2009 MLB Thread

[yesno]

Pitching is a sore spot for this April.  I'm not confident that Ubaldo will ever get control while he's with the Rockies; he's been a disappointment so far. Speed is nice, but it's not enough.  At least the Rockies won one today--Jason Marquis has been pretty good.  He's also a better hitter than a lot of the Rockies' infield.

[jbissell]

Pitching is a sore spot for this April.  I'm not confident that Ubaldo will ever get control while he's with the Rockies; he's been a disappointment so far. Speed is nice, but it's not enough.  At least the Rockies won one today--Jason Marquis has been pretty good.  He's also a better hitter than a lot of the Rockies' infield.

Yeah, Ubaldo has killed me after that promising first start.  Enjoy Marquis, trust me, it won't last.

[nec13]

While I'm sure that this will change, there doesn't really appear to be any great team out there. Tampa Bay is in the cellar of the AL East and the Pirates, of all teams, lead the race for the NL Wild Card. What's going on?

[yesno]

Yup. No Cards/Cubs for me today.  They're showing the  Yankees/Redsox.  Guess it makes sense. Unfortunately.

I wish I could make a comment about how lame Sunday Night Baseball is tonight, but Ellsbury stealing home was pretty great.  I clapped.  I'm glad it happened against the Yankees, a team I like less than the Red Sox.

[scratchbomb]

Yup. No Cards/Cubs for me today.  They're showing the  Yankees/Redsox.  Guess it makes sense. Unfortunately.

I wish I could make a comment about how lame Sunday Night Baseball is tonight, but Ellsbury stealing home was pretty great.  I clapped.  I'm glad it happened against the Yankees, a team I like less than the Red Sox.

Wish I coulda seen it when it happened. I was in the car, catching the game on the radio, and had to piece together what happened from the crowd's reaction and John Sterling's halting, way-too-late description of what sort-of happened.

If there's a worse play-by-play announcer than John Sterling, I don't want to hear him. Never mind his moronic home run calls; the man simply can not describe the action. Which is a pretty serious handicap when you're a radio play-by-play guy.

[yesno]

I've been loving the game audio on the iPhone MLB app, and listening to announcers from around the country.  Sterling and Waldman are about the worst.  Bob Uecker making horsey sound effects when Carlos Lee/El Caballo comes to the plate, about the best.

[jbissell]

Ron Santo is pretty bad (although I love his moans whenever something horrible happens to the Cubs), but Pat Hughes mostly balances him out.

[scratchbomb]

Ron Santo is pretty bad (although I love his moans whenever something horrible happens to the Cubs), but Pat Hughes mostly balances him out.

Usually I hate it when the announcers are such unabashed homers for their team, but I kind of like Ron Santo, in a weird way. I guess because he comes across less like a PBP guy and more like they just invited some random, long-suffering fan into the booth. His groans and "aw jeez!"es when something bad happens are priceless.

[Come on, Jason]

The Yankees have the worst ERA in baseball and just got swept at Fenway.

[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbF7Hp2vIkY[/youtube]

I don't like it... I LOVE IT!

[jbissell]

Ron Santo is pretty bad (although I love his moans whenever something horrible happens to the Cubs), but Pat Hughes mostly balances him out.

Usually I hate it when the announcers are such unabashed homers for their team, but I kind of like Ron Santo, in a weird way. I guess because he comes across less like a PBP guy and more like they just invited some random, long-suffering fan into the booth. His groans and "aw jeez!"es when something bad happens are priceless.

Plus the guy lost his legs and has done a lot of great work for diabetes so I wouldn't feel right bashing him.

[chrisfoll577]

The Yankees have the worst ERA in baseball and just got swept at Fenway.

[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbF7Hp2vIkY[/youtube]

I don't like it... I LOVE IT!

This series was the most satisfying thrashing of the Yankees by the Red Sox since 2004.  It just proved that despite the much higher payroll and the Yankees' new McMansion of a stadium, the Red Sox (so far... in April) look like the better team in every aspect from GM and manager on down to their bullpen.

[nec13]

It is hard to believe that with a payroll in excess of $220 million dollars that the Yanks were starting the likes of Angel Berroa and Brett Gardner. The Yankees have a few very talented players but also a lot of players that wouldn't start on some lower division teams.

If the Steinbrenners were smart, they would hire away Jed Hoyer or Ben Cherington away from Red Sox. Brian Cashman's time has come and gone.

[Come on, Jason]

"High School Juicer, Poor Tipper, Bitch Tits"

I'm ALMOST starting to feel sorry for this guy.

[yesno]

I saw that about A-Rod.  I'm starting to care less: steroids are like the modern version of being a spitballer.  Maybe a little worse, like corking a bat.

edit:  I guess the steroid era does make most of the records from that time mean less.  And it's hard to know how to statistically correct for, in the way we can do with judging old-timey records.

[nec13]

I can't believe that I feel empathy for someone who's making nearly $30 million per year. But I too feel sorry for A-Rod. At this point, the vultures are simply picking away at an already rotten corpse. The damage done to his reputation is irreparable. I just don't see the purpose in prolonging his misery. It's just a way to move books, magazines, and newspapers.