2008 MLB Season

[njmeadowlanders]

Tank...enough man...

Come on...

[LMU]

Ok, seriously now, I've noticed that every post that Tank makes anymore has the aura of him thinking that he's Jim Rome and delivering the most amazing take of all time, yet all of them are so mind-numbing and dumbfounding that they've completely worn away whatever value I could possibly find in any of his insight.

On to the trade... it's obvious that Manny was becoming a clubhouse cancer. Perhaps Torre can reign him in, but there's no way that Boston could keep up with the "Manny being Manny" alabi. Bay may just surprise a few people, but they're fortunate that they got value for him instead of letting him walk and getting nothing.

The Pirates may just be surprised with LaRoche. He is a decent player, and only had limited playing time this year because he was injured at the beginning of the season and DeWitt had the hot hand for a while there. I can't speak on the other prospects involved, since I haven't followed any of them. Then again, as has been said, if Pirates management would drop the giveaways and themed nights and invest that money in players, they wouldn't be in this black hole.

Yes, the Dodgers do have a logjam in the OF, but Manny is pretty much going to provide what Coletti thought he could get out of ANDRUW... A... N... D... R... U... W... *ding*, yet failed so miserably at. I also find Pierre extremely overrated, and would think that an OF of Ramirez/Ethier/Kemp would be the way to go.

And, if you want to be technical, the Angels have the same logjam with Anderson/Hunter/Guerrero/Matthews/Rivera. With Matthews in a seemingly never-ending slump, I'd think that if they stuck with the other 4 at OF/DH, they'd be in good shape.

[Still MIGHTY]

Hmm, so can anyone explain why the Dodgers now carry FIVE starting outfielders?

Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones, Andre Ethier, and now Manny Ramirez.

And the other team in Los Angeles has 4 could-be starting outfielders: Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, Garrett Anderson, Gary Mathews Jr....the city could have a whole lineup of OF's (one being the DH) if the two teams merged. Juan Pierre would have to play at 2nd base because his arm sucks....

I was actually about to put that. The Halos actually have 5 if you include Juan Rivera, which I do. Reggie Willits is a quality outfielder too. We used to use him all the time in the field or DH when we wanted to put a speed guy on the bases. But even with the DH, it causes such an effin logjam in those spots. At the beginning of the season, it was Vlad in right, Torii in Center, GA in left, and Matthews at DH for a majority. Matthews would go in the field every 3 days or so and one of the others would be the DH. Reggie and Juan couldnt ever see the field. Now with Matthews injured and rehabing, its Vlad, Torii, GA, and Rivera at DH and I still dont think that Reggie has seen playing time in months.

But point being, I thought we had a problem with 5 starting quality guys (and one pretty damn good spark plug) with a DH spot to work with.

I have no idea how the Doyers will work that one out.

If I was a Dodger fan, I'd prefer Manny, Pierre, and Ethier and have Kemp be backup and sit Jones the rest of the year, because he is the main complaint I hear from my Dodger buddies, but Torre keeps giving Andruw Jones chances and he keeps falling on his face.

[BaltimoreFan]

I think the Pirates made out pretty well. LaRoche is going to be a very good player. The Dodgers seemed really down on him, for what ever reason. I think the change of scenery will be good for him. I really was hoping the Orioles could get him, he's going to be a top 3B. The Nady deal was also decent. Nady isn't that good, so you weren't going to get that much for him. Tabata was a good pick up. His stats don't look that good, but he's also only 19 and in AA. He's got a decent OBP, just isn't hitting that good yet. Both these guys are going to be real good.

The Red Sox didn't make out that good IMO. I know Manny wanted out, but he's said that for a while now. They probably would have been better off keeping him, then getting ready of him next year. Jason Bay is good, but I don't think he can fill in for Ramirez in the lineup. The Sox may have cost themselves a shot at the playoffs (or at least an early exit).

[jkrdevil]

Manny will be fine in LA, he's on a new team and is playing for a contract. The Dodgers are probably going to get the best Manny has.

I like that Manny is the NL. The Yankees and Devil Rays (I still call them the Devil Rays) won that trade. No offense to Jason Bay but he doesn't scare me the way Manny did at the plate.

[Braden]

Torre and Manny teaming up with the Dodgers to take the NL West... weird.

[Island_Style]

Who needs Manny? The Marlins are up 7-0 at the end of the second. Hermida has 2 RBI's.

[Still MIGHTY]

Angels had two 2-out 3-run homers in the 3rd inning from Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera to take the 6-0 lead over the Yankees.

Abreu hit a homer in the 4th for the Yanks. Cabrera hit a triple and then Damon knocked him in with a line drive that took a funny hop over Vlad's head in the 5th

Angels lead 6-2 in the 6th.

[w00tness]

Pudge striking out in his Yankees debut.

[Still MIGHTY]

Vlad Guerrero just hit another 2-out 3-run home run in the 6th.

Angels lead the Yanks 10-2

[w00tness]

Vlad Guerrero just hit another 2-out 3-run home run in the 6th.

Is it me, or is Vlad one of the most underrated players in baseball?

[gingerbreadmann]

Vlad Guerrero just hit another 2-out 3-run home run in the 6th.

Is it me, or is Vlad one of the best players in baseball?

Fixed.

He always has been, IMO. Just hard to notice in Montreal and now he's a bit older though still somehow under the radar.

[w00tness]

Fixed.

He always has been, IMO. Just hard to notice in Montreal and now he's a bit older though still somehow under the radar.

He could very well be in the 500 HR club be the time he retires, and he has a .322 career batting average. Jesus, he's just an amazing player. He's one of the few players who can hit a ball 15 inches below his knees over the fence, if not the only player, even.

[Drew22]

Kotchman: 0-5 in debut, 0-4 tonight.

Braves can't catch a break.

[Still MIGHTY]

Fixed.

He always has been, IMO. Just hard to notice in Montreal and now he's a bit older though still somehow under the radar.

He could very well be in the 500 HR club be the time he retires, and he has a .322 career batting average. Jesus, he's just an amazing player. He's one of the few players who can hit a ball 15 inches below his knees over the fence, if not the only player, even.

yeah when he's not grounding into double plays, like he just did.

Getting to see him these past 5 years, he is an amazing player no doubt.

My only gripes - not the most graceful runner, and if he's cold he is cold.

Also he can try to learn some English. He's been in Montreal and now Anaheim for how long now and he still uses an interpreter?

C'mon Vlad, puede halbar un pequeno Ingles?

Anyways

Mark Teixeira gets his first Angels RBI and 3rd Angels hit (all today) as the Angels go up 12-3 in the 8th.

And my god...

A REGGIE WILLITS SIGHTING!!!

Takes over for Vlad defensively.

The guy is an underused sparkplug. Plays as hard as he can every play. Fast. Consistent with the bat, but lost amongst the Angels' hoard of outfielders

[Still MIGHTY]

Kotchman: 0-5 in debut, 0-4 tonight.

Braves can't catch a break.

Wow, poor Kotch.

He was absolutely on fire with the Halos and in a power surge as of late just before the trade.

I can only assume he's just down emotionally after the trade, no matter what he says.

He is just saying what he has to.

No one wants to go from the Best Team in Baseball to a cellar team midseason, especially when he was contributing to their success.

Hopefully he'll get back in form for you guys, so you can see how good he really is.

I wish him and the Braves nothing but success while he's a member of their squad.

[AndrewPF]

good riddance to bad manny.

i'll breathe a sigh of relief to see him in dodger blue.

[scarsofthumper]

The Angels are unstoppable.

[NJTank]

I am not talking literally I am talking figuratively.

So when you said the Mets were finished and that you were done being a fan, you were talking in the figurative sense?

The Mets were finished, they needed to fire Willie Randolph, if Willie was still the manager the Mets would be 10 games under .500 and double digits out of first by now, and when I said they were finished it was when Willie was still there and the Mets were showing no heart. The Mets had a stretch this year where if they did not score first they lost, if they fell behind by more the one run they lost, and if they were like 3-18 when tied after or trailing after the sixth inning, and my statement was unless something radically changes they are done. Well the Manager was fired, and that seemed to revive them.

Lets face it Willie Randolph may be the worst manager ever, I feel sorry for the next team that has to suffer as him as manager. The collapse was squarely his fault and when the season began he kept the atmosphere. It was a bizarre atmosphere with the Mets. Willie with this quiet dignity BS he tried to turn the Mets into the IBM Yankees, and the Mets are not players that responded well to that.

A. He tried to suppress Jose Reyes emotions, he scolded Reyes for his dqncing and told him to stop doing it. This led to a sulking Reyes that at the begging of the year was popping every pitch up, not walking and batting around .240.

B. He had a strict no beard policy, and several players wanted to grow beards, but he allowed a few players to have gotees like Carlos Delgado, sepearte rules is never a good thing.

C. He seemed more worry about things like this as opposed to how they played on the field. So if a player made an error or played poorly it did not bother Willie, as he used the phrase "Tip the Cap Turn the Page"

D. Willie caused lack of fight and enthusiasm he showed and the Mets became this mirror of their manager, so the Tip the Cap turn the Page turned into we are the Mets we can win tomorrow so if they fell behind they essential focused on tomorrow instead of fighting back.

E. Willie and pitching guru Rick Peterson combined to scramble the rotation too. He had Mike Pelfrey getting bombed almost every time out, because they made him where this uncomfortable mouth guard, and you could tell it was uncomfortable because he was figiting with it every pitch. He could not get moisture on his hands and was tipping his pitches because of it. Why was Pelfrey wearing it to to begin with you may ask? Because Willie and the guru aka Rick high as a kite look there is a butterfly Peterson did not like he stuck his tongue out when he pitched, they thought it was showing up the batters. So they where more worried about the other team then their own pitcher.

F. Willie and the guru would have incredible short leaches on pitchers and would tell them what pitches to throw, this had a negative effect on Oliver Perez, who could not throw strikes early in the year, but then their handling of the pen was oddest of all they seemed to picking relievers randomly and nobody had a set role, and this created confussion and hurt the pen and hurt the follow of the game and the team felt disjointed.

G. Willie never argued, and this hurt the team and I think ultimately led to the team quitting on him. While playing the Gnats in May Moises Alou on one of the rare days he played got called out on strikes and out of anger he slammed the bat on the ground. He was ejected, Willie did not move from his spot on the dugout steps. He just stood there, Alou walked past him and almost looked like he was asking Willie to go out and defend him, and he did not. He said not one word to the ump, not even to ask why my player was ejected. The umpires simply started screwing over the Mets because Willie would never argue, as opposed to Bobby Cox in Atlanta, I feel Cox gets his pitchers a wider strike zone and gets his batter a smaller strike zone by always chirping at the umps. You have to argue you have to get ejected occasionally and Willie maybe was thrown out twice in four years. The Alou incident happened right around the time the Mets started to struggle, now they did go to Yankee Stadium and did win two games, but that Sunday Nighter when Carlos Delgado lost a HR because of the umps and Derek Jeter chirping may have sealed Randolph's fate with the team. The ball was clearly a HR it hit off the foul pole but the umps took it away and Willie did not argue, Jerry Manuel did and was ejected, what did Willie do when his bench coach was ejected. He stood there like a potted plant and said nothing.

The following day Willie's comments to a reporter came out and stated he was a victim because of race, that he is in the same class as Herm Edwards and Isiah Thomas who were criticized because they were black, any momentum that happened in Yankee Stadium was wiped out and he lost credibility with the team, and was on the verge of being fired. He should have been fired then and there.

After his job was safe on Memorial Day the Mets played well for a week, but then they had the disaster in San Diego in which they lost four straight games to a last place team in the late innings and his managerial decisions put him back on the hot seat, as his players when asked should he stay nobody came to his defense. This created a strained atmosphere and this is the point I said they were done, becuase it seemed as if Willie would never be fired, or would be fired too late. Finally it happened and after about two weeks of feelind with Jerry Manuel the Mets started to put it together.

A. Manuel lets the players be trhemselves and only is concerned how they play n the field, he is a true players manager this way but he can be firm, as seen in his very first inning when Jose Ryes tweaked his hamstring he argued on the field with Jose to come out of the game. Jose came back and apologized in the dugout and was ok, but it seemed to get the players under control.

B. When they play bad they take fielding practice and early BP, Willie's tip the cap and turn the page was replaced with lets examine what me did wrong and lets fix it. Had the Mets did this in September they would have never lost the division. I'll never forget the words of Willie, "These struggles will just make the champagne taste sweater" For a team that felt they would win because they are the Mets it was a poisonous statement. It almost confirmed that attitude and said that attitude was ok. Manuel put a stop to that and for the first time made the players address the collapse, and it was this that finally stopped the Mets sinking in quick sand and it was this that led to them finally playing up to their potential.

C. Manauel and new Pitching Coach Dan Warthen stabilized the pen they put everyone in defined roles they increased the pitch count number and let the pitchers control the game oh and the mouth guard became a thing of the past for Pelfrey who won seven straight starts before yesterday.

D. Maunel fought for his players too he has been ejected twice since taking over and has argued several other times, he chirps at the umps and the players have rallied behind him.

E. Tip the cap turn the page is done now the Mets fight back they showed the ability to rally and even when they lose seem to be fighting to the end of the game. In short Willie's wusses became Jerry's Kids, and the Mets have turned it around and have risen from the dead, and now should be in the middle of the three team fight all year, and with their pitching I give them the edge.

[TFoA]

Kotchman: 0-5 in debut, 0-4 tonight.

Braves can't catch a break.

Except for the fact that they won tonight