The Official 2012 Major League Baseball Thread

[Doc Holliday]

Oakland A's pitcher's infant son dies suddenly

OAKLAND - Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Pat Neshek's first son, Gehrig, died Wednesday just 23 hours after he was born.

"Please pray for my family. Tonight my wife & I lost our first & only son 23 hours after he was born with no explanation," Neshek said on his Twitter account.

Neshek left the A's on Tuesday to be with his wife, Stephanee, who went into labor.

He wasn't with the team as they celebrated their AL West title on Wednesday.

"Our hearts go out to Pat and Stephanee and we share in their sorrow of losing their young son. The entire A's organization will keep the Neshek family in our prayers and thoughts, as they try to come to grips with this tragic occurrence in their lives," the Athletics said in a press release.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/2012/10/04/20257121.html

 

[EagerBeaver]

ESPN Reporting Red Sox, Blue Jays Fighting For John Farrell

This report indicates John Farrell is the favorite to succeed fired manager Bobby Valentine, but the Blue Jays are very much going to stand in the way:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/23257/potential-candidates-to-replace-bobby-v

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

...but the Blue Jays are very much going to stand in the way.

Farrell is under contract for another year; the only way he gets to Boston is via trade. I doubt the Sox would be willing to meet the Jays steep asking price.

I spent the last two days at the Oakland Coliseum, cheering on a very exciting young club. The Athletics spent a total of one day in first place this year and it happened to be the last day of the season. They are the third team in baseball history to accomplish this feat.

 

[EagerBeaver]

They are the third team in baseball history to accomplish this feat.

I believe the 1951 Giants are one of the two others.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Farrell is under contract for another year; the only way he gets to Boston is via trade. I doubt the Sox would be willing to meet the Jays steep asking price.

Other than the fact that Farrell apparently has good relationships with some higher ups in the Red Sox organization and knowledge of the Boston team and market, I frankly don't understand what makes him such a desirable replacement. He is supposed to be a law and order guy, but I don't see so much law and order on the Blue Jays. Their pitchers have not been developed (Rickey Romero is case in point) and I saw some very nonchalant, lazy outfield play by Colby Rasmus which was tolerated by Farrell. You may recall Rasmus is a talented player run out of St. Louis by Tony la Russa, for the reason that he is a malingerer. When BJ Upton pulled the exact same shit in Tampa Bay, John Maddon sat his lazy fucking ass down and told him that is not how you play ball for me. And Upton did not do it again. So I think Farrell is a candy ass more interested in making the higher ups happy than in making sure the inmates are not running the asylum.

 

[Doc Holliday]

As far as i'm concerned, the Red Sox can have John Farrell if they want him. His teams have been very undisciplined & several veterans (Omar Vizkel, Casey Jansen, Adam Lind) have mentionned this problem to the media, adding that the undiscipline has not only been 'on the field', but also outside of it. They added that strong veteran leadership is lacking on the team.

I couldn't believe the great number of base-running mistakes this season, the missed fly balls, the missed signs when batting, the dumb stealing attempts, guys bunting without even being asked to bunt, etc. It was a mess!!!

The guy i'd like managing the Jays is Terry Francona. I believe that Farrell would welcome a trade or permission to move to Boston if it meant his buddy Francona getting the manager's job in Toronto.

There was way too much "laissez-faire" in Toronto over the past two seasons, and it hurt the team.

 

[EagerBeaver]

There was way too much "laissez-faire" in Toronto over the past two seasons, and it hurt the team.

If the Blue Jays come to that conclusion, I doubt Terry Francona will be the one who gets hired to fix it. He is best known for being fired in the aftermath of a fried chicken and beer in his clubhouse scandal, one that cast him as the ultimate country club manager.

 

[Doc Holliday]

If the Blue Jays come to that conclusion, I doubt Terry Francona will be the one who gets hired to fix it. He is best known for being fired in the aftermath of a fried chicken and beer in his clubhouse scandal, one that cast him as the ultimate country club manager.

Francona got a very raw deal from the Red Sox. He was thrown under the bus & backstabbed by management. The players & the fans loved him, and he was a very good manager. He's the one who finally led them to the promise land, ending that awful 86-year championship draught. He deserved better.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

All true, Doc, however he had lost control of the clubhouse. He was the right manager for the team until 2010. He wasn't for 2011 or thereafter. And note, that I love Tito and think he was a great manager, but his time had passed.

 

[joelabatt10]

I agree 100% with Doc Holliday. I would see what you can get from the Red Sox, then go and hire someone else. Francona is a possibility, but there are many other good candidates. Some of them are internal (Lovullo, Butterfield, Rivera).

 

[daydreamer41]

How about that bad call by the umpires in last night's first ever Wild Card playoff game between Atlanta and St. Louis?

The left field ump clearly made the wrong call. In a 6-3 loss, Atlanta would have had the bases loaded and one out. It's debatable whether Atlanta would have triumphed if the call went their way, but in such a crucial game it's troublesome that the call went the way it did. It should be noted that the ump raised his hand signifying the infield fly rule was in effect at the last second.

I know that the mlb umpires are not on the par of the replacement refs of the NFL. But mlb's umps have not done a great job this year. I would hate to see the World's Series decided on a bad call.

This year's playoffs has some interesting matches:

NL:

St. Louis against Washington Nationals

The defending Champion Cardinals are going against a tough Washington team. It seems that the Cardinals have been playing their best baseball in October, if they go any distance again this year. They have the worst record of all 10 teams in the teams in the playoffs. The Cards were Wild Card representatives last year. This is the first playoff appearance for Washington. I think the pitching of the Nationals will prevail in 4.

Cincinnati Reds against San Francisco Giants

The Reds have been fierce this year. It should be a great matchup. Either team could win. I think Cincinnati will win in 4.

Oakland A's vs. Detroit Tigers

Detroit has pitching and hitting. The A's have a solid young team. I think Detroit will prevail this series in 5, but I will not be surprised if the A's win.

New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles

This matchup is a contrast between a seasoned veteran team vs. a scrappy young team. Both teams played good baseball in September. If the Yankees keep in stride, it will be hard for the Orioles to temper the Yankees lineup. The weak spot of the Yankees is their pitching. Both Hughes and Nova are either in groove or out. Kuroda is solid. Sabathia has pitched well as of late. Baltimore surprisingly does not have any dominate pitchers. Their top pitcher Wi-Yin Chen was 12-11 with an ERA of 4.02. I think the Yankees will take it in 4 games.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Honestly that call was the worst call I have ever seen and I am shocked the umpires did not reverse it after huddling. The infield fly rule does not apply in that situation. The ball was in the outfield by quite a bit, and it was not capable of being caught with ordinary effort. Matt Holliday admitted he stopped because he thought the 3rd baseman had it. The 3rd baseman thought Holliday had it. Neither fielder made ordinary effort to catch the ball and that was due to miscommunication with each other.

The umpires bailed the Cardinals out on a play they completely and totally fucked up.

It was arguably the worst call in MLB playoff history. I am still shocked that this blatant stupidity was not reversed. Motte was on the ropes as he was all over the strike zone and that free out was a game changer in that situation.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Indeed, it was an awful call by the umpire. That umpire embarrassed the entire umpiring crew & should be sent back to umpiring school in order to understand why in the first place the 'infield fly' rule was implemented. A fly ball hit in short left field is not the reason why such a rule was ever implemented. What was he thinking??

Sure, the ruling could have been reversed, but i doubt they would have done it since it would have totally embarrassed the umpire who made the call. I mean, how does he defend himself? That he was staring at the hot blonde with the big boobs in left field? That he didn't realize that a fly ball in left field doesn't consist an infield fly? That he decided at the last second to start stretching his arm? There simply wasn't any arguement available for him to defend himself, so they just decided to let it go as ruled.

But the truth of the matter is, Atlanta didn't deserve to win & shot themselves in the foot over and over with very bad defensive mistakes (bad throws) which led the several runs being scored against them by the Cards. Chipper Jones took full responsibility for the loss after the game and i admire someone who takes responsibility for his mistakes, which are part of the game. He didn't blame the umpire, and i give him full credit for it.

I'm certain that the umpire realized right after that play that he had fucked up. I'm also quite sure that he must have felt absolutely awful right after that play & still does today. He had a brain fart, that's all. He made an error in a game where errors committed by players happen. But the fact is, the Atlanta Braves shot themselves in the foot over and over, and wound up losing the game. They're responsible for that loss, not the umpire.

Speaking of shifting the blame for losses, anyone seen the ESPN special on Steve Bartman & Bill Buckner? It's great! Steve Bartman was unfairly targeted for that loss by the Cubs, and the same thing with Bill Buckner on his fielding error against the Mets. "Catching Hell" is a brilliant documentary which i recommend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4aoxIYgd64

 

[EagerBeaver]

Jeffrey Maier Staying Home For Yankees-Orioles Series

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/jeffrey_maier_staying_home_for_this_Nc0yynWKwQkMesIpRZEdcL

 

[lgna69xxx]

my oh my how the mighty have fallen

https://merb.cc/vbulletin/showthrea...Memorial-Yankees-Suck-Thread-for-2007/page125 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


Meanwhile, fast forward to 2012, the YANKS blow out the Orioles, yes THE ORIOLES, in game one tonight.

 

[Joe.t]

I have no idea as to why the first two games are in Baltimore, it should be the other way around.

I love Sterling's call on Martin's HR.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_10_07_nyamlb_balmlb_1&mode=video

 

[EagerBeaver]

Iggy and JoeT,

I happened to make a quick run out to the local convenience store to buy some game sunflower seeds, when I hard Sterling's botched call on Teixeira's ball off the top of the wall. Apart from incorrectly lulling the listener into thinking it was a homer, he also failed to report that it was in reality a single. Sterling actually apologized on the air for his call, the first such apology I ever heard him issue, even though he has a long history of botching calls in this fashion. I suspect he was ordered to apologize by the producer.

He is good at injecting drama into his calls, but he botches so many calls it is fucken ridiculous and also very annoying.

I was not happy with the at bats of A-Rod. The fucken guy has 1 extra base hit in his last 80 at bats. He sure ain't aging as gracefully as Jeter and Ichiro. I personally would move his ass down in the order but I think Girardi probably won't.

Very, very good horse like performance by CC Sabathia, exactly what you hope and expect to get out of him. The Yankees got the job done last night and hopefully this will continue. I also hope to get something out of A-Rod, but I am not overly optimistic that we will get much other than the occasional walk.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Jeter, Swisher Upset With Autograph Seeking Cops

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201210/yankees-not-happy-policemen-ask-autographs-dugout

 

[lgna69xxx]

maybe so JHG, but this is not home field advantage for the Yanks who had the best record, by any means. Selig dropped the ball on this one, speaking of selig, good riddance in 2 years and lets hope the new commissioner does soemthing that is long long overdue, letting Pete Rose into the HOF! Selig is a disgrace more so than Rose ever was for keeping Rose the player out. Rose the player stood for EVERYTHING baseball was about, as a player, and he should be in the HOF, AS A PLAYER.

 

[lgna69xxx]

And you can disagree... thats your opinion and your entitled to it, but so am i and to many baseball fans not just Yankees fans, this is truly NOT home field advantage no matter how you look at it., Even my buddy who is a O's fan said the Yanks got robbed. Oh well, it is what it is.... Just means the Yanks get to win the series at home so all is not lost