2011 MLB Season

As a huge Philly fan, I hope so.

Tons of pressure has been added by getting Cliff back. I'm not here to say we have one of the best rotations in baseball, I'm here to say we lost a ton of 1-0, 2-0 games last year in last June-July because our pitching did its thing but our offense fell asleep.

Losing Werth made this even more of a worry...Francisco's swinging a hot stick thus far in ST, and I really hope they give Dom Brown playing time down in AAA first - he just doesn't look ready (2-42 combined ST and Winter ball? I'd say that's not quite ready).

If our offense gives these pitchers stuff to work with, I'd like to say we're Series-bound.

Of course, I thought there wasn't a chance in hell we'd lose to San Fran. Still can't believe Howard went down looking. 

I'll stop before I rant about the contract too.

My guess would be Philly's ticket to the WS is more set in stone than Boston's. Boston's main question mark is their rotation (although I think Lackey and Beckett will bounce back) and Philly's rotation is in no way a question. Yankees obviously are contenders, in spite of the lackluster rotation due to their lineup. Braves could be suprising with Uggla, Brewers could come out and take the central now that Wainwright is down, and I expect the Rockies and Giants to duke it out in the west. It needs to be opening day now.

EW has a sneak peek of Showtime's new series about the SF Giants (a la Hard Knocks), The Franchise:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/03/24/showtimes-docuseries-on-s-f-giants-video/

Looks pretty interesting. Andres Torres' barechsted hill-climbing and cinderblock-heaving workouts... Brian Wilson's orange jumpsuit and constant deadpan... Bruce Boche catching a shark (wtf?)... I know I'll be checkin' it out.

Thanks for the link. My oh my Freddy Sanchez has a bigass kitchen. I just hope this series and the added media exposure isn't a sign that this will be the Giants' ROCKY III season where their heads swell up and they bask in the limelight and play an exhibition game against a bunch wrestlers or something.

Who am I kidding? Lead pipe lock they repeat.

With that rotation Philly better atleast get to the World Series.  Anything less is a failure.

With Wainwright out in STL I think the Central is wide open and 87 wins could take the division.

West should be fun if they all show up.  SD, SF, Col could all win it.

Reds win their first opening day game in 4 years!  Off to a good start.

This is agonizing watching opening day baseball, but knowing I have to wait almost 24 hours for my Sox, who are now behind in the AL East. Hit the panic button.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this six-game "Opening Day" nonsense. Gotta wait till tomorrow to see my Pirates play. But, hey, at least Jered Weaver was aces for my fantasy team!

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this six-game "Opening Day" nonsense. Gotta wait till tomorrow to see my Pirates lose to the Cubbies. But, hey, at least Jered Weaver was aces for my fantasy team!

 Fixed it for you. 

Pujlos 0-5 with 3 DP's. 

Atleast the Cubs are bringing up some farm talent to see if they are any good.  If they aren't competitive in their sorry ass division I'll be pissed.  Nothing makes a summer worse than not wanting to even look in on your team-Like a Pirates fan every year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anyawatchin Angel 

 

 

Atleast the Cubs are bringing up some farm talent to see if they are any good. 

 

 

 

Why the hell aren't they playing Tyler Colvin everyday?  The Mets seem to like shitty, overpaid players; maybe they can trade Fukudome to New York in order to give Colvin more ABs.

If Texas isn't back in the Series this year, I'm going to be disappointed. The lineup is stacked, the rotation is decent (if young), and the bullpen is deceptively good.

The thing about Texas being back in the WS is I think this year it's going to be a little more of a challenge. Last year the Angels, Sox, and Twins all had to deal with major injuries making the road to the AL crown a bit easier. With Oakland getting better, the Angels having Harren a whole year, and the Twins looking strong again, not to mention the improved and healthy Sox it might be a tougher road.

That said if Kinsler, Hamilton, and Cruz stay healthy for the whole, or almost the whole year...watch out. That might be a better lineup than the Sox. Should be fun watching these two teams go at it on Opening Day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The K Man 

The thing about Texas being back in the WS is I think this year it's going to be a little more of a challenge. Last year the Angels, Sox, and Twins all had to deal with major injuries making the road to the AL crown a bit easier. With Oakland getting better, the Angels having Harren a whole year, and the Twins looking strong again, not to mention the improved and healthy Sox it might be a tougher road.

 

That said if Kinsler, Hamilton, and Cruz stay healthy for the whole, or almost the whole year...watch out. That might be a better lineup than the Sox. Should be fun watching these two teams go at it on Opening Day.

So far. So good.

What a start to the season.
 

I wish these assholes would stop calling the Yankees underdogs. They're never underdogs.

Yeah. I'd like to say something about how that was a fluke, and how Texas can't keep up that kind of HR rate, etc. but that's just a damn good offense. If these two teams make it to the playoffs, I'm praying Texas loses in the first round because if they were to meet Boston in the ALCS then I'm pretty sure that the Rangers will have another crack at the World Series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The K Man 

Yeah. I'd like to say something about how that was a fluke, and how Texas can't keep up that kind of HR rate, etc. but that's just a damn good offense. If these two teams make it to the playoffs, I'm praying Texas loses in the first round because if they were to meet Boston in the ALCS then I'm pretty sure that the Rangers will have another crack at the World Series.

Yeah. It's obviously no fluke. The lineup is tough top-to-bottom. But, of course, they can't keep that homerun pace up. It was 11 over 3 games - ridiculous power. I think we might have exposed John Lackey a little bit there. But, of course, everyone is totally prone to overreacting when there's something like this happens. Boston will be fine.

Here's my issue. Lester has always been trouble in April, but he is far and away the best on the staff, so you put him out there opening day. But then Francona has Lackey going on day two when he has a well-documented issue taking care of Texas. His whole career against the Rangers looks like batting practice. The fact that he was out there the second game certainly irked me a bit. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anyawatchin Angel 

Fixed it for you. 

 

Pujlos 0-5 with 3 DP's. 

 

Atleast the Cubs are bringing up some farm talent to see if they are any good.  If they aren't competitive in their sorry ass division I'll be pissed.  Nothing makes a summer worse than not wanting to even look in on your team-Like a Pirates fan every year.

You must feel really silly now, don't you?

Bucs are 2-1 (thanks for stilll being shitty, Cubbies) and on to St. Louis!
 

Number of away series the Pirates won all of last year: 4.

Number they've won this year already: 2.

It's fun to watch a competitive team.

Manny Ramirez tests positive for PED's again and retires.  Cements his legacy as a cheater.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anyawatchin Angel 

Manny Ramirez tests positive for PED's again and retires.  Cements his legacy as a cheater.

[Ruthless People] This could very well be the stupidest person on the face of the earth.[/RP]

Quick, someone in one of my fantasy leagues offered me David Ortiz for Ike Davis. Do I take the trade or no? I've currently got Davis sitting on the bench because I've got Mike Napoli in my 1B spot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ Dylan 

Quick, someone in one of my fantasy leagues offered me David Ortiz for Ike Davis. Do I take the trade or no? I've currently got Davis sitting on the bench because I've got Mike Napoli in my 1B spot.

Can you afford to keep him in your UTIL spot all season? I try to stay away from those guys because they cripple roster efficiency. If the dude wants Ike Davis, I'd try to pry another commodity from him instead.

I've got Ibanez in my UTIL spot right now. I'm going to counter the trade and see if I can get Joe Mauer off his bench.

And he took it. I'm pretty sure I got the better end of that trade. I probably wasnt going to end up using Davis this season, so he'd just sit on my bench. Mauer though, I'll definitely start.

Why in the world is Napoli playing first base for you? Too many catchers!

And you just traded for another one?!

Napoli plays both C and 1B. I moved Mauer to UTIL, and Ibanez to OF.

Alright fantasy gurus....is it worth holding onto Brad Lidge while he's out til the allstar break, or should I drop him and pick up Josh Beckett?

I would not have Brad Lidge on my roster at this juncture.

Here's my situation. I am in a league with four RP slots, and have four closers and a solid middle reliever, but I need starting pitching. I have been offered Anibal Sanchez and Jhoulys Chacin for Brandon Lyon and Jon Rauch, which would deplete my relief corps by leaving me with Brian Wilson, Chris Perez and Aaron Crow, with Chacin available to slot into the fourth RP position. Do I make this deal?

I went ahead and picked up Beckett.

Baldwin/Krasinski New Era commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e57dlq7ZA4

Great-more Yankees/Red Sox shit.  Can they please market other teams?

Anyone watch that Angels/Sox series? I'ts perplexing to be an Angels fan.

Alright fantasy gurus...I need your help again. I've been offered a trade and need some help deciding whether to take it. I was offered Victor Martinez (1B,C) for David Wright (3B). Right now I've got Ryan Doumit as my catcher...so I could really use someone productive like Martinez. To fill Wright's spot, I could move Mike Aviles from SS to 3B, and then fill my SS spot with Alex Gonzalez (Braves SS). So based on what I've just told you...do I take this trade offer? I need to know today/tomorrow.

You should try to get more than Martinez.

He doesnt have much I could use other than Martinez.

Oh Buster. Poor sweet Buster. Oh God no...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moltisanti 

Oh Buster. Poor sweet Buster. Oh God no...

I haven't had a chance to see the collision yet, but I hope he's okay. Guys like Posey and McCutchen represent a bright future for this game. Need them to have long, healthy careers.

He's not. I read broken leg, snapped ligaments on a bay area reporters twitter feed. Poor kid.

Yeah. I think we could live without guys tee-ing off on catchers at the plate (in this case Posey wasn't even really blocking the plate). Baseball doesn't allow that level of violence anywhere else on the field. This isn't the first devastating injury on this kind of play, and it won't be the last. Make the hit and blocking the plate illegal.

What? Posey WAS blocking the plate, and did everything he's been taught to do. It was a freak injury cause his leg got caught behind him.

Plays at the plate are one of, if not THE, most exciting plays in baseball. It takes a special kind of player and mindset to play catcher. Those are some tough SOBs out there. And I'm willing to bet if you asked Posey if he'd approach that play the same way, he'd say YES.

Taking away blocking the plate, is like taking away kick offs in football.....it's part of the game. But unlike most football players who don't know how to hit or tackle (and seemingly refuse to wear all the padding)......both Posey and the runner did everything right and legal......it's was a freaky, sucky accident....but it's part of the game.

Never been a Rangers fan, but this is a classy move.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Nice-pick-Rangers-select-paralyzed-Georgia-play;_ylt=Ak1pwdFaiewSLtrzrejQCykRvLYF?urn=mlb-wp8932

I don't want to diminis the nice jesture, but Ron Schueler once drafted his daughter back in the 90's for the White Sox.  GM's ofter "waste" picks like this because they get so many picks.  

Chicago Cubs joins the "It gets better campaign"

It's about supporting gay youth, not Cubs players telling fans they will get better :(

Jeter hits #3,000, and the fan who caught it gets the HOOK UP! 

Anyone watching the Derby?  It's entertaining, one of the few time the inane chatter of the announcers actually adds to the experience.

Nothing quite approaching Hamilton levels, but still fun.

K-Rod to the Brew Crew.  With Braun coming back, and the rumors of the Brewers picking up a new shortstop.... I can see them taking the division....

And the Pittsburgh Pirates are now in first place in the NL Central!

LET'S GO BUCS!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

And the Pittsburgh Pirates are now in first place in the NL Central!

 

LET'S GO BUCS!!!

Never thought I'd see that again.  Now they just have to win the division.  Want Ramirez back?