it really has been

Jeff Conine and Sandy Alomar on the same field, and it's not even Old Timer's Day!

God I hate Heilman.

arg

Whew.

so annoying

the game, not you bucc :)

I need to go back and find the people that said the Nationals would have 100 losses. :)

Speaking of 100 losses, the Royals only need to win 7 of their last 36 to finally avoid 100 losses. 17-19 would get them less than 90 losses but the schedule down the stretch is tough with a ton of games against Detroit, Cleveland, and Minnesota

SI

I think the Pads should move to New Jersey or something.

Good things happen when you go to Wally World.

Braves designated Bob Wickman for assignment.

wow, really?

whose gonna close for them?

What was this move all about? It is a strange time for a team like the Braves to get rid of their closer. Have they tossed in the towel?

seems more like a move to send a message to the team

Word was he's pissed about how Cox was using him (bringing him into non-save situations). Then they had considered moving him to the set-up role, he got pissed again...DFAed.

Yeah, apparently Andruw called Wickman out for this.

I fucking hate the save statistic.

There's just never going to be another like him. I know there's a lot of sentiment that we may be watching the best pitcher ever and that it's Clemens. I think if anyone from this era is the best ever, it's Maddux and, again, there just won't be another like him. Not overpowering stuff, even in his prime, tho his fastball did tickle the mid 90s but with pinpoint control and all but defies DIPS with his ability to "pitch to contact" but without it killing him, despite only decent K rates but awesome BB rates. There's just something about a 78 pitch complete game that takes under 2 hours.

SI

I think they're different sorts of pitchers. It's not so easy to compare. What is more important? Clemens' pinpoint control and blazing fastball? Maddux' studious command and control? Martinez's devastating movement? The Unit's "almost out of control" scariness?

None of them have been on teams that I followed, and in fact, they have generally been on teams I despised. But I am certainly happy to have been watching baseball when those four were pitching. Toss in the best closer in baseball history in Rivera and the potential for what Santana could become in the longterm, and it shows we have really been blessed with some amazing pitchers in this era.

3 AM Est and the Tigs/Yanks are in the 11th

Wow! I knew they had a rain delay and were still playing a bit ago, but I didn't put two and two together (with how late it must be). I thought the AL had a curfew? Or is that only during the work week?

Carlos Guillen hits a 3 run walk off HR at 3:30 AM to end it

wow, great game

Good for them. In the wildcard race, there is no winner in this game if you don't support one or the other. But I would rather the Tigers got there if it meant the Yanks were golfing early in October.

Of course, if my team can hold off the M's, well, I don't really care about the wildcard other than that it not be the Yankees. :)

David Wright's last 20 plate appearances have seen him reach base 17 times for an OBP of .850 :).

Chief, are you telling me you'd be okay with the Yankees, against whom y'all have had recent postseason success, winning the East while the Sox, who've had your number, take the wild card? :D

Bah! Not worried about the Yanks catching the Sox.

The Reds are 10 under and only 6.5 out of the NL Central lead. The Central is such a joke again this year. Who among the Cubs, Brewers, and Cards will actually play like they want it down the stretch? Cubs and Brewers start a big series tomorrow night.

Astros fire manager Garner, GM Purpura
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2993335

Fired because the GM hasn't done anything and their scouting/drafting has been among the worst in baseball.

I doubt it was Garner's call to hit Biggio leadoff as much as he did, but if it was thats probably grounds for firing I guess.

The argument between Clemens and Maddux is an interesting one. I don't think anyone would deny that both guys are in the handful of best right-handed pitchers ever, and when you consider the ability level of athletes today you could very easily argue that these two guys are the top two in history.

While I think Clemens has a slight edge on Maddux due to more innings and a superior ERA+ (143 to 135), it's close enough that picking between the two guys is tough.

What I will take some exception to is the idea that Maddux is that he "defies DIPs", which is untrue. Lifetime, Clemens' BABIP is .287; Maddux's is .286. Because Maddux struck out a lower rate of guys than Clemens (8.59 per 9 IP vs. 6.13 per 9 IP), Maddux allowed more hits (8.43 per 9 IP vs. 7.66 per 9 IP). However, Maddux also walked fewer guys than Clemens (1.82 per 9 IP vs. 2.89 per 9 IP) and has a higher groundball to flyball ratio (2.34 vs. 1.45) so he was able to mostly mitigate his deficit in K rate. Let's also not forget that Maddux has had a decent K rate for most of his career.

But unless you can show that Maddux's defense behind him over the course of his career has been significantly inferior to Clemens', then you'd have to conclude that Maddux hasn't been any more "defiant" of DIPs theory than Clemens. They both appear to be slightly better than normal in terms of preventing hits on balls in play, but virtually equivalent to each other.

Garner wasn't a good manager in Milwaukee and that team was so stacked two years ago that a rabbit could've managed them to the World Series.

I'm so tired of retreads getting jobs when Cito Gaston sits without a job to this day.

Looking at the numbers more (mostly Bedard's insane K rate this year) it's very difficult to argue that this season is a fluke - his BABIP rate and his LOB% aren't particularly out of the ordinary, and his HR/F% if anything is showing bad luck.

I'm moving Bedard out of the "Knocking on the door" category and into the top of the "Very Good", with him only needing to follow-up next year with a good season to promote him to "Elite" - dude is a flat-out stud. His huge jump in K-rate suggests he's made a big performance leap that isn't unheard of in pitchers (and something that makes them less easy to project than hitters). It's not impossible that this could be an Esteban Loaiza-type of fluke year, but it is unlikely.

This is why baseball is a cool game: during tonight's Giants-Rockies telecast (FSN), the cameramen spotted a kid in the stands doing his own little 'broadcast'. He's got a laptop for stats and player info, got his scorecard and defense sheet, and a little headset with a mike. It's not clear whether he's just recording or actually broadcasting over the internet (the park is WiFi'd).

So this, in and of itself isn't too unexpected. But what should happen in the next inning but that the cameras catch Jon Miller (who was working radio with Dave Flemming) who has apparently escaped the booth for a bit and grabbed the seat next to the kid and chatted with him over the better part of an inning.

I have to think that was a great moment for that kid.

6th inning update: now they've brought the kid into the radio booth.

8th inning update: kid is arrested for re-broadcasting without the express written consent of major league baseball.

Apparently you've confused MLB with the RIAA...

:D

SI

what better - Horacio Ramirez or Ervin Santana?

Cubs with a BIG come from behind win against Milwaukee to take game 1 in the series.

Trivia question for the day: Who has the lowest ERA among qualified rookies in baseball? No, it's not Matsuzaka. He's actually 3rd.

SI

Man, you're telling me. The mystifying love affair that is the relationships between Santana and Angels management is frustrating for any fan.

It took four months of awful--and I mean awful--pitching before they finally sent Santana down. Dustin Moseley steps in and pitches great. Well, not great, but he was doing what a fifth starter does--keeps us in the game.

Meanwhile, Santana is pitching at AAA--and getting blown out. Six to seven runs every game. Despite this, Scioscia keeps coming out and saying the Angels like what they have seen from Santana, that is velocity is good and he's doing the things they want him to do to get back into form. But, umm, Mike, he's still getting blitzed, and now it's by AAA hitters.

So we reach the need for a starter when we had a double header versus the Sox ten days ago. Against conventional wisdom (Santana is amazingly bad on the road), they start him in Fenway, and he actually pitches well. Best game he's pitched in four months, majors or minors. Apparently the Angels have never heard of proving it over the longterm.

Moseley had been very solid for us, but now they bump him back to the pen and stick Santana back in the rotation. Last Thursday, Santana pretty much blows the game against the Jays himself. If you could see 'lack of confidence', you wouldn't have been able to see the field around Santana. Do the Angels take the hint? No, of course not. Let's start him on the road against the M's in the biggest series of the year!

Tonight speaks for itself. Five runs allowed in the first. Only gets one batter out. Moseley comes in and has now pitched five-plus scoreless innings and we have tied it up. We would be winning if Angels management pulled their collective head out of their ass and stopped rolling Santana out there. This guy needs long term--long term--success somewhere other than a pennant race to get back to form. He shouldn't be near this club.

I am praying, just praying, this will finally wake someone up, and Santana will be sent back to AAA where he belongs. Ugh.

My first guess would have been Guthrie, but since a royals fan is asking I'm going to guess Bannister (I think he still qualifies as a rookie).

Yeah, you got #2 (Guthrie, 3.46) and #1 (Bannister, 11-7 3.27 ERA after tonight). Bannister only had 38 IP coming into the year.

SI

I just think it's very sporting of the Angels to have put Santana back in the rotation to give them an equally bad 5th starter as the Mariners.

Regardless of how this one turns out, tomorrow should be a fun one with Weaver and Felix going at it.

Angels fans really have nothing to worry about from the M's - regardless of whatever talent we have on our roster, John McLaren will take a page out of Mike Hargrove's book and refuse to maximize that talent with his idiotic strategic decisions and lineups.

Nice try Marlon

Fucking retarded Marlon. You have to read how slowly that ball is moving, see Rollins double-clutch the ball, and not try to pull an Albert-Belle-on-Fernando-Vina.

I know it's just the Nationals, but damn was that a gut-check win. Ace gets blitzed, come back from down 8-3 to win in extra innings.

Can someone tell the Pads to give Maddux some run support?

DBacks fans could say the same about Micah Owings ;)

SI

Speaking of which, does anyone have a site that has run support for this season?

SI