The Ranger blogs are full of Washington criticism. Yes, the Rangers are in first place, but they’ve blown a lot of games this year with questionable managerial decisions.
http://www.bbtia.com/home/2010/5/12/the-ron-washington-debacle.html
http://www.lonestarball.com/2010/5/12/1469046/evan-grant-ninth-inning-bullpen
I’m not arguing that Washington hasn’t made mistakes.
But both your links refer to the same game, and refer to exactly the same two incidents: the Neftali Feliz warmup, and the Elvis Andrus bunt. That’s hardly compelling evidence that Washington has “blown a lot of games this year with questionable managerial decisions.”
Also, when i said that there doesn’t seem to be any buzz around about firing him, i was talking specifically about buzz from the organization itself. Yes, there are bloggers and some fans who are critical, but you can probably say this about almost every team in the major leagues. There doesn’t seem to be any solid indication from the team itself that Washington is in danger.
It might be that Washington is, indeed, a poor manager. One of the few things a manager can do that really affects the outcome of games is to manage his staff, and especially his bullpen, properly, and if Washington isn’t doing that then it’s a problem. But i haven’t seen any indication that the Rangers organization is thinking about getting rid of him yet.
The Indians lost to the Rays in the 11th after Jaso reached base on what was probably a bad call, although it was close enough where you could see how the first base umpire could go the other way. Actu was rightfully pissed, as Jaso scored the game winning run on a nice bunt by Jason Bartlett.
Question on scoring: Bartlett was credited with an RBI but not a hit on the bunt. If it hadn’t been a matter of avoiding the run, the Indians probably could have thrown him out at first (there was only one out at the time). Does this just get scored as a sacrifice and there is no AB, even though there was also not a throw to first?
OK, I’ll admit it, those Homers in the 9th off of Papelbum felt great. Especially the walk-off by Thames after he hit Cervelli. I am getting tired of Yankees being used for target practice and nothing has ever been a better answer than a home run to change the lead/win the game.
BooSox lose a heart breaker and the Yanks finally break out the Pie.
A quarter of the way through the season and the Red Sox look like a .500 club. It isn’t because of losing two outfielders, either. People who have always performed in the past aren’t anymore. It’s a team slump, and those are the hardest to break out of. A thin bench caused by carrying platoon DH’s doesn’t help.
Dammit, Theo, make the Adrian Gonzales trade already, willya? And convince Lowell to retire a few months earlier than he’d planned, too, okay? You dumped him once and you can dump him again.
You know what my first thought was when I saw that?
“39 years since the Rangers left D.C. Are they still blaming us for the suckiness of their ballclub?” 
Why do you think the Padres would make the trade? Why shouldn’t they keep him? Hell I believe they are playing better ball then the Sox right now anyway. Maybe it is Theo who should be dumping. Seriously though, the Padres money woes are not actually there now. They shucked the salaries they needed to. Also how does bringing in another first baseman first the Sox?
Because he’ll be gone after next year anyway, and the Pads need young talent more.
Gonzalez would play 1B, Youkilis 3B, and Beltre either takes Lowell’s bench/DH spot or goes in the trade. He’s gone after next year himself (or maybe this year - he has a player option for 2011).
Well, i definitely don’t think they’ll trade him while they’re still at the top of the NL West.
But, much as i’ve been enjoying their run, i’m not especially confident that they will stay on top. Their hitting has been truly awful, and it’s not like everyone is in a terrible slump. It’s just not a team of strong hitters. And Gonzalez, their best hitter, isn’t performing up to expectations so far, either. His OPS for this season is a good 50 points below his career average, and 140 points below last year’s performance. He hit a homer last night, though, and i hope he can get back to the sort of form that made him so great last year.
The only thing keeping the Padres alive right now is their pitching, and while it has been good, i’m not sure it will continue to be that good for the rest of the season. I could be wrong. It could be that Garland and Latos and LeBlanc and Richard continue to put up really strong performances. But i think we’ll see some of those low ERAs start to rise a bit as time goes on. LeBlanc has a 1.54 ERA, but his WHIP is 1.31, suggesting that he might have been a little lucky so far. Same with Richard, whose WHIP is 1.50.
While the Padres will trade Gonzalez if and when it makes sense to do so, it’s worth remembering that he’s extremely popular here in San Diego. Of course, that isn’t unusual for any team’s #1 slugger, but Gonzalez is also Mexican, and went to high school right here in the San Diego area. For that reason, he’s especially popular both with locals generally, and with San Diego’s large Mexican population. When they trade him, i’m betting that the Padres’ already meager attendance levels will slip noticeably, at least for a while.
R-E-D-S REDS REDS REDS!!!
Early season optimism, soon to be crushed by post All-Star break meltdown.
I’m going to continue to hold my breath until someone can tell me how long Ethier will be out. Anybody know what the next stage is after turning blue? Need answer fast…
10 of the Reds 23 wins have come on their last at bat. Interesting.
So, we’re roughly one quarter of the way through the season. Give us an update on your team. What’s good? What’s bad? Who’s hurt? What are your prospects for the rest of the year?
My Yankees:
Good: Playing well overall; Robinson Cano had a great start; starting pitching has been very good (other than Vazquez); they’ve been getting a lot of productions from the back end of the line-up.
Bad: ** Middle relief has been spotty-to-bad; big bats have just started to produce recently; lots of little injuries that make me think age is going to be a big factor by the end of the season; Tampa is very good too.
**
Major Injuries: Curtis Granderson; Nick Johnson.
Prospects: Still good. Playoffs a high probability.
To summarize the previous post:
“$200 million payroll. What else do you need to know?”
It always seems to be Yankee fans who start these “Let’s all talk about how our teams are doing” discussions. I guess winning all the time isn’t enough; there has to be gloating too.
Anyway, the Orioles are, if possible, doing even worse than expected.
Well, the Dodgers have an eight-game winning streak going. They’re still putting up a few runs despite Andre Ethier’s absence (he was put on the 15-day DL today). The pitching has suddenly turned very solid, including the addition of rookie John Ely, who was roughed up in his first outing, but has turned in three very good performances since.
We’re two games out of first place behind San Diego, but the Giants and the Rockies have also been playing relatively well of late. We’re definitely a playoff contender, but I make no predictions about who is ultimately going to come out on top in the West. The best part about the Dodgers in a close division race, though, is that so far we are 12-3 against the NL West.
The Padres, of course, have done the Dodgers some huge favors over the last week, going 4-0 against San Francisco, and 0-3 against LA.
It’s not my fault you root for a shitty team. There are a bunch folks out there who might be interested in talking about their year so far.
Never suggested otherwise. Although, given that this is, in fact, a baseball thread, they probably could have done that without the spur of a “My $200 million team is performing as expected; how about yours?” post.
Well as long as you are in such an excellent mood, Forbes is reporting the Yankees are now the #1 Sports Brand in the world passing Man U. BTW: Cowboys are 4th, Red Sox 8th and Mets 9th. Rest were Soccer/Football
Even though he lost today, Tyler Clippard is still tied for the Major League lead in wins this season. He’s 7-3. Ubaldo Jiminez is 7-1.
I wonder how long a set-up guy can lead MLB in wins, let alone decisions.
Of course, a great deal of it is his own fault. 4 of his wins have come after he’s given up the lead. the other 2 of the other 3 have come after he’s pitched the 8th in a tie game, and the last was the same, only he pitched the 7th.