Baseball 2011
 

Ok time for Baseball
Today at Wall-mart i saw 2011 baseball cards and that got me thinking about the upcoming season
And i have to say i have high hopes for my Phillies this season as they look great on paper and hopefully this will play as good on the field
On a side note i see big Al is having trouble with a new contract with the Cardinals so it would be awsome if he signs with Phillie at the end of this season, hey i can dream can't i?
:yes: Philliefan Jen

Darn! You beat me to it(creating a 2011 baseball thread, that is;)).:eek:

I am liking Toronto's chances this year(to be competitive!). It should be an exciting summer. Of course, since the Leafs are in sniffing distance to a playoff spot, I am not 100% focused on baseball yet.;)

My Red Sox are looking good on paper, too. The "conventional wisdom" among many baseball writers is that this season will end with a Boston-Philadelphia World Series. Of course, without a single game yet played ...

Go Blue Jays!!; the only Toronto team that I support (unless the Marlies are playing any team from the QMJHL :) :D)

Good man!;)

Toronto lost 4-0 to Detroit and won 8-1 in a B game against Philadelphia.

At least the Yankees started off with a loss(to Philly)!:yes:

This early in spring training a win or lose is nothing to get happy or worried about as most of the players at this stage will soon be back in the miniors, wait till the final week of spring training then you will get a feel of what to expect during the reg season

:yes: Philliefan Jen

When you're a Blue Jays fan like shadows, and you know that your team may be good but won't be good enough to compete in its division, you have to consider the early spring training games important. After all, this may be the only time the Jays really make any "progress." ;)

Jen, are you headed down to Florida again this year to watch some games from spring training?

With the Yankee's rotation(shaky at best) and Tampa Bay losing a lot of players, I think that Toronto can easily fight for second place in the East. Baltimore, with the signings they made in the offseason, became one of the(if not THE) oldest teams in MLB! They won't be any threat this season.

Boston, barring injuries or copious amounts of slumping players, will win the East. I am hopeful that the Jays can get the Wild Card.

I'm not worried about the two losses by the Jays so far, as they have been fielding mainly their prospects. It won't be until near the end of Spring Training that you'll see the "true" team playing.:)

Not sure, but with recent advents it's doutfull so i'll most likely have to wait for the reg season to start and i'll try to get some tickets for a few games which will not be easy as a lot of the games are all ready sold out

:eek: Philliesfan Jen

I didn't realize that most games would be sold out before the season even starts.

That defines Fenway Park for the past many years!

Is there any chance for visitors to get tickets to a game without going to a scalper?

There are always a few seats available at the box office on the day of the game, but the chances of getting them are very low. There are authorized resellers who are not street scalpers, and tickets are available from them, too. Are you visiting, ila? If you come to Boston when the Sox are in town, I guarantee that we go to a game, my treat. I have sources. ;)

I'd love to get down to the Boston area. I'll let you know if I ever go down there.

The moment the news broke on Cliff Lee returning to the Phillies season tickets sales sored making a lot less seats aviable plus add in the new park sits a lot less people then the old Vet plus for the past few season the Phillies have been a solid playoff team all adds up to games selling out which is a good thing as that gives them money to resign key players and allows them to get stars like Cliff Lee and hopefully big AL from the Cardinals hey i can dream van't i?

:yes: Philliesfan Jen

Braves? Braves?
 

I've been traveling so much this past fall and most of this year thus far, that I'm really out of the loop. With Bobby Cox no longer at the helm, it's gonna be interesting to see what Fredi Gonzalez can do with his return to ATL...

It'll be odd watching the Braves under a new manager as Bobby was there for like forever
:yes: Philliefan Jen

It will be, to say the least...

I am a Reds fan!

I'm getting tired of hearing about the Phillies pitching rotation for 2011 and the speculation that it might be the greatest in the history of baseball. I was thinking about this today when I was discussing baseball with a colleague. Despite the hyperbole and the frequent claims by the baseball "talking heads" on ESPN, NESN, etc., that Halliday et al. are greater than the 1969 Orioles rotation, I've decided I think this is crap. Here's why:

1. We haven't seen this rotation go through a year together -- that's the obvious reason.

2. The Orioles rotation, back in the 4-man days, were pitchers who expected to go 9 innings every time they pitched. With the exception of Halliday, none of the Phillies will be routinely going more than 6 or 7!

So, before the season starts, isn't it a bit ridiculous to anoint the Phillies when in 1969 Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, and Dave McNally became the only staff other than the 1920 Chicago White Sox with a quartet of 20-game winners?

My baseball fan friends, what think ye?

What do i think about the Phillies three aces?
Gee give me a moment


I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

:yes: Philliesfan Jen

I'll wait and see how they do during the season before I give them that label. Heck, look at the Cardinal rotation now. It was supposed to be pretty strong and now it's looking pretty weak(they lose Adam Wainwright for the season, and Chris Carpenter for at least a start).

Of course you do, Jen, but that wasn't really the question. ;)

I'm fine with all the hype

In fact i'm going to give my guess for this years World Series and it's the one we should have had last year it'll be the Phillies beating the Rangers in 5 games
:yes: Philliesfan Jen

The Rangers? Jen, sweetheart, please don't tell me you've ventured down into South Philly and bought yourself some CRACK! ;)

I think Jen's prediction is pretty close to what will happen. A lot will depend on whether or not the Rangers can play as good this season as they did last season.

Well, we have crack in Boston, too. I just got some, and now I'd like to make my prediction: Pittsburgh beats Seattle in 6 games. :lol:

The Rangers look to be a solid team even after loosing Cliff Lee and Vlad and i think Josh will have another solid year and the Rangers will give Boston a tuff run and the Yanks well forget about em they will be one and done and the Rays will not get to play past Sept the surpise teams to sneak up and and nip at everyone's heels will be the Padres and Reds


:yes: Philliefan Jen

Honestly, I think the Chicago White Sox will do better in the standings than Texas. Texas, while still a good team, will not have the element of surprise going for them this season. Nobody will take them lightly this season that is for sure.

I think the Jays will be a pleasant surprise, but I don't think they will be playoff-bound this year(although they could sneak into the Wild Card slot if they are lucky).

The Yankees will be quite bad, especially when their offense starts to slump. Their rotation is pretty weak to be honest.

NO NOPE not going to happen the Whitesox will never get past the Twins

:no: Philliefan Jen

I am not confident at all about Minnesota doing anything of significance this season, especially if Morneau isn't able to get back to his former level(whenever he's even cleared to play that is!).

An excellent day for baseball! Toronto smoked the Twins 13-3! They had 4 home runs and two stolen bases. I was getting a little irked near the end, as the fans kept on throwing towels onto the field.

I was just hoping that the umpires wouldn't force the Jays to forfeit the game over that(or if that is even possible)!

Toronto wins again! They beat Minnesota 6-1 and are now 2-0 to start the season.:)

Kyle Drabek pitched a pretty good game(had 3 walks, but that was pretty much his only blemish). They are looking good!

Unfortunately, the Yankees won as well, beating the Tigers 10-6. Booooooo!

Go DODGERS!!!!

Toronto lost 4-3 to Minnesota, and are now 2-1 on the season. Lind had the bases loaded (with 2 out) and swung at the first pitch(even though Nathan was struggling with control!). Of course, it resulted in a weak groundout to first. So close to a sweep!

The Yankees lost 10-7, which was nice to see!

A few surprises to start the 2011 season:

Boston starts at 0-3, and they still have Beckett yet to pitch(he had a bad Spring Training and I think that will continue)!

Baltimore is 3-0, but the surprising part is that they held Tampa Bay to 3 runs for all three games. Tampa only scored a run each game(I guess Damon and ManRam didn't help much!).

Kansas City is 3-1, having come back from behind to beat the Angels in two straight games!

Toronto won their 5th game, beating the Angels 3-2. Vernon Wells(a former Jay) was 0-4 and is now 3-30 to start the season.

Boston won their first game of the season, although it wasn't a very pretty victory. They beat the Yankees 9-6.

Philadelphia lost 6-3 to Atlanta. Cliff Lee did not pitch a very good game for the Phillies, as he gave up all 6 runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay is also no longer winless. They beat Chicago 9-7, and only won due to shoddy defense by the White Sox in the top of the 9th inning. Also, Manny Ramirez got caught with PED in his system and chose to retire rather than receive the 100 game suspension. Any chance he had of going to the Hall Of Fame is more than likely gone due to this.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This New Era ad running during the Red Sox-Yankees games is really funny, especially the remarks about Philadelphia (sorry, Jen :))!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e57d...embedded#at=16

What's New Era?

New Era makes baseball caps.

Does anyone know about some place online where I could watch ball games?

I know of no way, but one of my former students has claimed to others that this worked for him:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2117398_leag...line-free.html

Frankly, I don't believe it.

I've got two words for the Blue Jays bullpen tonight.

FUCK YOU!!!!!!!:censored::censored::censored:

Toronto has a 7-0 lead and they end up losing 8-7. The bullpen decided to walk in THREE runs with the bases loaded. This game is going to stick in my craw for a looooong time. Toronto should have won this game, and instead lost to a shitty 2-7 team.

This irks me more than the bullshit call that the third-base umpire made in Anaheim the other night.

Go ahead, shadows, tell us how you really feel about the Jays.:lol:

Yeah, boo-fuckin'-hoo. At least it's not the Red Sox you're rooting for. :eek:

It's weird. The bullshit call from the Third Base Umpire(Davidson) during the Anaheim series seemed to put the Jays off-kilter. They should have swept the Mariners, but instead had to settle for the one win(today's game).

Thankfully they came back and smoked the Mariners 8-3.

Boston and Tampa were rained out today. I don't believe a make-up game has been slated as of yet.

Philadelphia beat Washington 3-2. Halladay got a complete game victory, but I believe Manuel left him in too long and the two runs were scored against him in the 9th inning.

The stupid Yankees beat Baltimore 7-4 and now both teams are tied for first with a 6-4 record. Both teams have lost 2 games due to rain so far.

That is true. It would only be worse if I was rooting for the Yankees.;)

I wonder how many more games Dice K will be starting in? He seems to have lost whatever he had and is a shell of the pitcher he was a couple of years ago.

Clever how you turned my meaning around, my friend. I didn't know you had it in you. ;)

Interesting that you should mention Matsuzaka. There was a fascinating analysis in The Boston Globe last Sunday about why he has the problems he does and about Japanese pitchers in general working in MLB that may be of interest to any serious baseball fan:

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-1...atsuzaka-count