Warning!! Danger!! Annual Off-topic Baseball Thread '07!! Beware!!

[ChuckElias]

Yeah, Mick. The Tiggers have been in a mini-slide, I guess, but if Sheff can turn things on for a while, you guys should be in good shape. Mags is the AL leader in RBIs. I'm happy for him, personally. I'm glad he's healthy again. He went through a rough patch there at the end of his time in Chicago.

The Yanks are now 14.5 games out of first in the division. The largest deficit ever overcome to win a division was 14 games (which the Yankees did against the Sox, of course). And just to rub their noses in it, the Jays stole home against Pettitte last night. It was NY's 5th straight loss; they're 3-7 in their last 10. Ouch. The good news is that they're "only" 8.5 out of the wild card.

The Brewers are 3-7 in their last 10, as well, but they still have a 5.5 game lead over Pittsburgh. Of course, nobody else in the division is over .500 right now.

[mick]

Tigers will visit Cleveland this weekend and may even be swept.
the Detroit bullpen has been severely weakened with Zumaya and Rodney still out and, for some reason (it must be simply be numbers) Jose Mesa keeps showin' and blowin'.

PITCHERS W- L ERA BA
Mesa 1- 1 10.13 .333

[DonInKansas]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

The Brewers are 3-7 in their last 10, as well, but they still have a 5.5 game lead over Pittsburgh. Of course, nobody else in the division is over .500 right now.

LOL! At the whole division!

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by DonInKansas

Hmmmm.....As an A's fan, how about that Dan Haren? 2 or less ER given upin his last 7 starts......

He did it again today.

Oakland
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
D. Haren (W, 6-2)	8.0	4	1	1	3	4	0	1.64

It's not even August yet when the A's get really hot.

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by DonInKansas

LOL! At the whole division!

The Brewers are 12-15 since May 1 and have actually extended their division lead by a game and a half. The Astros have lost 10 straight and are still a game ahead of the Reds, who were at .500 on May 1 (13-13) and are now 21-33. I guess you're right about the LOL; not a strong division.

Did anybody else think A-Rod's baserunning tactic was a little bush last night?

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

The Brewers are 12-15 since May 1 and have actually extended their division lead by a game and a half. The Astros have lost 10 straight and are still a game ahead of the Reds, who were at .500 on May 1 (13-13) and are now 21-33. I guess you're right about the LOL; not a strong division.

Did anybody else think A-Rod's baserunning tactic was a little bush last night?

Which one?

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6869974

(btw...I'm sure there must be some naive, innocent and child-like soul who agrees with you so the answer to your question is obviously yes.)

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

btw...I'm sure there must be some naive, innocent and child-like soul who agrees with you so the answer to your question is obviously yes.

Apart from the blonde with the big gabonzas......the one in the picture who is taller laying down on her back than she is standing up......which also brings up the question of whether she is actually physically able to lay down on her stomach.......anyhooooo......back to our regular programming........yup, that was kind of a bush move on A-Rod's part imo. He may be ducking fastballs the next time they meet the Jays.

Methinks the Yankees have got too old too soon. Both Damon and Giambi look like they're done. I blame the increased steroid testing for that. Our right-fielder should go back to Philly. And other than the fact that they're getting basically nothing out of their first base combination, back-up catcher and their utility infielder........

They're full value for their current record. Can they turn it around? Who knows?

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Apart from the blonde with the big gabonzas......the one in the picture who is taller laying down on her back than she is standing up......which also brings up the question of whether she is actually physically able to lay down on her stomach.......anyhooooo......back to our regular programming........yup, that was kind of a bush move on A-Rod's part imo. He may be ducking fastballs the next time they meet the Jays.

Methinks the Yankees have got too old too soon. Both Damon and Giambi look like they're done. I blame the increased steroid testing for that. Our right-fielder should go back to Philly. And other than the fact that they're getting basically nothing out of their first base combination, back-up catcher and their utility infielder........

They're full value for their current record. Can they turn it around? Who knows?

c'mon, they've turned it around! as of today they have a 1 game winning streak!

geeze, have some faith...

btw, do you think a-rod's production will go up or down now that he has 1 less woman in his life to worry about (except for the soon to be arriving divorce case...but that's tomorrow's problem)

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

c'mon, they've turned it around! as of today they have a 1 game winning streak!

geeze, have some faith...

btw, do you think a-rod's production will go up or down now that he has 1 less woman in his life to worry about (except for the soon to be arriving divorce case...but that's tomorrow's problem)

Well, they do have the talent. They have to have their key people stay, or get, healthy imo. They're an old ball club, over-all.They might be better off to sit Damon down for a while until his foot heals a little. Giambi? There has to be somebody somewhere stoopid enough in the league to take him off our hands. I though the Angels were interested for a while, but that's kinda too much to hope for. He's a one-dimensional player, but unfortunately his one dimension ain't near as good as Papi Ortiz' is.

Re:A-Rod-- a better question is whether he'll ever become a clutch hitter. Or fielder. He'll always end up with great stats, but.....

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

Which one?

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6869974

(btw...I'm sure there must be some naive, innocent and child-like soul who agrees with you so the answer to your question is obviously yes.)

She's cuter than Derek Jeter . . .

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

The Brewers are 12-15 since May 1 and have actually extended their division lead by a game and a half. The Astros have lost 10 straight and are still a game ahead of the Reds, who were at .500 on May 1 (13-13) and are now 21-33. I guess you're right about the LOL; not a strong division.

Did anybody else think A-Rod's baserunning tactic was a little bush last night?

Haven't seen good video of exactly what happened, but A-Rod has a bit of a history of going bush league. (See: 2004 ALCS)

Question for the baseball umps around here - assuming he did shout "I got it" or something similarly specific to baseball, would there be any grounds for penalizing the runner? It doesn't seem to fall under any of the 7.09 definitions of interference, but is there some other rule (other than 9.01(c) ) that would cover this? Maybe Rule 2's definition of interference?

Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play.

(Emphasis mine)

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Re:A-Rod-- a better question is whether he'll ever become a clutch hitter. Or fielder. He'll always end up with great stats, but.....

Is he now Mr. April?

April: 33 for 93 (.355 BA) 14 Homers, 34 RBI and an .882 SLG.
May: 24 for 102 (.235 BA) 5 homers, 11 RBI and SLG of .422.

[mick]

Originally Posted by Mark Dexter

Haven't seen good video of exactly what happened, but A-Rod has a bit of a history of going bush league. (See: 2004 ALCS)

Question for the baseball umps around here - assuming he did shout "I got it" or something similarly specific to baseball, would there be any grounds for penalizing the runner? It doesn't seem to fall under any of the 7.09 definitions of interference, but is there some other rule (other than 9.01(c) ) that would cover this? Maybe Rule 2's definition of interference?

(Emphasis mine)

Verbal Interference

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Mark Dexter

Question for the baseball umps around here - assuming he did shout "I got it" or something similarly specific to baseball, would there be any grounds for penalizing the runner? It doesn't seem to fall under any of the 7.09 definitions of interference, but is there some other rule (other than 9.01(c) ) that would cover this? Maybe Rule 2's definition of interference?

From what I've read, there's no specific rule against it. It's frowned upon under certain circumstances, but not others. Iow, you can file it under the old "unwritten baseball rule". Maybe.

[Jurassic Referee]

Yo, Mick.......

Did you catch Sheffield last night? He got thrown out for throwing a bat stub at the plate ump.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...14/1048/SPORTS

I found the video over on ESPN. I couldn't figure out how to link directly; on the videos on the right, go to MLB and the Tiger highlights are on page 2.
http://espn.go.com
Sheff actually looked back at the ump when he threw the broken bat stub. Methinks he could be sitting out a game or two for this one.