Well i think some players will be rembered like Tony Gwynn a fine hitter and was not on riods and Cal Ripken another fine player and who was not on riods and holds the iron man make with most consective games played

:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

I'd forgotten about Cal Ripken. Thankyou for reminding me about one of the greats.

How could you forget Cal :eek: But then i have a thing for shortstops as that was the position i played as a kid


On a side note Cal is a very nice guy ,i met him at a springtraining game years ago in FL around 96 or 97 and he was swamped with people wanting autographs and he stayed till everyone got one and he didn't just sign and push you along either
:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

I think it's very nice of a star like Cal to be so down to earth and friendly with his fans. That shows true class. It's no wonder he's one of the greats.

The Red Sox had a player who was like Ripken with fans and other players alike: Sean Casey. A few years ago, some magazine (it might have been The Sporting News, but I can't remember for sure) surveyed more than 400 players and asked them who the nicest guy in baseball was, and Sean won hands down. Before he came to the Sox, he played for Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. He's famous for getting up early the morning after games and going to help serve food at a homeless shelter that he founded. He would always come out and talk to kids waiting around after games at Fenway. And a friend of mine told me that he ran into him at a restaurant in Florida during Spring training and started up a conversation with him that lasted 2 hours, where they talked about baseball, families, etc., as if they were old friends ... and then Sean insisted on paying for everyone in the entire restaurant because, he said, "it was such a nice real night" and he was sure he made far too much money to "play a game."

Just goes to show some players see that they are where there are because of the fans and some few honored that someone wants there autograph Mike Schmidt was a good guy for signing as was TugMcGraw and yes even Larry Bowa was a good signer even though he was focaused on my tits while signing a baseball for me
:yes:Jerseygirl Jen

Ouch!!
 

JEN:

Wow! Don't be so hard on your past, please. It's part of your life, good and bad. I'm sure there was at least a good memory or two related to your hideous appendage.

TAL

I know it's part of my past but you said the key word " past" a past that was full of pain i won't go in to detail here but lets just move on i'm sorry but that's on avatar that i will not bring back please just accept that and lets move forward
:no: Jerseygirl Jenn

Lidge
 

SHADOW MAN:

Yeah, Hamels takes all the proper precautions, and he gets questioned as soft by fans and media. It's a no-win situation.

Lidge had his best year in '08 and worst year in '09, but he'll be late by a couple weeks for a season that will be neither perfect nor brutal. Madson or Baez will fill in for 2 weeks, which is no big deal.

TAL

JEN:

I accepted that before the post; that's not what my post was about. I respect your feelings. I wasn't trying to put the scab off of an old wound.

TAL

Very true but just ask yourself had they done the same for Sandy Koufax how many more years would he have pitched?
Not sure who said it but i rember hearing the act of pitching a baseball is one of the most unnatural motions ever for the human body
:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

JEN:

Trouble is nobody knows for sure. The reason is that all bodies are different. When it comes to heat during the winter, everybody has a different reaction to the cold and heat, meaning 10-15 different reactions. Like smoking, some peoples' lungs last for 40 years without a major physical ailment, while someone else has major problems in half the time.

Pitchers fall into a category where there are 10-15 different reactions with time as a major element.

TAL

Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, two class acts.

And Sean Casey, even though I did not know that before I read this thread! Class acts all!:respect:

Well McGwire still hasn't been fully honest about the steroids, so why should LaRussa?

Here are some steroid influenced cartoons that mock the steriod abusers and praise a couple of true baseball heroes.

:respect: Roger and Hank deserve their records back.

I agree with smc. I had some good laughs due to those cartoons. Thanks dauls.:):respect:

Speaking of McGuire, have you seen any recent pictures of him?:eek: His neck has a huge amount of stretch marks, so I guess you can tell that his neck has finally shrunk. That must mean he is finally off the juice!;)

Thought you might like to see this. "Big Mac" before he was brought up to the "majors" in 1986. As you can see, he is listed at a relatively "lanky" 6'5" 215. Think he did some "bulking up" along the way? LOL!

With stats that look normal rather than suspiciously high.;)

I wonder how much a Mark McGuire rookie card would go for now?:innocent:

Now that he "admitted" using steroids and HGH(considering how that was found in his locker while he was having an interview, it would be impossible for him to deny that one) I wonder if it's worth went up or down?

The starting bid on that one is only $9.95US on eBay.

You better get cracking then, aw, as it is sure to be a hot commodity.;):p:lol:

With the Flyers playing like a giant turd i can at least be happy that there is only 75 days to opening day
:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

Like said giant turd, their poor play will eventually pass and they will be winning again. I think that they will make a move during the second half.;)

Regarding baseball, all Blue Jays players have now been re-signed and they avoid arbitration yet again(they have not had to deal with that since 1997).:)

Et Tu Jen?
 

JEN:


Hockey on a baseball thread?
LOL!!

TAL

Heart attack and stroke!
 

Phillies fans who risked heart attacks every time Brad Lidge came into a game last season can now add stroke to their health risks from relief pitchers. Word is that Eric Gagne is going to have a tryout this afternoon in Arizona for the Phillies.

Gagne has what could safely be called a "checkered career." He won the Cy Young Award in 2003 with the Dodgers and holds the record for consecutive saves with 84. He had three seasons during which the word "unhittable" would not be an exaggeration: from 2002-04, with the Dodgers, his ERA was 1.79 and his strikeout-to-walk ration was 6.29. But then came Tommy John surgery. He came back and wasn't too bad in the first half of 2007.

After that, we got to see him at Fenway Park. He joined the team in July 2007. I happened to be at the game where he made his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform, a lovely afternoon that was Bobby Doerr Day! Gagne was a disaster. The Sox got rid of him. He spent last season as a starting pitcher for the Quebec Capitals of the Canadian-American Independent League, posting a 6-6 record, with an ERA of 4.65 ERA.

In Red Sox Nation, Gagne coming into a game during his Red Sox tenure would provoke the same reaction as Lidge coming into a game for the Phillies last year. It was time to make sure your health insurance premiums were paid up.

(Gagne, by the way, was named in the Mitchell Report in December 2007 as a steroid user!)

Longest of shots
 

Gagne is a lightning-in-a-bottle guy, and probably won't even make the team for a 2 week trial run in April. The Phillies will have 5 open spots with Moyer (out for April), Lidge and Romero (both out for 2 weeks) to go with the 2 open slots for young arms to unclog the AA & AAA bottleneck of young arms.

Lidge may have caused heartburn last year, but he wasn't booed off the mound. He has now had his best and worst years with '10 being neither perfect nor a disaster. Nobody would have believed with Philly's reputation that Lidge could have his worst year ever, and still not be booed.

Speaking of closers
 

The Red Sox again avoided arbitration with Jonathan Papelbon and signed the closer to a 1-year deal.

One of my dreams for this season is for Papelbon to confront Jon Miller of ESPN, who insists on calling Pap "Jon" rather than "Jonathan" -- something about which Papelbon has been quite adamant with the Boston media (all of whom are happy to go along). In my dream, Pap climbs up the screen and makes his way to the broadcast booth, drags Miller down to the field, and recreates the Irish jig he did after the 2004 World Series victory, dancing around Miller while the broadcaster begs not to be stepped on.

Remember, this is only a dream.

Now, if it were to happen in real life, who wants to bet against the following?: Joe Morgan, still up in the broadcast booth, says in complete seriousness that when he played he would never have done such a thing and that Papelbon's Hall of Fame chances are being compromised.

Joe Morgan
 

The problem with Joe is that he stayed a year too long, and The Phillies made The WS that year in '83. Joe fell flat on his face coming off of 3rd base trying to score in that WS, and it was a pitiful thing to watch for a guy who was a great player (not announcer).

That reminds me of the team when Jim Rome kept on calling a quarterback(Jim Elway? I cannot recall the fellow's name) a name that he repeatedly asked not to be called. Rome kept it up, so he was tackled on the set! I don't think that interview was ever finished...;)

Some people do not like to be called by the shortened version of their name. There was a guy that I worked with that wanted to be called James rather than Jim. Nothing wrong with that, and I don't blame Papelbon wanted to be called Jonathan rather than Jon. There are a couple of other incidents where he came across as a jerk, but not in this case.

The San Francisco Giants are keeping Bengie Molina behind the plate for 2010. I keep wondering how many more Molina brothers (or other relatives) there are waiting to make the big leagues as catchers. In addition to Bengie, we already have Jose (who was with the Yankees last season), and Yadier (who started for the Cardinals last year). Then there's Gustavo (who I think is in the minors now but played for the Mets in 2008); is he related to them in some way? And what about Stubby, Stumpy, and Chunky?

Where's Mike Piazza when you need him he was so dreamie :inlove:

:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

Come to think of it, I used to think he was kinda dreamy. Hmmmm, I wonder what that might have meant?

:lol: Don't think i want to go there but hey i know an excellent DR in Thailand


:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

Could this be the best McGwire fallout yet?
 

I am just loving the latest news on the Mark McGwire front.

Ferguson Jenkins, the Hall-of-Fame pitcher, sent an open letter to the Associated Press in which he says McGwire owes an apology to all pitchers who gave up home runs to him. Here are some excerpts from the letter:

"You have not even begun to apologize to those you have harmed. ... You have yet to all the pitchers you faced while juiced. You altered pitchers' lives. You may have shortened pitchers careers because of the advantage you forced over them while juiced."

In a telephone interview yesterday with the Associated Press, Jenkins elaborated. "How many pitchers do you think he ended their careers by hitting numbers of home runs off them?" And he said he would have known how to handle the bulked-up McGwire at the plate.

"It's tough to hit a home run off your back. In my era, Seaver, Gibson, Drysdale, Carlton, there were so many guys that would have probably knocked him on his butt."

Go Fergie!!

From the tapes and interviews i've seen and read Bob Gibson would have knocked Big Mac and Jose on there butts

:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

Gibson was a master of pitching inside. He could throw so, so close without hitting a batter, even better than Don Drysdale -- who was very good at it, too. Gibson only hit 102 batters in his long career.

By the way, Jen, congrats to your Phillies for nailing down Shane Victorino for three years. He is quite a ballplayer.

Signing Victorino is good news, he gets better every season. Blanton has also signed, and hopefully the next one to sign will be Carlos Ruiz.

And then there's the possibility of adding Jose Contreras to the bullpen. That's got to be better than Gagne.

He's still dodging pieces of broken bat that the steroid-freak named Roger Clemens continues to throw his way.;):lol:

Yeah! Go Fergie!:cool: He's from the city I live in!:yes:

DAULS:

Chooch is suppose to sign a 3-year deal within the next 4-5 days.


TAL

Chooch? Who is that?

How about this? I read that the Twins are hoping to sign Jim Thome and make him the DH. This coming season, the Twins start playing in their new ballpark, Target Field, which has the same dimensions as the Metrodome (or the "Homerdome"). Imagine a Twins lineup with Thome, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, and Michael Cuddyer -- all in that small park. Holy shit!

Sorry 'bout that
 

SHADOW:


It's Phillies' Catcher Carlos Ruiz.


TAL

Phillies fans
 

Chooch is signed for (surprise) 3 years.

That's good. Now all the arbitration-eligible players have been signed.

Where else will the Phillies look to strengthen the roster?

What are the chances of Jayson Werth remaining with the Phillies when he becomes a free agent after the 2010 season? Another season like 2009 and the Phillies would be looking at a $10+ a year deal to keep him.

If the Phillies payroll keeps rising as fast as it has in the last 2 or 3 years, they'll pass the Mets' payroll soon.

It depends on what they sign him for. Thome is nowhere near the player he was a few years ago, and he has had some injuries creeping up on him recently. If the contract is not too high and perhaps an incentive-laden one, I could see this as a good signing. If they overpay, they could end up like the Blue Jays did when they signed Frank Thomas(man, if only we could have gotten him when he was not a shadow of his former self).

That seems to be a common Jays problem. When they do get a good player at a reasonable salary they let him go. Sometimes the Jays are so frustrating with the way they do business.

Yes, shadows, I do support the Jays (the only Toronto team that I do support). I would like to see them be a lot more consistent than they are. They always get my hopes only to dash them again.

Phillies fans
 

DUALS:

Everybody wants to keep Werth, who will be a $15M to $20M signing, if he has a good to super year with good being at '09 numbers.

We want J-Dub to have a super year, because no one will want him to have an off year.

However, if I read my Rubes correctly, The Phillies will dole out big money $15M to $20M (tops) to Halladay (or Lee), Rynosaur, Utley and Hamels.

We want Cole to come up big, and when he does he'll be 1 of 4 guys with big tickets: 2 starters and 2 position players.


4 guys @ $60M to $80M seems to be the ceiling, if I read my Rubes right.

Everything else is a dream. Keep in mind there is only 1 big ticket left to buy: Cole Hamels OR a starting stud hurler.


TAL

I think now that J.P. Retardi is no longer the GM things will be looking up. We may have been able to get Adam Dunn...or at least we could have before our Idiot Savant(without the Savant) of a GM decided to belittle him. And to top that all off, someone pretended to be Adam Dunn when they talked to him during his session on Jay's Radio. What a buffoon!:rolleyes:

Frank Thomas: Bad contract.

B.J.Ryan: At the time of the signing it honestly looked good. Then he got injured and that was that. So neutral contract.

Vernon Wells: Horrible, horrible contract! That basically handcuffs the Jays for many years, as who the hell would pick up that contract in a trade? Not even the Yankees, as Wells has sucked eggs the past couple of seasons. I think it was more of a case of getting off the juice than being "injured" all the time. I think his production dropping around the time of the Mitchell Reports being announced is more than just a coincidence. Perhaps I am just being a jaded Jays fan...perhaps not. HORRIBLE :censored: CONTRACT!

Alex Rios: Another bad contract. Thankfully we were able to pawn him off to another team who picked up his contract via the waiver wire! Thank you Chicago Whitesox, THANK YOU!!!! That kid had so much potential, but he just couldn't reach it. I just don't think he has the mental(and by this, I don't mean intelligence)capability to do it now. He will be an okay player, but will never reach his full potential. Bad contract...that we were lucky to get rid of.

Is it a telling sign that we were not able to sign any of our draft picks this year? I think MLB needs to change the way they have the draft and make it something like the NHL has. If a team picks you, you play for them or you get sanctioned until you do(or the team that picked you gets a bonus pick(s) in the next draft and the player still doesn't get to play for a year or two). Scott Boras is an agent of a lot of these young punks(and I say it because they are obviously in it for money only, and are being greedy since they have not proven themselves on a professional level), and he is a cancer/parasite that MLB needs to get rid of. Look at the list of MLB players that he is an agent of, and you will see that he is the agent of the ones that have "issues", either with their code of conduct, their maturity, or their attitude.

A mini-rant there at the end, but I had to get it off my chest.;)

SHADOW:

Alex Anthopoulos looks good as one of the new breed of GM, like Theo Epstein in BOS & Rube Amaro in Philly.

TAL

I hope that to be the case.:) I certainly am willing to give him a chance, unlike certain Jays "fans" who want us to be like the Yankees and buy everything in sight(I'm glad we're not like that). They bitch and moan about how he isn't doing anything at all, and how we need to get big named players now, now, NOW!!! Give the guy a chance, people! Sheesh!

SHADOW:

His sons are running the team differently than George for the last couple of years. Last year no big pitcher was picked up at the deadline. They spend their whole wad in the off-season with CC, AJ & Tex, but had more money come off the books with Abreu, Giambi & Mussina. The sons are not spending like George, and their payroll is going down.

TAL

We'll have to see how this year's offseason plays out. The Yankees have not gotten anybody yet, but they really don't have a big need right now. They are pretty set with the team they have. I wonder if they will be as good as they were last year, or will winning the World Series cause them to be a little lax?

We may want to keep Werth beyond 2010, but Ryan Howard is a free agent after the 2011 season.

So the Phillies will probably have their eyes on Howard's new contract when it comes to negotiating with Werth at the end of the 2010 season.

Either way, hope Werth has a great 2010.

C'mon, guys, we all need to pay closer attention. I can't believe you don't know about these BIG-name signings by the Yankees:

Royce Ring, a lefty reliever, to a minor-league contract

Reid Gorecki, outfielder, to a minor-league contract

David Winfree, outfielder, to a minor-league contract

Boone Logan, relief pitcher

These are massive signings, future Hall-of-Fame signings!!!!

Just ask one of the Steinbrenner assholes.

Are you sure those aren't the signings from the Jays?:lol:

Tough division
 

SHADOW:

It's pretty difficult for an AL East team to beat NYY and/or BOS, and any AL team to win the WC. It's those 2 and 2 other teams that have to win their division. I'm glad my team is in The NL.

TAL

Nah, the Jays have been sniffing around the girl's softball league I used to run, wondering whether they could pass off some of the shorter-haired kids (acquired, of course, for next to nothing), as boys.

My sister is a pretty good pitcher. She could probably throw her fastball(and it isn't even overhand) and it would probably strike out Vernon Wells!:eek::respect:

Of course, that's not saying much. A ball rolling along the ground at 5 mph would garner a strikeout from him.:frown:

Way can't a girl pitch in the NL or AL?
Even thou i no longer have balls of my own i bet i can still play shortstop very well just don't ask me to hit
:eek: Jerseygirl Jen

All Field And No Bat, Like Juan Castro?
 

JEN:

This is not meant to be insultive or offensive in ANY way.

But what kind of answer would you be expecting?


TAL

You would fit in very well with the Jays, Jen. They have not had a good-hitting shortstop in a loooooong time. They have had good defensive players there(Johnny Mac, for example), which have saved runs on quite a few plays.

I would prefer you to play that position than Johnny Mac. You would both be good defensively, but you are far prettier.:cool:

Clarification
 

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't suggesting that girls aren't as good as boys when it comes to playing ball, only that the perception would be that they would be less expensive to sign!

I dout i would have made the pros, I was a good shortstop by little league standards had i stayed with it i may have made a colleage team but my poor hitting would have kept me out of the minors
:yes: Jerseygirl Jen

Bah! Have you seen some of the players that actually make gross amounts of cash? Some of them are horrible hitters! I'll bet that you could outhit quite a few of them, Jen. Don't forget, you would have coaches(Major League ones) to help work on your swing. You could do it!:)

JEN:

This is not meant to be insultive or offensive in ANY way.

It sounds like you couldn't hit the fastball, was that your hitting problem?


TAL

I think my problem was when it was my turn to bat i'd hear from my own team thats the next out so i'd just go up and swing at anything just three straight swings then sit down once in a blue moon i'd get lucky and mange a hit

When I was coaching, I would bench any player -- even my best player -- for saying something like that, even if it was only whispered to someone else. What an outrage!

well kids are cruel and unfornatly so are some so called adults plus as a kid i had low selfesteam
do too well you can guess why

:frown: Jerseygirl Jen

And they wonder why so many people suffer from low self-esteem any more. I was bullied in school and never really had much desire to play a game where the bullies would be on the same team as me.

Any Sox Fans
 

What are The Sox trying to do with Lowell and his $12M after signing Beltre to play 3B for $10M?


Has anybody heard anything?

The conventional wisdom in Red Sox Nation regarding Mike Lowell is that since he has passed the "healthy threshold" in the off-season, once he demonstrates in Spring training that he can still move sufficiently well defensively he will be attractive enough for the Red Sox to secure the trade deal the team was unable to complete with the Rangers.

Beltre is a great acquisition, but Lowell will be sorely missed. He is a fan favorite, a genuinely good guy, and a tremendous clutch performer.

Thnx.

Will The Sox have to eat any of that $12M or will TEX pay it all?

I should have written "a trade deal, which the team was unable to complete with the Rangers." That deal fell apart; there is no deal within which the Red Sox would have to eat part of Lowell's salary on behalf of the Rangers. I would suspect that they will have to do so with some other team, though. I doubt the Rangers will revive the original trade.

Signs of spring
 

*looks out the window and sees the several inches of snow that fell Tuesday and Wednesday*

Darn it. I would rather see the robin.;)

SHADOW:

Yesterday, they started the local sports show in a snow-covered ballpark here in Philly, while the snow continued to fall. We got 2 2-foot storms in the last week.


TAL

Spring arrives when the photos reveal the equipment being loaded onto the truck at the ballpark to be shipped to Florida.

Yuck! That would have been a pain to dig yourself out of I would imagine!:eek:

SHADOW:

Well, the last 10 or so years have been too kind to Philly with winter weather, but it finally caught up to us. Seeing the baseball equipment going to Florida helped a bit.


TAL

I imagine it would. Not too long now until Spring Training!:cool:

I just read in the paper this morning that the day that the Sox head off for spring training is known as Truck day in Boston (actually the paper said New England, but I find it hard to believe that all of New England supports the BoSox). Is that the real term, smc, or is someone trying to coin a new phrase? Apparently yesterday was Truck day.

Truck Day
 

^ Thanks for the info, smc.

I'm not a New England native, so I haven't really bought into Red Sox mania. I'm from Atlanta originally, so I still feel as if I have roots there. But you've got to respect ANY team that has a rivalry with the Yankees. I don't really care to see Boston win so much as I LOVE seeing the Yankees lose.

:respect: the anti-Yankees sentiment.

I've always hated those damn Yankees :p, and what they did to my beloved Phillies in October didn't help the situation.:frown:

DUALS:

It was just a REIGN DELAY!!


TAL

:lol: Amusing. But it still doesn't ease the pain. Those :censored: Yankees.


:confused: ? duals ? :confused:

Tal, Whilst a friend of mine who shares my birthday refers to me as his twin, there is only one of me. Try dauls NOT duals ;)

the big hurt retires
 

Frank Thomas called it a career
So after 19 yrs and 532 HR and i think around 2000 hits is he a hall of famer?

:p Jerseygirl Jen

DAULS:

Sorry, I've been transposing your name without a clue.

TAL

Pretty good numbers but I don't think they are worthy of the Hall.

I'm not sure how I would vote, but I am pretty sure the real voters will not select Frank Thomas.

At one time hiting 500 HR was an automatic ticket to Copperstown, The only thing that would stop me from voting for him would be if it came out he was on roids

:eek: Jerseygirl Jen

'Big Hurt'
 

Frank Thomas has been one of MLB's more vocal anti-steroids players over the past decade or so. I think pretty much everyone would be stunned if his name was to be tarnished by a roids scandal.

I always thought fans and reporters saw him as a definite future Hall of Famer, especially if he made it to 500 HR.

OK his career average fell approx. 20 points to .301 during the 'noughties', but that surely won't count against him when the voters see his name on the ballot.

His number is being retired by the White Sox in August. How many players with retired numbers have failed to become Hall of Famers?

Big Frank should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.:yes::cool:

I would be shocked to hear his name being linked to steroids, but I guess stranger things have happened(such as A-Roid finally performing in the Playoffs...unfortunately).:eek:

For smc.;)


Attachment 151071

SHADOW:

I listen to WFAN.com in NY and Mike Francesa (big NYY fan), and he says the top 3 teams are The Yankees, Sox & Phillies.

I realize you're a Jays fan, but if it came down to those 3 teams, who would you root for? At least, The Phillies have Doc to root for.


TAL

Thanks. What makes it even funnier is that I've heard almost this exact conversation before.

Out of the three I would pick the Phillies. Not just due to them having Doc, but also for the fact that they are not divisional rivals to the Jays.:)

No problem. Glad you liked it.:)