The Official MLB 2007 Thread
 

Less then 24 hours until the Mets kick off their season!!

I love the way some parity has been bought to the league, it should be a great season. Since I moved I am 10 minutes from Great American Ballpark so I plan on going to alot of games.

Too bad the Reds have to play in those games (ducks before Shorty sees me).

I personally think SI's (the mag, not the FOFCer) pick of the Angels over the Dodgers in the World Series is part of the East Coast master plan to jinx the West Coast and try to give creedence to the East Coast bias they alreayd live and die by. :)

At least they didn't pick the Yankees

That reminds me- we don't have a projection thread. Hell, let's put them here.

SI

I would kill just to see the Angels and Dodgers play in a World Series. Yeah, I'd be rooting for the Dodgers all the way, but my uncle is nearly as big an Angel fan as I am a Dodger fan...that would be a FUN 4-7 games.

Mets over the Red Socks in 7.

yes I'm a homer and not ashamed of it.

Location: Cincinnati.

I'm guessing that either Lathum's use of 'homer' calls for a "you keep on using that word..." reference, or else he's a NY native. :D

Time for the WORLD CHAMPIONS to defend their title!!

I have tickets for Tuesday's, championship ring replica night! Wonder if I could use that to pick up the ladies? (as long as my wife lets me go out to the bars) :)

But Todd, isn't that what got Tony in trouble? ;)

Too bad they're not even going to win the division... :p

I'm wayyyy ahead of him in that department. :D

Oh no you didn't! ;)

They will definitly finish ahead of the Astros! :p

ESPN's 18 predicting experts came up with 17 different world series teams. I'm pretty sure that a higher range than what was predicted for Super Bowl teams last August.

There's just no way that's legit in what people really believe.

SI

Yeah, but they'll both lose to the... Reds? No. Brewers... maybe, if everything goes right. Cubs? Nope. Pirates- yeah, that's gotta be it! Man, the NL Central sucks again

SI

I hate being on the WI/MN border. No White Sox games for me and I can't afford mlb.tv :(

The only one that was an obvious goof was the Cubs/White Sox prediction. But as pointed out in another thread, there's really only 7 or 8 teams who have NO shot at the playoffs. And any playoff team can get through a couple of short series to get to the playoffs.

Sucks? I think it's going to be quite a competitive division this year and I also think record wise every team but the Pirates will be within the rest of the NL leaders.

We'll see about that, my fine feathered friend...

My lock predictions:

AL EAST: Yankees
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Angles
AL WILD CARD: Red Sox

NL EAST: Phillies
NL CENTRAL: Cardinals
NL WEST: Dodgers
WILD CARD: Padres

ALCS: Red Sox over Yankees
NLCS: Dodgers over Cardinals

World Series: Red Sox over Dodgers

1 hour and 42 mins before the Cardinals take the field!

you have lost all credibility with me by not picking the Mets to make the post season.

Figures... we don't get ESPN on basic here *mutter* No baseball for me.

how the hell can you have basic cable with no ESPN?

Sopcast is your friend.

Besides, isn't women's basketball on ESPN?

That's what I want to know. I get 2 MTV channels and other likewise lame shit, but no ESPN.

Well, I meant for later tonight.

i think women's basketball is still on ESPN.

Baseball is on ESPN2 but let's face it, if they don't have ESPN with the basic package, it's highly unlikely they have ESPN2.

/tk

Yeah, ESPN must have sold its soul to the NCAA for its football rights, so in return, they must be obligated to put the women's NCAA tournament on ESPN, relegating the first MLB game to the year to ESPN2. Embarrassing.

And the Women's Final will get better ratings than probably any ESPN Sunday Night Basebal game this year. I think last year the Women's Final Four's ratings were 3X the Opening Night game on ESPN2.

I can't imagine any circumstance under which I would watch women's basketball. Maybe with my daughters, since I'd like them to learn how to play.

And opening night of baseball really deserves a big spotlight. I think they should start the season on Sunday afternoon, actually.

Baseball's here. That's awesome.

GO CARDINALS!!

And it should damn well start in Cincinnati

SI

Absolutely.

I am currently reading a collection of essays by Roger Angell, one of the best baseball writers of all time and here's what was said in the intro by Richard Ford:

"The game offers regular-sized humans performing oversized, occassionally glorious feats with grace and precision, all of it viewable in normally nice weather, pretty surroundings, and in real time....Meanwhile, the game's nature doesn't change much over a lifetime but maintains its casual, elemental sturdiness reminiscent of pastoral, patriotic origins."

I am always happy when baseball season arrives. It may not be the most exciting sport, esp. televised, but it is a welcomed change of pace after a season of football 'roid rages. Baseball has truly marked the time when it begins in the newness of spring.

M-E-T-S METS METS METS!!!!!!

lets run this thing up on carpenter baby!!!!!

We're going 162-0 !!

Absolutely. Gotta love the timely hitting from guys like LoDuca and Green.

The defense has been stellar. If we can play D like this all year that will make up for the marginal starting pitching

"Marginal" starters is such an exaggeration. Do you remember some of the names that were sent out there last season? Gonzalez, Lima, Soler...not to mention the definition of mediocrity, Steve Trachsel. Those spots are being filled by Maine (excellent stuff and was great under pressure in the playoffs, I expect a great year out of him), Perez (will surely be erratic, with some great games and some bad ones mixed together), and Pelfrey (who could have a Verlander-like impact).

Yes, El Duque will surely break down eventually...but by the time that happens, Pedro will be back and I think he'll be at full-strength. As long as nothing catastrophic happens between now and July, I think his surgery will end up being a blessing in disguise. He'll be fresh and will be as good as any deadline addition could be.

I'm honestly not the homer-type who can't see flaws in his team...and that said, I'm not in any way worried about the starting pitching this season.

If you think you're going to be getting the old Pedro back when he comes back, you're going to be setting yourself up for heartbreak.

He'll be good, and he'll win his share of games, but 3.50-4.00 sounds more realistic than 2.00-2.50 to me in terms of his ERA.

Well condisering their lineup that is just fine.

I really don't think Pedro comes back at all, or if he does, it's 1-2 starts before he shuts it down. An early demise has been predicted for him for a long time now, just like for his brother.

He's not exactly known for his timely return from injuries. He'll milk it until early September, and then bitch when the NYC media puts the heat on him.

Herb Carneal died today, I know most probably don't know who he is, but he was the voice of the Twins for 45 years though the last few were on part time duty. RIP Herb

One of your starters is a reject from the Pirates and you aren't worried?

While it is embarrassing...nothing to do with football. The conferences and individual bowls sell rights to the games. The NCAA basically makes nothing on NCAA I-A football television rights.

Nowhere in that did I say that he was going to be the Pedro of Expos/early Sox days. When I said full-strength, I meant that it will be like he's coming out of spring training, and by starting later in the season he won't break down by August. Your description is exactly what I'm expecting...and yes, that will be enough.


He's a month ahead of schedule already, so his return has been moved up from August to July. Again, not worried. Feel free to bump this post in August though.


This statement by itself should be why I'm not worried. No, it doesn't concern me that an organization like the Pirates took a guy who throws 98 mph and tried turning him into a finesse pitcher. Plus, one of their last rejects was Jason Schmidt. He turned out okay.

Anyone else going to the Nats game today?

Sure, why not! See ya there!

We got smoked!

:)

White Sox game will be starting and I'll be in Art Appreciation. Bleh.

Fucking Lidge... :rolleyes:

:D

Go Mariners! 4-0 vs the A's

King Felix: 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K. 12 groundouts, 0 flyouts.

Yeah I know it's the first game and the M's are doomed but it's nice to see them win the first game at home.

Anyone else ever see FanGraphs? They have a live scoreboard that calculates Win Probability on the fly for every game. Also keeps stats for just about everything baseball.

Erik Bedard got roughed up for 6 runs, but I know he'll bounce back for a good if not great year. Ramon Hernandez got scratched for the opening series before the game, and Paul Bako is now the starting catcher. The bench is awful, Alberto Castillo, Freddie Bynum and Chris Gomez for the time being.

Hope I'm wrong but it's gonna be another long year and 4th place once again.

Royals tied for first place!

I got to get this out of my system since it's baseball season.

Hey MrBug - Dodgers SUCK! ;)

yep.

Interesting site. Thx for the heads up.

Dude, that's applicable - in season or out of season. Their are certain inevitable truths in life - and the Dodgers sucking is one of them.

He got 2 Ks to start things off.

A lot better than "I decided I felt like being a BP pitcher today" Contreras. Fucking hell. 1 full inning and three batters faced in the second without an out recorded.. 8 runs, 7 earned for a 63.00 ERA :mad:

He hasn't been the same since I predicted the Pujols homer in the playoffs a couple years ago.

This mojo stuff is more potent than I thought.

Only one K, actually..



*sigh*

Hearing Pete Rose talk to the boys upstairs during the 7th inning was a nice Opening Day touch. He's so passionate about baseball in Cincinnati and remembers so much- we were the first team in 1869, he feels Cincinnati should still be the first game played of every season in Cincinnati. His favorite record he owns is not the untouchable 4,256; it is 1,978. That is the number of wins his teams earned when he played those games. He made this point: If a rookie were to come up this year, and for the next 19 years his teams won 100 games, he would still be 78 short of Pete.

Anyways, great win over the Cubbies. The Reds are oft predicted to finish last this year, but I am not discounting anybody in the NL Central to win it. The Cards have a shaky end of the rotation.

You never want to wish for an injury, but I want to see Josh Hamilton get 300-400 plate appearances this year.

Oh, and I already like Alex Gonzalez at SS. Great fielder.

Pete defintely knows his stuff and would make one hell of a manager. Unfortunately, he's an idiot and threw it down the crapper.

By the way...anyone in the booth talking besides George Grande is a huge upgrade.

My god the Nats are horrible

Yep.

The only thing that improved the outlook for the team during the first inning from my perspective is that we just had a hellacious storm go through Lexington and I lost satellite for about 10 minutes. They looked much better at that point.

yeah, it's passing through cinci now.

Damn, I forgot that the Padres opener was a day game. Very, very nice results. It's going to be fun watching this team relying solely on great pitching and timely base hits.

I sat on the front porch and watched it blow in. Pretty cool. I'm kinda enjoying the weather here, in a bizarre way. Everyone thinks of Florida weather as nasty, but the worst T-storms I've seen in the past 5 or so years that weren't caused by a tropical storm or hurricane have been here in Lexington since last June. We generally didn't get these kinds of severe storms in Florida, at least not with the kind of winds I've seen. I'm glad the builder put an extra shelter room under our garage...

Typical A's loss. Our lineup is abysmal.

Felix has and will continue to make a lot of lineups look abysmal. Too bad the M's can't clone him...

I really think that he and Chris Welsh (the Reds main TV color guy) are getting phased out with the hiring of Thom Brenneman and Jeff Brantley. But the guys have been so pro-Reds over the years that the ownership just can't bear to simply throw them out on their ass. I mean, Grande hosts the HOF induction for goodness sakes... but he's about as exciting and fun to listen to as a box of crickets.

Speaking of announcers, it was very strange to hear Don Sutton not calling a Braves game.

Fucking Wheeler... :rolleyes:

Agreed on all counts. I believe Grande was one of, if not the first anchor of sportscenter. He's just terrible though. I really do hope Thom and Brantley phase in over the course of this season to take over next season. To be honest, Welsh isn't hateful and I'm not sure if he wouldn't be okay with someone else.

It's to bad the Pirates can't play the Astros every game. They would be 162-0

[sigh]...

Great comeback by the Nats today.

Florida should have pulled the trigger on a deal for Benitez when the Giants were trying to give him away.

Detroit's having a bit of a bullpen problem. Rodney throwing in the 80s and low 90s is not a good sign.

Fullpack2K escapes yet another one. I'm of the opinion that the Tigers should deal Marcus Thames for another reliever.

And MLB's GameDay is hugely different from last year. There are a lot of great features.. Thank god for two monitors at work. :)

John Maine looks like a stud so far tonight.

Thoughts on game 2 of the Reds/Cubs.

Man, hate to lose like that. Arroyo had a pretty decent outing, 9 k's but takes the loss.

The hitters couldn't get it going, Junior and Dunn surprisingly the only consistent bats in the first two games of the season. Phillips/Encarnacion/Ross pissing me off so far.

Why not PH LHB Hamilton for RHB Conine with 2 outs, bottom 9 against RHP Dempster? Doesn't make sense to me.

We hit probably atleast 4 balls tonight that just died in the air and on a regular night at GABP would have been goners. That sucks.

Soriano and Lee have not looked good for the Cubs at all so far.

I didn't see that performance from Lilly coming. When he has control of it, his curve is pretty nice.

Shorty, I didn't watch the game so I have to ask. How in the holy hell did Reds pitchers manage to walk Cubs hitters 6 times?

I gaurantee this is the only time all season Soriano, J Jones, and Izturis all walk in the same game.

Bonds pokes out #735. Flame on!

Great job by the Mets in sweeping the Cards. Maine looked absolutely wonderful and the offense exploded.

Gotta love Vin Scully:

"Prince Fielder registers on the Richter Scale with a double."

They are such a fun team to watch

Bad managing on Narron's part in the 8th. Should have never let Arroyo go back out after the seventh. You can see him starting to labor more. Especially, after getting one runner on, he should have never got to pitch to the next guy.

Ross looks horrid. My fear I think is true. Kid was just a flash in the pan last year. His play on the squeeze play was possibly the worst defensive play we'll see all year. Just stupid. Perhaps Arroyo should get it but Ross has to realize he's seeing everything...he should know Lee wasn't going anywhere on 3rd. He's been equally awful at the plate.

Encarnacion and Phillips will get it going. Ross I'm not sure about.

How about Brenneman and Brantley though? Brantely annoyed me a couple of times but good God is it nice to have real announcers. They should give Grande his severence pay now and say c-ya.

That was one of the most well-played series by one team you will ever see. And to have it happen in the first series of the season is even crazier.

They seriously didn't do one thing wrong.

Neyer's got a blog item this morning discussing this:

http://www.zumsteg.net/cheatersguide...ring-the-ball/

The guy who writes The Cheater's Guide to Baseball says that K-Rod is using an illegal substance. Neyer believes he's right, but thinks it's just chalk.

You can say that again. On the other hand, we look like shit.

Ya, but I can go to sleep knowing I dont have any desire to chuck batteries at other people :)

The Royals may actually have a solid top of the rotation with Meche and Greinke. Hopefully Greinke has his personal issues straightened out because I had never seen a kid his age that knew how to use all of his pitches like he does.

Matsuzaka looks very solid in his first start. Only question, I think, was going to be his control and he's looked pretty sharp today.

Operative word here is "may". As someone that has lived the ups and more frequent downs of Gil Meche, I'm very hesitant to accept the idea of him as "solid".

Now, maybe he's turned a corner, and maybe getting out of Seattle will be a boon for him; but be prepared for a few starts of great promise surrounded by a bunch of starts of frustration. His command simply hasn't been that great so far in his career - he nibbles, throws too many pitches and just doesn't have enough command of his fastball and curve to stay consistently ahead of hitters. His stuff is good, although a tad over-rated, and he has a tendency to tire in later innings.

But hey, he wouldn't be the first pitcher to bloom later in his career, and he does have good enough stuff that he could be a solid pitcher, so maybe he's turning things around.