Baseball Season so far

[Akiyama]

80 wins in the NL West has won the division. The Giants may accomplish that. The Rockies are never good all year, the Padres will have a slip here and there, but the Dodgers are hands down the better team of the division in my opinion, followed by the Padres and D-Backs, so yeah. I agree with you. Who the hell even hits the ball for the Giants that we see, other than Bonds? During highlights, he's 90% of the highlights unless Zito is pitching or if Cain throws another almost no-no. A sign that the Giants are truly just not that good.. think about this. Cain has gone 29 innings, given up 11 hits, 5 runs and has ONE win. That's just pitiful on the Giants' part. If Cain were on say.. a decent offensive team, such as the Braves, Yankees, Mets.. he'd probably be 3-0 right now. Either way, I totally agree with Weeks. Saying the Giants are good is like saying the NL West is a really tough division.

On the note of pitching, both Cain and Matsuzaka have had some horrible luck. Each team respectively behind them have either provided absolutely no run support (Matsuzaka's case) or have their bullpen absolutely implode. (Cain's case.) It's just been really bad for some of the good pitchers out there.

Edit: I was bored, so I figured I'd dig up the stats real quick like.
Matt Cain: 29.0 IP, 11 Hits, 5 Runs, 1-1 Record. His win came against the D-Backs (2-1) and his one loss came from the Padres (1-0). His two ND's came from the Rockies and Padres, with both scores of 5-3. In the ND with the Padres, he allowed the three runs in one inning, the Giants came back to tie it at 3 and then ended up losing by 2. That one was understandable. The second came from Cain pitching a masterpiece (0 R, 2 H, 3BB, 7K's), had a shutout through 7 and left it up to his bullpen which proceeded to blow up. They lost 5-3. I believe the ONLY reason Cain has one win now is because that one win was a Complete Game. -.-

Daisuke Matsuzaka: 27 IP, 25 Hits, 12 Runs, 2-2 Record. His wins came against the Royals (4-1) and Yankees (7-6) respectively. His losses came from the Mariners (3-0) who had King Felix on the mound, so it was unsuspected and the Blue Jays (2-1). The Red Sox used to have a high powered offense, but what happens with Daisuke pitches? They just so happen to run into a brick wall of a pitcher? I think they have the same problem the Astros did last year whenever they had Clemens on the mound. They can't score worth shit. Anyway, just some stats I felt like plopping on the topic.

Also, if you look at what each of these players are making this year, you'd laugh. Cain is making $650,000. Daisuke is making a cool $6,333,333. >.>

Anyway, enough of my babbling about random stats.

[Tyche]

Just FYI, ESPN got a 4.8 on sunday's yanks vs sox mathup. That broke the last regular season televised baseball game, which was also, a yankees/sox game. Noone gives a shit about baseball unless the yankees are playing the red sox. So it's a given ESPN rapes their series anytime they play and a disney company is televising it.

[Viq]

Clemens going anywhere but Houston is hard for me to see. His son is in the organization, he was wearing their uniform in spring training, and he gets ridiculous luxuries regarding his off days in his home town there. It's not to say that he won't get similar luxuries in NY and Boston, but the fact is that those teams would have offered that to him the past couple years yet he still picked Houston. Andy Pettite is the only reason he might not return to the Astros, but it just doesn't seem to outweigh some of the things that make Houston so favorable for him.

Before the "he'll go to whichever team is winning" argument: Why didn't he do that last year if it's important to him?

[Bxbaby]

listening to sports radio in the bay area, someone asked if aaron should be there when the record is broken. Guy said no, and sadly I agree with him. It's his choice. The point he raised though and I agree 100% is that Sellig better have his ass parked in a seat in the stadium when it happens. If not, it just proves that Sellig is a fraud

I don't know if any of you remember this, but when Aaron broke Ruth's record, the then-commissioner of baseball didn't attend that game either.

[Melena]

not surprised since there was people in baseball whether they would admit it or not that did not want a black guy breaking babe ruth's record.

[Bxbaby]

If Maris got death threats while going after Ruth's single season record, all while being white and a Yankee, its pretty safe to assume that there were many people that didn't want a black man breaking Ruth's all-time homerun record.

[archibaldcrane]

So, in news about baseball besides Barry Bonds and the Yankees/Red Sox...

...any chance my Brewers are actually going to be in the mix in August? Pretty good pitching and a pretty good (young) lineup in a very mediocre (albeit stupidly 6-team) division = a chance?

They've been playing well lately, and I've lived almost my whole life with them sucking, just would be nice for things to finally come together on a shoestring budget for once.

[Akiyama]

So, in news about baseball besides Barry Bonds and the Yankees/Red Sox...

...any chance my Brewers are actually going to be in the mix in August? Pretty good pitching and a pretty good (young) lineup in a very mediocre (albeit stupidly 6-team) division = a chance?

They've been playing well lately, and I've lived almost my whole life with them sucking, just would be nice for things to finally come together on a shoestring budget for once.

I think so yeah. We've all seen the Cubs sucking it up, the Cardinals are off to a very slow start, the Astros still have no offense (other than Carlos Lee), the Pirates are sorda decent, but I don't think they'll last. Now, it comes down to the Reds and Brewers in my opinion and I think if Sheets can hold things down well down the stretch, the Brew-crew could win the division with the Reds in second. If the Reds keep their offense, Griffey Jr. heats up, Dunn keeps getting hits, they could win the division as they have decent pitching as well. So yeah, imo, I think your Brewers have a chance. (For once.)

Personally, I think the NL Central is this year's NL West. I think the Padres, Dodgers and D-Backs may all finish above .500 while the Giants and Rockies round out the bottom spots. The NL Central, I think the division winner could seemingly win 85 games and finish 1st in the division.

[Weeks]

The Cardinals (My team) are better than they have looked and I'm still predicting they win the division because they have a lot of payroll flexibility and Walt Jocketty is the best in the business when it comes to trading. That said, I don't think the difference in talent between a healthy Cardinals and Brewers ballclub is bigger than the 4.5 game hole they've dug for themselves, so if they aren't able to make a midseason move the Brewers would be very likely to walk away with the division.

[Po]

But saying he is the best ever is the biggest fucking joke ever. There are so many hitters better than him it is not even close:
Ted Williams for one, last guy to hit 400, and won 2 triple crowns in 3 years, give me a break Bonds fanboy.

I didn't say he was the best hitter ever, that would be Pete Rose. I said he was the greatest player ever. Big difference as no one has been as complete of a player as Bonds has over the span of their career.

In his career, Bonds is going to have close to 800 homeruns, 3,000 hits (with only half as many strikeouts), over 500 stolen bases, 2500 walks, a .300 batting average, .600 slugging percentage, 7(?) Gold Gloves, 7 MVPs. There's no one that can compare to that kind of career.

How many World Series rings?

[Tyche]

Baseball, more than any other sport, is dependant on the "team" aspect. You can put derek jeter or arod on the kansas city royals, and it doesn't make them competitive. Probably less competitve because of salary. Rings are over-rated in baseball (and football in my opinion, cept outside of maybe quarterback).

Edit: I think Jackie Robinson is the best player ever, or best athlete ever for that matter.

[Po]

I don't think you can say "Best Baseball Player ever" for anyone.

There are so many different things ever player does that it is too big a generalization to make.

[archibaldcrane]

While I'm pretty firmly in the camp of "Bonds is the best baseball player ever" (people always overlook the steals and fielding, especially those who only started paying attention to him when he hit 70 HRs. The guy has been an amazing hitter, baserunner and fielder for so damn long)

However, playing my own devil's advocate, I like to mention "Yeah, but how many pitching wins did Bonds have?"

Different eras, the game has changed, etc., but...Babe Ruth had 94 career pitching wins, with a career ERA of 2.28, in addition to everything he did with the bat. Now, noone will call him an amazing fielder or baserunner(lol) but yeah. He played as a pitcher for a portion of his career.

Oh, and of course as soon as I mention the possibility of the Brewers being decent this year, Ben Sheets pulls his groin vs. the lowly Cubs, who roll the Brewers up 9-3. Damnit.

[Rafbacca]

As a Yankees fan, it makes me sad we can't win games even with A-Rod the monster.

Agreed. I work in an office of Yankee haters and my best friends are all Met fans. It been a rough first couple of weeks. I'm goin to the May 19 Yankee/Met game at Shea with my Met fan friends. It could get nasty. I'm still gonna wear a Yankee Jersey tho so that should be fun^^

I' wish I could be there with my batteries.

[Bxbaby]

As a Yankees fan, it makes me sad we can't win games even with A-Rod the monster.

Agreed. I work in an office of Yankee haters and my best friends are all Met fans. It been a rough first couple of weeks. I'm goin to the May 19 Yankee/Met game at Shea with my Met fan friends. It could get nasty. I'm still gonna wear a Yankee Jersey tho so that should be fun^^

I' wish I could be there with my batteries.

Bring it on This won't nearly be as bad as it has been the last 2 times I've gone to Yankee/Red Sox games in Fenway... Yes, I've gone there in Yankee Jersey's as well.... I've still got a few bruises from '04 lol.

[Havocxx]

Brewers have a hell of a shot if Sheets stays healthy.

Clemens won't go to Houston, they look pretty bad, and his son won't be playing for any MLB team in the near future. He wants to win another WS, the Astros were real close to the playoffs in a really weak Central, and Pettitte was still there.

[Havocxx]

Brewers have a hell of a shot if Sheets stays healthy.

And then Sheets get injured... my bad.

[Nny]

Hopefully A-Rod breaks the all time and we can be done with Barroids, then after there's the chance Pujols will still be around to contend for A-Rod. No other current player has a shot, Ryan Howard is older than Pujols and his first real season was last year.

Because he never gets recognition:

MIGUEL CABRERA

All three had their first full year at age 20 (A-Rod played some at 18 and 19, and Cabrera played half a year at 19, but their first full years were at 20. The numbers:

Cabrera: .319 319/92/342 .394/.547/.941 Team OPS: .750
Pujols: .334 367/114/381 .412/.613/1.024 Team OPS: .782
A-Rod: .323 364/101/331 .374/.562/.937 Team OPS: .834

It should also be noted that A-Rod was hitting infront of Ken "56 HR two strait years" Griffey during his first three years, and Pujols also hit in a very potent Cardinal lineup with players like McGwire, Rolen, and Edmonds (Last two might be over the hill now but they were tits in those years). Hence the addition of Team OPS.

It should ALSO be pointed out the homefield disadvantage that Cabrera has, with Dolphin Stadium being a pitcher-friendly park, expecially mean to right-handed hitters.

I do think Pujols is a better hitter then Cabrera, but it's not by much.

And I wouldn't pick any of them to be the new all time HR leaders, because staying healthy is the most important part. Remember when Griffey was suppose to completely shatter every HR record ever created?

Anyway, my PREDICTION of the FUTURE(ture...ture...ture) made before the season started:

NL EAST: Up until the all-star break, the Braves Phillies, Marlins, and Mets will all be neck-and-neck for the title. Mets get the best pitcher from this generation (possibly all time..his 2000 year was unbelievable) back and take the division.

NL CENTRAL: Battle between...the Brewers and the Pirates. I still think the Pirates gave up too much for LaRoche (Just Gonzalez would be fine, but Gonzales plus a top-100 prospect?). Cubs show you can't buy a championship, Cardinals are just getting way too old at way too many positions, Astros are falling apart, and Reds just really aren't that good though I think they'll probably get third or fourth. I really like the Pirates though, they have a great young pitching staff and a pretty good lineup. And they were one of the best NL teams in the second half last year. And the Brewers have always been good when they're healthy.

NL WEST: Dodgers get the edge over the Padres, because of their offense. Even if it's not exactly potent, atleast it's more potent then the Padres, and Dodgers still have an amazing staff.

AL EAST: Yankees problems are overrated. They're 2/5ths a pitching rotation. Yeah, the pitching still sucks even when healthy, but they'll get to the playoffs.

AL CENTRAL: Tigers. Sheff will warm up. They were the best team last year, and they did nothing but get better this year.

AL WEST: A's cuz Beane always figures it out. Plus day-um at their rotation when Harden is actually healthy.

AL WILD CARD: I had Twins pre-season, and I don't believe in flip-flopping, but damn I wish I had the Indians. I they hadn't solved their bullpen issues, and while it's still weak, it's still good enough really. Twins are still a powerhouse though. And next year when Lirano is healthy, man. Santana+Liriano = Schilling+Johnson circa 2001?

annnnd

NL WILD CARD: FLORIDA MARLINS baby. We have nine, count it, NINE players on the DL and we're still 12-13 in one of the best divisions. And once Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco get healthy, we'll have one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball, aswell as one of the most potent offenses (currently lead the league in total bases BY OVER 30, the highest team SLG by 0.022, with 2 every day position players being injured, and a third had being injured until recently, just to give a hint at the potency of this lineup). Our downfall last year was starting the year 20 games under 500 (talk about a fucking hole to dig out of, yet still was in wild card contention until the last couple weeks), having a shitty ass bullpen that's been fixed even with Jorge Julio sucking, and pitchers getting injured down the stretch which hopefully won't happen again.

PLAYOFFS: Marlins continue to be UNDEFEATED in the playoffs, 9-0, celebrate the 10 year aniversery of our first championship with a third one.
[/end homer, yet smart when you look at the stats, pick 8) amazing how underrated we are]

[Melena]

this has been a weird start. Last week the giants looked almost invincible, now it's Arizona going around and beating up on people, the yankee's rotation is single handedly pushing mbl's insurance premiums through the roof, el duque just went down again with an injury, and randy johnson definetly doesn't look like his old self yet. it's still early, buy I don't see my A's/Whitesox/Tigers/Yankees for the AL and Mets/Braves/Astros/Padres playoff predictions being very accurate right now.

[Akiyama]

Hopefully A-Rod breaks the all time and we can be done with Barroids, then after there's the chance Pujols will still be around to contend for A-Rod. No other current player has a shot, Ryan Howard is older than Pujols and his first real season was last year.

Because he never gets recognition:

MIGUEL CABRERA

All three had their first full year at age 20 (A-Rod played some at 18 and 19, and Cabrera played half a year at 19, but their first full years were at 20. The numbers:

Cabrera: .319 319/92/342 .394/.547/.941 Team OPS: .750
Pujols: .334 367/114/381 .412/.613/1.024 Team OPS: .782
A-Rod: .323 364/101/331 .374/.562/.937 Team OPS: .834

Big Quote

I actually read all of this because I love baseball. My thoughts on the Marlins in a completely unbiased way are as follows:

Miguel Cabrera is an outstanding player, no doubt.. but besides him, Uggla, and Hanley Ramirez, where else does their power/hitting really come from? I mean they have decent hitters, but no real standouts. That's always good though because they can always come under the radar. Their pitching is decent with Willis and a great young pitcher, Anibal Sanchez. They could probably win the division.. IF they weren't in the same division with an overrated Phillies team, a powerful team in the Mets and a team that I believe will make a comeback, the Braves.

My thoughts on the Braves. I think they -could- possibly reclaim the NL East. Their pitching other than Wickman's closing problems in the last couple of games have been outstanding. Hudson and Smoltzy close the door. The only issue is we too only have about 2.5/5 pitching staff. (That .5 is for Chuck James as he can be great one day, horrid the next.) Kyle Davies needs to go back to AAA for a while and Redman needs to go back to AA or something because he's lousy as hell. I think Wickman will fix his issue while he's on the DL though. They still have Gonzalez and Soriano. Hell, even Yates has pulled his weight so far. You have to admit, teams actually regret getting to their bullpen, unlike last year where they hoped to rip through the pitchers in 5 innings then destroy them by burying their awful bullpen. I'm so glad they got rid of Reitsma, Kolb and all those guys.

Either way, I can't believe you're leaving the Braves out of the playoffs. They won 14 straight division titles, that wasn't a fluke. They were a great REGULAR season team, just couldn't hang in the playoffs like.. ever. They are like the Yankees of present where they can get to the playoffs then bounced out early. I seriously believe the Braves will bounce back, win the division that will come down to the last week to decide, but the Mets will get in on the Wildcard. Last year was just a rough patch for them. They've found their pitching, they've got their hitting in the Jones boys, Francoeur, McCann, and Kelly Johnson who really turned around his season. He started awful in that #1 hitting spot, taking over for Marcus Giles. So yeah. Renteria is also having a great year, don't forget. I really think they are getting underrated by the baseball "experts".

On the note of the other divisions, I'll just list quickly without going into much detail.
AL East - Red Sox
AL Central - Twins
AL West - Angels
AL Wildcard - Indians (Yes. No Yankees in the post season.)

NL East - Braves
NL Central - Brewers
NL West - Diamondbacks (I think Randy will get it together and pull through)
NL Wildcard - Mets

That's my quick run through. I wasn't flaming the Marlins at all because I think if they were in any other NL division, they'd win it. I wish them well. Go Braves.