Baseball 2015 (3 Viewers)

[jazzeum]

The As trading him was one of the worst decisions ever. Destroyed the club last year. I heard that with the Sox he didn't want to play RF and that there were some problems; he probably wasn't happy being traded from a pennant contender to a last place team.

I think he was fine with the Tigers but that was just one of those deadline deals where they got good prospects for a player with an expiring contract. With the Mets he's golden. He told Terry he'd play wherever Terry wanted him to play. Terry has asked him if he wants a day off and he keeps saying no. He's been a great fit in the clubhouse and says he likes NY.

He's just going to cost a ton of money and the Mets have needs they're going to need to fill and several players who are going to become arbitration eligible like Duda, Harvey and Familia.

 

[lancer]

Brad, I like Storen but he definitely needs out of DC, if for no other reason than ownership/management has no confidence in him as a closer, which they have proved when demoting him from closer when they brought in Soriano in 2014 and Papelbon this year. Storen has done everything asked of him, and done it well, for the most part, but it is obvious that the demotion from closer this season has done a number on him, and who can hold him responsible? He needs the change of scenary for his own piece of mind and he deserves the chance to succeed for a team that will have confidence in him. The Nats screwed him over, plain and simple, a bad decision in a season full of them. -- Al

In a not completely surprising incident, (kind of overdue, considering), Drew Storen has finished his season by slamming his pitching hand into a locker after the loss Wednesday night, breaking his right thumb. Well, I guess that's one way out and I can't say I really blame him. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Nats have evidently thrown in the towel and surrendered. Lost to Miami 2-1 last night and again tonight 2-0. Fizzle, fizzle, ker-plop. Disappointing end to a disappointing season. Perfect.{sm2} -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

On the bright side tonight Bumgarner throws a perfect game into the 8th and ends up with a 1-hitter. On the not-so-bright side the Dodgers won again.

Eventually keeping pace will no longer be good enough.

 

[jazzeum]

In a poorly played game by both sides, Mets won in a very unlikely fashion. They were down by three in the 9th with 2 outs and nobody on and on strike two Lagares gets a double, Granderson walked and Murph hits a 3 run HR. Amazing to say the least. They refuse to lose. In the 10th they took advantage of the poor Brave bullpen to score 3 and win the game, capping a 8-2 road trip. All this with resting most of their regulars.

 

[lancer]

In a poorly played game by both sides, Mets won in a very unlikely fashion. They were down by three in the 9th with 2 outs and nobody on and on strike two Lagares gets a double, Granderson walked and Murph hits a 3 run HR. Amazing to say the least. They refuse to lose. In the 10th they took advantage of the poor Brave bullpen to score 3 and win the game, capping a 8-2 road trip. All this with resting most of their regulars.

Team O' Destiny.^&grin -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

This team has a lot of resemblance to 1969 so you never know. First things first, however.

 

[jazzeum]

Music to my ears: As Mets Rise, A City Starts to Change Its Pinstripes.

Cespedes homers again (17th with Mets, 35th overall), as does d'Arnaud, Wright drives in the winning run and the magic number is almost down to single digits:

 

[lancer]

For the O's fans who still care, the O's have 2 players about to hit the 200 Hr's in a career plateau: Adam Jones has 196 in his 9 year career and Chris Davis has 198 in his 7 year career. Would be nice to see them both reach the 200 mark this season. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Music to my ears: As Mets Rise, A City Starts to Change Its Pinstripes.

Cespedes homers again (17th with Mets, 35th overall), as does d'Arnaud, Wright drives in the winning run and the magic number is almost down to single digits:

View attachment 179051

ToD.^&grin -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

At the big peach orchard in Queens.

 

[jazzeum]

Not a good night for the home team

 

[Warrior]

Not a good night for the home team

No worries Brad, I'm sure they'll pull the game out of their collective rear ends in the bottom on the ninth....................

 

[lancer]

The Nats wonder boys did their thing tonight. Strasburg was as good as he's ever been, going 8 innings of 1-hit shutout ball, while fanning 14. Harper drove in all 4 of the Nats runs in the 4-0 victory with 2 Hr's, a single and a walk in 4 PA's. Harper is now the #1 ranked hitter in MLB, leading the NL in BA and Hr's, while ranking 6th in RBI's. Even more impressive is his 1.134 OPS and his 9.2 WAR. He has serious MVP numbers. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Anyone know what is wrong with White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija? He has been an ABSOLUTE disaster since August started. He has had 9 starts and has gone 1-8 (I don't believe I am jumping the gun by awarding him a loss in tonight's game, which is only in the 5th, but he left the game after yielding 10 runs and trails 16-3.:rolleyes2. He has gone 49.2 innings in those starts and has given up 71 hits (12 Hr's) and 51 earned runs! Absolutely unbelievable. Is he pitching hurt? He might just be having a bad stretch, but until August he was having a decent year. It's like someone just threw a switch and he went from good to horrible overnight, just fell off a cliff. The loss tonight (and it will be a loss), will leave him at 9-13 with a 5.27 ERA. What happened? -- Al

 

[Panzer ace]

The Nats wonder boys did their thing tonight. Strasburg was as good as he's ever been, going 8 innings of 1-hit shutout ball, while fanning 14. Harper drove in all 4 of the Nats runs in the 4-0 victory with 2 Hr's, a single and a walk in 4 PA's. Harper is now the #1 ranked hitter in MLB, leading the NL in BA and Hr's, while ranking 6th in RBI's. Even more impressive is his 1.134 OPS and his 9.2 WAR. He has serious MVP numbers. -- Al

Al:

It might be a consolation prize but I think Harper deserves the MVP. It is downright scary to think that he is only 22 years old.


-Jason

 

[lancer]

Al:

It might be a consolation prize but I think Harper deserves the MVP. It is downright scary to think that he is only 22 years old.


-Jason

Jason, I think he deserves it also. The hard part for the voters will be overlooking the Nats failure to make post-season, which is in no way Harper's fault. He is having an historic season and has done all he can to carry the Nats but baseball requires 9 men and Harper, good as he's been, is only one man. I do like the possibilities for his future. If he doesn't get hurt he has a great career ahead of him. And like you say, he is just 22... -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Sorry but I completely disagree. The award is not best player but most valuable . If it was best, Harper would win it without thinking. And it's not just the Nats not being good, Harper didn't succeed in big spots. Last week he had a chance to get hits in big spots against the Mets and except for the third game, he failed. Sorry, but that is not MVP.

On the other hand, Cespedes (who will probably not get it because he's only been in the league a couple of months, but will probably get a lot of votes) was a one man wrecking crews against the Nationals pitching. When a hit was needed in a big spot he got it, particularly that 2 run HR blast thst ended Storen's season. He basically put the Mets on his back and said ok boys, just follow me. That is MVP.

If he can't win it my vote would go to McCutchen of the Pirates or Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs.

 

[lancer]

Sorry but I completely disagree. The award is not best player but most valuable . If it was best, Harper would win it without thinking. And it's not just the Nats not being good, Harper didn't succeed in big spots. Last week he had a chance to get hits in big spots against the Mets and except for the third game, he failed. Sorry, but that is not MVP.

On the other hand, Cespedes (who will probably not get it because he's only been in the league a couple of months, but will probably get a lot of votes) was a one man wrecking crews against the Nationals pitching. When a hit was needed in a big spot he got it, particularly that 2 run HR blast thst ended Storen's season. He basically put the Mets on his back and said ok boys, just follow me. That is MVP.

If he can't win it my vote would go to McCutchen of the Pirates or Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs.

Harper has been the best player this season and the most valuable, all year long, not just a 6 week flash, like Cespedes. The award to Harper would acknowledge the level of performance and his single-handed efforts to keep the Nats in the race through most of the season. Baseball being baseball, no one succeeds EVERY time an opportunity presents itself, so it is shortsighted to say Harper is not MVP material because he didn't come through in certain spots in 2 games. He has come through in literally dozens of others, all season long. The line between best player and MVP is very thin, at best, and are often the same thing. There are many players that play at MVP level for stretches of time, but Harper has played at MVP level all season, with only the inevitable failure on very rare occasions. Rizzo and McCutchen have legitimate arguments, but neither have numbers near Harper's. The only thing that will keep Harper from winning is the Nat's failure to make the post-season, otherwise it is a no-brainer. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

He has gaudy numbers and has played well but hasn't been there when it counted and, yes, those games are what people look at. He failed when it counted. He had the chance to get his team back in the race, to put some serious pressure on the Mets, maybe even take the division from them had they swept them but didn't. Maybe that says more about the Nationals' failure as a team but you need to come up in a big spot. Just not MVP.