MLB: 2014 Regular Season Thread

jack presley

Hey Ollie, Reds are doing well. Where's your updates? Great tag from Hamilton there.

rockonollie

jack presley wrote: »

Hey Ollie, Reds are doing well. Where's your updates? Great tag from Hamilton there.

That's why Billy is hitting leadoff. On base 3 times today

rockonollie

Of course 3 double plays help.....bunt single for b-ham to make it a 3-4 day.....add in a 2nd stolen base too

Coeus

jack presley wrote: »

You seem a bit obsessed on the Yankees. i'd be focused more on the Rays if I was you. I know they aren't off to a hot start (but it's all evenly balanced in the AL East) but they'll be a the big challengers to the Red Sox as opposed to the Yankees.

Looks Like the Rays will be losing Moore for a while if not the season. I'm just reading there he is visiting James Andrews today for a second opinion on his elbow injury. That is never good sign!

jack presley

Coeus wrote: »

Looks Like the Rays will be losing Moore for a while if not the season. I'm just reading there he is visiting James Andrews today for a second opinion on his elbow injury. That is never good sign!

Hearing the words James and Andrews in a sentence about baseball pitchers is never good.

jack presley

They've announced new end of season awards for relief pitches and named them after Mo and Hoffman.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10756425/mariano-rivera-trevor-hoffman-new-awards-named-them

Does this mean we have to go back and edit our predictions?

It's nice that they are rewarding them two though. A nice idea.

jack presley

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

Its kind of a form thing, Rendon, Werth, La Roche and Desmond are just better at the moment. Rendon looks really good and is producing on that promise he showed last year. I think Harper goes back to the number 2 spot when he starts hitting again.

Harper now batting 7th because (according to Williams) they're facing a lefty. Is this a rookie manager tinkering too much or a stroke of genius? I know he's on a bad run and as you say, others are hitting better, but it's only been about a week. Surely Williams is getting ahead of himself? This can't be good for Harper's confidence.

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

jack presley wrote: »

Harper now batting 7th because (according to Williams) they're facing a lefty. Is this a rookie manager tinkering too much or a stroke of genius? I know he's on a bad run and as you say, others are hitting better, but it's only been about a week. Surely Williams is getting ahead of himself? This can't be good for Harper's confidence.

Harper has looked a real pro ever since he came up. I dont think moving up or down the order will bother him as love as the team wins.

Billy Hamilton was electric today.

rockonollie

In case you missed it......Run Billy Run....the anatomy of a speed freak

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-watch-billy-hamilton-make-a-run-happen/

rockonollie

rockonollie wrote: »

In case you missed it......Run Billy Run....the anatomy of a speed freak

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-watch-billy-hamilton-make-a-run-happen/

And that's why, in this sabermetric crazy world, that the games are played, and you can't rely completely on box scores to judge a player.........after all, anyone that doesn't watch the highlight would just see that Hamilton scored on a sac fly to the right fielder.

MilanPan!c

Ortiz just nailed a three run home run in the 8th.

...

Whoops - now it's gonna be reviewed.

...

And it stands! Sox take a 4-2 lead.

Edit:

Uehara comes in and strikes out two, before getting the final out on a pop up. Why ANY pitcher tries to sneak fastballs by David Ortiz in a pressure situation is beyond me.

jack presley

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

Harper has looked a real pro ever since he came up. I dont think moving up or down the order will bother him as love as the team wins.

Maybe Williams is a genius after all. Nice 3 run shot last night!

jack presley

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Ortiz just nailed a three run home run in the 8th.

...

Whoops - now it's gonna be reviewed.

...

And it stands! Sox take a 4-2 lead.

Edit:

Uehara comes in and strikes out two, before getting the final out on a pop up. Why ANY pitcher tries to sneak fastballs by David Ortiz in a pressure situation is beyond me.

Are you some sort of lucky charm that only sees games the Red Sox do well in or do you only post about the games when they are winning? If it's the former, you really should watch more games! Boston will be unbeatable.

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

jack presley wrote: »

Maybe Williams is a genius after all. Nice 3 run shot last night!

Yeah he put a good swing on it last night. Jason Werth hit a monster. Some comeback after being 5-0 down early. Man baseball season screws with my sleep so much more than NFL season!!! :-p

Zimm only last 2 innings last night, looked all over the place. At least the bullpen looked sharpish I guess. Like I said though yesterday, when Harper starts raking , the Nats are going to be very very hard to beat!

MilanPan!c

jack presley wrote: »

Are you some sort of lucky charm that only sees games the Red Sox do well in or do you only post about the games when they are winning? If it's the former, you really should watch more games! Boston will be unbeatable.

Ha. I do occasionally post when they lose, but sure, I'm much more inclined to engage in a win than a loss.

And if I open up the score and the sox are losing 9-0, I'm disinclined to do much more than monitor the score.

I also find myself watching a lot of other teams, based on time issue, but frequently don't feel I know enough about the minutiae of those teams to comment.

MilanPan!c

Saying all of that, last nights Tanaka outing (7H over 7 innings, including a 3 run shot to a guy with a .240 average) was less than stellar. He has good stuff, but not lights out by any means. And of course the Yankees bullpen collapsed.

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Saying all of that, last nights Tanaka outing (7H over 7 innings, including a 3 run shot to a guy with a .240 average) was less than stellar. He has good stuff, but not lights out by any means. And of course the Yankees bullpen collapsed.

I think I'm going to start obsessively commenting on when the Red Sox lose just to balance up your commentary on the thread :D

jack presley

To be honest, I think a lot of us are guilty of selective posting. I come at it from the other side though in that I post when my team loses or is rubbish as coming on here is a good way to vent. And when they are doing well, I say nothing in case I jinx it!

I think a bit of balance is needed though. You have to take the rough with the smooth. So no hiding, when your team's getting crushed ha ha!

jack presley

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

Man baseball season screws with my sleep so much more than NFL season!!! :-p

It sure does although I'm not doing as many late nights as previous years so far. I'm also trying not to check scores if I briefly wake up at 3 in the morning but waiting until I get up at 6.

There have been plenty of day games so dar this season (is it always like this in April?) so I've been getting my fix at reasonable hours of the day so far.

boccy23

jack presley wrote: »

It sure does although I'm not doing as many late nights as previous years so far. I'm also trying not to check scores if I briefly wake up at 3 in the morning but waiting until I get up at 6.

There have been plenty of day games so dar this season (is it always like this in April?) so I've been getting my fix at reasonable hours of the day so far.

One reason is that as much as possible, MLB likes to have home openers as a day game. Tradition and all that. They also schedule a lot of day games in April to allow for weather. It gives a larger window if it rains to get the game in that day.

MilanPan!c

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

I think I'm going to start obsessively commenting on when the Red Sox lose just to balance up your commentary on the thread :D

Do! A bit of back and forth is great in baseball.

The Yankees chanted "1918" for decades. The Sox kept it simple with "Yankees suck".

Most American baseball fans I know (and that's a LOT) have two teams they follow - the team they love and the team they hate.

It's part of the fun of the game IMO. As long as people keep it ... Not too serious... It's great

So please do!

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Do! A bit of back and forth is great in baseball.

The Yankees chanted "1918" for decades. The Sox kept it simple with "Yankees suck".

Most American baseball fans I know (and that's a LOT) have two teams they follow - the team they love and the team they hate.

It's part of the fun of the game IMO. As long as people keep it ... Not too serious... It's great

So please do!

I think if I keep chanting 2013 at you people might think I'm nuts

MilanPan!c

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

I think if I keep chanting 2013 at you people might think I'm nuts

bwahahahaha...


well... maybe not in 2090...

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

MilanPan!c wrote: »

bwahahahaha...


well... maybe not in 2090...

I wonder will Big Papi be still playing then? Probably. Roll him out in his wheelchair and let him hit home runs with just his arms. No problem.

MilanPan!c

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

I wonder will Big Papi be still playing then? Probably. Roll him out in his wheelchair and let him hit home runs with just his arms. No problem.

If ANYONE could it would be him... sure he'd do it just to shut up all the "haterz" in the media

MilanPan!c

Some in the New York press are already calling Tanaka the Yankees ace.

Apparently being an ace on the Yankees looks like this in 2014:

"In his first 14 innings, the 25-year-old with the $155 million contract has allowed six runs (five earned) on 13 hits with a robust 18-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio while facing two tough AL East competitors, both of whom finished among the top 10 in runs scored and among the top five in home runs last season."

13 hits in two starts... And that's an ace?

Even if I loved the Yankees I'd be worried if that the new standard.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2022535-masahiro-tanaka-may-already-be-yankees-new-ace-in-2014

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

MilanPan!c wrote: »

Some in the New York press are already calling Tanaka the Yankees ace.

Apparently being an ace on the Yankees looks like this in 2014:

"In his first 14 innings, the 25-year-old with the $155 million contract has allowed six runs (five earned) on 13 hits with a robust 18-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio while facing two tough AL East competitors, both of whom finished among the top 10 in runs scored and among the top five in home runs last season."

13 hits in two starts... And that's an ace?

Even if I loved the Yankees I'd be worried if that the new standard.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2022535-masahiro-tanaka-may-already-be-yankees-new-ace-in-2014

I would disagree with you here, he's new to MLB, his stuff is real. He's going to improve and improve, I think he looks like an ace right now and to be fair the Yankee's Ace (Sabbathia) is no longer an ace more like a liability now.

MilanPan!c

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

I would disagree with you here, he's new to MLB, his stuff is real. He's going to improve and improve, I think he looks like an ace right now and to be fair the Yankee's Ace (Sabbathia) is no longer an ace more like a liability now.

I am a bit confused by this attitude BECAUSE before he pitched the attitude was that he's be better before everyone saw him a few times.

Now that he's "13 hits in two games" people are saying the exact opposite

I agree he doesn't have much competition on the Yanks staff at the mo', but that seems independent of what an ace is.

He's got one win, two of his 13 hits are HRs and he's got a pretty normal ERA. His stuff is NOT lights out at all now. When no one has ever seen him. In two years, when everyone has seem him a lot, he'll be doing better...?

I don't know man.

Seems like a lot of projecting into the future.

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman

MilanPan!c wrote: »

I am a bit confused by this attitude BECAUSE before he pitched the attitude was that he's be better before everyone saw him a few times.

Now that he's "13 hits in two games" people are saying the exact opposite

I agree he doesn't have much competition on the Yanks staff at the mo', but that seems independent of what an ace is.

He's got one win, two of his 13 hits are HRs and he's got a pretty normal ERA. His stuff is NOT lights out at all now. When no one has ever seen him. In two years, when everyone has seem him a lot, he'll be doing better...?

I don't know man.

Seems like a lot of projecting into the future.

I think your blinded by your yankees hatred. He has great stuff, he's made some very good batters look silly in only two games and personally I think he'll be very hard to hit once he adjusts to the obvious improved hitters he will be facing.

That only my personal belief alot of the experts would argue he'll be more effective when teams havent seen alot of him but you can be guaranteed teams have video of him already.

MilanPan!c

The Reservoir Dubs Anchorman wrote: »

I think your blinded by your yankees hatred. He has great stuff, he's made some very good batters look silly in only two games and personally I think he'll be very hard to hit once he adjusts to the obvious improved hitters he will be facing.

That only my personal belief alot of the experts would argue he'll be more effective when teams havent seen alot of him but you can be guaranteed teams have video of him already.

Yeah but video is video. It's useful, but not like facing a pitcher, seeing his move and his hands. Getting a feel for his timing.

I think right now he's shown he has some great stuff, but not that he's an ace in the MLB.

When NY media sees that and starts calling him the team ace is seems... Desperate at best.

I went through this this Dice-K... He too had incredible stuff and had a nice peak back in 03-04, but ... 155M for 10 years for this guy...? I'm incredulous.