Comments on: Curtains

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:35:03 +0000

Thank you Daniel. I appreciate your analysis of ARod being hit by pitches.

And I certainly agree Bob that intentionally trying to injure a player should not be a part of baseball. But pitching inside and even hitting players IS a part of baseball and ALWAYS has been. Admittedly, it is declining in recent years, so maybe a softer sensibility is winning out. But it also seems it would be much more difficult to explain steroid use and the other things you mentioned than hitting a batter with pitches. Just check out Daniel’s explanation above for how easy it is to explain correctly.

And finally, I hope seeing ARod hit on the arm, leg and ribs does not scar or influence children too much. Otherwise, what do we do and how do we explain a take-out slide at second or a collision at home plate? Actually, maybe getting hit by a pitch or standing in against a runner is a good lesson for kids; certainly could make the argument that it is a good way to break kids in for the much rougher treatment life often has in store for us.

By: Chinner

Chinner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:55:37 +0000

By J on Nov 2, 2009

If the game is at night (which it is, 7:57pm EST) you can pretty much count wednesday as a day of rest. I think that is what Chucky P was referring to.

Two great teams, already better than last years series.

By: J

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:55:32 +0000

Chucky P – “Regular rest” is 4 days off in between starts. Pettite started on Saturday night, so with his next start on Wednesday, that would only be 3 days of rest (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday).

By: E

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:19:05 +0000

It’s time for the phillies to sell high on Howard.

By: Chucky P

Chucky P — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:53:08 +0000

Salary Cap? How well is that working for the NFL and NBA? Same teams are good all the time regardless. There are owners in MLB with much more money then the Steinbrenners, they just pocket it instead of spending it on players. Whose fault is that? Whose fault is it that when the Marlins make millions off of revenue sharing they don’t spend it on improving the team. I respect the spending of money on players that the fans pay to see and expect to contend every year. Pitt could easily become a contender if they would stop trading their best players for a couple of bats and a steak dinner.

By: Chucky P

Chucky P — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:45:27 +0000

Why does everyone keep saying “short rest”? The last time I checked the schedule if the series was to go back to N.Y. it would be on Wednesday, not tomorrow. Hence, Andy would be on “regular rest”.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:44:27 +0000

Wittanzy… they are not throwing intentially to Arod in my opinion. But they are trying to jam him inside. When you are trying to jam a guy with 583 career home runs inside, you darn well make sure that if you miss, you miss off the plate, not over the plate. Lidge showed us what can happen if you miss over the plate with Arod. So that’s why they plunk him so often.

If you must know, I am a lifelong Yankee fan. I don’t like our cleanup hitter getting plunked, but that’s baseball. Yanks are employing a similar strategy with Ryan Howard, except that Sabbathia / Burnett / Pettite have had better control than Hamels and Blanton.

Let’s also give Manuel & the Philies the benefit of the doubt. No one is trying to deliberately injure another player… at least I hope not. If anyone could have been accused of that, it would have been our own Roger Clemens back when he was using Mike Piazza for target practice.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:12:07 +0000

Mike my man there are 30 teams in baseball, and 8 teams make the playoffs. That means that at the very least September does not matter for 73% (not 95%). Throw in another 2 teams or so who had a chance at the wildcard in September, and that number drops to 66%. I definitly think that’s a real season.
Talk to MLB and the player’s union about the salary cap, the Yankees just play on the rules they were given.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:53:44 +0000

By Scott on Nov 2, 2009

The Phils are headed to the basement next year. Only 1 frontline starter, no closer, and underperforming power hitters that can’t touch lefthanded pitching. Not only will we not be back, we’re going to finish just ahead of the Nats with these terminal weaknesses.

To be fair, 99% of teams don’t have more than 1 frontline/ace starter. So, sure the Yankees become the team of destiny when they put together a staff with 3 aces. I’d honestly love to see baseball with a salary cap. Maybe even the Pirates could compete, and we’d get a real season instead of September not mattering for 95% of the league.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:52:32 +0000

From Jason Stark’s article:

The normal way this works, actually, is that it’s the pitcher’s job to scramble over there. But Lidge was so locked in on pitching to Teixeira, he admitted later he forgot all about that shift. So when Damon took off for third, it “really surprised me,” Lidge said. “I thought we had him. I didn’t realize there was nobody at third base.”

So again just want to reiterate…these are professional players, Lidge should have known to cover the empty base. You can quote all the people you want, the fact is, Lidge messed up.