Mo just struck out the side to get the close and give the Yanks their 7th straight win!
Wow, the Jays are playing bad baseball. When you give up an inside the park homerun to Prince Fielder and almost get no hit, you really do look like a team that has already quit in the middle of June.
Mariners fired McLaren. Talk about a team that has underperformed.
OK, I guess I should somewhat retract that statment since the Jays did actually come to life towards the end of that game. I flipped to the D-backs game after the no hitter was gone.
I’m sorry, but I’m certain you’ve mis-typed the bolded portion. Prince Fielder? That’s funny. But seriously, who hit the homer?
All hail the Royals, masters of the I-70!!
Hmm, Joaquin Andujar must have gotten ejected again! 
Crap!! What has happened to my Cardinals?
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Don’t know, but the Cubs are threatening to lose their 3rd straight too. So at least your cards aren’t losing ground to them. However, the Brewers are coming on strong with 4 straight already.
The Padres overall looked pretty bad. I am sure that comes as no revelation to the NL fans, but I hadn’t been following it at all yet.
I figured I’d be beaten to the punch on this.
Ricciardi’s comments about Dunn were, obviously, classless and unprofessional. Perhaps more importantly, though, they suggested that Ricciardi may either be much more stupid that I would have believed, or his losing his shit. To blast Adam Dunn - who goes out and plays 150 solid ballgames a year and sure as shit hits better than any Blue Jays - for no reason is just mind-bogglingly idiotic. (The lazy bum had a hit, a walk and picked off a baserunner today.) If Ricciardi knew what he was doing he’d have publicly apologized to Dunn, but he hasn’t.
It’s long past time for Ricciardi to be fired. He’s had seven years and the team is worse off than when he took over.
Ricciardi did a good job for two or three years; he cut the team’s payroll by getting rid of deadweight (anyone remember Raul Mondesi?) and gave them a solid, low-cost squad from which to build. But that was the extent, apparently, of both his plan and his skill. Since the initial phase of rebuilding the team, they’ve drifted along with no real plan. They haven’t kept up with the rest of the majors in scouting or sabermetric analysis; their drafts have been poorly conducted and their decisions are increasingly made based on short term needs and recent events.
There’s nothing wrong with putting a guy in charge to to one phase of your business and then hiring another to take over the next phase. Some people are good at one thing, not so much the other. Ricciardi did a fine job pulling apart the bloated, crappy team Gord Ash had created, and starting over. But once things got rough in 2004, he lost his way. He’s been doing things at random since then, not following a plan like he was before, and his weaknesses are becoming more obvious, as is usually the case the longer a manager stays on.
I never thought I would say anything like this, but when the Reds come to town I hope Dunn absolutely rips it, goes like 7-for-11 with four home runs. The team needs to completely start over, and the dismissal of Ricciardi and his staff is now absolutely necessary.
Well, I must be fair and note that this evening Ricciardi apologized. It still doesn’t explain why in God’s name he blasted a guy he doesn’t know, but he did say he was sorry.
He still needs to be fired.
I read on another board that interleague play was crap and a major distraction and totally had to stop. One of the biggest reasons is more unbalance and the fact that Cubs had to play the WSox (go Sox!) and the Cards had to play the Royals (the doormat of the ML). That’s why we play games folks.
What’s funnier is that it’s his second.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The Blue Jays fired almost the entire field management staff today, getting rid of Gibbons and three coaches. The guy who put this team together, J.P. Ricciardi, kept his job.
And who did they tag to be the new manager? Cito Gaston, I shit you not. He’s back. And they rehired two of his old coaches, Nick Leyva and Gene Tenace.
Oh, this will fix everything. I imagine next they’ll sign Roberto Alomar, Dave Winfield, and Paul Molitor to improve the lineup.*
- = Given how badly the current lineup hits, actually, this might work.
I was listening to the morning talk show on XM radio’s baseball station. They were talking about teams needing pitching and who might be available. Names that came up included Greg Maddux, A.J. Burnett, C.C. Sabathia, and Ben Sheets? Why would the Brewers do something so stupid as to trade Ben Sheets? The Brewers are finally starting to come to life. The can certainly contend if the Cubs or more likely the Cards fade later in the season.
I don’t think the Indians should trade Sabathia either unless they are certain they can’t sign him. I don’t think the Indians are out of it yet either, but who knows with the crazy AL Central this year.
I hear Roger Clemens is available.
Glad to see I’m not the only one. For now…I’m laughing.
The tears will come if, for starters, Burnett and J.P. are still here at the start of next year. They also need to get rid of Ryan and find a catcher who can actually get the ball to second base. Not five feet to the left or two bounces to make it.
I will be absolutely floored if Burnett doesn’t opt out at season’s end. If he does, the Jays get two free first round draft picks, since he’ll be a Class A free agent.
Obviously, the risk is that he hurts himself before then, and so doesn’t opt out and can’t be traded. But I don’t know if you could get a lot for him now anyway. He’s a plus-5 ERA pitcher with a history of phantom arm injuries; who would give you something worth more than two first-round picks?
Ryan is untradeable.
Well, it isn’t necessarily two first round picks, depending on who signs him. At any rate, any team acquiring him would consider those draft picks as part of the package. So you might be able to convince a team to give a couple good prospects for 3 months of Burnett and a couple draft picks. then again you might not if he is struggling this badly.
Dammit, I know it’s no surprise, but Schilling is out for the season… officially.
my bolding
You are not allowed to trade draft picks in Baseball.
However that said, I think some team might be desperate enough to give up a good AAA pitcher and two young A level prospects for a Burnett.
I know a team in NY that would at least listen and has the single A talent to possibly make it worthwhile.