Mlb 2009

[Jedi Shrimper]

It's Opening Day!

Who do you follow? How are they expected to do this season?

The Cubs have had a mixed preseason in the Cactus league, and lost both exhibition games at the New Yankee Stadium at the weekend. The Cubs have brought in a few new faces, the pick of the bunch being Milton Bradley, intended to help out with our lack of lefties. Micah Hoffpauier has been hitting well preseason. First up we have The Astros, with Zambrano pitching first, last time out against the Astros he pitched a no-hitter. We're again well fancied to take our 3rd consecutive NL Central title but doubts remain whether we'll get any further than that.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Ah, was thinking i should get round to start this thread. In fact I should have started as a Reds fan it would be my right to start the thread...


The Reds are being tipped as dark horses in some quarters. I'm undecided. They've gone heavily in favour of pitching, speed and defence to that extent that they've got virtually no power whatsoever. The five outfielders (disappointingly Jonny Gomes missed out on making the roster today) are all basically centre-fielders. If anyone actually ever gets on base, they've got the speed to cause havoc on the basepaths, especially with Willy Taveras who led the league in steals last year.

Defensively they should be much better without Griffey and Dunn and basically 3 centre-fielders roaming the outfield. Brandon Phillips is a goldglover at 2nd and catching looks strong with new signing Ramon Hernandez sharing time with youngster Ryan Hanigan but Edwin Encarncion at 3rd base isn't known as E5E5 for no reason and is likely to lead 3rd basemen in errors again, whilst Alex Gonzalez has hardly played in two years through injury but is the only genuine shortstop option (the youngster Janish has the glove but not the experience nor the bat to start).

The pitching is looking pretty exciting following Volquez' breakout year and Johnny Cueto has the stuff to have a similar sort of year. Add in Harang who should rebound to be the ace he was in 2007 and Arroyo as an innings-eater who'll blow hot at least once in the year and that has the makings of a dominant starting rotation. Michah Owings beat out former top prospect Homer Bailey as 5th starter, but Bailey will be waiting in AAA for his chance and the talk is that he's been very impressive this year. It could be the best rotation in the majors, but Volquez and Cueto could suffer sophomore slumps and Harang might not recover from last years woes and Arroyo is struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome in his pitching hand from playing his guitar too much.

The bull-pen is looking fairly decent, although I'm slightly worried about the closer Cordero, who looks out of sorts.

My main worry is the lack of offense. I see only one reliable bat in Joey Votto. Jay Bruce will be an all-star but he isn't quite their yet. Brandon Phillips kills left-handed pitching but Dusty seems determined to have him bat clean-up against both lefties and righties. Encarnacion has the ability to be an above average MLB bat, but he isn't there yet either. There otherwise seem to be a lot of cheap outs there. maybe it won't matter in the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark, but that lack of power (and for that matter, contact) worries me. You can't steal if you don't get on base.

Who knows, if things fall right, they could go all the way to the wildcard and beyond, but their spine is built on 4 kids in their second season. I think they are one top bat away from being a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Wahoo, the season is underway after a brief rain delay

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

I'm a Padres follower, as I saw a game at the Jack Murphy Stadium back in '95, the season after the players strike.

The public were still fairly p!ssed off with the players, though, as in a 65,000 stadium only 8,500 turned up. We bought $5 tickets and were able to stroll over to seats right by the bull pen on the other side of the ground!

NL West was a very weak division last season and Padres finished bottom so I'm just looking for consolidation. Anything around the .500 mark will be fine by me.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

I think the concern with the Cubs is, we need a big-hitter, our rotation & bullpen look good. And they seem to have strengthened in depth which is good.

Still an opening day win for the Cubs 4-2 at the Astros, is a good start. Zambrano pitched well, and Soriano got a leadoff homerun. Two players alot of Cubs fans have hopes will step up also had good games, Fontenot & Hoffpauir.

Had to laugh at the Yankee's losing their first game 10-5 to Baltimore. Heehee.

 

[Benji91]

Just got my tickets for Saturday week to watch the much loved Yankees play the Indians (Cleveland, not polka dot or feather) in the stadium paid for in part by my taxes last year.
Will take some pics of the new stadium and stick them in the Social group....

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Just got my tickets for Saturday week to watch the much loved Yankees play the Indians (Cleveland, not polka dot or feather) in the stadium paid for in part by my taxes last year.
Will take some pics of the new stadium and stick them in the Social group....

From reading the reports of the exhibtion games against the Cubs at the weekend, it's sounds like an incredible stadium, retaining the atmosphere with all sorts of modern facilities, bars & restaurants designed so you can still see the game.

Still hate the Yankee's though, good start for them though, 0-2!

2-1 series win at Houston for the Cubs, 11-6 win last night, Fontenot is having a belting start and Fukudome's best game in a Cubbie shirt so far.

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

And Boston overtake those pesky Blue Jays to go top of the AL East at last.

Thank you please.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

And Boston overtake those pesky Blue Jays to go top of the AL East at last.

Thank you please.

11 games on the spin for you isn't it?

Cubs are currently 4th in NL Central, we've a whole bunch injured and our pitchers aren't doing very well yet. :'(

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

11 games on the spin for you isn't it?

Cubs are currently 4th in NL Central, we've a whole bunch injured and our pitchers aren't doing very well yet. :'(

Yep 11 on the spin now. Was delighted sweeping the dirty Yankees at the weekend... Justin Masterson pitched very well in the game I saw on TV.

Still very early days, I hope the Cubbies come good in the National League mate!

 

[Benji91]

Yep 11 on the spin now. Was delighted sweeping the dirty Yankees at the weekend... Justin Masterson pitched very well in the game I saw on TV.

Still very early days, I hope the Cubbies come good in the National League mate!

The yankees are a mess - we are waiting in the office for the call to sit in the bullpen they have reached into it so much.
Watching Ellsbury steal home was a real kick in the knackers too.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

The yankees are a mess - we are waiting in the office for the call to sit in the bullpen they have reached into it so much.
Watching Ellsbury steal home was a real kick in the knackers too.

How was the trip to the new Yankee Stadium?

 

[Benji91]

How was the trip to the new Yankee Stadium?

The stadium is amazing - big open concourses - you cant walk 10 paces without seeing another food or beer outlet, seats are comfortable and you can walk all the way around. I didnt get a chance to go into monument park or some of the nicer restaurants (they have their own steakhouse, a Mohegan Sun, Hard Rock Cafe) but the place has it all. The HD screen in CF has to be seen to be believed (although Matsui doesnt get any prettier in 100 foot High Definition).

Also got to see a game where the top of the 2nd inning took 40 minutes, 17 hits and 14 runs.... it was brutal. By the time the bottom of the 7th came round the place was virtually empty.

One highlight was watching the crowd get a red sox fan kicked out for nothing more than wearing a Red Sox shirt. No punches thrown, just a lot of old fashioned verbal abuse and chants of "chuck him out" was enough to see the dirty boston fan booted out.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The yankees are a mess - we are waiting in the office for the call to sit in the bullpen they have reached into it so much.
Watching Ellsbury steal home was a real kick in the knackers too.

Saw a clip of that, that was hilarious.

Don't pay much attention to the American League, but whenever I have the Yankees have been absolutely thrashed.

My Reds are just about over .500, but I see that our slumping 3B man (he's hitting something like .136) has been diagnosed with a convenient injury which will require a trip to the DL - and no doubt a lengthy spell convalescing in triple A - which just as conveniently allows our AAA 3B man, who is about as hot as anyone in baseball (he's hitting .438 and has been a doubles machine, so he's slugging is probably ridiculous) - to be called up.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Looks like we jinxed the BoSox last night I_S :D But the Cubs got back onto winning ways last night with an immense game from Zambrano, pitched 7 innings 111 balls, gave up 3 runs but hit a homer, a double & a single in a 11-3 win over Arizona.

Early i know, but NL Central looks like it could be very close this year, thankfully the Reds, Pirates & Cards all lost last night to close it up a little.

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

Looks like we jinxed the BoSox last night I_S :D

Thought the exact same thing when logging onto the redsox site this morning to check the score...Typical :D

 

[Irish_Shrimper]

I love playing the Rays.

No really. I do.


:(

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Carl Crawford's 6 steals:D

Once he's stolen base a couple of times, you'd think they'd catch on to what he was doing to them.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Cubs are bouncing back 4 game winning streak, and Theriot has 3 homers in 4 games :stunned: (as opposed to his career 7 in over 1,300 at bats before now).

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Cubs are now 18-14 and 1.5 games back.

But the real story is Bobby Scales. 31 years old, 11 years in the minor leagues, he got the call up a week or so ago, has a hit in all 5 games so far and last night hit his first home run in the majors - fairytale, the stuff movies are made of.