Baseball Thread...

[BH]

 First Stan the Man and now this!  Carp's out for the year and probably forever.   

[FiddleCastro]

That's sad to hear,  a lot of respect for Carpenter.

Apparently my Astros have the 4th best farm system in baseball. After 30 or so years of being in the bottom 3  Just traded Lowrie as well.  We're still gonna get massacred now that we're in the AL West, though. 

[Jaimoe]

That's sad to hear,  a lot of respect for Carpenter.

Apparently my Astros have the 4th best farm system in baseball. After 30 or so years of being in the bottom 3  Just traded Lowrie as well.  We're still gonna get massacred now that we're in the AL West, though. 

At least you'll have Alan Ashby back as TV colour analyst to comfort a sketchy upcoming season. The Jays parted ways with him and hired Jack Morris.

I loved Carpenter with the Jays. He, Halladay and Pat Hentgen made a formidable trio of starters. Class act too (all three of them are).

[pawpaw]

That's sad to hear,  a lot of respect for Carpenter.

I completely agree. Carpenter was a gamer, and hopefully still can be, though it doesn't sound good for him returning.

I'm stoked for baseball season. First Cactus League game is in less than three weeks! 

[bearass]

oh man carpenter was a blow, but we do have joe "sex on a stick" kelly, who impresses the shit out of me

[FiddleCastro]

That's sad to hear,  a lot of respect for Carpenter.

Apparently my Astros have the 4th best farm system in baseball. After 30 or so years of being in the bottom 3  Just traded Lowrie as well.  We're still gonna get massacred now that we're in the AL West, though. 

At least you'll have Alan Ashby back as TV colour analyst to comfort a sketchy upcoming season. The Jays parted ways with him and hired Jack Morris.

I loved Carpenter with the Jays. He, Halladay and Pat Hentgen made a formidable trio of starters. Class act too (all three of them are).

I'll miss Deshaies, but I'll take Ashby! Apparently some games crew will be Geoff Blum & Ashby which will be interesting!

Apparently, half of Houston can't actually get Astros games, something about Comcast or whatnot... I'm in NY so it's not a problem for me, but damn that's bullshit!

[Jeff Murray]

28 days until I'm on a plane to Tampa for Spring Training... even though the veterans only play a few innings it's a blast... especially at the Phillies stadium in Clearwater... and that's coming from a Yankees fan!

[manonthemoon]

being a poor Mets fan I can honestly say wake me in 2015 when they are trying to compete once again 

[pawpaw]

This is a picture of the old Seals Stadium - pre-Giants, Pacific Coast League, San Francisco baseball. There's a big retail development there now...Safeway, 24 Hour Fitness, that kind of stuff.



A bunch of old SF baseball pictures can be found here: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/slideshow/A-photo-history-of-baseball-in-SF-57239.php

[ms. yvon]

wow! fantastic pic, bbill.

i just got home from my first-ever trip to see some spring training games in arizona!  would that i could have stayed there all week.  i saw two games at the Giants' park and one at Camelback Stadium, spring home to the White Sox and the Dodgers.

below are pix i took from my seat each game:
Game 1:  Giants vs. Diamondbacks


Game 2:  Giants @ White Sox


Game 3:  Giants vs. Indians


the last two games i had the best seats i've ever had for a ball game.  such a crazy perspective so close to the plate.
it was great to see some AL teams.  i don't follow AL ball at all unless there is a former Giant i'm tracking.

true highlight of the trip for me:  seeing Will Clark pop out of the dugout to chat with Giants manager Bruce Bochy.  (!!!)

my W/L record for the trip was 1-2.  saw Matt Cain get shellacked.  don't care to see that again.    still, i thought the roster might be picked clean b/c of the world baseball classic but i got to see a fair amount of the giants' starting line-up.

(while typing this MMJ cover of "leaving on a jet plane" just came on the radio.  )

[pawpaw]

Awesome, ms. yvon! That's something I've never been able to do...been asked to go a few times, it's just never worked out. Sounds like you had a great time!

Brandon Belt's been having a good spring! So stoked for baseball!

[iLikeBeer]

Well, I might not be able to say it again this season, but the Cubs AND the Indians are both in first place after their season openers!   

Sorry the Tribe spoiled all of that pomp and circumstance up in Toronto for ya Jaimoe including spoiling RA Dickey's less than stellar debut... 

[Jaimoe]

The Jays bats fell asleep. Ah well, tonight is a new game with I believe the awesome Morrow pitching.

[Ruckus]

And the Cubs and O's are in first! 

Jaimoe - I'm really interested to see how your birds do.  I'm glad you guys did something for the fan base but the potential for disaster should keep us peering in all season as well.

As for the Cubs, looks like they may have some legit building blocks aside from Castro.

One thing I wanted to talk about were all the prognosticators and sabremetricians guaranteeing a regression by the Orioles regarding their record in one run games and in extra innings.  I agree that these numbers can't be repeated but the haters didn't watch how the season ended.  The O's were a different team that wasn't relying on close wins and had a deep roster.  Whereas other teams are growing older, the entire O's roster aside from Roberts is either entering or in their prime.  I like their chances this year.

1 Rays
2 O's
3 Sox
4 Jays
5 Yankees

Could flip flop the Sox and Jays

[peafunk31]

I have no idea what to expect from the Phillies this year. Either a resurgence or a complete bust. Or maybe something in between. Hell I don't know....

[FiddleCastro]

My Astros are the best team in baseball right now. #1, Undefeated. the undeniable best. Top of the AL.

(Until the other teams get to play...)

Let me have my moment, it'll probably be our only win all year. 

The Astros are your favorite team and you don't know that they're in the National League? Kidding...but damn, I'm out of touch, I didn't realize they moved until yesterday. Congrats on the win, enjoy it! 

I like these guys:

We didn't get no-hit last night!

It's almost like two wins. one real win, and one "yeah, screw Yu, Darvish" game, which is like a moral victory.

2-0 GO STROS 

My take on the Darvish almost perfect game 

Stay tuned to see how the Astros make it to 3-0 in moral victories tomorrow! 

[Jaimoe]

The Jays have the best starting rotation and strongest 1-5 bats in th AL. What could do them in is the bullpen and injuries. Depth is ok though. Many predict the Jays are the favourite to win the AL, but I think TB will be there til the end.

[Ruckus]

The Jays have the best starting rotation and strongest 1-5 bats in th AL. What could do them in is the bullpen and injuries. Depth is ok though. Many predict the Jays are the favourite to win the AL, but I think TB will be there til the end.

Ha!  So confident?  I mean it looks good on paper but for the rotation, Dickey had one great year and Buehrle is old and Josh Johnson can't stay healthy.  I am a believer in Morrow.  His stuff is great and looks to be durable.

As for the offense Reyes hasn't been great in years and Encarnacion had one good year.  I'd be just as worried about all the parts then just the bullpen. 

[Jaimoe]

Dickey had two good seasons in a row and Edwin found his old groove last year. Hopefully Romero can find his game from two seasons ago in the minors. The Os always seem to implode, so we'll see how it goes. This division will eat its own.

[manonthemoon]

Yeah Dickey was solid pretty much the entire time he was with the Mets, but due to playing for the Mets not many people noticed as the W/L don't look as good when there are no runs comming your way.

Whats up with the Mets having an offensive outburst on opening day, at home no less, crazy?

Not really expecting any good storylines this year, wake me in 15 when they are trying to compete again.