Last month’s thread.
The Dodgers are hopeless and the Padres are fading fast. Manny has departed for Chicago. Will nothing stop the surging (and forever damned) Giants? The ALEast is still too close to call. Baltimore and Pittsburgh are the first teams officially eliminated from the playoffs, although their fans knew this back in July.
And for those that might have missed it in the other thread, the Reds have brought up Aroldis Chapman (nicknamed “The Cuban Missle”) who’s pitches top out at 105mph.
He pitched a half an inning last night and did great, here is the video: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=11582641&c_id=cin
I’m not sure if he will be as prone as Strasbourg was to arm injury even though he throws as hard. Chapman’s motion looks more fluid to me than Strasbourg’s did.
Still…unleashing a weapon like this in September is something!
The season ended the day after the Cards swept the Reds as far as I’m concerned. Everything since then has been a nightmare too painful to recollect. Now it’s just about playing out the season… and maybe hoping Albert gets hot and makes a run at the Triple Crown - that would be worth watching for.
Isn’t that weird though, how that shook out? It looked like the Reds that were on the verge of collapse, not the other way around.
Well, the Jays aren’t making the playoffs again, but
They’re way, way better than expected, and
Jose Bautista.
Bautista needs 5 homers to set a new club record, presently held by George Bell (47, in 1987).
His HR total is far, far greater this year than any of his previous years. 16 was the max (albeit in only 117 games) before this year. What do you attribute that to?
Not that he needs more accolades, but Mariano Rivera, age 40, has an ERA of .113 through tonight’s game, where he got his 28th save in 30 opportunities. 48.2 innings and a WHIP of about .75.
I am very slowly beginning to realize that nobody cares about the Reds except me. Forgive the intrusion on your AL arguments!
What in the world has happened to the Padres? They’ve now lost 7 in a row. It’s only the native incompetence of the Giants that keeps them in 1st place. They’d better find the “On” switch soon.
FoieGras, I care about the NL.
Just not about the Reds. 
Well, I also care about the NL, with my main focus on the Eastern part of it.
The Braves have continued to lead the Phillies by anywhere from 2 to 3 games for the past two weeks. And after a mid-season slump that was probably helped along by a wrist injury, jason Heyward has started to kill any pitching he’s faced. Over the last 11 games he’s hit .533, with 3 four hit games. Omar Infante continues to threaten the Triple Crown race between Votto, Pujols, and Carlos Gonzalez by continuing his torrid batting (3 more hits last night - now hitting .345-ish). The only question is will he get enough plate appearances to qualify.
OR, if he doesn’t get enough PAs, will his average be high enough to withstand the added 0 for whatever to get to 502 and still lead the league? By rule, if a player is short of 502, he can have the PAs that he’s sort by added and a new average computed. If that average is the highest, then he wins the title. I’m pretty sure Terry Pendleton won the '91 BA title that way.
Anyway, the Braves are now something like 46-18 at home this year, with the best record in the NL currently, although the Reds are right behind us. Here’s hoping the Commissioner suspends half the Marlins for that Nyjer Morgan-Volstad brawl, as we go to Florida this weekend for a three game set.
Ah, my National League brethren, let us rise up and smite these American League proponents for their heresies!
I care about the Reds but I usually don’t have anything to contribute to the thread. I am amazed that they are now 8 games ahead of the Cards.
Well as long as Cliff Lee doesn’t pitch, the Rangers stand a chance. So last night we took the series and won that game 4-3. We still need better pitching and offense for post-season play, but at least now all our people are healthy and back in the line-up.
I care about the Redlegs, FoisGrasIsEvil. Did you happen to catch Chapman’s second outing. I think it was more impressive than the first because he came into a 1-0 game and pitched a perfect inning that seamed to ignite the offense in the bottom half. He threw two fastballs that clocked in at 103 or more. His slider is 90+ mph for christsake. He literally had the hitters talking to themselves as they walked back to the dugout.
I expected the Reds to be better than last year, but this is a very pleasant surprise.
I think that the three game sweep at home by the Cards is exactly why they have been playing so well as of late. It was the wakeup call that they needed that they better step it up or they were going to end up missing the playoffs by a game or two.
Oh trust me, I care about the Reds. I’m just too damn angry and disappointed to talk about baseball right now. Chapman was pretty damn amazing last night (caught it in a sports bar where everyone was transfixed, even though it was mainly despondent Cards fans).
I have tickets to two games of the Reds/Cards series this weekend and I’m not sure if I want to boo the Reds or the Cards more at this point…
I know the feeling. We have tickets for Saturday’s Padres/Rockies game. I may just bring both hats with me, just in case.
We do have a lot of AL East fans and NL West fans overall don’t we?
CC Sabathia just won his 19th for the Yanks. Nice chance for 20+ this year.
Sweet! A fellow Redleg fan. I was getting lonely. Judging by your location, also a Big Blue fan as well?
Chapman has been electrifying. What an incredible piece of the team to unleash on our remaining opponents this late in the year! If he keeps this up he’s going to shorten games for our starters.
And that slider…man, it is utterly devastating. Its a more impressive pitch than his heater.
What are you so angry about WRT the Reds? Boo the Reds? Why?
It’d be a waste of money if he didn’t have a shot at 20 wins, no?
Did you somehow miss this a few weeks ago prior to the series (and fisticuffs) in Cinci?
Or that Johnny Cueto (who is starting one of these games) gave Jason LaRue a concussion (that put him out for the year) by kicking him in the head with his cleats?
Also,
More than enough reasons to be mad at, and boo, the Reds (save Scott Rolen, who I will love forever, in a platonic manly way).