Baseball 2013 (2 Viewers)

[Warrior]

Since the All Star Game is at Citifield and thinking it might be nice to go, I went on Stubhub last night to see how much tickets were. The cheapest seat, which I think must be located in Al's or George's living room, is $350 or something like that. Next! {eek3}

Brad, I know that is a lot of coin, but I was lucky enough to go to the 1999 all star game at Fenway, it was an incredible night. Pedro Martinez struck out 5 of the first 6 batters he faced, the AL won the game 4-1.

That was also the game where MLB rolled Ted Williams out in a golfcart, the place went crazy, wasn't a dry eye in the house, something I'll never forget.

Not to mention the home run derby was awesome, McGwire hit 16 bombs, 3 of which landed in France, my seats were off to the side of home plate, he hit some rockets that night.............

 

[lancer]

The Nats have limped into the All-Star break 1 whole game above .500 at 48-47, Whoopee! Considering the high hopes for them, this has to rate as a major disappointment. They remain the same half-dozen games (give or take a game or so) behind the Braves that they have been for weeks now. That's not a whole lot of ground to make up if the Nats can start playing decent ball. I don't see it happening. I think they're toast. They have given no indication that they can score consistently or put together a good run of wins. My heart still hopes but my head says no. With 67 games left the Nats would have to play .600 ball just to get close to the playoffs and .667 ball to clinch a spot. Isn't possible for them as things stand currently. Well, I can still hope that Jordan Zimmermann keeps up his run at a possible Cy Young. :wink2:
On the other hand, the O's are in good shape, right in the middle of the title and playoff race. Despite they're on again, off again starting pitching they are ripping the cover off the ball, led by Crash Davis and his 37 Hr's and 93 RBI's. O's lead MLB in Hr's, 2nd in doubles and 3rd in runs scored. Not bad. Along with Davis, the O's have 5 other hitters with 40+ RBI's. Makes for a very dangerous line-up. I look forward to watching their run for the flag in the second half. Now, if only those red hot Red Sox would cool off. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Angels crashed and burned in Seattle while the Mets had a good road trip and managed to head into the break with a win. I hope they send down Ike Davis after the break, he of the 170 average.

 

[sammy719]

Well all star break is here!! and what a pretty fun first half of the season for the AL East, as most exsperts picked the warm fuzzy Blue Jays to run away with the division after spending tons o' coin for all the big name guys, once again the stats show you can't always buy a championship, even though there is still alot of ball left I'm counting the Jays out, speaking of out I also think with the injuries/drama/older team in New York the evil Yankees won't do much in the 2nd half, which leaves the O's ,Rays, Sox to battle for the title and I still believe it will go down to the last few series of the year with any of those 3 to win it all in the East, (hoping the O's of course)...Sammy

 

[Warrior]

Where did the Rays come from, seems like they were out of this about two weeks ago, now there they sit in second place.

Red Sox went 5-5 on the West Coast trip, not bad, now they've got the Yankees, Rays and Orioles at home after the All Star break (it's either the Orioles of the Jays come to think of it), now is the time to get hot and widen that lead, it would help if Buckholz would get over the pinched nerve in his neck or whatever it is that's been bothering him for six weeks.

If he was in the rotation instead of Webster and whatever other tomato cans they threw out there, maybe they'd be up by 6 or 7 games by now.

 

[lancer]

TGIF. Back to baseball. Four day drought is over.^&grin -- Al

 

[sammy719]

Hi All,


my wife got me this wonderful 1966 World Champion Orioles plaque for our aniversary!!! plus a new O's hat as well, no soldiers but I really love this plaque...Sammy

 

[lancer]

Great gifts, Sammy. That was the year I became Orioles aware. Kind of picked up the fever during the season and was permanently addicted with the sweep of the Dodgers. Now THAT series was a real pitching fan's series. Frank Robinson had an absolutely monster year. It was a lot of fun. Wear your new hat with O's pride.:wink2:^&grin^&cool -- Al

 

[sammy719]

Great gifts, Sammy. That was the year I became Orioles aware. Kind of picked up the fever during the season and was permanently addicted with the sweep of the Dodgers. Now THAT series was a real pitching fan's series. Frank Robinson had an absolutely monster year. It was a lot of fun. Wear your new hat with O's pride.:wink2:^&grin^&cool -- Al

Thanks for the kind words Al, a few weeks ago I was looking around Tucson for a sports card shop to pick up the Topps 77 Colts team, I found this little shop thinking no more of it and went in and it was like (cue the angel music)..all kinds of Orioles/Ravens/colts stuff, which out here is hard to come by, so got a few more purchases planned there, one is a plaque of Brooks from the 70 series with a actual piece of one of his bats from the Series!! also a history banner and a Raven Superbowl 2001/2012 banner as well, soldiers might be taking a back seat for awhile

now back to the future, glad to see the O's start out with a win last nite, didn't gain any ground but didn't lose any either, I think with Chen looking solid this will really help the rotation in the asecond half...Sammy

 

[Gebhard]

Hi All,


my wife got me this wonderful 1966 World Champion Orioles plaque for our aniversary!!! plus a new O's hat as well, no soldiers but I really love this plaque...Sammy

Nice{bravo}} .. Very cool Sammy . Its really fun around town again with all the O's talk, flags and Fans wearing gear , just goes to show what winning can do for a team . GOD knows its been awhile for us :wink2: .. GO O'S regards Gebhard

 

[sammy719]

Nice{bravo}} .. Very cool Sammy . Its really fun around town again with all the O's talk, flags and Fans wearing gear , just goes to show what winning can do for a team . GOD knows its been awhile for us :wink2: .. GO O'S regards Gebhard

Thanks Gebs, and you are sooooooo right, after being in the bottom cellar of the AL East for so long it's good to finally be at least competing again, and winning is a cure all that heals those past seasons.

Even though I was born in 1965 I still enjoy alot of the older collectables of the O's, Colts (Baltimore that is) the earliest memories are of living on Homestead Street not far from old Memorial stadium in the early 70's, what fond memories I have of that time.

Gebs, I hope you join in on the discussions on this thread, always good to have another baseball fan to chat with...Sammy

 

[Terp152]

Wonderful gift Sammy! I have one from the 70s Os and would really like to have the one from '66. My plaque was also a gift from my wife for anniversary or b'day.
I wandered in to a bar in Phoenix in '75 and saw all this Colts memorabilia on the wall and asked the bartender what up with that? He said the owner was George Kunz, pro bowler lineman of the Colts. Chris

 

[lancer]

Nats have stumbled out of the All-Star break, going 0-3 against LA, and scoring a total of 5 runs in the 3 games. I officially throw in the towel. The Nats have now scored 2 or fewer runs in 46 of their 98 games and are a horrendous 5-41 in those games and worked their way to an impressive 48-50 overall record. Anyone who is still optimistic that the Nats can turn this season around must be in the deepest hole of denial ever dug. :rolleyes2: Last season's lightning is gone and ain't coming back this year. The horrid offense has undermined the pitching again and has beaten the team into mediocrity. Nats were something like 2 for 23 with RISP against LA. Just pitiful. Bet I know where the Nats will try to improve this off-season.:wink2::rolleyes2: -- Al

 

[lancer]

Bartolo Colon just threw his 2nd complete game shutout of the season to raise his record to 13-3. Where did this 40 year old find his fountain of youth? Quite incredible. -- Al

 

[maddadicus]

Bartolo Colon just threw his 2nd complete game shutout of the season to raise his record to 13-3. Where did this 40 year old find his fountain of youth? Quite incredible. -- Al

I believe that he has been linked to a steroid rebuilt arm. My guess is that his fame will be fleeting as he is a named player with the clinic issue also. Michael

 

[jazzeum]

I really don't trust Colon's success. Even though he was suspended last year and should have learned his lesson, I have my doubts.

In past years, the Mets would head into the All Star break playing well and in a couple of years they even had a 500 plus record and were in contention for a playoff spot. Invariably after the break, they would go into the tank and finish terribly.

On Friday night, it looked like they were repeating a pattern as the Phillies scored the first 11 runs of the game. However, the last two games have been pleasant surprises so maybe it won't be the same this time around (as they continue to build for the future).

 

[lancer]

Guys, it's a mystery to me, but I don't know if PED's alone can explain this. Colon's numbers are really good. He's had 20 starts and has allowed 2 or fewer runs in 13 of them. His record in those 13 starts is 11-1, with an ERA of an unbelievable 1.16. He has only had 2 bad starts and has 17 quality starts out of his 20 games. This is a great story and I can only hope it isn't wrecked by some sort of drug scandal that would force me to throw away my rose-colored glasses. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

You would hope that he wouldn't be that stupid to do it again after serving a suspension last year. Colon is one of the players implicated in the Biogenesis Miami lab controversy. However, any suspensions will probably be served next year.

 

[lancer]

O's have made a great break out of the All-Star gate with a 3 game sweep of the Rangers. Only problem is they only gained 1 game on 1st place Boston and 0 games on Tampa. These 3 teams are all hot as can be and would all be in if the playoffs started tomorrow. Best news for the O's is that the starting pitching is beginning to look like a good rotation, going 7-1 in the last 8 games. The return of Chen seems to have stabilized them and with Tillman rolling on, the pieces are beginning to fall into place. Won't be surprised to see 3 playoff teams from the AL East. -- Al

 

[lancer]

You would hope that he wouldn't be that stupid to do it again after serving a suspension last year. Colon is one of the players implicated in the Biogenesis Miami lab controversy. However, any suspensions will probably be served next year.

I hope he was smart enough to stay away from them, but examining his record is beginning to make me suspicious. Prior to the 2011 season, Colon had been out of baseball in 2010, and had won a total of 14 games from 2006 through 2009, a total of 5 lost seasons. All of a sudden he's back with a vengeance, going 8-10 in 2011, 10-9 in 2012, and 13-3 so far this year. And his ERA has fallen each year since his return in 2011. It's either a one-in-a-million story or something else is at work here. Kind of hard to believe a pitcher that was washed up at age 33 is now on a meteoric upswing at 40 years of age. I really hope it is a great comeback story and not another PED scandal. -- Al