Loyal readers, here is your chance to get the discussion going. Let us know what is on your mind. Today is a great day for the Pine!
Reader Interactions
Comments
Trackbacks
-
weekend romantico italia…
[…]Open Thread Thursday | July 7, 2011 | Pickin' Splinters[…]…
As the MLB all star game approaches, im looking for renewed world series predictions. Before the season started, i had the BoSox over the Braves in 6. And i am going to stay with it. The Red Sox are the Miami Heat of the MLB (guess who i picked to win the NBA title) and im betting that sooner or later, talent will win out. As for the Braves, that was more of a gut call. The Phillies seem like the easy answer, so why not take a flyer on a different team in the same division. They can pitch, and have enough potential at the plate to make a run come playoff time … thoughts?
Kyle … good prompt! Braves have a great ballclub this year, quite underrated and currently hot. But I gotta go with pitching, pitching, pitching … as in Halladay, Lee and Hamels, which spells Phillies. Of course I picked the Phillies to win the NL last year and look what happened. Don’t rule out the Giants … again because of pitching. And beware the Cardinals … still afloat at top the division despite all the injuries. If they get healthy, look out!
In the AL, do you know the Yankmees have a +123 run differential?!?!? Dang, that’s good! RedSox are next at +92 and the Phillies third at +78. Question is, can NY beat Boston head to head in the playoffs??? I think they may figure it out.
Kyle! Welcome to the Pine! Great to have you aboard. The Phils have great starting pitching. Can they close?
No predictions from me. Still trying to figure out how the Rays are hanging tough with the players they let go.
I’d take the Phillies over the AL All-Stars. If the Red Sox don’t get their pitching situation straightened out, they will NOT be the Phillies opponent.
For once I agree with Chas – the Red Sox will only go as far as their starting pitching is healthy. No way are they going to the World Series with Andrew Miller, Tim Wakefield and Aceves (can’t remember his first name) following up with Beckett. Right now it is looking like Beckett and pray for 4 days of rain!!
If Lester and Bucholtz can get healthy, then the Sox have a chance of knocking off the Phillies. Right now I think the Sox are close to shutting down Lackey and if that is the case – will have to trade for a starting pitcher near the deadline.
But Kyle – welcome to the Pine!!
For once?!? Does this mean we never agree, Smitty? 😉
Actually, I should rephrase what I said, but you pretty much sum it up anyway…getting their starting pitching healthy is more the case for the Red Sox than having to get things “straightened out.” I just thought it was interesting to be saying that about the Red Sox rather than the Yankees.
But, we still don’t know when Bartolo Colon’s carriage is going to turn back into a pumpkin (or did that start to happen last night?), and what they can expect to get out of Phil Hughes. So, there are some major issues there as well.
Also, I may have exaggerated about the Phillies, but I think they’re clearly the favorite right now.
I think the NL Central is gonna be a great race til the end. Very anxious to see if a) Milwaukee can win it and b) the Pirates can finish 8-10 games over .500?
Until Adam Dunn has an eye exam, I don’t think the WhiteSox really have a shot in the AL Central. Just a mediocre offense. I think I read that Dunn is hitting .165 with almost 130 strikeouts after yesterday’s game. It actually seems hard to do that poorly even if you were trying to fail. That is just unbelievably bad. I’m pretty sure I could do better than that. (Or at least I could 10-12 years ago). 🙂
I am not doubting the constant Phillies picks, but doesnt it seem almost too easy? They are streaky, and pitching can cure most of that, but between injuries (think the Oswalt thing could derail that rotation a lil bit) and the inconsistency on a week to week basis, i think they go cold, maybe get outpitched once, and lose a playoff series. Doc Halladay is as good as they come, as is Lee. But would it surprise you if out of the 4 starts theyd make in an extended playoff series, they get beat once, and maybe neutralized another time. If thats the case, i cant trust that pen, and if a team can split the 4 games started by the 2 aces, i like their chances. Of course, Hamels could be his MVP self, and create a 3 headed monster destine for success, i just dont see it.
Love the NL central talk, as im a devoted Cards fan. Bias? maybe. but i like the Cards to win the division, as they stayed close enough despite injuries. A healthy team lead by LaRussa combine with a staff lead by Dave Duncan, always has a chance to play into October
Kyle, name a good team that isn’t streaky? You think maybe the Red Sox have been a little streaky this year? 😉
The statement most of the talking heads are using is “there are no great teams out there.” Seems strange considering the money some teams are throwing around. Yes, the Sox, Yanks, Mets and Dodgers are spending their money, but even teams like the Twins are using more bank than in the past.
Chas, i agree. even bad teams are streaky. But my point was that the Phillies are far from unbeatable. They seem like a top notch team, but with some age and health issues, they are far from flawless.
The story of the playoffs every year is not what team is “great”, but rather what team puts it together at the right time. And it seems when this many people flock to a certain team, it typically ends up wrong. haha. im playing the devils advocate, as i truely believe that the Phils have as much talent as anyone, and im just trying to fight for the Braves pick i made.
Guys, the Phillies are playing .625 ball. IMO, that’s “great”. They’ve won a World Series and lost to last year’s champs. A veteran team with more than handful of guys in their prime. But they’re in the NL which I’m always skeptical of. Who knows now who’s gonna be hot over those last 20-30 games? But I do put stock into who’s playing well at the end of the season. But right now, the Phillies have a better chance than most. Talent + experience is hard to beat.
Kyle, I agree you can never count the Cardinals out. They have good talent, are very well-coached and very disciplined/focused. On a somewahat related note, the guys on ESPN were raving about Scott Rolen the other night. Some said he was the best all-around 3B of all time and THE best fielder. Better than Brooks. Wow.
Yes, .625 is great. It is also July.
So Wally it has been about 3 months since your “Insanity” article – just wanted to check in. Heading into the All-Star break, Adrian Gonzalez’s numbers are:
.355 Avg, 17 HRs, 77 RBIs, 28 2Bs, 255 Total Bases and 2 errors in the field.
Still think that contract was “HFC” ???
Smitty, I deserve to eat some crow on that one. AGonz has certainly answered the challenge of a huge contract and playing for Boston. Thus far, he and the Saux deserve credit on this deal.
Just saw Jeter hit a dinger for # 3,000. What a great career. A great Yankmee! As has been discussed, with all those great former Yanks … Ruth, Gehrig, Joe D, etc … It’s simply amazing Jeter is the first Yankmee to gather 3,000 hits. I’ve been waiting to hear them say on TV ,,, who is #2, #3 on the alltime NYY hit list?? Berra? Mattingly? Ruth???
I was shocked by that stat as well. All time hits leaders from the Yankees here: https://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/player_stats.jsp?c_id=nyy&baseballScope=BLA&teamPosCode=all&statType=1&sitSplit=&venueID=&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame2=0&Submit=Submit&timeSubFrame=0&&sortByStat=H
When I think of Jeter, I think of that scene in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” where the rival newscaster tells Will Ferrell’s character, “I pure hate you, but damn do I respect you.”
Likewise.
Rey! Great to have you back on the Pine. It’s been too long. The place isn’t the same without you.
Jeter deserves all the credit he gets. I hate seeing a play being left to him because 9 times out of 10 he is going to make it.
What is somewhat misleading about that list is it only includes time in pinstripes. Winfield and Henderson have 3,000 but not all with the Yankees. Still, it goes to show how impressive that feat is when considering Mickey Mantle has more games played for the Yanks but is 500 hits shy of Jeter.
Mantle does have less hits, but more than twice as many homers and about 500 more rbi than Jeter. Surprising also that Mantle only has about 100 more strikeouts too. If Mantle had good knees . . . .
twice as many walks too – that explains it. Not to take anything away from Jeter, congrats and all.
Will there be any more players who hit 3,000 with one team? Not that that is any particular gauge of greatness, but is Jeter the last player to hit 3,000 for one club? The next closest is Chipper Jones with 2565. Then comes Ichiro with 2345. Chipper won’t make it. Ichiro? After that Todd Helton at 2321and Albert “Don’t call me Luis” Pujols at 1982.
Question … where does Jeter rank all-time as a shortstop … all in, everything considered? Does he crack the Top 5 barely? I’m thinking he might.
Coming from a rank novice – name 5 better shortstops. I’ll take Jeter over Ozzie any day.
Well … these other guys come to mind as all-time greats, no particular order:
— Honus Wagner
— Cal Ripken
— Ernie Banks (also a 1B)
— Ozzie
— Luke Appling
— Robin Yount (also a CF)
— Luis Aparicio
I gotta think Jeter is certainly Top 5, maybe a solid #3 behind Wagner & Ripken? His post-season heroics are really unmatched. Not sure how to weigh Ripken’s consecutive game streak, but he was a great run producer. Maybe Chas will drop in and give us some clarity.
Well if we are going to have this discussion the first question we have to answer is whether you consider A-Rod and Cal Ripken Jr to be shortstops. If that is the case, then you are put both of them, Ernie Banks and Honus Wagner in that Top 5. From there it would have to come down to Jeter, Ozzie Smith and Barry Larkin.
I think Jeter would be there at #5…
Smitty, why would Banks be ahead of Jeter?? Great power, yes, but he actually played more games at 1B than at SS in his career. .274 career BA not too impressive. Mr. Cub, yes, but zero post-season appearances.
I forgot about Larkin … good point … but he’s possibly in the second group of 5.
Smitty – great call on Larkin.
One thing that gets overlooked with Jeter is that he has been able to hit well in different spots in the order. He is an above average leadoff guy who can switch to two-hole without any problems. Is there a better hit-and-run batter?
Oh yeah, and he “wears it” well.
I may be inclined to agree with you about Jeter over Banks, but I don’t think you hold it against a guy whose team doesn’t make the post season. Jeter was certainly lucky to be on some great Yankee teams – I don’t think you can hold it against Banks for being on some bad Cub teams.
Banks was also a MVP in 1958 and 1959 – both of those years he was at SS. Jeter has never been higher then 3rd in the MVP voting.
As for the .274 average – they were certainly different style hitters and certainly had different roles. When Banks was playing SS, he was averaging 40+ home runs.
I don’t think you necessarily just automatically push Jeter ahead of him.
Let me ask it another way. If you are penalizing a player for not having post season appearances – do you penalize a player for playing poor in the post season?
If so A-Rod may fall down the list, because he has never had a strong post season career. It has to hurt him.
Wow, it looks like there was a lot of baseball discussion since the last time I checked.
The SS discussion raises a number of issues about who’s is eligible to be considered. A-Rod has still played 207 more games at SS than at 3B, but that should change by the time his career ends. But, what if it doesn’t? Maybe injuries force him to become a full-time DH the year after next? It’s a tough call, but he probably should be part of the SS discussion right now.
Ernie Banks played 134 more games at 1B than at SS, but his best years were as a SS, so most discussions about the greatest SS of all-time include him.
You know, we did have a similar discussion a couple of years ago. I know we never finished the Mt. Otsego series (I’ll take a big chunk of the blame for that), but we collectively picked Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr., Robin Yount and Ernie Banks as our Mt. Otsego shortstops. I also advocated hard to a relative unknown named Arky Vaughn, but to no avail.
It’s tough to rank the all-time greats at SS. Honus Wagner and Cal Ripken have to be in the top five. After that, I’d probably round it out with Arky Vaughn, Robin Yount and Ernie Banks, leaving Jeter at #6. If we’re considering A-Rod, he’d be #2, moving everybody but Wagner down a slot.