The Glade 4.0

I have been meaning to get ahold of a buddy of mine who is a Nationals fan to wish him a belated Happy Strasburg day. It was certainly a holiday for MLB that day, and if he holds up near that debut performance, to Nationals fans for awhile. :p

I only watched the first few innings. Despite being a NL east team that will likely face him a time or two this year, I have to say I was happily surprised to hear 14 strikeouts. Not too often you get a debut like that. Plus it's always sort of exciting to see a new player that you hear good things about. I remember Hamels' debut pretty well still... and Strasburg had way more hype, probably even in Philly. :p

I am ready for interleague play to go away for good.

_________________
Raell Kromwell

And I'm ready for Divisions, the Designated Hitter, and All-Star Game to go away.

_________________

Ezekiel 23:19-20 

It.. it tentatively appears the Phillies may finally be done with their complete inability to hit. I am perhaps nervous to say it and risk unmaking it by doing so, but hope finally appears!

In unrelated news, Ubaldo Jimenez is really something else! Not that I thought he was a bad pitcher, but I can't say I expected his crazy record to last when he was around 6 or 7 wins. Now we're up to a 13-1 record... when will that end? Crazy.

Also I was hoping someone could tell me... what is up with the Mariners. I was checking through some of their stats and while they don't strike me as amazing, they don't seem anywhere near as bad as their record would indicate. It looks like 3 starters with an ERA under 3? Batting average looks a bit low as do some power numbers but nothing terrible, especially given sub-3.0 ERA pitching. I don't really see much AL ball though so I don't see what's up.

Atlanta is currently the best team in the National League, and all the commentators keep talking **** about them ... I just don't get it.

_________________

Take that Manny Ramirez! Red Sox sweep Dodgers. Red Sox on 8 game win streak. One game out of first. All is right with the world again.

The Sox are fail.

_________________

Hence why they're 1 game out of first?

I'm gonna put this weekend behind me, and just post something that again illustrates why baseball rocks. You just don't get quotes like this in other sports.

Last week, Cincinatti Reds 3B Scott Rolen was ejected for arguing a crucial called third strike. Kind of changed the momentum of the game, which the Dodgers won. Now, the background to this is that the night before, the Reds and Dodgers had played an entire game sandwiched around a 2.5 hour rain delay in the middle, not ending until well after midnight. The day after his ejection, Rolen had this to say, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com:



Maybe you had to be there. I found it amusing, however.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

My entire sports universe would be infinitely improved if Boston would just break off and quietly slip into the Atlantic.

_________________

Who cares if they're 1 game out of first? The Sox STILL fail. In fact, they should just go drown in the sea of green paint they need every year for that Monster.

_________________

I'll remember all this on the way to the championship. Then again this is coming from an Indians fan and a Braves fan. At least the Braves are reasonably good this year. *ducks*

You mean the Braves with the same record as your Sox? That's only "reasonably good"?

_________________

No no. The Braves, by that logic, are fail as well.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

Oh come on Khross. In the ever pathetic NL East. The Mets have been good recently and the Phillies are hit and miss, but the NL is woefully inferior yet again this year. The Sox hold one of the best records in the AL with two of the other best AL teams in their own division. All this while being virtually .500 40 games into the season.

And if that doesn't work, what Mus said.

You mean the NL East that won the 2008 World Series and took two games from the Yankees in 2009? Or, the NL East that's placed a team in the World Series 12 times in the last 20 years, which includes a team that won 13 consecutive division championships? I think you seriously underestimate how competitive the NL East happens to be.

_________________

I'll say this about the braves this year, other than keeping McCouth in the lineup(ugh what a bum), all the Braves moves this year and the offseason have really worked well. Gave the starting job to Prado, made Heyward the everyday RF, Glaus, Hinkse, resigning Hudson...everyone has pulled his weight so far. And all that with McCann and Escobar starting out the gate slow.

I think the Braves should swing for the fences and go after Lee from Seattle. Kawakami just ain't getting it done. Will be glad when Jurrjens gets back.

_________________
"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."

The Phillies took the World Series against the Tampa Rays. I mean the Tampa Rays. The Rays have become a good team, but they were in over their heads that year. They got hot at the right time, but they weren't a dominant AL team. And then the Yankees did what they should have last year (even if it pains me to say it). The NL East is probably the best division in the NL, and the NL East used to be the dominant division in baseball when the Braves were in their prime about 10-15 years ago, but it's nowhere near as good as the AL now. Look at the interleague results as proof of the dominance of the AL. That's a fairly large sample size to go on.

Has the definition of fail been expanded to include the polar opposite of the prior meaning of fail?

_________________

Ezekiel 23:19-20 

No, the definition of fail has been expanded to fit any team that the bandwagon has more than sufficient support for.

_________________

Holy shitsnacks!

I'm going to my first baseball game! Tigers vs Mariner's on July 3! I'm excited!

_________________


Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

Thought you weren't seeing that guy anymore?

_________________

Oooh, your first game (I assume professional)? Very cool. First tip - on fly balls, watch the outfielders instead of the ball. They'll tell you if it's gonna go out or stay in the park, so you can sit and be cool while everybody else is watching the ball and cheering or whatever.

Should be a good pitching matchup, too, if schedules hold. But, for your sake, I hope it's a slugfest rather than a pitching duel.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Going with a bunch of people from work! And I think we are all sitting in the outfield about 10 rows up. Not sure if that is ok place, but the tickets are all together. So..I should bring my glove?

Lol, I'm good at punching..so I can hit em in the stomach and catch the ball when the Tigers hit a home run right at me

_________________


Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

Bring your glove. Even if a ball doesn't get hit you way, you can sometimes convince the players to chunk one at in between innings when they play long toss. Was at a Rockies game and we got Lance Johnson when he was with the Cubs to throw their warm up ball to us. Big fun.

_________________
"It is true that democracy undermines freedom when voters believe they can live off of others' productivity, when they modify the commandment: 'Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.' The politics of plunder is no doubt destructive of both morality and the division of labor."