Major League Baseball 2010

[sahyder1]

So what's the difference between a no-no and a perfect game?

No-Hitter is just that, a guy pitching 9 innings and allowing no hits. A perfect game is no hits allowed, no walks allowed, no batters hit and your team getting 0 errors. So all 27 batters from the other team got out in order without ever reaching base in any fashion. This was only the 19th perfect game since 1900. Tampa Bay has now been victim to 2 since last July.

[naiwf]

The stats leaders in MLB are all crazy right now. A rookie (Austin Jackson) is leading the AL in hitting. Paul Konerko has only 27 hits, but leads the bigs with 13 HR. A Ranger leads the AL in ERA (CJ Wilson) & saves (Neftali Perez). Andre Ethier is leading the NL in all Triple Crown categories and the Nats have a reliever tied for the major league leader in wins (Tyler Clippard) and saves too (Matt Capps).

[JStarr]

Kinda sounds like the standings. Seriously, I had June 23rd in the "Nationals win their 17th game" pool.

[HailtotheYo]

People don't realize just how destroyed the Nationls were with injuries last year. 7 of the 9 opening day starters were on the DL by June.

[sahyder1]

Finally made it out to Citi Field tonight.

Great ballpark. We hear a lot of talks about the dimensions of this stadium but I absolutely loved it. The stadium itself is really good. The Mets did a great job with it. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda is nice nod to the history of the sport and the Mets Hall of Fame is very well done. I'm not a Mets fan but I had a gripe with Al Leiter representing the early 90s Mets team in Mets H.O.F and now Mike Piazza.

From the looks of it there really isn't a bad seat in the house. I was sitting in section 130 which is right by the left field foul pole in the lower level. I was at the New Yankee Stadium last year and they actually have seats in left field where your view of the right field corner is blocked because of a wall and you have to watch it on the TV. No such problems here. I also liked that they play the WFAN feed via speakers in the rest rooms so you're never missing any of the action.

Left the game early because it was starting to rain and the fanatical Mets fan I went with had work at 6 AM tomorrow and we had a long train ride back to Jersey. Mets were down 6-2 at the time so we took a stroll through the Mets HOF and saw the score when we got to Penn Station.

That being said, Mets fans should thank me. The Mets are now 2-0 in games I go to (other one was a few years back in Philly). My Angels are 0-2 in games I've gone to Yankee Stadium (new and old).

[naiwf]

Zack Greinke's ERA rose from 2.51 to 2.73 today, but he finally got his first victory of the season. On a good team he'd probably be 5-1 or 5-2 instead of 1-4.

[Lowerdeck]

David Ortiz hits two home runs in a game, doubling his season total.

And putting him on equal level to such overpaid superstar sluggers as Jeremy Hermida...

[Powerhart]

Anyone who watched last night's Red Sox/Yankees game, do you know what was A-Rod looking for when Thames scored the winning Home-Run? When Thames stepped in home, all the Yankees were there except A-Rod who was searching something on the ground/air behind all the other players.

[JStarr]

Anyone who watched last night's Red Sox/Yankees game, do you know what was A-Rod looking for when Thames scored the winning Home-Run? When Thames stepped in home, all the Yankees were there except A-Rod who was searching something on the ground/air behind all the other players.

His thunder after Thames stole it?

Who the fuck knows, it's A-Rod. He needed to pose on his own, since no one team can contain his awesomeness. Or something.

[Meacon Keaton]

Don't hate, Starr.

Strasburgh is tearing up Triple-A now, like he tore up Double-A. He threw over six innings last night of scoreless ball. He had nine strike outs. The kid is 6-1 with a 0.89 ERA in his combined starts between Double-A and Triple-A. And if I'm not mistaken, that one loss, he gave up two runs and his team failed to score.

[HailtotheYo]

Everyone here is just waiting for June. After that, the Nats will be on the right side of the Arbitration rules and they'll call him up. It looks like his innings limit for the year will carry over so he'll have about 110-120 innings in the bigs if everything goes right.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, I read he has two more expected starts in Triple-A before June. Maybe someone will humble him down there before he gets called up. It's got to happen eventually. He can't go his whole career with an ERA under 1.00, can he? CAN HE?!

And I mean humble him, statistics wise. From everything I've read, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders.

[HailtotheYo]

yeah, he did a couple interviews for local stations up here after the draft and he's at least putting out the perception that he's got his head on straight.

there's nobody in the minors that can touch the guy. What I find most promising is that he's been deadly with his off-speed/breaking stuff. I mean 101 on the gun is nice, but ask Randy how it looks when McGwire sends it 500+ feet back the other way. If he can continue the learning "curve" he's on with his other pitches he's got a real chance of being more than just another Randy Johnson/Nolan Ryan type of power guy.

[Toe]

A 100 MPH fastball is special, but not unique in the Majors. It is how he can vary the speed on his fastball, then throw a good breaking pitch that seperates Strasburg from the rest. And of course, if he does become a "Randy Johnson" type, is that a bad thing?

[HailtotheYo]

Depends. On the Nationals, it could be. Randy had all the makings, but had he stayed with Montreal, yikes. Also, his first few years in Seattle weren't overly dominant. It wasn't until their lineup took form that he was able to push through. A power pitcher like that needs a decent lineup because he's going to give up runs. It's a toss up with those guys because while they're able to walk out there and get 10+ K's and walk through the order, they're just as likely to give up 6+ runs and a couple of 450ft bombs.

Randy was able to push through because he played on pretty good teams for a long time. He knew it was ok if the opposition were on top of him every third time out. If Strasburg ends up like that, he's going to need the lineup to fall back on otherwise he'll just be another guy with a really fast, ball.

[sahyder1]

Depends. On the Nationals, it could be. Randy had all the makings, but had he stayed with Montreal, yikes. Also, his first few years in Seattle weren't overly dominant. It wasn't until their lineup took form that he was able to push through. A power pitcher like that needs a decent lineup because he's going to give up runs. It's a toss up with those guys because while they're able to walk out there and get 10+ K's and walk through the order, they're just as likely to give up 6+ runs and a couple of 450ft bombs.

Randy was able to push through because he played on pretty good teams for a long time. He knew it was ok if the opposition were on top of him every third time out. If Strasburg ends up like that, he's going to need the lineup to fall back on otherwise he'll just be another guy with a really fast, ball.

Randy Johnson struggling early on doesn't necessarily mean it was because he was a power pitcher. He was a young pitcher. Most young pitchers struggle because it is a huge transition facing big league hitters. Tom Glavine wasn't exactly a fire baller and he struggled mightily early on. Mark Prior was a power pitcher and he took the league by storm. Pedro Martinez had a very good start to his career.

Strasburg has very good control of his breaking ball from what I've seen. That combined with him pitching in the NL should cause him little problems. I'm really excited to see him pitch. It's a shame Prior's arm got abused in '03 because he was that damn good. Strasburg is pretty much in the same boat.

[HailtotheYo]

Randy Johnson struggling early on doesn't necessarily mean it was because he was a power pitcher. He was a young pitcher. Most young pitchers struggle because it is a huge transition facing big league hitters. Tom Glavine wasn't exactly a fire baller and he struggled mightily early on. Mark Prior was a power pitcher and he took the league by storm. Pedro Martinez had a very good start to his career.

Erm, I get what you're saying and obviously there's some attributing to the fact that he (randy/etc) have to go through a general learning curve. All pitchers do, yes. If you'd actually go back and read into what I was saying though, I didn't attribute Randy's earlier struggles more no the power pitching aspect, but more on the fact that he was on a weak team. He was a power pitcher that couldn't afford to "learn" on the job. Right now, the Nationals are in a little bit better place but aren't quite good enough to have him come up and "hope" that he continues his off speed/breaking pitch command and learns the MLB pitching ins and outs. As a power pitcher, when in jams, he'll go back to that 99-101 fastball that MLB guys can jack. THAT is more of where I was going.

And while Pedro certainly had a dominant fastball early on, he was much more than a power pitcher. His circle change and curve mastery were what made him great.

Prior is exactly what I'm talking about. He came out swinging but the Cubs couldn't keep up with him ... and viola, blown arm. Why ? Didn't get to learn how to actually pitch in the majors. Kerry Wood, same thing. Todd Van Poppel, same thing.

[sahyder1]

Strasburg has a pretty filthy breaking ball. Was his game film. He'll tear up the National League in the 100 or so innings the Nationals will use him for this year. The Nationals are a lot better then you're giving them credit for. Plus with the #1 pick this year likely to be a great hitting catcher (from what I read) they are in great shape for the future.

[HailtotheYo]

Strasburg has a pretty filthy breaking ball. Was his game film. He'll tear up the National League in the 100 or so innings the Nationals will use him for this year. The Nationals are a lot better then you're giving them credit for. Plus with the #1 pick this year likely to be a great hitting catcher (from what I read) they are in great shape for the future.

I don't need to watch film ... I'm here, in Washington (Y) ... they're better than most people think, but they ain't there yet.

[rocksta]

Randy Johnson struggling early on doesn't necessarily mean it was because he was a power pitcher. He was a young pitcher. Most young pitchers struggle because it is a huge transition facing big league hitters. Tom Glavine wasn't exactly a fire baller and he struggled mightily early on. Mark Prior was a power pitcher and he took the league by storm. Pedro Martinez had a very good start to his career.

Erm, I get what you're saying and obviously there's some attributing to the fact that he (randy/etc) have to go through a general learning curve. All pitchers do, yes. If you'd actually go back and read into what I was saying though, I didn't attribute Randy's earlier struggles more no the power pitching aspect, but more on the fact that he was on a weak team. He was a power pitcher that couldn't afford to "learn" on the job. Right now, the Nationals are in a little bit better place but aren't quite good enough to have him come up and "hope" that he continues his off speed/breaking pitch command and learns the MLB pitching ins and outs. As a power pitcher, when in jams, he'll go back to that 99-101 fastball that MLB guys can jack. THAT is more of where I was going.

And while Pedro certainly had a dominant fastball early on, he was much more than a power pitcher. His circle change and curve mastery were what made him great.

Prior is exactly what I'm talking about. He came out swinging but the Cubs couldn't keep up with him ... and viola, blown arm. Why ? Didn't get to learn how to actually pitch in the majors. Kerry Wood, same thing. Todd Van Poppel, same thing.

Wait are you serious? Your example for this is Mark Prior? Do you know what you're talking about...? Like this entire argument just doesn't make sense.

It's based on Randy Johnson apparently getting jacked a lot which frankly didn't happen. Even on the mariners early on his HR/9 ratio was quite good. I mean when they did get hit out of the yard they went pretty far yah but comon. His early struggles didn't have anything to do with being a power pitcher. They were a result of a poor team around him and inexperience. Not because he was a power pitcher.

Mark Prior is exactly what you were talking about? The cubs couldn't keep up with him? In his full season he came in third for CY Young voiting he went 18-6. Blown arm because he didn't learn how to pitch in the majors? No. His 'perfect throwing form' hurt him not his power.

I truly feel like you're just saying shit to say shit. Strasburg's game appears to be far from one dimensional so there is no real point to this but like the entire basis of what you seem to be saying is just flawed.