Sampson, for the 'stros, pitched for 1/3 inning, allowed 1 hit, 2 ER, 4 BB. It was a pathetic game all around.

MLB Game Center - CBSSports.com

That's more like an epic, epic fail by the NL east than something to be happy about.

Insert obvious Mets joke in accordance with Epic Fail. :devil:

As sad as it sounds, great pitching duel between Santana and Park, yea thats right, Chan Ho Park. He's actually got a no hit bid going, as they enter the 5th, Santana has given up 1 hit.

3 Errors for the Phils tonight...coming into this game they only had 5 total.

that 3rd error was just an overall crazy play. Delgado on 1st, Tatis his a slow, broken bat roller to 3rd, no chance to throw him out, Feliz airmails one up the RF line, Delgado comes rolling around 3rd and for one reason or other, Werth pretty much triple clutches before he decides to throw home, as Delgado just beat the throw. Werth clearly would have nailed Delgado if he threw the ball when he picked it up.

Kauffman Stadium is quickly becoming a house of horrors for 1st place teams. Blue Jays rolled in the best team in baseball and promptly lost 3 out of 4. Seattle, which has the 2nd best ERA in baseball, is getting shelled by the Royals offense. Looks like the Royals are going to notch their 5th straight win and move 2 in front of Detroit.

The Royals should sign Pedro Martinez.

It just seems like a fit to me, somehow.

Funny you should say that. Jim Thome Monday night said Zack Greinke is just as good as Pedro in his prime.

Tomorrow Banny vs Washburn @ 1pm (2 here)- sounds like I have something to listen to at work. I was listening to part of Nats-Astros and Cubs-Giants yesterday. Have I mentioned how much I like MLB Audio :)

SI

:lol:

:lol: :lol:

It would be hilarious if they decided to contract the Pirates if they go 20 straight losing seasons. 16 in the bag, and it's starting to look like 17 is a forgone conclusion.

Like I said before, I love Greinke, and he's off to a fantastic start.

I don't think, however, you should start molding his Hall of Fame bust yet. I mean, what if he gets glasses or changes his haircut? You'd have to start all over, then.

I do think people obviously haven't been paying attention if they believe this is just a flukey start. Greinke's only problem has been his personal issues. Assuming he can keep focused and stay away from his social anxiety demons, he's going to have a great career. I do see him as one of those guys that may just play extremely well for another 5-7 years and then just decide to retire for no reason other than he's bored or wants to do something different.

Since last August (so roughly 1/2 of a season), he's given up 18 earned runs. That's incredible.

Yeah, good matchup today. I'll also be utilizing the MLB Audio at work.

Anyone look at the standings today? The AL seems to be tipped on its head:

AL East leader: Toronto
AL Central leader: Kansas City
AL West leader: Texas

Now, I'm not disappointed at all. I'm a lifelong Texas Rangers fan. I just couldn't believe it when I checked this morning. As a Rangers fan, its been 10 years since I've actually had a reason to check the standings.

I love MLB audio. Wish I could listen to it at work. :(

/tk

Some of the more traditional divisional powers have some warts this year. The Yankees and Twins have issues in the pitching staff, both having given up significantly more runs than they've scored. Chicago has good pitching, but can't score worth a lick. And we all know about the injuries/tragedy with the Angels and their starting staff.

Welcome to our world. Enjoying every minute of it :D

Tho, after this past weekend, I'm starting to be convinced we could be for real and actually be playing for the playoffs. There are some caveats- we're in a fairly weak division so staying a couple of games over .500 keeps us in contention- and also, this assumes no more major injuries. Gordon is already on the shelf and Meche has been ailing the last 2 starts so he needs to get right.

SI

I know Santana has been similarly incredible over that timeframe, so I checked the numbers.

Greinke has thrown 107 innings since August, yielding 18 earned runs for an ERA of 1.51.

Santana has thrown 126.1 innings, yielding 22 earned runs for an ERA of 1.56.

Yep, incredible.

What's most unreal to me about Santana is how whenever he gets into a bit of trouble, either because of a walk or an error, he's amazing at getting his team out of it and limiting the damage. He's given up just 2 additional unearned runs, and in total runs allowed over those last 19 starts, he's given up 3 runs twice, 2 runs seven times, 1 run four times, and 0 runs six times. Especially with this anemic offense, never allowing more than 3 runs is essential.

It's a fluky start.

He will not finish the season with an ERA of .40.

I agree. He will not finish the year with an ERA+ roughly 5 times the all-time record.

Good to see you posting on the board, Peter Gammons.

My point being, of course, that its a little early to crown his ass with comparisons to Pedro Martinez.

Just enjoy what he's doing.

I've been wondering why I haven't heard Jerry Remy on the NESN broadcasts, and it turns out he's not only got lung cancer, but he's having complications. :(

Naw, that's totally sustainable ;)

SI

I know this is going to sound completely moronic, but that's really the key to having a microscopic ERA- keep the crooked numbers off the board. Look, Greinke's going to give up some home runs. He's a fly ball pitcher and he's been lucky to not have a couple of those go over the fence so far.

Take your pick of fun Greinke stats so far this season:

Greinke fun facts » Joe Posnanski

"5. The league is hitting .242/.294/.337 against him with nobody on base.But the league is hitting .109/.136/.125 against him with runners on base.
And the league is hitting .097/.097/.097 against him with runners in scoring position.


6. Greinke’s strikeout-to-walk ratio with runners in scoring position — 14-to-0.


7. Batters are hitting .171 against Greinke in the seventh inning and after."


It sounds flukey, but there's some explanation here, using Pitchf/x:
Deconstructing Greinke - Royals Authority


SI

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Jim Thome, having faced Pedro Martinez on many occasions, is a bit better equipped than you or I to make that comparison.

I'm also sure there were some hitters who thought Valenzuela was the greatest pitcher ever in May, 1981.

I really hope that Greinke gets that Cy Young, so he can put it with the trophies won by other area greats, such as the Heisman won by Chase Daniel and the NCAA Div. 1 basketball championship trophy won by Coach Anderson.

I LOLed Cartman.

Yeeeeah... because we use subjective impressions of athletes to decide on factual comparisons all the time! Though I've heard we've started using these things called statistics to get away from that thing! I can't wait to see what happens!

It's understandable to be excited for Greinke. His start has been amazing and I'm rooting for him to put together an incredible season.

But let's be real. Greinke's best ERA+ has been 127. Pedro went higher than 200 5 times in a 7 year span. Maybe we could wait for him to finish at least one season in the 200's before he gets compared to Pedro?

Wasn't it great when Coach Anderson and his team were honored by President McCain?

Well I'd think a pitching coach would know even more than Jim Thome.


We live in a lucky time when we undeniably have two young Pedros pitching.

Oh shi

Giving your team an extremely good chance to win every single game you start is why they call you a stopper.

That, or play with a horrendous defense and give up a lot of unearned runs. :D

I applaud this effort. I think all of the other Mizzou fans are icky Cardinal lovers so this is pretty much targeted at MBBF alone (well, kcchief19- but he's smart enough to ignore it)

It also realizes that the rest of the Royals fans on the board (and there are a couple of us) are just mostly in shock and enjoying it :D

SI

We can do that, too! Especially on the infield ;)

SI

Breaking on ESPN:

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games starting today, he tested positive for PEDs.

BWHAHAHAAHHA

No way.

Heard it on the radio just now as well.

I'm sure he'll claim that he didn't know what he was taking (and that people will belief it).

He's aloof, not retarded.

Wow, we had such an awesome start to the season too. And yes Manny is stupid, otherwise he would not have gotten caught.