2013 Official Major League Baseball Thread.

[daydreamer41]

Reading back over the past several pages I am surprised to see the way some of the Red Sox fans here on Merb obsessively put down the Yankees and the slender 'evidence' they base their 'reasoning' on. Don't you guys still follow the Red Sox? Or do you now prefer to watch the Yankees so you can troll better on Merb?

Are you so blind as to not see the Yankee core fans here do the exact same thing? I'd love to have intelligent interaction and conversation here but you absolutely won't get that from your fellow fans.

Well, sort of the same thing, except that they don't bother with facts and statistical analysis to back up their opinions.

Haha, K's and rumps' response to CCF's statement only proves their "in the tank" attitude of their beloved Red Sox and CCF's point.

K, start the intelligent dialogue, and the rest of us will follow.

By the way, intelligent excludes words used by some like "Stink", "Suck", "Decrepit", "Ancient" and other similar verbs that some use here to describe the team and the players on the team they despise.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Before or after they ran him out of town?

Kind of reminiscent of what the Red Sox did with Nomar.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Before or after they ran him out of town?

touché. snap.

 

[Merlot]

Reading back over the past several pages I am surprised to see the way some of the Red Sox fans here on Merb obsessively put down the Yankees and the slender 'evidence' they base their 'reasoning' on. Don't you guys still follow the Red Sox? Or do you now prefer to watch the Yankees so you can troll better on Merb?.

Hello Homer,

All you and your buds have done with and since the above dishonesty is worship the Yanks and write pissing posts on Sox fans. Are you really happy ignoring reality???

Whats' up with Mark Buehrle? I thought this guy was one of the Jays big catches that would be a reliable winner, not a warm-up tosser for the home run derby for $14.5 million per season. A Sox line-up not noted for awesome power teed off of this guy at will for a while. I heard his fast ball was in the mid 80s in the 3rd inning. Isn't that called...a Gift!

In the meantime Clay Buchholz in still on a roll, and despite a few walks he only gave up 2 hits in 7 innings. Damn, at 1.01 he's still in legend territory after 6 games started. If he were wearing pinstripes (not a chance) Beav would be stroking like he was at an orgy, Joe.t would have him winning the next 10 Cy Youngs, Iggy would be sacrificing at his Cashman idol, and Chercher would still be pissing about Sox fans.

But it's no surprise Buchholz can handle the Jays:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/26898/quick-hits-buchholz-has-jays-number

The Sox, who ended April with the best record in the majors (18-8), have lost back-to-back games only twice this season and on Wednesday night have unbeaten Clay Buchholz (5-0) bidding to make it six wins in six starts. There are few better places for him to do so than here, judging by the track record. Buchholz has a 1.67 ERA in nine starts in the Rogers Centre, the lowest ERA of any pitcher with at least 55 innings in this building.

Buchholz has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his past seven starts in Toronto, dating to July 17, 2009, and collectively the Jays are batting just .214 against him. Edwin Encarnacion, who hit two home runs for the Jays in their win Tuesday night, is just 1-for-15 against Buchholz, while catcher J.P. Arencibia is hitless in 11 at-bats and third baseman Brett Lawrie is 1-for-10.

How good has Buchholz been? Read Tony Lee’s rundown, but Buchholz is only the third Sox pitcher since the dead ball era (pre-1920) to hold opponents to two runs or fewer over at least seven innings in each of his first five starts of a season. The others are Roger Clemens in 1991 and Boo Ferriss in 1945; they both did it in their first seven. The last big leaguer to do so was Livan Hernandez for the Giants in 2002. Hernandez did not transform his great start into a great season; he wound up 12-16 with a 4.38 ERA, his 16 losses leading the National League.

Whoa, Papi: The other Sox player on a historic run these days is David Ortiz, who drove in four runs Tuesday night with his third home run and a three-run double, and has 15 RBIs in his first nine games. Ortiz is also batting .500 (18-for-36), which makes him just the third player to hit .500 with at least 15 RBIs in his first nine games. The other two are Hall of Famers: Dave Winfield (17-for-34, 16 RBIs in 1988 for the Yankees) and Willie Mays (17-for-34, 17 RBIs in 1964 for the Giants).

And Ortiz has feasted on the Jays’ starter, left-hander Mark Buehrle, batting .361 (22-for-61), with three home runs and 13 RBIs.

Pinch me: Don’t know how to check this, but there can’t be too many hitters who have yielded to pinch hitters under the same circumstances as Mike Carp. In Cleveland on April 17, Carp had two doubles and a triple in his first three plate appearances but was lifted against a lefty for a pinch hitter, Jonny Gomes, who struck out. Then Tuesday night, in his second plate appearance, Carp launched his first home run of the season, but when his turn came around again, a lefty was on the mound and Gomes pinch hit again. This time, Gomes hit a home run, his first.

Carp, who was basically the last player to make the team out of camp, has gotten off to a great start, batting .458 (11-for-24) with a home run and six RBIs. Among big leaguers with at least 25 plate appearances so far, Carp leads the majors in slugging percentage (.958) and OPS (1.458). But with Buehrle on the hill, he’ll start the night on the bench.

Call his shot? Dustin Pedroia is tearing it up of late, batting .462 (12-for-26) over his past seven games, but now has gone 160 at-bats since his last home run, the longest homerless streak on the club. Pedroia last went deep Sept. 11 off Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees.

Step lightly: It goes into the books as a caught stealing, Jays pitcher Brandon Morrow catching Jacoby Ellsbury off second base with two on, two out and Mike Napoli at the plate, the Sox down a run in the fourth inning. Manager John Farrell did not let the moment pass without a comment.

“At the time, overaggressiveness on our part," Farrell said when asked about it. “We felt like we had Morrow coming to the end of the night. Unfortunately [Ellsbury] got picked off second. Not a real good heads-up play given the game situation.”

Cheers Chercher,

Merlot

 

[Special K]

One of the greatest Yankees in the modern era of the club, and definitely one of my 3 favorites to wear pinstripes (Mattingly and Munson being the others). Godzilla!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBnG7NdpCMQ

You're putting Matsui over Rivera, Beav? I would probably put Mo as #1 in my opinion.

 

[daydreamer41]

Hello Homer,

All you and your buds have done with and since the above dishonesty is worship the Yanks and write pissing posts on Sox fans. Are you really happy ignoring reality???

Whats' up with Mark Buehrle? I thought this guy was one of the Jays big catches that would be a reliable winner, not a warm-up tosser for the home run derby for $14.5 million per season. A Sox line-up not noted for awesome power teed off of this guy at will for a while. I heard his fast ball was in the mid 80s in the 3rd inning. Isn't that called...a Gift!

In the meantime Clay Buchholz in still on a roll, and despite a few walks he only gave up 2 hits in 7 innings. Damn, at 1.01 he's still in legend territory after 6 games started. If he were wearing pinstripes (not a chance) Beav would be stroking like he was at an orgy, Joe.t would have him winning the next 10 Cy Youngs, Iggy would be sacrificing at his Cashman idol, and Chercher would still be pissing about Sox fans.

But it's no surprise Buchholz can handle the Jays:


Merlot

Hello Hypocrite,

Excellent game by Buchholz. He's had some start. Guess you are boasting about his pitching performance.

Where were you last night when Mr. Lester got bombed for 6 Earned Runs? I don't recall seeing your post, Merlot, buddy.

You merb Red Sox fans are hilarious. :lol::lol::lol:

 

[EagerBeaver]

You're putting Matsui over Rivera, Beav? I would probably put Mo as #1 in my opinion.

I am not saying Matsui is a better player than Mariano, he is just my favorite player. I saw in person the Japanese media he had to deal with, even at a spring training game, and the guy handled extremely wel all the attention and the pressure of his contract and great expectations, which is enormous in NYC. He was the consummate professional, played hurt, never complained, hit in the clutch, and in his prime lefties had a hard time getting him out (he led the AL in BA against lefties one year, if I recall correctly). Before his knees were shot and when he 1st came to the Yankees, he was a good outfielder. He was a consummate team player who did not care about stats, adjusted his swing to the situation and would pull a ball or go the other way as needed. He is cut from the same cloth as Mattingly, Munson, and Gehrig, really the only difference is Matsui never had the opportunity to be captain due to others on the team having seniority over him in pinstripes. But if he had played his entire pro career with the Yankees, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind he would have been named captain as were these other players. Here is a historical list of the Yankees team captains:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Yankees_captains

Rivera, Pettite and Jeter would not be much farther down the list as far as my favorite Yankees, but Matsui is in the top 3. When Matsui retired, Jeter, recognizing what he had meant to the team, issued a statement saying he was one of the best teammates he had ever had.

Matsui received enormous standing ovations at Yankees Stadium when he came back to town with the Angels and A's and there is a reason why.

Regarding Rivera, I think of him as a freak of nature type of talent, which you only occasionally see in professional sports. I don't hold Rivera's rare and unusual talent against him, but to me Matsui was more like the regular grinding type of player who achieved success through equal parts of talent, hard work, pride, guts, determination and moxie, although Rivera has a lot of moxie and has gotten very crafty in his later years.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Hello Hypocrite

I believe the authorities have warned you about this type of insult, n'est pas?

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Regarding Rivera, I think of him as a freak of nature type of talent, which you only occasionally see in professional sports.

What amazing is that his success has come with just one pitch, which every hitter knows is coming. What's also amazing is that no other pitcher has managed to duplicate Rivera's success. I'm would think that he's tried to teach it to his younger teammates.

 

[EagerBeaver]

What amazing is that his success has come with just one pitch, which every hitter knows is coming. What's also amazing is that no other pitcher has managed to duplicate Rivera's success. I'm would think that he's tried to teach it to his younger teammates.

David Robertson has attributed much of his success to tutelage from Mariano Rivera. I don't think it is the fact of teaching the one pitch, which is probably not learnable, but rather his mental approach and pitching in general.

Rivera's cut fastball has late movement and tends to saw off lefthanded hitters, or break their bats. You cannot teach someone how to have late explosive movement on a pitch. I once had a conversation with former major league pitcher Phil Nastu (pitched with the SF Giants) who was introduced by a mutual friend. At the time Nastu praised then Yankees pitcher Rick Rhoden and told me he threw a "heavy ball" that felt like you were hitting a bowling ball. Throwing that kind of ball or being able to is natural ability to a large extent and not learnable. Nastu envied the talent of Rhoden to be able to throw such a pitch.

 

[daydreamer41]

I believe the authorities have warned you about this type of insult, n'est pas?

Gee, Rumps, when have you become judge and jury here? Look at Merlot's opening sentence calling Yankee fans dishonest. So why aren't you calling Merlot on his statement? How else can I describe his action? Isn't being hypocritical calling another on something that you do? No, I am not insulting him. I am bringing to his attention that the Red Sox fans here, you and him included, are doing what Merlot was accusing CCF of, although neither of you can see it.

Sorry, but I think CCF was right on with his post. So why don't you, Merlot, Mr. K and any other Red Sox fan here try to have a gentleman's dialogue without resulting to the "Stink", "Suck", "Decrepit", or "Ancient" comments about your least favorite team or fans that dominate your posts?

Hello Homer,

All you and your buds have done with and since the above dishonesty is worship the Yanks and write pissing posts on Sox fans. Are you really happy ignoring reality???

Cheers Chercher,

Merlot

 

[Merlot]

Rumps,

I'm not going to acknowledge anyone too cowardly to name his team, definitely has none in any sport anyway, and absolutely comes here only to be a bug pestering people with no investment of his own. This is a baseball thread...not his personal stalking ground. Ignore it for the disturber he is.

Buchholz named AL Pitcher of the Month
Red Sox righty goes 5-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 39 strikeouts in terrific April

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130502&content_id=46437634&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Clay Buchholz's perfect record in the season's first month helped the Red Sox right-hander earn American League Pitcher of the Month honors for April.

Buchholz went 5-0 with a 1.19 ERA in five April starts, racking up 39 strikeouts and only 13 walks in 37 2/3 innings pitched as the Red Sox matched their franchise record with 18 wins in April. Boston's 18-8 record over the first month of the season was the best in the Majors, and Buchholz was responsible for some of the club's renewed success.

Buchholz finished tied for first in the AL in wins, second in ERA, fifth in opponents' batting average (.192), tied for seventh in strikeouts and tied for eighth in innings pitched.

Rays left-hander Matt Moore had a strong case for the award, going 5-0 with a league-leading 1.13 ERA while holding opponents to a miniscule .121 average and striking out 38 batters in 32 innings, but Buchholz takes home his second career Pitcher of the Month Award, his first since August 2010.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Buchholz is the fourth Red Sox pitcher to record five wins in April, joining Babe Ruth (1917), Pedro Martinez (2000) and Josh Beckett ('07), all of whom also went 5-0. Buchholz's 1.19 ERA in April was the lowest by a Boston pitcher through his first five starts of a season since Roger Clemens owned a 0.66 mark in 1991, according to Elias.

On top of that, Buchholz became just the third Red Sox pitcher in the live-ball era to hold his opponents to two runs or fewer over at least seven innings in his first five starts of the season, joining Clemens (first seven in 1991) and Boo Ferriss (first seven in 1945).

Buchholz didn't let the end of April slow him up, either: He pitched seven shutout innings on Wednesday night, scattering two hits and striking out eight Blue Jays as he improved to 6-0 with a 1.01 ERA.

The best part is Clay has achieved this milestone as a member of a team with a rejuvenated spirit with contributions from everyone...and right in the face of Yankees fans who constantly predicted his imminent failure. Take that Joe.t!!!

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[Joe.t]

Congratulations to ******Clay******Buchholz****** on winning pitcher of the month in May, what's impressive is that he literally had no help and won it on talent alone.


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...uchholz-accused-doctoring-ball-220110543.html

What's even more funny is that John Farrell states that the incriminating evidence(photos) are "false", meaning, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, makes me want to puuuuuke!!!!.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/m...mlb-red-sox-clay-buchholz-ball-doctoring.html

 

[daydreamer41]

Wow, a game is snowed out in May in the bottom of the 3rd. Tampa Bay vs. Kansas City:

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/photos?gameId=330502107&photoId=2927503


That's something about Buchholz. What do you think that white substance is? Brilcream?

I guess all Clay can do is deny until someone asks to look at him.

 

[Joe.t]

Whatever it is it is cheating, plain and simple according to former pitcher and author Dick Hayurst who wrote two New York times best sellers on baseball and is regarded as one of the most accomplished baseball authors to wear a uniform, I hope that Selig throws the book at that dirty, cheating, fraud of a pitcher Buchholz, I now question the whole team, disgusting!!!!.

 

[daydreamer41]

NL Central

Getting out of the AL East, I find the NL Central extremely interesting.

Four teams - St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee are separated by 2 games. (Chicago Cubs) is 5.5 games out.

Last year Cincinnati broke away late. St. Louis got the Wild Card. Pittsburgh was strong until the All-star break and then faded away.

This year should be an interesting race for the title. Cincinnati and St. Louis are the favorites, but Pittsburgh and Milwaukee could provide a surprise finish. Pittsburgh is a little stronger than last year, adding Russell Martin from the Yankees.

I think both the AL East and NL Central probably have the most parity of all 6 Divisions in mlb.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Ignore it for the disturber he is.

Actually, Merlot, I'm done even acknowledging him. I have little use for the chronically rude.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Congratulations to ******Clay******Buchholz****** on winning pitcher of the month in May, what's impressive is that he literally had no help and won it on talent alone.

Joe, on behalf of Clay, his mom, his dad, and his lovely wife, I'd like to thank you for your kind wishes.

 

[Joe.t]

Buck Martinez and Mike Milner on sportsnet tonight are accusing Red Sox pitcher Tazawa of cheating, he was caught doing same thing that Buchholz was doing the previous night, Milner's exact words "I don't believe for a second that is persperation on his arm" oh will this ever end, this is very disturbing.

 

[daydreamer41]

Actually, Merlot, I'm done even acknowledging him. I have little use for the chronically rude.

And that is not an insult? :help: