MLB - 2009 Regular Season Thread!!

[Imran Siddiqui]

It appears that lost in the Yankees great run lately to give them the AL East lead is just how great A-Rod is playing right now. He still appears to be coming off his hip surgery, but his numbers are .248/.392/.526 with 19 HRs and an OPS+ of 140 (tied for 9th in the AL). A lot of people are going to look at that BA and conclude he's having a bad year (mostly because they don't realize that BA is a flawed metric and OBP is far better), but A-Rod is quietly having a very good year and he should improve as his hip feels better and better.

I wonder how many people realize that he is having a comparable season to Kevin Youklis this season (who has an OPS+ of 143)?

[OzzyKP]

The Nats' Josh Willingham becomes the 13th player in the history of the MLB to hit two grand slams in the same game.

The 7th player to hit them in back to back innings.

[-Jrabbit]

Buehrle is still perfect through 4 innings tonight...

That's 39 in a row. And counting.

[-Jrabbit]

Well, he ultimately lost the game, but it was a record run of perfection...

Buehrle retires 45 straight batters for record

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, AP

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle set a major league record by retiring 45 straight batters.

Coming off a perfect game in his last start against Tampa Bay, Buehrle retired the first 17 Minnesota Twins batters on Tuesday night to surpass the record of 41 straight set by and San Francisco's Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007.

Buehrle retired 27 in a row against the Rays in his last start, the 18th perfect game in baseball history, then breezed through the first five innings against the Twins to break the record.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Seems like the Phillies switched gears and got Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco. In exchange, the Indians get Carrasco, Marson, Knapp and Donald.

Phils get to keep Happ, Drabek, and Taylor, but give up the rest of their big prospects.

[Guynemer]

Tigers bats might be finally starting to wake up a bit.

Guillen has been decent since coming off the DL. Granderson is slowly pulling his average up, as is Polanco. Still could use some serious help in the lineup, but they aren't looking as dire as they had been previously.

[-Jrabbit]

A trip to Arlington has cured many a team over the years.

[SlowwHand]

The Ranger starter threw something like 75 pitches in 2 innings. I think he ended with 81 or 84.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I guess Red Sox fans can't take pleasure in the fact that A-Rod was on the 2003 PED list anymore....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/sports/baseball/31doping.html?hp

Because Ortiz and Manny were both on that list as well.

Though I do look forward to everyone who was sanctimonous about someone else on another team using getting someone on their team on that list (as y'all know, my position is, basically, I don't give a crap).

[ColdWizard]

Boston teams are such cheaters

All the players that were using should just come forward so we can heap praise on the three or four guys that couldn't find their ass to put the needle in.

[rah]

The court seal on this one has been quite effective.

At this point I think it's only fair that they release the whole list. Why should the focus be on just a few when many were guilty. And I'm getting real tired of seeing a new name every few weeks. Let's just rip off that bandage off and get it over with.

[Sava]

Baseball has become one big pile of ****
And the idiots who apologize for what this pathetic excuse for a sport has become can eat that pile

[Arrian]

As someone pointed out on one of my favorite Yankees blogs, the only people really served by releasing names in dribs and drabs is... (drumroll)... the media. ESPN, etc. They get to re-do the same story over and over and over. It's easy. Since they're fundamentally lazy (these people employ Kruk for analysis), it's way better than, you know, actually working for a story.

More Yankees stuff (that most of you probably don't care about, but whatever)...

Wang's shoulder was indeed toast. Under the knife he went. I expect he's done as a viable MLB pitcher. All 'cause he couldn't ****ing run properly. Aceves is now temporarily shut down because of tired arm or somesuch. Our list of dependable & healthy relievers grows thin (Mariano, Hughes, and to an extent Coke). Gardner out with a broken thumb, which means a hit to OF defense for a while. Melky's ok (average, roughly), but Gardner was a plus defender out there.

Thankfully, Boston is playing badly (for now - just wait! They get to play the Yanks again soon!) and Tampa's in a bit of a hole. Of course I have to fear that the Sox will land Halladay, as unlikely as that seems at first blush, or Adrian Gonzalez. I think the Yanks will largely stand pat, with the usual tinkering and bargain bin hunting.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Hey, it's still a pretty yummy pile of ****, Sava! Sure you don't want to join me at the table? I saved you a seat. You can even be a Red Sox fan if you want...

-Arrian

[rah]

It's to the point that I really don't care when another name appears from the list. It's like one more down and 90 to go. And as far as I'm concerned, back then baseball wasn't testing for it, so it was fair game. No different then amphetamines in the past. Let's move on. Have a wing in the HOF for the steriod era and see what the future brings. There's too much money involved to think that all sports are clean. If you want something to be illegal and considered cheating, test for it. Really test for it. Put your effort into creating a test that works reliably. Since we know the chemists usually stay ahead of the testers, save some samples. Make players think that even if there is no good test that there might be one in the future that will expose them.

And great comment about the media being the winner in this one.