Major League Baseball: 2013 Season

[CodeRedR51]

Well at least the A's won.

 

[Dolph Drago]

. This is all I have to say about the series against the Dodgers.

 

[KM964]

Well, Ron Washington had a closed door meeting with the team today that lasted for about 45 minutes. Hopefully the Rangers can **** on the Angels and Diamondbacks this week.

 

[a6m5]

Braves swept the Birds! I have some soda coming my way from the bet.

 

[JohnBM01]

So a number of sweeps happened- Cubs swept the Giants in San Francisco (to the dismay of GTP's Prosthetic), Atlanta sweeping St. Louis in the ATL (to the obvious approval of a6m5), and the Texas Rangers getting swept in Cleveland (to the dismay of KM964 but the approval of Nicksflix). Interesting weekend of baseball. You know, I read that yesterday was a tied record for the most number of games that finished 1-0... 4 games on Saturday ended with a team winning 1-0 apparently.

Crazy game baseball is, eh? I'm actually not real big on baseball to begin with. I do watch and follow baseball. Just don't enjoy it as much as I do football and basketball and (of course) any variety of motorsports.

 

[Patrick]

Well, Ron Washington had a closed door meeting with the team today that lasted for about 45 minutes. Hopefully the Rangers can **** on the Angels and Diamondbacks this week.

Angels series will be so ugly.

 

[TRC GeorgiaDawg]

Who knew Chris Johnson was the best player in the Arizona/Braves trade this spring? Upton looks lost and Johnson looks like a line-drive machine.

 

[KM964]

Angels series will be so ugly.

Are the Angels having the same problem with their offense?

On another note, it's Weaver against Garza tomorrow night...that will be a great matchup.

 

[Patrick]

Angels only have 2 pitchers that can win.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Angels only have 2 pitchers that can win.

Diamondbacks have ONE.

Or in the case like today, he gives up 1 run in the first inning and gets a loss because our offense likes to make bad pitchers look great.

 

[Omnis]

I should make it a point to watch the fish when Fernandez is starting.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=29221925

13 Ks served hot & nasty.

 

[BobK]

So the Phillies, after spending one day a game over .500, proceed to lose the next two games. To the Mets.

Now we're off to St. Louis. We can't even beat the Mets, and we gotta play the Cards.

And after that, we play the Tigers.

...and after playing said Cards and Tigers, we're on our longest losing streak since 2011. Not to mention, seven straight games without a home run being hit.

 

[Schwartz]

You can't change your strike zone.

Why not? you'll have a larger or smaller zone depending on your stance.

 

[JohnBM01]

No Astros baseball tonight. My boys are off, but we'll be in Baltimore for a three-game set starting tomorrow with the O's before coming back home for the weekend. I'll offer a little discussion in case you want to chat...

How do you deal with your team's losing ways?

I thought about this discussion topic with my own Houston Astros having their extended woes. Many other teams have had their own woes lately. How do you think Chicago Cubs fans continually feel about not having won a World Series since the 1910s? How do you think Boston felt about not winning it all until starting in about 2004 after decades of not winning the World Series? Teams go through hot streaks and lulls. Extended losing streaks and futility in either offense, pitching, relief pitching, and more just depresses many fans of their teams. Baseball is such a strange sport. It isn't easy playing 162 games and playing consistent enough to be among the better teams and players. So when things get rough, such poor times tend to drag themselves out. That's what I felt in 2011 or 2012 after my Astros were only one game away from being at .500... only to drop like a rock to a 100+ loss season and an insurmountable high number of games below the .500 mark. It's tough for your team(s) to be in this situation, but that's sports.

So how do you all deal with such futility as fans? Good luck to your team(s) if playing tonight.

 

[mcfizzle]

I'll give you a perspective from a Cubs fan:

I've been a Cubs fan for 30 years and I've seen a lot over the years, except a World Series. I grew up wanting to be Ryne Sandberg even though I could've play infield worth a crap. I've seen many can't miss prospects miss horribly. At one point Brant Brown was my favorite player and I listened to one of the best radio calls of all time when he dropped a fly ball, almost costing the Cubs the Wild Card in '98. I saw most of Kid K's 20 strikeout game live on tv and was stunned a baseball could move like that. I thought Mark Prior was the savior, watched the Bartman game completely stunned and then the shock got worse two days later in game 7 and now I'm watching a complete rebuild

I grew up in suburban Chicago but now live in Western Wisconsin after time in Minneapolis and Germany. Every where I go people ask how can I stay a Cubs fan? I don't have an answer. It's almost as if it's in my blood. I have never given it a second thought. I guess I can thank Sandberg and Harry Caray for that. I think being a Cubs fan has a bit of 'not if but when will things go wrong?'

Most people think it's hard to be a fan during a rebuild like the Cubs are going through. For me it's the most I've enjoyed being a Cubs fan besides a couple amazing seasons. I look at it as things are getting better and they are working on sustained success rather than patching a team together for one last run, future be damned. I look at how the new front office has acquired asset after asset, taking the farm system from depleted bottom 5 in baseball to rich with talent maybe top 2 in baseball in less than 2 seasons. I get as much enjoyment from following players like Javier Baez and his 28 HR between high A and AA or Albert Almora and his success as I do the big club winning. Most of the players on the MLB roster won't be there when the Cubs are winning again so I don't get too down about the bad stuff nor to up about the good stuff. Astro's are going through the same thing although many have said their timeline may be a year or two behind the Cubs. Know that your front office, like the Cubs, is trying to do it the St Louis Cardinal way. Not every prospect will pan out, most will be busts, but the more assets a team acquires the chances of success increase and some of those guys can be flipped to fill other needs.

I'm excited. The Cubs have tried the overpriced free agent and deplete the farm system in trades way and it is just to hard to have sustained success that way. Now they are going to home grown talent route and it will payoff 2015 and beyond. Will it eventually result in a World Series? I don't know but I'm excited to watch and find out.

I also recommend finding good blogs that look at the team in an objective and analytical way. For me it's www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den and www.bleachernation.com. Two sites that do a great job of cutting through the bull crap and giving a good accurate analysis of the team, players, and minors. If I were to just read stuff by the beat writers you would think Cubs are stealing people's money and won't field a team at all in a year or two. Paul Sullivan hates his job and the team and does everything he can to let people know. Sorry for the wall of text.

 

[Villain]

Why not? you'll have a larger or smaller zone depending on your stance.

Because then everyone would be keeping their hips way back and shrinking their zone. Pitchers would have their shoulders on their knees when they bat.

Before I go any further, have you ever played baseball?

 

[Schwartz]

Yes, but I don't see how this is relevant to the discussion.

"The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the top of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."

Troy Tulowitzki's strike zone can be significantly larger than those of other players of the same height because of his upright stance.

 

[Villain]

Yes, but I don't see how this is relevant to the discussion.

"The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the top of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."

Troy Tulowitzki's strike zone can be significantly larger than those of other players of the same height because of his upright stance.

I asked if you had ever played baseball because one of the first lessons you're taught in hitting is that despite all the wonky batting stances you see, everyone comes to almost the exact same position to swing at a pitch. You can't stand up to make the zone bigger, just like you can't squat down to make the zone smaller.

A hitter's strike zone is a constant, even if Adam Dunn has a bigger strike zone than Jose Altuve.

 

[Schwartz]

I asked if you had ever played baseball because one of the first lessons you're taught in hitting is that despite all the wonky batting stances you see, everyone comes to almost the exact same position to swing at a pitch. You can't stand up to make the zone bigger, just like you can't squat down to make the zone smaller.

False. Have you seen Jeff Bagwell hit?

A hitter's strike zone is a constant, even if Adam Dunn has a bigger strike zone than Jose Altuve.

In most cases, it is a constant, but that's because players don't change their stance often. Theoretically speaking, you can change your stance at any time, and that's your new strike zone.

 

[JohnBM01]

The solid José Veras has reportedly been traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Danny Vasquez and another player. Veras has about 19 Saves this season or in his career. So with the Trade Deadline coming up, we unloaded an Astro to hopefully help us finish this season positively while also giving some other team a little lift.


Thanks for the insight, mcfizzle. Anyone else want to chat about going through slumping times as a fan of your team?

 

[Omnis]

Dad is behind home plate tonight vs the Mets

 

[a6m5]

Who knew Chris Johnson was the best player in the Arizona/Braves trade this spring? Upton looks lost and Johnson looks like a line-drive machine.

Upton did overachieve early, but I'm so glad how strong the Braves has been this much into the season. 👍 Wooo... they tied it up!

 

[KM964]

From the SportsCenter Twitter:


"@SportsCenter: THIS JUST IN: MLB may try to suspend Alex Rodriguez under collective bargaining agreement, not PED rules. (via ESPN & media reports)"

 

[JohnBM01]

David Ortiz (Big Papi) will reportedly not be disciplined for his tirade over the weekend of bashing that phone with his bat in the dugout. You okay with this or think Big Papi should be punished for his tirade?

 

[KM964]

I believe he should get penalized, whether it be a suspension or fine.

 

[Schwartz]

If every pitcher who beat the living **** out of a water cooler were fined, then sure, fine him. As far as I know, Ortiz is a 17 year veteran and not a repeat offender (i.e. Carlos Zambrano) and doesn't deserve any discipline. The only reason this is getting so much hype in the first place is because of he is a big name.

 

[a6m5]

I'm guessing he has dirty pictures of Mrs. Selig.

 

[Nicksfix]

The Tribe had a good weekend ..... get out the broom (sweep). A 3-0 weekend series (2 of these were shut-outs) against the Rangers keeps us in pace with Joeys Motor City Kitties. Still hanging on to 2nd place in the AL Central @ 56-48.

Still hoping for the miracle season from the Tribe ..... we'll see. Keep it up Tribe. 👍 The Windy City ChiSox are in town now for a 3 game set. It would be nice to see another sweep, but I'll not bet on these words.

 

[a6m5]

Guys at work were telling me how Braves supposedly have easy schedule rest of the way...... then they mentioned Cleveland.

 

[KM964]

Ernesto Frieri just blew the save....thanks AJ!!


EDIT: THAT'S A WINNER!!! Geovany Soto goes yard to end it!!