2012 MLB Season

[McCall]

Just saw the Nats-Yanks highlights. How did the umpire call that Nats runner out at home? He was looking right at it, perfect view, and his hand was clearly on the plate well before the tag was placed. What the hell is up with these guys this year? They're what's holding up expanded relay for now, and then they're consistently going out and proving why they do need it. What a joke.

[Funky Bunky]

Ervin Santana has been a pile of crap all season.

So, naturally, he's pulling a Matt Cain act through six innings so far tonight.

UPDATE - Justin Upton ends that after 20 outs.

Santana ends the game with a complete game shutout, 1 hitter.

Hopefully he can keep pitching like this, because he's basically handed out wins to the opposition the entire year. He's been horrible.

[pmoehrin]

Ervin Santana has been a pile of crap all season.

So, naturally, he's pulling a Matt Cain act through six innings so far tonight.

UPDATE - Justin Upton ends that after 20 outs.

Santana ends the game with a complete game shutout, 1 hitter.

Hopefully he can keep pitching like this, because he's basically handed out wins to the opposition the entire year. He's been horrible.

Ervin's always struck me as a conundrum. Every time you think he's finally gotten in together and is ready to take his place amongst the MLB's elite pitchers he essentially goes out and craps the bed. And then every time you think he's one of these what you see is what you get type of pitchers that's never going to be anymore then a decent #3, he does this.

[Funky Bunky]

Baseball's lord and savior went 0-for-7 with 5 Ks today.

That's a clown effort, bro.

19 year old against the red hot Yankees. It happens sometimes.

Forget the Yankees. He's yet to impress me versus any opponent.

Mike Trout >>>>>>>> Douche Harper

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

[pmoehrin]

Baseball's lord and savior went 0-for-7 with 5 Ks today.

That's a clown effort, bro.

19 year old against the red hot Yankees. It happens sometimes.

Forget the Yankees. He's yet to impress me versus any opponent.

Mike Trout >>>>>>>> Douche Harper

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

There's no way of knowing this early in both guys careers who the better player is going to be.

At the moment Trout has had the better year and by default I would say has to be considered the better player. But going forward I could see this turning into a modern day Mickey Mantle vs Willie Mays argument. In order to figure out who the better player is you have to start splitting hairs.

[Funky Bunky]

Ervin Santana has been a pile of crap all season.

So, naturally, he's pulling a Matt Cain act through six innings so far tonight.

UPDATE - Justin Upton ends that after 20 outs.

Santana ends the game with a complete game shutout, 1 hitter.

Hopefully he can keep pitching like this, because he's basically handed out wins to the opposition the entire year. He's been horrible.

Ervin's always struck me as a conundrum. Every time you think he's finally gotten in together and is ready to take his place amongst the MLB's elite pitchers he essentially goes out and craps the bed. And then every time you think he's one of these what you see is what you get type of pitchers that's never going to be anymore then a decent #3, he does this.

He's very inconsistent. He can be great one game, horrible the next. It even seems like 1 year, he'll be great, and the next year he'll be terrible, and it's been like this for his entire career.

The dude has great stuff, probably better than anybody else on the team, but he just doesn't have it mentally it seems.

[loogodude90]

What the hell is up with these guys this year? They're what's holding up expanded relay for now, and then they're consistently going out and proving why they do need it. What a joke.

I don't think they're any worse this year than usual. I think people are just complaining more this season.

I agree that was a terrible call, though, and it unfortunately cost the Nats the game.

[Funky Bunky]

Baseball's lord and savior went 0-for-7 with 5 Ks today.

That's a clown effort, bro.

19 year old against the red hot Yankees. It happens sometimes.

Forget the Yankees. He's yet to impress me versus any opponent.

Mike Trout >>>>>>>> Douche Harper

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

There's no way of knowing this early in both guys careers who the better player is going to be.

At the moment Trout has had the better year and by default I would say has to be considered the better player. But going forward I could see this turning into a modern day Mickey Mantle vs Willie Mays argument. In order to figure out who the better player is you have to start splitting hairs.

You are correct, there is now way of telling who will be better, but right now, it seems like Trout might be a bit better than Harper in the outfield, and Harper might have more power.... but things could change.

[pmoehrin]

Baseball's lord and savior went 0-for-7 with 5 Ks today.

That's a clown effort, bro.

19 year old against the red hot Yankees. It happens sometimes.

Forget the Yankees. He's yet to impress me versus any opponent.

Mike Trout >>>>>>>> Douche Harper

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

There's no way of knowing this early in both guys careers who the better player is going to be.

At the moment Trout has had the better year and by default I would say has to be considered the better player. But going forward I could see this turning into a modern day Mickey Mantle vs Willie Mays argument. In order to figure out who the better player is you have to start splitting hairs.

You are correct, there is now way of telling who will be better, but right now, it seems like Trout might be a bit better than Harper in the outfield, and Harper might have more power.... but things could change.

I think those are the two biggest edges each will have on each other. I'm just happy to see that Harper probably isn't going to be a Manny Ramirez/Gary Sheffield type player where all he cares about is hitting. That was my only real concern with him going forward. Trout just seems like a better natural outfielder. I could see him winning close to double digit gold gloves. Like Harper the only thing he really has to work on is reading balls off the bat which I think is the hardest thing to do as an outfielder. I have little doubt that it will come for both though.

Trout has good power as well but Harper just seems to have Roy Hobbs type power. Short of your Adam Dunn's and Mark Reynolds' of the world who are looking to go yard in pretty much every AB I think he's going to be the game's strongest hitter. Trout strikes me as a Pete Rose type hitter with more power. But Harper could wind up being a Ted Williams type hitter.

I think the sky is the limit for both guys. You have to go back to Alex Rodrgiez to find the last time you had a player as good as either of these guys at that age and you probably have to go back to Bob Feller and Ted Williams to find the last time you had two teenage phenoms in the league at the same time.

[loogodude90]

Baseball's lord and savior went 0-for-7 with 5 Ks today.

That's a clown effort, bro.

19 year old against the red hot Yankees. It happens sometimes.

Forget the Yankees. He's yet to impress me versus any opponent.

Mike Trout >>>>>>>> Douche Harper

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

Yeah but you are forgetting that Trout is over a year older than Harper. That should be taken into account, too. If they are playing remotely at the same level, you might be able to make an argument that Harper is the "adjusted" better player, simply because he is over a year younger.

[mania]

What the hell is up with these guys this year? They're what's holding up expanded relay for now, and then they're consistently going out and proving why they do need it. What a joke.

I don't think they're any worse this year than usual. I think people are just complaining more this season.

In something I never, ever thought I would say... I agree with loogodude.

Baseball umpiring has ALWAYS been :censored:ing abhorrent, and the union is strong enough to push back against things like actually calling the rules on the books (see: the 12 second rule in ANY Yankees/Red Sox game), any form of expanded replays and against any automation of the strike zone.

You combine that with the fact that Steroids Bud doesn't particularly CARE about these things, especially when he can kill Amateur signings.

[mania]

Mike Trout has been better though. Better average (flirted with .350 for awhile), better OBP, better OPS, and more RBI's, in the same amount of games. Trout's speed and fielding is also at an entirely different level.

Both will be great players. Harper will probably have more power, but Trout has a better overall game.

Part of that is that Harper's only been playing the outfield for a year and a half.

He's also a year younger, and absolutely crushing what Trout did in his age 19 season, where, despite having flashes, he'll be really outmatched.

Trout's speed and defense gives him a higher floor. He can fall apart offensively and still carry value... but Harper's ceiling is absolutely insane.

[BigEd76]

Thome hit his 100th HR as a Phillie today, the 3rd team he's done that for. He joins A-Rod, Reggie Jackson and Darrell Evans as the only other players to accomplish this.

[STL FANATIC]

I'm sure there's been some variation in the quality of umpires, and if there's one thing I think the current crop is bad at it, it's the things outside of the split-second calls. Dealing with players and those sorts of things.

In any case, I believe that MLB has the best officiating of the big 4 (and college), and I don't think it's close. They usually get the calls right. Unfortunately, they will never be perfect.

That's why I rarely complain about the umpire themselves, anymore, and instead focus my attention on baseball for not instituting the available technology.

I think the reason there is more complaining is that we all have access to that technology. Instant replay has been around for a while, but it's only been in the past 5-10 years that it became commonplace for people to be able to control the DVR on their own TV. And it's only been in the past 3-4 that video of these plays would be almost instantaneously put up on the internet for fans to watch over and over and over again. We've also gotten slower frame-by-frame replays and more angles. Also, the PitchFX technology has not just been developed, but now made readily available for all fans to watch during games.

So I don't buy that umpires are noticeably worse than ever. I still think they're pretty darn good. It's just that we have all this technology to break down every call, so we know right away and definitively when they're wrong. The issue is that MLB, more than happy to let fans have this technology, is unwilling to use it themselves to improve the game.

[Dexter Morgan]

Yanks have played 65 games this year. First 50 games: 14 quality starts. Last 15 games: 14 quality starts.

Also, 3 straight sweeps of NL East teams (Mets, Braves, Nats)

[Viper]

Today's Brewers-Twins game (now headed to the top of the 15th, and interrupted by a half-hour rain delay after the 11th) has been sponsored by Energizer batteries. Keeps going and going and going...

[Kramerica Industries]

Yanks have played 65 games this year. First 50 games: 14 quality starts. Last 15 games: 14 quality starts.

Also, 3 straight sweeps of NL East teams (Mets, Braves, Nats)

They are on some kind of tear right now. With the way the Nats and Braves had been playing, I would've thought a solid 4-2 trip would be the highest reasonable expectation. Never expected a straight sweep through Atlanta and Washington.

Now Atlanta again this week. Braves are gonna be angry.

[OnWis97]

Today's Brewers-Twins game (now headed to the top of the 15th, and interrupted by a half-hour rain delay after the 11th) has been sponsored by Energizer batteries. Keeps going and going and going...

I was there and made the end. I've never been to a game that long. Kinda boring. And the rain delay was a huge buzzkill. Very few fans remained after that.

[Sport]

I am very pleased with the Reds right now. 6 straight W's. The starters are taking games deep. The relievers are doing their job. Joey Votto is batting like .790, Phillips is hot, Zack Cozart doesn't make any mistakes at short, Todd Frazier has been better than Scott Rolen while Rolen has been injured, and the team is playing solid baseball all around. This is a really fun, likable group.

[STL FANATIC]

While the Cardinals players are likable (at least to their own fans--I know you guys hate many of them in Cincy), everything else is basically the opposite. A once powerful lineup that has finally succumbed to injuries, poor fundamentals including defense, a sketchy rotation, a terrible bullpen, and a rookie manager who looks every bit like a rookie manager.

They've played about .500 baseball the past couple weeks, I think, so there's some victories in there, but I don't remember the last time they played good and enjoyable baseball. Maybe a game here or there, but when you know the next one is likely to be a stinker, the good ones aren't as enjoyable.

Most parts of the team can be salvaged by simply getting over slumps and getting healthy. But the bullpen may be beyond repair. And if the Reds remain baseball's hottest team, at what point will it be too late? Yes, if 2011 can happen, anything can happen, but it'd be silly to count on a repeat of one of baseball's biggest "miracles" ever the very next year.

Cardinals need to snap out of it quick, and it'd be nice if the Reds might so much as lose a single game once in a while.