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2011 MLB Season Thread


Gary

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Vin Scully has announced that he will be back to call a 63rd consecutive season as the Dodgers play-by-play man. Still one of the best in the game.

I think a very good argument can be made that he is the greatest baseball announcer of all-time.

As long as his mind is still there and he can still talk that job is his for as long as he wants it.

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The 3rd inning just ended in Toronto...

Desmond Jennings hits a first pitch homer

Jaso Doubles, scoring Upton

Shawn Rodriguez hits a 2 run homer

Desmond Jennings hits a solo shot the next batter

Also, David Price... 8Ks, out of a possible 9. C'mon Baltimore, knock the Yankees down a notch for my team.

12 through 5.

He went 7 full, and threw 14. AND it was his Mom's birthday, and his first start being 26.

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Buck is still bitter the Yankees fired his ass in 1995

You take a last place team and get them right to the cusp of winning the winning the World Series only for you to be fired and have some other guy brought in and win four titles with the team you played a huge part in building and got zero credit for it, you might a be a little bitter as well.

Its hard to argue the Yankees didn't make the right call, but I can't really blame Showalter for having many negative feelings towards the Yankees. Who's to say that if he hadn't stayed on the Yankees wouldn't have won four World Series as well? If he's the manager of that team throughout the 90's and into the 2000's and they do just as well, he goes down as one of the greatest managers of all-time and is going to Cooperstown when he retires.

Easiest thing in the world to say to somebody like that is to get over it until something like that happens to you. Suddenly its no longer so easy.

I don't think its right, but I don't blame him one bit either. The Yankees chewed him up and spit him out. All they did was leave him with the check for going through the hard years of building the team up to become the dynasty that they became in the late 90's.

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Buck is still bitter the Yankees fired his ass in 1995

You take a last place team and get them right to the cusp of winning the winning the World Series only for you to be fired and have some other guy brought in and win four titles with the team you played a huge part in building and got zero credit for it, you might a be a little bitter as well.

Its hard to argue the Yankees didn't make the right call, but I can't really blame Showalter for having many negative feelings towards the Yankees. Who's to say that if he hadn't stayed on the Yankees wouldn't have won four World Series as well? If he's the manager of that team throughout the 90's and into the 2000's and they do just as well, he goes down as one of the greatest managers of all-time and is going to Cooperstown when he retires.

Easiest thing in the world to say to somebody like that is to get over it until something like that happens to you. Suddenly its no longer so easy.

I don't think its right, but I don't blame him one bit either. The Yankees chewed him up and spit him out. All they did was leave him with the check for going through the hard years of building the team up to become the dynasty that they became in the late 90's.

Buck Showalter had diddly squat to do with building that team. Gene Michael was the architect. Gene Michael is the guy who traded Roberto Kelly for Paul O'Neil, the guy who drafted or signed Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. He built up the farm system and laid the seeds for the 90's Yankees during George's suspension. He's the guy who ignored George when he wanted to ship Pettitte and Bernie Williams out of town.

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Watching the Giants struggle so hard against the Astros is downright depressing. No way this team even sniffs the playoffs at this rate.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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Buck Showalter had diddly squat to do with building that team. Gene Michael was the architect. Gene Michael is the guy who traded Roberto Kelly for Paul O'Neil, the guy who drafted or signed Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada. He's the guy who ignored George when he wanted to ship Pettitte and Bernie Williams out of town.

I didn't say antyhing regarding Gene Michael. Your writting as if the Yankees won in spite of what Showalter did. Showalter supported every single one of those moves as well. If he had fought them it would be a different story. He was a career minor league manager hired by Michael specifically because he felt they needed somebody with experience working with younger players and it is well documented they had a great working relationship.

I think what happened with Showalter was that they needed a scapegoat to explain why they lost in '95 because its not the Yankees style to admit that they got beat by a better team. Even if they got past Seattle I think Cleveland would have destroyed them. That '95 team though was a team in transition and I don't think they were going to win. Guys like Pat Kelly, Mike Stanley, Randy Velarde, Don Mattingly were on their way out. Guys like Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Posada aren't there yet or are just arriving. Bernie and O'Neill are the only guys who's roles in the starting lineup remained unchanged from '95 to '96. Everyone else was either gone, or took lesser roles. Even the pitching was very different. More guys switched roles or left then changed. Wetteland was still the closer. That's the biggest thing that remained. Starting pitchers #1-#5 were all different. David Cone is no longer the number one, and Jack McDowell is no longer the number two. They turned over more then half their roster.

I don't think that team was winning with any manager, but like I said they needed a scapegoat and when in doubt fire the manager. Not many people will ever question that rationale. But if it was all Showalter then why were so many other guys gone with him? Joe Torre never had the team Showalter had to work with, so I don't agree with the idea that Torre got done what Showalter couldn't. He never had the chance. He lost in '95 and never got a shot with his '94 team which was far better. Could he have? I don't know.

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The Reds finally get back above .500 and now have a 4 game series with the Phillies who it feels like theyve lost 30 straight games to. Sweet.

The Reds strike me as a team learning how to win.

They had that breakout year last year. I don't think many people outside of Cincinnati expected they would keep that pace this year. Given the talent they had on this year's team I don't think it was possible to repeat that kind of season.

The core of that roster is set. Votto is going to be the guy. Brandon Phillips is right behind him talent wise. Bruce is starting to live up to the hype. Drew Stubbs looks like a legit CF. Offensively so/so (he's gotta cut down on those strikeouts) but defensively he's solid. Reminds me alot of Mike Cameron.

The pitching is looking alot better as well. For all that was made of Aroldis Chapman having control problems he seems to be back. (ERA of 1.90 since the start of July.) He should be in the starting rotation next year, I can't think of a reason why he wouldn't be. I would give him a couple of starts as well before the year is over if I were Dusty Baker. Ondrusek looks like he could be a potential closer. Johnny Cueto looks like an ace again after being off a couple of years. Weather or not he can keep that pace remains to be seen. They seem to have gotten Dontrelle Willis back on track. I know he hasn't won a game yet, but he's looked decent.

The questions they will have is guys like Homer Bailey. He looked so good to start the year and ever since he went on the DL he just hasn't been the same. If he doesen't do anything next year I think the Reds need to pull the plug on any chance of him being an ace and begin to look elsewhere. I'd say either convert him to the bullpen or send him packing. Kind of the same deal with Travis Wood who's been just awful this year. I don't know how he has a winning record with his ERA on a .500 team.

The lineup talent also drops off very fast once you get outside the core guys of Votto, Phillips, Bruce and Stubbs. You can work with Ryan Hanigan as your starting catcher, but Paul Janish has to go at short. I understand that's why they brought in Renteria and maybe he can give you a year or two, but that's not a long term solution either. Same deal with left field. Cannot have a guy hitting below .220 at the second biggest offensive position after first base. I'll Rolen the benefit of the doubt that he's just having a down year due to injury, but they should look into finding a long term solution there as well, because Rolen's got two maybe three years left in him at best.

I guess my evaluation of the Reds in short would be that they have pieces you can build around but they don't have the supporting cast that seperates teams like them from the Boston Red Sox. I think they have to move fast as well because the pieces they do have are as good as they are going to get right now with the exception of Chapman. All they're going to do from this point on is get older and slowly lose their ability.

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Janish is out there for his glove, not his bat.

SS is one position where defense matters more than offense. You're rarely going to find one whose offense negates poor defense (exception: Hanley Ramirez), and that position is absolutely critical in the grand scheme of things.

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Janish is out there for his glove, not his bat.

SS is one position where defense matters more than offense. You're rarely going to find one whose offense negates poor defense (exception: Hanley Ramirez), and that position is absolutely critical in the grand scheme of things.

25-30 years that would fly, but in today's game even at shortstop you need to be doing something at the plate.

If your not hitting at least .230 I don't care how good your glove is, you gotta go.

Its just the nature of the game now. Your middle infielders need to be producing some runs as well in addition to defense. Too many guys out there that can do both to say that a pure one dimensional player isn't a liability. Toby Harrah's numbers aren't setting the pace offensively anymore. Troy Tulowitzki is, and Tulo is argubly the best defensive shortstop in the game as well. Just can't have someone like Mark Belanger at short anymore and expect it to not be a liability.

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The Reds finally get back above .500 and now have a 4 game series with the Phillies who it feels like theyve lost 30 straight games to. Sweet.

Didn't see tonight's game, but it sounds like they ran in to a healed and well-rested Cole Hamels - a lot of Phillies fans are breathing a sigh of relief tonight.

Have a hunch that Halladay will get blown up tomorrow. Not sure why, but my gut tells me that his recent struggles will culminate with a melt down tomorrow, then he'll be fine for the rest of the year.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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