Let’s go Royals!
Hijack into Mariners-Rangers discussion…
Actually, the Rangers’ pitching staff and the Mariners’ lineup makes me wish I was an Oakland fan. Although, having seen Oakland in the first series, I have to say that their bullpen looks simply awful. Once their starters were out of the game, all hell broke loose.
I think that the weakness of the Mariners’ lineup is somewhat overrated. They were 4th in the American League in runs scored in 2000, which is very impressive in Safeco Field. Their statistics were even more impressive if you just measure road stats. For 2001, I would guess that replacing Alex Rodriguez with Carlos Guillen is probably worth, in a worst case scenario, a loss of about 60 runs over the course of the season. I also assume that Bret Boone is a slight offensive upgrade at second base over Mark McLemore and that Ichiro Suzuki is an upgrade over Rickey Henderson (at this stage of Rickey’s career). Those changes, the only other changes of note to the lineup, probably combine to add 15-20 runs. The overall effect drops them to about the middle of the pack, say 6th to 8th in the league, which isn’t good but not horrific either.
On the other hand, the Rangers’ pitching staff added no one of consequence and lost John Wetteland. For a staff that finished dead last in ERA, I don’t see any significant hope of improvement.
All in all, I’ll take a mediocre offense and one of the three best pitching staffs in the league over one of the better offenses and the worst pitching staff.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread, still in progress…
Squooshed:
I’m actually quite optimistic about the Rangers’ pitching staff. Helling and Rogers are both solid. Ryan Glynn and Doug Davis both had great springs, and one or both should improve substantially from their rookie seasons. Oliver’s still a question mark, but has shown signs that he’s not a head case after all. The bullpen is still a question mark, but it doesn’t need to be spectacular with our lineup. All in all, I think Texas has a halfway decent chance of surprising Oakland, but I’m afraid the M’s are stuck in third place.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to make the drive to Arlington to watch the aforementioned Ryan Glynn toy with that collection of minor leaguers, has-beens, and never-will-be’s known as the Anaheim Angels!
minty green:
At least we agree about Anaheim.
I seem to be the first Orioles fan to check in. Damn they suck, but I’ve now been to 126 games so there’s no stopping now. Grew up listening to Johnny Miller and Joe Angel on the radio. This being Cal’s last year I’ll have to go even more often - at least scalper tickets should be cheap.
Wartime Consigliori wrote:
Maybe, but you left out Mike Lum, Luis Gomez, Jerry Royster, Rick Camp, Gene Garber, Rick Mahler, Glen Hubbard, and Pasqual Perez. And for crying out loud, how could you fail to include Biff Pocoroba??? 
Braves fan here.
From way back in the lean years.
>>>>Who among you was rooting for his/her favorite team back in October of 1991? Or 1992? Or 1993-2000?
What? Only me? Wow. They must be something.<<<
posted by IAMPUNHA
Well…
Where were your Braves LAST year? Oh yeah…They got swept by the Cardinals.I saw a great sign in the stands at the WORLD SERIES…“Hey Atlanta,how’s the TV reception?”
Braves have owned us the last 4 years…I have a feeling that is about to change.Now…if we can only get another shot at them DAMN YANKMEES.
I’ve been a fan of the Cleveland Indians since ‘the Dark Ages.’ That’s back when Alvin Dark managed the team in the late 1960’s.
::rapping knuckles upon forehead::
C’mon, my friend! At least give me credit for Pepe Frias!
Tell ya what, I’ll trade you my roster for yours. I’ll even throw in a Zane Smith and two Albert Halls (note to wiseasses-- not the Albert Hall from the Beatles song). You, however, must keep Brad Komminsk.
Go Team! Let’s hope for a great season, spoke-.
I too bleed DODGER blue.
Having been born and raised in Southern California, I was pretty much pre-ordained a Dodger fan, not to mention that my mom was a fan since the 40s’ and loved Vin Scully.
Now that I live in Minnesota, I have jumped on the TWINS bandwagon in 87’ and 91’, hey puhna remember 91’.
Go Dodgers!!!
Yea Twins!!!
Angels too!!!
Also the Padres!!!
A’s are cool!!!
Damn Yankees!!!
Braves are chokers!!!
Giants can bite my bag!!!
As a native Bronxite, the Yankees, of course, and a fan since before the days of the Bronx Zoo.
But three of my brothers are Mets fans, while my other brother and brother-in-law are Yankee fans. So we had a bit of a civil war last October.
But we’d be quite happy to see Subway Series go on for the rest of the decade.
::slaps minty green with dueling gloves::
Pistols at dawn, sir!
Ya know, they got this kid named Troy Glaus. Hit a few homers last year, more than anyone else in the AL.
And they got this guy named Darren Erstad, who had 240 hits and an average over .350.
And a kid named Ortiz who beat the great Pedro Martinez in 1-0 pithchers duel. And a pretty dependable guy in RF.
In short, I look forward to razzing you in September!
Minor leaguers, has beens, never-will-be’s, and two pretty good players. Unfortunately, one of 'em got lucky last night and smacked a couple of homers. 
Oh well, at least when it turned into a rout, we got to move down into the really nice seats.
But that’s the great thing about baseball. Even the Cubs get to win almost 4 out of 10 games!
And they’ve got this guy named Mo Vaughn who… oh, sorry.
Tribe fan. Since the 70s. Buddy Bell, Gaylord Perry, Jorge Orta (who was my favorite player when I was a tiny child. Who knows why?) Good-bye, John Hart. We’ll miss you.