Open Thread: Blacked out
By
The Yankees are playing the Astros tonight, but we’re all left in the dark because it won’t be on TV. They’re trotting out the A-lineup tonight, and Mariano Rivera is making his spring debut. Would have been a good game to watch, but alas.
So here’s your open thread for the evening. Oh, and before I forget, a friend’s sister is in a contest, and needs as many clicks on her YouTube video as possible. The friend is James Varghese, who you may recognize as a contributor at the now defunct YanksBlog.com. He was the first person to ever link to one of my posts, way back in early 2006, so I’m forever in debt. You never forget that first link. So make sure you click through and do James (and I) a solid. Enjoy the thread.
Photo Credit: Brian Blanco, AP
240 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Eric Schultz (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Technical Consultant
Jay Gordon
Subscribe to RAB by RSS
Follow @RiverAveBlues
Search RAB
Yankees News from YESNetwork.com
- Cashman leaning toward putting Teixeira on DL
- Mattingly excited for return to the Bronx
- Sabathia steps up for Yankees in West Coast finale against Angels
- No new tears in right wrist for Mark Teixeira
- Angels send Yankees to fifth straight loss, 6-2
- Mark Teixeira leaves Saturday's game in fourth inning
- Wilson pitches Angels to 5-2 win over Yankees
- Cesar Cabral outrighted to Double-A Trenton
- Yankees sign six draft picks on Friday
- Yankees place Kevin Youkilis on 15-day DL, call up Thomas Neal and Chris Bootcheck from Triple-A
Banner Design By
The Tyler Austin Watch
So I ran today for the first time ever, and it felt great.
Wait til tomorrow.
Oh I know!
I run everyday, 5+ miles at 6:30-7:00 minute pace, and it feels no good!
My brother used to do that, when he ran xc and did marathons. I’m just in need of physical activity!
damn you and your healthy knees! (seriously 18 year old kids should not have knees as fucked up as mine. I think i have like a degenerative disorder and am aging like 4 times faster than regular people so all of my joints are actually 72)
If it helps, mine are really bad too but I’ve been gutting it out lately. In fact, they feel better after running.
generally they hurt when i start running, start to feel ok mid-run, start to hurt again towards the end, and then as soon as I start walking after I’m done it’s just unbearable constant pain. And since I’m on my feet all day pretty much every day for work, i can’t afford to let them get any worse really. Sorry I’m whining i know
No, it’s ok. Wow, and I thought mine were bad. For me, dehydration and lack of sleep REALLY kills my knees. But they’re not as bad otherwise.
My knees are a little creaky, but I have a chronic digestive disorder and a lingering shoulder injury that my doctor loves to ignore.
I’d trade.
“but i have a chronic digestive disorder”
impossible. women cannot have digestive disorders, since they do not have digestive systems. next you’re going to tell me that menstruation is real. i call bs.
/trying to preserve my pristine fantasy of women’d
You have no idea. I would take bad knees over a bad gut any. day. of. the. week.
Running is great I have been doing it most of my life. The secret is having a good pair of running shoes and knowing when to get new ones. I’m running now with Brooks Adrenaline 10 GTS best shoes I have ever had.
Ran the NYC Marathon in 2000- 5 hours and 7 minutes, but I was just happy to finish.
Nice! I’m going to run 5 miles for the first time ever today. I usually run shorter distances and intervals, focusing more on speed. This is going to be tough!
Good luck just pace yourself that running wall can hurt sometimes.
Thanks, this is something I definitely need to do b/c I want to build up my endurance for this Tough Mudder challenge. It’s freaking 7 miles of British Special Forces designed obstacles.
I’m doing the one here in Northern California in the fall, it looks fucking awesome!
Nice dude, good luck! I just hope I get through it alive.
How are you training for it, I’m not sure how you get used to the cold, and your muscles seizing up? I’ve got the pacific in San Fran, but I don’t know how I’m going to run in it. When are you doing yours?
I just looked it up that looks serious your a better man then me.
LOL
Wish all the best.
Haha thanks. I wouldn’t say I’m a better man, just crazier. I’m training pretty hard for it, but I just feel like it’ll be a cool thing to say I did. Plus a good reason to get in top shape.
Ok was very interested until the “tackle underwater tunnels” and the “finally running through fire” I’m out.
I agree with Arman Tamzarian how do you train for that?
I have absolutely no idea how the hell one trains for that
I’m on the P90X classic program. I’m doing that before work, and I’ve been running here and there at night. Now I’m going to really try to run long distances at night; I read that endurance is HUGE in this challenge, even though you’re not really running the whole time.
I’m also incorporating the TNT diet to slim down and put on some solid muscle. Here’s hoping I’ll be ready by May 2nd!
Oh and as for getting used to the cold, well I’m not quite sure about that yet. Once April rolls around I’ll start figuring that out I guess.
Also, I wouldn’t say I’m some super badass, but I like to think I have a good amount of mental toughness and an excellent threshold for pain. Then again, I never did something like this, so I’ll probably end up looking like a pansy…
Arman Tamzarian, I don’t know if you saw this update in the newsletter, but some team of former and active US Special Forces is going to rock a backpack full of bricks through this whole thing. And they’re going to rock their Special Forces gear too I think. Crazy.
Thanks, Good luck, Let me know how the training’s going. That thing about the special forces is nuts
I just finished my first day of p90x. I wish it were my last. x_x
So all these serious runners make me slightly less impressed with my uphill sprints that I ran today. Interval training . . . blurst shit ever.
So the Red Sox signed Michael Garciaparra, and Sidney Ponson joined the LI Duck. Time to get me some Bridgeport Bluefish tickets to watch Ponson play them.
Hell yeah, Sid The Kid is the man.
Bluefish are independent league right? I think the only MiL team left in CT is New Britain, no?
Heh, “Run little rabbit, run.”
Which, BTW, is the caption under the Gardy pic.
* (and me) not (and i)
sorry. subject/object confusion is like my inexplicable pet peeve it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me so sorry for the toolyness
Agreed. Requests to do you a “solid” will not be considered until good grammar is used.
so because this is the open thread, can I post something unrelated to the game? (apologies if this is bad, feel free to delete)
Looking up something brought up about Pedro Martinez, I found THIS, which I’m sure you’re all aware of but it bears repeating. Here’s Pedro Martinez, 1997-2003:
118-36 (.766, not that W-L really matters), 1408 IP, 2.20 ERA (2.20 FIP as well), 213 ERA+, 0.940 WHIP, 2 BB/9, 11.3 K/9, 5.59 K/BB, 34 CG/11 SHO
Keep in mind that outside of 1997, he did all this in a hitters’ park in the AL East. Jesus.
2000 was really where all the insanity came to a head. It might be the best individual pitching year ever. One of his losses in 2000 was a game where he went 9 innings, gave up 1 run, and struck out 17. In two other losses he pitched 8 innings and gave up 1 and 2 runs, striking out nine both times. My head hurts. Oh, and Pettitte outpitched him not once but TWICE that year.
He must’ve been on ‘roids
Pedro in his prime was probably the greatest pitcher, ever. It’s a shame the prime was so short lived.
…and on the Red Sox =)
It’s pretty funny how weak the AL East was in 2000… the Red Sox couldn’t make the playoffs with that year out of Pedro? I know it’s just one guy, and one pitcher to boot, but I mean, the Yankees won with a record of 87-74. That’s two games worse than what got them third place in 2008.
Also, if anyone hasn’t seen the BB-Ref sponsorship for the 2000 Red Sox, you should go look at it right now.
Manny Delcarmen and Mo Vaughn too.
he did all this in a hitters’ park in the AL East
When everyone was on steroids. Ridiculous.
I probably went to 5 Pedro games in my life at Fenway, they were an event. Mo Vaughn’s first game back in Boston, he went 8, struck out 14 or 15 and I was in the bleachers. Wakefield starts warming up, on his managers orders obviously, and he is getting terrorized because no one wanted to see Pedro leave the game. When Wake came in, all 35,000 strong were booing him.
He was able to do all that AND be a major douche at the same time! I’m talking amazing, record-setting douchebaggery on his part.
bigger douche: Pedro or Manny? (I love Manny because I think he’s hilarious, so I would be inclined to say Pedro. Varitek is worse than both of them, however.)
biggEST douche: Curt or Schilling?
Curt Schilling: Building the brand for JMK and Steve H.’s “Mystique and Aura” since 2001.
or Papelbon. God, how did I forget Schilling and Papelbon?
(spoiler alert: It’s Schilling.)
Manny is just kind of a lovable hitting savant. The Red Sox never helped Varitek cause by putting that ridiculous “C” on his shirt, but a more of a douchenozzle than a douchbag. BTW, Youkilis is the vinegar.
Red Sox douchiness according to my completely iron-clad rankings, in order:
Schilling
Papelbon
CHB (he totally counts)
(gap)
Varitek
Beckett
Everett
Millar
Youkilis
(large gap)
Pedro
Manny
Ortiz
Ellsbury
(large gap, into the realm of the non-offensive)
Pedroia
Nomahhhh
V-Mart
Wakefield
Lester
I’m sure I’m forgetting so many guys.
(Patent Pending)
eh, pedro and manny were inoffensive to me. they were just so fucking good, and so totally bucked the gritbeard trend that the sox tend to reek of that i had to kinda love them except when they beat us
they weren’t so much douchey as they were jerks. And Manny wasn’t so much a jerk as he was hilarious.
Also, you don’t want to know how many “Pettitte vs. Pedro! It’s 1999! I’m gonna go listen to the Spice Girls and wear ugly glitter barrettes because I’m in seventh grade!” jokes I made prior to Game 6 of the WS.
You were in seventh grade in 1999? You’re older than I thought you were!
should I be offended? Heh
Nah, you shouldn’t be. At least I didn’t intend it offensively. You just seem youthful, I thought you were closer to my age.
I am a fountain of youthful exuberance! Wheeeeee
Where does Peter Gammons fall in?
he’s not a douche, just terribly misguided
Wrong. He wasn’t a douche until the left the Red Sox. You put on that Sox uniform, you are what the game is all about. As soon as you take it off, you’re a douche.
I like how Nomar was a douche and then last week his one-day contract dedouchified him.
That uniform holds magical powers.
They are made of 10% cotton, 50% grit, and 50% fear.
Those Red Sox, always giving 110%
Jose, you have it all wrong. He wasn’t a douche. He was a clubhouse malcontent who was always overrated, spent all his time on the phone with his wife and didn’t care enough about the Red Sox to play while that fag* Jeter went diving into the stands, and the Sox OBVIOUSLY wouldn’t have won in 2004 if they didn’t trade him, but he was not a douche. That is why we welcome him back to Red Sox Nation.
* it hurt to write that word, btw. =/
i’m assuming that that’s some slightly altered quote from somewhere?
it’s not but I’m just channeling what must be the groupthink of RSN
lmao i like that word..dedouchified
Trying to decide which is the best contract ever given to a pitcher
Pedro Martinez: 1998-2003 (this has to be the winner. Rebecca is right–for the duration of this contract, he was the best pitcher in the history of the game)
Randy Johnson: 1999-2004 (four years, four Cy Youngs, and some ridiculous numbers)
Greg Maddux: 1993-1997 (too young to really remember his prime but damn. 2.13 ERA (198+), 0.955 WHIP in 1100 innings with 38 complete games and three Cy Youngs)
mlb.com are total vagines about ST gameday, i don’t understand why they make it so hard to find, but to lighten all of your loads, here ya go: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday.....b_nyamlb_1
How did you find it? I’ve looked and looked. Me + Loser!
Andy + Loser?
Double Loser. http://www.sadtrombone.com
Oh, nice find.
Once AJ got going, he didn’t mess around. That half inning took about 15 seconds.
shit dude, A+
thanks.
Is it me or is it still stuck in the top of the 1st?
Spring Training is when they train new Gameday techs. That is why they don’t really publicize them prominently on the website. It may take a long time to properly update. Have patience.
That’s interesting. How did you find out that this is when they do the training?
I remember last year in spring there was actually someone who sent me a Gameday link and expressed that it wasn’t the greatest due to training. He may have even posted on here, but I don’t remember exactly.
I have a fantasy baseball question: why is Trevor Hoffman dropping so low in the rankings despite all the saves last year?
I know nothing about fantasy baseball but I’m gonna guess it’s cuz he’s old and a relief pitcher.
Because everyone knows Latroy Hawkins is going to blow any possible save situations before they get to Hoffman.
Cano grounded out. he’s soooo unclutch. Trade him for someone clutch likeAustin JAckson. he’s hitting 444 this ST.
/Lohud commented
He’s lazy, too
mmm, NIT basketball…delicious.
So… nomaas kinda stole* and built upon my MLB relegation idea, huh?
*Obviously they didn’t steal anything as I’m sure I wasn’t the first person to talk about that idea and I’m sure they didn’t get the idea from my comments here, but whatever. Thieves.
Can one of the RABbis kill this comment? I posted it again, below, because this one didn’t show up when I posted it, and then one of the admins saw this one got caught in the filter and pushed it through, so there’s a duplicate in the thread.
Gracias.
I had forggoten how frusturating it is to watch/slash stare at gameday of Burett. pitching. he’s thrown 2 scoreless innings, with absolutely no hard hit balls, 2k’s 23 pitches, and 3 walks. I firmly believe that if Burnett had better control, he could be the best pitcher in baseball.
No you can’t trust ST pitch counts on Gameday. Every walk is only 4 pitches, Every strike out is only 3 pitches and every other out is 1 pitch.
Really, that makes sense. someone at Lohudd said cano worked a full count, but it showed a first pitch grounder. Whatever, my comment still holds true.
Totally agree with all of this. He can be very frustrating at times. I hope he never matches up with Dice-K, aaagh (though he’s not that bad, not nearly).
The only reason I hope that matchup doesn’t occur would be because I don’t want to waste a Burnett star onDice-K. I know there really isn’t such thing, but Burnett seems to be a very clutch pitcher.
(mind explodes)
You’re about the only one I know that doesn’t call Burnett a non-clutch lilly-livered pussy or whatever nonsense. Even after Game 2 of the World Series. Ridiculous.
Compared to Arod Beckett is a post season giant
oh hey. It’s you.
We got Beckett?!?!?!
Beckett has a 7.71 in his last four postseason starts.
I love that stat *so much*
(the 1.015 OPSA, you forgot the 1.015 OPSA!!!!)
Over both their careers Beckett’s post season stats exceed his reg season stats more than Aods.
Josh Beckett, RS: 3.79 ERA
Josh Beckett, PS: 3.07 ERA
A-Rod, RS: .965 OPS
A-Rod, PS: .977 OPS
So that tells me Josh Beckett is a good pitcher who, in the postseason, is better than his RS numbers. He doesn’t even have 100 innings in the PS, however. It’s a SSS. That also tells me A-Rod is an awesome hitter who, in the postseason, is better than his RS numbers, but in less than 250 PA. Now you’re ripping on A-Rod for not being comparatively better than another guy, who isn’t even a hitter?
I don’t really know why I’m responding to you, though, because A-Rod could hit walk-off grand slams to win every game of a World Series, while saving a house full of burning puppies, and you’d find something to complain about.
O:S?
Not true…I will be the first to give Arod credit when he matches his reg season productivity in the WS. I just hope we dont have to wait another 8 years…I just found it ironic that you were busting on JB’s clutchness while while worshipping Arod the King of World Series under performance.
a. I was talking about *Burnett*, not *Beckett*. And I wasn’t busting on him. I was busting on the people that are busting on him.
b. A-Rod had a .973 OPS in the World Series. That’s not an under-performance by any measure. In fact, it’s better than his regular season stats; it was 40 points higher than his 2009 stats. So technically, he not only matched but surpassed his regular season productivity in the WS, and you have not given him credit.
So… nomaas kinda stole* and built upon my MLB relegation idea, huh?
*Obviously they didn’t steal anything as I’m sure I wasn’t the first person to talk about that idea and I’m also sure they didn’t get the idea from my comments here, but whatever. Thieves.
Can one of the RABbis kill this comment, please? Thanks again.
So… nomaas kinda stole* and built upon my MLB relegation idea, huh?
*Obviously they didn’t steal anything from me as I’m sure I wasn’t the first person to talk about that idea and I’m also sure they didn’t get the idea from my comments here, but whatever. Thieves.
Yo Mondesi, How did you like ABC’s curveball two weeks ago when they made it seem like that Linus was going to die? Instead, he redeems himself, and becomes a good guy. Awesome plot twist.
(You mean last week, right?) Just an awesome episode overall, I thought. We have no idea how guilt/redemption works in Island mythology so we don’t know whether Linus actually can redeem himself by being a good person from here on out, but it’s definitely an awesome twist.
I have to admit, though… That no matter how much I want to root for Linus because he’s such an awesome character, and no matter how sympathetic they’ve made his character lately… That I still find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop and to find out that he’s still a conniving little evil bastard.
I would think that the Linus change is a permanent one. Also, I loved seeing the return of Alex. I liked her better when she didn’t smile as much though.
I think she’s dating Jeff Goldblum. Slight age difference there.
Ruined her for you. Sorry.
Yeah I knew that. I always like Jeff Goldblum, so, good for him.
This is why I enjoy your comments. They are visions of future posts around the baseball blog network.
Haha, bite me.
(This clarification kills this post but since I realize this could come off in an unintended way… But I’m totally kidding, as in, ‘bite me for calling out how obviously stupid it was of me to make a connection between my comment and nomass’s post.’ Totally said with a chuckle. And yes, as TSJC would interject… A jolly chuckle.)
That clarification allows me to sit down in an amicable setting with you to enjoy a chicken wing eating contest.
You’re clearly a masochist, that can only end badly for you.
A points system in baseball? Really? Let’s make wins completely irrelevant… That had to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a long while. And then at the end they had a soccer/base-ball fuzed together… and I threw up…
I don’t know that I’d say it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a long while, but I’m not down with the points idea. I think they went a bit too far with their version of this system, I wouldn’t bother with points or mid-season single-elimination tournaments or any of that stuff, it’s unnecessary.
Even if you didn’t like the idea, it is, at the very least, a fun and interesting conversation, especially during a quiet period during Spring Training. I don’t think there’s any need to be so negative about it.
I don’t know if I see the sense of it. Firstly, no national league team is going to jump into an american league format. Most NL teams take pride in their lacking a DH. I can understand reformatting the divisions that may help cooperativeness by placing the larger cities together. You could have a north division [NY,BOS, TOR, CHI, CLE], south/central division [BAL, TB, TEX, DET, KC] and the remainder filling out the west… I don’t feel like going into more detail but that’s my general idea. Put bigger market teams with bigger market teams and keep the same format of play.
My point is that the sense of it is that it’s just a lark, it’s just a fun conversation. Nobody is saying this would be an easy system to institute nor that anyone would ever agree to it, that’s besides the point. I get that you don’t like the idea, but to begrudge people having a conversation they find fun just because you disagree with the (admittedly unrealistic) idea being discussed? That’s where I think you’re a bit off-base.
Negative, cynical. You say tomato, I say tomato. You call the photoshop appalling, I call your reaction and verbiage unnecessarily serious and negative (or cynical, whatever you prefer).
And for the record I wasn’t being negative, I was being cynical. Similar, but different. I just found the picture at the end appalling.
Don’t know if this has been posted so forgive me but Verducci might be the first journalist to ever make this point about the rotations of the Red Sox and Yankees.
My mind: BLOWN.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
OMG SOMEONE SPOKE SENSE!!!
I…don’t know how to handle this
[THUD!]
I dunno what it is with Verducci. Every so often, he’ll make a point that’s so incredibly smart and obvious, or he’ll write a beautifully-written article about Mariano Rivera, and I love him to bits.
And then he’ll go and write The Yankee Years, or write an incredibly stupid article (check out the one after the first game of 2009 where the Braves beat the Phillies) and I want to punch him. There is no happy medium with that guy.
What was your beef with “The Yankee Years”? If I may ask?
Well, I have to say I had more of a problem with Torre putting his name on it and providing stories while he was still actively managing than Verducci doing what he did. But overall… I could write an essay, but I remember at one point Verducci said something like that it wasn’t specifically Torre’s story with the Yankees, it was a balanced narrative of his time there. It definitely wasn’t, because it was pretty heavy Torre’s POV only. There was the occasional Moose quote, but yeah.
He also spent a lot of time slamming the Yankees’ FO for not using advanced stats supposedly, while simultaneously slamming Cashman for doing things like suggesting Torre arrange the lineup so that guys with a good OBP would bat early on as opposed to just going by his gut. There was a lot of hypocrisy/contradiction in the book, I felt.
Well, too be fair, early in C-Money’s tenure; he wasn’t really a terrific GM. Winning last year erases a lot of errors. Torre does have the right to get pissed at a GM meddling in his affairs. He’s the coach and player’s shouldn’t feel that his power is being undermined. Remember when the boss would screw with Billy Martin. FO and coaches don’t get along; it’s almost common knowledge.
I agree with you to a point, but I’d rather have the FO tell me what I’m doing wrong and help me fix it, rather than firing me for doing something wrong without addressing it. If I was managing, I’d probably feel differently, but that’s never going to happen so I’m speaking from a distance.
As for the errors, not saying Cashman’s perfect, but every GM makes errors. The Red Sox won the WS in a year when Theo made maybe his worst two moves ever (Lugo and Gagne).
Errors such as? Let’s not look at some of these in hindsight. I mean Igawa is a really really bad signing sure but Cashman made a lot more good mvoes than bad.
What errors do you want to talk about? Let’s just rattle off names… White, Pavano, Wright, Lofton, Farnsworth, Igawa, Brown, do we need to go on…
One thing about the Torre years, you have to know the personalities involved and separate who’s saying what in that book. Torre was NOT a numbers guy, not at all. Verducci embraces advanced statistical analysis, or at least understands the place and impact it has on on today’s game.
The stuff about bashing Cash or the Yankee front office was Torre’s, and the more generalized info about what was going on in the game with the Red Sox, A’s and other teams was all straight out of old Verducci columns. I even recognized a few of them as I was reading the book. There were two distinct voices in that book, one was Joe’s and the other was Tom’s.
I love numbers just as much as any one else on this site. Love to check out advanced metrics on FanGraphs. But I think the game needs to balance out science with feel, it’s not one sided.
Personally, they treated Torre bad and pushed him out. That’s disrespect in a lot of people’s books, especially after having such a successful career. So I don’t understand with seeing some negative aspects of the Yankees. I mean I don’t see front office guys much but when I do they generally come off as pricks anyway.
I have to admit I didn’t mind reading “The Yankee Years”. Does this mean you will never read my posts again? That would be completely justified.
I thought it was interesting.
Nah. It was interesting, it just made me want to punch a wall. More because it was being written at all (especially while Torre is still actively managing, as I said), than for anything written in it (though don’t get me wrong, some things written in it made me want to throw things).
From this Gammo article (ignore the JOBA AND HUGHES TO THE PEN! part), on the Nats:
“We’re having trouble holding Wang back,” said GM Mike Rizzo.
(snickers immaturely)
The Nats, in my opinion, have built a quiet contender for a wild-card spot.
Hey, those things have a mind of their own.
The Boss must be in the house with them rolling out this lineup tonight.
Teix went yard off of Moehler…
Yanks up 3-1 in B3
The Boss must be in the house with them rolling out this lineup tonight.
Is this ancient Rome?
It’s an evil empire… same category.
er, no…Spring Training and maybe pay day.
My mom: The Red Sox batted Varitek THIRD today! Do you think they’re gonna do that in the regular season?
Me: …uh, I hope so.
That’d be awesome.
I’d die of happiness
Over/under:
150.5 ABs for V-tek
under
under (fingers crossed that I am wrong)
If they believe that Beckett is better with Varitek as his catcher then he’ll get around 120 PA’s.
I’ll go under.
Over. Tito has a blind spot for his veterans, it’s why Kevin Millar continued to get AB’s in 2005 instead of giving Youk a chance.
you actually have a point here. It’s also why Ortiz normally bats in front of Drew.
you actually have a point here
What, usually I don’t?
hahaha. Didn’t mean it that way.
(that’s a pretty sweet article up on M&A by the way.
)
It’s a great post, very well done. That article needed to be destroyed.
gracias. You were very helpful in taking out a lot of the endless rambling. And “Bleacher Retort” is a fantastic title, by the way.
I have to give JMK the credit for that.
Mo walked someone. O_O
he’s just having fun out there
He’s just fuckin’ with ‘em.
Barry: thought your comment on the Span thread was totally out of line. Nothing harsh at all about Gardner in there.
That’s fine, think what you want… but there’s a lot of hating going on over someone who’s yet to get a full season of ABs.
Compared to Melky, Gardner is being treated like royalty.
It’s the grit factor.
Everyone and their mother wanted Melky to succeed. For being anything but a standout talent I thought he was reasonably popular.
Sure he was but he was really criticized too. Everyone here wants Gardner to succeed it’s just that some don’t think he can.
But I think we’ll all agree in saying we cannot make a conclusion with a sample size as short as his.
Now if you see Bo or Lanny saying Gardner sucks don’t put much weight unto that. They say that for every other player on the team.
But it seems the blogging community is the only one’s nagging on the subject. It was just an unnecessary stab, I felt. And I feel like I see them a lot around here, so I said something… I didn’t think it was a big deal.
skepticism and “hating” are not the same thing. It’s frustrating that, with some people, one cannot express skepticism about a player without being called a “hater” and having one’s points completely dismissed without being addressed.
We know it to be true that players with Gardner’s skill set (as demonstrated in the minors) do not often have success at the big league level. Could he? Sure. Is it at least as likely that he’s a 4th OFer on a contender? I think so, primarily because of data like that discussed here. The guy seems to know it, he’s been talking about needing to swing at more strikes all spring. The issue is…can he do that without just swinging more in general? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Now, instead of calling me a hater, please argue cogently against my point.
See my above post on being cynical. When this is placed at the end of a paragraph; and is unrelated to the paragraph, I call that hating.
“[...] Span’s plate discipline and walk rate shot through the roof in 2008, and he’s been able to sustain that success in the big leagues. He’s six months younger than Brett Gardner, and clearly a better player.”
Seeing as he likely would have been playing the same position Brett Gardner will play for us, it’s not unrelated. It’s not hating to say Span is a better player than Gardner, either, because he is. They’re not saying “Span will forever be better than Gardner and Gardner sucks why the hell is he playing for our team.”
pssst… O:S.
fair enough, but this person doesn’t seem abnormally hostile
I’m not hostile, I just don’t see how anyone is involved. If Joe really want’s to address my comment, he has my e-mail. (In fact, use this one it’s more direct.)
bex – It’s more the threadjacking nature of this type of conversation. We’ve seen this kind of pattern of comments before.
Brown-nose much? Love how Joe calls me out and his wolves jump. You are wrong. That sentence is completely unrelated to the rest of the paragraph. Had the paragraph’s content contained comparative elements, the sentence may have made more sense. Seeing; however, that the rest of the paragraph did not bring up Gardner; or any other play besides Span, it is unrelated.
And for the record, you come off as a hater.
Now you’re just trying to bait me. O:S.
Who’s baiting who?
3-1 after 4
But god just walked his first batter faced this year
Hopes no stupid articles about Jeet’s .182 avg, Mo’s BB/9 slippage or Cano’s unclutchness in the 2nd despite his ST BA of .476
god just walked his first batter faced this year
MASS PANIC!!!!
Kind of funny because MLB Network just had a “By the Numbers” segment that showed that, throughout his career, the first batters Mo faces in an inning have a .236 OBP (IIRC, if not it was something close).
Mariano has allowed the following slash line over the course of his career:
.211/.264/.292. That’s an OPS of .556. Basically, Mo turns all hitters into bad 70s shortstops.
in the postseason:
.175/.214/.231/.445
All you can do is laugh. He is a silly, silly pitcher and I am very happy he is on my side.
*worships*
A COP?? WTF?
Reading these threads after LOST airs is pretty funny. Just random confused exclamations all over the place.
What I want to know is… If he’s a cop, why would he help a handcuffed Kate elude the authorities at LAX? And now that he caught her, isn’t there a danger that she’ll tell that little story and get him into a world of trouble?
gardner looks like mienkiewitcz in that photo
Wow, he really does.
anyone else kinda excited about premiere of justified tonight?
(which i will be dvr-ing cause southland is too awesome to not watch)
If it’s on FX, I get excited. (so yes)
Don’t know the Daigle dude (RHP-Astros) but maybe a career moment for him as he K’s Nick the Stick, Teix & Arod on 12 pitches (all strikes/fouls)
Good guys up 3-1 after 5
He’s married to Jennie Finch
sorry…that’s got to be his career highlight!!!
Yeah, so no matter how good he pitches today, the best moment for him is going home.
How about his MLB debut? Not exactly auspicious . . .
Not sure if the link works.
http://www.baseball-reference......4090.shtml
…#5 SP-option 2 of 5 now throwing for the Yankees
Where the hell is Riddering? I posted (what I thought was) a funny reply to her guest post and I’m waiting for my “lol”.
I live for those things, dammit!
lol…does that help?! =)
Yeah, whatevs. I have to go to sleep.
Thanks, man.
(Not that you’ll see this but…) My personal laptop is a busted down shell and my new one hasn’t shipped yet so, uh, when I’m not at work I’m cut off from the sweet, sweet internets.
I see everything. I am the Maharajah.
I didn’t follow the gamecast. When was Hughes’s Ball/Strike ratio? Last I checked it was 11 strikes/0 balls.
was gamecast available?
Ya dude, someone up above scouted it out. I didn’t know either.
yup, see it now
on LoHud they said Hughes got through like four innings on 23 pitches? This might be wrong, some people at LoHud are crazy obsessed with Hughes.
some guys named T-Dubs are moderately obsessed with Hughes.
heh, some girls named bexarama are moderately obsessed with Hughes, as well
Do you think he’s cute? This friend of mine who’s 23 has a thing for Andy, but doesn’t think Phil is handsome at all.
But maybe she just has daddy issues…
Phil is extremely cute. I’m also rooting for him to do well, of course. Young pitchers!!!
Do not get me started on Andy. All I will say about him is that he is… um… a good-looking man. If she has daddy issues because she has a thing for him while she’s 23 then, well, I’m in the same situation. And I feel pretty confident saying I don’t have daddy issues.
I’m 24. Andy’s freaking beautiful( I think he looks better now than he did when he was younger).
I’m 18, and agreed.
soooo agreed. When he was younger, he could look a little girly sometimes. Still good-looking, though. But now? Oof.
(I hate you, watermark. Unrelated, Phil Coke just gave up a HR.)
Phil = damn cute.
Andy = cuter.
But yeah, I remember having a thing for Mike Mussina when I was like … 13. So what do I know about what’s age-appropriate?
It might have said that, however, the ST pitch count counts a walk as 4 pitches, a strike out as 3, and a hit ball as 1 pitch. So, pitch counts are way lower.
All I know is that the last two innings with Jesus catching took forever, because everytime Phil threw a pitch to him, he missed it and he had to retrieve the ball back by the backstop. He has no business catching.
/MSM’d
I found my Paul O’neill autographed ball in my garage today, buried under an old modem in a box. I was happy to find it and really pissed that it ended up there in the first place.
Fact: Paul O’Neill will autograph a water cooler.
For a hefty sum.
Looking at the line that Hughes put up tonight he is clearly in front for the starter’s position. Joba is going to really have to step it up tomorrow to show that he is still in contention.
Also it will be interesting to see what role that Joba or Hughes has in the pen considering that D-Rob has really upped his game the last 12 months. At this point I think he is the person that should be the starting set up man for the Yankees at least to start the season.
I think that the looser of the Chamberhughes battle should start the season in scranton, so they can end up with 165 IP or so for the season. However, if he stays in the bullpen, I respectfully thinking that’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard since Granderson is like Gary Mathews Jr.
Wrong.
You start the season with your best pitchers in the orginization. If Joba goes to the pen, so be it.
I’m not thrilled with Joba being in the bullpen, but I think that, considering his IP last year, it wouldn’t be all that destructive. He has a solid IP base to build on, and if he’s our sixth starter he will get starts throughout the season, probably > 10. His innings should be fine for being a full time starter in 2011, even if he is in the bullpen for the majority of this year.
That is no doubt the best thing for the season, but if/when Joba wins the spot, wouldn’t it be beneficial to have both Hughes and Joba w/o limits in 2011, not to mention Hughs changeup. Obviously things change if Hughes wins, but I still find that scenario unlikely.
I agree. You need the best arms in the organization on the 25 man roster in September and October. You can look to the future when structuring the roster in April.
just me or does that picture look like a young pre-steroid Giambi?
needs more crazy eyes
Yeah, I can see that.
good call, i can see that too.
is there any word on ryan westmoreland?
19 year-olds needing brain surgery makes me sad
I think they said he had his surgery and it went well. I really hope the guy is okay, too.
Press release also said “Due to the complexity of this surgery, Ryan will face a difficult period initially before beginning his recovery.”
Brainstem surgery = serious business
good thing he’s a closely monitored athlete. head aches and numbness in a “normal” people might be dismissed
Incidentally, the title of this thread is what I’ll be all day tomorrow.
Or maybe, coincidentally. I don’t know, I’m not what you would call a smart man.
BUT I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS.
JEN-NY!
ietc
Justified’s series premiere was more bad-ass than any episode the Shield put forward its last season. Its written so well … dare i say … Tarantino-esque.
Damn. Can’t wait to watch, I DVR’d it tonight.
Not really a Tarantino fan.
So..did anyone else get that special deal on mlb tv?
Its way to early even for Spring Training, but its interesting to see what Nady, A. Jackson, and Melky are doing especially A. Jackson is killing the ball.
Even IPK not bad, but still too early.
I really think Kennedy can thrive in the NL west.