Random Baseball Thoughts

[andyfox]

1) A few weeks ago Zeno and I speculated that our favorite baseball teams (respecitvely, the Mariners and the Yankees) would have trouble with the A's and Red Sox. Lo and behold, the Mariners find themselves trailing and in danger of not making the post-season and the Yankees' 7.4 game lead is now 4.5. And if the Yankees lose game one tomorrow night against the Sox, look out, they have to face Pedro on the following night and a shaky Roger Clemens will pitch possibly his final game in Fenway on Sunday.

2) Is it me or is Bobby Bonds taking an awfully long bereavement leave of absence? I remember, I think, Paul O'Neill playing the day after his father died (granted, that was the World Series), but it seems to me Bonds plays at his pleasure sometimes. Not that I'm making light of the passing of his father, and I realize each of us reacts to adversity in different ways, but does anyone else feel something a bit out of the ordinary here?

3) What is it that makes me feel good when I see Larry Bowa suffering so on the bench? Something about him is dislikeable.

4) Mel Stottlemyre said David Wells is fat. Gee, when did he notice that? Maybe he's trying to rile Wells up so that he'll try harder, although it's rumored Jeff Weaver will take Wells' next start. Even better was Torre's comment: "We're not unware that two of our starting pitchers are forty years old."

I've never seen such an apparently questionable team have the best record in the league.

5) Mr. Prior of the Cubs has become quite a big game pitcher. He's pitching with the aplomb of a veteran. Now if they could only get their bullpen in order.

6) The American League batting title looks like it will be won with a very low average. Ichiro has been slumping and there are a ton of guys hitting between .315 and .330, any one of whom could win it. My pick: Manny Ramirez.

[Josh W]

Two comments now, more later...

I'm sure you meant Barry Bonds bereavement, not Bobbys.

Did you say "Mr. Prior" because you didn't know if it was Marc or Mark? I do that a lot....


Josh

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]
1) A few weeks ago Zeno and I speculated that our favorite baseball teams (respecitvely, the Mariners and the Yankees) would have trouble with the A's and Red Sox. Lo and behold, the Mariners find themselves trailing and in danger of not making the post-season and the Yankees' 7.4 game lead is now 4.5. And if the Yankees lose game one tomorrow night against the Sox, look out, they have to face Pedro on the following night and a shaky Roger Clemens will pitch possibly his final game in Fenway on Sunday.

2) Is it me or is Bobby Bonds taking an awfully long bereavement leave of absence? I remember, I think, Paul O'Neill playing the day after his father died (granted, that was the World Series), but it seems to me Bonds plays at his pleasure sometimes. Not that I'm making light of the passing of his father, and I realize each of us reacts to adversity in different ways, but does anyone else feel something a bit out of the ordinary here?

3) What is it that makes me feel good when I see Larry Bowa suffering so on the bench? Something about him is dislikeable.

4) Mel Stottlemyre said David Wells is fat. Gee, when did he notice that? Maybe he's trying to rile Wells up so that he'll try harder, although it's rumored Jeff Weaver will take Wells' next start. Even better was Torre's comment: "We're not unware that two of our starting pitchers are forty years old."

I've never seen such an apparently questionable team have the best record in the league.

5) Mr. Prior of the Cubs has become quite a big game pitcher. He's pitching with the aplomb of a veteran. Now if they could only get their bullpen in order.

6) The American League batting title looks like it will be won with a very low average. Ichiro has been slumping and there are a ton of guys hitting between .315 and .330, any one of whom could win it. My pick: Manny Ramirez.

[/ QUOTE ]

1) Someday, 'Stand Pat' Gillick is going to realize that he needs to make some sort of move to try to improve the team at the trade deadline. It doesn't even need to be a major move. Just something to show your players and fans, Hey, we're trying to win here. We've all heard the stories of the clubhouse grumbling (Jeff Nelson being the most outspoken) when the M's did absolutely NOTHING (in fact, I'd consider signing Rey Sanchez to be less than nothing) to improve their club in the heat of a pennant race. It was just a matter of time before the A's got going.

3) Bowa to me has that smug kinda look on his face, like a Bobby Valentine. The weird thing tho is that I loved Valentine as a manager (his disguise incident was flat out hilarious), but I really don't like Bowa. Dunno what it is.

5) Josh, when Prior is pitching like he has been, you SHOULD call him 'Mr.' This kid is unreal. And with his mechanics, he will be able to pitch very well for a very long time. You can see it on their hitters' faces. They're completely outmatched. With that easy form, they're looking for a Jamie Moyer fastball, and instead a 96mph heater comes at em. Ridiculous.

[David Steele]

It is normal for Bobby to take a long time here, for Barry, the funeral was actually Thursday and they say he may be back today. I doubt anything odd is going on. If he misses much of the AZ series I would want to know more.

Another interesting topic is the NL wildcard race. If Montreal wins the world series, do all the team owners celebrate a little?

D.

[the mayor]

1. the sox made the late moves to position them to make a run while the yankees called up jesse orosco from the nursing home. i think it was an announcer that said it best, "don zimmer loves this move. now he has someone to go out to the clubs with on road trips." good pitching will give any team trouble, and the a's have great pitching.

3. being a hardcore phillies fan, i have nothing but love for bowa. hes getting a raw deal from philly media (esp. the mornin guys on 610 for all you in the area) about things he has no control over such as burrells awful year and jimmy rollins fall off at the plate. but if you love seeing bowa suffer, just look in the dugout at any point during any game. i swear i thought i saw him smirk once. i think.

4. I've never seen such an apparently questionable team have the best record in the league.
i think they're only questionable if you go on a dollar value rating. 2.5 million for bubba trammell, 4 for jeff weaver? yeah, ok.

[David Steele]

There is also the the interesting race for Detroit to break the mets record for losses.

D.

[Zeno]

1)The Mariners have had a combination of poor hitting and pitching which produced a double dip in the baseball wave function. This happens to almost all teams at some point in the year. But worse for the Mariners, this has affected the team psychologically; they were beefing at the umps about strike calls, saying the Red Sox stole signs etc. Could not have happened at a worse time. As I posted a few weeks ago, the Mariners needed to maintain a 3-4 game lead going into the last two weeks of the season to give them a margin and leaders edge to win the AL West. This will be even more difficult as the A’s now have a two game lead and all the confidence in the world. Some say the Mariners needed to trade etc, well all that is past and should not affect a team as good as the Mariners are. By the way Ray Sanchez has been hitting .341 since coming to Seattle. They are still an excellent team but are roughed up by the losing streak. They lost again last night by one run. Pitching failed again. Edgar is also still out. The mental game is so important in baseball, and the Mariners need a boost to get going again. Time is short. I go on a vacation and my team falls apart. Good thing I didn't watch any games.

The Yanks will win the division. But will lose in the first round of the playoffs. Doomed by faulty pitching.

Ichiro is currently hitting .325 and he is still my favorite. Hope he can jack his average back up to ~.345 by the end of the season.

-Zeno

[John Cole]

Zeno,

I thought that you had jumped off a building; glad to find out you had gone on vacation. BTW, I spent last weekend in New York City, and I was fully prepared to swear off the Sox forever at that point. I even hoped to discover reasons to become a Yankees fan (shudder). However, the sweep of the Mariners restored my hope. Good thing I didn't watch any of the games.

John

[andyfox]

"The Yanks will win the division. But will lose in the first round of the playoffs. Doomed by faulty pitching."

More difficult to predict than this. Sometimes Mussina and Pettitte and Clemens and Rivera look like the best in the world. Other times they look like they can't get anybody out (see the Angels series last year). I wouldn't be surprised if they went three and out or won the World Series.

Either way, it's certainly the beginning of the end. Clemens is 41, Wells 40, Mussina 34, Rivera 33 and Pettitte 32. And let's not forget Jessie Orosco, who is 97.

[andyfox]

I've always felt Valentine is borderline psychotic and I didn't care for him as a manager. But I like him a lot on Baseball Tonight. Insightful, inciteful, and sometimes pretty funny. Much better than Buck Showalter was. And he wears nicer suits.

One of the nicest things I saw recently was the smile on Alan Trammel's face when his guy his a two-run homer in teh bottom of the 9tn to beat the Angels 10-9. Reminded me of the look on Chaplin's face at the end of City Lights.

[andyfox]

I sometimes say Barry when I mean Bobby and Bobby when I mean Barry. Heck, I'm not sure if the Yankees got Aaron Boone or Ray Boone or Ray Boone, there are so many of them. Getting old sucks.

And yes, I make so many typos which I'm too lazy to correct I could probably get away with and Marq; heck, I wasn't even too sure about Prior.

I love which aspects of the post interested you.

[Josh W]

You got me all wrong Mr. Fawks...

It all interested me. But writing about anything else woulda required a lot of effort. Those were easy.

Oh, and I'm so ready for a barrage about the Mariners choking from Sooga (which, I might add, they are not doing) that I feared discussing actual baseball.

Does anybody have Dr. Kevorkian's phone number?

Josh

[John Cole]

Andy,

I don't believe your Yankees will be overtaken by the Sox. Recent additions Sauerbeck (supposedly deadly against lefties) and Williamson have failed terribly, and Grady continues to trot them out in situations where he could have used the more effective Embrie and then brought in Kim to close. Little persists in his folly, but he has yet to become wise. The Sox just don't seem to hit good pitching, especially lefties. And, inexplicably, they've had their greatest problems against mediocre teams.

Two players to keep and eye on: Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli of the Rays. I think both will hit with power in a few years, and I can see two 30/30 guys on the same team.

[John Cole]

Andy,

I saw that clip, too. I hope they keep Trammel.

I think your comparison to Chaplin's smile at the end of City Lights is based on the Kuleshov effect, though.

[Boris]

let's get the facts str8 for this discussion:

1. The A's will be masters of the baseball universe at the end of October.

2. Billy Beane is a genius for making the trade that took Ted Lilly from the Yankees and replaced him with Weaver. hahahahahahaha!!!!

But seriously, I think the A's will make it past the first round of the playoffs this year IF the Twinkies don't win the AL central. I wonder why the A's always make a strong push late in the season? It's like they don't even get out of bed until after the all star break.

[andyfox]

1) They need to get to the end of October. They seem to have no trouble winning two games in the three out of five series.

2) Billy Beane is a baseball genius but not for taking Ted Lilly.

[andyfox]

The Yankees haven't performed well against the better teams. And they've already had a pretty long stretch earlier this year where they were wretched. History teaches us the Sox won't overtake the Yankees, but unless the Yankees take 2 out of 3 this weekend, I sense they're in some trouble. Torre claimed a few weeks ago that the games they played against each other wouldn't matter much, what was more imporatant was how each did against the western division powers. He should be worried, then, considering the Sox-Mariners series.

Clemens most important contribution to the Yankees may well prove to be his big brotherliness towards Andy Pettitte, who has changed from a somewhat whiny and spoiled kid to a mature, aggressive, in-shape pitcher. He seems to be at his best against Pedro, we'll see how he does on Saturday; he pitched very poorly against Baltimore but held them, somehow, to one run on 10 hits..

[andyfox]

Geez, I hate having to keep looking things up when you post. I prefer the shoddy barrel posters, or however it was that Zeno phrased it.

For those as ignorant as I:

http://www.ouc.bc.ca/fina/glossary/k_list/kuleshov.html

[andyfox]

"Does anybody have Dr. Kevorkian's phone number?"

Home or cell? I last spoke to him when Rivera threw the bunt to second base (or, I should say, the vicinity of second base) in the 9th inning of the 7th game against the D-backs in 2001.

[John Cole]

Andy,

I knew you couldn't resist, even if I stretched a bit by comparing your read on Trammel to the Kuleshov effect. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

John