2009 MLB season discussion*

[Headspace]

WTB corked bats and steroids.

[Ensam]

Tomorrow's Mets/Marlins game at 1 p.m. should be a great game. If you have a way of watching a game that early, definitely suggest checking it out. Josh Johnson v.s. Johan Santana. They met earlier in the season and had a fucking awesome pitchers duel.

[Cephius]

Phil Hughes finally does something, 6 innings 0 runs 6 Ks when the Yanks desperately needed a quality start. Offense went to town on the Tigers bullpen, I can finally sleep at night...

[Pringles]

Phil Hughes finally does something, 6 innings 0 runs 6 Ks when the Yanks desperately needed a quality start. Offense went to town on the Tigers bullpen, I can finally sleep at night...

Still doesn't excuse Yank's offense with runners in scoring position again today. Minus the 7th inning, offense was once again lackluster at bringing in runners. Hughes did great pitching tonight, but Yankee's got lucky with the Tiger's bullpen faltering like it did in their 56 pitch 7th.

[Cephius]

For sure, I think they are still last in the majors with RISP, but baseball is a long season and things tend to average out over the long term. A-rod should be back in a couple weeks, and all of a sudden the lineup looks a lot better.

[Rhinox]

Carlos Zambrano tonight so far:

6 ip 5 hits 1 run 2 bb 3 k's

but the highlight?

3-4 3 runs 2 rbi's 1 hr is just a triple away from the cycle lulz.

[Heian]

Fuck you Juilo Lugo

Fuck you Xavier Lopez

[Bregor]

Carlos Zambrano tonight so far:

6 ip 5 hits 1 run 2 bb 3 k's

but the highlight?

3-4 3 runs 2 rbi's 1 hr is just a triple away from the cycle lulz.

With Aramis Ramirez out, I heard talk of Zambrano being the "emergency 3rd baseman." Too bad he can out-hit Aaron Miles, he had an .892 OPS last year.

[Akiyama]

What a way for the Red Sox to lose a game, rofl. Nice drop!

[Heian]

What a way for the Red Sox to lose a game, rofl. Nice drop!

No shit the two best players for the Indians, Lugo and Lopez. Fucking Tito. Lugo caused at least two errors I saw but was only credited with one. Fucking cock bag. It's no coincidence that we go 11 games in a row and then the King of the Rally Killers himself pops up. I have argued for a while now that if he was on any other team he would probably be a great SS, but for some reason when he plays for the Sox, you can see it on his face, he looks empty or scared, perhaps both. Maybe it's the pressure of playing for a team like that, I honestly don't know with him anymore. (Yes I know SS is one of the hardest positions to field but with Youk, Pedroia, and Lowell it's a tough act to follow.)

[Saga]

No shit the two best players for the Indians, Lugo and Lopez. Fucking Tito. Lugo caused at least two errors I saw but was only credited with one. Fucking cock bag. It's no coincidence that we go 11 games in a row and then the King of the Rally Killers himself pops up. I have argued for a while now that if he was on any other team he would probably be a great SS, but for some reason when he plays for the Sox, you can see it on his face, he looks empty or scared, perhaps both. Maybe it's the pressure of playing for a team like that, I honestly don't know with him anymore. (Yes I know SS is one of the hardest positions to field but with Youk, Pedroia, and Lowell it's a tough act to follow.)

Keep Nick Green on the field imo, guy's made a couple errors but nothing game-losing (yet). And he at least acts like he's fucking playing for something, you're right - Lugo just sits with a lost look on his mug. At SS, at the plate, wherever.

[Akiyama]

Well let's give Lugo a break. Didn't he just come back from an injury? He needs to get the hang of it again I'm sure. Not like a loss in April's gonna do anything anyway.

[Viq]

Lugo's coming off knee surgery. He didn't really have a spring training, and only had something like 12ABs in the AAA to warm up (3-4 games probably.) He's not going to be playing every day at this point. The plan, from what I've read, is to play Lugo every other game for about a week or so to get him back into game shape, then see if he can take over SS full time again. Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea. Lowrie is likely out for the season, so they really have no utility infielder with Green starting at SS. Francona has shown in the past that he won't shy away from bringing in a defensive replacement for Lugo late in games. Francona also loves speed in the 9-hole, which is something that Lugo offers over Green.

tl;dr They need to give Lugo a chance because they're more well rounded with Green as a utility guy.

As a side note, it's easy to pick on Lopez and Lugo for last night's game because they're constant Boston scapegoats, but it's not entirely fair. Sure, if Lopez catches the ball then they play extra innings instead of lose. He shouldn't have been in that position, though. Brad Penny was staked a 5-1 lead and a 7-4 lead. He blew them both. Penny might have the shortest leash of any Red Sox player at this point. They signed him for a cheap contract, so they don't lose a lot if they cut their loses on him. While he maintains an ERA over 8.00, guys like Bowden, Buccholz, and Bard are killing time in the minors. Smoltz is only a month or so away. Masterson could take the 5th spot in the rotation after Matsuzaka comes back. They have many options to replace Penny, and I suspect they won't ride him for too long before excersizing those options.

[Saga]

I understand what you're saying about last night's performance in giving him a chance, but if he rebounds I want him to rebound to his 2007 season. I'm not saying I expect him to be at a .444 average again, but hitting .268 and committing a third of the season's total errors in 2008 isn't the kind of repeat performance we need from him.

Also, I hope you're right about Terry not sitting on Penny for too long. He's for sure the weakest link in our rotation right now. I'd have no problem with Masterson staying on as a starter, he's been doing phenomenal. I really hope Smoltz is ready soon, as I've been a big fan of his for a long time, and as I think Wakefield has proven age doesn't necessarily translate to poor performance, at all.

On a side note, does anyone else wish we pursued Jarrod Saltalamacchia a bit harder?

[Viq]

What would Saltalamacchia really bring to the table? A better bat for a catcher, sure. They could bring up Dusty Brown if they want that. Salt(tab) isn't even an average defensive catcher. The Rangers were even trying to move him around to other positions. I'm happy with the current Sox catcher situation.

[archibaldcrane]

Question:

How fucking nasty is Yovani Gallardo?

I went to the Brewers/Giants opening series where he was dueling with Randy Johnson, but was down a run. Until he hit a 3-run bomb to left to take a 4-2 lead, which was the first home run Randy Johnson had ever given up in his career to a pitcher.

Flash forward to today:

Bottom of the 7th, hardcore duel with Ian Snell of the Pirates - Brewers scatter 4 hits, Pirates have 1 hit and 1 walk through 7 (Gallardo has struck out 9 Pirates). Yet, the score is still 0-0. Gallardo, of course, has seen this before...so he hits a solo shot to break the tie. Brewers up 1-0 now.

So fucking nasty. I don't know if he can make up for losing C.C. Sabathia, but he sure is doing the job of replacing Ben Sheets - and if you recall, the reason we got C.C. last year is because we were competitive and in the running for the playoffs at mid-season when we got the big fella.

Gallardo. Man, or god?

[Stiker]

I must say I am rather impressed with Millwood so far this season. Thank God for contract years it seems. Sad his W/L record really hasn't reflected the kind of job he's done though.

[Cephius]

Question:

How fucking nasty is Yovani Gallardo?

I went to the Brewers/Giants opening series where he was dueling with Randy Johnson, but was down a run. Until he hit a 3-run bomb to left to take a 4-2 lead, which was the first home run Randy Johnson had ever given up in his career to a pitcher.

Flash forward to today:

Bottom of the 7th, hardcore duel with Ian Snell of the Pirates - Brewers scatter 4 hits, Pirates have 1 hit and 1 walk through 7 (Gallardo has struck out 9 Pirates). Yet, the score is still 0-0. Gallardo, of course, has seen this before...so he hits a solo shot to break the tie. Brewers up 1-0 now.

So fucking nasty. I don't know if he can make up for losing C.C. Sabathia, but he sure is doing the job of replacing Ben Sheets - and if you recall, the reason we got C.C. last year is because we were competitive and in the running for the playoffs at mid-season when we got the big fella.

Gallardo. Man, or god?

He's going to be a stud. I remember reading the numbers he put up 2 years ago as a 21 year old and they were amazing, of course he gets no credit for the media because he was only 9-5. If he can keep his WHIP around 1.2-1.3 and keep striking people out at around 8/per 9 innings like he has, he'll be just what the Brew Crew can hope for.

He has given up 3 HRs in 4 games though, that's the only concern I'd have at this point. Besides him staying healthy, of course.

[archibaldcrane]

They fucking pulled him in the 9th for goddamn Carlos Villanueva...after giving up 2 hits and one walk in a 1-0 game through 8.

Damnit, I wanted him to win the game all by himself.

[Cephius]

To be fair, he had thrown 116 pitches and was facing the heart of the order. Can't blame them for pulling him, IMO