No kidding. I've never felt so worried with a large-ish lead and only 20 games left in the season before. 4 vs Yankees, 3 vs Red Sox and 3 absolutely huge games against Texas in the next 3 series. If the Angels take 2 from the Rangers in Texas it's probably pretty close to over, but not many more easy wins on the schedule.

He's still behind Greinke and probably Hernandez, but he's in the group of guys who should be fishing for votes like Verlander, Halladay, Sabathia and Edwin Jackson. 10.16 K/9 and FIP of 3.04 before today's 8IP 2H performance. Yet for some reason people keep talking about Beckett as the ace of the staff and Cy Young candidate.And then immediately 3 with the Yankees at home before an off-day Thursday when they're staying in Anaheim instead of the off-day Monday when they're coming back from travel!

If the Sox can get a sweep, or even 2 out of 3 it pretty much locks up a playoff spot because of your 6 games with Texas. On the plus side, it's at home where we now have the best record in MLB (50-21, 34-37 on the road), but on the downside you'll get some unpredictable pitchers. Dice-K's comeback game, I think Wakefield on Wednesday if his back holds up before Beckett on Thursday. Avoiding Lester and Buchholz, the two best pitchers the last month.

Our hitters aren't on a role right now, either.

The bad news for BoSox, though, in getting us now, is that our starting pitching has been phenomenal of late. Something like two straight weeks of 2 ER or less and quality start after quality start. We don't have any Dice-K's in the rotation. You'll be facing Lackey, Saunders, Santana.

Should be an intense playoff atmostphere in every game through the home series with the Yanks. Looking forward to it.

Still hard to believe that no team offered Pedro a contract until mid-season.

I bet he's made himself some money now, though.

I was at the game last night...what a performance by Pedro!

Ozzie Guillen :D

He's just such a great quote. Probably not good for his career longevity but always amusing

SI

Love the quote on Rios....Hopefully Ozzie can kick his ass into high gear for once....

Tim Lincecum pitches another gem, striking out 11 over 7 innings as the Giants win game one of a three game series against the Rockies. The Giants MUST sweep to keep any playoff hopes alive. Today's game was notable becuase it marked the first time Bengie Molina hasn't batted in the 4 hole since 2007, I believe. Bochy's finally learning!...Except for not, as Buster Posey continues to waste away on the bench. With the Giants up 9-1 in the top of the 9th, the formidable Eli Whiteside replaced Molina as catcher. Posey has still yet to catch a single pitch since being called up, and has only received one measly AB.

If the Giants don't end up making it to the playoffs, it would be unbelievably awesome to have Lincecum win back-to-back Cy Youngs. He has to be considered the favorite, assuming no stumbles over his last few starts.

Well, he's been the best pitcher in the NL. The idiots in charge will probably give it to Wainwright because he has 18 wins to Lincecum's 14, but it would be a shame since Lincecum leads the league in ERA, K, IP and then some.

I know, I know...I'm just mentally preparing myself in the event that Wainwright and his shiny WINZ + PLAYOFFS overrides Lincecum being, you know, categorically superior in every other way. It's the BBWAA way!

I've never gotten the sense that Rios' decline is related to lack of effort though. His defense and baserunning, which should be more effort-based, haven't suffered.

Eh, we're at home. We hit here. It's listed as Byrd on Wednesday not Wakefield, so that's not good - Michael Bowden will probably be in by the 4th inning one of the first 2 games.

Interesting thing I hadn't realized on the playoff schedules. Schedule (A) allows the teams to start their top 2 starters on normal rest in games 4/5 while schedule (B) would have 3 days rest between games 1 and 4. Obviously we want schedule (A) more than the Angels so we have Lester/Beckett potentially 4x, and assuming matchups stay as of now, I think we'll get it because Schedule (A) would benefit Detroit much more than New York (the team that gets to decide.)

Now here's a shocker

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros say starting pitcher Mike Hampton will miss next season after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder.

A statement issued by the Astros on Tuesday say surgeons at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York repaired a full left rotator cuff tear in Hampton's pitching shoulder. Dr. David Altchek, the New York Mets' medical director, also repaired partial damage to the labrum in the shoulder.

The 37-year-old lefty was 7-10 in 21 starts this season with a 5.30 ERA in 112 innings. He's 148-115 in 409 career appearances with a 4.07 ERA in 2,264 career innings.

Didn't take long to figure out the problem:

I'd say anyone dumb enough to give Hampton $0.50 for his feeble attempts to pitch still having a job is a bigger problem. What's next for him, limbs just spontaneously fall off?

There has to be some way he can coach some NFL team once the baseball season is over, and then after football season, he needs to hook on with an NBA team.

The MLB season is simply not long enough to satisfy my Ozzie fix.

The least that should be done is to let Guillen replace McCarver for the playoffs and World Series.

Presented without comment.

Now, now, come on, you know tonight's result is not representative of how these two pitchers have generally performed.

It is, however, sadly representative of how the bunch of chokers from Anaheim again continue to play like crap against the Red Sox, in addition to making rookie and inconsistent pitchers look like Cy Young.

Nice lil Jays/Yanks brawl.

I'm probably the last Pirates' fan still watching games this year (particularly since the local affilliate pretty much quits showing games once the Steelers start back up), but I got lucky and found the Dodgers' broadcast on the MLB channel.

Dodgers fans probably don't realize how lucky they are to have Vin Scully. He is so much better than the Pirates' crew, it is hard to believe. He is an amazing broadcaster -- hard to believe that there are or have been any better (in any sport).

Greg Brown is a d-bag but I like the new guy. Tim something. Blass and Walk are okay. I usually listen to the radio though.

Trust me, they realize it.

I had to go look that one up.
Tim Neverett hired as play-by-play announcer | pirates.com: Official Info

Tim Neverett, former voice of the Vegas minor league baseball & hockey teams, former Denver area & Sporting News Radio talk host, former fill-in announcer for the Rockies on FSN.

I actually think Bob Walk is a pretty good color guy. He's very honest and criticizes players on both teams for poor decisions. He also explains things to viewers in a way that makes it seem educational and not simply condescending as some other broadcasters do.

Greg Brown has turned down his enthusiasm enough that he is somewhat tolerable. Neverett seems like he might be alright, but he almost seems like he doesn't know a whole lot about baseball.

For the color guys, John Wehner is horrendous. It is amazing how much money and how many years of work he has gotten from the Pirates, however terrible they may be. Blass has a smooth voice, seems like a genuinely nice guy, and is likeable, but only works home games and is a little past his prime, IMO. I think Bob Walk is pretty top-notch for a color guy. He is knowledgeable, a good team guy, and pretty funny (unfortunately, Brown and Neverett don't know what to do with humor), but he seems like he feels uncomfortable with silence and forces too much talking at times (sometimes, it is alright to just let the game run and let the audience watch on television).

As on odd aside, longtime Pirates' fans probably remember John Sanders, who did the Pirates' TV broadcasts along with Jim Rooker when I was a kid in the 80s. Sanders has done the past two WVU football games -- kind of odd to hear his voice again after so long.

Wehner is LOLDumb. In 2009 he's still talking about how RBI's are the most important stat for a hitter. And other dumb shit like that.

Neverett(thanks) might not know a ton about baseball, but he's gotten a lot better over the course of the season. I'm actually glad he's doing the majority of the radio, as like said earlier, Greg Brown is not good. Like his "trip trip triple" thing makes me hate it when our guy hits a triple. He also single handedly made me hate "Jack Flash" Wilson and "Nate the Great" McLouth. And fuck, i hate it when we win and he goes into the whole "Raise the Jolly Roger" shit. Thank god this team sucks.

I'm a different audience though, than you, Swaggs. I listen to almost every game on the radio, and rarely watch TV. The after game guy on the Radio, Rocco Demaro, is a personal fave of mine. I hope he breaks big some day, and doesn't get stuck talking to Yinzers for the rest of his life. You might want to check out some of the podcats(www.wpgb.com), he does some good work.

I guess I'll be alone on this but I can't stand Vin Scully. I don't like his voice and there's never a second of dead air when he's doing a game. The Dodgers broadcasts feel very claustrophobic, like I'm stuck in a room with this guy who won't shut up.

You haven't listened to enough Scully broadcasts. When something big happens, like Manny's pinch-hit slam a while ago, he just shuts up and lets the crowd tell the story.

But in the course of normal action, yeah, he weaves the action and factoids/stories about the players together.

I hope you're alone in that. I couldn't disagree more. It's a wonder listening to him call a game, even now. But, hey, to each their own.

Most non-So Cal fans know the Buck call of Gibson's homerun.

I was listening to Vin, and my recollection of that homerun is completely different than most, because I wasn't listening to Buck. I still think Vin's call was better than Buck's, and I can hear it now, replayed in my head.

What brings that up? After that great call, Scully shut his trap for a long while (Wikipedia says 67 seconds) and let the fans make the noise as Gibson gimped around the bases.

As Sack said, Scully actually does it a lot in great moments, not wanting to steal the moment from the player, and giving a voice to the fans. But when he does speak, man, it's truly amazing all the stories this guy has, and not about old players, but about new guys, fresh rookies even.

A big part of it is that he calls the game alone. If it's two guys in the booth then most of the talking has the pretense of a conversation between those two guys. With Vin Scully it's like I'm being unwillingly dragged into a conversation. I find it especially obnoxious during what would otherwise be uneventful, leisurely innings where instead I have Vin Scully yapping my ear off.

Pirate relievers....building walk off memories since 1992. Ethier gets the honors tonight.

Yep. He routinely does that kind of thing. I've heard both calls, and I 100% prefer Scully's.

Buck made it about *him* - "I don't believe what I just saw!" Emphasis mine.

Scully? Shut up for a longass time, and when he finally did speak again, it was about the team - "In the year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!"

Shit, I just looked for a sound clip of that call, and somebody combined the Buck and Scully calls. It isn't even close. Buck just kept talking over the entire minute and a half, and repeated the "I don't believe what I just saw!" bit three or four times.

Scully? "She...is...gone! {crowd goes apeshit for like a minute and a half} In the year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!"

YouTube - Kirk Gibson Walk Off.

68 seconds after 'She...is...gone!' by my watch, and 28 seconds after 'In the year that has been so improbable...' before he said anything ELSE.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that when Ethier just hit his walkoff, he shut up and let the fans going nuts tell the story. I don't get cable, so I don't have Fox Sports West to point to, but hopefully the MLB.com highlight, when it goes up, will be Scully making the call.

Good to see the Royals making their usual late September run, ruining their draft pick selection spot. :rolleyes:

7 of 8 with some wins against Detroit. Unbelievable.

Well, September Davies is back and Robinson Tejada forgot that you should make deals with the devil during the part of the season that matters.

SI

I'd much rather be in the high singles low doubles on draft day. There isn't a substantial drop in possibility of making the majors and you'll pay a lot less. The Reds winning run in September has made me much happier.

Yeah, but the Royals were in the running for #1 and were solidly at #2. Now, they're still #3 but within a couple of falling out of the top 5.

SI

I watched replays of this on ESPN-News, so I may be missing something, but were the Jays after the Yankees or what? They keep beaning guys, and the pitcher was getting all uppity about it (no apologies or anything, more "yeah, what are you going to do about it?". When the actual brawl occurred, he got in Posada's way behind the plate, and the shiver Posada gave him was more a "get out of my way" rather than retaliation for the pitch. And the first person thrown out looked like the ump tried to toss POSADA immediately on that?

What else did I miss? Based on the replays that Jays pitcher and probably his manager need to sit for a while. And the umps should be fired for not having tossed the pitcher sooner.

As one of those asshole uppity stuck-up elitist Boston fans, it feels weird to be on the Yankees side in something, but man did they have more patience than I think I would have as hard as the Jays were baiting them.

Is there more to this story than ESPN-News was showing? Some history bit missing that caused the pitcher to go that insane after folks?

Things like that are just another reason why I think the DH is horrible. If that pitcher had to stand at the plate, I'd guess he'd think twice about the crap he was doing.

Encarnacion (TOR) hit by a pitch in the 6th
Hill (TOR) Hit by a Pitch in the 8th

Note: No retaliation by the Blue Jays yet.

Bottom of the 8th Toronto pitcher throws a purpose pitch behind Posada, who drops the bat and says "You don't want to do that". Benches empty, no punches, but everyone stays in the game and all is well.

Until later in that inning, less then five minutes later, when on a double by Gardner, the Blue Jays pitcher is wandering around behind home plate (backing up a possible throw to the plate), and Posada going by throws out his forearm/elbow (weakly, I'll admit) to say "Yeah, buddy, I'm still here." Apparently he throws in some choice words to boot.

Pitcher turns, starts to flip out as the Umpire throws Posada out of the game. Posada flips out, runs around the guy trying to keep him out of any fight, and the donnybrook is on.

Aha, this is the part I heard wrong. I thought ESPN-News said 2 Yankees had been beaned earlier. If they were indeed Jays, then the actions make a lot more sense, and Posada just needs to be happy he got a warning shot rather than an actual beaning.

Yeah, this was much more about Posada not being smart (no matter how weak, throwing the forearm/elbow after scoring the run was just idiotic when the other team has nothing to lose while the Yanks are in a pennant race).

Will be interesting to see how this plays out but I'd imagine Carlson and Posada both end up with suspensions.

Carlson shouldn't miss anytime whatsoever...what did he do?? He got "bumped" by Posada and then got jumped by the Yankees benched when he asked Posada what the hell is problem was.

Posada should be sitting down for a few games, at the very least.

Carlson stood in Posada's way. He just casually wandered over behind the plate and made no effort to get out of Posada's way. After how he reacted on the pitch itself, he was goading him.

I was cracking up over this last night. The best part was the look of jubilation after he handed the ball to his daughter, and on the slow-mo replay, you could see the horror creep over his face as he realizes what's happening.

Or was in position on the play for a potential throw to home? He was there long before Posada who was the one who threw the (weak) shot that blew up the situation.

Two Jays get hit, one Yankee gets thrown behind as a warning and you're going to pin it on Carlson for where he was standing on D?

Do you not think that if Carlson really wanted to get things going he wouldn't have just put the ball right into Posada's ribs? A hell of a lot more effective than trying to bump a guy who's got 50 pounds on him after he scores a run. Especially that part where Carlson is standing pretty much still when Posada gives him the bump to get it going.

Dola, and watching it again it looks like it's much more likely it was something Posada said while going past Carlson than the bump/shot itself that really got things going. At least that's the impression I get watching Carlson's body language and the timing of things.