2010 MLB Regular Season Chat

Kinda32

So the new season is only a few hours away (apologies to those who must wait until tomorrow for their teams to start!!)..

Sox-Yankees kick it off at fenway and i'm ready with my beers for a late night.. Think it should be a good game, beckett vs CC..

Really looking forward to seeing the Sox lineup and see if its going to get the job done. I've always been one who thinks defence is under-rated and love good defence (Jays fans here will know i'm a fan of John MacDonald from a few years back watching him play d..) so am looking forward to a Sox team that should be very good.

Jon Lester should be a Cy Young candidate if this team is legit on defence, as he seemed to suffer last season from the ground ball to the left side single with Lugo and Lowell over there..

Anyway, it all begins tonight, it's been a long winter!!!

MickShamrock

Mariners have a serious shot at winning the AL West this year. Nice rotation and some other good additions by Dr. Z.

Kinda32

MickShamrock wrote: »

Mariners have a serious shot at winning the AL West this year. Nice rotation and some other good additions by Dr. Z.

Agree with that.. They have a great shot.. I hope for their sake that Milton isnt too much of a timebomb for the club.. He's a serious headcase and hopefully he can be kept in check by some of the others like griffey. The top of the rotation is as good as any in baseball.. and figgins should be a great addition..

MickShamrock

Hopefully Bradley just needed a change of scenery and can now contribute a productive bat to what with a little luck will be a great season!

8-10

Kinda32 wrote: »

(Jays fans here will know i'm a fan of John MacDonald from a few years back watching him play d..)

Haha that's awesome, he's always been a favourite of mine too! Have a Jays t with him on it.

As for the Sox, I think SS has long been a problem. It's really a pity Pedroia was never given the role, I think he's probably faster and more athletic than most and can play great defense. Scutaro (I lived in Toronto for a few months 2 years ago and saw him quite a bit) is a good signing, but nothing special. I don't see it as problem solved. Same thing at LF. Cameron is good, very good on his day, but he's following Bay and Manny who brought huge power to the lineup. I agree with the OP though, Cameron plays great d and this year's lineup is stronger defensively.

Really looking forward to the game tonight, sick of Spring Training games at this stage. Living in Philadelphia during the World Series only makes me hate the Yankees more. Can't wait to see Halladay start tomorrow with that lineup supporting him. I think Phillies are going to be unstoppable this year in the NL. Rockies should be good too. I think Seattle are hugely improved and would like to see them win the AL West, but don't see it happening this year.

I'll quickly go with AL - Yankees, Twins, Angels + Red Sox wc (boring 2009 result prediction I know) and NL Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies + Giants wc.

With Braves, Mariners, Orioles, Royals, Mets, Diamondbacks all to finish higher than last year.

Nobody has mentioned the NL West yet, I think it's mouth-watering this year!

MickShamrock

I forgot the Phillies got Halladay! :pac:

8-10

MickShamrock wrote: »

I forgot the Phillies got Halladay! :pac:

Probably not as big news anywhere else but it's been dominating the offseason in Philly. A lot of people are mad at losing Cliff Lee instead of having both for a season but I don't think you can complain much. Because he's always been AL a lot of people haven't even seen him play yet which I find bizarre.

Kinda32

8-10 wrote: »

Haha that's awesome, he's always been a favourite of mine too! Have a Jays t with him on it.

As for the Sox, I think SS has long been a problem. It's really a pity Pedroia was never given the role, I think he's probably faster and more athletic than most and can play great defense. Scutaro (I lived in Toronto for a few months 2 years ago and saw him quite a bit) is a good signing, but nothing special. I don't see it as problem solved. Same thing at LF. Cameron is good, very good on his day, but he's following Bay and Manny who brought huge power to the lineup. I agree with the OP though, Cameron plays great d and this year's lineup is stronger defensively.

Really looking forward to the game tonight, sick of Spring Training games at this stage. Living in Philadelphia during the World Series only makes me hate the Yankees more. Can't wait to see Halladay start tomorrow with that lineup supporting him. I think Phillies are going to be unstoppable this year in the NL. Rockies should be good too. I think Seattle are hugely improved and would like to see them win the AL West, but don't see it happening this year.

I'll quickly go with AL - Yankees, Twins, Angels + Red Sox wc (boring 2009 result prediction I know) and NL Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies + Giants wc.

With Braves, Mariners, Orioles, Royals, Mets, Diamondbacks all to finish higher than last year.

Nobody has mentioned the NL West yet, I think it's mouth-watering this year!

TBH, i dont think pedroia should play ss, he's gold glove where he is and thats fine by me.. think scutaro will do this year, sox have a cuban ss who will be ready by 2011, and is a whizz at defence..

halladay should win 20+ this year in the NL East.. as for the NL West, yes its good, but sorry, its still nothing on the AL East.. yankees, sox and rays are in the top 5 in baseball, cant really top that..

8-10

Kinda32 wrote: »

TBH, i dont think pedroia should play ss, he's gold glove where he is and thats fine by me.. think scutaro will do this year, sox have a cuban ss who will be ready by 2011, and is a whizz at defence..

halladay should win 20+ this year in the NL East.. as for the NL West, yes its good, but sorry, its still nothing on the AL East.. yankees, sox and rays are in the top 5 in baseball, cant really top that..

Oh I agree, Pedroia is fine at 2B. I just think if he had been put there when he joined the organisation they'd have a better lineup today, but whatever I've been saying that for a couple of years, I should let it go it's way to late to change!

Nobody got 20 wins last year in either league but I agree, I could see Doc doing it. Phillies lineup is frightening.

And AL East is obviously the biggest, certainly commercially. But competitively NL West is definitely the best. Consider that Diamondbacks came last this year! With Brandon Webb coming off the DL soon they have one of the best 1-2's in the league! San Diego are poor but Giants, Dodgers and Rockies could all win it and Arizona will be competitive. In the AL East neither Rays, Jays or Orioles will win it. It's a 2-man race and Rays have a chance of a wildcard maybe. Top 2 teams have just too much depth, and great rotations. NL West for me is the most exciting by far.

Kinda32

agree that the Nl west is competitive, but its a big stretch to say giants, dodgers and rockies can win it all.. its competitive cause they are all good teams, not because they are all world series contenders.. it would take alot for any of them to win it all. would take cardinals or phillies in the NL any day above those teams, and would take any 3 of the AL East hopefuls above them..

Kinda32

just re-read and realised you were talking about any of the 3 of them winning the division.. totally agree with that, its a wide open division.. think the rays will be right in the game in the al east as well as the other 2 though, so that will be as tough imo..

8-10

Kinda32 wrote: »

Sox-Yankees kick it off at fenway and i'm ready with my beers for a late night.. Think it should be a good game, beckett vs CC..

This is an awesome game! I'm jealous you have beers. I've been on the tea. 6th and 7th innings were great.

8-10

Paps closes with 1 hit and very few pitches. Good performance overall except Beckett who had a rough-enough start. Very very entertaining game, well worth staying up for, I'm sure OP would agree! Both teams a little rusty but made it for a great end-to-end contest so to speak.

Only downside is that points tonight don't count towards my fantasy team and Pedroia (HR, 3RBIs), Youk (2 doubles, triple, a few RBIs) and Posada (3 hits and a walk I think?) all would have scored nicely for me.

8-10

Halladay is quite handy with the bat too. 7K's so far and an RBI. Looking good Doc. Let's go Phills!

bobby wade

Cubs, Cubs,Cubs Cubs Cubs.

*shakes head*

paulelectronica

:)Mets start the season off with a win 7-1 against Marlins

8-10

paulelectronica wrote: »

:)Mets start the season off with a win 7-1 against Marlins

Wright can hit again!

Mad_Max

paulelectronica wrote: »

:)Mets start the season off with a win 7-1 against Marlins

1 down, 161 to go :rolleyes:

dramabob

Well, I'm not saying we are going to go 162-0, but there was some encouraging play by the Mets in our home opener. The outfielders coped admirably with hellish winds, Santana pitched well (if not brilliantly), the offence whacked out plenty of hits - it was a good allround package. I did feel sorry for the Marlins rooke 1B, committing three errors all by himself in the 6th though. Wrecked his confidence.

jack presley

paulelectronica wrote: »

:)Mets start the season off with a win 7-1 against Marlins

But how bad were the Marlins in the field, especially that guy at 1st base? A win's a win I suppose and they really have to win every start Santana makes as the rest of the rotation looks awful!

Mad_Max

dramabob wrote: »

I did feel sorry for the Marlins rooke 1B, committing three errors all by himself in the 6th though. Wrecked his confidence.

Only has him down for 1 in the boxscore.

E: Hensley (1, pickoff), Meyer (1, throw), Sanchez, G (1, missed catch).

RizzoJR

MickShamrock wrote: »

Mariners have a serious shot at winning the AL West this year. Nice rotation and some other good additions by Dr. Z.

yeah, they have an awesome lineup :P

I bet nobody on them hits more than 20 HRs

too much pressure on Felix with NO offense,
like Greinke last season,
but look what HE did......

RizzoJR

8-10 wrote: »

Halladay is quite handy with the bat too. 7K's so far and an RBI. Looking good Doc. Let's go Phills!

I dont think he should be risking swinging the bat and running basepaths,
just concentrate on winning 25 games this season

dramabob

Mad_Max wrote: »

Only has him down for 1 in the boxscore.

E: Hensley (1, pickoff), Meyer (1, throw), Sanchez, G (1, missed catch).

Fair point, but from watching the game, it was obvious that the kid failed to catch 3 balls that were thrown to him. I felt for the guy, but hey, it scored us a few insurance runs!

HeartOfTheCity

I'm completely new to the sport of baseball...I'm in the process of learning so decided to keep a blog about my struggles of learning 'America's Favourite Pastime'.

Any tips and pointers you lads can give me are most appreciated!

McLoughlin

HeartOfTheCity wrote: »

I'm completely new to the sport of baseball...I'm in the process of learning so decided to keep a blog about my struggles of learning 'America's Favourite Pastime'.

Any tips and pointers you lads can give me are most appreciated!

Your not the only one a month I decided to watch Baseball and what I found to help was just watch a game and watch it over and over go onto wikipedia to see what BA, ERA etc are but I find when it comes to statisics its something you pick up over time. My only problem is to find the time in the day to sit and watch a game now I've got ESPN.

jack presley

HeartOfTheCity wrote: »

I'm completely new to the sport of baseball...I'm in the process of learning so decided to keep a blog about my struggles of learning 'America's Favourite Pastime'.

Any tips and pointers you lads can give me are most appreciated!

There's a great book you can pick up on Amazon for a few quid called 'Watching Baseball Smarter' by Zach Hample. That helped me a lot when i first got into the game.

jack presley

I'm new to the board but been a fan of baseball for about 5 years now and there seems to be a few fellow Mets fans here, yeah?

I suppose we'll know a bit better after each of the rotation has made a start but how do think they'll do this season? I'm a bit of a pessimist so am predicting about 75-80 wins but maybe Maine and Perez were keeping all their good stuff for the regular season!!

dartsfan

I'm another newbie and I'm wondering how come John Lackey only made his debut last night, and didn't play in the other 2 matches of the series? Was this for tactical reasons?

One observation I have is that often it looks like the ball hasn't passed over the home plate when the pitcher throws to the batter, yet it's still "in", any one else find this?

jack presley

dartsfan wrote: »

I'm another newbie and I'm wondering how come John Lackey only made his debut last night, and didn't play in the other 2 matches of the series? Was this for tactical reasons?

One observation I have is that often it looks like the ball hasn't passed over the home plate when the pitcher throws to the batter, yet it's still "in", any one else find this?

As you are probably aware there are 162 games in the season so they play on average about 6 games a week. A good position player will play almost all of these games although he may be rested occasionally.

However due to the unnatural throwing motion of a pitcher, over the years they have established that to get the best out of a pitcher and to prevent injury, he should only start every 5th day (or 'on 4 days rest' as it's known). He doesn't completely rest on his days off though. He'll lift weights, do long toss drills etc. so calling it rest isn't actually correct.

Therefore each team will have a starting rotation of 5 pitchers who pitch one after each other in successive games. In addition to stating only every 5th day they have also established that a pitcher can only pitch at a high level for about 100-120 pitches so after he has thrown around this number of pitches expect to see a reliever come in and replace him. Of course if he's having a nightmare of a day, he'll be yanked much earlier!

Most teams have their best pitcher (i.e. their 'ace') pitch the 1st game and their next best the 2nd and so on. Lackey is obviously considered Boston's 3rd best pitcher if he pitched last night. Although the order can be switched every now and then so this isn't 100% correct all the time.

Some pitchers, especially towards the end of the season when they know they'll be getting a few months rest will pitch on 3 day's rest. The Yankees in the world series only used 3 pitchers as they pitched all of them on short rest but they wouldn't risk doing this throughout the whole season as the risk of injury would be too great and they're paying CC Sabbatia millions and millions of dollars over the next few years so they definitely don't want him off with an injury.

In answer to your second point, i wouldn't judge too much from what we see from the head on camera. These umpires are scrutinized immensely by the league and if their strike zone was consistently off, they'd be out of the league and replaced. they might get the odd one wrong as they are human but I think statistics show that they get most right.

InTheTrees

Its a shame about the 100 pitch limit on starting pitchers. Its mostly a contract thing the pitchers insist on to avoid injury and prolong their careers. I think in the old days it was one pitcher per game wasnt it? Did they even have closers?

There was a mariners game a couple of years ago that went into extra innings and they ran out of relief pitchers and had the catcher pitch.

jack presley

InTheTrees wrote: »

Its a shame about the 100 pitch limit on starting pitchers. Its mostly a contract thing the pitchers insist on to avoid injury and prolong their careers. I think in the old days it was one pitcher per game wasnt it? Did they even have closers?

There was a mariners game a couple of years ago that went into extra innings and they ran out of relief pitchers and had the catcher pitch.

The whole pitch count thing led to the 'draw' in the All-Star games a few years back which prompted MLB to impose the shambles that now exists where the home advantage in the World Series is decided by whichever squad wins the the All-Star Game. This is made worse by the fact every team has to be represented meaning that irrelevant players have an impact on who has an advantage in October.

InTheTrees

Yeah I've never quite understood the attraction of the all star game. And trying to add relevance to it by having it decide home advantage for the world series just exasperated my lack of appreciation.

Mad_Max

InTheTrees wrote: »

Its a shame about the 100 pitch limit on starting pitchers. Its mostly a contract thing the pitchers insist on to avoid injury and prolong their careers. I think in the old days it was one pitcher per game wasnt it? Did they even have closers?

Its hardly a 'limit' and I don't think I've ever read of it being contractual with any pitcher but will stand corrected on that if it can be shown.

In yesterdays games there were 4 pitchers that I can see that went over 100. Not by much now but it's early in the season and starters wont be effective/efficient enough to go further and they won't be risked.

Flloyd: 105
Arroyo: 109
Billingsley: 107
Romero: 103

CC was regularly throwing 110+ towards the end of last season for the yanks.

I'm not a fan of the pitch count watching tbh. YES are now showing the pitch count all the time on screen. Who needs to know that the SP has thrown 12 pitches in the first inning?! :rolleyes:

jack presley

I'd never heard of the pitch count being in contracts either. I always thought it was just a guide.

Regarding CC, that man's an animal. He could probably throw 200 pitches, then come back the next day and do it all again!

InTheTrees

Well indeed I could have been dreaming because I've been consulting the googles but they're not backing me up on contractual pitch count limits...

But i'll keep my eye out. I know I've heard about them.

As regards the 100 pitch limit, its really a 110 limit with the grey area between 100 and 110. (They wouldnt pull them out at exactly 100, they'll let them finish the inning.) which is why those pitch totals are between 100 and 110.

jack presley

InTheTrees wrote: »

Well indeed I could have been dreaming because I've been consulting the googles but they're not backing me up on contractual pitch count limits...

But i'll keep my eye out. I know I've heard about them.

As regards the 100 pitch limit, its really a 110 limit with the grey area between 100 and 110. (They wouldnt pull them out at exactly 100, they'll let them finish the inning.) which is why those pitch totals are between 100 and 110.

I think the word 'limit' makes it too black and white. Although the teams will try and keep the pitch count around the 100,110 mark, they can be flexible with it. Say for example a guy is throwing a no hitter and he finishes the 8th having thrown 110, they're definitely gonna leave him in as long as they can in the 9th to get the no hitter.

The only times I've heard of strict limits for pitchers is either in spring training when they're just easing their way into the season or with rookies who have never thrown major league number of innings or for a 6 month long season.

Look at Stephen Strasburg of the Nats. He's probably going to be on some sort or limit down at the AA club where he's starting

thirdmantackle

Anyone got a good link to watch the Giants v Braves game via streaming???

Mad_Max

Sorry too late for the game but myp2p.eu is your best friend for the season. Used it for every home yankee game when I was blacked out in NY.

Look into the MLB pass if you're gonna watch games regularly!

Mad_Max

jack presley wrote: »

Say for example a guy is throwing a no hitter and he finishes the 8th having thrown 110, they're definitely gonna leave him in as long as they can in the 9th to get the no hitter.

LOL damn you were close to being a profit!. Cracking effort from the big man there tonight.

Mad_Max

Another great game for the yanks. Nice opening road trip, 4-2 against their biggest rivals. Tough series ahead against the Angels though.

jack presley

Mad_Max wrote: »

Another great game for the yanks. Nice opening road trip, 4-2 against their biggest rivals. Tough series ahead against the Angels though.

And you can say the exact opposite of their city rivals.

2-4 at home, against the supposed weaker 2 teams in the division and now they go on a tough road trip.

Benbolo

Mad_Max wrote: »

Another great game for the yanks. Nice opening road trip, 4-2 against their biggest rivals. Tough series ahead against the Angels though.

The Bloody Yankees! Ha I can't believe The sox threw it away twice, and then again to the Royals. Sometimes I wish the sox has the money the Yanks do. Fair play to CC to take it so far into the game.

InTheTrees

Seattle Mariners...

:mad:

2 wins and 5 loses so far. wtf??? It all looked so positive last week.

Opening day is today in Seattle so maybe things will pick up when there's some home games. My commute goes past Safeco field so it'll be great to see the place lit up this afternoon.

Mad_Max

Benbolo wrote: »

Sometimes I wish the sox has the money the Yanks do.

LOLZ. The poor poor sox.

InTheTrees

Mad_Max wrote: »

Another great game for the yanks. Nice opening road trip, 4-2 against their biggest rivals. Tough series ahead against the Angels though.

I dunno whats going on with the Angels but they're on a losing streak which I hope continues...

:rolleyes:

Mad_Max

Park explains his poor first performance in stripes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GIEHPGj9sI

Best excuse ever.

bobby wade

Cubs up 8-1 at the moment

bobby wade

Derrek Lee had to leave Monday's game because of inflammation in his right thumb

InTheTrees

Seattle Mariners have won their first series of the season by beating oakland 4-2 last night.

Vargas gets the win which is good. He was a rookie pitcher last year and messed pretty badly a couple of times so its good to see him develop.

They get a day off today and then a series against detroit tigers starts tomorrow.

Mad_Max

Damn I'm starting to really regret passing on Cano in fantasy. He is absolutely murdering the ball at the minute. Every time, even his outs and absolutely being crushed.

His age 27 year, early doors but he's living up to the old adage of this being the best year.