Our National Pastime: 2015 Baseball Thread

[Doc Holliday]

Let me make a few bold predictions:

-John Farrell will be fired prior to the all-star game. Not surprising, considering he's by far the worst manager in baseball.

-Ben Cherington is likely to survive the season. But he's gone by next season.

-The Red Sox will finish next-to-last place in the American League.

-David Ortiz will officially retire after this season.

-Clay Bucholz will not be a Red Sox by the end of the season.

-Boston will try to unload Wade Miley and Rick Porcello, but will not be successful.

-The Red Sox will also be shopping Dustin Pedroia. Even though his preference will be to remain in Boston, he will eventually welcome a trade.

-Boston will also try to unload fat third baseman Pedro Sandoval. They will also offer to cover a large part of his fat contract in order to move him. Good luck!

-Hanley Ramirez, one of the worst fielding outfielders in baseball, will be traded by the end of the season.

-Mike Napoli will also be gone by August.

-Owner John Henry will pass away from a serious illness within the next 5 years.

 

[smuler]

Matt Harvey tonight Toronto fans

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Merlot]

Baseball fans?

...for such a great fanbase and awesome city.

Doc says that has nothing to do with anything and doesn't matter. BWAHA!

It looks like it's time to get the posse back to work so we can find some Yankees fans around here. There's a very sudden absence of bloated pinstriped blustering. What has happened? Well if we can find one of them anywhere I have a question. Is Eovaldi Spanish for Ooops, I Suck??? I mean 8 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. Yikes. look up how to define I-M-P-L-O-S-I-O-N! Damn.

Well the Red Sox actually exploded for 18 hits and 9 runs, with help from Brock Holt hitting for the cycle without giving back more runs than they got. Doc's latest punching bag Miley also pitched pretty damn well as he had been until he lost his cool in his last outing.

Cheers,

Merlot

 

[daydreamer41]

Baseball fans?



Doc says that has nothing to do with anything and doesn't matter. BWAHA!

It looks like it's time to get the posse back to work so we can find some Yankees fans around here. There's a very sudden absence of bloated pinstriped blustering. What has happened? Well if we can find one of them anywhere I have a question. Is Eovaldi Spanish for Ooops, I Suck??? I mean 8 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. Yikes. look up how to define I-M-P-L-O-S-I-O-N! Damn.

Well the Red Sox actually exploded for 18 hits and 9 runs, with help from Brock Holt hitting for the cycle without giving back more runs than they got. Doc's latest punching bag Miley also pitched pretty damn well as he had been until he lost his cool in his last outing.

Cheers,

Merlot

OMG, a Rogue Hose Fan is :cheer2: :whoo: :cheer2: ing. The Yankees lost and the Red Sox won. Mark this day in history.

Sorry to beat a :deadhorse: but the average Red Sox fan has a bigger hard on (can't find a smiley for that) when the Yankees lose bad than when the Red Sox win (once in a very blue moon).

Red Sox are still in LAST PLACE trailing the First place Tampa Bay Rays by 8 games and are still 10 games under .500.

I just wonder why MLB has 162 games per team when 1 game would be enough to satisfy Mr. Merlot? :noidea:

 

[daydreamer41]

Great game pitched by Michael Pineda. 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 9 K's. Yankees win 2-1.

Tampa Bay wins so the Yankees stay 1 game out.

And the Rogue Hosers drop another game in Atlanta. Boston is 9 games behind Tampa and 8 games behind the Yanks.

 

[Joe.t]

It is now official, worst team in the AL, embarrassing.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

 

[lgna69xxx]

And THIRD WORST IN ALL OF MLB!

I would not use embarrassing as much as I would use FUNNY! :lol:

:thumb:

It is now official, worst team in the AL, embarrassing.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

 

[smuler]

Toronto gave my Mets a whipping yesterday

This Colabello guy played very well

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[daydreamer41]

It is now official, worst team in the AL, embarrassing.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp

That's right. Red Sox have the worst record in the AL, not just the AL East.

Here's the new Red Sox theme song:

[video=youtube;qSx2HIi4dFg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSx2HIi4dFg[/video]

 

[Joe.t]

LOL, that's cold and nasty DD but I love it.:thumb:

I can't imagine Merlot taking this dose of reality very well considering he is a very emotional fella.

Merlot after looking at the latest standings

 

[daydreamer41]

LOL, that's cold and nasty DD but I love it.:thumb:

I can't imagine Merlot taking this dose of reality very well considering he is a very emotional fella.

Merlot after looking at the latest standings

You're so right, Joe.t. I bet Merlot is so upset at the Red Sox, he is starting to think that Tom Shady Brady leaked those footballs himself, although Brady only told the equipment guy to leak them, well at least 11 of the 12.

 

[Joe.t]

WELCOME BACK RUMPLES!!!(AGAIN).

 

[Joe.t]

As we enter another year, I thought I'd kick things off with Ben Lindbergh's analysis of our teams. Note that while the stats project the Yankees to win one more game than the Jays, he thinks the Jays will beat their projection and finish second, while the Yankees will miss theirs and finish last.

His piece is very long and detailed, so I'll just post the Projected Records and Summaries. The complete article is here: https://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-2015-al-east-preview-red-sox-blue-jays-orioles-rays-yankees/

Red Sox - Projected Record and Over/Under: 87-75 — OVER. Asked to project the team’s win total on the Red Sox preview episode of Effectively Wild, Providence Journal beat writer Tim Britton said, “There’s what I think this team as currently constituted would do, and there’s what I think this team, if they show a small weakness and try to fix it at the deadline, would do.” That’s a potentially important distinction. To the extent that a buyer’s market can exist in an era when anyone can win, this summer figures to be a favorable time to shop for top-of-the-rotation starters, several of whom will hit free agency at the end of the year.

Even if the Sox can’t sublet a starter, though, their staff won’t be as big a vulnerability as it seems on the surface. Run prevention isn’t all about pitching: The Sox project to have the AL’s second-best defense, by both DRS and UZR,2 and slick fielders — like Dustin Pedroia, whose glove makes him one of the game’s best second basemen even when hand problems sap his power at the plate — make contact-prone pitchers look good. And that’s without accounting for the full impact of Christian Vazquez, whose defensive DNA appears to be Molina-esque. Vazquez projects to save 28 runs thanks to pitch framing over a full season, according to Baseball Prospectus’s Called Strikes Above Average, which puts him one run off the pace for the major league lead. He’s also superb at controlling the running game: In 55 big league games last year, he led all catchers in another BP defensive stat, Basestealing Attempts Above Average. After accounting for pitchers, baserunners, and game states, Vazquez reduced base stealing attempts by 9.2 percent.

In a division full of flawed teams, the Red Sox’s unmatched offense, solid defense, and deep pockets make them the favorite.

Blue Jays - Projected Record and Over/Under: 81-81 — OVER. If you thought Boston’s pitching was shaky, avert your eyes from Toronto’s relief corps. The rotation has promise, though, even without Stroman. As others have observed, Drew Hutchison’s slider seemed to take on new life late last season, which coincided with a dramatic rise in strikeout rate. Maybe he’ll sustain some of that bump. Dickey and Buehrle have historically been locks to eat innings. Rookie Daniel Norris has come a long way in a short while, and could take time to adjust, but he’s more than the classic quirky lefty: He throws 96, and he’s missed bats at every level. And if Sanchez fails as a starter, he’ll become an instant solution to the bullpen problem. The Jays can’t quite rival Boston’s best-in-show offense, but their bats and gloves are good enough to keep them close.

Yankees - Projected Record and Over/Under: 82-80 — UNDER. If the Yankees had players of the same skill but no-higher-than-normal injury risk, they’d deserve a higher spot. A rotation of Tanaka, Sabathia, Michael Pineda, and Eovaldi, rounded out by a combination of Capuano and Nova, could be the best in the division. But the odds of that group staying intact for any significant stretch are infinitesimal. Consider this: The Yankees have nine hitters projected to miss 25 games or more. By comparison, the Braves — a much younger team with only one regular age 31 or older — have none.

We can’t count on the new, fiscally conservative Yankees to pick up players at midseason, either. So we’re left with what we see: a team that would be better if we could roll back its collective odometer to a point several years in the past.

Is it safe to assume that Tom Britton doesn't know shit about baseball?, it also proves that metrics is a flawed analysis and as useless as tits on a bull.:nod:

 

[daydreamer41]

WELCOME BACK RUMPLES!!!(AGAIN).

He's back? Who would have known? :noidea: He's so quiet, so far.

Meanwhile, the Yanks won handily, 9-4. Rays win too and stay in first place 1 game up on the Yanks, and 2 games up on the Blue Jays, 9 games ahead of you know who (last place worst record in AL period).

Arod is 1 hit shy of 3000 career hits.

Pittsburgh is now the hottest team in baseball winning their last 8 in a row only 4 behind the Cardinals. It will serve St. Louis right when the Pirates surpass them. CHEATERS SHOULD NEVER PROSPER. Don't mean to deflate your balloons, NE fans.

 

[smuler]

WELCOME BACK RUMPLES!!!(AGAIN).

Let's see how long it will take to get banned again

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[Merlot]

Let's see how long it will take to get banned again

Smuler

So this is how you stay out of the personal back-biting, some pointed goading instigation. Good one Smuler.

Arod is 1 hit shy of 3000 career hits.

Cheaters = BAD. Pinstripes = Whitewash. That's DD41.

Like Bonds it's a huge loss for baseball fans to be unable to enjoy the cherished landmark achievements baseball loves and measures greatness by because of the indelible TAINT of players like him and especially Alex Rodriguez. Bonds hit 762 homers and immediately every knowledgeable and devoted fan feels the failure instead of what should have been the glorious success of the player because of the steroids taint. Having been caught twice, once by his own admission, the other by an irrefutable trail of proof, Alex is the poster boy of great natural talent spoiled by the stain of a cheaters brand he can never dodge.

When Bonds career ended the Giants gave him the kind of obligatory celebration that was like finally finding a way to end a nagging injury that had stumped other doctors for so long leaving you to live with it as best as you could. It was thanks for the memories now get the hell out and don't come back. For Bonds it was, yup the numbers are wonderful, thanks for everything now go away. Does anyone respect Bonds except die hard kool-aid addicted Giants fans? Certainly not Hall of Fame voters who gave a player with numbers that should have gained a unanimous first round vote just 36.2 the first time, sinking to 34.7% the second time. That's what Taint does for the all-time home run king, and Bonds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...ers_suspended_for_performance-enhancing_drugs

Bonds never served a day of suspension for anything. So how much taint has attached itself to the player who holds the record for days served (162) on suspension specifically for steroid abuse? Can anyone but the most eager gulpers of pinstriped kool-aid even feign respect for Rodriguez as he passes those hallowed baseball milestones. The Yankees themselves are treating him like a terrible case of incurable pimples, gross pockmarks you've got to bear and do your best with until IT finally goes away. The team refuses to pay him contract due money for those milestones because the taint has so damaged Rodriguez' reputation he's considered unmarketable. This will end up being a court battle because of the stain of Steroid Taint.

Even the Yankees current manager can't bring himself to give A-Rod the credit a clean player the baseball world would be falling over itself to shower him with if it wasn't for the TAINT. When Girardi was asked about Rodriguez reaching the 3000 hits mark he said: "I don't know," Girardi said. "People want to say: Is it a milestone? I don't know. But 3,000 hits is a lot of hits." Very faint praise IF it is at all. For the Yankees dealing with Rodriguez is like going to the best restaurant in the city and discovering the gourmet chef never washes his hands after going to the bathroom. YIKES!

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2015/06/joe_girardi_on_alex_rodriguezs_march_to_3000_hits.html

What it's come down to is milestones for Rodriguez are a sham. No one will ever know if he would have gotten there honestly no matter what natural potential he had. For him every measure starts with *.

What a shame,

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

I'm happy that Rumples is back posting on Merb. He's been missed, especially in this thread since the fact Boston is the worst team in the American League is making it too easy this season. Only Merlot & occasionally Special K continue to post from the Red Sox' side. No more Jman and Rumples was in exile.

I just hope he hasn't been told not to post in any baseball thread. His opinions, although not always popular, are welcome. Especially this season.

WELCOME BACK, RUMPLES!!!! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Joe.t]

So this is how you stay out of the personal back-biting, some pointed goading instigation. Good one Smuler.

LOL, absolutely hilarious as always Merlot, you calling someone else out on something that you are the absolute King of.:lol:

http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi0wOWNlYTNmZDY2MjE1ZTQx

 

[Merlot]

...you are the absolute king of...

From you, known as the "stiffer", the "Curse", always wrong.t.

Right Joe, three of you, so far, stirring for more crap before Rumples posts just once and you don't think you have a problem.

:lol:

Merlot

 

[lgna69xxx]

Thats what i love about the sports threads. There should be another sport and thread simply called "Hypocrisy" :lol:

Don't look now boyzzzzzz but Ivan "Super" Nova is about one rehab start away from landing back in "da boogie down Bronx". He goes for Scranton tonight and barring any setbacks his next start should be wednesday or thursday of next week.

Also seems Johnny Cueto is on the target list for the good guys in pinstripes. I am ALL for that as long as it does not mean giving up Severino or Judge or even Refsnyder and Bird. Speaking of Big Aaron Judge, he is on fire with 3 hrs in his last 6 games and should be promoted to Scranton soon.

The guy reminds me of my favorite player in the game and future Yankeee, Giancarlo Stanton.

[video=youtube;kMTetVFjqzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMTetVFjqzI[/video]