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[_Angelus_]

I was on the phone with a friend when Billy gave up that shot...my friend was laughing his ass off based on my howling over that disgusting shit.

Sucks.

 

[rc213]

Nice job Dodgers, Wilson Betemit with a 2 run Homerun and Furcal in a groove.




BIGGER NEWS: Jose Cruz Jr. DFA'd! 3 Cheers!

 

[siamesedreamer]

You're laughing at our bullpen? :lol The ****ing gall man... the **** gall... :lol

:lol

Naw man, its been a shitty year for the Braves and the Falcons have caught the injury bug in a major way already. Its pretty much all the fun that I can derive from sporting events at the moment.

Spoiler

RayBaezWickmanFTWC

 

[Fifty]

Andy with a single! Pettitte needs a new nickname to get out of this funk.
I propose "The Godfather"

 

[Mifune]

Its worthy of mocking because he invited it upon himself by not taking the necessary precautions to prevent an injury in an automobile. His own stupidity has seriously jeopardized the Mets' chances for winning the World Series. I can hear the bitching now "if we only had D-I-RRRRRR-T-Y in that situation.....blah blah blah".

Injuries on the field are entirely different situations.

As far as it inviting bad karma - pfft......there is absolutely nothing I do or say that has any effect what-so-ever on people I don't know and are never around.

I don't know if you've been in a cab lately, but not many of them have seatbelts that are easily accessible, function properly, or even exist.

If he was driving or riding in a normal car and didn't have his seatbelt on, then by all means, mock away. But come on, the dude could have been wearing his seatbelt and you would be laughing at him.

 

[Eminem]

If you have MLB.tv, make sure to turn in to the White Sox game right now to watch us lose in the bottom of the 9th to the ****ing Royals

 

[siamesedreamer]

I don't know if you've been in a cab lately, but not many of them have seatbelts that are easily accessible, function properly, or even exist.

If he was driving or riding in a normal car and didn't have his seatbelt on, then by all means, mock away. But come on, the dude could have been wearing his seatbelt and you would be laughing at him.

meh......probably so since the same thing happened to the ultimate traitor two years ago. Think the Mets are gonna hire a private transportation service now?

 

[Eminem]

If it wasn't for Ortiz, I'd say Crede is the most clutch hitter in baseball today

 

[Miguel]

Astros just got an RBI sac fly.


I'm gonna cry.

 

[Mifune]

meh......probably so since the same thing happened to the ultimate traitor two years ago. Think the Mets are gonna hire a private transportation service now?

It's the curse of the taxi cab or something. Bizarre shit.

Anyway, would you welcome the great traitor back if he returned to Atllanta?

 

[Eminem]

If you have MLB.tv, make sure to turn in to the White Sox game right now to watch us lose in the bottom of the 9th to the ****ing Royals

I forgot we were playing the Royals for a few minutes. I'm sorry for posting erroneous information.

 

[Fifty]

Two singles allowed in a row by The Godfather! Get it together Andy.

I think his problems are mental. Once he gets hit he seems to lose all control, thus raising his WHIP and throwing junk.

 

[Meier]

BIGGER NEWS: Jose Cruz Jr. DFA'd! 3 Cheers!

Bummer, just to make room for Lugo.. was hoping it was to call up Matt Kemp. He's hitting over .400 since going back down to Vegas. Kemp, Ethier, Repko = the future!

 

[The Frankman]

It's the curse of the taxi cab or something. Bizarre shit.

Anyway, would you welcome the great traitor back if he returned to Atllanta?

If Steve Avery and Charlie Leibrandt came back he's welcome them. Hell, rumors are that Scheurholtz was ready to join the Atlanta staff.

 

[Eminem]

White Sox struggle to beat the worst team in baseball, but hey, I'll take it.




I don't like to say I enjoy players getting injured, so I won't say anything at all except:
Liriano is missing his next start with an inflamed left elbow.

 

[rc213]

Bummer, just to make room for Lugo.. was hoping it was to call up Matt Kemp. He's hitting over .400 since going back down to Vegas. Kemp, Ethier, Repko = the future!

I think they want to see him hit Lefty's better aswell not be completely overpowered against anything but the fast ball. He'll probably be ready for next year barring any injuries to another outfielder.

 

[Joe]

looks like sheffield might be the yanks everyday first baseman at the end of this season and next season. he's obviously not going to be gold glove material but he will be better than giambi and his production will more than make up for his assumed lack of range.

so in september the yanks might look like

1. damon
2. jeter
3. giambi
4. arod
5. abreu
6. sheffield
7. matsui
8. posada
9. cano



that is the lineup i think torre would throw out there (abreu ahead of sheffield because of lefty/righty). i would personally switch giambi and abreu because abreu has speed and giambi is a bigger cushion for arod than abreu.

 

[Matrix]

Huff fits right in with this Stros offense *sigh*

 

[R_GILL]

White Sox struggle to beat the worst team in baseball, but hey, I'll take it.




I don't like to say I enjoy players getting injured, so I won't say anything at all except:
Liriano is missing his next start with an inflamed left elbow.

Elbow problems????

there goes my fantasy team

 

[Fifty]

Andy!

Godfather pitching out of his mind.

 

[siamesedreamer]

Anyway, would you welcome the great traitor back if he returned to Atllanta?

Nope......I'm still hoping the asshole doesn't get to 300 wins.

 

[_Angelus_]

so in september the yanks might look like

1. damon
2. jeter
3. giambi
4. arod
5. abreu
6. sheffield
7. matsui
8. posada
9. cano

Jesus Christ. If the Yanks get any pitching at all from the back end of their rotation (speechless)...just wow.

 

[Matrix]

Andy!

Godfather pitching out of his mind.

Now lets see if that amazing pen can hold the lead.

 

[Eminem]

Jesus Christ. If the Yanks get any pitching at all from the back end of their rotation (speechless)...just wow.

What's nice for the White Sox is that if we get into the postseason, we'll get to take on a division rival in the Tigers(barring some ridiculous collapse). No matter how good their record is, I'm much more comfortable having to play the Tigers over the Yankees if they get in.

Different teams and all, I know, but I'd much rather play the Red Sox than the Yankees in the play-offs

 

[Matrix]

wow the pen held a 1 run lead and gave Andy a W.

 

[Miguel]

YAY

 

[Fifty]

I'm a man of my word. Andy exceeded my expectations so I'm gonna be repping him for at least 5 days. Bravo Godfather.

 

[Desperado]

What's nice for the White Sox is that if we get into the postseason, we'll get to take on a division rival in the Tigers(barring some ridiculous collapse). No matter how good their record is, I'm much more comfortable having to play the Tigers over the Yankees if they get in.

Are you talking about the first round? Because teams in the same division can't face each other in a Division Series.










in other news...

It begins.

 

[Mashing]

Great win tonight. As JD said it had the formula for success. Great game by the starting pitcher, scoreless baseball from the setup guys and a 3 strike inning for the closer.

 

[Eminem]

Are you talking about the first round? Because teams in the same division can't face each other in a Division Series.

Well I was but obviously I'm retarded and completely forgot there was an AL West, and so I don't know how that worked in my head.

 

[Meier]

I think they want to see him hit Lefty's better aswell not be completely overpowered against anything but the fast ball. He'll probably be ready for next year barring any injuries to another outfielder.

It's weird.. even though I'm not all that happy with the trades (since we didnt get some sort of a slugger), I have this renewed passion. I think we can take the division. Keep it up, Blue!

 

[Qwerty710710]

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

SINCE

CANT EVEN DO THAT

+

AN UNRELIABLE

=

BETTER CALL BLOWBERTO!!

I wouldn't be critzing other teams bullpen if I was you. If I remeber corretcly Braves have blow 20 saves so far this season compared to Wagner's 5. But still Wanger is no better than Brenden Blooper Aramblow Bentiz.

 

[datruth29]

Well I was but obviously I'm retarded and completely forgot there was an AL West, and so I don't know how that worked in my head.

Forgetting about the AL West is a common occurence.

 

[R_GILL]

Forgetting about the AL West is a common occurence.

Yeah but if Anaheim makes the playoffs a rotation of:

Colon
Lackey
Santana
Jar. Weaver

Could be very scary, now if their offense wasn't so anemic.

 

[Fifty]

You're so very kind for putting Colon at the top of that list. He's at most their 4th best pitcher right now. Anyway, I like the Angels...I hope they do well. They've got a good young team and I really hope they beat out the A's in that division.

 

[Eminem]

The SI curse is working quite well. Minnesota already down 7-0 in the 4th

 

[R_GILL]

You're so very kind for putting Colon at the top of that list. He's at most their 4th best pitcher right now. Anyway, I like the Angels...I hope they do well. They've got a good young team and I really hope they beat out the A's in that division.

I did it alphabetically

Who knows if Colon will even be healthy, anyway Escobar or Saunders aren't too bad as number 4s just in case.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

mets fan have a collective rod stuck up where the sun dont shine or something? siamese cant even make a little joke without making it personal..... and sheffield playing first, how about **** NO.

 

[Joe]

if sheffield doesnt play first then giambi plays first. choose your poison.

giambi is at the bottom of the barrell as far as first basemen go, it can only go up from there.

ideally you would have phillips play first but he's not exactly doing it with the bat. craig wilson could be an option but would he actually be a big upgrade over sheffield at first? im not sure how he is defensively.

 

[Eminem]

Wilson would be better defensively at first than Sheffield, but neither are outstanding. For the bat Sheff gives, it'd probably be worth it to have him start at first.
I mean, yeah, Phillips should be there, but he hurts the lineup. Giambi has the mobility of a forklift over there, so it's kind of a no win situation no matter who starts over there.

 

[The Frankman]

mets fan have a collective rod stuck up where the sun dont shine or something? siamese cant even make a little joke without making it personal...

Since when was insulting the Braves pen "personal"? And lets review:

Roethlisberger- Motorcycle + NO HELMET= Stupid, ccrash or no crash.
Sanchez- Taxi cab + No seatbelt (not that the cab had one from what I hear) + car accident = Bad luck

Also before we kill Billy Wagner, let's break down closers:

It does not get much worse than having your closer give up a come-from-behind game-winning homer. Billy Wagner now has five blown saves this year. It's a lot for a top closer. Brad Lidge only has four, and there was talk of getting rid of him at the trade deadline. If Duaner Sanchez had not gotten hurt, there would probably be talk today of making him the closer. But after looking at some numbers, I find myself coming to Wagner's defense. Wagner has no losses in games besides some of the ones in which he blew the save. If you add blown saves to losses in other games, his numbers are more in line with other top closers:


Blown saves
Turnbow- 8
Isringhausen- 7
Street- 7
Wagner- 5
Lidge- 4
Ryan- 4
Hoffman- 4
Papelbon- 3
F. Rodriguez- 3
Gordon- 3
T. Jones- 3
Rivera- 2
Jenks- 2
Nathan- 1


Blown saves + losses in other games
Turnbow- 10
Isringhausen- 9
Street- 8
Gordon- 6
Wagner- 5
Rivera- 5
Hoffman- 5
F. Rodriguez- 5
Lidge- 5
T. Jones- 5
Papelbon- 4
Ryan- 4
Jenks- 3
Nathan- 1


Before anyone writes in, I am not using this numbers to argue that Wagner is equivalent to Mariano. He's not. But going into the season, Wagner was considered one of the Top Five closers, along with Mariano, Lidge, Nathan and Francisco Rodriguez, and I'd argue that he still belongs in the top group, with Lidge coming out and Papelbon coming in (Jenks has a 3.88 ERA).


It's probably not a coincidence that the best closers come from some of the best teams in the American League - Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Twins. Meanwhile, the Mets are five games ahead ahead of the Cardinals for best NL record, and one could argue that the difference is in their closers.

Wagner makes me nervous, but there aren't many closers I'd rather have.

 

[Meier]

Danys Baez had 7 blown saves vs 9 saves for the Dodgers after 41 in 05 for the Rays. This is the year of the blown save.

 

[Desperado]

Hey look, those statistics make Lidge look not horrible! I like them!

 

[Eminem]

Jenks is pretty good at saving games, it would appear.

(too bad the rest of our pitching blows)

 

[Y2Kev]

The important thing of note there is Derrick Turnbow's complete suckassness.

The Reds' FSN Midwest backup play-by-play guy (Jeff Piecoro?), in the bottom of the ninth:

Edwin Encarnacion is one of the hardest workers on the team ... Let's see if that helps him here against one of the top closers in the National League, Derrick Turnbow! (empahsis mine)

Turnbow on the year:
5.88 ERA
1.52 WHIP

Turnbow, July 2006:
22.24 ERA
3.35 WHIP
.388 (!) BAA

That's right. In the month of July, hitters are batting .388 against Derrick Turnbow. That's all hitters.

Later, after Turnbow walked Encarnacion:

If you're Ned Yost, what do you do here? Do you stick with your All-Star closer? (emphasis mine)

Yost immediately inserted Francisco Cordero.

 

[Joe]

varitek on the dl already showing its effects???

 

[siamesedreamer]

If anything it shows that throwing $40 million+ over 4 years at 32 year old post Tommy John surgery relievers is beyond stupid.

 

[R_GILL]

Bah, why is it always Johnny Mac who has to hit with the bases loaded, its almost a guaranteed out. Crossing my fingers that Wang walks him.

Well that was a fast out, where or where did our powerful offense go.

 

[Eminem]

Konerko(**** YOU KC PITCHING YOU DICKS) and Thome both out today. sigh.

6. R. Gload 1b
7. A. Cintron dh
8. B. Anderson cf
9. J. Uribe ss

:lol
=(

 

[The Frankman]

A Little Loopy - A different take for those who don't get it:

This afternoon when I was at lunch with a few friends, we heard guys at the next table talking about what a terrible closer the New York Mets have in Braden Looper. It led to a conversation (at our table) as to what defines a “Good” closer and just how many really good closers there are. Since the gentlemen that I was sitting with are both big Mets (and avid fantasy baseball) fans, I asked them who they thought was the best closer in the division. Both agreed that it had to be Chad Cordero of the Washington Nationals. I then asked what exactly defined a good closer.

They defined a good closer as one that successfully gets a save 80% of the time and a great closer is someone that succeeds 85% of the time (current active saves leader Trevor Hoffman is 424 for 474 for 89.5%). If we accept that as a criteria then the good closers include the aforementioned Braden Looper, who has been successful in 83% of his save chances this year (25 of 30 chances). That number shook their belief a little bit so they amended the definition to say that a good closer doesn’t give up many earned runs in the games they get saves in. Well, a quick look at my computer showed that Looper gave up earned runs in a game where he also recorded a save only once this season - the lowest total in the NL East (Cordero has 5 saves where he gave up earned run(s), Billy Wagner has 3 saves under similar circumstances, and Todd Jones also has 1, and I’ll skip the ugliness of the Braves’ bullpen).

Given this information the definition shifted again. We decided that when defining a good closer you must take into consideration how many runs scored, either earned or unearned, in their blown saves. Looper gave up 10 runs in 5 blown saves or 2 per blown save, while Todd Jones and Chad Cordero yielded 1.5 per blown save, Billy Wagner yielded 1 per blown save. Clearly we seemed to be onto something here.

Next we considered the team’s winning percentage in games where the closer blew the save.

Washington .500 (2-2)
Philadelphia .500 (1-1)
Florida .500 (1-1)
New York .400 (2-3)

Not enough of a difference between Cordero and Looper to draw any conclusions though it’s suggestive. Then we moved on and attempted to spot the biggest differences. At this point we expanded the talk to include all closers in the major leagues. We looked around the majors for closers with an equal number or more blown saves to Looper’s 5. We found nine current closers that had five or more blown saves (Danys Baez and Chris Reitsman - 7 each, Francisco Cordero, Miguel Batista - 6 each, B.J. Ryan, Francisco Cordero, Bob Wickman , Tyler Walker and Braden Looper - 5 each) and 14 who have had 4 or more. So, total blown saves didn’t appear to differentiate Looper from the pack. So what, I asked, made them think that Braden Looper was so bad? After much discussion they agreed that it was the fact that they had no confidence in the man. They feel that he allows too many base runners, and leaves their hearts pounding with uncertainly every time he enters a game. While I didn’t attempt to quantify their heart rates, it just took a peek at the stats to quantify the number of base runners, by looking at WHIP. Of the 23 closers who have notched 20 or more saves so far this season only 4 players allowed more hits & walks per inning (WHIP) than Looper (1.4), and one of those four has lost the closer role. Six of those 23 had worse had worse ERA’s (3.42).

A slightly closer look shows that of 19 earned runs that Looper surrendered, 8 came on the six home runs that Looper has surrendered so far this season. Those six home runs were bunched into just 4 games (2 games with 2 each, 2 games with one). Subtract the six pitches that wound up in the seats and Looper’s ERA would have been a miniscule 1.98, he would have had one fewer blown save and he would be ranking up there with the elite closers.

But he did throw those six pitches and in the big leagues six pitches can make you a “bad closer” in the eyes of local fans.

If anything it shows that throwing $40 million+ over 4 years at 32 year old post Tommy John surgery relievers is beyond stupid.

A fan whose team has no pen cracking on a fan whose team has a pen . . . We locked up a Top 5 closer, overpaid? Yes, but so is B.J. Ryan. To a man, if I asked most of the guys here (outside of Yankees, Blue Jays, BoSox, ChiSox, and maybe Angels fans) which closer would you want if money wasn't an option: their current guy or Wagner we'd see Billy's name come up. A LOT.