Baseball 2015 (3 Viewers)

[lancer]

Jason, as much as I want to see Harper hit, it is only smart baseball to make someone like Robinson beat you when the option exists, so I wasn't surprised that the Giants pitched around Harper. That said, Robinson's Hr was a big surprise because of his part-time status. The Nats have so many injuries our line-ups are different almost every game. Williams has done a good job juggling the line-ups but it is the reason the team is so streaky.
It is pouring rain in DC and has been since last night. Don't see how they can get today's game in. May be looking at a Sunday double-dip.:wink2: Happy 4th! -- Al

Nats got the win on Sunday, 9-3, but once again Strasburg left early with an apparent injury. Caught Bums before he could settle in and just pulled away. So far in the series, Harper is 3-5 with 4 walks in 9 plate appearances, including the 1st inning Hr off Bums in today's game.
Season now officially half over and the Nats still a bit inconsistent because of injuries but they appear to be coming around as they are 11-3 over the last 2 weeks. At least I hope they are gaining consistency and just not streaking again.:redface2: -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Sorry to hear about Stasburg. He seems snake bitten.

 

[lancer]

Sorry to hear about Stasburg. He seems snake bitten.

Brad, it sure seems so. Hopefully this is nothing more than a mild strain. No real report yet. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Brad, good match-up tonight with Harvey against Greinke. Be there or be square.:wink2: -- Al

 

[Louis Badolato]

Wow, two walk off wins in a row, 7 games over 500 and 2 games up in first place at the half-way point of the season. I never expected anything from the Yankees this season at all. What a pleasant surprise the first half of this season has been.:smile2:

 

[sammy719]

Wow, two walk off wins in a row, 7 games over 500 and 2 games up in first place at the half-way point of the season. I never expected anything from the Yankees this season at all. What a pleasant surprise the first half of this season has been.:smile2:

The AL East looks to be a dog fight til the very end of the season, just to many good teams that are evenly matched, even Boston has made some noise this past week, sure keeps things exciting...Sammy

 

[lancer]

Wow, two walk off wins in a row, 7 games over 500 and 2 games up in first place at the half-way point of the season. I never expected anything from the Yankees this season at all. What a pleasant surprise the first half of this season has been.:smile2:

Welcome back to the baseball thread, Louis. You are not alone. No one expected the NYY's to do what they have done or for A-Rod to do what he has done. I even thought Big Tex might be on the downhill slide. Wrong! It has been the biggest surprise of the season to me. -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

Nats got the win on Sunday, 9-3, but once again Strasburg left early with an apparent injury. Caught Bums before he could settle in and just pulled away. So far in the series, Harper is 3-5 with 4 walks in 9 plate appearances, including the 1st inning Hr off Bums in today's game.
Season now officially half over and the Nats still a bit inconsistent because of injuries but they appear to be coming around as they are 11-3 over the last 2 weeks. At least I hope they are gaining consistency and just not streaking again.:redface2: -- Al

Al:

Another great game by the Nats. They have proven that they can win no matter who is in their lineup. I credit Matt Williams for some of their success, he knows who to use as a replacement when an injury occurs and he is adept at making in-game adjustments.

Following up on my earlier comments I was glad to see Bumgarner challenge Harper even if it did not turn out well for the Giants. As a fan that is what I want to see. One of today's aces against one of today's best hitters, I will throw my best pitch and you take your best cut at it. May the best man win.

I will be watching the third game of the series hoping that the Giants can salvage a win. If not, I am ok with being swept by one of the best teams in the NL, after all the Giants barely made the playoffs last year and things seemed to turn out alright.

Best,
Jason

 

[Louis Badolato]

Welcome back to the baseball thread, Louis. You are not alone. No one expected the NYY's to do what they have done or for A-Rod to do what he has done. I even thought Big Tex might be on the downhill slide. Wrong! It has been the biggest surprise of the season to me. -- Al

Al, its not just A-Rod (who has to be taking something to have this kind of a renaissance), but Teixiera (who is having his best season in 5 years after two years of nothing), McCann (who after a terrible first season is living up to his contract), Pineda, Nova and Tanaka (all of whom have hit the ground running after big injuries), an the entire bullpen (who even with the loss of the closer for the past month has been lights out all season). The Yankees should be getting Jacobi Ellsbury back soon. If they get back their closer soon, and can pick up any kind of a decent starter before the trade deadline, they should have as good a chance as anyone to win the East, but it looks to be a dog fight right down to the end. What a fun season!:smile2:

 

[lancer]

Al:

Another great game by the Nats. They have proven that they can win no matter who is in their lineup. I credit Matt Williams for some of their success, he knows who to use as a replacement when an injury occurs and he is adept at making in-game adjustments.

Following up on my earlier comments I was glad to see Bumgarner challenge Harper even if it did not turn out well for the Giants. As a fan that is what I want to see. One of today's aces against one of today's best hitters, I will throw my best pitch and you take your best cut at it. May the best man win.

I will be watching the third game of the series hoping that the Giants can salvage a win. If not, I am ok with being swept by one of the best teams in the NL, after all the Giants barely made the playoffs last year and things seemed to turn out alright.

Best,
Jason

Jason, thanks for that. Very true about Williams. I get on him now and then about his handling of the pitchers but he has proved to be a master at filling the gaps in the line-up around the many injuries the Nats have had.
Bit of an understatement about things turning out alright last season.:wink2:^&grin -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Brad, good match-up tonight with Harvey against Greinke. Be there or be square.:wink2: -- Al

Another L

I still go by what I said earlier this year: that I'd be happy with a winning season. Not with this offense. The problem is the ownership.

Well, at least the Angels are starting to look better. Hector Santiago is having a decent season but Weaver looks bad.

 

[lancer]

Another L

I still go by what I said earlier this year: that I'd be happy with a winning season. Not with this offense. The problem is the ownership.

Well, at least the Angels are starting to look better. Hector Santiago is having a decent season but Weaver looks bad.

Greinke looked good but the Mets almost came back against the bullpen. Tough loss.
Haven't been able to figure Weaver this season. Haven't seen him pitch but have been tracking his numbers, which aren't good but not bad enough to explain his won/loss record or his ERA. Same thing for Shoemaker. Is it a matter of one bad inning doing him in or maybe the intangible of bad luck? -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

We saw him pitch at Yankee Stadium when the Angels were in town and he was giving up a lot of gopher balls. As McCarver used to say, he seems wild in the strike zone.

 

[maddadicus]

Wow, two walk off wins in a row, 7 games over 500 and 2 games up in first place at the half-way point of the season. I never expected anything from the Yankees this season at all. What a pleasant surprise the first half of this season has been.:smile2:

Am glad you are back. Always been afraid to say anything good about my Yankees, in case George unfriends me. Michael

 

[Louis Badolato]

Am glad you are back. Always been afraid to say anything good about my Yankees, in case George unfriends me. Michael

Its nice to be back. I am beginning to be cautiously optimistic that Yankees fans might be watching meaningful baseball games right up to, and maybe even into, October this season. The entire AL East may very well be playing meaningful baseball right down to he last weekend of the season, and what could be better than that?

 

[Warrior]

The AL East looks to be a dog fight til the very end of the season, just to many good teams that are evenly matched, even Boston has made some noise this past week, sure keeps things exciting...Sammy

I wouldn't worry about the Red Sox Sammy; they don't have the starting pitching to go on a winning streak and they are so far out of it that they need to rip off 7, 8, 10 wins in a row to get back into it and that's not happening, plus their bullpen is a train wreck too.

It's going to be a three team dogfight in the East; Orioles, Jays, MFY's. The MFY's, led by A-Roid and Horseface (nice bounce back year for horseface, he must be on the same stuff A-Roid is), will go out and land a top flight starter, you know they will, so if and when they do, it spells trouble for the O's and Rays.

I'm shocked with how well the Astros are doing; they have probably the best young talent in baseball, thought they'd have a shot at the WS next year, but they've got a shot this year now for sure. It will come down to them vs the Royals in the AL, although the Twins are hanging around too.

I'm in full time Giants mode at this point, I said adios to the 2015 Boston Red Sox two weeks ago.............plus training camp for the defending Super Bowl Champion Patriots starts in about two weeks as well...................

 

[lancer]

Good series for the Nat's pitchers and Harper. Zimmermann was pretty good tonight but the plate umpire had a bad game, kind of taking the luster off the effort. But as the saying goes, a win is a win. Would rather have seen Vogelsong stay in the pitcher's duel but that umpire...:rolleyes2: -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

Good series for the Nat's pitchers and Harper. Zimmermann was pretty good tonight but the plate umpire had a bad game, kind of taking the luster off the effort. But as the saying goes, a win is a win. Would rather have seen Vogelsong stay in the pitcher's duel but that umpire...:rolleyes2: -- Al

Al:

The Giants ran into some great pitching in the series. Zimmerman is phenomenal when he is on, he can paint the corners and he clearly does his homework on the team he is facing. Also, a few of the Giant bats have just gone silent and they simply can't generate runs. But no excuses, the Nats were better in this series.

The Nats remind me of the last year's Giants. They have a superstar in Harper (Posey), they have an ace in Scherzer (Bumgarner), they have an injured ace (Starsburg (Cain) and their role players like Ramos (Panik) hit in the clutch. It might be wishful thinking but I am looking forward to seeing them play against the Giants in the playoffs ^&grin.

I still can't figure out the Vogelsong ejection? Oh well, hopefully we can get well against the Mets and Phillies at home.

Best with congrats,
Jason

 

[jazzeum]

Niese was on yesterday, giving up no runs against the Giants. He has pitched well lately but with the offensive "offense" has little to show for it. He is the pitcher most likely to be traded before the July 31 deadline. Anderson is a terrible GM but a very good trader.

 

[jazzeum]

I know few of you are soccer fans but Sunday's final drew almost 27 million in the United States, more than last year's game 7 of the World Series :wink2: