MLB 2019

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by SoCalJoe, Mar 28, 2019.

  1. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    As far as WAR (wins above replacement), I haven’t a clue. My boy Mike Trout is on pace to have the greatest WAR in history but the Halos can’t even finish above 500 (where is the ‘wins’?)

    @nevzter I’m sure this got plenty of play up north, but Carl Yastrzemski’s grandson Mike is having a great rookie season for the Giants (at age 29, which tells all you need to know about his perseverance). In his first game playing at Fenway Mike hit his 20th HR of the year and the next night Yaz himself threw out the first pitch to his Grandson.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/2370345001
     
    #21
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  2. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

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    The Cardinals had a 4 game sweep at Wrigley this weekend. The first since 1921. I think Maddon's tenure is at it's end. The Cardinals are back in the post-season!
     
    #22
  3. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    Saw him playing for Vanderbilt against LSU while visiting friends near Baton Rouge. I was mightily confused when he made his debut this year. I had completely forgotten about him.
     
    #23
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2019
  4. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    I would have been satisfied with a split. And I think the Cubs would be idiots to fire Maddon. But I really don't care. I like our club and the fact that nobody is talking about their post season chances. It's all about how the Dodgers will structure their rotation or if Judge and Stanton will stay hot for the Yankees. The Cardinals? So far under the radar we don't even need any stealth technology. Everybody starts over at 0-0 when the playoffs begin, and strange things happen when baseball is played in October. But I like where we're at.
     
    #24
  5. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    I know that MVP depends heavily on stats -- unless you're a pitcher for a team in NYC -- but if most valuable = the single player who turned a .500 at best side into one that's going to post-season, the NL MVP should be Goldschmidt.
     
    #25
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  6. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    @encorespanish How’s the feeling in the Twin Cities about the Twins postseason chances?
     
    #26
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  7. encorespanish

    encorespanish Active Member

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    @SoCalJoe as long as we don't have to face the Yankees, we feel great! Oh wait...
     
    #27
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  8. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    His stats are somewhat pedestrian for him. He had a pretty bad start, didn't really turn it around until after the All-Star break, and has had a few bumps along the way since. But he's hit some big homers and had a lot of exceptional plate appearances. The biggest difference he's made is in the field. Last season we had 132 errors. The season before, we had 92. With three games left this season, we have 66. A significant reason for that is Goldy’s glove work at first base. He’s the first plus defender we’ve had there since Pujols left after the 2011 season, the last time we won the Series.
     
    #28
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  9. astroevan

    astroevan Well-Known Member

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    Stupid Yankee bias! Astros play another weekday lunchtime special on a network that probably 80% of the population does not get.

    Otherwise, I have been quite entertained by what I've seen so far in the Braves/Cardinals series.
     
    #29
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  10. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Max Scherzer is a flat out beast, and the Nats have put the Dodgers on the brink. Probably too much to ask, but my loud/obnoxious Dodger buddies are gripping.

    Cards-Braves could play 99 games and it would be 50-49.

    Expecting the Astros to finish off the Rays today, but got to give Tampa credit, they play in same division as Yankees & Red Sox, and aren’t intimidated by playing great teams.

    @encorespanish Sorry encore, the Yankee hex continues.
     
    #30
  11. encorespanish

    encorespanish Active Member

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    16 straight playoff game losses, 13 of which were against the Yankees. At least my expectations were in line before the series started...

     
    #31
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  12. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

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    Well the cards/braves game went nothing like I expected and I'm positively thrilled about it.
     
    #32
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  13. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    It’s interesting, isn’t it? Before the Wild Card games, none of the scribes or talking heads were saying much about St. Louis. It was all about the Yankees, and the Dodgers, and the Astros. How would Roberts set up LA’s playoff starting pitching rotation? Could the Yankees sluggers all get healthy and be hot for the post season? Could Houston make up for last season’s disappointing defense of their 2017 title? Excuse my French, but nobody was saying shit about the Cardinals, probably because they barely pipped the Brewers for the supposedly weak ass NL Central.
    Fast forward a week and a half.
    The Dodgers are out, the Astros are on the brink (although I’d be shocked if Tampa Bay beats them at home) and St. Louis, like the roach you just can’t kill, is still alive. We won the season series with the Nats (5-2, if memory serves), but you can toss that out the window. Both teams stormed back from sub .500 records to get here, and neither are the same squads they were at the All Star break.
    Washington’s turnaround is even more impressive than St. Louis’s in my mind. They were 19-31 on May 24th and Dave Martinez’s job was in question. When you’ve got guys like Scherzer and Strasburg, you can shorten a series pretty quickly. The Cardinals are the most inconsistent 92 win team you’ll ever see, but when they win, it’s a different or guys getting it done each time. I’m not optimistic, given the weaknesses of this team, but I’d love, Love, LOVE IT if we could beat the Yankees for World Series Championship #12. They’ve met five times in the Fall Classic, with the Cardinals holding 3-2 advantage. They won the last Series between the two in 1964. I was a second grader, and didn’t see an inning of it until many years later.
    Time for some new memories.
     
    #33
  14. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    Well, it looks like the Dodgers have TWO Mr. Septembers. Kershaw has always been pants in the post season,, and Bellinger looks like joining him.

    Well done Washington and St. Louis. As I type this, there's still three Tampa Bay outs before the Astros meet the Yanks. And if there's any AL team that has the guts and dedication of the Cards, it's definitely the Rays.
     
    #34
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  15. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    Most relieved person in baseball must be AJ Hinch. Astros decided to gamble and send out Verlander on 3 days rest in Game 4 (good idea for sinkerballers, huge risk for power guys)and it backfired. However, champions know how to get it done (doesn’t hurt to have Cole either :rolleyes:). Yanks v Astros should be awesome.

    The fall out in SoCal over the Dodger gag has been enjoyable (add in longtime Halo Howie Kendrick w/the grand slam made it all the better). Dave Roberts has been getting the majority of the heat. Kershaw should’ve pitched to the lefty to end 7th (whom he struck out), then Maeda to start the 8th. Forget about postseason, Kershaw as a whole is nothing more then a good #3 or #4 starter (he’s lost 5/6 mph off his fastball). No NL team has gone to 3 straight World Series since the 1940’s and the streak continues.
     
    #35
  16. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    Since they scored the last of their 13 runs in the 3rd inning at Atlanta last Wednesday, the Cardinal bats have gone silent. Although it’s tough to gauge, given the circumstances, four Braves relievers held them scoreless with only two hits the rest of the way. Now Washington has not only kept that string going, they’ve improved upon it greatly, carrying no hitters by their starters through six innings of the first two games. Great pitching or slumping hitters? Probably a combo of both, although you wouldn’t be too surprised if it were Scherzer or Strasburg.
    Except Strasburg starts today in game 3. Anibal Sanchez was even better than Scherzer in the opener, and now the Nats are up 2-0 and back at home. Today looks like a must win for St. Louis to me. As much as I love this team, I don’t see them winning four straight from this Washington bunch. When you’ve got guys like Scherzer and Strasburg, you’ve got a big advantage in a series, be it best of five or seven. They’re a little bit more beatable than they used to be, but not by much. Our starters have been about as good as they can be, especially Adam Wainwright, who was a real Jekyll and Hyde this regular season. But Jack Flaherty has been lights out, the best pitcher in either league since the All Star break. Won’t matter a whit if we don’t get the bats going today. Look for Jose Martinez to start in RF today. A huge defensive liability, but he’s had several good plate appearances this post season, so you roll the dice. Many Redbird fans are calling for Dexter Fowler’s benching, but we really don’t have anyone capable of replacing him at lead off. Our current success coincided with his move there, so my opinion is we sink or swim with him in there. Right now we’re sinking. But y’all know how funny momentum is in athletic contests.
    It’s D-Day for our boys today.
    Houston looks set to give the Yanks some trouble in the ALCS.
    Good.....
     
    #36
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  17. stlouisbrad

    stlouisbrad Well-Known Member

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    Kind of hoping the Nationals put the cardinals our their misery tonight. Morale around town is crazy low and it would be nice to focus on hockey again.
     
    #37
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  18. jumpkutz

    jumpkutz Well-Known Member

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    Props to the Nats for performing at an extremely high level during the post season thus far. The Cardinals helped them some by going into a deep dive slump at exactly the worst time. But most of it was just excellent execution of the game, especially by the starting pitchers. Although Scherzer and Strasburg aren’t what they once were, they’re still pretty darn good. Good enough to dominate anybody over the course of a short series. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep it going against either the Yankees or Astros. It certainly appears that they can.
    As for St. Louis, the fan base is restless over ownership’s “be competitive” business model. Yes, they made it to the post season for the first time in three seasons, even winning the division. I’m sure fans of the Mariners, Marlins, Padres, White Sox, Phillies, Brewers and Reds would turn cartwheels at that accomplishment. That’s not good enough for the franchise with the second most World Series wins in the game.
    The club has $70 million tied up in Fowler and Carpenter alone. As a medium market team, I understand why they feel they can’t afford to eat too much money to move underperforming players. But if they want to win the way their fan base expects them too, they’re going to have to.
    Good luck to Washington in the WS. They certainly deserve to be there.
     
    #38
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  19. SoCalJoe

    SoCalJoe Well-Known Member

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    2-11 is the record of the teams in last 13 WS that had a week off between othe LCS and the series. Add that Houston has a better lineup & bullpen and it looks like the ‘Stros in 5 maybe 6. Unless...Scherzer and/or Strasburg can outduel Cole/Verlander and get a game in Houston, then perhaps it can go longer or the Nats can finish off the team of destiny thing they got going since being down 3-1 in the 8th inning of the Wildcard game.
     
    #39
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  20. HatterDon

    HatterDon Moderator

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    How the Yankees could be so confident in their previous series yet look so frightened against the Astros is amazing to me.

    I don't like the Yanks, but they did a hell of a job considering the huge amount of injuries they had. They should continue to dominate the AL East for at least three or four more seasons with all their young talent. Having said that, SOMEWHERE in their system or someone else's system, there has to be a major league quality catcher. The one they're using now, should be a PERMANENT DH. He has no receiving skills that I can identify. This is his third season as the worst regular catcher in the majors.
     
    #40
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