2014 Official Major League Baseball Thread

[Merlot]

BOYZ!

As I compose this I just see an update from the house that Ruth didn't build and it's 8-0 Angels! Wow...how moronic do people look after an 1/8th of a season?

I hear the Yankees ran out of pine tar. Not only did Pineda overdo it on his hand, neck, chest, stomach, legs, arms, behind the ears...but Iggy, EB, and especially Joe.t wasted a lot of it trying to get extra traction while KISSING HIS BUTT. :lol: Hey, the "powerhouse" Yankees have all of 4 hits against a barely .500 Angels team, which they will be only after beating the pinstripes tonight.

Yup this is what happens when you give your team all the trophies in February.

Nice 13-1 SLAUGHTER of Yanks tonight...right boyzzzzzz.

Looks like the Reigning World Series Champion Red Sox have finally started to hit...Has the pixie dust worn off of Mark Beurlhey's magical unlikely season?

Wow, the Sox have 13 hits off of the formerly untouchable Buehrle and Ortiz is catching on fire again with another dinger, his 5th. Then there's Peavy only allowing 4 hits so far.

Happy reality boyz,

Merlot

 

[gurgeh85]

Happy reality boyz,

You might want to have a look around, Merlot. Sox fans and Yankee fans are riding on the same roller coaster this year. Cheers!

 

[daydreamer41]

Besides being slaughtered 14-5 by the New York Yankees last night, the light hitting Red Sox were klutzes on the field. 5 errors during the game.

It's far from the record after 1900, which is 12 in 1901 by the Detroit Tigers and in 1903 by the Chicago White Sox, but the gloves are a lot better now, aren't they? Baseball gloves back then were a little bigger than your hand.

The season is young, but the light hitting Red Sox are having trouble hitting, pitching and fielding, so far.

Don't like to quote myself, but some Red Sox fans failed remedial reading class in high school.

 

[daydreamer41]

Betances pitched a very solid 2 innings yesterday. Maybe Girardi should give him one start and see if he can have a solid start? Betances has a nice ERA so far of 0.77.

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
V Nuno 4.1 5 3 3 2 4 1 72-48 6.59
D Betances
(W, 1-0) 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 0 32-18 0.77

 

[Doc Holliday]

Jays beat Red Sox 7-1

TORONTO -- Melky Cabrera, one of a record six players from the Dominican Republic in Toronto's starting lineup, hit a go-ahead double and the Blue Jays ended a season-worst four-game losing streak, beating the Boston Red Sox 7-1 Sunday.

The first four hitters in Toronto's lineup were all from the Dominican Republic: shortstop Jose Reyes, outfielders Cabrera and Jose Bautista and first baseman Edwin Encarnacion.

Juan Francisco served as the designated hitter, batting sixth, and outfielder Moises Sierra batted seventh.

R.A. Dickey (2-3) won for the first time in four starts.

Jon Lester (2-4) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings. He walked none, struck out seven and threw a season-high 122 pitches.

Brett Lawrie homered and drove in two runs as the Blue Jays avoided their first sweep against Boston since June 2011.

I suppose John Farrell wants Lester's arm to fall off. Once again, he's left him in the game on a high pitch count. If Lester starts having arm problems this season, Farrell will have to accept a large part of the blame. After his first season managing the Jays, Farrell admitted to the press that he had badly mishandled the pitching staff that season & promised it wouldn't happen the following season. Is this season a case of deja vu?

 

[daydreamer41]

The Blue Jays have a great lineup. Perhaps they will start hitting like they did today the rest of the season?

 

[EagerBeaver]

I think Lester is a horse who can endure some high pitch counts but like I said he is a nightmare if you have an umpire who calls a tight strike zone. He lives on the corners. He is great with a generous umpire and the game is a grind with an honest or tight umpire. The Yankees had him in an insane pitch count his last start and you just can't do it again and again and again. But he can go 120 pitches and then be okay the next time out unlike Johan Santana who went 134 pitches in a no hitter then gave up 5 homers to the Yankees in his next start and after that got hurt and was basically done.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Blue Jays have a great lineup. Perhaps they will start hitting like they did today the rest of the season?

Encarnacion & Lawrie are heating up, finally. Reyes has yet to hit his form. Adam Lind was hitting extremely well until he went down to a back injury. Colby Rasmus playing great defence, but not hitting a lick. Second base a big hole in the lineup since Macier Izturis' season-ending injury.

Right now they have a big hole at 2nd and center. Rasmus has always been a streaky hitter & he's due to start getting hot. They don't really have anyone to replace him either on the current roster or in the minors. Bautista played center field today and Moses Sierra in right, but Sierra isn't much of an improvement over Rasmus. The Jays are willing to live with very good defence at second base and not much hitting, but they did make a serious play for Ian Kinsler during the off-season. Who knows, if Seattle continues to sink in the standings, maybe Robinson Cano will be made available.

It's too bad Brandon Morrow sucked yesterday and walked all those hitters, or else the Jays would have two wins under their belt this weekend. The Red Sox haven't hit much over the past two games. Other than Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia & David Ortiz, there isn't much going on hitting-wise right now. Not sure why Pappi didn't play today.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Doc,

None of the teams in the AL East are dogshit. Right now, the team many picked to be the team to beat, the Rays, appear to be in a hole due to the injuries to Moore and Cobb. But even without those guys they are not awful. All of the teams have some strengths and weaknesses. The Blue Jays have a very solid lineup, but you have Brandon Morrow issuing 8 walks in 2.2 innings and the rest of their staff is not great. Baltimore has a very similar team to the Blue jays, which is why those two teams had been picked towards the bottom of the AL East. But their lineups are really good. The Yankees and Red Sox have better pitching, overall, than those two teams.

 

[daydreamer41]

Encarnacion & Lawrie are heating up, finally. Reyes has yet to hit his form. Adam Lind was hitting extremely well until he went down to a back injury. Colby Rasmus playing great defence, but not hitting a lick. Second base a big hole in the lineup since Macier Izturis' season-ending injury.

Right now they have a big hole at 2nd and center. Rasmus has always been a streaky hitter & he's due to start getting hot. They don't really have anyone to replace him either on the current roster or in the minors. Bautista played center field today and Moses Sierra in right, but Sierra isn't much of an improvement over Rasmus. The Jays are willing to live with very good defence at second base and not much hitting, but they did make a serious play for Ian Kinsler during the off-season. Who knows, if Seattle continues to sink in the standings, maybe Robinson Cano will be made available.

It's too bad Brandon Morrow sucked yesterday and walked all those hitters, or else the Jays would have two wins under their belt this weekend. The Red Sox haven't hit much over the past two games. Other than Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia & David Ortiz, there isn't much going on hitting-wise right now. Not sure why Pappi didn't play today.

Melky Cabrera used to be able to cover CF, but hitting-wise he's one of the Blue Jays bright lights with a .345 BA.

I doubt the Mariners are going to trade Cano any time soon. Cano is having a very sub-par April. He's batting .289, 1 HR and 10 RBI. Not the numbers he was hoping for, but he's a streak hitter.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Betances pitched a very solid 2 innings yesterday. Maybe Girardi should give him one start and see if he can have a solid start? Betances has a nice ERA so far of 0.77.

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA
V Nuno 4.1 5 3 3 2 4 1 72-48 6.59
D Betances
(W, 1-0) 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 0 32-18 0.77

Daydreamer,

It does not work that way in baseball. You don't suddenly start after pitching 1 or 2 innings in spot relief work. Betances is not the long reliever, Phelps is. In any event, Betances is not stretched out and is not a candidate to start. Phelps is going to get Pineda's next scheduled start due to Pineda being suspended, because Phelps is the long reliever and he is MORE stretched out than Betances.

Apart from that, Betances has pitched well, and has developed nicely (albeit somewhat belatedly), but he is likely going to be a guy who goes from the 7th inning to the 8th inning to the 9th inning as a possible closer down the road. He does not have the repertoire to start. He has too many control and mechanical issues and is better suited to the bullpen and short stints. He certainly has the power arsenal that any late inning reliever should have. Let's not forget he is 6'8", and most tall pitchers struggle with their mechanics. Randy Johnson was the one guy who was able to become a dominant starting pitcher at 6'10" but he worked very hard on his mechanics. I think Betances also has worked hard on his mechanics because he is a guy in the past who could not throw strikes for long stretches, and it is also why if you start a guy like that and make him throw more pitches, he may have bouts of wildness.

For now, Phelps is the spot sparter for Pineda and Nuno has taken Nova's spot in the rotation.

In the second half of the season, you may see Manny Banuelos, who is recovering from TJ surgery, called up to replace Nuno depending on how effective Nuno is. Banuelos will eventually be in the rotation. Adam Warren is another candidate for the rotation, and at this point I would rather have Betances in the 7th inning, Kelly in the 8th, Robertson as closer and Warren as long man as he is the next in line if someone else gets hurt or suspended or sucks.

 

[daydreamer41]

Beav, what do you mean by stretched out?

I have been told that scouts like tall pitchers because they have an advantage in that they have more leverage than shorter pitchers.

Their arm is higher in their release and is also closer to home plate so batters have a little less time to react. From an article: The taller the pitcher, the more downward motion is put on the ball. This assists the ball in moving in response to gravity. The angle of the downward motion creates a lift under the ball causing it to move up or side to side, based on the spin the pitcher puts on the ball. Now the article says height is overrated, but it is still a factor. http://www.sportinglife360.com/inde...chers-are-better-than-short-pitchers-2-54632/

I have never heard that the mechanics of taller pitchers are not as good as shorter pitchers.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Beav, what do you mean by stretched out?
I have never heard that the mechanics of taller pitchers are not as good as shorter pitchers.

It means he has not pitched more than 25-30 pitches in his relief outings. To prepare a pitcher to start he needs to go 5 innings in a minor or major league game or at least 75 pitches. You can't go from pitching 1 inning here or there to starting, it does not happen that way in the major leagues. That is why the long man (Phelps) will start before anyone else does, and why he in fact was already named starter Wednesday. For Betances to start, he would have to be sent down and given a progessive workload in the minors, from 2 innings to 3 to 4/5 and it has not happened nor will it happen. Even Phelps is not fully stretched out, but since he is the long man, the Yankees have no choice but to start him as he is the most stretched out candidate to replace to Pineda.

It is common knowledge in baseball that VERY tall pitchers all have mechanical issues. 6'4" is tall for an average man but average for a MLB pitcher. Tall in MLB means 6'7" and over. Betances is 6'8" and although he possesses an excellent power pitcher arsenal his mechanics and control issues prevented him from having success until now. He has been a touted prospect as one of the killer Bs for almost 5 years and only now at age 26 has he developed into a useful major league pitcher. But better late than never!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Yankees and Red Sox have better pitching, overall, than those two teams.

I totally disagree. The Yankees have 3 quality starting pitchers and 1 quality reliever. I'm referring to Sabathia, Tanaka, Kuroda & Robertson. But Kuroda is what? 40 years old? He can't be effective forever. They have one more pitcher who may one day become a quality pitcher if he's able to remain healthy, but we'll get to him later.

The Red Sox have Lester, Peavy & Buchholz. But the only consistent one of that bunch is Peavy. They don't have a closer and the rest of their bullpen isn't anything to write home about.

The Jays have Buehrle, Dickey & Hutchinson whom i consider as good if not better than the three pitchers i've named from the two other teams. Dustin McGowan can be lights out when he's on his game, but he's been unable to remain healthy throughout his career. Brandon Morrow used to be lights out, but two years of battling injuries hasn't helped him and who knows if he'll regain his form. The also have some of the best relievers in baseball in Loup, Cecil, Santos, Delabar & Jansen. Jansen, their closer, has yet to pitch this season due to a nagging back problem.

The only edge that the Yankees may have over the other teams (actually, over the entire major leagues) is that they have possibly the dumbest pitcher in the history of the game in Michael "Pine tar" Pineda. Man, that guy is so stooopid!!! :lol:

 

[Special K]

The Red Sox have Lester, Peavy & Buchholz. But the only consistent one of that bunch is Peavy. They don't have a closer and the rest of their bullpen isn't anything to write home about.

I know it's still very early in the season but I'm not sure where you get any stats for your ananlysis, Doc?

The Sox are ranked in the Top 10 (8) in bullpen ERA while your BJ's are down at 25!! The Sox have one of the best closers in the game with Koji yet you continually spout that they don't have a closer. Sure, their starting pitching hasn't been great but it is STILL ranked higher than both the BBBJ's and Yanks.

 

[daydreamer41]

I know it's still very early in the season but I'm not sure where you get any stats for your ananlysis, Doc?

The Sox are ranked in the Top 10 (8) in bullpen ERA while your BJ's are down at 25!! The Sox have one of the best closers in the game with Koji yet you continually spout that they don't have a closer. Sure, their starting pitching hasn't been great but it is STILL ranked higher than both the BBBJ's and Yanks.

You should use your spell checker.

 

[gurgeh85]

Sure, their starting pitching hasn't been great but it is STILL ranked higher than both the BBBJ's and Yanks.

If the Blue Jays sweep another team, does that make them the BBBJTC's?

 

[Doc Holliday]

I know it's still very early in the season but I'm not sure where you get any stats for your ananlysis, Doc?

If you ever watched the movie "The Trouble with Curve", you'll know where i'm coming from. I'm not that big with stats (call me the anti-Rumples if you may) and i rely mostly on my instincts.

I do realize that it's still very early into the season & that's exactly why i don't rely on stats very much for the time being. I look at the bigger picture. 99% of serious MLB followers don't even know who the Red Sox closer is, and the three-quarters of the 1% who do know can't even pronounce his name. In my book, that's NO closer. He's a wannabe.

On another, do you agree with my assessment of the Yankees?

 

[Doc Holliday]

If the Blue Jays sweep another team, does that make them the BBBJTC's?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[EagerBeaver]

Tonight in the Bronx, Robinson Cano has been aggressively booed and heckled with chant that he "sold out" by the bleacher creatures. In two at bats against CC, he has a swinging strikeout and a weak groundout to CC.