You know, if you are so full of rage because you hate yourself or whiteys or authority or because of chemical imbalance, go fu%!$@ play football or something. Don't fu%!$@# be a baseball player on a team trying to make the playoffs. So there. :mad:

trying my best to imitate Schmidty

Bucc, I hear that if you're not doing anything this week, there's an opening for Padres outfielder.

SI

Wow, are the Braves really only three games out of the Wild Card race? Sure, it's a long shot, but nice to see them making a race of it. They do start a 3 game series with the Phils tonight. They definitely need a sweep if they have any hope.

Let's go Fran-co! *CLAP**CLAP* *CLAP**CLAP**CLAP*

Prince Fielder becomes the youngest player ever to hit 50 home runs. He is 23.

It's hard not to think that if Ryan Braun had been up the whole year, he'd have had over 40 as he spent six weeks in AAA and still has 33 home runs in the bigs at age 23 (44 if you count his time in AAA).

This is the best young offensive duo in the majors, bar none.

I disagree completly.

Maybe from a pure power perspective they are tops but I would put them behind Howard/ Rollins and Howard// Utley.

Cabrera/Hanley Rameriz are also pretty potent

Should be one hell of a week in the NL this week.

(Stinking Phillies bullpen or they could be leading the division now) :mad:

I can definitely see Cabrera/Ramirez, but Howard (27), Rollins (28), and Utley (28) aren't exactly what I would consider young.

Also, when defensive value is factored in you have to include Wright/Reyes.

Fuck the phillies, fuck them up their stupid asses. They always do this shit to me.

Fucking Giants!

What the hell, I thought the damn Giants would at least take this one. UGH.

Man, the Braves were this close to being only 2 games back.

Even more reason to hate the Giants.

Sweet. As a Giants fan, I'm rooting for the draft picks at this point.

I suppose since they are going to be in the top 15 you can't sign another aging type A and give them up.

(Stinking Mets bullpen or they would've clinched the division two weeks ago)

From a pure power perspective?

2007 numbers
Ryan Howard .264/.389/.568
Jimmy Rollins .293/.342/.529
Chase Utley .336/.415/.576
M. Cabrera .320/.399/.565
H. Ramirez .333/.388/.561

P. Fielder .291/.392/.625
R. Braun .322/.367/.630

I think it is pretty clear that Fielder has had a superior year to Howard and Braun's year isn't all power numbers like you imply. These two guys aren't .250 hitters that hit a lot of home runs. They are the complete package, offensively.

Then you consider that I was talking about young players, like somebody already mentioned, Howard, Rollins, and Utley are hardly young.

The only argument anybody could have is with Cabrera and Ramirez, but I still believe that Fielder and Braun are superior hitters to both.

So how's that Burgos/Bannister trade treating you guys? Lord knows we're happy with "the guy who wouldn't make it with the Mets" as a lot of people were touting. Tho he has run out of steam in September and gotten cuffed around in short starts, but 12-7 with a 3.16 as of September 2nd. But we're definitely liking his chances for starter #2/3 next season with Meche and Greinke.

SI

I was one of them, but I would be thankful for what you're getting this year and hope he can be a 4 or 5 next season. Unless you have a power sinker you don't get far with 4k per 9.

With that said, it looks like the Royals will get the better of this regardless. Even this one season may provide more value than the Mets get out of Burgos.

Bannister was mediocre for us, I'm sorry. He was very good during his first run through the lineup and then would get smacked around during the second trip through. He strained a hamstring and was out 4 months, having to get shut down repeatedly during his rehab every time he made a bit of progress. His last two starts for us were awful.

I'd say not to get too ahead of yourself with your expectations of him, because he seemed like a nice kid so I hope he has a lot of success for you guys before he eventually goes to another team :).

Meanwhile, I'll continue to hope Minaya takes chances when trading pitchers who display their mediocrity for hard-throwers. If for every one that misses like Burgos, there's two like Jae Seo for Duaner Sanchez, who was probably the best set-up man in baseball last year before his injury, and Roberto Hernandez for Oliver Perez, I'll be perfectly happy.

A #3 starter in KC != #3 starter for the Mets so I don't think the expectations are too high. He worked pretty deep into a lot of games for KC which is why the hope: he had a stretch where he went 6 or more for 16 of 18 starts so perhaps he's turned a bit of a corner but that's probably also why he ran out of steam since there were some 7, 8, and 9 inning starts where Buddy would just throw him out there when it was clear he was laboring through that last inning.

That said, he can't strike out anyone and a big danger sign but it's not as if they're locking him up to a long term contract tomorrow.

SI

Let's go Nats!!!

You know what, I'm on the bandwagon. Besides Wright, Alou, and Marlon Anderson, there's not a guy on this team I could give a shit about right now.

I hate the Mets.

Come on Pads, give Peav some runs.

Amen, it's fantasy playoffs week and I need a win.

Picking Peavy in the late 1st/early 2nd this season was one of the easiest decisions ever in the history of fantasy baseball for me- he had to have been hurt last year as there's no way a pitcher comes down that fast and hard from years of great performances. The only other one I can really remember was Maddux in 2000- coming off of his insane years, he had one little glitch in 1999 and dropped down to like a 3rd or 4th round pick and I had an easy ace in every league.

SI

Peavy is right where he was supposed to be this year (as one of the best SP in baseball). Last year was certainly an abberation as he was pitching most of the year with tendenitis in his shoulder.

This just in: Jake Peavy got run support (8-2 Pads in the 5th)

All of a sudden, the races in the NL have just gotten tighter than can be. Even the Mets, who looked like the only real lock coming into the week, could be in danger of missing the playoffs with a cold week and a hot week by the Phils and whoever takes the wild card (since whoever emerges from a cluster like that is usually pretty hot).

SI

Yippee!

Mets, Phils, D-Backs, Padres, Rockies. Two of these teams aren't going to make the playoffs, but which? Arizona has the best record in the NL even with the loss tonight at 88-70. Mets and Padres (assuming the lead hold) at 87-71. Phils and Rockies (again assuming lead holds) at 86-72. It's pretty crazy to realize any sort of losing streak will take any of these teams out of the playoffs altogether being bunched together like this for the last four games.

Truly, the most remarkable performance has to be Colorado, though. Working on 10 straight wins, they actually could be going into their series with the D-Backs this weekend contesting for the division title, which is incredible considering they were, what, six games or so down a week ago.

The Pads playoffs starts tonight and Peavy will not likely pitch in the series. The only time he had pitched on 3-days was a disaster. It's all going to be close but I don't know if I'm glad or not to see the Rocks playing the Backs.

Its fun watching the Cubs try to give away a 3 game lead in the last week of the season. Really it is.

If the Rockies manage to make the playoffs, I'm going to one of the NLDS games down in Denver. I don't know if they can pull it off, but...it'd be nice to go to a playoff baseball game for once.

What happens if the Phillies, Mets, Diamondbacks, Rockies and Padres all finish with the same record?

All 5 may not be possible, but I could see at least a 3 way tie. I would assume that they break the division ties first?

I believe it's decided by which team had the most players in the All-Star game, followed by which team's players had the most home runs in the HR Derby. After that I'm not really sure.

Also, I'm fairly suprised the Yankees actually made the postseason. It wasn't looking too good around the allstar break.

Funny, but ESPN has a different answer to the several team tied scenario.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3038686

holy fuck.

That's way too in depth.

When was the last time we had 7(8 if we're counting the Braves) teams in the NL still in the playoff picture with 4 games to go?

This will be fun to watch.

Amen. This is good for baseball. Its amazing that with 5 games left, no team has clinched a playoff spot in the NL. That's surreal.

I'm going to the last regular season Phillies game this weekend, taking my daughter to her first baseball game. I'm hoping it all comes down to that last game.

Good luck dude. I like the Phillies (or more accurately, I'm not a fan of the Mets), so I'm rooting for them and the Brewers.

I'd like to see the any of the Braves, Brewers, Padres, and Cubs.

You're just rooting for the Braves to make the playoffs because of Julio Franco (who won't even make the playoff roster). :)

Haha. He's pushed it over the top. I actually liked the Braves as a second or third team (behind the Blue Jays and Expos) awhile ago, because of Fred McGriff and Greg Maddux. Although I wasn't a fan until after 1993 sometime.

But I stopped liking them so much for awhile, and now the whole Julio Franco thing has me cheering for them again. ;)

Yes, but, of course, the wild card is bad for baseball :rolleyes:

SI

The Pads got a good jump on the Brews. If they win out, then it really doesn't matter. But it'll be close.

I am on such a freaking natural high right now!!!!!!!

This is going to be one hell of a weekend, no matter how it turns out. I would love to be able to land tickets for Sunday.

..

Pros and Cons

See the Red Sox/Yankees "race".

That being said, the NL is going to be a lot of fun this weekend.

Wow. 5 errors for the Brewers in 6 innings. Not that I am complaining...

Actually, even if there was no wildcard, you'd still have 3 NL west teams competing for the division, and 2 NL East ones. You wouldn't have this mediocre "drunk fuck" pennant race in the central between 2 barely over .500 squads.

Decent bit of work here by the AJC's Braves beat writer/blogger.

Pretty good line that sums up an article apparently due out on Saturday. After a 25 minute conversation with agent Scott Boras, the writer says "Suffice to say, I’ll be getting a five-year, $75 mill contract before Andruw Jones accepts a one-year deal. ... And without giving me any salary figures, he made it pretty clear that five years and $75 mill ain’t gonna get it done for Andruw’s next deal."

After spending half the blog hitting on Boras' planned selling points, he then adds some figures of his own, including:

With bases loaded, Andruw as 3-for-16 with a walk and six strikeouts. The rest of the Braves were 45-for-144 (.313).

After the sixth inning, Andruw has hit .199 with 50 strikeouts in 176 at-bats.

With runners in scoring position and two outs, he’s hit - brace yourselves — .169 (14-for-83) with 24 walks and 26 strikeouts. Only Braves lower were Langy, Salty, and Sneezy, er, Craig Wilson. And the three of them together only had 30 such at-bats, so they didn’t do much damage in those spots.

The only Brave with more at-bats with RISP and two outs than Andruw was Francoeur, who hit .333 in 97 such at-bats.

With two strikes, Andruw’s hit .156 (48-for-307). In interleague play, he hit .061 (3-for-49) ...

True.

This year's NL finish kicks ass on every level.

As a Mets fan I would have prefered a much more boring ending

Colorado's position got a little more untenable when both the Padres and D-Backs won, meaning even with a win (and they currently hold a 3-2 lead at last check), they're all but dead for the NL West since they'd have to sweep out the D-Backs and get help from the Brewers for at least a game or two to keep San Diego down. Even so, they have control of their own destiny they're going directly against another playoff contender. A three-game sweep of the D-Backs will in all likelihood get them into the playoffs somehow, whether as a division winner or as a wild card.

It'll be interesting to see how the Rox play this weekend, especially since they play really well at home this year. I guess we'll wait and see, I'd hate to wait for them to refund tickets for a home NLDS game, but at the same time...I'd love to get to a playoff game. And I don't really have a dog in the NL hunt, so..I'd see them win just as well as anyone else.

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/sto.../28/122618/096

If you're a Giants fan - this is by far the greatest blog out there. If you're a baseball fun, check out the thread - it will make you laugh at us, if not with us. ;)

Cole Hamels is the worthy successor to Steve Carlton I always thought Bruce Ruffin would/could be. What an incredible start.

Hell freakin' yeah!!! :D

C'mon Padres!

Boooyah! Cubs in the playoffs!

Cubs and Red Sox clinch their divisions within about 10 minutes of each other.

For all the talk of tiebreakers and so forth, the picture cleared up quite a lot in the last hour. It's all but certain that the Padres and D-backs are getting in from the West. Colorado and the Mets are still mathematically alive for the Wild Card, but who here really thinks the Brewers will somehow find the will to win the next two games? All that's left to shake out now is whether the Padres and Mets can catch the D-backs and Phillies for the division titles.

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the D-Backs win and the Mets loss, Arizona has atleast clinched the wild card. Their magic number for the division is 2.

Oh man, how sweet that was. Trevor striking out the side!

I hate the Cubs and I never would have thought they would win the division. Now let everyone lose tomorrow except the Pads, k?

Mets kill the Marlins. Phillies down 1 to the Nats.

I don't get how Manuel is running his pitching staff today at all. He's managing like the Phillies are a game down in the standings. First of all, Adam Eaton fucking blows. If you had that little confidence in him that you pull him after giving up 1 run in 2.1 IP, and you eventually bring in Kyle Lohse, why not start Lohse to begin with? It's the 5th inning, and the Phillies are on their 4th pitcher. I don't get it.

After 7 1/2 innings, Pads have held the Brewers to 2 hits but ahead only 3-2. 6 more outs. Time for the great combo of Bell/Hoffy.

He's a fucking retard, what did you expect?

You and I both know Eaton blows, apparently he's too stupid to figure it out himself.

Where the hell was that John Maine the past 2-3 months?

ALDS Matchups finally set:

Yankees v. Indians
Red Sox v. Angles

And with the Rockies currently blowing out the D'backs, we still have a chance for a 4 way-tie for the NL East Title & Wild Card between the Mets, Phillies, Rockies, and Padres, with 89 wins each.

If that happens, the Phillies and Mets would play for the division on Monday. Then the loser would join the Rockies and Padres in a mini 3-team wild card tournament. Per coin flip, one team gets to chose whether they play in a play-in game then potential final both at home, or if they go right to the final game, to be played on the road. (per Jason Stark). Under that scenario, it'd be possible for a team to play 4 games in 4 days in 4 cities, starting tomorrow. (Regular Season Finale, Wild Card Play-in/Division Playoff, Wild Card Final, NLDS game 1)

What an exciting way to end the year.

He wanted to make it dramatic ;).

Tomorrow should be a great day for baseball. Even though my Sox have no clinched the best record and the AL playoff picture is set, the NL playoffs are very interesting to say the least. I myself am rooting for the Rockies to make, those guys went from setting up golfing trips for next week to being in the playoffs with good position to take the NL. The last 2 weeks have been great baseball.

I just love that people have a reason to watch the Nats today. :)

Yahoo has it laid out nice and easy:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgns

in KC, we're a little more concerned about the bottom. Ok, maybe no one is since I had to do a lot of digging to find out about draft orders:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/standing...type=wild+card

Apparently, they are no longer doing the alternating league thing- it's strictly by lowest record. The other thing I didn't know until I looked it up is that the tiebreaker is pick from last year. For instance, if Kansas City ties with Pittsburgh for the 2nd worst record in the league, KC would get the 2nd pick since they picked lower last year (2 vs 4 last year). Tampa has clinched back-to-back 1st overall picks for the first time in history. Then there's a cluster of teams vying for those next picks (team, last years pick, wins):
Pittsburgh (4), 68 wins
Kansas City (2), 69 wins
Baltimore (5), 69 wins
Florida (10), 70 wins
San Fransisco (12), 70 wins
Cincinnati (15), 71 wins
Houston (17), 72 wins
Chicago AL (25), 72 wins
Washington (6), 73 wins

(keep in mind, this is all my own homework and no fact checking really done so I may be off with something).

So, for instance, with KC, they have three scenarios. If they lose and Pittsburgh loses, the Royals (69) pick 3rd as the Pirates (68) 2nd. If KC (69, 2) loses and Pittsburgh (69, 4) wins, KC has the tiebreaker from last year and they pick 2nd.

If KC (70, 2) wins, Pittsburgh (68/69, 4) automatically gets 2nd and the rest depends on Baltimore (69/70, 5). If Baltimore loses, they would get 3rd, losing out to Pittsburgh on the 4th vs 5th last year tiebreaker. But, if Baltimore wins, they get 4th as KC would edge them on the tiebreaker.

My favorite scenario at the bottom is KC winning, getting them to 70. Baltimore winning, giving KC the 3rd pick. And then San Fran and Florida both losing, giving all 4 of those teams 70 wins, making the Royals tied for 6th worst record in the league rather than lower but still getting that #3 pick :)

SI

I have to say that even with the wild card, the fact that there are all of these crazy tiebreaker scenarios to determine who goes to the playoffs in baseball -- after 162 games -- is pretty cool.

way to step it up Glavine.

Fucking has been

That's acute matchup.

I'm doing my best to ignore the results today, I'm just scared of the multi-teams mini-playoff scenarios.

I thought I was seeing an NFL score and had to do a double take. Never would have thought he'd have layed an egg like that in a million years. Brutal.

We need a Pads loss and a Rockies win. With our management sure to let every player who made this run possible leave, we have a one or two year window for playoff success.

Go Marlins, Nats and Backs.

Looks like the Mets have blown it. The Phillies and Padres just have to win and then we won't get to see any tiebreaker games.

Boston got the best record and actually chose to start its series a day earlier meaning that they'll get an extra day of rest. The Angels can now go with Lackey and Escobar up to 4 times and put Weaver or Colon out there just once. I thought Boston would choose the shorter series because of their depth in starting pitching, but I guess not. This means the Yankees and Cleveland will have to go 4 deep and not pitch Sabathia/Carmona and Pettitte/Wang for 4 games. I'm not sure who that hurts more. The Yankees hit Byrd and Westbrook pretty well this year. Mussina pitched pretty well the one time he faced Cleveland and Clemens didn't face them this year.

No kidding. No way they spend money and let this core stay, so...they need to go ahead and get it done while people are paying attention. Well and before the Marlins win another World Series. ;)

I was just looking at MLB.com and I'm glad that this year's Wild Card champs gear doesn't say "Wild Card Champions" on it. Because that's just pure silliness.

:(

Willis is trying his best to let the Mets back into the game and they just won't oblidge

Still, any Yankee fan should get his ass kicked if he wore that outside the house.

I bet there would be more Sox fan than Yankees fans wearing that if they faced off in the ALCS.

Not sure it's all that shocking really. Going into today, he'd given up 6 runs or more in 6 of his last 21 starts.

Guy is 6-2 with five other quality starts in which he got no decisions since July 1. Throw him under the bus for your collapse.

And the counterpoint!

It doesn't matter.

Guy comes out in the biggest game of the season and lays an egg. As a hall of famer you need to come out and find a way to get outs. Period.

It's kind of annoying that there's apparently no national MLB TV coverage today.

I wasn't saying a Yankee fan ought to wear it. I was just commenting on the change in lingo. I'd have rather have put the National League's up there, given my disdain for the Bronx Bitches, but...we obviously don't know who that's gonna be yet. :)

And yeah, if today isn't evidence that the baseball season needs to go back to 154 games, nothing is.

All football on TV, no baseball and it's going to get better, it's going to get worse as we head into the post-season. It's frustrating.

Besides, if they go back to 154 or shorten the calendar to even 148 games, it would give them a chance to wipe the record books and make all of those so-called steroid tainted records not count. Even selectively so. So obviously Cal's streak would be fine. But no one is going to hit 72 homers in 148 games and so, you can file that record away. And so forth...what an out for baseball. But that's too sensible, so I know it'll never happen.

The season will slog along and people will continue to have no idea what's going on, except for fans who follow the sport regularly.

I definitely agree with the shorter MLB season, I know what you were saying about the Wild Card lingo. As a Red Sox fan though, that shirt and hat just made me smile. I would definitely wear that stuff to a Sox/Yankees ALCS game.

I also HATE the 5-game first round series. 162 games to a 5 game series? Might as well save the time and flip a coin. If it were up to me, there'd be a 148-154 game season, 7 game division and league series, and 9 game world series. And all playoff series would only have an off-day on travel days. Because playoff baseball is a beautiful thing.

How about blaming a guy like Jose Reyes, hitting .250 since the ASB?

There's a lot of blame to go around for the collapse. But if Glavine threw a no-hitter today, he'd be getting a ridiculous amount of praise. He bombed, so he gets what's coming. Life of an athlete.

Glavines last 2 starts

5.0 IP, 9 hits, 6ER
.1 IP, 5 hits, 7ER

this is a guy who you gave big money to and in his 2 most important starts of the year this is what you get.