2010 Baseball Thread No. 2 (which was my Little League number!)

Time to pat myself on the back a little bit:

The current (through Monday anyway) slash lines for Cincinnati's infield:

Votto: 297/396/536
Phillips: 265/337/429
Cabrera: 275/303/380
Rolen: 273/336/512

Not that Cabrera has been great, but he certainly has provided stability. And maybe Rolen's OPS comes down 50 points by season's end. It's also reasonable to expect Phillips' to go up by that much.

I'm confident Dusty will find a way to screw it up by October --- probably by pitching Leake and/or Cueto until their arms fall off --- but the Reds have been a pleasant surprise.

 

1. SoCal: Damn, I knew I'd forget one.

2. Quick question for Moddy or Sonner or anyone else on the board with insight on the Nationals ... Is June 6 at home still the target date for Strasburg's debut? I'm going to be in Houston visiting my dad the week before and am considering grabbing a couple of tickets for Nats at Astros on June 1 just in case ...

 

Both Zuckerman and the Post guy are saying June 4. Get your tickets while you can.

 

Here's hoping it's June 4. Just got our tickets through StubHub. Cheapest tickets through the team is $63. Not cool.

 

And the Royals' bullpen gets Zack Greinke again. Tonight he held the Orioles to two runs in seven innings and left with a 3-2 lead. Two batters after his night ends, the gas can of the night gives up a game-tying home run to Corey Patterson. Corey Patterson!? WTF?! (Pissed-off fantasy baseball owner).

 

Roy Halladay just threw 132 pitches in a losing effort ... in May ... for a team with a 5-game lead in the NL East.

 

Steak, don't forget about Joe Girardi when he managed the Marlins. The owner ran him off after Joe told him to stay in the suite and let him deal with the umps. The owner got pissed and fired Girardi at the end of the year(?).

If the Marlins do consider keeping Hanley on the bench, or suspending his ass, it'll be fun to see the union defend this.

Other than that, they're stuck with him and that contract of his. He's supposed to be the cornerstone of their new ballpark.

Whenever Florida has the financial backing to finally build the son of bitch. :

 

Girardi's career OPS was .666. He DID make an All-Star team once, but I don't know if that automatically makes him a "good" major-league player. He was a little like Brad Ausmus, but without quite the longevity.

 

Girardi's All-Star appearance came when a catcher pulled out at the last minute and he was the only one to answer the phone and be able to make it on short notice.

 

Rick: Harsh but true. Even Girardi was surprised when it happened. BTW, MLB playing ability and managing ability have of course never been related. You could make a case the Hall of Fame manager with the best playing career was John McGraw. And if it isn't him, it might be Casey Stengel.