The difference there is that the Yankees have the postseason wrapped up so it really doesn't matter whereas the Tigers still have a lot to fight for.

SI

True, but don't you want your pitching to be at the top of its game heading into the playoffs? The Yanks' pitching is looking terrible, not that we ever thought it was great, but still...

Won't argue that at all. I just see some in the press not even mentioning McGehee in the list of candidates. There are probably better candidates to win it, but McGehee deserves some love.

He's also an all around good guy. His son has cerebral palsy and they had a game earlier this season where his son threw out the first pitch and Casey went on to blast the go-ahead home run later in the game. Just a great moment in what's been sort of a dismal season for the Brewers.

Does Garrett Jones get no love on the national level? OPS of .964, OPS+ of 155. Is it really going to come down to the fact that he only played a half season(should finish with around 82 games played and 340 PAs) and hit 20 homers(which leads NL rookies) and only drove in 40 runs?

I suppose Hanson should win, I didn't realize he was pitching that well.

I forgot him probably because he's come out of nowhere (though you could say the same about Coghlan) and that he wasn't there at the start (though that applies to others as well). He's certainly deserving of consideration.

kind of mirrors this vote 2005 Awards Voting - Baseball-Reference.com

Jones put up numbers like Howard. Hanson is more like Zach Duke. Not sure how the rest of the guys factor into the equation. Actually Jones was a bit better than Howard, and Hanson pitched more(although worse) than Duke, but I don't think it's crazy if a guy only plays 80ish games and wins. Maybe anyways.

To be fair, it's not like they're playing a Single A team when they come here.

And come to think of it, the Tigers also don't fare so well here.

The Angels are a good team. The Yanks have lost their last 9 of 10 in Anaheim. If they lose the division to Boston, they will play the Angels in the first round, and they might as well just kiss this year goodbye.

If we keep losing to the Royals I don't think you're in much danger of that. Plus we seem more interested in setting up Lester/Beckett/Buchholz for the playoffs than altering the rotation to pitch them against the Yankees when we basically need a sweep to win the division.I mean, I'm on record as supporting Greinke and certainly not CC, but I don't see how that last stat helps your argument. If CC has a lower OPSa and an ERA 1.2 higher, then really all Greinke has on him is a much higher strand rate, and without any evidence I'd guess the year to year correlation on that isn't as high as OPSa.

That's not the OPS against him- that's the combined OPS of all batters he has faced this season. Basically, it shows that Sabathia and Greinke have faced the same level of competition this season (and theirs is almost identical). However, Greinke has held them to a .615 OPS when facing him while Sabathia has a .648 OPS against.

That said- you know how this works as it's kindof a limited stat as it doesn't take defense into account or give credit for K's or balance for park effect, etc. That's why we start talking about ERA+, FIP, WPA, WAR, pERA, and all that.

It's just that I keep hearing this incorrect meme that Sabathia pitches in the much tougher East so he's so much better. Halladay is the only one who has a realistic case there, but everyone else looks like a wash, within .010 opponent OPS of each other (i.e. "strength of schedule")

SI

Ahh, my bad - I've been up since 4am. The CC thing shouldn't surprise - the AL East as a whole is tougher (or at least was until TB and Baltimore folded it up), but much of that and the best offense in the division is the Yankees, and clearly CC isn't matching up against them.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	WHIP	Season ERA
Z. Greinke	6.0	2	0	0	3	5	0	1.06	2.08

Greinke's line for the night- pulled after 91 pitches. The Royals have a 5-0 lead in the 7th but that means the bullpen still has to preserve it for 2 more innings.

Horrible home plate ump for both sides. Here's a scatter plot that was posted at one point:



SI

Is it Rick Reed?

Andy Fletcher- don't know much about him

SI

It's at least somewhat consistent - regardless what Questec or whatever says, umpires seem to like stretching the outside of the zone and pinching the bottom.

V-Mart continues his fairly cheap, now 21-game hitting streak with a lone single. During it he's raised his OPS all of 22 points.

I love cheap hitting streaks.

They put him on the DL for left Achilles tendinitis. He's been playing injured for most of the season, so they shut him down so he could get surgery and for him to be ready by Spring Training.

Roberts got his 55th double tonight, tying the MLB record for switch hitters. 60 hasn't been reached since 1936 and the record is 63 (he won't get that many, but he may get 60.) Wieters stayed hot and went 3-5 tonight. Other than that, there's no reason to watch anymore.

As far as the pitching... I don't know what happened to Guthrie, but you can count on him either giving up a ton of homers, or getting shelled in the first two innings and then pitching fine. I'm sure he'll be back in the rotation next year, but I hope not. I want it to be Matusz, Tillman, Hernandez, Bergesen, and hopefully a FA until Arrieta is ready.

Well, the Royals are terrible despite their 12-3 run of late. But it would be SO exciting to have Zack land the Cy Young Award. Really happy to see him flourishing under pressure. Probably didn't hurt that the Royals scored a bunch of runs in the first inning to give him a nice cushion.

When is he a free agent?

Just signed an extension I believe. Not for another 5 years or so.

Zack is one that KC could hang on to for much of his career, if not his entire career. The Royals are willing to give him extensions and, due to his personal issues, he's not interested at all in the bright lights and scrutiny that a big market commands.

He's signed through 2012.

He's also said he's comfortable pitching anywhere but NY.

Alex Speier | Divided Loyalties: Why One Sox Official Will Find It Hard To Root Against Zack Greinke

Saying it is one thing. Doing it is another thing. George Brett has been a great influence on him during the year away from baseball (he lived with George for several months during his time off) and during the comeback. Hopefully, Zack's upcoming marriage will help him as well. I think Zack would move on if the money wasn't there, but management appears much more willing to offer the bigger contracts now than they were 5-10 years ago.

Thanks for the correction on the contract. I was thinking of Soria's extension at the start of the year that locked him up for awhile.

I didn't mean to say that he WILL go anywhere, just that I read that story yesterday and it seemed relevant.

If KC lets Greinke go, then they truly have their heads up their asses. He seems like the kind of guy who will not push them for every red cent and instead wants to be somewhere comfortable. They should do everything they can to ensure that he resigns.

Sure. I appreciate you posting it. I don't think that a lot of people outside of KC and maybe some AL Central Division markets truly understand just how bad the situation was. He had a lot of really bad issues all rolled up into one and the story correctly notes that Bell and Baird did the best thing for him to shut him down and get him some support.

Brad Lidge. I will always love you for 2008.

After tonight, though, it's about time you go and die in a car fire.

As long as there's nobody else in the car.

Wieters 2-4 with another homer tonight, up to .290. Any chance he starts creeping back into ROY discussion if he finishes up like this?

Perhaps Homer Bailey has finally figured things out. He's 4-1 over his last seven games with a 2.00 era. Given Volquez is out for next season it would be nice to see him fulfill his potential. Harang, Arroyo, Cueto, and Bailey isn't a bad top four.

Now if only the Reds had a bat not named Votto...

Wow, what a trainwreck that guy is. He can't get out of his own way at this point.

Any chance that Brett Myers will move into the closer role (I heard one of the announcers on ESPN mention this)?

Myers is actually hurt right now (again).

I think the announcer mentioned this, and was wondering if Myers would move into the closer's role after he came off the DL.

Cubs lose and we can't get Smoltzie a win?

Guess this is what we're left with as Royals fans. Haven't had a pennant race late in the season for over a decade, so we've got the Daily Cy Young race watch instead!

GREINKE WATCH: Through Wednesday | Upon Further Review

Charlie Manual needs to:

1. Go to --> League Setup --> AI Options
2. Change "Last Year Stats" percentage from 100% to 0%
3. Change "Current Year Stats" percentage from 0% to 100%
4. Click "Apply now"

Then Lidge and Bruntlet should show up on waiver wire.

Nobody's paying any attention. Although I've only seen discussion on the NL RoY - who's out there for AL?

Andrew Bailey, OAK
Rick Porcello, DET
Jeff Nimenan, TB
Nolan Reimold, BAL
Gordon Beckham, CHA
Elvis Andrus, TEX
Ricky Romero, TOR

Personally I think it ough to be one of the first 3 listed. Porcello is 14-9 with a 4.19 ERA with the best ground ball to fly ball ratio of any AL pitcher, not just rookies, and yes I am a homer.

That said any of those guys are deserving.

This is CLASSIC :lol:

I think Nieman will win it, 12-6 with a 3.81 ERA, 172 innings and 2 shutouts. Then Bailey with 1.93 ERA and 25 saves then Porcello.

arent like 3 or 4 of those games vs the Pirates though?

Word on the street is that the Phils are considering using Happ in the post-season closer role.

Seriously.

I disagree. Porcello is the only one playing in meaningful games down the stretch, and has only gotten BETTER. Oh, and he's only 20.

He should win, hands down.

2, but it also includes games against the Dodgers, Marlins and Rockies.

I don't follow the Phillies nor do I like them, but anyone has to be better than Lidge at this point.

This season is an embarasment. Not that the past 17 haven't been bad. But the Pirates were like 35-38 at one point IIRC. Since then not so good.

I feel bad for Pirates fans, I really do. Just seems like ownership that doesn't care if they win or not, and screw the fans while they are at it.

They were getting to Zach too vs the Royals. That would have maybe out them 2 under. Then it rained. Since then like .250ish baseball.

i've always felt in cases like this (or that of the clippers for example) that there ought to be league provisions for stripping owners of their ownership and reselling the team (and then of course i guess paying the old owners back).

This.

Except for paying the owners back part. If they are dumb enough to fuck up a professional team's finances, let them swim in their own bankruptcy.

well yeah, but then none of the owners would agree to it. gotta have some way of getting somewhat paid back so they all want to be owners

Yeah. Killing Nutting would be awesome. But that isn't going to fix baseball and its finances.

Might help though. Quick fixes and changing plans every year wasn't working.

If I ran the team I'd probably try to sign Harden this offsesson. Or another solid veteran starter. And look to upgrade RF. Although maybe Pedro and Jose Tabata will fix the offense.

A lot of the bullpen guys got shut down last month. Hanrahan and milledge have done pretty good work. The trade with washington was a winner.

They just keep running Andy Laroche and Moss/Pearce out there and those guys sucks.