The Baseball thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

My team: The Dodgers (although I grew up a Reds fan. You have to go for the home team)

The boast: The best damn farm system in baseball. An unparalled history of rookies of the year including 1)Mike Piazza, 2)Eric Karros, 3)Raul Mondesi, 4)Hideo Nomo and 5)Todd Hollandsworth in consecutive years.

My gripe: Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame. Greatest Player in the history of the game and he’s not in the Hall of Fame. Also, the Dodgers did not trade for Jim Edmonds.

My comment on any game: Game 1 of the 1988 World Series was the greatest moment in the history of Los Angeles! (That was the one where Kirk Gibson hit the pinch homer when he could barely walk)

WS prediction: Cardinals-White Sox. The Cards in 6.

One day, Charlie Hustle will be enshrined.

22

The Mets.
Boast: Best Infield in Baseball. Hands down. Anyone who thinks otherwise can kiss my hairy Italian ass.
Gripe: Damn it! They walked in the winning run! We coulda gone to the World Series!
Comment on Game: See gripe. Or, if you prefer…Boy, did we kick some Brave ass over the weekend or what?
WS predictions: Definite chance. I tihnk the scenario will play out the same as last year-the Mets will have to edge out the Braves (which I think they can this year), and then face the Yanks. If the Mets don’t make it, I just want the Braves to lose.

Bri

23

The Saint Louis Cardinals.
'Nuff said.

24

Everyone who isn’t a Braves fan:

Where was your team in 1991, when the braves were in the WS? How about 92, again the braves in the WS? Every single non-strikeshortened year, the braves have been in the playoffs.

Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have, between them, 2/3 the Cy Youngs this decade. They have more than some TEAMS.

The Yankees are the team of the second half of the 90s. They were watching baseball in October in 1991 while the Boys of Summer were playing it.

Got to go now. Will post more, I promise.

25

state your team
St Louis Cardinals

boast your boast
2nd only to the New York Yankees in World Series wins. Big Mac (nuff said). Darryl Kile’s already won 11 games. Only team in our division with a winning record (as of the time I saw a paper, Reds are hovering around .500 so they be over now). Then there’s the history - Dizzy Dean and his 30 game winning season, Enos Slaughter and the Mad Dash, the Gashouse Gang, Rogers Hornsby, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and of course STAN THE MAN MUSIAL

gripe your gripe
aside from iampuhna listing Babe Ruth as a Brave as if he accomplished something while on that team? Cardinals had Roger Maris, but I don’t go listing him as if he broke the Babe’s record while he was a Card, (Unlike Big Mac, who broke both records and fast enough that he didn’t need an asterisk)
As for my other gripe, dammit management get a left-handed reliever!!! Trade Lankford already and get a reliever! And find another outfielder, or we’ll be stuck with only JD Drew and Jim Edmonds; Eric Davis ain’t gettin any younger, boys!

comment on any game or games
Still think we got robbed by that bad call at first base made by Don Deckinger in game 6 of the World Series which led directly to the winning run scoring and a game 7. Cards had the '85 Seriers won, but Deckinger lost it for us and gave it to the Royals.

give WS predictions
Thw Chicago White Sox are tearing up the place, if they keep it up in the second half, it’s the White Sox vs the Cards (sorry, I cannot as a citizen of St Louis pick any other National League team to go to the WS or I get run out of town.) I pick Cards in 7, but it’s a tough fight.

BTW, Brave fans - the Yankees ARE the team of the century, how can you argue with 25 World Series wins?

26

Bratman said:

" . . . Only team in our division with a winning record (as of the time I saw a paper, Reds are hovering around .500 so they be over now). Then there’s the history - Dizzy Dean and his 30 game winning season, Enos Slaughter and the Mad Dash, the Gashouse Gang, Rogers Hornsby, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and of course STAN THE MAN MUSIAL."

Okay, boasting about a winning record with the joke teams n your division is like saying we have the best 19-year-old shosrstop in the game. Y’all have talent. I’ll give you that. But Philly? Cincinatti? the Astros? What place would y’all be in in a REAL division?

As for the history . . . people who are growing up do not hear about Dean or Slaughter or Musial . . . they hear about Ruth and Aaron and Cobb and Gehrig and Young. Not one of them is a Cardinal, to my knowledge.

“aside from iampuhna listing Babe Ruth as a Brave as if he accomplished something while on that team? Cardinals had Roger Maris, but I don’t go listing him as if he broke the Babe’s record while he was a Card, (Unlike Big Mac, who broke both records and fast enough that he didn’t need an asterisk) As for my other gripe, dammit management get a left-handed reliever!!! Trade Lankford already and get a reliever! And find another outfielder, or we’ll be stuck with only JD Drew and Jim Edmonds; Eric Davis ain’t gettin any younger, boys!”

I was merely listing him as having played for us. Never mind the fact that he was a lard-ass ass while he played for us. He’s a name, and if names play for my Braves I’ll list them, damnit! Same as the Mavericks list Dennis Rodman.

You may go ahead and mention Roger Maris in the same sentence as the Cardinals.

“The Chicago White Sox are tearing up the place, if they keep it up in the second half, it’s the White Sox vs the Cards (sorry, I cannot as a citizen of St Louis pick any other National League team to go to the WS or I get run out of town.) I pick Cards in 7, but it’s a tough fight.”

Don’t pick them because they’re the hometown favorite. Pick them because in your unbiased opinion they will go and win. Or at least go. But they have to get through this season and get into the playoffs, and then beat two solid teams, and only THEN do they play for the WS.

“BTW, Brave fans - the Yankees ARE the team of the century, how can you argue with 25 World Series wins?”

Who’s arguing with that? They are called the team of the century. Nobody’s going to say otherwise, I think. However, for the first 20 years or so they were decent, IMO, at best. For the duration of the 80s and most of the 90s they were decent. However, we’ve had our share of success as well.

27

My Team: Toronto Blue Jays

boast your boast: We’ve got Wells, we’ve got Wells, neener, neener, neener. Seriously though, the Jays have a load of good young players: Koch (closer, throws very hard), Delgado (who really should be in the All-Star game), Stewart (outfielder, weak arm, but otherwise excellent). Even their pitching has great potential.

gripe your gripe: 3 starters under 25 years old (Carpenter, Escobar, Halladay) doesn’t make for great consistency. They have good stuff but for every good start have a dismal outing. They’ll probably be great in a few years, but I don’t think they have the consistency to do it this year.

give WS predictions: probably not the Jays :frowning: I figure it’ll be the White Sox vs St. Louis

28

iampuhna, I don’t want to get into a debate, but Dizzy Deam and Musial, as any baseball fan knows, are two of the greatest. Whether kids today growing hearing about their accomplishements or not does nothing to belittle their achievements. Musial was a quiet, unassuming man who did not like the spotlight and is quoted as saying, “I have a wonderful job that I love, just don’t ask me what I do.”

Had I been a Red Sox fan and listed Ted Williams, would you have responded the same? I don’t have Dean’s stats on hand, but I do have a Stan Musial autographed baseball and a listing of his stats right here:

Batted .310 or higher in 18 of his 22 years
First player to play 1000 games at two positions (1st base and outfield)
In 1948, was one homerun away from winning the Triple Crown, with a .376 BA, 131 RBI, and 39 HR, just one short of tying Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize for the lead
Has 3 World Series rings.
Voted MVP three times - 1943, 1946, and 1948
Set a ML record by hitting 5 HRs in one day during a doubleheader vs the NY Giants in 1954
Never struck out more than 46 times in a season, averaging 33.14 strike outs a year over 21 full seasons.
Struck out 696 times in his career, only 6.3% of his total at bats.
Upon retirement, Stan Musial held 17 ML, 29 NL, and 9 All-Star game records
He is ranked #10 by the Sporting News on their list of the Top 100 greatest baseball players of all time.
As for his ranking on career accomplishment lists:
#5 in games played (3026)
#8 in at bats (10972)
#10 in walks (1599)
tied for #15 in batting average (.331)
#9 in slugging percentage (.559)
#4 in hits (3630 - 1815 at home and 1815 on the road)
#3 in doubles (725)
tied for #18 in triples (177)
#18 in homeruns (475)
#2 in batting titles (7 total - 1943, 46, 48, 50, 51, 52, and 57)
#2 in extra base hits (1377)
#5 in runs batted in (1951)
#6 in runs scored (1949)
#2 in total bases (6134)
tied for #1 in most All-Star games (24)

In all of baseball, only 4 men are in the Top 20 career accomplishment list in the three triple crown categories:
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, and Stan Musial.

Just cuz he wasn’t as outgoing or flamboyantly press hungry as some of the other greats, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be listed as a player to brag about.

BTW - He was given the nickname “the Man” by Brooklyn Dodger fans, not Cardinal fans, for the havoc he created every time he played at Ebbets Field.

29
  1. Toronto Blue Jays.
  2. Your first place Toronto Blue Jays. Carlos Delgado is one of the best hitters in baseball.
  3. Pitching. We need another starter who can give 5-6 good innings and a middle reliever who can consistantly hold the fort.
  4. None stand out this year, Ibn the past Joe Carter hitting the WS winning homer over Atlanta.
  5. Yankees and Arizona in the WS. Don’t laugh, it could happen.
  6. I know how to figure out every major statistical category.
    Keith
30

I almost forgot - I wanted to know why iampuhna singled out my post to criticize? That’s my opinion and I think I’m entitled to it without someone going through it line by line and picking away at it. I left his Braves alone except for the part about him listing Ruth.
Ahem, now then:
iampuhna says:

“Okay, boasting about a winning record with the joke teams n your division is like saying we have the best 19-year-old shosrstop in the game. Y’all have talent. I’ll give you that. But Philly? Cincinatti? the Astros? What place would y’all be in in a REAL division?”

I can’t help that we’re dominating our division. And here’s a weird stat - the Cards have a better record vs teams from other divisions than the vs teams from the Central division, so I think we’d be doing just fine in a “real division”

“As for the history . . . people who are growing up do not hear about Dean or Slaughter or Musial . . . they hear about Ruth and Aaron and Cobb and Gehrig and Young. Not one of them is a Cardinal, to my knowledge.”

I believe I’ve already stated that it doesn’t matter that they didn’t get the same amount of press as the others, any real baseball fan would know what those names mean.

“You may go ahead and mention Roger Maris in the same sentence as the Cardinals.”

Oh, well thank you for your permission.

“Don’t pick them because they’re the hometown favorite. Pick them because in your unbiased opinion they will go and win. Or at least go. But they have to get through this season and get into the playoffs, and then beat two solid teams, and only THEN do they play for the WS.”

I’ve been following baseball for some time now, I know how it works. Any Cardinal fan though, would understand the love for that team in this city and that I was being facetious about being run out of town. I’m picking the Cards because I think they will actually go all the way this year, our only major weak spot, is our middle relief, and that’s even been drastically improved with the arrival of Alan Benes and Matt Morris. If we had a quality lefty, we’d have no worries.

31

Odieman:

It was the Phillies Mitch Williams who lost the game in that series. The series against Atlanta was won by a hit (single, I think) by Dave Winfield.

Aside: I watched the first 5 innings of the final game against the Phillies and then a storm came through and the power went out. I didn’t find out the score until the next day! Probably the greatest Blue Jay moment in history, and I missed it. I’m still bitter!

32
  1. Chicago Cubs
  2. 1908 World Champions!
  3. Where the fuck should I start?
  4. Hmmm… They did come back against the Brewers the other day. That was pretty cool.
  5. Unfortunately Braves in 6 against White Sox.
33

First off, cool name.

Secondly, is it true what I hear about what Confuscious said? “To learn true patience and humility, become a Cubs fan.”

Hey at least you have Sosa still, what’s the deal with those trade rumors right now anyway? And how’s Kerry Wood doing since he’s come back?

34

I would like to revoke my earlier gripe about Jeff Kent’s All-Star Status, as I have learned today that I was wrong! (It happens sometimes.) Giants fans apparently went crazy and he’s been voted in the starter. Without my help, I couldn’t decide on who to vote for, and I knew I couldn’t conscienciously vote only for Giants.

Also, the Giants are playing the Rockies in the first game of a doubleheader as I type. Livan Hernandez is completely shutting the Rockies down, but I can’t say any more, I’m a superstitious baseball fan.

35

Goddammit. Well, a no-hitter through seven was nice. Crap, and now it’s not even a shut-out any more.

Okay, I promise to stop with the Giants play-by-play now.

36

Two worst trades: Wells and Bush for Clemens (Wells leads the AL in wins, and with Knoblauch’s problems this year we could use anyone at second, even if he’s hitting .190) and the Justice trade. Ledee is going to be good in a few years and Justice won’t be much help this year. If they were going to trade Ledee, it should have been for pitching.

37

** state your team ** * Atlanta Braves *

** boast your boast **

Andruw Jones is the most graceful centerfielder in baseball. He should own the next fifteen Gold Glove awards.
The Big Cat, is having a great season after a year long battle with cancer.
The Braves are still a winning team despite losing former Cy Young award winner, John Smoltz and having to make do with two old timers as starters. Bobby Bonilla is finally playing like the Mets wanted him to last year. :wink: Rafael Furcal racked up 96 stolen bases last year in the minors and has the best shot of stealing 100 bases in the majors in the future. Greg Maddux, what else needs to be said, except ‘get well soon’.

There is no question in my mind that the Braves are the team of the decade. To be the team of the decade you have to be consistent from the beginning of the decade to the end of it. Nobody has more wins than the Braves in the '90’s not even the (damn) Yankees.

** gripe your gripe ** First off we’ve been injury plagued this season. Our bullpen is in shambles and our every day players are suffering too. The whole John Rocker deal has been a mess and a distraction. Starting pitching hasn’t been what it has been in the past.

I think Reggie Sanders has forgotten how to hit. I remember how he looked in the '95 NLCS against the Braves. He couldn’t hit anything as the Braves swept the Reds in 4 games. Now everyday is like the '95 NLCS!!

I don’t like how Maddux won’t let Lopez catch for him. Fernando Lunar, who catches for Maddux, can’t hit!

I don’t like the catcher’s balk call. It used not to be cited and now it seems like it happens every day.

** comment on any game or games ** When the Braves gave up their 8 -1 lead in the eighth against the Mets was nauseating. A couple days later the Braves lost to the Expos 17 to 1, I didn’t particularly like that either.
I liked the game when Maddux pitched a shutout against the Cubs and their pitcher, Jon Lieber pitched a one hitter, but that one hit was a homer by Andres Galarraga.

** give WS predictions . . . ** Braves over the White Sox in 6 and the Yanks won’t even make the playoffs.

I gotta go watch the game now, they need me.

38

First off, thank you.

Secondly, if he is as wise as all those Chinese folks and others say he is, then he must have.

With the Sosa thing, the Yanks got David Justice instead so now there’s no way he is going to New York. However, he has said that he will reject a trade unless he gets a contract extension from whatever team he is going to; and if the Cubs don’t give him one, he will take that as a sign that they don’t want him.

About the Kerry Wood thing, he hasn’t been doing to well. I can’t remember his record at the moment, but I know that it is below .500, and his ERA ain’t great either.

Oh well, another losing year for Northsiders.

39

state your team
The Seattle Mariners

boast your boast
14 games over .500. I’ll take that over tradition any day, thanks.

gripe your gripe
Rangers fans. Rggh. Early this season you were snickering, and saying the Rangers would take the division “as usual”. Where are you now so I can grin pityingly at you?

Oh, and NOMAR? HA. Nomar, though I like him a lot, is simply not up to Alex Rodriguez’s level. Derek Jeter, even less so. Deal with it, East coasters.

Edgar Martinez. Acknowledge him! He wasn’t even on the All Star team last year. How sick is that?! Just because he’s a nice guy, and not rude, and very humble, he gets NO respect. Nauseating.

Cinci fans–we don’t CARE about Griffey anymore! Stop coming to our message boards and making excuses! We KNOW he’s a good player having a bad year! Leave us alone already! I guess you guys have lots of time on your hands, though, what with the state the Reds are in this year.

give WS predictions . . .
Anyone but the Yankees, Reds and Braves, and I’m a happy girl.

40

state your team(s):

San Diego Padres! (moved to SD a couple years ago and I love this team. Bunch of scrappers they are. I enjoy watching them even though they don’t exactly contend but I have fun watching guys like Nevin, Owens, Klesko, Boone, have career years. SF Giants (Bonds to win the HR Race!), and to some degree LA Dodgers (I love individual players on this team. Shawn Green, Gary Sheffield (top 5 favorite baseball player), Kevin Brown, Adrian Beltre.

Boast your boast…

I am completely addicted to all things baseball including fantasy baseball leagues. I am in 1st place in all 3 of my leagues!

Gripe your gripe…

Finally Jeff Kent getting the All Star recognition he deserves. Whats up with Biggio? he’s old, and on the downhill slope to mediocrity.

Other stuff…

I am happy Gary Sheffield is shining this year as well as Barry Bonds. Randy Johnson is by far my favorite player because he’s all business and is so goddamn good. As far as raw talent goes, Andruw Jones is da man.

BYUNG HYUN KIM! What a superstar he has been. Taken over closing duties from Matt Mantei. 68K’s in 39 IP!

My main draw to baseball is pitching. I love scouting new guys and am looking forward to seeing Matt Clement become a great pitcher, as well as Brian Tollberg. I also love to watch newcomer to the braves rafael furcal play. that guy has got wheels!

and more props to Magglio Ordonez and Todd Helton, Troy Glaus, Arod, Mondesi, and Tatis is finally back.

dev