Baseball Talk

[Riot]

enough of these 'tragedies' lol. we are supposed to feel sorry for you now? bullshit

even though they are a division rival, i respect the Twins- they are a fundamentally sound team, have a great bullpen, and they don't crap in their pants when they play the big boys unlike Detroit

Detroit is finally struggling.. i think the division winner will come down to the Sox and the "joke" twins

if Scotty Pods could get his head out of his ass, it would be easier to overcome the uneven starting pitching

I think it will be tough for the Twins to win the wild card. I've learned throughout this season that you can never count the Twins out but right now the odds are just stacked too high. We are going into Yankee Stadium with a big series in front of us and we are throwing out a couple rookies and Carlos Silva. Our rotation right now is not looking too pretty. Liriano and Radke are done until the end of the year (best case scenario) and Silva has sucked all season long. He just can't keep his pitches down. The team will have three rookies (Bonser, Garza and Baker) in the rotation down the stretch. I know the team has a great bullpen but it might get worn out by the time late September and October roll around.

I'm hoping and praying that Radke and Liriano can come back...fast.

[Indy]

I've really been mad at Ozzie recently. I know he's been great in some occasions for sticking with his guy, but I think the player friendly manager thing is starting to hurt us. The common baseball theory is that you have a player's manager untill that stops working (like in the North Side) then you switch to a hard ass like Larry Boa or Lou Pinella untill that doesn't work, and so on and so forth. I could see the Sox at a crossroads with Ozzie if we don't make the playoffs this year, and continue to fall backwards in the 07 season.

For example, PODS has been completely terrible for a good 2 weeks now with the exception of a few good games where he looked like the PODS of last year with bunts in key situations, getting on base, worrying the pitcher and stealing bases. Now Ozzie has seemed to just ignore the situation and keep throwing scotty out there when he obviously needs to clear his mind for a few days and then work with Walker and Raines to see if he can get something fixed he's not doing well at the plate. (protecting well with 2 strikes is my opinion of the problem, but I don't know how to fix it.)

Jose has got to figure out what the problem is. He's been terrible since the complete game shutout against Detroit in Chicago. I think he may be hurt, but that seems to be the common theory to fly around now with our pitchers, so it may just be an excuse on our part.

Luckily Minnesota keeps losing, we've only took 2 of 4 from the Devil Rays and Royals yet we gained a game on them. We have to take the next two against KC before heading to Boston.

We have 27 games left: (prediction for record in series)

2 @ KC- (2-0)
3 @ Boston- (2-1)
4 vs. Cleveland (2-2)
3 @ LAA- (1-2)
3 @ Oakland- (1-2)
3 vs. Detroit- (2-1)
4 vs. Seattle- (3-1)
3 @ Cleveland- (1-2)
2 vs. Minnesota- (1-1)

Minnesota remaining schedule:

2 @ NYY- (1-1)
3 @ Tampa Bay- (2-1)
4 vs. Detroit- (2-2)
3 vs. Oakland- (1-2)
4 @ Cleveland- (1-3)
3 @ Boston- (2-1)
3 @ Baltimore- (1-2)
4 vs. KC- (2-2)
2 vs. Chicago- (1-1)

If that were to play out we'd win the wild card by 3 games.

Just for the hell of it and the fact I can't sleep, I'll figure out if we can win the division too.

Detroit Tigers remaining

2 vs. LAA- (1-1)
3 vs. Seattle- (2-1)
4 @ Minnesota- (2-2)
2 vs. Texas- (1-1)
3 vs. Baltimore- (1-2)
3 @ Chicago- (1-2)
1 @ Baltimore- (1-0)
3 @ Kansas City- (1-2)
3 vs. Toronto- (0-3)
2 vs. KC- (2-0)

So we lose the division by 2 games.

[Cable]

At least it makes for some great baseball and division races. There's like 10 teams within 5 games of the NL wild card too.

[---]

i dont usually watch baseball but i have just been watching the white sox and red sox and some guy leaned over the wall/barrier thing in foul territory when the ball was hit out there, the ball rolled down towards the seat and he leaned over to grab it and sorta went to far over the barrier and ended up doing like a headstand thing for a few seconds

it will probably be on sportscenter tonite if u wanna check it out it was prettty funny

[Ryan]

i dont usually watch baseball but i have just been watching the white sox and red sox and some guy leaned over the wall/barrier thing in foul territory when the ball was hit out there, the ball rolled down towards the seat and he leaned over to grab it and sorta went to far over the barrier and ended up doing like a headstand thing for a few seconds

it will probably be on sportscenter tonite if u wanna check it out it was prettty funny

Well I hope he got the ball because ontop of embarrassing himself on tv he most likely got thrown out for falling on to the field.

btw...My Tigers are suckin ass right now! No Guillen or Polanco is taking its tole.

EDIT: Anibal Sanchez threw a no-no today.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260906128

[Riot]

You got anything to say, Indy or air gordon?

[air gordon]

yeh sure- hello

if the Sox can't put together a winning streak or 2/win most of the series, they don't belong in the playoffs

looks like it's going down to the end and i'll give credit to where it's due, unlike others

[Riot]

Francisco Liriano is suppose to be pitching on Wednesday for the Twins. Scott Baker has been removed from the rotation and my boy, Matty G is in the rotation. He is pitching tomorrow so it will be fun to see what he can do.

Things are looking up for the Twins. If they can't catch the Tigers they will most certainly win the wild card. Book it!

[ixcuincle]

The funny thing is how the Tigers have almost choked away that huge lead they had in the AL Central. I would not be surprised at all if either the Twins or the ChiSox overtook them and won the division...the Tigers could miss the playoffs!

[Ryan]

The funny thing is how the Tigers have almost choked away that huge lead they had in the AL Central. I would not be surprised at all if either the Twins or the ChiSox overtook them and won the division...the Tigers could miss the playoffs!

Tell me about it. I do have a few excuses i could use for the Tigers, but I'm not gonna use em. really there is no excuse how they dominate throughout the year and now struggle to score 2 runs a game.

[Indy]

I think the Twins and White Sox are going to the playoffs.

Our starting pitching is back, which is pretty cool. I have a ton of confidence now when Vazquez/Contreras/Garland hit the mound. Freddy and Mark are still a little bit of a question mark, but not too much.

We'll be in the playoffs, book it.

[Riot]

I woke up this morning feeling very good about the Twins postseason chances. Hell, I had a feeling that this was the year we win it all (for Puckett). Liriano was coming back and the one/two punch of Santana/Liriano would carry us to the World Series. That all came crashing down this afternoon.

Liriano is out for the season and could be out for all of next season. It sounds like he might have to have Tommy John surgery which would require 18-24 months of recovery, rest and rehab. I am concerned about Liriano's future because he has been known to have injury problems which is the reason why the Giants gave him up. He could perhaps be the next Mark Prior or Kerry Wood.

The Twins playoff chances are not gone but in order for the Twins do anything come playoff time Radke will have to come back. I don't have any confidence in Matt Garza or Carlos Silva in the postseason. Boof Bonser has been impressive but he is merely a rookie and putting him out there in Game 2 of the playoffs would be a risky thing for this franchise to do. Brad Radke needs to come back and be effective again or this team will lose in the first round. Johan Santana can only pitch once every 4 or 5 days, that is not enough to win in the playoffs.

The day got very gloomy for Francisco Liriano and the Minnesota Twins. Let's hope this team can bounce back and recover like they have all season.

[Indy]

Riot I feel bad for the Twins and for Liriano. I want to beat you guys really bad, but it sucks for it to have this happen, I'd much rather beat you guys full strength.

[Ryan]

Riot I feel bad for the Twins and for Liriano. I want to beat you guys really bad, but it sucks for it to have this happen, I'd much rather beat you guys full strength.

I liked to watch Liriano pitch. Just not against the Tigers. Btw Tigers smoked the O's last night. They showed shades of the first half Tigers not the shitty second half Tig's. And somehow we got Matt Stairs of waivers, I didn't know until the game started. I dont think he is eligible for the post season though unless there is some kinda exception for waived players.

[Indy]

Well, we're done. Amazingly disappointing. I feel so sick.

[Riot]

It feels so good to see the White Sox suck it up. However, I will be rooting for them in this series because I want the division!

[dada]

Lets go Yankees!

...yes I know I am painstakingly late but I'm pretty happy about clinching the AL East but school has get me out of the loop on NLSC.

Good to have Matsui back and batting close to . .350 this month. I think he hit one or two long ones as well if my memoy is good. I was skeptical about whether he would fit well returning to a team that held their own without him but he hasnt been too bad.

Next major hitter I'm somewhat pleased to have back is Gary Sheffield. He was activated recently but as far as I know hasnt had an at-bat just yet. Also Rivera may be back this weekend which is always good news.

Anyways, just sitting here waiting on the postseason to start.

[bigh0rt]

How 'bout those Mets??

[Indy]

I'm rooting for an A's Yankees ALCS, and a Dodgers Mets NLCS.

I want to see the A's and Dodgers in the World Series, that would kick ass.

[Riot]

It's great to see the White Sox choke themselves out of the playoffs! I got my Twins playoff tickets yesterday in the mail so hopefully I will actually be able to go to the games (work can change that) but either way, it is an exciting time for Twin fans. Everyone has Twins spirit here.

[Ryan]

We're in.

It's been 19 years since the Tigers made the postseason so needless to say I'm one happy camper.

[air gordon]

congrats to detroit

kudos to whoever gets that the wild card spot. the Sox don't deserve it by the way they played after the All star break

lol there is such a thing as winning and losing gracefully

[Riot]

The Twins did it! They offically locked up a playoff spot tonight after the White Sux lost and the Twins beat the Royals. This is a great feeling. Despite all the injuries and the early season struggles this team stuck around and battled back all year long. You can really tell that this team played for Puck and they weren't going to lay down and die.

Johan Santana=Cy Young
Justin Morneau=MVP
Nick Punto=Gold Glove

Yeah boy!

[Riot]

Twins win the division today and open against the Athletics on Tuesday! Everyone doubted us but now we're here!

We're comin'! We're comin'!

[Cable]

Yeah! It's playoffs time! Who'll be clutch this year?