MLB: Opening Day!

[Lawrence of Arabia]

randy sucks balls. 1) look at his age. 2) look at his face 3) look at his uniform.

case in point.

[Ned]

The Yanks, the team with All Stars at every position, have lost again to the Twins, the team with the second best record in the AL and the fourth best in baseball. The Twin have no All Stars. The Yanks have now lost six and a row and sport a very impressive one game above five hundred record.

The fans voting reflects media coverage and the Twins (and the Sox) are not getting much. Even though the White Sox have been at the top of the SI power ranking the entire year, the writer writing the blurbs in the power ratings has never had one good word to say about the team. Not one. Every week he has another criticism.

[DerSchwarzfalke]

You are ignorant of baseball if you say the Twins have no All Stars. Johan Santana? Joe Nathan? Shannon Stewart? Jacque Jones? All Stars or potential All Stars. They probably have one of the most well-run teams in Major League Baseball, the way they make their small market status work.

The Yankees won tonight against the Twins, 4-3 in 10 innings. They have been very streaky of late, suffering from the big gaping black hole in their lineup named "Jason Giambi." His downfall will be the subject of a tragedy performed somewhere off Broadway. I will never forget Giambi for his two homeruns in Game 7 2003, but right now he's an anchor holding the Bombers back.

EDIT: And the White Sox do have some holes, some of which will be significant as the season wears on. They cannot expect to continue winning games with their batting averages the way they are, and they definitely cannot expect to win in the postseason like that. I love Ozzie Guillen, I love what he has done with this team, but they are definitely a team that could benefit from a major trade for a power hitter -- say Mike Sweeney. Their bullpen is also not quite the strength their starting staff is.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by DerSchwarzfalke
I hear through the grapevine that the Sox did offer Pedro that elusive fourth year and he signed with the Sox right before jumping ship to the Mets. I do not blame Epstein one iota for holding out on giving Pedro that fourth year. Look at the numbers Imran cited above about innings pitched and Pedro's relation to it. What is the difference between Pedro and the other pitchers up there? Generally, age. He is going to fall apart within the next two seasons, and soon that 100 pitch limit will turn into a 70-80 pitch limit.

As Clemens and Johnson have shown pitchers, even power pitchers, can be successful until 40 years of age. Though Pedro won't be that old at the end of the current deal.

You are ignorant of baseball if you say the Twins have no All Stars.

If it doesn't fit his preconcieved notions, Ned is very loose with the facts.

The fact of the matter, Ned, is the reason you won't find many of them elected to the All-Star team is because they aren't good enough. Which White Sox or Twin would you elect to a non-pitcher position over the people leading the voting?

Konerko, Stewart, and Jones are the best players from both teams but aside from Konerko, they aren't as good as the players voted (Stewart and Jones are good, but not that good).

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I'd hardly put most of the Yankees on the All-Star team, though, Imran. They haven't played well enough this year to be All-Stars.

Though, before you say anything, neither have the majority of the Red Sox (Ortiz and Varitek being the exceptions in the hitting category.)

[DerSchwarzfalke]

Even Konerko hasn't played well enough to make this year's All Star Team, in all likelihood. The White Sox will supply the AL with pitchers this year.

As for the Yankees, A-Rod is the early candidate for MVP with his average, homeruns, and RBIs; Sheffield is producing with numbers that far outpace his All Star season last year; Jeter is Jeter; and, the Yankees' set up men are up there in the league with efficiency. The underperformance of the team as a whole is mostly related to the degradation of Bernie Williams, the glut of poor players who have to rotate at DH, and a poor start of the season from the starting pitchers. It is unacceptable to fans, but it does not take away from the clear cut All Stars on the team this year.

EDIT: (Re) Ortiz. Decent season, but not an Ortiz quality season. I will be a little surprised if he makes the AL All Star team this year based on his current numbers.

And the key difference between Clemens/Johnson and Pedro is that even at ages above 40 they do not have "walls" after which their performance suffers a marked decrease. Clemens and Johnson consistently lead the league in pitches thrown, while Willie Randolph pulled Pedro from a game he dominated against the Yankees after exactly 99 pitches.

[asleepathewheel]

If you want obscene all star results, look no further than the NL shortstop and third base race. Nomah and Rolen, both of whom have barely played this year. thank god the fan's vote is offset somewhat these days.

oh, and piazza

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'd hardly put most of the Yankees on the All-Star team, though, Imran. They haven't played well enough this year to be All-Stars.

DerSchwarz is correct:

If anyone deserves to be an All-Star this year in the AL it's A-Rod. Sheffield is having a good year. Jeter is the 2nd best SS in the AL behind Tejada.

Besides if you LOOK at the current ballot, the only Yanks which are tops in their positions are A-Rod and Tino Martinez (which is a result of not many good 1B in the AL). Jeter is trailing Tejada by a decent margin at SS.

There are more Red Sox in the top spots (Varitek, Ortiz, and Ramirez).

The Orioles are comming through this year with Tejada and Roberts (who definetly deserves an election) taking the same number of spots as the Yanks so far.

EDIT: (Re) Ortiz. Decent season, but not an Ortiz quality season. I will be a little surprised if he makes the AL All Star team this year based on his current numbers.

Who else makes it at DH? At this early stage Ortiz is up by 500,000 votes against the 2nd guy at DH, Jason Giambi.

And the key difference between Clemens/Johnson and Pedro is that even at ages above 40 they do not have "walls" after which their performance suffers a marked decrease. Clemens and Johnson consistently lead the league in pitches thrown, while Willie Randolph pulled Pedro from a game he dominated against the Yankees after exactly 99 pitches.

The Mets are being smart and limiting Pedro's pitches because Pedro tends to be a bit injury prone. He can through the innings if healthy, as shown last year.

One would think throwing more pitches would mean a quicker breakdown for Clemens and Johnson.

And if you look at Similarity Scores, the pitcher who is the most similar to Pedro at this age is... Roger Clemens.

I'm looking forward to a good 4 years from Pedro, at least, and limiting his pitches will only allow him to pitch better, longer.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I will never forget Giambi for his two homeruns in Game 7 2003, but right now he's an anchor holding the Bombers back.

i wont either. he cheated - he was on steroids at the time. if he doesnt hit those, we win the game, win the pennant, and have a chance to win against the marlins.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Steroids wasn't against the rules in 2003, IIRC, so it ain't cheating.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

its illegal in the united states to use steroids, so yeah, it was cheating.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

(i think)

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
its illegal in the united states to use steroids, so yeah, it was cheating.

It's illegal in the US to use cocaine and marijuana. Are people who test positive for them cheating as well?

Illegality has nothing to do with violating the rules of baseball.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

no, because theres no link between cocaine, weed, and improved performace.

comon imran, for a lawyer you sure ask dumb questions.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
no, because theres no link between cocaine, weed, and improved performace.

comon imran, for a lawyer you sure ask dumb questions.

No, actually, you make some dumb statements. May I refresh your memory as to what you said:

"its illegal in the united states to use steroids, so yeah, it was cheating."

QED.

And what about the players who think cocaine and pot help them get into the game. What about the players who think speed can get them 'up' for games? Are those not improved performance?

Who cares if steroids improve performance. So can a lot of other drugs. If it ain't against the rules, it ain't cheating. US law has nothing to do with baseball's rules.