VFB wrote:they didnt shift howard in 06, did they?

nope.

such bullshit!

What a fucking stupid premise: Williams and DiMaggio were notable in their own time for not striking out. Maybe they should compare Albert Pujols to Williams and DiMaggio instead and see if his little hypothesis holds up.

Dumb, lazy shit.

BassGuiFloyd wrote:I'm assuming it has to do with the NL having 2 more teams than the AL. I don't know why they didn't bring the Diamondbacks in and put them in the AL west in 1997.

Supposedly--as in, this is what I've heard from some Diamondbacks fans--MLB did originally plan to put the Diamondbacks in the AL West and go with a schedule that would've had one (or three) interleague series going on at any given time. However, Jerry Colangelo wanted the Diamondbacks to play an NL schedule because NL teams generally drew better crowds at the time (or at least that is the reason I remember. There may have been other competitive reason(s), as well.) As a compromise, MLB placed the Diamondbacks in the NL West, but the team's charter allowed MLB to move them to the AL within their first 5 or so seasons without a vote. A few years later, Selig wanted to contract the Twins and Expos, and the Diamondbacks probably would've been shifted to the AL had this occured (making it 14 teams per league). Once contraction was shot down, there really wasn't much time to ponder a possible shift in league affiliation nor was their a great desire to do so.

Soren wrote:

He has hit 40 home runs in 5 straight seasons and he's about to make it 6. He's just 29. If he hits 40 home runs every year for the next 8 years he'll be over 600 home runs. If he does that is he a hall of famer? It's a weird question because he's very flawed but he does walk a lot. I don't think he's a steroid user.

from fugees. Adam Dunn, the best hitter no one thinks is any good. I don't know that he'll be able to hit 40+ HRs into his later 30s, but still he'll retire in the 500 range most likely.

40+ HRs for 10+ straight years? He'd have his own frikin display in the HOF, maybe his own wing. Not even Bonds, Aaron, Ruth have done that.

(just havin' a little fun with the fugies poster's hypothetical criteria)

Bill Buckner

From the "And You Thought the Phillies Pitching Was Bad Department:"

High Desert Mavericks (Mariners A+ affiliate) score 18 runs, still lose by 15

100 degrees and 4 hours 10 minutes for a 9-inning game. How much of that paid attendance of 1000 was left at the end?

Polar Bear Phan wrote:From the "And You Thought the Phillies Pitching Was Bad Department:"

High Desert Mavericks (Mariners A+ affiliate) score 18 runs, still lose by 15

High Desert and Lancaster are the two most hitter friendly parks in the minors.

From Goldstein today

Lake Elsinore (Padres) 33, High Desert (Mariners) 18
It was 100 degrees with the wind blowing out in the best hitter's park in professional baseball? This is what you get. The box score is just the gift that keeps on giving. The two teams went a combined 58-for-113 at the plate, with 18 doubles, three triples, and 10 home runs. High Desert's James McOwen went 2-for-6 to extend his hitting streak to a California League-record 36 games. High Desert catcher Jose Yepez went 3-for-4 with a home run, but he also took the mound for a spell, facing six batters, of whom four took him deep. Runs were scored in 13 of 18 frames, yet somehow neither team plated a run in the sixth or seventh innings. Nine players had four-hit games, and 11 drove in three or more runs. It's just a stupid, ridiculous game that teaches us nothing, but as far as the most entertaining box score of the year, it wins hands-down.

Six players (including the entire 3-7 from LE) were one hit away from a cycle. Insane...

Can a guy have a bad start or two, an 0fer10 without everyone wondering what's wrong? Pervasive over analysis. Sometimes a bad start is just a bad start.

Polar Bear Phan wrote:From the "And You Thought the Phillies Pitching Was Bad Department:"

High Desert Mavericks (Mariners A+ affiliate) score 18 runs, still lose by 15

DePo:

Lake Elsinore opened a three game series last night in High Desert, which is known for some high-scoring contests. Well, after eight innings last night Lake Elsinore was leading 28-14.

Guess how many home runs Elsinore hit in order to score 28 runs... go ahead, guess.

Exactly one. That's right - one homer, 28 runs. So how does a team score 28 runs with just one homer? 27 hits, 13 walks, and five High Desert errors. That is absolutely nuts. If you thought it wouldn't get crazier in the 9th inning, think again. How about this:

Sawyer Carroll - Home Run
James Darnell - Home Run
Matt Clark - Home Run
Felix Carrasco - 6-3
Danny Payne - Home Run

So, we score 28 runs with one homer over eight innings and then hit four homers in a span of five hitters.

I think Jayson Stark would have a field day with this one.

Gavin Floyd's last 8 starts:

58.1 IP
38 H
15 BB
46 K
2 HR
1.39 ERA

I was never a fan and it may never have worked here, but it looks like they gave up in him a little too early. 116 ERA+ over last 300+ innings.

Trent Steele wrote:Gavin Floyd's last 8 starts:

58.1 IP
38 H
15 BB
46 K
2 HR
1.39 ERA

I was never a fan and it may never have worked here, but it looks like they gave up in him a little too early. 116 ERA+ over last 300+ innings.

Yeah, he's really been amazing. Look at the hits per innings pitched. He was the same way last year when he was going good. Allows very few hits. I'm not even sure why, but he can be nearly unhittable when he's on his game.

Last season this effect was very pronounced at home. He gave up homers and walked his fair share but just did not give up many hits.

The White Sox pitching coach is supposed to be a pretty good fixer of pitchers. His record is kind of spotty but he seems to ave done pretty well with Floyd.

This is just stating the obvious, but Dan Haren is unreal

and he just keeps getting better

Flip Flop Fly Ball

Baseball and nerd chic graphs.

*Check out the link, images are too big to post.

The Cardinals do not have a single player on their team with an OPS+ in the 100's

Trent Steele wrote:The Cardinals do not have a single player on their team with an OPS+ in the 100's

at first i was like whaaaa, but then i realized it. good 'un, trent.

albert at over 200 (213 OPS+) and a bunch of dudes in the 90s (schumaker, ryan, duncan, rasmus, ludwick).

although, rasmus is at 99, so he's pretty close.

td11 wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:The Cardinals do not have a single player on their team with an OPS+ in the 100's

at first i was like whaaaa, but then i realized it. good 'un, trent.

albert at over 200 (213 OPS+) and a bunch of dudes in the 90s (schumaker, ryan, duncan, rasmus, ludwick).

although, rasmus is at 99, so he's pretty close.

i so tricky

Pope Paul has a monument in Yankee Stadium. He's an ex-Cardinal. The other guys there are all ex-Yankees.

From ESPN (probably Kurkjian since he's a numberz nerd):

Carl Crawford is the first player since 1900 to have 100+ hits, 7+ HRs and 40+ SBs before July.