The 2008 MLB Season Thread (Update: Phillies Won)

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A little off topic, but I'm headed to Tropicana (via Orlando) this week for game 2, and want to know if there's anything that I should be aware of or look out for?
 
[quote name='javeryh']Moving Papelbon to the starting rotation isn't a good idea, IMO. He is an insane closer and a big game pitcher - his career postseason ERA is 0.00! There are maybe 3-4 guys in the whole league as good as he is (arguably). Typically I think the closer position is overrated (i.e. anyone can do it) but guys like Papelbon and Rivera are the exceptions - they truly make a difference.[/quote]

without a doubt paps is a top tier closer. If you look at his shoulder injury from a couple of years ago, and his stats over the past few seasons, and the fact that all his numbers have gone up each year. ERA, WHIP, strikeouts per inn/pitched is done, I would rather have him be on a routine as a starter. It was either this or the 07 spring training where he came to camp as a starter, but they didn't have a closer and he went back to closing. The reason for him moving to a starter was due to the medical recommendation that it would be better for him physically to start. This year, there were a lot more foul balls, and less swings and misses. It would be great for him to be a dominate closer for the next 2 years, but not if that is going to cause him to have a major injury and prevent him from doing it over a long term. Adding krod, and moving paps to the rotation will be a great move. It will add another top tier closer to anchor the bullpen, it would give you another young gun that should be in the front of the rotation pitching in the 3 or 4 slot. IMO it would be bettern then trading 3 top prospects for peavy. Twice this year he complained about being tired. Once in the middle of the summer, and his workload wasn't that bad. Once in the ALCS, and his workload was high, but it wasn't that bad. If he is going to have restrictions, ie not pitching more then 2 straight days, or pitch counts in place, I would rather have him be in a better position physicaly and have a guy you know can give you 3 outs every night.

As for lowell, yeah they are stuck with his contract and yes the report from the team is it went great. The first reports out of the Pats, had bradys operation being a sucess. Now he has an infection. Just because the team came out and said he was fine doesn't mean he will be ready or able to give you similiar numbers come next spring. It was a bad length of a contract considering his age and previous stat drops. They got sucked into the play of the world series. They can't afford to have him and either varitek/catching prospect hitting below .250 next year in there lineup with the rays and whoever the yanks sign.
 
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I was at game seven and all I can say was that was the most amazing, energetic etc....game I have ever been to. In the 8th inning when Price came in it reminded me of the scene from Major League when the third basemen walks up to vaughn and says "Strike this mother f*cker out". God that was an awesome f*ckin game!1!! Go Rays\\:D/\\:D/\\:D/
 
O wow how f*ckin original. Another dumb@ss article that takes a potshot at our fans. HAR HAR HAR. Are they going to follow that up with an article about how the rays are going to move??? Rays vs Red Soxs was the largest tv audience for an alcs game ever. 13.5 million people.
 
Those numbers are a bit skewed. It is the largest CABLE tv baseball game. That doesn't include networks like fox/abc/nbc/cbs and it was only for game 7. The 2007 ALCS game on fox had 19 million viewers which was the largest since 04. The 07 alcs game 7 had 5.5 million more viewers. 2003 had an avg of 27.5 million watching game 7. 2003 was the highest LCS ratings since 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating...telecasts#American_League_Championship_Series

I love your love for your team, but really "fans" of tampa, really? It was disgusting to hear about a mostly empty stadium in mid august. I don't have a problem with bandwagon fans, as it is a fact of life. It happens everywhere, fucking johnny damon filled fenway with females wearing pink redsox shirts and IMO the more fans for my (or any team) is a good thing. I also don't believe you can argue that tampa has a big loyal fanbase either locally or nationally. You didn't start pulling in regular packed houses untill the end of the season, and there were concerns of not selling out the first round playoff game.

TV viewership is down, baseball viewership has dropped dramatically. It is a fact. There aren't as many people watching baseball games as there were 15 - 20 years ago. In 1980 over 42 million people watched the world series. The last 2 years TOTALED roughly 33 million. Since 2000, there has only be 3 out of the 7 WS that totaled over 20 million.

True baseball fans will say that it is great for the sport for 2 new great teams to be in the world series. They claim it will bring in new viewers. I don't see that, IMO it hasn't nothing to do with the teams, but the fact that people aren't watching tv as much and even less are watching baseball. IMO if you are a baseball fan you will watch the WS regardless of who is in it. If you aren't a diehard fan, then most likely you will only watch it if you live near the teams in the series and/or something big is going down and they hear about it at work/on the news that will draw them in. Some random dude in the in midwest isn't looking at wend night tv schedule and saying, shit the redsox/yanks aren't in the WS so I think I will watch it this year. New viewers aren't randomly going to show up due to the fact the alleged evil teams aren't in the series. Even the evil teams put on a good show as they are good teams that are in the WS. IMO it ain't breaking 20 mil. The only 3 WS this year that broke the 20mill had teams with big nationally followings, and a big market. Will it be the lowest rating ever, who knows, but to be honest with you does it really matter.

You team is in the world series, and your stacked with 6 young arms in the starting rotation for next couple of seasons. The AL East is going to be a very difficult division for the next 5 or so years. The rays have stud pitching and several young stud offensive players locked up for at least a couple years. The redsox have the money and the young talent. The yanks have a shitload of money to spend this offseason and they are attempting to go back to the development that made them the dynasty in the 90's. The blue jays are loaded with young stud pitching and they are one or so stud offensively players, and 2 or so avg players that will improve the bottom of the lineup to be a strong contender. Be happy with where you team is, and don't give a shit about TV ratings. It isn't going to matter what the ratings are if you team wins the WS.
 
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[quote name='slickkill77']I was at game seven and all I can say was that was the most amazing, energetic etc....game I have ever been to. In the 8th inning when Price came in it reminded me of the scene from Major League when the third basemen walks up to vaughn and says "Strike this mother f*cker out". God that was an awesome f*ckin game!1!! Go Rays\\:D/\\:D/\\:D/[/QUOTE]
I bet that was amazing. Lucky you to be there live for something that rad.

The AL East is a crap place to be anyway. With the rise of the Rays and Toronto, it's only gonna get worse. Should make for some great ball in the coming years. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be Baltimore.

Predictions for the series?

Anyone know who's going to DH for the Phils? Just curious.
 
People seem to forget that the Red Soxs didnt always sell out games before 2004. The Red Soxs have the biggest bandwagon fans of anyone. But what people seem to forget is all teams, Tampa teams especially go through this.

No one cared about the Bucs from 1976 -1998, then they changed their uniforms, got to the playoffs a lot and won the super bowl in 02. Attendance is still great their. They had 58k out of 65k on Sunday during game seven and game sold out too.

No one really cared about the lightning from 1993-2001ish then they started going to the playoffs, won the cup in 04 and have been selling out and in the top 5 for attendance since despite being terrible.
So you can cry bandwagon all you want, but remember we have been in existence since 1998. We never won more than 71 games until this year. I grew up with them losing but I always stuck through because they are my home town team. The Red Soxs fans went to Fenway but they werent always sold out and "Americas Team" until 2004 when your little bandwagon movement started. Thats what pisses me off most about Soxs fans. They have this aire of total douchebaggery about themselves.

It took you guys 86 years to win a championship then you won another in three years. Well in that time the Marlins who came into existence in what 1996? have already won two championships. One of them was bought, one of them was earned. The Diamondbacks have won one and they have existed for 10 years. The Yankees have won 27.

Thats why I despise socks fans. They can't get their heads out of their asses to realize their team is overrated because of ESPN. They constantly have a $150 million payroll and they have won 2 championships. The rays have always had a payroll under $50 million and have already made it to a chamionship in 10 years. Yea they sucked ass for 10 of 11 years(Or however you look at it) and people will automatically say "we'll with all those first round picks obviously they would get good eventually" I say shut up your wrong.

Look at their starters lineup etc....
Navarro was a very high draft pick of the Yankees, then he was traded twice in one day and eventually we traded for him.
Pena was a first round pick that was looked over and discarded by most teams. In fact we cut him and resigned him because Greg Norton got injured on the last day of spring training
Aki, we signed him out of japan. No he wasnt as "special" as Dice K but he was cheaper and a great player
Bartlett isnt a superstar but he is damn good defensively and his offense was more than we asked
Longoria, Price, Rocco, Bj were first round picks of ours
Carl was a second round pick.
Shields was a 13th rounder or something like that
Kaz was a first rounder that we traded for
Edwin was a converted outfielder that we traded for
Sonny was a 15th rounder or so
Garza was a first rounder that we traded for but he had baggage
Howell was another guy we traded for. Terrible as a starter, great as a reliever
Balfour was DFA'd in spring training
I could go on but I have class and I dont care
 
For starters, the sellout streak in fenway started with the new ownership group and in 2003 and it has been a long time since attendance at fenway looked empty.


Last I checked your team won by 2 games for the AL east, and won a close game 7 to go to the world series. So how the fuck are they over rated. The sox had a lot more injuries then the rays did. You had kazmir out for a couple weeks, crawford and longoria for about a month. Percival (who is old and has injury history) was on the DL 3 times. Pena missed about 2 wks Those were your key injuries. The sox had beckett gone for over a month, dick k for almost a month, wakefield for several weeks,schilling was our # 3 going into the season and didn't pitch. and our 5th starters was a revolving door of players that got hurt between clay buckholtz and bartolo colon. That is just our pitching staff. Lowell missed over a month, ortiz was gone almost 2 months, jd drew missed almost 2 months, lugo (who sucks but was our starting ss) spent almost 1/2 the season on the DL. So to go threw those injuries, to go into the playoffs without lowell, and a injured beckett how the fuck are they overrated when they go to a game 7 and that doesn't even count the bitch we had to deal with manny "I don't want to play here anymore" ramirez.

We have never had a 150 million payroll, get your facts straight. We were 4th in the mlb with 133 mill. Assuming we don't sign any big free agents we will drop to close to 100mill and be close to the middle of the pack (a tad ahead, but it depends on what some other teams do this offseason)

So please oh wise one explain to me how they are over rated. Most analyst picked the rays to win, and it was about 50/50 for game 7. Where the fuck is the over rated espn bullshit you claim.

I keep hearing about people bitching about sox fans, but really where are these sox fans that have there heads up there ass. I am very critical of our team and players. Most of the people that post here are fairly critical of the team. It is the nature of fans in the new england area. Is it our fault espn focuses on the sox/yanks. They get ratings, so why the fuck wouldn't they cover them. Without a doubt I am aggressive in defending my team. That is solely from going to college in the mid 90's and dealing with my best friend (who is now a DA and loves to argue) who was a diehard yank fan like yourself with the rays before they went on a string of great seasons. I also don't like listening to blanket statements or incorrect statements. IE 150 million payroll, over rated team, fans with head up there asses, the fact that ratings are going to be up this year even know tv viewership is down, and baseball is down even more, the fact that you claimed that game 7 was the highest ALCS ratings wise, which was only true if you consider tbs numbers and not include fox/abc/nbc/cbs numbers. I debated with you a year or 2 ago about the rays. You will all high and mighty with your offense and elija dukes and dimitri young. I agreed you had a good team, but didn't have the depth of starting pitching with a weak bullpen. Your team fixed those area's dramatically (including a fucking steal of garza and bartlett for young) and that is why your team will be in the running/favorite for the al east for the next couple of year. Stop throwing bullshit out and I won't call you on it.
 
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i'd bet solid money that the Rays won't even make the playoffs next year.. it's a trend that has been going on for years... some small market team gets hot at the right time... I'm not hating on them.. but you have to look at the Marlins, Rockies, Tigers, etc and see what they did the year..
 
[quote name='DJSteel']i'd bet solid money that the Rays won't even make the playoffs next year.. it's a trend that has been going on for years... some small market team gets hot at the right time... I'm not hating on them.. but you have to look at the Marlins, Rockies, Tigers, etc and see what they did the year..[/quote]


Well, the Marlins never hold onto talent.

A bit of a tangent, but I really didn't keep up with the Tigers much this year, did anyone find out why Verlander magically lost a lot of velocity?
 
the rays have a young stocked staff, and a couple stud offensive players. No ones a lock , espically when you look at some of the past stats of there shut down bullpen this year. They will be a contender for at least a couple years IMO. They have some really good contracts. There first big test will be how they handle the arbitrations of the young talented players.
 
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Was glad to see the Rays win just to get some new blood in the series, though I don't mind the Sox and would have rooted for them in the series if they'd won.

Can't root for the Phils or any other NL East teams as a Braves fan.
 
Did I specify the Red Soxs being overrated this year? No I was making a comparison over many many years. As for the payroll I threw $150 million...Sorry that wasnt exact. $133 million this year, $143 million last year. Close enough. I also never said you guys werent critical of your team. I'm sure you are, but when I say you guys have an aire of douchebagery about you I'm talking about the way your fans always act like your teams decended from god. Any time we ever beat the Soxs the conversation always turns to "Oh but we won the WS last year and in 2004" Well congragulations that was last year and 4 years ago. The Cardinals, White Soxs, Marlins, Angles, Diamondbacks and Yankees have all won chapionships in the past 8 years but they arent always falling back on that (well the Yankees fans are).

You have to see this arguement from the otherside. I imagine you went through it in the late 90's when the Yankees won all those championships. ESPN is all Red Sox all the time unless they are covering the Yankees. I don't know who you were actually watching or listening to but on ESPN the majority of people said the soxs would win because of experience. Hell espn picked the cubs to win. Most of them said our bullpen would be our downfall and that if we didnt win both games in Tampa we were done. Boston papers basically said Maddon was a jackass for starting Kaz in game 5. How did that work out? Well he pitched great, his bullpen just failed.

Its not that I dont respect how good the Soxs are. They have been one of the best teams for 4 years now. Its their fans. I can absolutely not stand their fans(ESPN included). I will always hate the soxs, yanks, eagles, panthers, falcons etc but my hate for the Soxs and Yanks is just multipled because of the fans. Theres nothing wrong with being high on your team by my god man they just take it over the top. The number of "soxs" fans down here really gets me annoyed too

As for the person that said the Rays wouldnt even make the playoffs next year, your joking right? Not only will we have the same starting four but Price will be in their. Jackson will be in the bullpen. We will have everyone back in the infield and our main concerns are: DH, RF, and maybe closer other than that nada. Honestly the only person I'm worried about leaving soon is BJ( 4 years or so). He is going to go after money pure and simple. Luckily most of our guys are locked up: Evan 9 years, Jamie 7 years, Kaz 3 years, Price 6 + years, Pena 3 maybe 2 after this year, Aki 2 more, Bartlett who knows, Carl wants to be a lifer

I apologoze if i left words out. I do that sometimes when I'm typing a lot of stuff. I dont mean to make enemies with anyone in here becuse I have never actualy had a chance to meet you. So dont take anything I said up there as a personal attack, its more of a blanket attack. Some of you might actualy be decent fans. Who knows. All I know is that I want to enjoy this World Series because we may not be back for 86 years:)
 
[quote name='slickkill77']As for the person that said the Rays wouldnt even make the playoffs next year, your joking right? Not only will we have the same starting four but Price will be in their. Jackson will be in the bullpen. We will have everyone back in the infield and our main concerns are: DH, RF, and maybe closer other than that nada. Honestly the only person I'm worried about leaving soon is BJ( 4 years or so). He is going to go after money pure and simple. Luckily most of our guys are locked up: Evan 9 years, Jamie 7 years, Kaz 3 years, Price 6 + years, Pena 3 maybe 2 after this year, Aki 2 more, Bartlett who knows, Carl wants to be a lifer[/quote]

The Indians were considered a lock for the playoffs this year in March because almost everyone from last year's team was returning. Then CC, Perez, and Betancourt underperformed, and Carmona, Westbrook, Borowski (before his outright release), Hafner, and Martinez all went on the DL. Not to discredit the Rays, just saying.
 
first off you can't say sorry/don't take it personal if you words were offensive and then drop the 86 years bomb on us:lol:

I am aggressive when I argue, as I had/have had a lots of experiance in arguing baseball with my friend for over a decade. I don't take anything personal.
 
Bottom line is this is all ESPN's fault with their damn RedSox/Yankee bias. I mean c'mon the rivalry is good, but it gets old after awhile.
 
eh ESPN is owned by Vaicom and Viacom scum dont care about great baseball. They will focus on whats popular and what has the biggest markets. So why not Sox/Yanks. That brings in two of the biggest TV Markets in baseball. Huge Ratings means increased adverts and more money. I can only understand the hate for people who live outside their team's market. but stil you cant blame them. If i were in their shoes. I would push that Sox/Yanks rivarly to bitter end because it puts more money in my pocket..and i bet thats the way they are thinking.
 
[quote name='integralsmatic']eh ESPN is owned by Vaicom and Viacom scum dont care about great baseball. They will focus on whats popular and what has the biggest markets. So why not Sox/Yanks. That brings in two of the biggest TV Markets in baseball. Huge Ratings means increased adverts and more money. I can only understand the hate for people who live outside their team's market. but stil you cant blame them. If i were in their shoes. I would push that Sox/Yanks rivarly to bitter end because it puts more money in my pocket..and i bet thats the way they are thinking.[/quote]

Uhhh, ESPN is owned by Disney.
 
[quote name='slickkill77']As for the person that said the Rays wouldnt even make the playoffs next year, your joking right? Not only will we have the same starting four but Price will be in their. Jackson will be in the bullpen. We will have everyone back in the infield and our main concerns are: DH, RF, and maybe closer other than that nada. Honestly the only person I'm worried about leaving soon is BJ( 4 years or so). He is going to go after money pure and simple. Luckily most of our guys are locked up: Evan 9 years, Jamie 7 years, Kaz 3 years, Price 6 + years, Pena 3 maybe 2 after this year, Aki 2 more, Bartlett who knows, Carl wants to be a lifer[/QUOTE]
Its not that far fetched... The Sox got swept in the first round of 05, and missed the playoffs in 06. The AL East is going to be by far the toughest division in baseball, Toronto is improving, the Yankees are improving, and the Sox are improving. I think TB makes the playoffs next year, but its not a lock.

The Sox are losing Manny's $20 mil and Schilling's $8, two guys they were paying that weren't on the roster. Thats a pretty good chunk of change to play with, plus their young players, like Tampa's, will all be 1 year better.

The Yankees are shedding Giambi's $21m, Abreu's $16m, Pettitte's $16m, Mussina's $11m, and Pavano's $11m. They've got tons of cash to use, and a brand new stadium to fill. I'd be shocked if they didn't make two major signings, if not three.

Toronto will be dangerous, their record in the 2nd half was only 2 games behind Tampa's and 1 better than Boston's. They've got about $10 million to spend if they keep Burnett, they should certainly improve enough to be in the race.

The question you have to ask is, "Will Tampa improve enough over this year to keep pace?" Their young players will keep getting better, certainly. But they've already declined Baldelli's option. The team that took them to a 2 run Game 7 is going to be vastly better, the Devil Rays can't afford to assume that this year's team will remain better without upgrades of their own.

On top of that, the injury situation around the AL played into their favor, and that might not happen again. While the Rays were relatively healthy, Carlos Quentin was out, Mike Lowell was out, Beckett, Ortiz, and Drew were all hurt. Will they have the depth to compete while missing significant players?

Look - The Rays are no fluke, every champion usually has a few things go their way. But its far from automatic that they'll repeat, and its not even automatic that they'll be the favorite.
 
My prediction? Rays in 6. What I want? Phillies in 7.

Against any other NL opponent besides the Dodgers, I'd root for the Rays as I love to see underdogs win out. But fellow GHS alum Jayson Werth is on the Phillies, and it'd be awesome to see an acquaintance of mine- only hung out with him a couple times years ago, but still, reppin' the school- get a ring.
 
I said from the beginning of the playoffs if my Cubbies couldn't win then I'd pull for the Rays. My only dilemma there is if they win that's yet another expansion team that will have won a World Series before the Cubs.

On the radio talkshows around here they keep talking about how the Rays team is home grown and if they can do it with such a low payroll so can the Royals. That would be true if the Royals could figure out how to evaluate talent.
 
[quote name='Chitown021']On the radio talkshows around here they keep talking about how the Rays team is home grown and if they can do it with such a low payroll so can the Royals. That would be true if the Royals could figure out how to evaluate talent.[/QUOTE]
There is also the issue of drafting more "signable" guys instead of the best player available (i.e. Pittsburgh) with those high picks. Beyond just not drafting Boras clients, but not wanting to pay the going rate for that draft position.
 
So...we get a free taco for what exactly?

I know the Phillies won, and I tried watching from the 5th inning on, but I fell asleep. This series is as interesting as watching paint dry.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']So...we get a free taco for what exactly?

I know the Phillies won, and I tried watching from the 5th inning on, but I fell asleep. This series is as interesting as watching paint dry.[/quote]

I just got an e-mail from MLB.com. Free tacos will be Tuesday Oct 28th between 2PM and 6PM.
 
Is there a conspiracy to make Hamels the next "big thing" in baseball? This is the second game in a row where he was getting every single call. There were tons of strikes called that were way outside the FOX tracker thing and the TB guys did not seem to be getting the same treatment. Plus, THAT WAS A BALK. Jesus Christ I'm going to be sick.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Is there a conspiracy to make Hamels the next "big thing" in baseball? This is the second game in a row where he was getting every single call. There were tons of strikes called that were way outside the FOX tracker thing and the TB guys did not seem to be getting the same treatment. Plus, THAT WAS A BALK. Jesus Christ I'm going to be sick.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='speedracer']That pitch to Kotsay was a helluva lot closer, A HELLUVA LOT CLOSER than the two called strikes for outs against the Dodgers (both with 2 men on) in the last game Hamels pitched. They showed that pitching tracker thing and it was damn near off the friggin chart. [/QUOTE]

That was my only complaint about the NLCS. In big situations with men on and the game in the balance, Hamels got pitches that weren't even close. Yea, the Phils whupped up on us and deserved to go on, no question. But damn yo, at least make Hamels get near the strike zone.
 
I don't like the Phillies but I like Hamels as a pitcher, but I have to agree that it seemed like any pitch that was a strike for Hamels was a ball for Kazmir.
 
Interesting... My dad is in Wisconsin so he's close enough to tune into Chicago sports radio. He says the Cubs would be willing to trade Derrick Lee if they could get something good in return and are ready to unload Fukudome for a couple of jockstraps.
 
Well yeah, you take a team no one knows on a national level, coupled with the downtrend of viewership as a whole and you're going to get very low ratings.

People are becoming increasingly less interested in baseball unfortunately.
 
Well I said that no one would give a damn about a Rays-Philes WS and some people here went and rolled there eyes and such. It's sad.
 
yes it is true the ratings will spike for the final game, but come on. Neither teams have any national appeal, tv viewership is down a lot, and baseball viewership is down a shit load over the past 15 or so years. The best rated series since 2000, is still roughly off by about 40% to what it was in the early 80's. Maybe it won't be the worse, but we aren't talking about setting records. Shit it wasn't like the redsox pulled in big numbers last year and they have much more national appeal then the phils do. They were mediocre last year, with a big national team and a small national team in the rockies.

For a diehard baseball fan, yes I understand why they think it is great for new blood in the world series. The key is that they/you are a diehard baseball fan.
 
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