the Braves announced tonight that Scott Spezio has been signed to a minor league contract & will work out with Class A Rome before reporting to AAA Richmond.

The DBacks saying their hitting is why they win would be akin to the Yankees saying they win on the back of their starting 5. Unlike the Yankees, the DBacks have limited resources and chosen to spend it on a very solid starting 4 rotation and bullpen. That means that just two players in their starting lineup (Byrnes and Hudson) make more than $2 million. With that many young guys, they feel it's best to put the vets in the 2-3 spot instead of higher talent guys that are younger. I don't think it's a terrible theory, to be honest. Still, with guys like Chris Young, Upton, Stephen Drew, Jackson and Reynolds - the Dbacks have a pretty solid offense with a ton of upside.

Then again, maybe the DBacks are crazy for investing $15 million on a starting rotation of Webb, Haren and Doug Davis for 2008 instead of paying that same amount to Adam Dunn and having a better #3 hitter. ;)

thank you for making my point Arlie

Long time Braves announcer Skip Caray will begin the season working a limited schedule of home games on radio only. He's suffering from a variety of health issues -- diabetes, arrythmia, congestive heart failure, and reduced liver & kidney function -- and apparently nearly died last October.

"My wife told me she went in there one day and they were wheeling me off to the side in ICU and she said, 'Great, is he getting a room?'" Caray said. "And they said, 'No, ma'am, we've done all we can do for him. Make sure that his next of kin is close.' So it was that close.

"And I do remember somewhere in there — I don't know when — but I woke up one time and I remember thinking, without any fear, 'So this is what dying is like. This isn't so bad.' And the next thing I remember, the doctor and my family are looking at me. I just woke up."

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...ge_tab_newstab

OK I feel bad about losing my cool at shorty but I'm not going to edit my post. Him taking what was a seemingly good naturated discussion to calling me a dumbass unprovoked was bush league and uncalled for.

Not just saying this bc I'm a Mets fan, but I don't see it either. Not saying they are a bad team, but good enough to get past the Mets/Phillies?

Same thing with all these ESPN guys picking the Cubs to make the World Series, some even say to win it. I'll admit, as I get older I don't have the time to follow the game as much as I once did, but I still like to think I follow it closley enough, and the only reason I would see the Cubs making the playoffs is by default, no chance in hell for a title.

hahahahahahahahah

It isn't like I was attacking Arizona for their moves. Dude, read that initial post that got Lathum all bitchy to begin with. I said I like the club! But in terms of championship success, Byrnes being the best hitter on the club (in terms of lineup placement) is the biggest red flag. That is it! Jesus! I didn't say anything to suggest otherwise. :)

I called you a dumbass because instead of just taking what I was saying for what it was, an opinion, you seemed to try to call me out like I was saying something all questionable. I said what everyone knows, Byrnes is no Matt Holliday. Then again, the Dbacks are built for defense & pitching. That is all. I didn't say they are fucked. I like their team. I also brought up that they got OUTSCORED in an entire season despite the winning record because that is obviously a product of their weak lineup- and they were only the fifth team in ML HISTORY to make the playoffs when that has happened, so that might be a concern if you are banking on lighting striking in a bottle twice. Just bringing up shit. It's baseball season, I want to discuss teams without you getting all hostile.

BTW Arlie, I'd gladly keep Harang/Arroyo over Webb/Haren.

Well maybe just Harang over Webb.

Call me crazy now. :)

You're crazy, but I do like this Reds team. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see them win the central this year. As to Harang over Webb, well you may be the only one - and it's not just because Webb will make $20 million the next 3 years compared to Harang's $30 mil in that same time frame. ;)

dude, we were having a discussion. Show me where I got hostile, you were the one out of line calling me a dumb ass. Excuse me if I can't read your mind.

Jake Peavy giving himself all the offense he needs with 2 RBIs and up 2-0 in the 4th.

SI

Go Peav and Pads!

Rough game for Oswalt :(

You know I love Peavy, Bucc, but I gotta pull for the Astros today. Not liking their chances at the moment...

SI

This is going to be a LONG, LONG season :(

Astros couldn't hit Peavy at all. Well, at least I got a good sun burn yesterday.

hey douchebag, it stops being a joke when it becomes a cheap shot at my best friend.

seeing as how you decided to drag me into this, and since you are questioning the use of logic, where exactly is the fault in the logic of having your number 3 hitter be a guy that put up these numbers last year?

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
160 626 103 179 30 8 21 83 57 98 50 7 .286 .353 .460 .813

since you really wont be able to answer that question with a legitimate answer, how about you just STFU instead.

I don't agree with the namecalling, so I'm not "joining" with Shorty in that respect, but if that's the #3 hitter--the best hitter on the team, who doesn't have anywhere close to 100 ribbies, just a shade over 20 dingers, lower than .300 average and just a little over an .800 OPS--that is the best hitter? Sorry, but that isn't a lineup I am expecting to score a lot.

A. Shorty started it by calling me a dumbass from out of no where, I could say I think Byrnes is better the Barry Bonds and he still has no right or reason to insult me

B. My argument was who really cares, they win.

Very cool that DirecTV has FINALLY given us the feeds from both teams' TV announcers for most games. Yay! Although the bastards are making me listen to Michael Kay - I wonder if the Yankees are going to be the only team where they refuse to give the other team's announcers.

A. Agreed.

B. Yup, they do.

I should say my argument was specifically on the numbers saldana posted as a stand alone (I know that's Byrnes' numbers, of course), but that's not an actual reflection of my opinion of the DBacks' lineup. I was just playing devil's advocate, saying, okay, if this is the #3 and best hitter and we have a normal regression at the other spots in the lineup, then this is a pretty poor lineup. The reality is that where Arizona lacks in proven top hitting ability, they make up some with depth, as they have several players like Byrnes, Upton, Drew, Reynolds, Jackson, Tracy (he's still around, isn't he?) who are all solid young hitters with good upside (okay Byrnes isn't young).

All that said, they win with pitching. ;) And some luck (based on last year).

i think adding haren will help a bit with the latter

and chief, i agree that the numbers arent great, but they arent horrible either...there are plenty of teams that are doing worse than byrnes in the 3 hole, which i believe was lathums entire point.

Actually an interesting question to ask. I don't know how many teams are worse off at the "best hitter" spot than DBacks, but you (or Lathum) might be right.

Agree with Chief. An .813 OPS from your #3 hitter goes a long way in explaining how the Dbacks were outscored on the season.


Run differential is the biggest indicator in a team's overall talent level and success. The Dbacks beat their Pythag record by about 11 games. Part of it was luck, part of it was the way the team is constructed, and part of it was Melvin not overmanaging his team like a Tony LaRussa would.

If anyone thinks there's some magic formula that points to a team being able to make the playoffs after being outscored by their opponents on the season, you're sadly mistaken. There's years and years of data showing that 99% of the time you can predict a team's record within a game or two simply by looking at how many runs they scored compared to how many they gave up.

For a #3 hitter they are horrible. He plays in one of the top 5 hitters parks, keep in mind, his OPS on the road was .774.

Well, let's see what we can find. I'm strictly looking at the #3 hitters in tonight's lineups, so I'm not even attempting to account for injuries, platoons, whatever. If somebody wants to remove a guy from consideration for some reason then feel free.

Worse - 8
Twins -- Cuddyer '07 OPS .789, lifetime .795
Marlins -- Jacobs '07 OPS .775, lifetime .813
Giants -- Winn '07 OPS .798, lifetime .768
Dodgers -- Ethier '07 OPS .802, lifetime .818
Padres -- Kouzmanoff '07 OPS .786, lifetime .773
Nationals -- Zimmerman '07 OPS. 788, lifetime .811
Royals - Gordon '07 OPS .725, lifetime .727
Pirates - Bay '07 OPS .745, lifetime .888

Split - 3
Bluejays - Rios '07 OPS .852, lifetime .792
Yankees - Abreu '07 OPS .814, lifetime .908
Mariners - Ibanez '07 OPS .831, lifetime .815

Better - 18
Angels/Guerrero, Mets/Wright, Cardinals/Pujols, Reds/Griffey, Rockies/Helton, Astros/Berkman, Rangers/Hamilton, Brewers/Fielder, Cubs/D.Lee, Phils/Utley,
WhiteSox/Thome, Indians/Haffner, Orioles/Markakis, Rays/Pena, Yanks/Sheff,
Braves/C.Jones, RedSox/Ortiz, A's/Barton

Don't even bother - you're pointing out a logical argument that he's just not comprehending. Teams that get outscored generally regress. With the D-backs, they have enough young talent that I would not expect it to happen again this year.

FWIW, the Pythagorean is pretty accurate, but I think there's a legit arguement that a really good or really bad bullpen can skew the results.

Btw, is anyone else just glad baseball is back? I know how some of you guys feel about football, but I'm just happier, even though my team is run by a creepy dumbass with the intellect of a crack whore.

I am! :D

Just the fact that the game is back is enough for me every year... even when my team sucked royally.

Baseball season is 7 months of heaven.

And if this season doesn't get Sabean fired then nothing will. That team may struggle to score 3 runs per game this season.

Don't make me cry, please. I'm watching Rich Aurillia "play" 1b., when your average AAA player could outhit him. The fact that the idiot who runs our team can't see that ... well, sniper rifles are on sale.

Nice throw Glaus! :mad:

It's a decent line but, and I can't find any fuckin sortable stats and it's pissing me off, but I'm guessing I don't need concrete evidence to assume that is one of the worst lines for an everyday 3 hole hitter, and they are a contending team, so it's got to be a concern. How many times do I have to repeat myself? THATS ALL IM FUCKIN SAYIN.

BTW, i called lathum a dumbass. i didn't think that was that big of a deal. sorry lathum, didn't think you'd be so offended.

It is not football, but from now until October is the best part or the year to me for many reasons.

1. If I miss the game today, another one is one tomorrow.
2. Trips up to Houston to catch 2-3 games per trip.
3. The MLS season just started so I have two sports and two favorite teams to follow for 6 months.
4. I have missed so much of baseball over the last 9 years I no longer know as many players as I did, and now being home I look forward to learning about players and teams again.

Yes, I am glad baseball season is here.

Been playing MLB 08 with the Orioles, wanted a challenge. Let's just say that team is in ROUGH shape- but atleast they have a good 3 hole hitter in Markaikas! Just kidding D-backs fans.

But seriously, I'm 0-5 and wondering how they have assembled such large amounts of waste.

Yes, very, very happy that baseball is finally here. Which also means I start ramping my card collecting again, as well as getting ready to play another long OOTP career.

Peter Angelos = Mike Brown

Well, in the case of Ethier, Kouzmanoff, Gordon, and Zimmerman, you have young players who are supposed to do far better this season. Also, if we look at OPS+, it presents a better picture, IMO. Byrnes had an '07 OPS+ of 104 and a career OPS+ of 100 (right at average). And he's 32, so no real anticipated improvement.

Zimmerman had 107 OPS+ last season and a career OPS+ of 112, and is only 23, so should improve.

Gordon had an OPS+ of 87 in his rookie season of 2007, but is expected to be a great player and is 24.

Kouzmanoff had an OPS+ of 107 in '07, career OPS+ of 105 and is 26.

Ethier had an OPS+ of 103 and a career OPS+ of 107 and is 26.

Cuddyer had 111 and 108 career and is 29.

Jacobs had 100 last season and 110 for his career and is 27.

Bay had 93 OPS+ last season in a very bad year for him, but a career OPS+ of 129 and is 29.

Winn had 105 and 101 over his career and is 34 (IMO, the closest match to Byrnes hitting, but Byrnes can steal bases).


So I think the "Worse" list, Winn, Cuddyer and Jacobs can really be said to be worse (based on Byrnes' speed). Ethier isn't that much better, but has plenty of time for improvement. And the rest are expected to be stars; if not this year than soon (especially Gordon & Zimmerman).

That's a shame. I used to be a quasi Baltimore fan in the late 90s- the Brady Anderson sideburns days

And Winn wasn't the #3 last year.

Matt Cain is going to lose every game 1-0. SOB!!!

you and me both.

Isn't that what happened last year too? Cain finished with an ERA+ of 122 and a W/L of 7-16.

Lincecum is also going to suffer similar fate, I'm afraid.

Yes, this year will be worse though. We have ZERO offense.

But we have a whole roster full of gamers!

I'm unconvinced that Bob Melvin's decision to bat Eric Byrnes 3rd should be taken as an assumption that a) Byrnes is the best hitter on the Diamondbacks or that b) they will be outscored this season. Chris Young will be better than Byrnes, Conor Jackson has a reasonable chance to improve, and Justin Upton could very easily follow his brother's career path a little sooner than anticipated. Eric Byrnes could be the fifth best hitter on the team...and STILL bat third.

Excuse me, sixth best hitter. Forgot about Micah Owings.

I think it's a moot point anyway - either Upton or Jackson will move ahead of Byrnes in the batting order by June.

The Giants scored a run!!!

Yea right. April Fool's!

We lose to Kip Wells!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

On the other hand, if you look at those that I counted in the "better" group several of those are at least possible suspects to finish with worse numbers than the Byrnes line (although they might not hold on to the 3rd spot in the order if they do).

I think Abreu, Griffey, and Sheffield could slip beneath that due to either age or injury, and Hamilton, Markakis, and Barton are all still fairly inexperienced & could conceivably go in the wrong direction (not expecting it or predicting, just saying it could certainly happen). And Chipper isn't exactly the most durable guy in the majors.

So it seems to me there's at least as many reasonable candidates to go backwards towards Byrnes numbers as there are those who would seem likely to move solidly ahead of them.

I'll go one further. After the all-star break, Conner Jackson (.926 OPS), Chris Snyder (.889 OPS), Mark Reynolds (.840 OPS and Chris Young (.823 OPS) were all better hitters than Byrnes. And that doesn't count a guy like Hudson who matched Byrnes and guys like Stephen Drew and Justin Upton who may have the most talent on the team.

I'd be shocked if Byrnes is a top 4 hitter on the DBacks this year by the numbers. But, he hits third because nearly everyone else is in their low 20s and prone to some inconsistencies.

This is also one of my favorite times of the year.

Good bounce back tonight for the Halos against the Twinkies. We scored in bunches and Garland looked terrific in getting the win. Only Angel starter to not get a hit was Torii, poor guy. He did get a nice welcome from the Twins' fans last night, though, and his Gold Glove ceremony tonight.

Most stats analysts picked the Dbacks to either win the west or the wild card last year, so the fact that they did that wasn't surprising, it was how they did it. With a young lineup that should take a step forward, a healthy Tracy, and adding Haren they shouldn't be in the same situation they were last year in terms of run differential.

Its a good team. Its a team with a young offensive foundation, but they were lucky that their growing pains weren't reflected in their record last season.

Ok, so someone please explain to the guy who has "been away" for a bit about some of the stats being thrown out there. What is OPS+ 112? ERA+ 122? What happened to .900 OPS and 2.50 ERA? Thanks.

As for the Astros, at least they scored a run tonight. They lose 2-1 to fall to 0-2. For a team who's strength is supposed to be hitting it sure is an odd first two games. That is one reason baseball can be fun though I guess.

OPS+ and ERA+ are normalized for both park and league with 100 being league average (and bigger numbers being better). Its a solid way of quickly comparing players across eras and leagues.

gracias

For those who may not know it, baseball-reference.com is a great place to check box scores and stats for the current season. The box scores are awesome - not only do they give you everything you normally would get, but you can click on each player's AB link and get a pop-up box that tells you exactly what they did in each AB for that game. And for pitchers, you can click on their IP link and see their line score for each separate inning. And on the main page, they give you the top hitters and pitchers by game score. Pretty cool.

We'll see how Greg Maddux do and if he do his typical solid outing, I'll be clammering for the Pads to go old-school with a 3-man rotation. With the way Peav and CY pitching, Pads don't need no offense. :)

Ok.............jbmagic?

I love the beginning of the season, where a Royals fan like myself can look at our 2-0 record, and those wins over Detroit no less and entertain the idea that we've got a shot. :)

Great start though. I might also add that I wish every game was an afternoon game, because using gameday audio to listen to it at work really helped the afternoon more pleasant.

I agree with Cringer. Is jbmagic back??

I hope Harden stays healthy this year, he has been nasty so far

jb, is that you?



;)

i am watching the game. He looks nasty.

he had a rocky first inning where he loaded the bases but settled down nicely. For the most part he has been challanging the pitchers and overpowering them badley.

Let's use an analogy.

The Baltimore Orioles are a toilet, see.

Peter Angelos? He's got diarrhea.

I'll let flere draw you the picture if that ain't good enough. :)

Oh man, that's low. I've got to learn not to post anything while I'm getting ready to leave for work in the morning. Now if I just remember what I was trying to say....aww, shit, forget it.

I can't believe anyone on the Yankees could honestly think Mike Mussina could be counted on this year

Ugh, welcome to the Brandon Lyon era DBacks fans. One night, he strikes 2 out for the save, the next night a 3-run HR. I have a feeling Tony Pena will be the closer by May.

Astros pull it out against the Padres in the top of the 9th for their first win. Very nice and finally. Just when the hitting started to get going a little it looked like the pitching would fail, but the hitting pulled it out.

Two outs in the top of the 9th with no one on, Hoffman pitching. Cruz Jr. gets the pinch walk, Bourn with a single, Pence with a single to bring in the tying run, then BOOM! Berkman gets a three run homer to go up 9-6 and the Astros close it out in the bottom of the inning. Nice to see a win in San Diego, I was begining to think they would sweep us.

Oh Pierre. That is why you...suck

Another game-winning homerun by Zimmerman. Even if we end up at the bottom of the East, this is going to be a fun year.

1 frickin' strike away...again. This shit's getting old.

Yay first win for the the Jays! Halladay and Burnett looked solid in their first starts. But now it's the other three starters that have to prove they can be counted on (Burnett too, as he probably has another start or two in him before he gets injured).

Phillies off to a solid start...top of the 4th vs. the Nats, and they already have 4 errors!

Royals continue to stay hot. Alex Gordon hit his second homerun of the year. 2-0 Royals through 4 innings.

What do you mean, ugh? It was pretty sweet from up here.

Cueto's final line is 7 ip 1 h 1 er 0 bb 10 k

Not bad for a debut, the only hit was a homerun.

Phillies games are all going to be 4+ hours this year.

Cordero with the closeout of the db. Nice opening series by the Reds.

2 run homer in the first inning for the Padres. Looks like a good start for the Astros.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Why was Colome still in there?! 4 balls in a row after 3 hits?

Phils finally get a win. Bastards.

The Detroit Tigers are on pace to score 162 runs this season - a long way from their projected 1000.


And they played 3 against the worst team in baseball (per ESPN).

I just picked him up for my fantasy team so expect his numbers to plumet

Tigers aren't going to score 1000 runs. Maybe the Yankees will, but that's about it.

anyone know why Cabrera didn't play today?

Yankees won't either. They had 968 last year, and Posada will not have nearly as good a year as he did last year. I also assume that A-Rod will be a little bit (but not too much) worse than last year.

Though it was nice to see the Royals sweep through the Tiggs.

Its been done once in the past 55-60 years, so I seriously doubt any team does it this year. Espcially the Tigers since they play in a slight pitchers park.

anyone having trouble getting onto mlb.com?

Mike Hampton scratched...WHODATHUNKIT?

I consider myself an avid baseball follower, but I haven't seen this before, and am unclear on the rules. In tonight's Pirates/Braves game, an Atlanta pitcher started the inning pitching, then moved to left field for a batter, then came back to the mound and pitched again. Was this permitted because he didn't technically leave the game? And if so, why isn't this technique utilized more often (the defensive shortcomings can't be THAT great, especially for just one batter). Any of you grognards have any insight?