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

It feels so good to be despised right now....

 

They're still a bunch of dicks but they'll probably be little more PED-free now that The Great Enabler is no longer there.

 

Replayed the Cruz play several times over the weekend. Like many on here, when it first happened, my initial reaction was it was a misplay that should have been caught. After more and more viewings, I'm less and less inclined to think he could have caught it at all.

The deep outfield positioning seems to have actually worked against Cruz in this situation. He starts off running hard but then quickly dials it back, as if he's not really clear how much room or how many strides would take him to the wall. Now, if he's playing normal depth, he's not going to get the ball either, but part of the tentativeness and awkwardness may have been from being in a spot where he had no familiarlity.

And as buckw noted, the ball was hit on a relative rope. Very little time to adjust. Should he have caught it? I don't think so. Could he have caught it? Sure, and if he had, it would have went down as one of the best defensive plays in WS history.

And as much as Cruz is getting called out for that play, let's talk about Feliz for a moment. He has a 1-2 count on the hitter. He had just rang up Craig with a two-strike off speed pitch. Why not throw another. Or at least be off the plate and see if Freese chases. You've got a couple pitches to work with. No, because he just smoked one by Freese the pitch before, he decides instead to go right back to the well. Fastball. Triple. Championship opportunity no. 1 gone.

 

Please, the great enabler was MLB and the players association. Do you believe for one second that nay manager did not know what was going on?

 

No manager in baseball ran interference for liars and cheats in his own clubhouse like LaRussa. He's a fucking fraud.

 

So he protected his players? The nerve of a manager to do that.

 

I unfortunately had a business dinner that night so never saw it live.

Feliz had just thrown a nasty fastball down and away that was fouled off for strike two (I thought). Feliz just went back to his best pitch, the gas.

From the replay I saw, it sure looked like Cruz was running for a while, he was certainly not in prevent 2B mode, it looked to me like he was pretty shallow, especially for a guy like Freese who has no speed and great power to right. Why not bust him inside once? He's not going to jerk it out with his inside out swing. Ball did not even hit the middle of the wall. Damn shame for the Rangers.

 

Not sure what for yet, but a great deal for the Braves. And the Indians ... lol ... the Indians ...

http://twitter.com/#/JohnKreger/status/131041613614039043

@JohnKreger John Kreger
Creditable sources inform me that #Braves P Derek Lowe is being informed as we speak that he has been traded to the #Indians

EDIT: Buster Olney has confirmed the trade is for a "second line player" and Atlanta will absorb $10MM of the $15MM Lowe is owed next year.

 

Should someone start a Hot Stove thread?

 

I'm still waiting on those links re: all the fans who left Game 6. If there was that much talk, surely there must've been someone observing it.

Place still looked packed to me.

 

Indians get a fifth starter who can throw 180 innings. And they're paying about market rate. Not much to laugh about. If he sucks, they jettison him. Jones the PTBNL is at best a loogy in four years.

They also now have three of the top 15 ground ball starters in baseball. Too bad their 2B and 3B are butchers...