F*&@!!!!

Ugh! One strike away from getting to within 3 games of Colorado.

noooooo :(

Not Rowand. Ughhh I smell a DP

Man he is useless. 3 pitches and back to the bench. At least it wasn't a DP

Sigh.

Found it pretty amusing to see Zack Greinke get tossed from the game last night for complaining about the strike zone.......in a game he wasn't even pitching in. Must have been a pretty bad strike zone last night to get Greinke hollering. It's very rare that you'll find him reacting to a call even on the mound.

Its not the Most Valuable Rookie of the Year Award and a rookie is a rookie, doesn't matter if he is 20 or 25. Yeah, what Porcello has done is quite impressive (I love watching him pitch) but he is by no means a hands down winner. Take off your Tigers glasses and look at the big picture.

Nice pitching duel in the Yankees/Red Sox game.

Braves now within 5 of Philadelphia and within 3 of Colorado.

Hoping Cardinals bullpen can hold the 4-3 lead and bring the Braves within 2.5.

2.5 back

BELIEVE

Angels choking another game away against Oakland as Texas wins in Tampa. If this happens again tomorrow, will start to be slightly concerned.

I'm not so much concerned, as just flat angry.

"Big John" fails again. This guy has talked a lot of crap over the past few months for him not to show up on a night like this. Obviously, the pen sucked, too, but it has been hit and miss all year. It's not a surprise. John "I'm gonna get me Sabathia money" Lackey is what let Oakland back in the game.

And this one a night after the ridiculously inconsistent offense makes Gio Gonzalez look like a freakin' star.

Yeah Lackey isn't blameless but what a complete clusterfuck the bullpen is right now. I'm still beyond pissed at Reagins for not strengthening it at the deadline. When it comes down to it I have zero confidence in any of these guys to get it done.

Why why why is Gregg Norton up in important situations?

Because the Braves were too cheap to use the expanded rosters to call up anyone who actually might, you know, get a hit.

Brandon Jones &Barbaro Canizares are two that come to mind, but for that matter where is Ryan Church (1 AB in the past 10 games) Reid Gorecki (1 AB in the past 2 weeks), or hell use Brooks Conrad and let him do his Greg Norton imitation (0 for 16 since the Sept call ups)

Atlanta wins again, St. Louis is leading Colorado by a run in the fourth inning. It could be 1.5 games at the end of today.

Reid Gorecki can't hit at all, but I'd definitely rather see one of those other guys up. But what do you expect from Bobby Cox? For months he's had the top 2 OBP guys (Diaz and LaRoche) batting 7 and 8, and the worst hitter in the lineup (Garret Anderson) batting 4th or 5th.

But Garret Anderson is a veteran!

But Gorecki's hitting is relative to Norton's in this case.

Gorecki: .208 Avg
Norton: .135 Avg

Granted Norton has a better OBP and somewhat fewer strikeouts (although Gorecki's sample size of just 25 AB's is pretty small) but I'd say there's at worst an equal chance of Gorecki getting an actual base hit as there is Norton. Then again Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, and Diory Hernandez all have higher BA's than Norton.

Come on, Cardinals! If you help the Braves get in, you increase your chances of facing Gregg Norton in a key situation in the playoffs.

Zack probably wrapped up the AL Cy Young today. 1 ER over 7 innings with 8 strikeouts. He's now got 16 wins and lowered his league-leading ERA to 2.06.

He's also only 8 K's away from tying the single season strikeout record held by Dennis Leonard.

Phillies don't blow a lead in the ninth. I know, I'm surprised, too.

I kinda feel bad for Red Sox fans. After starting the season 8-0 against the Yankees, your team promptly went 1-9 against them the rest of the way, including a team ERA of over 6. Ouch. I don't really know what will happen in the playoffs (Yankees pitching still does not have me convinced they can get it done), but it is hard to argue the Yankees don't have the momentum right now.

I'll be pretty surprised if the Yankees don't win the World Series.

If Boston loses to the Angels, and the Yankees beat the Tigers/Twins (no guarantee), I would not count on them winning a 7 game series against Anaheim. Should they win? Probably. Will they win? Hell if I know.

I too would be absolutely stunned if the Yankees don't win the AL. Their lineup is just too deep and the bullpen is too good. Before the last Angels-Yankees series you could possibly say that the Angels had their number but now, I don't think so. I guess the one concern is if Petitte has a bad outing and Joba has a melt down then you are getting low on quality starters but still... Yankees are a class above everybody this year IMO.

And there is pretty much 0% chance the Angels get past the Red Sox anyway, talk about a curse.

Not sure which bullpen you are watching, but the Yankees' bullpen is terrible. Although we got a good outing yesterday by Bruney and Coke, those two normally stink. Bruney was pitching well until his injury problems earlier this season, he hasn't been the same since. Phil Hughes has been lights out in the 8th, and Rivera is still a top closer. However, the main problem is starting pitching/long relief. If Pettite is not up to par, and Joba pitches like he has been (aside from Saturday's game), the Yanks are in trouble.

I will believe it when I see it. Remember, A-Fraud has yet to prove he can be relevant in a big-game moment. I also am afraid of what happens if Posada gets injured (as much as the guy annoys me). Molina sucks. Period. The guy can't hit a ball off a tee.

Well, Coke has actually been pretty good recently and his WHIP is very good, he just needs to stop giving up bad homers. Plus it's the playoffs and you can sometimes get by with 2 elite relievers if your starters are solid, Mo can easily go 2 innings if he has to and Hughes is a starter, there's no endurance problems there.

But yeah, overall I didn't realise how shallow the Yankees bullpen is. If they get into a lot of drawn out games that could be an issue as well. Still, overall talent level on the team, they should get into the WS easily.

I won't. With 7 game series, there's plenty of opportunity for "lesser" teams to win.

Wow. The Dodgers are ready for the playoffs, aren't they. They lost yesterday too. To the Pirates.

Pirates 11
Dodgers 1

Game 1:

Twins 3
Tigers 2 (10 innings)

Detroit may just blow this and watch the playoffs this year. If so, I blame it all on Leyland, including the pile of cigarette butts in the dugout.

Kind of regretting turning down Tigers tickets for tonight and Thursday. Oops :)

Braves 2 back of Rockies and 4 back of Phillies after another stellar performance from Jair Jurrjens. Shaping up to be a pretty exciting finish.

Braves seriously look like they will make the playoffs.

And cue them losing four of their last six while the Rockies win three or four outta six.

It'd be something if the Tigers blew the division the week after the Lions won for the first time since 2007.

Sometimes I wonder if the Red Wings are all that keeps the entire state going. :(

Heh, anyone else hear this yet? The call of the year from Sunday's Seattle-Toronto game. Great reaction after the homerun but you need to listen to the pregame clip first.

link

This is more offseason business, but it's looking like the success of the Giants this season has all but ensured that both Sabean and Bochy will be returning. I'm having a sad right now. I'd actually be somewhat okay with Sabean returning in that I wouldn't want to open a vein upon hearing the news, but Bochy really needs to take his big head elsewhere. He is the wrong manager for next year's team, and I was really hoping that Duke Neukom would realize this and bring in someone with a healthy respect for the construction of a sensible lineup and the understanding that veterans don't always do it better than youngsters.

Yeah, that's some good stuff right there. I don't know how serious Blowers was about his prediction - I tend to think he was half-joking - but he came out looking like Nostradamus.

That was great.

Now if only the season would end so JP Riccardi can get fired in Toronto. Time for Cito to go too. I mean, I don't mind him, but...regime change is just what the doctor ordered up there. If they wanna bring Gillick back as the interim, I could be down for that, but I don't know if he wants to go full circle or not.

On second thought, they need to hire Kim Ng, the Dodgers Assistant GM. Sure, it'll be a story that generates attention since she'd be the first woman GM, but I think not only would it play well in Toronto, but she knows her stuff and would be a good pickup where other teams are too gunshy.

After the Roy Halladay fiasco, the Blue Jays would be stupid to keep that guy.

He's toast and pretty much knows it, but now says it's the fault of the Yankees & Red Sox that he hasn't been successful, even while the freakin' Rays who started with a lot less to work with managed to make the playoffs during his tenure.

I love Riccardi. Without his public auction for Halladay, the Phillies would've never gotten Lee for so cheap. :thumbsup:

Matt motherfuckin Diaz!

Yeah, I suppose it is the Yankees and Red Sox fault that everyone but one team wins the world series every year too. What a douchebag he is.


Yep, and Lee has been pretty much lights out too. Stupid Indians.

Verlander having a rough time in the 8th, Twins cut the lead to 5-4 but Granderson leads off the bottom half with a solo bomb.

Can Rodney close it?

Let's hope so.

Followed unfortunately by motherfuckin Kenshin Kawakami :(