2011 MLB Thread

[illram]

Interesting numbers! My suspicion is that a WS caliber team has good enough pitching to break a 3 or 4 game losing streak more often than not. Since you figure an ace is going to not lose 2 in a row very often, and 3 aces are not going to lose 2 in a row except for once in a blue moon.

I mean particularly in April when everything is funky in Baseball. Look at all the ace starters that had horrible first games. April is notorious for wacky starts so really, to look on the bright side, this is the best time of year to have a 5 game losing streak since it is so meaningless.

 

[El Justo]

ill, i'm with you, bro no doubt. it's hand wringing. not to diminish scratch's nice stat layouts, but all this will be forgotten come may unless something catastrophic occurs for boston. they will bounce back. chicken little is for other cities and franchises. not boston

as a sidenote, i should note that it was a philadelphia team who came back from an 0-3 hole, last year in the nhl playoffs against boston.

 

[Scratch]

Yeah, that 0 and 5 just sticks out like a sore thumb at this time because it's the start of the season and everyone is expecting the Red Sox to be very good this year. And they will very likely be a good team. But over half of the World Series teams have had losing streaks of at least 5 games during a season, and from what I can see, it's not really until you get to a 7-game losing streak that you might want to start looking at a team and wondering what's going on. But even the 7-gamers still have a chance. The really telling precipice looks to be the one between 8 games and 9 games.

Stats in baseball were definitely a part of the reason I fell in love with the game. Of course, there's a whole lot of garbage stats and ways to make good stats garbage when they lack context or reference, but part of the magic of baseball is the numbers.

 

[sophie]

The Giants had a REALLY good game yesterday. Lincy was on FIRE! 7 IP 13 SO 1 ER. Granted, it was against the Pads, but still. His fastball was clocking in at 95 . If he can stay in that kind of shape all year he is going to be Cy Young material this season.

Additionally Huff, Posey and Sandoval all looked like their old selves: driving the ball the opposite way, finding gaps and delivering with RISP. This is definitely a good sign for us.

Brandon Belt never ceases to impress me. His avg. may be low, but he looks so composed at the plate, like he's been doing this for 10 years, and he's been making good contact too. Also I like how decisive he is in the box. I remember when Posey first came up they were talking about how there are very little check swings with Posey, he knows exactly what is a ball and a strike, I'm getting the same sense from Belt. He doesn't swing at a whole lot of junk. This bodes very well for our team.

Brian Wilson pitched too, and he looked very rusty. What can you expect, though, after missing the first week and a half of regular season. Better for him to mess up with a 7 run lead than with a 1 or 2 run lead, I suppose.

I'm looking forward to getting Ross back, we will be even more solid once that happens.

 

[El Justo]

 

[sophie]

 

[El Justo]

that's all i got, bro. he's a beast. where's your humility? get out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat thank you. moving right along...

and my annual post of this picture, the most annoying athlete this side of the mississippi, jose reyes and his lovely wife

 

[illram]

Those all have the same hand writing but I can analyze which personality types decided to pick which placard prior to the game.

Fix your teeth = guy had 12 beers before they even got ready to leave and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. I mean he can't even hold the sign straight.

Hippy Trash = aging fat jock/republican who is ashamed of his partying days and figures its not cheating if it is a stripper.

This Guy Stinks = loser who just wants to fit in with his friends, or lazy guy who got to the pre-game party last and that was the only placard left

Wanna Smoke = the only cool guy in the group that I could probably hang out with OR uptight nerd who never had a fun day in his life and thinks that smoking weed jokes are funny.

And either the picture quality on that is horrible or Jose Reyes married a horse.

 

[Scratch]

Tough loss today for the Red Sox, losing to the Indians in a 1-0 game. Now they're headed home to take on the Yankees. It would be interesting if they lose both Friday and Saturday and enter Sunday night's ESPN-televised game at 0 and 8.

 

[illram]

That would be interesting. I feel like I am back in the dark days of Dan Duquette and Jose Offerman...

 

[El Justo]

maybe they can dig up Oil Can Boyd?

 

[naterator]

I think they could find Oil Can pretty easily.
Woo-hoo! 0-6 and feeling sick, luckily, this is not football. Didn't get to see the game today, but i hear it was won on a suicide squeeze in the 9th. Respect to Whoever manages Cleveland nowadays for having the guts to call it.

 

[El Justo]

that's none other than the superb Manny Acta maybe downtown can comment

 

[downtown]

lol @ Manny Acta. Whatever, do whatever you want, as long as we win! haha. DON'T ADJUST YOUR TV SETS KIDS THE WINDIANS ARE IN FIRST PLACE.

I'm not really sure why people say that games in April are meaningless? I've read it on a few different websites...but games count just as much here and they do in August. If Boston finds itself a game or two back later in the summer, I bet they'll wish they took April a little more seriously. Nobody likes being 5 games back before the season is two weeks old.

 

[naterator]

It's not so much that they don't count, just that you have more time to climb out of any hole you've dug. The long season tends to bring everybody right about where they should be, regardless of any individual win/loss streaks (within reason of course).

Or maybe it's just the dumb optimism of April? I've really liked my chances with some pretty bad Sox teams in April over the years...

 

[El Justo]

folks get whipped up into the negative projections and 'no team has' facts. it's neat to see them in a way. but it's a bit overblown. i mean, there are no sure things in baseball, on the negative and even positive projections. otoh, agreed that an inordinate number of losses for pre-season contenders in april is never a good thing.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I'm not really sure why people say that games in April are meaningless? I've read it on a few different websites...but games count just as much here and they do in August. If Boston finds itself a game or two back later in the summer, I bet they'll wish they took April a little more seriously. Nobody likes being 5 games back before the season is two weeks old.

Yep.

The 2006 Cardinals started 17-8 in April, and were 34-19 at the end of May. Given that we finished 5 games over .500, and won the division by a game and a half, then without those games in April, we don't have a pennant, the NL Championship, nor the World Series.

 

[El Justo]

if i were a betting man, and i am, i think , i would say that boston will bounce back. this losing streak may hamper their chances to reach the top of the AL East at the end of the year. but that offense is just nasty. wait 'til the weather heats up. they're going to be scoring runs in bunches once they bust out of this funk. and once the law of averages kicks in, ie they're bound to win 90+ games this year, all will be well again in red sox nation.

 

[Darkness]

Yep.

The 2006 Cardinals started 17-8 in April, and were 34-19 at the end of May. Given that we finished 5 games over .500, and won the division by a game and a half, then without those games in April, we don't have a pennant, the NL Championship, nor the World Series.

Exactly, they all count equally.

The only thing that you can say with some sort of sense of optimism about April losses is that there is still some more time remaining to turn things around (compared to a losing streak in august)....

 

[Scratch]

The Phils have gotten off to a good start, 5-1, but one would hope that they would go at least 4-2 when playing six games against the Astros and Mets.

Ben Francisco still on pace to make Downtown eat his shoe.

Exxon Valdez or Wil the Spill Valdez is doing his best to make fans forget about that Chase Utley guy who has played second base for the Phillies in years past.

But methinks that these early numbers by the Phillies offense are not sustainable.