MLB - 2006 Season! Continued!

[Arrian]

Irritating loss yesterday. Two things pissed me off about it:

1) Randy Johnson threw 130 pitches. One Hundred Thirty pitches. One Three Zero!! The man is 42. He is *not* the answer to life the universe and everything, though.

2) Bottom of the seventh. ARod singles, Andy Phillips doubles him home. Tie ballgame (2-2). Huzzah. Ok, so now there is a runner on 2nd with nobody out. Due up is Aaron Guiel (Royals reject, lefthanded). The Mariners bring in a good lefty reliever. Joe Torre has the following options:

a) pinch hit with Bernie Williams
b) pinch hit with Miguel Cairo so he can bunt.

Torre chose option b and THEN pinch hit with Williams. The Mariners, rather predictably, made another pitching change and brought in a very good righty reliever, turning Bernie Williams into the Ghost of Bernie Williams in a heartbeat. Three pitch strikeout. Next up was our backup catcher (Posada unavailable) who of course made an out. End of inning. The Mariners scratched out a run in the 8th and that was that.

Here's the thing. Bernie Williams is still useful in certain cirumstances. Like hitting lefty pitchers. Hitting them HARD: .341/.398/.505 against LHP.

He cannot, however, do much against RHP, as so: .254/.283/.378.

So, not only did Joe give up an out, but he also put Bernie in a position to fail. And fail he did.

They lost a game and it's not the end of the world. I don't want Torre fired or anything. But the man is not a tactical mastermind.

-Arrian

[Fistandantilus]

You can't really blame Torre for leaving RJ on the mound imo.. he just trusted him when he said it was all right and would like to go on. The losing run went from Stinnet's error, Randy pitched ok in the 8th.

[Arrian]

130 pitches is excessive. RJ shouldn't have come out for the 8th.

Yes, he was pitching well. It was, in fact, not his fault that the 3rd Seattle run scored. He pitched very well. I'm concerned about his next start and starts after that, not yesterday.

-Arrian

[Guynemer]

Joel ****ing Zumaya, biotch.

The Tigers appear to have gotten over their mental stumbling block when it comes to the White Sox. I'm now about 50-50 on them actually holding Chicago off for the division.

I honestly can not believe this is happening.

[Arrian]

Good for the Tigers.

Tough loss for the Yanks in extra innings last night. Mo gave up a HR! That is a rare event, thankfully.

-Arrian

[Fistandantilus]

Wells has been a giant against Boston, we are 4-7 against the Blue Jays so far.. good to know he inflicts some pain to the Yankees too

I'll be happy if Toronto can win another one and split the series though, their pitching is far from good.

[Guynemer]

Okay, seriously. Just what the **** is going on here? Is this some sort of seriously delayed effect of Y2K or something? Can anyone explain how this is happening with essentially the same team as last year, plus two pitchers?

[Imran Siddiqui]

HAW HAW! Kansas City sucks!

[snoopy369]

Bleck. The Chisox can't pitch any more. Hopefully adding teh Sandy Alomar Jr. will fix it.

Have to say I'm really scared about the rumors of the Soriano for Brandon McCarthy trade. McCarthy may end up being needed to start, if Ozzie ever figures out that Vazquez is a great long reliever but can't pitch over 5 innings effectively...

I'm definitely worried, though. Our hitters can't score 8-10 runs a game, every game, and even if they could *now*, in the playoffs that's not going to happen ...

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Okay, seriously. Just what the **** is going on here? Is this some sort of seriously delayed effect of Y2K or something? Can anyone explain how this is happening with essentially the same team as last year, plus two pitchers?

+ Leyland

Sometimes a good manager makes all the difference.

Tigers

[OzzyKP]

The Tigers, once given a 100-1 chance to win the World Series by Las Vegas oddsmakers, are now the second favorite behind the New York Mets to win the Fall Classic.

The Tigers are now 5-1 at Las Vegas Hilton's sports book. They have the best record in baseball (67-32), and have a 7 1/2 -game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central.

With the baseball season more than half over, the Mets, with the best record in the National League (59-40), have surpassed the preseason favorite New York Yankees to become the top choice. The Mets are listed at 4-1.

The Tigers are followed by the Boston Red Sox and White Sox, both at 6-1, and the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals at 7-1.

[Arrian]

I'm sure Leyland has been good, but mostly it's improvements by the players, including two excellent rookie pitchers (Verlander and Zumaya, IIRC). Several have taken big steps forward. Some have just gotten healthy (Ordonez).

Much like the White Sox last year, the Tigers pitching has improved dramatically, and they are playing excellent defense as well (and hitting some HRs). Just look at the runs allowed column!

Those same Sox are struggling with their pitching this year (but remain one of the best teams in the AL b/c of their offense).

-Arrian

[Arrian]

By the way... here come the Twinkies! They were dead not long ago, and now they're only 2.5 games off the wild card lead. Wow. Joe Mauer for AL MVP?

-Arrian

[Guynemer]

He'd get my vote.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Let's not get too carried away here. While Mr. Mauer hits for average, he doesn't hit for all that much power. I'd pick Thome or Dye over Mauer, or even Manny Ramirez. Yes, they all have OPS above Mauer (as does Wells, Ortiz, and Giambi, FWIW).