2009 MLB Season Thread

[epper]

And why do you think that raysox? It must be because we fill up your stadium because you guys are too pathetic to fill up your own. You should love us for that--bringing in extra revenue for the Rays.

[IronChefShark]

Last night was the first Giants game Ive gone to in over a year, and they decide to drop 13 runs on the Astros in the first three innings.

Oh, and I picked up a stars and stripes Lincecum tee while I was there.

Excuse me the.....well, you know

[HedleyLamarr]

For the Braves fans out there, Buster Olney is talking about potential trade partners for Atlanta in the coming weeks. It looks like the Braves are willing to part with Escobar and Javier Vazquez to get some more offense.

Story

As much as I want the Braves to win, and seeing how they're only 2 games out of first place, let's not forget who the Braves really are: A mediocre .500 team. They've got the starting pitching to avoid those long losing streaks, but lack the offense to sustain prolonged winning streaks. Unless they bring back a top-tier slugger that's playing here for more than just 2-3 months, the Braves would lose this deal.

The Braves finally have a strikeout machine.....why trade Vazquez away?

[Cujo]

Milton Bradley almost cost the Cubs another game yesterday -- A critical division game against Milwaukee, at that!

Why the is Lou still playing this imbecile??

[Jigga]

Maybe because Sweet Fat Lou is an imbecile.

[Epiphanic]

Nats defeated the Braves 5-3 with a 4 run 8th. Adam Dunn also hit his 300th home run.

Woo!

[BigEd76]

stop the presses.....Atlanta wore the regular gray jerseys on back-to-back days!

[JayJaxon]

Hanson still pitched good enough to win. Anyone else notice how his pitch count gets really high really fast?

Let's just chalk this one up as another bullpen abortion.

[TFoA]

That's exactly what it was. Hanson pitches 7 innings and allows 1 run. Mike Gonzalez kicks off a bullpen meltdown in which the rest of the bullpen gives up 4 runs in the 8th. Yeah, definitely a meltdown, though minor in comparison of what the Braves have done this year.

[JayJaxon]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

Manny hit a homer too.

[Seadragon76]

Well, look at this... The M's have taken two from Boston, have taken 4 out of 5 games from the Red Sox, and are 2.5 games back of Texas and the Angels.

I just want to say that I have no hard feelings towards Red Sox fans. They are some of the best fans in baseball... It's just too bad that the M's decided to use your team as a springboard.

[CC97]

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

Yeah but he doesn't even like baseball

[NJTank]

That J.P. Riccardi line will live on

[HedleyLamarr]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

I find it low-class when folks come up with a list of demands whenever a milestone ball is caught by them, like demanding autographed memorobilia and season tickets or a sum of money.

[Gary]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

I find it low-class when folks come up with a list of demands whenever a milestone ball is caught by them, like demanding autographed memorobilia and season tickets or a sum of money.

I would do the same thing, not come up with a demand, but just give him his ball. For love of the game and I know it'll mean more to them, than it does to you. Plus Dunn is a stand up guy, when he was in Arizona last year he would stop and sign autographs for fans and take pictures with the kids. Always had respect for him after I saw that at some of the games I went to last year

[gingerbreadmann]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

I find it low-class when folks come up with a list of demands whenever a milestone ball is caught by them, like demanding autographed memorobilia and season tickets or a sum of money.

Why? It may be greedy, but you can't fault someone for taking advantage of an opportunity to get some free stuff. That guy in Milwaukee a few months ago was a bit over-the-top, but still, you can't blame him for negotiating a deal for a ball that obviously has value to the player. If a fan knows that, you can't expect them to give that power up. I don't think I would have a huge grocery list, but if I caught a meaningful ball I can definitely say I would ask for at least a few things in return and not feel one ounce of guilt. Because it's my ball, and if they want it they have to pay somehow.

[HedleyLamarr]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

I find it low-class when folks come up with a list of demands whenever a milestone ball is caught by them, like demanding autographed memorobilia and season tickets or a sum of money.

Why? It may be greedy, but you can't fault someone for taking advantage of an opportunity to get some free stuff. That guy in Milwaukee a few months ago was a bit over-the-top, but still, you can't blame him for negotiating a deal for a ball that obviously has value to the player. If a fan knows that, you can't expect them to give that power up. I don't think I would have a huge grocery list, but if I caught a meaningful ball I can definitely say I would ask for at least a few things in return and not feel one ounce of guilt. Because it's my ball, and if they want it they have to pay somehow.

I didn't say it wasn't right. Hell, if a father in a family of four is struggling financially and can get X-amount of money out of it, that's his right.

You're 16 years old. You don't quite fully understand morals and ethics yet, and certainly don't know what hard work and responsibility is. For someone to have a laundry list of demends for a $5 ball that an athlete has put many years of hard work and training to reach a milestone accomplishment....you'll see where I'm coming from. Yes, you paid (well, more like Mom and Dad paid....) for the ticket where the ball was hit, and theoretically, the ball is in your possession...but morally and ethically, the ball is property of MLB and/or the host baseball team.

My most treasured sports item isn't so-and-so's jersey or so-and-so's item or so-and-so's autograph (I'm not a fan of autographs anyway)...it's a picture of Hank Aaron and myself. If I was ever in a position where I had someone's milestone ball, the only thing I'd want is to meet the guy, shake his hand, and hand-deliver the ball to him. No money, no autographs, no list of demands, none of that nonsense.

You'll change your stance once you take an ethics class in college.

[gingerbreadmann]

Oh yea, and congrats to Dunn on his 300th homer. Here is a pretty cool side-story from the ESPN re-cap.

Dunn's 300th home run ball was caught by U.S. Army Col. William Sanders, who returned it to Dunn, asking for nothing in return. Dunn gave him an autographed jersey, a couple of autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to a game.

Dunn seems like a really cool guy. Good for him.

I find it low-class when folks come up with a list of demands whenever a milestone ball is caught by them, like demanding autographed memorobilia and season tickets or a sum of money.

Why? It may be greedy, but you can't fault someone for taking advantage of an opportunity to get some free stuff. That guy in Milwaukee a few months ago was a bit over-the-top, but still, you can't blame him for negotiating a deal for a ball that obviously has value to the player. If a fan knows that, you can't expect them to give that power up. I don't think I would have a huge grocery list, but if I caught a meaningful ball I can definitely say I would ask for at least a few things in return and not feel one ounce of guilt. Because it's my ball, and if they want it they have to pay somehow.

I didn't say it wasn't right. Hell, if a father in a family of four is struggling financially and can get X-amount of money out of it, that's his right.

You're 16 years old. You don't quite fully understand morals and ethics yet, and certainly don't know what hard work and responsibility is. For someone to have a laundry list of demends for a $5 ball that an athlete has put many years of hard work and training to reach a milestone accomplishment....you'll see where I'm coming from. Yes, you paid (well, more like Mom and Dad paid....) for the ticket where the ball was hit, and theoretically, the ball is in your possession...but morally and ethically, the ball is property of MLB and/or the host baseball team.

My most treasured sports item isn't so-and-so's jersey or so-and-so's item or so-and-so's autograph (I'm not a fan of autographs anyway)...it's a picture of Hank Aaron and myself. If I was ever in a position where I had someone's milestone ball, the only thing I'd want is to meet the guy, shake his hand, and hand-deliver the ball to him. No money, no autographs, no list of demands, none of that nonsense.

You'll change your stance once you take an ethics class in college.

Well it makes much more sense now that you put it that way. You sounded like you think people should just give it to the people who come find you in the stands, which I completely disagree with. I get the sentiment of just wanting to meet the player; even I have felt awkward asking for autographs and such for a while. I think asking for money is stupid, but like I said, I wouldn't ask for that much physical stuff. Probably a bat and maybe some tickets to one or two games, but I would absolutely ask to meet him and get a picture or two. I'm not some naive materialistic kid who wants to milk it for as much stuff as possible. I get where you are coming from, even though I would still really want a bat. It's not like that would be a problem for the team or the player. Also, I completely disagree that the team or MLB truly "owns" it. That's part of the game, if you catch a home run, it's your ball. I don't care how hard the player has worked to get there, he is still getting paid millions by a rich team and he can afford to comply with at least a few small things like meeting the person and a bat or something in exchange, because of it's sentimental value. Though yes, a long list of demands is quite unnecessary and annoying, it's the person's right if they want to be so stubborn and difficult. It's a great moment for the player, but I don't think that gives him any rights to it.

[JayJaxon]

I'll never catch a home run ball because I never sit in a place where a home run ball can be hit. But I have never even caught a foul ball, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

But if I ever did sit in the home run section and caught one, I wouldn't ask for anything except to give him the ball myself. I have met players before, but it's still cool to do it

[ninersdd]

Give Tank some credit. He predicted a 88-74 record for the Giants. At 81 games their record is: 44-37