MLB Thread

[prican58]

Cueto is now a KC Royal. Damn! Now I'm fairly sure Cashman tries to get Hamels.

[Lantern7]

Mets wind up splitting the series . . . and after losing the first two games against the Dodgers, I'd say they were fortunate. One new guy went 4-for-4 last night, and Juan Uribe got the walk-out hit today. Sure, a save was blown in the ninth, but things might be looking up for the Mets . . . which is usually the time where something bad happens.

[AndreaK1041]

The A's got swept by the Giants. The Oakland announcers are starting to get the profound sadness mixed with disgust in their voices that Kings fans are accustomed to post-All Star break.

[Rick Kitchen]

I'm an A's fan, but I'm a bigger Giants fan, so although I'm slightly torn about the A's loss, I can't feel bad about the Giants' win streak.

[rallymantis]

Cueto is now a KC Royal.

 

Yup.  Someone from the home office already made an emoji of him, and the Royals' TwitterVerse has exploded.

 

Here's the only sad note: many of us had an emotional connection to Brandon Finnegan, because of what he did in the Wild Card game.  I wish him well.

Edited July 27, 2015 by gutette1

[rippleintime17]

I'm an A's fan, but I'm a bigger Giants fan, so although I'm slightly torn about the A's loss, I can't feel bad about the Giants' win streak.

The Giants need as many wins as they can get. Their August is going to be ridiculous! 

 

I was at the Mets/Dodgers game yesterday, mostly because I love Jacob deGrom but also because I like to root against the Dodgers in person when possible (plus Greinke was pitching, hello pitching matchup!). I was excited when it seemed like the Mets were going to split the series, then they blew the save. But THEN they intentionally walked Daniel Murphy to get to Juan Uribe and I was like "ok, old friend. Show your new team what you can do & do it against your old team!" And he did. And it was wonderful. 

[Rick Kitchen]

With the Bay Bridge series over for now, I can unabashedly root for Oakland against the evil Dodgers.

[xaxat]

Prime Time TV Ratings For All 29 U.S. MLB Teams Show Baseball Ruling Summer Programming

 

I knew local ratings for baseball were good, but had no idea they were this good.

 

 

Ten teams are the highest-rated, most-viewed programming in prime time beating the competition in both broadcast and cable. These teams include the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

[Rick Kitchen]

Colorado has traded Troy Tulowitzki to Toronto for Jose Reyes and minor leaguers.

[tom87]

I am always sad to see someone who has been with one team their whole career leave  even though it is almost inevitable.

Edited July 28, 2015 by tom87

[mojoween]

And Shane Victorino was quite broken up to leave Boston.

I'll get to see Tulo in two weeks, which is cool, and I hope he goes 0-4. No offense, Troy.

[caracas1914]

Pablo Sandoval moved down in Boston's batting order

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2015/07/boston_red_sox_lineup_vs_detro_2.html

Methinks the Red Sox never caught Panda fever. Even Pablo's defensive skills have deteriorated this year.

Also the Giant fans must be humming Garth Brook's "Unanswered Prayers" as their home grown new Third Baseman, Matt Duffy is doing more than OK.

[rippleintime17]

Pablo wanted to try something new and he had ever right to do that. But I think he might have underestimated just how much the Giants did for him. I feel bad for the guy, honestly. This isn't what he thought he signed up for.

 

And while I LOVE Matt Duffy, love him, the Giants can only get so much credit for that working out when he was literally the Giants 3rd choice to start at third base. But I am so beyond excited to see him doing so well and they certainly get credit for developing Matt into a fantastic all around player.

[caracas1914]

Oh I realize how serendipitous Matt Duffy at third base is, but you have to give the Giants some credit as all their infield (Both Brandons, Panik and Duffy) emerged from their farm system.

As to Pablo, I think that SF was a good fit and expectations for Pablo were way different in Boston, but I also think some of Pablo's chronic problems (ie not being in the best physical shape beyond just pounds) has come home to roost.

Edited July 28, 2015 by caracas1914

[rippleintime17]

Of course! Their infield is amazing and I love that it's homegrown. I only meant that it's not like the Giants PLANNED for Matt to be their starting 3B and chose not to bring Pablo back/sign someone else on that decision. It just so happens it's working out quite well for them despite other ideas originally.

[caracas1914]

With Aoki back I suppose the SF Giants will place him back as the leadoff batter again, though as of now he started 7th or 8th in the order.

It's still hard for me to get used to the Giants being an offensive powerhouse these days. Their lineup (hitting wise) is as solid as it's been in a very long time.

[Rick Kitchen]

Pablo wanted to try something new and he had ever right to do that. But I think he might have underestimated just how much the Giants did for him. I feel bad for the guy, honestly. This isn't what he thought he signed up for.

 

 

I feel a little more like enjoying seeing him collapse after all of the nasty things he said about the Giants after he left.  Good riddance.

 

Well, the A's have no team left.  Four infielders, who will back up who they have, no closer, who will close for them? 

[xaxat]

I feel bad for all of those parents that had to tell their kids that their cute panda hats were no longer acceptable wear.

 

ETA, I just realized that Keith Hernandez grew his mustache back. Did that happen this season? A couple of years ago he got tired of dying it. After a while, he didn't like the way it looked with grey hairs, so he shaved it. Now it's back. . .  and it's not grey.

Edited July 29, 2015 by xaxat

[Lantern7]

Noah Syndergaard is perfect through six innings. I tell my mother. Top of the seventh comes up, I'm telling her which channel to turn to. *THWACK!* "Never mind." An eight-inning gem from Thor . ..  but man, a perfect game would've been nuts.

 

ETA: What did Jose Reyes do to get traded to Colorado? If only Fred Wilpon had seen the Ponzi scheme coming . ..  Reyes would still be in Flushing.

 

ETA2: One of the setup men got a year's ban for PEDs. That would be bad enough, except he just came off an 81-game ban. At what point does somebody break down and hit him in the face with a phone book?

[mojoween]

If the Rangers put a pitching machine on the mound do you think they'll get a better result?

[ratgirlagogo]

 

ETA: What did Jose Reyes do to get traded to Colorado? If only Fred Wilpon had seen the Ponzi scheme coming . ..  Reyes would still be in Flushing.

This kills me.  He is (was) my favorite Met of recent years, hell of any year really.  Very sad.

[Rick Kitchen]

Billy Beane is doing the best he can to turn Oakland into a minor league team.

[Moose135]

Noah Syndergaard is perfect through six innings. I tell my mother. Top of the seventh comes up, I'm telling her which channel to turn to. *THWACK!* "Never mind." An eight-inning gem from Thor . ..  but man, a perfect game would've been nuts.

 

On a Met list I'm on, someone commented that if the Mets manage to find their way into the playoffs, it has to be a scary thought for other teams that Matt Harvey is their third best pitcher right now.

 

 

ETA2: One of the setup men got a year's ban for PEDs. That would be bad enough, except he just came off an 81-game ban. At what point does somebody break down and hit him in the face with a phone book?

 

I think GM Sandy Alderson put it best: “There’s a tremendous amount of disappointment, to some extent anger, to some extent amazement...”

[Lantern7]

Almost like Will Ferrell admiring his dog in Anchorman. "You got banned from baseball? Two weeks after you came back from being banned? Wow . . . . I'm not even mad. I'm almost impressed."

 

The scariness of a deGrom/Harvey/Thor rotation in the playoffs would be overshadowed by the Mets' dismal performance on the road. I can't see them getting the two-seed. They get the three-seed or the wild card.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Aim I just saw a stat you might like...7/23/88 John Smoltz makes his MLB debut.

Hmmm...I was 14 and had just finished my freshman year. In 88 I was still a Mets fan also, heh.

 

I was 23 and probably still a Yankees fan! 

 

Got home last night from a 10 hour drive to find out my favorite Ray, David DeJesus, was traded.  He's the type of guy every team would be lucky to have in terms of his attitude, hustle, and general overall good nature.

 

Anyway, home from Vacation Pt. 1 and on Friday it'll be Vac. Pt. 2 as I head a bit south.  We're going to take in a Mini Mets (AA) game Saturday night in Port St. Lucie.

[Lantern7]

Rough night for Mets fans. Padres are up 6-1, and Bartolo Colon got taken out before he could get a chance to hit.

 

ETA: I flipped back to the game . . . the announcer said Wilmer Flores and Zach Wheeler have been dealt to the Brewers. Why? Yeah, Wheeler is inactive due to Tommy John surgery, but why break up  the young pack of pitchers? And why would the Brewers want a pitcher who won't be throwing until mid-2016?

[xaxat]

The Wilmer Flores drama was kind of strange.

 

ETA, And then it got even stranger.

Edited July 30, 2015 by xaxat

[shoregirl]

Reports are that Cole Hamels to Rangers close to being done. As a Phillies fan I have mixed emotions. I know this has to happen we need to rebuild ( and have for a while) and trading Hamels will bring prospects that we desperately need. But he grew up in the organization since he graduated high school. He was Nlcs and World Series MVP. He was part of a core group of players that brought fans a 5 years of playoff baseball and a parade and I will miss seeing him pitch. It will be weird to see him in another uniform. What a way to end his career here with a no-hitter.

On the other side Im not sure who was happier to see Papelbon leave the fans on papelbon himself (it's Papelbon but its probably close).

Edited July 30, 2015 by shoregirl

[Lantern7]

Mets lose, 7-3. Their runs were provided by three Lucas Duda solo homers. Is there such a thing as being "too Mets"? Because I think that qualifies. Maybe dealing one of the young guns for a hitter is the way to go.

 

Seriously, I think the Mets are jinxed, albeit on a lower tier than, say, the Cubs. Sure, they got two championships, but one came in a year where anything could and did happen (1969), and the other was superseded by the Red Sox's curse (1986).

 

ETA: And now the deal might not be happening. Sure . . . why not?

[caracas1914]

Well the Athletics failed do hold a 6-3 lead as the Dodgers have rallied to score 5 and now have a 8-6 lead into the 9th...so the Dodgers will still lead the SF Giants by 1/2 game in the West.

[AndreaK1041]

I had to change the channel in disgust during that Dodgers comeback.  Multi-run innings to go from solidly leading to solidly not is one of those sports things that cannot quite be explained.  It's like getting slapped repeatedly.  It has happened to the A's 3 times in the last couple months.  But I do like the side effect of our collapse negatively affecting the Giants, it takes away the sting.

[King of Birds]

Some of these trades are nuts! I still don't understand the Dodgers/Braves/Marlins trade.

 

Hamels, a reliever, a buncha money for 6 players! I'm just thankful for that trade, since it seems like the whole "Hamels to the Red Sox" has been a bad, wrong headline for almost 2 years now.

 

And, that whole Wilmer Flores stuff was just terrible. I get that the trade fell through, but most times if a trade is "brewing" they remove the player so there is no chance of injury. Plus, the proliferation of cellphone/ twitter stuff now means the entire stadium knows what may be happening, as opposed to just management/ clubhouse like it was til a few years ago.

 

Lastly, it wasn't til the whole Wilmer stuff that I found out about this site (beware, Lantern!)  Did The Mets Lose Today?  The flip side of this, is I do see that there are a bunch of other twitter handles like this- did the Reds win, did the Red Sox win, did the Phillies win  etc.  Except there is NO "did the Yankees win"!!! 

Edited July 30, 2015 by King of Birds

[mojoween]

Toronto needs to STOP.

Excuse me, King, but you spelled it wrong. It would be "Did theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees WIN!?"

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Plus, the proliferation of cellphone/ twitter stuff now means the entire stadium knows what may be happening, as opposed to just management/ clubhouse like it was til a few years ago.

Twitterverse my ass, the ANNOUNCERS kept bringing it up throughout the game.

[mojoween]

Tanaka pitched like balls last night, Capuono is gone after the travesty from the night before and now Pineda is on the DL again. Argh! The only reason Capuono started is to give everyone an extra night and now they're right back where they started.

Something needs to be done for these pitchers poor arms. They can't hold up any more!

* All pitchers, it's a league epidemic.

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[xaxat]

Just checking on the Mets fans.

 

Keep away from any sharp objects.

[smittykins]

Tanaka pitched like balls last night, Capuono is gone after the travesty from the night before and now Pineda is on the DL again. Argh! The only reason Capuono started is to give everyone an extra night and now they're right back where they started.

Something needs to be done for these pitchers poor arms. They can't hold up any more!

* All pitchers, it's a league epidemic.

With Hamels and Price officially off the table, are there any good pitchers out there to be had?

[Lantern7]

I usually find out about Mets clusterfucks after they happen. Losing a 7-1 lead, including blowing a 7-5 edge in the ninth, followed by a second rain delay? Sure . . . why not?

 

Out of curiosity, do any of you guys have sports-specific TV channels? The Mets have SNY, and they ran a few "yearbooks" during the delay. They had a retrospective from 1977, with 70s hair in force (including manager Joe Torre). Then they went to 1984, with Dwight Gooden's emergence. It's hard not to be melancholy thinking abut the Mets in the Eighties, given all the untapped potential. They had the best record from 1984-90, but they only got one World Series title.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Out of curiosity, do any of you guys have sports-specific TV channels?

 

I have two and during the season one shows the Rays and the other the Marlins.  In between I think there's a lot of fishing shows and the occasional Lightning or Panthers hockey games.

 

And now for my regularly scheduled rant against Sports Illustrated.  We're smack dab in the middle of baseball season and during the trade deadline scramble yet last week's cover story was of some football player who returned to the New York Jets (they've not been relevant since the Namath days, have they?) and this week's issue arrived today with an NFL coach on the cover.  I swear I don't know why they just don't change their name to Pointyball Illustrated and be done pretending they care about anything else.

[Rick Kitchen]

I had to change the channel in disgust during that Dodgers comeback.  Multi-run innings to go from solidly leading to solidly not is one of those sports things that cannot quite be explained.  It's like getting slapped repeatedly.  It has happened to the A's 3 times in the last couple months.  But I do like the side effect of our collapse negatively affecting the Giants, it takes away the sting.

 

Boo Dodgers.

 

It's the horrific mess that is the A's bullpen.  They're just terrible.

With Hamels and Price officially off the table, are there any good pitchers out there to be had?

 

 

Knowing the A's, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sonny Gray gone by tomorrow evening.

 

Out of curiosity, do any of you guys have sports-specific TV channels? The Mets have SNY, and they ran a few "yearbooks" during the delay. They had a retrospective from 1977, with 70s hair in force (including manager Joe Torre). Then they went to 1984, with Dwight Gooden's emergence. It's hard not to be melancholy thinking abut the Mets in the Eighties, given all the untapped potential. They had the best record from 1984-90, but they only got one World Series title.

 

Here in Northern California we have Comcast Sports California, which shows the A's games (much more this year than in the past, when many A's games were not telecast), and Comcast Sports Bay Area, which shows the Giants games.  An occasional Giants game is shown on a local Bay Area channel on broadcast TV, and in those games, a local Sacramento broadcast channel shows them.

[mojoween]

I have YES natch but Verizon does not have it on the watch app which is a bummer. So when I'm reading outside I have to listen to John and Suzyn instead of Michael and/or Ken.

[smittykins]

I'm in upstate NY so I get both YES and SNY. John Sterling is so not my favorite announcer, but I have to admit he does a good job on Yankeeography. The episodes featuring Thurman Munson(especially the footage of his wrecked plane, and you see one moccasin)and Catfish Hunter(his wife is shown combing his hair and holding a soda bottle for him because he'd lost the use of his arms due to ALS)never fail to make me a blubbering mess.

[mojoween]

I really think it's Suzyn that makes John crazy because I like John on the YES specials and when he and Michael do stadium presentations but on the radio he's a lot to take in.

Not that I don't often say out loud when watching a game on TV that I want Texeira to send a Tex message myself.

I get SNY too but I've only watched it when they played ACC men's basketball games. Oh wait, that might be MSG, not SNY.

Edited July 30, 2015 by mojoween

[xaxat]

I get both SNY and YES. Watching the classic games is interesting because guys that I thought of as being giant sized people(Don Baylor, Reggie Jackson) growing up don't look nearly as large as I remember them being. And they're skinny compared to players of today like Mike Trout.

[shoregirl]

There are parts of New Jersey (ocean county) that get SNY, YES and CSN PHILLY. CSN shows Phillies, Flyers and Sixes plus Eagles pre and postgame. TCN (comcast network ) shows games if another team is playing on Csn as well as replays of the previous game. CSN will show classic games as well. They replayed Hamels no-hitter this afternoon and on Monday.

Edited July 30, 2015 by shoregirl

[ratgirlagogo]

We're in NYC and get both SNY and YES.  

 

 

I really think it's Suzyn that makes John crazy because I like John on the YES specials and when he and Michael do stadium presentations but on the radio he's a lot to take in

Suzyn I like - John Sterling always makes me want to punch something.  Hate the shilling for Indian Point, hate THEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN, hate all his epic fail catchphrases.  The one that still makes me mental is THE MELKMAN DELIVERS! for Melky Cabrera.

 

I miss Phil Rizzuto and Bob Murphy.

Edited July 30, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[caracas1914]

Listen I know the rational reasons for it, but it still freaks me out when someone like Zach Greinke has at this point an insane 1.37 ERA and is "only" 9-2.

As a Giants fan it doesn't thrill me the Dodgers have another ERA giant this year, with Kershaw coming back strong.

However, I'm not complaining about the pleasant surprise of Chris Heston (11-5, 3.16 ERA) for SF.

[jennifer6973]

I have two and during the season one shows the Rays and the other the Marlins.  In between I think there's a lot of fishing shows and the occasional Lightning or Panthers hockey games.

 

And now for my regularly scheduled rant against Sports Illustrated.  We're smack dab in the middle of baseball season and during the trade deadline scramble yet last week's cover story was of some football player who returned to the New York Jets (they've not been relevant since the Namath days, have they?) and this week's issue arrived today with an NFL coach on the cover.  I swear I don't know why they just don't change their name to Pointyball Illustrated and be done pretending they care about anything else.

 

 

You get the same two I do then Sun Sports for the Rays and Fox Sports Florida for the Marlins.

[ebk57]

We here in the DC/Baltimore area (The Capital of the Free World ) get 2 MASN channels that show the O's and the Nats.  When they aren't playing, they mostly go to ESPNews.  There are various baseball talk shows during the season - I think I mentioned my favorite part of Wall to Wall Baseball (the O's show) is when they read the weekly Mars Grocery circulars on the air.  It's brilliant... 

 

We also have a CSN network which shows the Caps and Les Boulez.  And...other stuff.

[MyAimIsTrue]

You get the same two I do then Sun Sports for the Rays and Fox Sports Florida for the Marlins.

 

Correct, which is pretty much the only good thing about living in the Orlando area.

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around whatever the hell the Braves are doing after another trade that seems to make no sense.