Gotta disagree. I have no “good” feeling for this bunch. The pitching is friggin’ threadbare. CC usually starts slow, but he does not look good right now. He’s laboring almost every time out. AJ has been getting by, but you KNOW he’ll implode at some point. Nova, Garcia and Colon have been serviceable, but I don’t have any confidence it’ll last. As for the the rest, Jeter looks like he’s not bouncing back (as I realllllly thought he would.) Jorge is old. Soriano is unhappy. On the plus side, they still have a potent O and Granderson and Martin are playing really well. They’ll stay near the top, but this does not feel like a championship team. Things may change, of course.
I keep looking at is as the Yanks are winning well without firing on all cylinders yet. I think you are also underrating the starters.
Sounds like my current impression of the Cardinals - winning games and scoring runs with Albert Pujols being a 0.2 WAR player.
The starting pitching (Lohse and McClellan in particular) has exceeded expectations. The bullpen, sans Franklin and Miller, have been pretty good as well, especially the young guys.
That said, the Reds and Brewers likely won’t remain this mediocre all season.
By striking out 12 Mets last night, Tim Lincecum set the Giants franchise record for most games with 10+ K’s (29).
The 2 mind-blowing parts of this event: that Lincecum holds any career marks, given that he’s 26 years old and has 4 years MLB experience; and the previous record holder was Christy Mathewson. :eek:
Interesting. I wouldn’t have picked Mathewson as having more than a couple freak games with that many K’s, as great as he was.
And I would’ve thought Carl Hubbell or Juan Marichal would’ve broken any records Mathewson set.
And having said that the Yanks failed to hit for two games. Oh well, always tonight.
Ken Holtzman’s first no-hitter, back in 1969 (which I saw in person, yip, yip), had an infinite BB:K ratio. He walked three and struck out not a single batter. Not sure if anyone else has ever thrown a major league no-hitter with zero strikeouts.
The Royals have called up Eric Hosmer from the minors. Time for that # 1 farm system to start producing for the big club…make or break time for Dayton Moore.
Anyone ever been to the MLB fanfest or any of the other events that take place around the All Star game? I’m not going to shell out the $$$ for the All Star game itself, but wondering if any of the other events are worth it?
I went to the Fan Fest in 2009 in St. Louis. Also hung out outside the stadium for a bit for the home run derby (there’s the cutout in the outfield where you can kind of almost but not really see in). A few homers made it to the patio on the inside of the fence, but I don’t remember any coming out.
The Fan Fest was pretty interesting, actually. A lot of it is city-specific: They had models of all the parks the Cards have played in over the years and lots of St. Louis memorabilia – Stan Musial jersey, stuff related to the Cardinals that’s in the Hall (including replica (I assume) plaques of all the Cards players there), their World Series trophies, that sort of thing.
Then there are a bunch of general exhibits about baseball: A large board displaying all the current caps worn by every team, home, away and alternates; a mockup of a clubhouse you can walk through; a display about the Negro Leagues, including all their logos; stuff on the minors; all the major baseball card distributors (and some dealers) are there; SiriusXM had a booth that was broadcasting live; former players signed autographs; stuff like that. They had all the trophies there, even some of the lesser-seen ones: The World Baseball Classic, Silver Bat, MVP, etc.
And then there are activities: Mostly for kids, but some adults joined in. There were video batting cages – life-size video of pitchers throwing, and the ball is fired from where their hand releases. There was a diamond (possibly full size? probably not) where they had drills led by former players as well as, I think, wiffle ball (or something else that would not fly as far as a baseball) games. There were other skills drills and competition areas. I think they had an area where you could call a famous play and get a DVD of it or something.
I’m not sure how much it cost: I got my tickets as part of a game ticket package. Really depends on how much of a fan you are on how much it’s worth: I’d say if it’s in the city with “your team”, it’s probably worth paying for. If you have kids who like baseball, it’s definitely worth paying for. If you’re a like Cubs fan in St. Louis, you won’t be miserable, but you’ll likely not care about a third of it.
Jose Bautista out with a sore neck. Geez, of all things.
Fortunately, Adam Lind has gone absolutely insane. Up until two weeks ago I was starting to wonder if his career was toast. Evidently not.
The Blue Jays have the most remarkable collection of hitters. On one hand you’ve got Jose Bautista, who’s been hitting like Babe Ruth; Lind, who’s tearing it up; and I guess JP Arencibia’s hitting well. And after that, oh my God, what a pack of bozos:
Aaron Hill - OPS+ of 58
Edwin Encarnacion - 80, and that’s approximately his fielding percentage as well
Travis Snider - 55
Juan Rivera - 93 after a recent surge
John McDonald - 64
Rajai Davis - 30 (!!!)
Perfect game in progress as Justin Verlander has a perfect game in the 8th against the Jays. MLB network is showing the game and mlb.tv has free look ins during Verlander’s time on the mound.
Perfect game blown with a walk, but the no hitter is still on.
Been watching since the 6th inning. If he makes it, that’ll be two no-hitters in a few days.
Verlander does it! Very close to the perfect game.
Yep. He faced 27 batters. 1 walk, cancelled out by a double play.
He was dominating. But there were some good ground ball plays. It is Justin’s second no hitter.
Man, what a week of pitching it’s been! 2 no-hitters, and about 4 or 5 near no-hitters, and a ton of strikeout performances.
Anibal Sanchez is perfect through 6. I say we lift the amphetamine ban - hitters clearly can’t get around on pitches these days.
Edit: whoops - Sanchez has a HBP, so it’s just a no-hit bid at this point.