The Official 2008 MLB Thread

Uggla had an UGLY game. I'm glad it didn't end in a tie.

Both Diamondbacks players (Haren and Webb) did well.

There aren't many Hall of Fame members left who served in World War II. An era is ending. The only ones who made it to the game were Bob Feller and Lee MacPhail. Stan Musial and Bobby Doerr were in the armed forces during the war but I don't know if they saw combat.

The Chicago Cubs have called up Jeff Samardzija from AAA Iowa,
and placed Kerry Wood on the DL.

For Iowa, Samardzija is 4-1, with a 3.13 ERA,
and has 40 strike-outs in 37 innings.

Yeah, that Jeff Samardzija.

Jeff Samardzija made debut for the Cubs against the Florida Marlins.

He pitched two innings in relief, allowing one run on two hits,
with two strike-outs.

Jemery Hermida won the game for the Marlins
with a pinch hit home-run off Bob Howry in the ninth.


Jeff Samardzija was an All-American wide-receiver for Notre Dame
in 2005 and 2006.

Ugh..another 1 run load loss for Atlanta, this time in Philly.

Braves score 9 in the 4th, Phills turn around and score 7 in the 5th. Phills win game 10-9!!

Well here's one for the funny papers.

Randy Johnson, who in his heyday was throwning 100+ MPH GAS, today chucked an EEPHUS pitch so slow that the radar gun at AT&T Park couldn't even pick up it's speed.

It was called a strike.

I missed the game

Randy got win #292 as the D-Backs swept the Giants.

Conor Jackson is hitting the snot out of the ball right now!

Too bad the hated Dodgers are keeping pace.

Doug Davis pitched 6 2/3 innings of perfect ball and ended up getting the win in the D-Backs 3-0 victory. It's good to see someone come back from thyroid cancer and pitch well.

I watched the Cubs/Brewers game yesterday where Samardzija came in for mop-up duty. He's got great stuff, but his control is all over the place. If he settles down and Marmol gets his groove back, the Cubs pen will be almost unhittable.

I've been to a lot of Dodger games this year, and you never know what you're going to get with them. Pitching-wise, they've been great, but their lineup still has some holes in it. Tons of young talent, but no real offensive leader. Keep your eye on Russell Martin, he's going to be a huge star.

And I don't know what happened to Andruw Jones, but he just looks lost at the plate.

And in the field.

Junior Griffey to the White Sox!

Manny to the Dodgers!!! WOW! Did not see that coming AT ALL. He could be on the team two months and lead them in homers!

Cubs sweep the Brew Crew on the road to go five up in the NL Central. Looks like the Brewers are last year's Brewers.

crap

I'm not worried about Manny in LA.

He'll poison the rest of the team and ruin them.

It's like Dodgers just hit the self-destruct button!

This trade actually made my kids cry, but then I reminded them that we like the Dodgers, too. I think Manny will definitely help the team -- he's bound to be on his best behavior for a time, and his offensive production is unreal. I'm going to miss watching him swing the bat -- it is probably the sweetest swing I've ever seen. And I'll also miss seeing him watch the ball fly over the fence before starting his trot around the base paths, but I will definitely look forward to seeing the Dodgers in post season. As long as Torre can handle him, he will make up a big gap for the blue crew. The Dodgers have been lacking somebody with seasoning -- Manny has it in spades.

If he hits, people here will love Manny. Hell, they might even show up to Dodger games in the second inning instead of the third inning!

In other news, the White Sox almost started a riot in the Metrodump against the Twins last night. Still lost the game, though.

This is not the Braves year.

I sign on to see this article on Atlantabraves.com

:IMHO!:


wow...I remember watching to the Braves when most of the games was on TBS when it was Skip, Joe Simpson, Pete van Warren and Don Sutton This is sad, he was the best of the bunch. Listening to the Braves will never be the same







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The White Sox. Oh my God. This is why I drink.

Meanwhile, Adam Dunn, my generation's Rob Deer, moves to the D-Backs.

Randy Johnson got his 10th win of the year (#294 lifetime). He has been pitching really well lately. D-Backs still only 1 1/2 games up on the hated Dodgers.

This thread should not be on the second page in Sepetember, especially when we have Wordforger fans of all the contending teams.

I see the RedSox taking back the lead by the end of the week, and am hopeful the Dodgers can hang on now that they are a game and a half up. The NL West should be interesting, even Colorado looks to get into the act. AL East, I think the Rays have begun a spectacular collapse. They definitely have talent, but they seem to not be able to handle the heat at this point, and are also probably tired. The RedSox have a lot of guys just off or about to come off the DL, well rested, ready to kick things up a notch for the final stretch.

Here are my predictions for the divisional round:

Redsox
Whitesox
Angels (duh)
Twins (wild card)

Phillies
Cubs
Dodgers
Brewers (wild card)

[edit]I am, by the way, pulling for the Cubbies, not the Dodgers or Redsox.[/edit]

It looks like the Diamondbacks are folding their tents.

Haren is fading, Webb's mechanics are off, and Randy Johnson is hurting. They're using a .320 OBP guy (Stephen Drew) to lead off. Conor Jackson has been doing well, but he isn't a typical #3 guy (not enough power). Dunn and Reynolds have power, but they may also combine for 400 strikeouts this year .

Obviously, that was a brain fart -- I meant Minnesota!

MyJays (the team with the best record in the American league over the last two months!) are riding an eight-game streak but it's too late. I've dug into the comparative schedules for the Red Sox, Yanks, Rays, Twins, and ChiSox and it takes too much failure by other teams for us to make it but we can get close (and finish in front of the damned Yankees!)

That said, the Twins are not going to make it and the Rays are, IMO. They are fading but even playing under .500 the rest of the way, they have enough lead to hold on unless the Twins go nuts (and they are cooling too)

If you follow closely enough to know what pythag records are....they Jays have the second best pythag in the AL behind only Boston.

It sounds kind of impotent to shake my fist at it now but the Rays are not as good as they seem. Like the D'Backs in 2007, they are playing over there head and they will fall back next year.

But I think it's too late for them to blow it this year unless they have a Metsian collapse.

I've been saying that for a couple of months, now. You are probably right, though, that they won't be able to collapse enough to blow post season altogether. I doubt they make it to the ALCS, though.

The Red Sox -Rays game tonight was a good one. The ump missed a call that may have cost the Sox the game in the 10th inning. The Rays won it in the 14th. It was nice to see two good teams going at it. Great defensive plays for both teams.

Well, the Jays 10 game streak finally came to an end tonight. We are hanging by the barest of threads, 7 games behind the Sox (who thankfully lost too)

The interesting thing is - we still have seven games against the Red Sox and we play them tougher than anyone.

I don't think we WILL catch them, but it'd be a helluva ride if we chased them down the stretch.

One more fascinating thing - if we can get within two or three games going into the last series, we host the orioles, while Boston will have to play the Yankees.

and you KNOW the Yanks would be highly motivated to knock them out of the playoffs.

The White Sox are barely hanging on. Between injuries (Contreras, Quentin and Crede are done for the year, Konerko is day-to-day with a sprained MCL) and ineffectiveness (the sudden crap-ness of the bullpen, utter failire every time we try to advance a runner) I'll be shocked if we can hang on to the lead. Plus we have three more games on the road against the Twins, and the Sox can't win at the Metrodump to save their lives.

Then again, this is a tough, veteran team with a lot of guys who have been in playoff races before. And when our starters are on, they're unstoppable.

We shall see.

Finished off the White Sox tonight, winning all but one game against them this year (Hey, mikey!) and we sit 6.5 back of the Red Sox with 7 games to play against them.

OMG DRAMA!!

Both teams also have a series hosting the Yankees

But the Jays have six other games against the Orioles (who are on a 3-15 skid) while the Red Sox have 3 at TB and host Cleveland (24-13 since August1) for four.

wow---the Jays are making things interesting in the AL. I would be very glad to see the Jays and the Rays in the playoffs and the Yanks and BoSox sitting at home!