General Chat / MLB

What happened is that the Rangers got greedy when trying to trade Soriano to the Twins. They could have had Mays, Lohse, and Romero but instead got nothing because they demanded AAA stud Fracisco Liriano and wouldn't back down. Could have been a great deal for both teams.

Oh well, there's always next year, right?

Ed ^^ yea, thats exactly it, we caught the A's in the little (ok big) hot streak of theirs, and they just demolished us. And yea, it doesnt help losing your ace for 4 or 5 starts.

^, I wasnt even aware of the 'details' for the twins trade with soriano. Looked like we were pushing with the mets a little bit harder anyways. I'm not sure where you heard those names from for the trade, cuz seems like we would have taken that trade, pitching is just so hard to come by for us. Expecially when we have a 2nd baseman prospect thats gonna knock soriano of his position soon (Ian Kinsler).

One of them is gonna be traded sooner or later, and you'd figure it would be Soriano.....although he would make a great outfielder.....strong est infielder arm (pretty much in baseball), fast legs, doesnt have to worry about to many hard choppers.....

Oh well, its baseball.

playoff predictions anyone?

A's lose in round 1.



Sorry, couldn't resist.

Angels are gonna win the series, you can bet on that (between the A's and Angels starting Tuesday). As for playoffs...

AL
Angels vs White Sox, angels win
A's (wildcard) vs Boston, Boston wins

NL
Pad's vs. Cards, Cards win (duh...)
Braves vs Florida, Braves win

AL
Angels vs Boston, Angels in 6

NL
Braves vs Cards, Cards in 5

WS
Cards vs Angels, Angels in 7 ()

And still people doubt the A's. What 17 out of 19 isn't good enough for you? How about 20-4 since the All-Star break? How about 37-8 in the last 45 games? How about more runs scored from June 1-August 8 than ANY other team in the league? Even with their monumental slump in May (which included back to back shutouts on two ocassions), the A's have now tallied 33 more runs than the Angels for the season. The Angels are going to win the series? With Harden pitching Tuesday and Zito pitching Wednesday? Remeber what happened the last time they played the Angels? I'll tell you. Harden gave up 1 run in 8 2/3 innings. Zito gave up 0 runs in 7 innings. That was in Anaheim. This is in Oakland. The A's are for real. I'm not making any playoff predictions, but I cannot believe how little respect Oakland gets for being on a winning streak the likes of which happens about once every 25 years or so. This has gone way beyond 'just a hot streak' at this point. At some point people are going to realize that Oakland actually is one of the top teams in the American League.

Oakland will win out West. Anaheim will be the wildcard. I'd love to see Chicago vs. Oakland for the AL title and it might happen.

I don't know shit about the NL.

if both oakland and chicago make it into the playoffs, which they probaby will, i dont think they'll be playing each other in the alcs, at least one of them is gonna go in the 1st round. the redsox will dominate either one of those teams.

p.s. did anybody catch the yankees game last night? arod was cheating again and the umps didnt call it. i dont think i could possibly hate him any more

And still people doubt the A's. What 17 out of 19 isn't good enough for you? How about 20-4 since the All-Star break? How about 37-8 in the last 45 games? How about more runs scored  from June 1-August 8 than ANY other team in the league? Even with their monumental slump in May (which included back to back shutouts on two ocassions), the A's have now tallied 33 more runs than the Angels for the season. The Angels are going to win the series? With Harden pitching Tuesday and Zito pitching Wednesday? Remeber what happened the last time they played the Angels? I'll tell you. Harden gave up 1 run in 8 2/3 innings. Zito gave up 0 runs in 7 innings. That was in Anaheim. This is in Oakland. The A's are for real. I'm not making any playoff predictions, but I cannot believe how little respect Oakland gets for being on a winning streak the likes of which happens about once every 25 years or so. This has gone way beyond 'just a hot streak' at this point. At some point people are going to realize that Oakland actually is one of the top teams in the American League.

What you don't know is that we're sending Chone Figgins in a ski-mask to club Harden's leg before the game. Tanya Harding style.

And Zito's gotta get some food poisoning tomorrow. Convenient, eh?

Just try to get "Zen Zito" to eat a cheeseburger. Just try.

how about a tofu burger?

Hmm, good point.

2 things:

1. The A's are out of control. Maybe they'll actually get past the first round this year?
2. A-Rod...what the fuck. This guy is a dirty player. End of story.

What did A-Rod do?

Situation: Rodriguez is at the plate, Sheffield is on 1st. Hit and run is on. Sheff takes off. Gay-Rod hits a fly out to right field. The right fielder throws it to first in an effort to get Sheff out as he didn't tag up. Rodriguez watches the ball come in, and deliberately gets in its path as he returns to the dugout. It hits him, thus allowing Sheff to get back safely--when he clearly would've been out. None of the umps saw it clearly so interference wasn't called, though it should have been. Sickening. First his karate attempt last year in the ALCS, now this.

Situation:  Rodriguez is at the plate, Sheffield is on 1st.  Hit and run is on.  Sheff takes off.  Gay-Rod hits a fly out to right field.  The right fielder throws it to first in an effort to get Sheff out as he didn't tag up.  Rodriguez watches the ball come in, and deliberately gets in its path as he returns to the dugout.  It hits him, thus allowing Sheff to get back safely--when he clearly would've been out.  None of the umps saw it clearly so interference wasn't called, though it should have been.  Sickening.  First his karate attempt last year in the ALCS, now this.

Are you serious? Omfg.

He'll take every advantage he can, most of which are frowned upon. It was no secret when he was in Arlington that he glanced back at the catcher to get the position of the pitch. And like you mentioned, I dont know of anyone who wasnt throwin shit at their TV when he decided to go Jackie Chan against the BoSox.

I gotta see this clip.

ESPN.com may have it, I'm not sure. They had a lively discussion last night on Baseball Tonight.

it might be on the white sox website, all mlb sites have highlights from previous games on them. if you look around enough you'll probably be able to find it somewhere, maybe if you check under the gayest people ever section.

It was no secret when he was in Arlington that he glanced back at the catcher to get the position of the pitch.

The risk you take in doing that overrides the "cheating factor" IMO. If you look back, you need to make sure you return your gaze to the pitcher in time to see the ball being released so that you can pick up the position of the ball. So if you're trying to pick up the catcher's position, you might miss the pitch coming out, which takes away any advantage you might have gained from seeing the setup location. So if you can get away with looking back, good for you. It's not cheap in my book, simply because it doesn't really help that much.

I mean, just cuz the catcher set up there doesn't mean the pitcher will necessarily hit that spot, anyway.




In other news, Angels surprised a lot of people by killing Harden. I won't celebrate, tho, cuz last series we won the first then got dominated in the other two. Here's hoping that "tofuburger" works.

The risk you take in doing that overrides the "cheating factor" IMO.  If you look back, you need to make sure you return your gaze to the pitcher in time to see the ball being released so that you can pick up the position of the ball.  So if you're trying to pick up the catcher's position, you might miss the pitch coming out, which takes away any advantage you might have gained from seeing the setup location.  So if you can get away with looking back, good for you.  It's not cheap in my book, simply because it doesn't really help that much.

I mean, just cuz the catcher set up there doesn't mean the pitcher will necessarily hit that spot, anyway.

Not at all. You dont look back when the pitcher is winding up, you look back when he comes to 'set position'. Just glance back with your eyes. As soon as the pitcher gets the sign, the catcher usually shifts his weight or moves his glove into position, and all you have to do is shift your eyes back to get a general idea of where the pitch is going. And even that, where the catcher sets up, can tip you off on what kind of pitch it is.

In anycase, no pitcher comes to set, winds up, and delivers fast enough for someone not to glance back and then be looking back at the mound before the release.

And true, he may miss the spot, or the catcher may have set up in a different spot to fool the hitter if he was watching, but it still gives him an advantage in most cases.