Major League Baseball: 2011 Thread

[BobK]

Good win for the Astros there, glad to see you guys have a bit of success. I came away from the series we played against the Brewers immediately before the current road trip with a new respect for Milwaukee, particularly with Prince Fielder. I had thought that guy was a one-dimensional player, but he certainly isn't. Very impressive player with talents that go beyond standing there pounding baseballs over the wall.

 

[JohnBM01]

Astros fail again, again. Only good news is that we didn't get blanked. Houston never led as the Brewers won 4-1 to take two out of three.

The next five series involves NL Central teams. If the Astros have any hope of proving doubters wrong, then they'll need to win as many of these games as possible. Looks like the Astros forgot to bring their offense from last night to this game. Probably fitting that on Easter Sunday... we laid an egg and failed. Now Lance Berkman will return to Houston in St. Louis colors. We'll likely get swept by the Cards next. Yay, us...

 

[Keef]

The Reds are losing it and the season just started! Hopefully they have a reverse-trend and start kicking ass later on.

 

[Omnis]

There was a Kevin Youkilis Photoshop Contest on Yahoo. It's already over, but you can check out the quality submissions.

This is hilarious.

!

 

[Crash]

I went to the Mariners vs Athletics game last night. The Mariners started out looking alright, but got progressively worse and worse as the night went on. They stranded a ton of guys on base and the starting pitcher struggled. The only redeeming thing was yesterday's weather was fantastic for a game in a open top stadium. Come on Mariners, why do you suck so much?

 

[Shmorgusborg]

GO RANGERS! I'm so glad that we have the team that we have. Yes it does suck immensely that we lost Lee but oh well. This season is going to be insane again! I'm definitely predicting another WS appearance, and this time we're going home with the trophy!

 

[spiker]

Yeehaw!

 

[MercilessOne]

Going to the Angels game today. Woo!

 

[Barra333]

The Blue Jays and Rangers are looking to put up a football score - TOR 7-3 in the top of the third.

 

[JohnBM01]

Because of Internet troubles (again), I've been away. I would have likely jumped on here talking about the Astros' win last night. I would have been damned if former Astro Lance Berkman (cringe at hearing/reading "former Astro Lance Berkman") scoring the would-be game-winning hit. Thankfully, the Astros came through in the Bottom of the 9th with a bases-loaded game-winning hit to give the Astros the win. J.A. Happ goes tonight on the mound against the Cardinals.

Elsewhere... pretty impressive for the White Sox to play the way they have in this series at the Yankees. Good job also by Ethier to extend his hitting streak. I actually wonder who would win right now if the Marlins and Giants had a series (regardless of whether it's played in Miami or San Francisco).


Here's the question I've been meaning to ask for some time: with April about to end, whom have you been most impressed with so far (teams and players)? Least impressed? Surprised? Let's get some discussion going while these teams are out playing ball!

 

[Nicksfix]

Here's the question I've been meaning to ask for some time:whom have you been most impressed / surprised with so far

Having a look at the A.L. Central ..... 5 games up ?

I've seen this many times in Tribe history .... and it usually does not last .Oh well,I'll enjoy this moment while it's here.

Good luck to your teams this weekend.

 

[Prosthetic]

Wow... The Giants are just getting smacked with the injury stick.

Sandoval is now down with fractured hamate. Our most consistent hitter and one hitter that hasn't been cold for several weeks now is now down. Ugh.

Ross
Wilson
Casilla
Zito
Torres
DeRosa

The Torres one is painful but we will get so see some Rohlinger are prospect that I really like. Plays good D and has good speed so maybe between him Burress and Ford we will steal more bases and win games that way.

EDIT: Forgot DeRosa... But yeah we've been hit hard in that department. Also the last game of the series vs. the Pirates Vogelsong pitched and did very good in his first start in 7 years. He originally was drafted by the Giants but struggled both with them and the Pirates who he was traded to in the Jason Schmidt trade. He pitched 6? innings and got 8K's so more of that and I will be very happy. He turned his career around in Japan and he has looked really good so far.

Ryan Rohlinger was called up to take place of Sandoval, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. Hes got speed and power, can play 3rd and short and even 2nd I believe. Anyways we have a bit of speed lingering around so hopefully one of Burriss, Rohlinger or Ford can get something going.

 

[JohnBM01]

After losing 5-0 last night, the Astros won 2-1 on a clutch extra-base hit by Jason Bourgeois. I was up "woohoo-ing" when I saw that hit. The hit was set up after two two-out walks by Kameron Loe in trying to close the game. We led 1-0 at the Bottom of the 8th until Prince Fielder hit a solo jack to tie the game at 1-1. The Astros can't seem to chain wins together, but I can only hope they can head into their six-day road trip (starting Monday) with a win against the Brew Crew.

After this series, we're in Cincinnati for a three-game set starting on Monday. We're off on Cinco de Mayo. We then go to Pittsburgh (and their beautiful PNC Park) for our first series against the Pirates this season.


In the AL, the Lone Star State's other MLB team knocked the green off of Oakland with an 11-2 beatdown. The Rangers are just too powerful. I can already see them beating my Astros when we battle for the Silver Boot when Interleague play rolls around.

 

[JohnBM01]

Our somewhat rare winning ways continued as we won 5-0 over Milwaukee earlier today! We won the series and handed the Brewers their first shutout loss. The big difference maker was Carlos Lee's three-run homer to vault us ahead about 4-0 at that point. Solid pitching by Bud Norris kept us in the game. Solid defense helped maintain the blank job.

Up next for my boys... two three-game sets broken up by a Cinco de Mayo day off. We're at Cincinnati for three starting Monday, then a weekend series at Pittsburgh starting on Friday.

What's up with you all and your teams?

 

[BobK]

Phils dropped a 14-inning game to the Mets after taking the first two games of the series. A day off then fifteen straight games against the rest of the NL East.

 

[Villain]

Here's a new Juan Uribe meme from a photo of him taken while the Dodgers were in Florida: Emo Juan Uribe

Too funny!

 

[JohnBM01]

We'll be playing on Cinco de Mayo as the Astros at Reds game for Monday was rained out. On Tuesday night, we took down the Reds 10-4. I hear most of our damage was done with a 6-run inning. When I first saw the game, we were up 9-1. J.A. Happ got the win for HOU while Leake took the loss for CIN. The games for Wednesday and Thursday are both 12:35 PM EDT starts. This is the Astros' longest win streak at three straight wins. We're 12-17 on the year, but we're still in the NL Central basement (6th Place in NL Central). I hope we can keep on winning to really feel confident about ourselves moving forward. Too many Houston teams have failed; it's time some Houston team (even if it is the Astros) in any of the major sports start giving us reason to believe again.


Now on to AL talk. I want to extend my congratulations to Francisco Liriano on his no-hitter at the White Sox. I wonder how GTPlanet's favorite Twins fan is feeling after the 1-0 no-hit win the Twins got at the White Sox. By the way, I was VERY surprised at that Cleveland Indians home dominance when I saw Post #161. It would sure be interesting to see if the Indians can sustain their solid play through the season. That's even if there are a few Twins/Indians series coming up for AL Central supremacy.

 

[Northstar]

The no-hitter was definitely a needed bright spot(and gave a glimmer of hope they can rebound). Although I think Morneau deserves some credit as well with that acting.

 

[JohnBM01]

A bulls:censored: closing performance by Brandon Lyon replaced what would have been a one-hit 2-0 shutout for Anuery Rodriguez With nobody out in a close game, the Reds came back to win 3-2. We should have f:censored:ing won had it not been for Brandon Lyon f:censored:ing up the save opportunity. Closers CLOSE games; NOT blowing games open for teams to come back to win! I guess winning successive games for the Astros only set themselves up to fail down the road. Way to close out the game, Astros. FAIL!!! Yeah I know- we're not the NL Central leaders, but you just don't allow for a team to come back like this in the 9th inning with nobody out. Damned shame!

Did your team choke too today/tonight?

 

[BobK]

Well, Danys Baez made a go at it last night, giving up three runs in the ninth, but we ended up with a 7-4 win anyway.

Vance Worley has impressed in two outings now, although he did give up his first major league earned run in 21 innings (Espinosa HBP, LaRoche double). Michael Stutes pitched a decent inning in the eighth, and JC is back!

In fairness to Baez, though, this was his first bad outing this year. Last year he and Dave Herndon seemed to be vying for Arsonist of the Year, but right now it looks like Herndon will be uncontested for that this season.

 

[JohnBM01]

Down 6-1 in the Top of the 7th, we managed to put up three runs to make it a 6-4 deficit. Astros didn't do a damn thing since, and I stopped watching (I first checked in when it was the Top of the 7th) after the Reds belted a solo home run. We should have won yesterday's game. Now, we've lost two straight. Almost as if the Astros are content with being doormats. I'm damned disappointed in my team even if no one is expecting much of anything out of this year's squad. Just because we're not supposed to be any real NL threat doesn't mean you can't play to make fans believe. It's early in the season still, but the Astros can play much better than what they're showing. The losing is just getting contagious. They need a dose of reality and an extra juicing of winning. Otherwise... this will be just another reinforcement of why Houston as a depressing sports city.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are up next for the Astros. They are usually the NL Central doormat, unless the Astros insist on being NL Central doormats. We'll see how it goes against the Pirates this weekend at beautiful PNC Park.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Astros picked up a 3-2 victory for the first game of the Astros at Pirates series. I first followed the game on the radio, whereas we led 1-0 heading into the Bottom of the 5th. There was a lot of rain from what I saw. Still, the Astros were able to hold off the Pirates. Game 2 Saturday night, and Game 3 on Sunday afternoon for Mother's Day.

Good luck to all of your teams this weekend. Go play ball!

 

[JohnBM01]

THIS JUST IN... Justin Verlander throws a no-hitter for Detroit in Toronto! He had a perfect game going into the 8th, but ended up delivering a no-hitter. Verlander gets it done. It was a 9-0 victory for the Detroit Tigers at Toronto.

My source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=AszhuPSmBj8tiCDZAPSnVwARvLYF?gid=310507114

So two AL (let alone AL Central) no-hitters. When will an NL team get on the no-hitter list for 2011?


Meanwhile, my Astros are in action at Pittsburgh. Hope your teams are doing well today/tonight!

[UPDATE] The Astros failed tonight as they lost 6-1 to the Pirates. Rubber game of the series is tomorrow afternoon. Sure hope the Astros can turn things around before heading back home to play the Reds in the next series.

 

[DA__dogg]

Congrats to Verlander! I saw his first no-hitter back in 2007 but last night I had to stop watching just before the ninth inning started. Heard the rest on the radio. I loved his reaction to this one, very subdued and calm compared to 2007. When he is on, he is no doubt one of the top 5-10 pitchers in baseball.

*just in case I'm labeled a bandwagon fan, I've lived in Michigan my whole life and been following the Tigers since I could talk lol. I was at Tiger Stadium when Travis Fryman hit for the cycle against the Yankees. Loudest event I've ever went to. During his last at-bat you could not hear yourself think!

 

[Nicksfix]

I'm still finding this one hard to believe.

Tied for the best record in MLB ?

13 -2 at home ?

On a good note,today I was told by a sales Rep.that I will be receiving 2 tickets for the May 23rd game against the BoSox.

Go Tribe and good luck to your team as well.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Astros failed to make a comeback after being ahead 4-2 as the Astros lost 5-4 yesterday. We also lost the game on Saturday at the Pirates. Forgot the score.

Right now, we're playing the Reds down 6-0 in the Bottom of the 6th. It's a three game set followed by a day off on Thursday and a three-game weekend series against the Mets. After that, it's a seven-game road tour in three cities- at St. Louis for two, at Atlanta(?) for two, and then Interleague play at Toronto for three games.



Enjoy some MLB baseball, folks! Best of luck to your teams.

 

[BobK]

After two good outings with no decision, Joe Blanton finally notches a win in his first start since coming off the DL. Vance Worley, who pitched three innings of relief, continues to impress. Plus the win came against the Marlins, stretching the lead to three games. Raul Ibañez (Rauuuuuuuul!) goes 2 for 4. I believe his slump is now officially over.

 

[JohnBM01]

Meanwhile... my Astros only accomplished one thing last night- avoiding getting blanked. It was a 6-1 defeat as the Astros fall to 13-22 and dead last (6th in the NL Central). Travis Wood hit a three-run homer to vault the Reds up 3-0. Game 2 of this three-game set is Homey Bailey (CIN) vs. Brett Myers (HOU). I read that Myers has a 4.47 ERA compared to Bailey's 1.50 ERA. Yikes!

Looks like the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball match this weekend is an old favorite of ESPN- Red Sox at Yankees. I'm sure the Bronx Bombers will have their way with the boys from Boston, or at least try to.

 

[JohnBM01]

Geez... this was ugly from the get-go. The Reds did most of their damage in the early innings to win 7-3 tonight. All we could do was ratchet up three runs on seven hits. The Reds put up 7 runs on 15 hits. We had the only error of the game. We're now 10 games under .500 now with this loss. I know it's only May, but it may already be time to look forward to Texans football or Rockets basketball if the Astros don't get with the program anytime soon. Wandy Rodriguez is on the bump for tomorrow afternoon's game.

We're the worst team in National League with only 13 wins and 23 losses. Even though they are playing now, only the Twins have fewer wins with 12 victories and 21 losses. Astros have to stop conceding defeat and start playing like they want to be postseason contenders again. We haven't made any significant noise since our 2005 World Series run. When the Astros f:censored:ing wake up and start winning instead of failing? This s:censored: is driving me crazy! But you know what? They are still my team. I am no fair weather fan of the Astros.


Time to start winning, Astros. Not f:censored:ing around and not doing a damn thing, I mean WINNING! Rant over.

 

[Omnis]

Well, you've got 15 more chances. Bring it on!

Take that! JJ > Roy.

edit: That said, the Marlins's jersey supplier is pathetic. They can't even pattern-match the pinstripes. Wtf.