Pretty sure you meant to spell “Latos” there…I mean, Alex has given us some good innings. Mat, on the other hand…
Wood, Latos…at this point it doesn’t matter. My 99 year old mother could give the Dodgers more useful innings than those fucks.
In the four weeks since i got back from overseas, the Orioles are 10-16, and are out of playoff contention (not mathematically, but realistically). They did manage to beat KC last night with grand slams in a single inning, which was exciting.
With Baltimore out of it, my main rooting interest in the East now is the Blue Jays. They beat the Yankees last night and again (in extras) today. My first real experience of baseball was living in Vancouver in the early 1990s. I was working as a bartender in the city on the night that Joe Carter hit his WS-winning home run. It will be nice to see them in the playoffs.
Why is Yankee stadium ‘empty’? It’s Saturday and I’m watching a double hitter - Blue Jays at the Yankees - and, from the vantage the camera provides, it looks the stands are, maybe, one-third full.
Not just is the home team in a pennant race, but the visitors are THE competition. What is their problem?
Has Yankee fan apathy been an issue all season? Or is it just that no-one gets excited by the Blue Jays (except me and Leaffan)?
Just to be clear, it had NOT been raining when I posted (although it is now). Had it been raining earlier? Didn’t look like it to me - things appeared dry, and the (few) fans weren’t dressed for it.
Yes, it was raining a bunch at the start of the game. After the Jays took a 6-0 lead I have never cheered so hard for weak Jays ground outs and 1 pitch at-bats in my life.
It was a privilege to be at the Red Sox game in St. Pete last night with my son, to see Papi’s 499th and 500th career home runs. From our seats just a few rows back of the visitors’ bullpen, the arcs of his (and his teammates’) shots made it clear what was going to happen from the moments they left the bats.
As is usual for Red Sox games at TB, there were as many fans wearing the away-team colors as the locals, and they (we) were far louder, too. But I like that weird little park on its own merits anyway, no matter how hard it is to get to.
ETA: Bummer about Tulo’s broken scapula. I think the Jays can hang on anyway, though.
Yeah, they had about a half hour rain delay. at the end of the game \i think the number of fans were in the hundreds, and from what I could tell pretty much all Blue Jay fans.
Rysto: I was watching the game with a friend, and after the 5th inning we wanted everyone just to ground out and be done with the game! Luckily we didn’t need that to happen.
What a weekend for the Jays. Too bad about Tulo, but Pennington seems to filling the gap quite nicely for now.
Congratulations to the Blue Jays - looks like they’ve figured out how to beat the Yankees (despite losing the last game of the series, they have a solid lead and should enjoy their trip to Atlanta).
I was doing something else on the computer this afternoon and took a break to check out the score of the Mets-Braves game online. Ugh, the bullpen had another bad day, Braves went up 7-4 after 8, then the first two Mets were quickly retired in the top of the 9th. Better forget about this one.
Oops, seems I gave up on the Mets a little too soon (double, walk, then a three-run homer by Murphy in the 9th, followed by 3 more runs in the 10th, Mets’ winning streak now at 7 games). I’m starting to believe they might have a shot at winning their division…
Quite a win for the Astros today.
They were in Anaheim, and were down 3-0, with two outs and a two-strike count in the top on the ninth. They got a solo homer, a triple, an RBI single, an infield single on a ball that got stuck in the second baseman’s glove, and then a three-run, pinch-hit homer to go up 5-3.
Then they closed out the Angels in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Amazing stuff.
The Mets did the same yesterday – Down 7-4 with two outs in the top of the ninth. Then a double (on a ball the right fielder reached but couldn’t keep in his glove), a walk, and a home run.
In the tenth, they scored a run on a bad throw from the third baseman, who pulled the second baseman off the bag. They added two more runs to win 10-7.
Very charitable of you to not mention it was my Braves giving it all away there in the 9th. Two outs, no one on, leading by three, and two strikes on the hitter. Yeah, that’s not a safe lead for our bullpen. It was actually our center fielder ho couldn’t hang on the diving attempt, but in his defense, it would have been a Top Web Gems play if he had made it.
What unbelievably fantastic timing that was. Good for you guys. What a wonderful thing to see in person.
[QUOTE=Leaffan]
Too bad about Tulo, but Pennington seems to filling the gap quite nicely for now.
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In 38 games at shortstop for Toronto, Tulowitzki did not make a single error.
That said, he was hitting about .225 so it’s not like they were super reliant on him. I would be nice to have him back for the playoffs, obviously; while Pennington promptly crushed a 400-foot homer in his first full game replacing Tulo, I think we can all agree Tulowitzki is a better option. It also increases Goins’s value by moving him back to second.
That said if Toronto blows a 3.5 game lead to the Yankees with 19 to play, it won’t be just because they lost Troy Tulowitzki. Every team has injuries, and you can’t be surprised at Troy Tulowitzki getting hurt, he’s been getting hurt his while career. Half the Yankees are injured or walking wounded, it’s the way things are in September.
As to this, it really was a miserable day at Yankee Stadium. That they were getting the shit kicked out of them certainly did not help matters.
There’s also the fact that it wasn’t supposed to be a doubleheader, so fans who bought a ticket for one game got the second game for free. Busy grownups sometimes can’t spend nine hours at the ballpark they hadn’t expected to. I love my Blue Jays, but if they suddenly tacked a game on top of the game I’d bought a ticket to, and the roof stuck open and it was raining and crappy, there’s gotta be a 50/50 chance I don’t make it through Game 2 (and it rises to 100% if I’ve brought my kids.)
The Yankees have the highest average per game attendance in the American League this year. Granted, Toronto is higher the last six weeks and it’s not even possible for some teams like Boston to ever be first because their stadium doesn’t hold enough people, but Saturday was an aberration.
The Red Sox wasted a nice outing from Eduardo Rodriguez yesterday, losing 3-0 t the O’s. Tonight they got red hot Joe Kelly on the bump. Both of those pitchers have been solid lately, might be worthwhile to see what kind of return they would bring in a trade because I don’t fully trust either in the long run.
I really don’t see Dombrowski choosing to go into next season with pretty much the same roster that gagged so hard this season, and that includes the outfield as well as the entire pitching staff. It’s too easy to be fooled by September performances.
Maybe if Hanley, Panda, and maybe Rusney didn’t have such bad cases of contractitis this year, things would be different. But they aren’t.
I would be a little mystified, though, as to why one of Dombrowski’s moves would be to trade Eduardo Rodriguez, as Barkis would suggest. He’s the sort of guy you’d want to get more of, surely.
I guess if the Sox were a key player away from being king of the hill that’s one thing, but saddled with some really bad contracts, I think some work needs to be done before trading away a 22-year-old starting pitcher winning major league ballgames is a logical option. It’s not like Rodriguez just had a good start or two this month.
Boston has as much good young talent as most teams - how many players have TWO guys as good as Bogaerts and Betts who aren’t even 24 yet? - but they’re paying a bazillion dollars to guys like Ramirez and the fat third baseman.
If they could flip Eduardo Rodriguez for a proven ace, I’d pull the trigger. I don’t have a name in mind. But I actually do think the Sox are 2 or 3 pitchers away from competing for a playoff spot. EdRod, Kelly and maybe a guy like Brock Holt could bring a nice haul. Just spitballin’ here.
The offense could be improved upon, but as you guys said, contracts will prohibit any big changes to the position players.
Not contracts, just pride. And these aren’t Dombrowski’s decisions he has to defend, either, so it isn’t even pride.
It’s the sunk-cost fallacy that pervades front offices. The team is stuck paying Hanley’s salary no matter what, but they’re not stuck with putting him on the field. That’s a baseball decision, and if the best team they can assemble for the next few years does not include him, there should be no reluctance to sending him onward, with whatever cash it takes to make the deal.
Well, the problem is if you send him onward, eat a bunch of money, get no return and he actually produces at his new home, you’re not going to be GM very long. That kind of trade is a job killer.
In Dombrowski’s case at least he can say he’s not the one who signed those deals in the first place. And I think Hanley can add value, even though he sucked in the 2nd half of the season. I’d be more willing to offload Panda.