Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

There seems to be a good bit of panic among some of the Yankee fan base, but it seems a bit premature after one bad week.

 

In other Chicago sports news ... Mount Zambrano erupted again, and apparently has left the team and "retired," reports the Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0813-cubs-braves-chicago--20110813,0,2460261.story

 

LOL!

 

Just a bad stretch. He's always tended to get two or three of them in a season. He had two straight blown saves April 19 (Tor.) and April 24 (Balt).

He then had a blown save and a loss sandwiching a perfect non-save situation in three appearances at the end of May.

He then gave up three runs total (yes, total) in June and July and in his first two Aug. appearances, in 20 innings in 22 appearances before his recent three-game meltdown.

So there's his three bad stretches. Which means he's either due for another bad stretch at the end of the season, in the playoffs, or he reverts to Superman.

 

Was watching Cubs/Braves.... Can someone please tell me why Quade left Zambrano in the game so long?

 

Have you ever seen the Cubs bullpen?

 

Ha! ;D It couldn't have been any worse than what he was serving up. Quade didn't even have anybody warming up. It really did seem like a case of a manager showing up a player.

 

Leaving starters in too long is Quade's calling card.

Yeah. For the most part, it's not too bad.

 

There might be some ready to walk off the edge after Sabathia's outing last night.

Gave up five runs, all on solo home runs.

 

yankee fans are bracing for themselves for the inevitable day when mo rivera does NOT rebound from one of these lull periods. and as his velocity continues to drop and the cutter continues not to 'bite' -- he surely seems to be breaking far fewer bats than we're accustomed to seeing -- that days sure seems to be drawing closer.

the man IS 41, after all. if he continues to be this hittable or just not as sure-fire, as we and he have come to expect, i wouldn't at all be surprised if he retires after the season. i don't see mo as the going out 'kicking and screaming' type.

part of me would love to see mo and jeter hang 'em up at the same time, but i see derek as more the 'kicking and screaming' type. but to me, the final stamp on his legacy would be to go out like dimaggio -- calling it quits once he acknowledges playing up to his high standards is not in the cards any longer.

like i said, i can imagine mo going out like that. but not jeter. and i don't care what the numbers say about jeter's resurgence at the plate since returning from the dl -- he's still not driving the ball at all, depending more on 'seeing-eye' grounders squeezed through the infield. and while he still hustles his butt off, his time racing to first on infield hit possibilities or double-play grounders has slowed dramatically. only the mankys of the world fail to acknowledge this, and i think all of you know how much of a 'jeter guy' i am.
but i ain't blind.

i love the guy, appreciate the hell out of what he's accomplished and how he plays the game the way it should be played, but nothing lasts forever.

'father time' catches up with EVERYONE... joe ., willie mays, ripken, you name it. i tip my cap to a guy like paul o'neill, as big a part of the yanks' reign from '96-'00 as anyone. he retired before his game showed barely any slide at all: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o'neipa01.shtml. he hit 20 homers with 70 rbi in 137 games in '01, pretty darn good and certainly good enough to warrant a star thinking, 'it was just an off-year. i still got it.'

doesn't often happen, even moreso today given the astronomical $$$ at stake.

 

Rivera has spoiled everyone. Look at his numbers and they are either on par or better than his career marks. He's "slipping" and it took him until August to allow a home run at home. We should all have such problems.

He's got one more year on his contract and it wouldn't be a shock that he retires after that. He's always been loyal to say as long as he has a contract, he'll pitch. He'll pass Hoffman (maybe this season) and then be done. Of course if he's still pitching at 45, that wouldn't surprise me either.