2011 MLB Season Thread

[cameroncrazie07]

I love the pure ignorance of anyone who backs the AL East and utters the phrase, "They are beating up on each other." Oh really, so the AL East plays only the AL East and no one els? Yet, when you see a team in another division play well against the opponents of their own division, that division is deemed "weak" by all the AL East backers.

Here's a few more stats that completely prove your statement incorrect. The Yankees are just 19-16 versus their fellow AL East opponents, that's barely over .500. Against the rest of the league they are 38-22 which is 16 games over .500. They are dominating teams outside of their division, but playing simply mediocre baseball against their division. I would call that beating up on each other. Now look at the Pirates, 10 games over .500 in their division, but just 4 games under against all other opponents. Even the Reds are 7 games over in the division but 9 games under against other opponents. I agree with BBTV, we can call it the most competitive division, but in no way shape or form is the NL Central a strong division.

[BBTV]

Apparently the Phillies are putting together a package for Hunter Pence that includes Vance Worley.

Ed Wade is an idiot (I love how I got criticized for hating him when he was the Phillies GM, but now everyone sees how overmatched he is in that role) but he can't be dumb enough to trade Pence at this point.

[Lights Out]

What? I thought he was just saying he planned on building around Hunter Pence!

[JayJaxon]

I do not want to see Pence in a Phillies uniform.

In other news, the Mets are shopping Beltran but they want a lot in return for him. Too much in my opinion.

[NJTank]

The Astros asre as dead as the American Space Program.

[cameroncrazie07]

Jose Reyes's streak of 87 consecutive at bats without a strikeout finally ended today. In my opinion that is incredible. In my little league days I was the ultimate contact hitter, but I still struck out every 30 or so at bats. But that's in little league. If I had to guess the average MLB player strikes out once every ten at bats, but to go 87 straight is just crazy. The Mets announcers also said that the club record is something like 167 straight. That's just ridiculous considering how much guys like Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds strike out today.

[BBTV]

What? I thought he was just saying he planned on building around Hunter Pence!

Putting together a package doesn't necessarily mean that an offer was solicited, though the Phillies usually don't F around unless they feel they can get it done. RAJ is in the bunker and isn't talking to the media until after the deadline, so I'm not sure how this leaked out, but apparently he's #1 on their list, and Beltran is 4 or 5. Michael Cuddyer (I think) was in there as well, as was Jeff Francour.

[YessSir32]

I can't wait for Wilson Betemit tonight. He fills the black hole at third and better yet, Brandon Inge is going to AAA! Also, trading only 2 single-A prospects leaves the big ones so the Tigers could possibly go get a guy like Beltran or Pence.

[TheOldRoman]

Just so you know, Betemit is about the worst defensive 3B in baseball. Sure he might drive in more runs than Inge, but he is going to misplay at least one ball per game and cost you lots of runs. Be prepared to be very angry with his defense.

[YessSir32]

Just so you know, Betemit is about the worst defensive 3B in baseball. Sure he might drive in more runs than Inge, but he is going to misplay at least one ball per game and cost you lots of runs. Be prepared to be very angry with his defense.

I'm ready for that, I'd rather have his poor defense because he does hit 100 points higher than Inge and his average glove that is decreasing.

[Cujo]

Stephen Drew's probably done for the year...face says it all.

After viewing tape, Drew blew through the stop sign at 3rd base, and clearly needs to pop in a Tom Emanski video on the fundamentals of sliding.

Painful, but he pretty much had this injury coming.

[scottysprings]

I love the pure ignorance of anyone who backs the AL East and utters the phrase, "They are beating up on each other." Oh really, so the AL East plays only the AL East and no one els? Yet, when you see a team in another division play well against the opponents of their own division, that division is deemed "weak" by all the AL East backers.

Do you honestly expect any better from the majority of Red Sox and Yankees "fans"? At least Rays, Jays, and Orioles fans have perspective (mainly because ESPN doesn't obsess over every aspect of our teams). Seriously, thanks to freaking ESPN and the lack of a salary cap, the majority of the Red Sox and Yankees' fans (and somewhat even their organizations) feel entitled to the playoffs and a trip to the World Series every year. That's why they look down their noses at fans of other teams.

I don't really get the whole "beating up on each other" thing, but I'd say you're the ones being ignorant. Being atop the AL East is not the same as being atop the AL Central. You don't have to be a Yankees or Red Sox fan to see that.

[Lights Out]

Well, duh - when the two perennial highest spenders in a cap-free league are in the same division, it's going to be a tough division. But I'm sick and tired of hearing other good teams get put down by the media basically for not being the Yankees or Red Sox. In '07, the Rockies were a "fluke" that was going to fade down the stretch. In '08, it was the Rays. Last year, it was the Giants. Now, it's the Pirates. Every freaking year, good teams get shat on like that.

[infrared41]

Apparently the Phillies are putting together a package for Hunter Pence that includes Vance Worley.

Despite all my arguing against deadline deals, I really like that move if the Phillies can pull it off.

[YessSir32]

I thought I would share this here. So, yesterday at the Tigers game, a scout happened to be sitting behind me for the Jays. He said he was looking at some A's players. Obviously he couldn't tell me, but I knew it was for pitching. Funny enough, I was reading the rumors on ESPN and the Jays are apparently interested in some A's pitching. I just thought that was kind of cool.

[BBTV]

Looking more and more like Joe "400 lbs of goo in a 300 lb bag" Blanton won't pitch again this year, which would make holding on to Vance Worley a little more important, as he's now the game 4 starter (unless Oswalt can come back, and nobody has seen or heard from him since he went back down to his farm.) I'm pretty sure that pitching was Blanton's only form of exercise, and even that's not much. If he can't do that, he's going to lose any conditioning that he may have had. I hope that the next time he steps on the field, he's in such bad shape that his heart explodes while he's on his way to the mound.

[NEW.ERA]

Nelson Cruz had 8 RBI's tonight. That stings.

[DarkJourney]

Nyjer Morgan is at it again. He makes a great catch and then flips off the San Francisco crowd. He is a San Francisco native as well. This guy just can't stay out of trouble.

[Still MIGHTY]

Nelson Cruz had 8 RBI's tonight. That stings.

Also mildly annoying

[Fox]

I love the pure ignorance of anyone who backs the AL East and utters the phrase, "They are beating up on each other." Oh really, so the AL East plays only the AL East and no one els? Yet, when you see a team in another division play well against the opponents of their own division, that division is deemed "weak" by all the AL East backers.

Agreed. Not to mention all those idiots who insist on calling the team with the most losses in their history a good team. No they're not!

I know this is a little late, but these comments don't make any sense to me. The whole AL East beating up on the AL East argument- here are some AL East facts:

-It contains the teams with the 2nd and 3rd best records in baseball

-If the season were to end today, the team with the 2nd best record in the AL, and 3rd best in baseball (Yankees) wouldn't be one of the six division winners (Obvious sign that the division is stronger than others)

-How about the Rays? 8.5 games out of the AL East, yet they would be only .5 back in the AL Central and would lead the NL central by percentage points

But the part that really made no sense was the response:

"Not to mention all those idiots who insist on calling the team with the most losses in their history a good team. No they're not!"

umm.. who are you arguing against here? The AL East, or the Phillies? I'm pretty sure that the Phillies have the most losses in MLB history. I'm assuming that this was intended to be a knock on the Red Sox for the 86 year drought, and you assumed that they had the most MLB losses? I'm pretty confused. But regardless of who you were talking about, look at the thread title^. 2011 MLB Season Thread the argument that just because their franchise, in history has lost a lot of games, that the (Phillies/Red Sox/Yankees/whoever you're talking about) good teams this year just doesn't make any sense. It's all about this year, not the past.