Reply With QuoteI am completely unsurprised that Burnett's been effective in Pittsburgh. It just confirms what I'd thought all along: that his inconsistency in New York had nothing to do with his arm, but the space between his ears.
Burnett has a no-hitter through 7 against the Cubbies at Wrigley. I admit, I thought Burnett was done before the Pirates picked him up. He's certainly proving us nay-sayers wrong this year.
Update: He lost the no-hitter with 2 outs in the 8th, but ended up with a complete game shutout.
Last edited by ineffablebob; 07-31-2012 at 08:04 PM.
I am completely unsurprised that Burnett's been effective in Pittsburgh. It just confirms what I'd thought all along: that his inconsistency in New York had nothing to do with his arm, but the space between his ears.
Either the injury wasn't quite as seriously as reported by Newsday (and others) or Joba possesses amazing powers of recovery. At any rate, he's back and active on the Yankee roster, which is very good news.Originally Posted by triggercut
Heck of a win for the Rangers last night. May have saved their season right there.
The Tiger radio announcers were talking about the Angels and Rangers during the game last night (it's baseball - everyone talks about everything), and both said they felt the Angels were going to come out on top. I don't know - the Rangers have got to feel like they've got a lot to prove after two straight "almost" years. Yeah, injuries are hurting them, but I think they'll be motivated to push hard down the stretch to come out on top in the AL West.
On May 15th, Lowe through a 9-inning complete game shutout. It made him 6-1, with an ERA of 2.05. He was left in and allowed to throw 127 pitches in that game.
Since then, he's gone 3-10 with an ERA of 8.68. On Tuesday the Tribe designated him for assignment.
While there's absolutely a bunch of smoke and mirrors in his 6-1 start (lots of hits, no strikeouts, for instance), you have to wonder if that game turned his season/career off.
It was also a lot of groundball outs, even now his GB% rate sits at a best in the league 60.0%. Lowe was effective early by getting guys to ground out, which with Hannahan and Kotchman on the corners is not a bad way to go, alongside controlling walks. At some point, however, batters seemed to figure him out, or maybe he lost some of his movement, and batters started hitting him hard, down the middle where SS Asdrubal Cabrera's limited range came into play. His BABIP was .333, which isn't going to cut it without a decent strikeout rate.
I think maybe he's just to old to be part of a starting rotation, to many innings, but could still be an effective long reliever.
The Mariners have won 7 in a row and somehow become very marginally relevant in the playoff race (only 7.5 games out in the wildcard race.) While nobody thinks that really means anything, its interesting that this has happened since Ichiro was traded and Justin Smoak sent down to AAA. The rotation has really been nice, with the starters ERA under 2.50 or so the last six weeks. Blake Beavan has come back up from an extended AAA stay to produce a 4-0 record in four starts and a 3.18 ERA. Hiashi Iwakuma has also been good since becoming a starter around the same time, with a 3.00 ERA in his last four starts as well.
So hopefully the last two months of the season will be a nice foundation for a better year next season.
As is typical for this time of year, lots of high priced veterans are being put on waivers. Among them is Cliff Lee, and there are some people who think somebody should try and claim him. That'd be a boon to the Phillies, but an interesting call for someone else with the cash to live with his contract. Like the Dodgers or Rangers. The question would also be whether Philly would just let him go or pull him back in the hopes of getting something in trade from the interested team (but potentially lose out on the possibility of significantly helping their rebuild plan.)
The Dodgers did claim Lee and Joe Blanton, but it sounds like Philly isn't going to let Lee just go. Though maybe they should. Meanwhile the two teams worked out a deal so the Dodgers did get Blanton.
Last edited by Sarkus; 08-04-2012 at 11:45 AM.
Arlington, we have a problem.
His name is Roy Oswalt. Oswalt was pretty bad as a starter for Texas, and after the Rangers got Ryan Dempster they moved Oswalt into the bullpen.
Except Roy--ever the team player--decided he doesn't want to pitch out of the bullpen. He did two innings on Sunday when he was asked to pitch a third against the Royals, he "declined", according to TEX.
Last edited by triggercut; 08-05-2012 at 09:44 PM.
"Well, I mean we're 4-2 in the games I started. I guess I should've been 6-0," Oswalt said. "Two bad ones and won four of them so... I don't know. We'll see how it goes."
Apparently his 6/27 outing vs. Detroit isn't a 'bad one' despite the 6 IP, 13 hit, 2 BB, 5 ER line because the team won anyways...definitely not what the Rangers need right now.
I'm sure Oswalts view is that he came back to be a starter, not pitch out of the bullpen. That he hasn't performed well enough to ensure a spot in the rotation seems to have escaped him at the moment.
I am convinced the goddamn Tigers are going to give me an ulcer or something. Yesterday they managed fall behind four different times, failed to score in the bottom of the ninth with a man on third and no outs, and yet still pulled it out of their collective asses in the bottom of the 10th. Team ERA looks like a yo-yo, no consistency. Half the lineup hits like Mickey Mantle and the other half ought to get a bonus for reaching the Mendoza line. Every day I turn on the radio and think, "Will it be Jekyl or Hyde today?"
Ah well, everyone needs some stress in their life. Today the Yankees bring the circus to town for 4 games. My two favorite (AL) teams, the Tigers and whoever-is-playing-against-the-Yankees. It'll be interesting.
I wonder how the next Red Sox manager will be? Sounds like too many key players are revolting against him for the Bobby Valentine experiment to last beyond this year.
Melky Cabrera suspended 50 games by MLB for testing positive for testosterone.
Oopsie!
EDIT: obviously elevated levels of testosterone, which is a sign of PEDs.
Last edited by triggercut; 08-15-2012 at 11:51 AM.
Old Hoss Radbourn @OldHossRadbourn
If excessive testosterone were a crime I would never have played base ball.
Arrrgh. Well, there goes the rest of the season. Fucking idiot.
I imagine, without doing any research, that it takes a lot of excessive testosterone to trigger a PED suspension. Like, 10xs the amount normally found in an active 20-something.
There was a twitter rumor around the all-star break, which was summarily slammed by just about everyone as being untrue (with nothing but one random guy as a primary source).
Well, I guess this means it is out of appeals, and is true. This is a sad day for Giants fans, and anyone else that wanted to believe that this was the real Melky. Giants must have know about this, which is why they said they'd table the contact extension talks until the end of the year.
keithlaw @keithlaw
I'm sure the Giants will respond to Melky Cabrera's 50-game suspension for PED usage by demoting Brandon Belt to Fresno
Sounds like they definitely knew something was up.
Jon Heyman @JonHeymanCBS
big blow to #SFGiants with 50-game melky cabrera drug suspension. he had denied hearing of positive test to SF writers.
This is too funny
Hey, at least he takes ownership. Makes him more of a man than Ryan Braun.
Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Cabrera takes responsibility in statement. "My positive test was the result of my use of a substance that I should not have used."
Full statement:
"My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used. I accept my suspension under the Joint Drug Program and will try to move on with my life. I am deeply sorry for my mistake and I apologize to my teammates, to the San Francisco Giants organization and to the fans for letting them down."
Atlanta Melky will be the real Melky to me.
I'm not shocked at all.
Sounds like he could return in the post-season if SF makes if far enough. His suspension ends four games into it.
As pointed out by Rosenthal, would be able to join by 6th game of playoffs, but minor league season would be long since over, and there'd be no way for him to get into game shape/shake off rust.
All of which assumes Giants make the playoffs now.
Buster Olney saying that the Giants have known about this for a while, which influenced them to add Pence and Nady.
Well that trade has suddenly started looking much better for the Royals. After flipping Sanchez to the Rockies (where he's currently on the DL) for Mark Guthrie, Guthrie is currently riding a 15 consecutive scoreless inning streak for KC.
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