Major League Baseball: 2010 Thread

[TS]

D-backs bullpen is full of fail, and righthanders, the only lefty reliever we have is Jordan Norberto, who's in AAA.

I'm starting to dislike AJ Hinch as manager, he hasn't made a whole lot of good decisons so far this year, considering that we spent a good bit of money getting good players like Edwin Jackson and Adam LaRoche, yet were still a sub-.500 team like we were last year! 👎

 

[JohnBM01]

Astros got spanked last night. Today, it's Oswalt vs. Lincecum. For a guy who doesn't usually know the ins and outs of baseball, it always seems to be the second game in three-game series that has the most interesting pitching matchups. Lincecum is just a demon. The Astros will really need to be on their game looking up at Lincecum on the mound.

In the AL, it was awesome seeing that A-Rod Grand Slam (at the expense of Justin's Twins, unfortunately). Toronto and Texas had quite a slugfest yesterday with about 25 or 26 total runs on the board as Toronto took down Texas.



Ah! That Houston at San Francisco game is at the top of the hour on FOX! The Sunday Night game on ESPN is another NL match- Phillies at Brewers. That's going to be a great game. I immediately think of Chase Utley vs. Prince Fielder with this game. Enjoy the weekend games!

 

[JohnBM01]

Giants won 2-1 over my Astros. Tim Lincecum is now 5-0 while Roy Oswalt goes to 2-5. I guess the saying proves true that everything is funny... as long as it isn't happening to you. Sadly to say, my Astros still have the NL's worst record and are also considered (as Joe Buck said last year) "a rudderless organization."

I at least hope the Astros can head to Los Angeles with a win over the Giants. The thing I hate most about all of this is that even though nobody even gives us a chance, that the Astros still can't play like they are at least contenders. Just because you have a sub-par team doesn't there are no solid players. I just don't know what it is with the Astros as to how we can't consistently compete and play hard every game. I'm always a proponent to say that any team of any caliber can beat even powerhouse programs. A college hoops version would be Chaminade's upset win over #1 Virginia back in the 1980s. Astros have to get with the program... NOW!

 

[JohnBM01]

Astros go from sweeping the Cardinals... to getting swept by the Giants. Damned shame. I just hope we don't fail at the Dodgers. Astros lost 8-2 on Friday, 2-1 on Saturday, and now 4-3 today.

Phillies at Brewers tonight. At least those two teams don't know what falling on their faces is like unlike my Astros.

 

[Northstar]

Turns out the Twins can win in Yankee Stadium, just not a whole series.

 

[Prosthetic]

Giants are getting owned by SD this year. We just won our first game against them this year. We have been sooo unlucky with them, every hard hit ball is right at a defender. That and the Hairston brothers and Ekstein historically hit like Babe Ruth against the Giants.

 

[JohnBM01]

My Astros will host the Colorado Rockies tonight and tomorrow. After this, we got the Tampa Bay Rays in Interleague play. My Astros are 13-26. The Orioles have a worse record at 13-27. Still, we're pathetic right now. Colorado is not a sorry team. Tampa Bay sure as hell isn't sorry. Every game seems tough when your team is a struggling mess.

Astros need to pick things up. While it's a marathon and not a sprint, you still have to play hard and find every possible way to win games. If the Astros don't pick things up, we'll be overtaken by the Orioles for the worst record, and I SURE don't want my Astros to be a baseball version of the 2009 New Jersey Nets.

 

[JohnBM01]

Get it done! A big 8th inning helped the Astros sky high over the Colorado Rockies 7-3. Another fun fact- the Astros have now hit 998 home runs at Minute Maid Park. It's said that the one who catches the 1,000th home run ball will get $1,000 USD of free gas from Conoco. This series wraps up tomorrow night against Colorado, then it's Interleague play as we'll take on Tampa Bay.

Hope your teams did well today and tonight!

 

[TS]

D-backs clobbered the Giants 13-1 last night, Ian Kennedy has been the best pitcher for the snakes so far in May and he had another great outing last night, 8 innings and only allowing the 1 run.

 

[JohnBM01]

Like I said earlier- Dodgers (and maybe Padres) notwithstanding, the NL West may just be D-Backs vs. Giants this season. This series could go a long way in determining who the NL West representatives will be in the postseason. BIG win for the Diamondbacks.

 

[TS]

D-Backs are too inconsistent to win the division, some days they play like all-stars and other days they play like minor leaguers.

I'm thinking that Dodgers will probably hover around the .500 mark and come August they'll get on a tear and win 90+ games and take the division by a healthy margin like they have the last couple years.

 

[JohnBM01]

Good luck to everybody in Interleague play! My Astros got the Tampa Bay Rays (struggling NL team vs. AL East powerhouse). We'll probably get our doors off by the Rays. But in Astros fashion, if we lose, we'll lose fighting.

Have a great Interleague weekend, including the primetime FOX Saturday Baseball games!

 

[TS]

D-Backs and Blue Jays this weekend.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Astros just beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1. The numbers (Runs/Hits/Errors):

TAMPA BAY: 1|9|0
HOUSTON: 2|6|1

I've been a bit hard on the Astros when they lose, but maybe the 4 AM arrival time for the Rays was a factor. We got two more games on the card left.

I do hope the National League can pound out some wins (speaking as a National League guy). I'm usually one saying that even the AL's worst teams can beat the best NL teams. And the best NL teams could fall even to the worst AL teams. I love the National League, but the American League is just too stacked. Usually always is. So any NL win against an AL opponent will surely make me happy. I'd be happy knowing it's boys in my league taking down boys from the other league. I think the the AL/NL battles is the least competitive compared to (using other sports) the Western and Eastern conferences in the NBA or the AFC and NFC in the National Football League. It's also the reason why you don't see Interleague matches more often.

Still, congratulations to my Astros in taking down 30-win Tampa Bay 2-1. Let's keep it up! Another note about this game- the top was closed. The Astros do better with the roof closed.

 

[JohnBM01]

Tomorrow's match will be a Rubber Game. Astros won 2-1 on Friday, but lost in a non-televised game 4-2 to Tampa Bay. The finale is Sunday afternoon as the Astros and Rays will battle for a series win. I think there was only one non-Interleague match played tonight.

Interleague play continues tomorrow!

 

[Joey D]

Wow. Former Detroit Tiger José Lima passed away today from a heart attack. A bit of shock to learn that.

 

[JohnBM01]

Yeah. Really depressing news for J. Lima to pass away. My Astros are up 4-2 in the Top of the 5th vs. Tampa Bay. The better news is that the Astros have hit their 1,000th Home Run off a three-run jack by Pedro Feliz. We were up 4-0 at the end of the 1st inning until the Rays put two runs on the board. Pretty good rubber game so far. Lot of full counts (3-2) in this game.

Tonight's Sunday night match is right up ESPN's alley: Yankees at Mets in the Subway Series.

 

[astrosdude91]

Did you hear that Oswalt wants out of Houston? I don't blame him really. He's pretty much the only player on the team thats doing good right now. He says that he is reaching the end of his prime, so he wants to be on a team that might get him to the playoffs again. At least he was nice about the whole thing.

 

[JohnBM01]

Roy Oswalt leaving for a contender only re-enacts my fear that players get better when they go to other teams when they could have been champs with my teams. Oswalt is a hell of a pitcher, no doubt. I guess I just get scared when I've seen Brad Lidge basically return to glory when he helped win the World Series with the Phillies. I'm like... "that image could have been with my Astros rather than with any of the other 29 teams." But of course, pitching doesn't mean a damn thing if the hitters (including the pitcher) can't produce runs on offense.

Something tells me that Roy Oswalt will go to the Yankees, the Red Sox, or somewhere like that. My primary fear would be Roy Oswalt playing for another National League Central team. Like, imagine if Roy Oswalt wanted to play for the Cubs or the Cardinals. It would just mean that we'd have to battle against Roy Oswalt IN OUR DIVISION to keep him at bay. Or here's something I know one fellow in Northern California can appreciate- what if Roy-O goes to... the Giants? That means that San Francisco would have the best pitching power from top to bottom. But then again, I wouldn't want to single out that Tim Lincecum guy. He's pretty good, you know?

Right now, the Astros are not a contender. I may not even see them relive their 2005 glory from being a doormat to the N.L. Pennant winners. So all the signs are there that Roy Oswalt is ready to move on. Part of me says I don't blame Roy Oswalt, but another part of me just can't stand to see Roy Oswalt do much better with another team than what he could have done with my Astros. However, Roy's proven himself with the Astros, so it's really up to him and who wants him.

By the way, the Astros lost 10-6 in a rather exciting game until the Rays shown why they are the best. Our Interleague games don't get any easier. Two series against the Rangers (for the Silver Boot), at the Yankees, and at Kansas City. I know we're not meant to be true contenders, but that's just downright wrong giving us THIS Interleague schedule!

 

[astrosdude91]

I know what you mean. It would be really bad to see go to an NL central team.

I want to see an Astros team that I saw in the '04 or '05 season. We had it all back then, and our pitching rotation and bullpen were deadly!

 

[JohnBM01]

Then too, astrosdude91, we had some great players. Biggio. Berkman. I even liked Willy Taveras when he played for the Astros. Some people just think that the Astros simply don't have much of a threat as we used to. That's even if Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio wanted to return to the 2010 Astros to give us a lift.

The 15-29 Astros begin a road trip. Our next five series: at Milwaukee (3 games), at Cincinnati (3 games), vs. Washington (4 games), vs. Chicago Cubs (3 games), and at Colorado (4 games). After the Colorado series, that's when we're back to Interleague play AT the Yankees and AT the Royals. Win as many games as you can, Astros! It ain't going to get any easier!

 

[astrosdude91]

Our Astros won 5-zip against the Brew Crew! I guess they were answering Oswalt's plea for more run support.

I watched a pretty good game on the MLB network, the Mariners beat the Tigers, but only just. It was a close game.

 

[Joey D]

Ya the Tigers should have won that game. Oh well. I'm really going to try to get to a game this weekend since the weather is going to be epic. Honestly watching the Tigers, drinking beer and eating hot dogs sound like a great way to spend my Memorial Day weekend.

 

[JohnBM01]

I'll be damned... we WALKED IN a run to lose at Milwaukee (and yes, GREAT win last night by the Astros). Maybe our fortunes will get better when we head to Cincinnati and their beautiful ballpark.

 

[JohnBM01]

Today is a racing day, but Astros won 2-0 today in 10 innings. That's better than the 15-6 stomp job on Friday and the 12-2 rout last night. Every little win helps for the Astros. This is all to get out of the NL and NL Central basements as much as possible.

Tonight, Rangers at Twins on ESPN.

 

[JohnBM01]

This just in... word has it that Dontrelle Willis of Detroit has been (or will be) traded to the Diamondbacks. What Detroit is getting in return is unsure at this point.

The sad saps known as the 2010 Houston Astros dropped yesterday's game 14-4 vs. the Nationals. Game 2 of this four-game series is tonight. The Astros are now 17-34. Yep... our loses are our wins doubled. Houston is usually not a perennial powerhouse, but this team is really playing like a baseball version of the 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets. According to stuff I read on the Internet, our worst-ever season was when we finished 64-96 in 1962. The Astros would need to DOMINATE if they even want to come close to their all-time best record- 102-60 in 1998. That team won their second-successive NL Central title. Our best days are certainly behind us. If there's ever any trading or anything this season, I wonder who the Astros will have to trade for to get a team that can WIN games. Many people say we lack pitching. Many say we lack hitting. We just need SOMETHING to get us pointed in a direction other than losing.

I'd sure love to have the ghosts of the 1998 team give us a lift!

 

[TS]

I heard Willis was released and the D-backs were interested in picking him up.

Too bad the starting pitching isn't the problem, a 🤬 bullpen and a 🤬 manager are to blame for the snakes' issues.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Astros won last night... 9-8 or 8-7. We're still deep in the basement of the NL Central. We can probably only play for any NL Wild Card aspiration if we continue failing in games. Lance Berkman was the hero with a clutch extra base hit in the 9th inning with two outs.

So we are now 18-34. With the Yankees beating the Orioles last night, Baltimore still has 15 wins on the season. We're still the worst NL team, but Baltimore still has the worst record. Wonder how many Orioles fans are looking ahead to Baltimore Ravens' football at this point...

 

[Joey D]

WTF? Galarraga should have gotten a perfect game but no Jim Joyce, the first base ump had to be make one of the worse calls I've ever seen in a baseball game. This just proves they need at least one video challenge in baseball...or more competent umps. I dare say, I don't think I've ever been so pissed at a sporting match before.

 

[astrosdude91]

I saw that, Joey D. I'm not a Tigers fan, but wow! That umpire needs to get banned from calling baseball! I wouldn't be surprised if that ump encountered a few Tigers fans in the parking lot!