Major League Baseball: 2011 Thread

  • Thread starter JohnBM01
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Heh, frustrating game last night. The Phils loaded the bases twice, first time with nobody out, and came away empty-handed. Two mistakes, walking the pitcher and a throwing error by golden glove man Rollins, led to two runs and that was the difference.

Superb pitching effort by Josh Johnson, though. He deserved th3e win, even though he wasn't credited with it.

Tonight's the rubber game, Cliff Lee against Ricky Nolasco, another good pitching matchup.

Is it my imagination, or have there been more Phillies fans in the ballpark than Marlins fans?
 
Earlier today, the Astros won 4-3. The team FOX's Joe Buck once called "a rudderless organization" finally got their heads in the game and won against the Reds. We prevented getting swept. This will provide some hope for the Astros as we host the improving Mets this weekend. Melancon was the winning pitcher for Houston, and Leake was the losing pitcher for the Cincinatti Reds.

Here is our next stretch of games: we host the Mets starting Friday night for a three-game set. And after this, it's a three-city road trip: two games at Atlanta, two games at St. Louis, and three games in Interleague play at Toronto. After Toronto, we're back home May 23rd to host a three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers.


How are your teams doing today/tonight?
 
BobK
Heh, frustrating game last night. The Phils loaded the bases twice, first time with nobody out, and came away empty-handed. Two mistakes, walking the pitcher and a throwing error by golden glove man Rollins, led to two runs and that was the difference.

Superb pitching effort by Josh Johnson, though. He deserved th3e win, even though he wasn't credited with it.

Tonight's the rubber game, Cliff Lee against Ricky Nolasco, another good pitching matchup.

Is it my imagination, or have there been more Phillies fans in the ballpark than Marlins fans?
Click to expand...

No, that's how it is here. The home fanbase is pathetic. Also, I don't know what it is but there have never been as many Phillies fans down here as there have been since, you know, they stopped sucking. Anyway, the biggest crowd we get is probably when the Cubs come to play. Cubs games used to be broadcast down here before the Marlins club was formed, so there are a ton of Cubs fans.

If we play the Mets, Yankees, Phillies, or Cubs, there will almost certainly be as many or more fans present for the visiting team.

It's pretty sad.
 
Damn. We need a closer, and one that can pitch fire every night. Stupid bullpen. At least the Heat won.
 
So I've spend less time reading box scores and more time reading updates about the Frank McCourt and Tom Schieffer. All of it smells of bs and rumors, so I won't bring that mess in here. While I'd like to see a sale of the team, honestly Frank McCourt hasn't been that bad. With him at the top of the pyramid there's been stadium renovations, back-to-back trips to the NLCS, a fantastic Spring Training Facility added, and plans to greatly improve stadium. The bads are the divorce and parking prices (but I usually have free parking with my tickets so it doesn't kill me).

Anyways, the team has been woefully inconsistent. Ted Lilly has been hot-and-cold, Kuroda's been great, Garland has been sufficient, Kershaw/Bills are fine. The bullpen is different every time you look, but I like Guerrier and Padilla for the most part. I definitely trust them the most.

Ethier and Kemp are unmatched, Jerry Sands needs to learn how to hit in the bigs, Uribe has been on a steady incline, Jamey Carroll is wonderfully reliable, Barajas only hits home runs (and not very often), everyone else is awful. Our injury list has also been terrible (but so has every other team's so I dislike complaining about that -- it's a horrible excuse for team struggles).

Anyways, it's good to be in the NL West. It always seems like the division is within reach even when you're two games south of .500. I'll be headed to Sunday's game against Arizona. I'm hoping that it'll be the third game of a sweep. The boys in blue could seriously use a boost like that right about now.
 
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Good luck to all of your teams this weekend. My Astros will be hosting the improving Mets for three games this weekend. Every win for my Astros helps as they'll try to dig themselves out of the hole they've been in.
 
Leading 4-0, the Mets finally decide to start banging balls out of Houston. And they did... as we failed again. The Mets just played better in clutch moments. Mets scored six runs on eight hits (including three homers) while we scored four runs on nine hits. The losing is becoming ridiculous. I know the Mets played better (especially late) tonight, but it's a terrible shame to see your favorite team continually lose.

I've been hearing there are some Phillies' fans who were upset that they haven't been producing a lot of runs. With all due respect- shut the hell up. You got nothing to worry about because you all, unlike my Astros, are actually winning games and have a great record to show for it. I'm as upset about this deal as much as when the NBA's Lakers fans were all upset at the Lakers losing games when they were in much better position than my struggling Rockets. Damn it, your team is doing much better than mine, so stop whining like your winning ways are coming to an end.


Astros need to be scared straight or something. It will already be time to look to Texans football if this habitual losing s:censored: continues. Next game of Mets at Astros is a 3:05 PM CDT start. At this pace, I doubt if we'll even get to 15 or more wins before May 2011 closes...
 
JohnBM01
Leading 4-0, the Mets finally decide to start banging balls out of Houston. And they did... as we failed again. The Mets just played better in clutch moments. Mets scored six runs on eight hits (including three homers) while we scored four runs on nine hits. The losing is becoming ridiculous. I know the Mets played better (especially late) tonight, but it's a terrible shame to see your favorite team continually lose.


Astros need to be scared straight or something. It will already be time to look to Texans football if this habitual losing s:censored: continues. Next game of Mets at Astros is a 3:05 PM CDT start. At this pace, I doubt if we'll even get to 15 or more wins before May 2011 closes...
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Watching the Astros game right now on MLB.TV. Seems be going better than yesterday. Happ isn't pitching a gem, but he is pitching a good game. Can't say that I am an Astros fan, but it is horrible to see this team fall so far in just a couple of years. Maybe new ownership will bring new life in the club.


EDIT: @Omnis So your a Marlin fan? I have been trying to figure out who the only fan was!!!
 
Sure thing, Yankees fan. Just remember 2003.
8306.YOU_2D00_STILL_2D00_MAD_2D00_BRO.jpg
 
All of a sudden, the Astros learned how to hit home runs. Carlos Lee picked up his 2,000th career hit, and the Astros banged about three balls out of Minute Maid Park. That even included back-to-back jacks from the Astros from Matt Downs and Bill Hall. Carlos Lee had the other homer. It was a 7-3 victory for the Astros. Maybe the Mets' home run hitting influenced the Astros to bang a few balls deep themselves. The Mets had three runs on seven hits. The Astros had seven runs on 13 hits, including one error. I forgot to note that we had an error last night in our loss last night. Today was an absolutely beautiful Saturday afternoon here in Houston. Even more so knowing that we won today. How will we head into the upcoming road trip? We'll find out with the rubber game tomorrow.


Another note from last night, I want to congratulate Omnis's Marlins on a sweet 6-5 win in 11 innings last night. On deck for later tonight... Red Sox at Yankees/ Enjoy this weekend of MLB baseball and best of luck to all of your teams!
 
It's back to what we do best- fail. The Astros shown some fight in this series, but not enough fight to win. Astros lost 7-4 today to the Mets. We led 2-0 early while the Mets batted around to make it 3-2. Then, the Mets stole home to make it 4-2. Our fight and our drive would shrink the gap the rest of the way. But... not enough to win. Almost as if I get excited when we win and hope we keep winning, all for the team to fall apart again. So we're stuck on 15 wins. Up next... two at Atlanta, two at St. Louis, and then three weekend games at Toronto. An interesting fact is that the Astros have NEVER played in Toronto for a club that played their first season in 1962(?). So we will have travelled to EVERY MLB city when we play at Toronto next weekend. I also hear we COULD have our ownership situation resolved later this week and won't be official until a few more weeks. Astros need to get on some kind of serious hot streak to get above .500 at this point. With a team this cold, though, that's a tall order. Even my 2010 Rockets in the NBA eventually bounced back after a pathetic start, but this is the weak link of Houston sports we're talking about- the Astros.

Elsewhere... I saw highlights of the Phillies at Braves game, and both teams rocked some throwback uniforms. I loved the ones Atlanta wore. Few games got rained out, like Royals at Tigers and Giants at Cubs.


That's it. I'll just see how my Astros do on this seven-day, three-city trip. One night game followed by a day game for each series of the at Atlanta and at St. Louis swing.
 
The view from our seats on Sunday:

30cy7t0.jpg


Dodgers lost, but it was still fun. Barajas had a fly ball caught on the warning track in the bottom of the 9th which would've tied it up. There's a good chance that I would've lost my mind [my voice was already long gone] had the ball made it over the wall.
 
Prosthetic
Was that picture taken before the third or after the seventh? That would explain all the empty seats. :P
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That was in the top of the ninth. Empty seats are because everyone here is mad at the ownership situation and doesn't want to give McCourt any money. After leading MLB in attendance for umpteen years in a row, the Dodgers are at a record low in attendance this season (still about 30,000 people per game).

Don't forget, there's still another deck even higher than the blue one in view. Stadium capacity is 56k. You can have what would otherwise be a sellout at other MLB parks while still having 20K empty seats.

EDIT: Official Attendance was 40,654. 1,500 more butts in the seats and we would have had more than a sellout in AT&T Park. :P
 
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A low scoring game ends up being a 3-2 victory for the Atlanta Braves. I'm not going to complain that we failed- the Braves just toughened up even as we scored the first run (a solo home run by Downs for the Astros). Then, the Braves put up two scores. We'd come back for 2-2, and then... we ended up losing. Fifteen Astros struck out by Braves pitching. I think the Astros know this is not going to be an easy road trip. And right now, they took this loss like they're gearing up for 2012. The Braves had three runs on nine hits, but had one error. We put up two runs on four hits, and had two errors. The ATL ain't too kind to the H-Town boys.

In other Astros news, the Astros are off the market. A group by Jim Crane has bought the Astros for $680M. I just hope we can benefit from this to actually become a winner for the first time since... maybe 2005 or (even better) 1998.


What's up with your team(s)?
 
...and the Blue Jays are back above .500, thanks to a 6 game winning streak, and Jose Bautista putting up some Babe Ruth type power numbers.
Good win today, ending Detroit's 7 game winning streak. Interesting that 4 of the game's first 5 runs were sac flies.
Only 4 games separate first from last in the AL East (less if the O's hold on against Boston)
 
Blown save, tack on two more innings, tack on two McCann homers, and the Astros fail again: 3-1. St. Louis nor Toronto are going to help the Astros' fetish of failing. We're just making this tough stretch of games even tougher. The games were close losses, but a loss is a loss. That's how pro sports work.

Oh, well... on to St. Louis for two. Don't be surprised if my Astros extend their losing streak. I certainly won't, unless they can start winning for a damned change.
 
I just want to mention this in its own post. Okay, my Astros may have lost, but their loss was NOTHING compared to what Cleveland put on Kansas City last night in Kansas City. The Royals got lit up in the 4th inning by the Indians with 10 runs scored. The Royals got dethroned 19-1 at night's end. Mazzuro of the Royals was just stymied for the most part. Almost like, "why am I here?" Getting beat THIS bad (or putting up this many runs) in a game... what do you make of last night's performance by the Indians at the Royals?

Also, my deepest thoughts and prayers go out to all whom have known and loved Harmon Killebrew. He died at age 74. How will you remember H. Killebrew?
 
I think the most surprising thing about the Cleveland/KC game is that they left Mazzaro in there to concede 14 runs. It wasn't like he got screwed by a bunch errors or anything. I suppose the starting pitcher going down in the first didnt help...
 
The Phillies finally snap a four game losing streak, but the offense continues to look pathetic. Great pitching by Cole Hamels in a 2-1 victory.
 
Our losing continues. We lost 5-1 on Wednesday night and 4-2 earlier today. Up next, Toronto will likely hands us our asses in a three-game sweep. I wonder if management and coaching changes will be made to bring us back to being a winner for a change.

Here was a note I forgot to make when the Phillies played at the Cardinals. It's just sad seeing (as an Astros fan) Roy Oswalt pitching against Lance Berkman. And both playing for winning teams. I hate to make this parallel, but it's almost like we're Major League Baseball's version of the 2010 Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, the Cavs were a damned good team before LeBron took his talents to South Beach. We're a middle-of-the-road team that can't win a game to save their lives (some times). We haven't been great since 2005. And even then, we were a doormat that managed to reach the World Series.


Astros fall to 15-29. The losing continues for H-Town's professional baseball team. Good luck to all of your teams this weekend in Interleague play.
 
Just wrapped up... Astros failed another one. It's a damned shame this team keeps losing. Only thing is... I was just pulling your legs! :)

A BIG two-run jack by Chris Johnson followed by a sweet RBI in the 9th inning vaulted the Astros past the Blue Jays 5-2. Both teams scored ten hits and committed no errors. The Astros' five-game losing streak was snapped thanks to a lovely 9th inning performance. So we will NOT be swept by the Blue Jays. Two more games in this series, both in the daytime.


Best of luck to all of your teams this weekend in Interleague play. The only non-Interleague game (that I know of) is Rockies at Brewers. The Sunday night game is Cubs at Red Sox at Fenway park- Class of 1918(?) Reunion! ^_^
 
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Ten hits? Must be nice... The Phils defeated the Rangers 3-1 on four hits, two of which were homers by Ibañez (Rauuuuuuuuul!) and Ben Francisco. Ryan Howard's average has slipped to .236 with as his 0 for 23 slump continues.

First multiple homer game for us since the beginning of the month, first homer period in over a week.
 
Maybe the day game came so that we could fall apart. Astros failed today after going up 4-0. Long balls by the Blue Jays hammered us as we seemed to run out of gas. So we lose 7-5 at Toronto to have a Rubber Game for tomorrow. Our five runs on 11 hits with only one error couldn't top Toronto's seven hits on 10 runs with no errors.

Damned shame for the Astros. It was the beginning of the end once Bautista hit that three-run jack in the 6th Inning for Toronto. Either we failed to put them away, or Toronto was just too good. It's a come-from-behind win for the Blue Jays as they defeat us for the first time. Whether we go 5-1 over Toronto or if the Astros go 4-2 over Toronto depends on tomorrow afternoon's performance. Michael Bourn played nicely despite a bum ankle he suffered very early in the game. That's worth some love. Also, he still played hard on defense. So it wasn't a total loss.


Plenty of major Interleague games later tonight. However, my Astros failed again. We're stuck on 16 wins.
 
The Tribe is at home for a weekend set with their intrastate N.L. rival Cincinnati Reds.

The Tribe took game 1 last night 5 to 4.
They are still magically hanging on to the best record in MLB, 27 - 15 / .643 :confused:
This really has a lot of people here in N.E. Ohio talking and wondering ..... Is the Tribe really this good or this a fluke ? Nobody, myself included could have ever called this.

Thoughts ?

Fluke or for real ?

Anyways,go Tribe and good luck to all of your teams this weekend. 👍
 
The Astros came from behind on Friday night, ran out of steam Saturday afternoon... and just pulled away to defeat the Blue Jays and win the series! We won 3-2 in taking down Toronto at the incredibly boring Rodgers Center. The Astros picked up three runs and got 11 hits with no errors. Toronto cashed in two runs along with eight hits and no errors.

Winning a series is refreshing for the Astros. It's back to NL play as we'll host the Dodgers for three games starting tomorrow night followed by next weekend's series against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting on Friday night.
 
Back to AL and NL play. Special congratulations to the S.F. Giants in sweeping the Athletics at beautiful AT&T Park. Philly took two out of three as the Rangers won for the first time in Philadelphia. It's still surprising that for the extensively long history of baseball, that Interleague play has only been around since 1997.

Good luck to all of your teams with the new week. We got the Dodgers for three games here in Houston starting tonight.
 

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