MLB - 2006 Season!

[Lawrence of Arabia]

****



i ****ed up.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It's ok, LoA...

I was rooting for the 2004 Red Sox as well .

[Ned]

Here is a bit from Gammons that illustrates just why I like Houston to repeat this year in the NL:

"Houston Rocket once more?
There is growing feeling that when Roger Clemens makes his decision in early June that he will return to the Astros. The $3M-a-month offer is proof that owner Drayton McLane is dead serious. Roger can stay at home and pitch for teammates with whom he is very comfortable, and the club is playing so well that the line in Houston is that he has a better chance of pitching in the World Series for the Astros than the Red Sox. As of the morning of May 5, the 'Stros were 11-1 in games started by Wandy Rodriguez, Taylor Bucholz and Fernando Nieve. ... Lance Berkman, another year removed from surgery, is one of the five best hitters in the league. ... "

[Imran Siddiqui]

Even with Clemens there is still a lot of baseball to play. The Mets & Cards are both looking good and who knows who'll get hot at the end of the season.

And, of course, the last time a team repeated as league champion was the 2001 NY Yankees and the last time a team repeated as NL Champions was the 1996 Atlanta Braves.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

if scammons says its gonna be so, it means it definitly wont happen


he has realized this, thats why he wrote this article. scammons is actually a sox fan, so this means roger will end up in boston.

on another note, sportswriters in general, have terrible writing skills. anything opinon thats not insider/si extra is pretty much trash. so is reading 'athletes diaries'

[Sava]

Peter Gammons

Why does anyone listen to that fool?



It doesn't matter who comes out of the NL... whoever does will just lose to the WORLD CHAMPION WHITE SOX (who are 19-5 since their poor 1-4 start) as they will repeat and win the World Series again.


Though, I'm upset about the Cubs situation. Derrek Lee's injury... sigh... 4th place again... if they are lucky. BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR

Too bad Greg Maddux is pitching like he's in his prime... with Lee in the lineup, the Cubs could be in a position to contend for the division.

At least the South Siders are giving Chicago something to cheer for.

Jose Contreras... best pitcher in baseball (since last September or so)

and Joe Crede... WOW! Talk about a guy figuring it out. If he doesn't win the Gold Glove at third this year... the award is totally worthless, IMO.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

mike lowell will win it, he caught a bunt on the fan side of the 3rd base on deck circle.

[Ned]

Sava, you are hitting a sore point with me when you talk abou the Gold Glove award. Last year's Sox had great defense, with many players fielding the best in the league at their respective positions. Everyone acknowledges that the Sox won on pitching and "defense." And yet, not one White Sox won a Gold Glove.

What a travesty.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

derek jeter - voted most overrated player by his peers. (along with arod)

they know whats up.

[Ned]

Also, do any of you guys follow the ESPN stat "RPI?" After the teams have played a while, it provides a relatively good index on just who the best team is. Last year, the Sox had the RPI lead by a wide margin most of the year and ended just ahead of St. Louis. The Sox won the RPI constest over St. Louis because they had essentially the same record as St. Louis against a tougher schedule.

RPI is a reliable measure of quality. Which brings me to my point.

Going into last year's playoffs, the Oddsmakers and the Know-it-all sports commentators had the Sox near the bottom, the least likely team to win it all. Only AFTER they swept Boston did anyone pay attention.

But, if anyone had been paying attention to the RPI, they would have known that the Sox were the best team.

[Ned]

BTW, at this point in the season, the Reds are no. 1 in RPI. The Sox are eighth even though they have a better record.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Ned
Sava, you are hitting a sore point with me when you talk abou the Gold Glove award. Last year's Sox had great defense, with many players fielding the best in the league at their respective positions. Everyone acknowledges that the Sox won on pitching and "defense." And yet, not one White Sox won a Gold Glove.

What a travesty.

Well, if you take a look at range factor and fielding percentage, the only White Sox that has a big beef is A.J. Przyinski. Uribe was basically even with Jeter. Rowand was better than Wells (who won again based on a fabulous 2004 season, even though his 2005 was no where near as good), but there were OF who were better than both (such as Johnny Damon, who got robbed!). The rest were not as good as those who won their GG.

[Ned]

No doubt, Imran, that there were deserving players other than on the Sox. But the Sox players made so many spectacular plays over the year that at least one should have one the award. Rowand was the best. Uribe was right there. Ditto Iguchi, Crede and Konerko. Ditto AJ as well. Virtually the whole team played excellent defense.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, when an entire team plays great defense it doesn't necessarily mean an indivdual player is the best at his position on defense.

As I said Pryzinski deserved an award, but there are decent reasons the rest didn't (they had similar stats to those who didn't or there were others who were better).

And I'll say this, the 1998 Yankees, who a lot of people said had a great defensive squad only won one GG for Mike Mussina.

[Sava]

well, Konerko fields his position decent... but definitely not deserving of a GG award.

Uribe was good. I don't know about a GG, though.

Iguchi? hard to say.

Rowand... probably the most deserving of last year's squad for a GG award, but some lapses near the stretch last year might have cost him the award. Plus, even though offense has nothing to do with the award... it does often go to players who put up big numbers. All things being equal, if you have two guys who are just as eligible for the GG, the guy with better offensive stats will always get it.

I'm not really complaining about last year so much. I was just making the observation that Crede has been playing absolutely insane third base this year... on top of hitting well above .300. Which, I'm sad to say, does factor in to whether or not a guy receives the GG award... unless someone is just a defensive master, a'la Ozzie Smith.

Also, when talking about defense, I don't rely on numbers so much... I tend to rely more on how quick a guy is getting to balls and how good he is looking... overall. Over the course of a season, too many guys' numbers are going to be so close together, I think the thing that sets guys apart should be their actual ability on the field.

This game isn't played on paper, after all. A fact that some people seem to forget.