caulfield12

Stanton ties Abreu with a two homer night, 31 each

If the Rangers and Daniels hadn't been stupid enough to take on the Fielder contract....they'd be totally screwed and unable to keep either Victor Martinez or Max Scherzer for 2015. LOL at the Twins helping out the Royals with Willingham. Of course, they traded Delmon Young to the Tigers about 3-4 years ago, too. If the Royals do go far into the post-season (and there's still a LONG ways to go), building a team around speed/pitching/defense/strong bullpen is going to get even more attention, just like the Pirates with their extensive series of defensive shifts and stressing the two-seam sinking fastball to keep more balls on the infield and out of the air. Has a team with the lowest numbers of homers in the AL or NL ever made the playoffs? That might be a first. (By the way, Travis Snider would be a nice pick-up for the Sox, but it's more likely the Pirates will try to deal Tabata.)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:55 PM) The closest in comedic style to Williams that comes to mind is some vintage Jim Carrey. No idea who else. Nobody was faster or quick-witted enough to keep up with him when he was on a comedy roll.

Man, grew up with Robin Williams comedies, although he did do serious fare like Good Morning, Vietnam! Sad. Will always remember Mrs. Doubtfire, Alladin, Mork and Mindy, Awakenings, The Birdcage (one of the funniest movies of all-time, the scene with him and Nathan Lane learning how to act "macho" is the best), "Oh Captain May Captain!" from Dead Poets Society, Patch Adams, Awakenings, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Insomnia, Autofocus... Just a terribly underrated dramatic actor and even funnier man. Alcohol and drug addiction, apparently.

Verlander and Sanchez both out at least 4-6 weeks. Royals in a 2-2 time late against the A's bottom of the 7th. Ventura and Sonny Gray had quite the pitcher's match-up, lived up to the billing. Btw, KC plays some pretty great defense...other than Butler when he's at 1B, which doesn't happen very often. Especially up the middle, where the only weaker link is Infante. Escobar, Gordon, Cain, Perez and Moustakas can all play at close to a Gold Glove level.

There's obvious going to be a recreation of the even trying to simulate: 1) the same lighting 2) the same amount of time to try to determine how "reasonably avoidable" Ward might have been 3) the conditions of the windshield in terms of visibility 4) the same suit or colored suit on the driver on the track...which was blue, but certainly not dark blue...plus he was gesticulating pretty visibly 5) the other driver passing by in front of him, which might have cut down his ability to see Ward 6) the positions on the track of all the cars at the time of the accident to the time he came around to him again 7) the amount of experience someone like Stewart has behind the wheel of a racing car will be harder to determine...if the situation was reversed, Stewart gets run down by a young driver in Ward, it would be a bit more understandable from a human psyche standpoint..."young punk" kid trying to make a name for himself "tries to put Stewart in his place"

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 04:10 PM) so youre just going to ignore what others who have driven those types of cars have said when it comes to it being hard to see out of the right side of the car because of the design of these cars? just going to ignore another driver in that race who said he saw him at the last second and just missed hitting him? the greatest drivers in the world arent going to see through a blind spot. If the Ward family doesn't go after Stewart, I would be more inclined to side with this POV. Surely, there's going to be a tremendous amount of pressure on them not to BLAME Stewart for their son's death. Of course, that means they have to blame their own son for his actions, and that's going to be incredibly difficult. Remember, the father is also a driver/racer....Kevin Ward, Sr. I think he might even have been in the same race.

This story is becoming more and more bizarre as both sides dig in (not here, but in terms of the national media). Clearly, there's a vested financial interest on the part of many in making this go away without any further damage to Tony Stewart/Haas Racing or NASCAR. I don't think it will ever be so simple...because of the fact that Ward was seemingly coming after Stewart, and Stewart was the one who hit him. Seems TOO coincidental, just that part of the story itself. Not because in the video the witnesses are saying "Tony Stewart hit him..." but common sense or logic says that he probably did have some "road rage" built up to at least teach the kid a lesson or scare him a bit...and probably thought he was in his NASCAR and forgot the back end of those sprint cars stick out another 6-8 feet compared to the front. Surely, a jury would find it easy to believe he at least contributed 25-35% if not 50% to the accident transpiring. How that plays out in terms of tort law, no idea. I do know if the Ward family makes a public case of going after Stewart because THEY believed it was intentional...this story won't go away for a long time, and probably it will always be attached to Stewart's legacy because of the unusual nature of something like this happening in front of everyone in the world/twitterverse/youtube.

I wonder if he ended up getting sued or having to pay any money to the 19 year old girl who suffered a lower back/vertebrae fracture last year, because Stewart openly admitted that accident/crash was his fault or responsibility? Clearly, he's not going to do the same thing here, or it would be tantamount to awarding $20-30 million in a civil suit to the Kevin Ward family.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) He may have had a couple decent years, but his walk rate and velocity did not bode well for the long term. At the time of contract extension? Really? Someone would have to get out fangraphs and look at his fastball velocity from 2008-2011, but I'm 95% sure it would show him consistently at 89-92 and sometimes touching 93. A lot of us questioned it, because it happened right after they extended Santos and then traded him for some no-name Blue Jays prospect and nobody really understood what direction the team was going. It SEEMED contradictory at the time.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 03:51 PM) A caution does not mean the race stops. You remain driving your car. On dirt style tracks, at the very least, it will mean the person who caused the crash will move to the back and once the lines are reset, you start the race again from the lap the caution was caused. The only time it would be safe to get out of your car is on a red flag (on red flags, everyone stops moving immediately. This is almost 100% of the time due to a medical emergency) or if you are safely in the pits. I haven't seen the video yet, but this guy should have never, ever gotten out of his vehicle. I'm pretty sure his car was turned around backwards and against the upper fence...

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 03:43 PM) This thread just makes me more excited for the (hopefully) massive turnover from this year to the next. With that in mind, I've only read about 10% of the posts in this thread. According to some, that's the same amount of attention to detail Ventura shows for statistical analysis of other teams and individual match-ups.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 02:45 PM) Boobs. http://imgur.com/r/realasians/WljjQtO

Doesn't he have the right to get out of his car when there's a yellow caution flag out? Not to walk into the middle of the track and toward oncoming traffic, but at least get out under his own power...?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 12:35 PM) Buster Olney ‏@Buster_ESPN 7h Have heard enough to know this: MLB has had a hard time enticing commish candidates. Reality: great title, but relatively little power. Doesn't Selig make something like $30-35 million per season...?

Back in the 1980s, when Greg Morhardt was just another minor leaguer on his way to soon becoming an ex-minor leaguer, he crossed paths with players such as Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. Decades later, when Morhardt became an area scout, he recalled those future major league stars as he watched a muscular teenager from New Jersey. "Gee whiz," Morhardt recalled thinking, "Mike Trout is 16 or 17 and he's really better than all of them." Back then, it may have seemed like hyperbole when Morhardt filed glowing, almost unbelievable reports, on Trout. Today, it makes sense. Trout is a virtual lock to be selected the AL Rookie of the Year on Monday. He's also got a shot to win the AL MVP Award, which will be announced Thursday. Trout could join Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki as the only players to win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP in the same season. Trout is the underdog in the MVP race because Miguel Cabrera won baseball's first Triple Crown in 45 years. Trout supporters would say his season was just as historic. He was the first rookie to combine 30 homers and 40 stolen bases. He led the majors with 129 runs. "The home run power you expected to come because he has the frame and the quickness and the strength," Morhardt said, "but you thought maybe it would be a year or two later." As high as expectations were for Trout, they weren't this high. "None of us thought he'd be as good as he'd be last year, at 20 years old," former Angels scouting director Eddie Bane said. "You could dream about it when he was 27 or 30. Even then, we'd have been told we were crazy." That's because in the spring of 2009, when teams were assembling their lists and preparing for the draft, none of them thought Trout would do what he's done. Good thing, too. Or the Angels wouldn't have been able to get him with the 25th pick, after 21 other teams said, "No, thanks," including the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks twice. "He definitely moved a lot quicker and turned out to be a hell of a ballplayer a lot quicker than people were anticipating," said San Francisco Giants scouting director John Barr, who picked sixth. "I think we all look back now and think, 'Geez, we wish he was higher on our boards.'" The Angels had Trout at No. 2 on their board, behind only Stephen Strasburg. "And even that may have been a little low," Bane said. Although Strasburg was baseball's consensus No. 1 pick, a once-in-a-generation talent who has lived up to the billing so far in his major-league career, there was at least one voice in the Angels' draft room who dissented. "I didn't think there was a better player than Mikey," said Morhardt, who now works as a national crosschecker. "I'll put him against anybody. Sometimes you have to jump out there a little bit. I didn't think there was a better amateur player in the country. At some point he's going to have a chance to be a Hall of Fame baseball player." www.ocregister.com

Someone's got to do it, since he won't accept any love from Sierra.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) There is an actual problem with Connor 2nd as the lineup is currently constructed. L - Eaton. L - Gillaspie. Righty, righty, righty, righty, righty, righty, righty. Perfect setup for a bullpen to devastate the team with specialists. That's why the devastating Beckham and Leury Garcia can nullify those lefty specialists...(please Dick Allen, save your breath about his stats against lefties when he's hitting .180 or .190 against RHP, which is the majority of mlb pitching).

QUOTE (ptatc @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 12:02 PM) I think much of that is due to hitting an innings limit. He currently is pitching more than he has in the last three years. He was pretty good early but has hit a wall. Hopefully as he adds the enducrance he will be able to pitch deeper into the season next year. Every once in a while, he will rare back and get a 90 or 91 on the gun. Not sure if he's just trying to quiet down the critics/whispers...or what the reason, as he's usually 86-89 these days. It's hard to say what effect the trade rumors have had on him, but surely it hasn't been helpful, either.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) Feherety was on DP this morning and absolutely scoffs at the notion that Tiger is a quitter. Also blames Haney for what has happened to him injury wise and kept reiterating the fact that Tiger shouldn't be on the course and he's purely willing himself to be out there. Says he knows Tiger isn't a quitter and only reason he didn't stop playing on Friday was because he's trying to will through it, potentially play in Davis cup, and is aware of the media bashing him as a "quitter". Feherety called it pure poppycock. Ryder... It will be interesting to see if Tiger withdraws himself, or pushes ahead into Europe and attempts to demonstrate his worthiness as a captain's choice. Dufner's out...isn't Kuchar hurt? One of the biggest arguments is that the "old/#1" Tiger was/is still a well below .500 record in Ryder Cup matches. This version, with the back problems, knees...sacrum, hips, etc., it wouldn't be much of a help except for tv ratings/curiosity.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:55 AM) Yeah, Day just couldn't trust his grip...he's fighting a hook and was playing tentatively all weekend. He was interviewed prior to Saturday's round and said he thought they had cured it with a more neutral grip adjustment, then went out and proceeded to hook his drive left of the creek on 2....and fought it the rest of the way. Didn't stop Baker-Finch from talking about how many hours he practices his short game or where he would be if he had just made more 10-12 foot putts. Els had it really going early and they wanted him to post a score that would put pressure on the leaders coming down the stretch. He, just like everyone not named Rory, couldn't keep the momentum going on the back nine though. Had forgotten about Stenson....Stenson is intriguing because he is very colorful. He has a tendency to hit some very "interesting" shots under pressure, or to break a club over his knee every know and again. Crazy how they mentioned his caddy has a Ferrari....Stenson made $21 million just in golf earnings last year though, so I can see how his caddy drives a Ferrari. Don't the caddies get about 2.5 or 3% of their total purses? Is it 5%? Something like that.

Please keep Buddy Bell at least 100 yards away from Rodon. The only ones who should be allowed to speak to him are Hahn, Cooper, JR Perdew and Nick Capra. Half joking.

The problem is that Danish and Montas are probably 1 1/2 years away as it stands right now. Rodon, of course, should arrive sooner. And then you have Adams hopefully in 2 1/2 or 3 years. The problem is the franchise getting through 2015...they simply have to be able to promote the realistic possibility of a playoff run when they're selling 2016 season tickets. It's also far from clear when/if Anderson, Hawkins and Davidson will be making any type of contribution. We've had so many debacles with Mitchell, Walker and Thompson's pretty much fallen off the prospect map as well...too many misses. Then you have Semien, Erik Johnson, Davidson (again), Micah Johnson struggling to feature his #1 asset with the lingering hamstring issues....Daniel Webb's gone backwards, Anderson and Montas hurt, not to mention a lot of the guys having surprising seasons like Sanchez, Wilkins and Ravelo are still basically "fringey" candidates for everyday play at the major league level. Beck hasn't progressed as hoped/hyped. Nobody's expecting All-Star appearances, that's for sure.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:43 AM) It was interesting...you could see the nationalistic biases coming out in the broadcasting...Baker-Finch was talking up Jason Day every chance he could get. Feherety was cheering on Rory. The crowd favorites were Mickelson and Fowler, the two Americans. When Rory was lining up the eagle putt on 10, someone made the comment that the place would be up for grabs if he knocked it in. There were definitely cheers, but it wasn't nearly the house coming down like they thought it would be. Jason Day almost completely disappeared from the coverage. They seemed to really want to force Ernie Els into the story...that was interesting, although he was never legitimately in contention, he did play a pretty darned solid round except for one hiccup. Stenson, rightly, got a lot of time...but he's about as exciting as Vijay Singh. I'm sure they were happy with the Austrian golfer didn't have to be featured as much as he also disappeared after the turn.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Sooo, explain why fangraphs had him worth 17M the year before his injury and 500K this year? He also had the 18th highest WAR that year....Lets not act like he wasn't a damn fine pitcher before the injury. He and Floyd were really good in 2008, pretty good (at least a 2/3 level starter) in 2009 and 2010 and then downhill from that point. But none of that has anything to do with the $35+ million pitcher we have on our roster now. It's very obvious he's having a hard time keeping the ball down, there's not enough differential on his pitch speeds, and his location/control has been suspect...isn't he leading the AL in homers allowed? Sometimes I also think the blackout/playoff game made him "an ace" to the fanbase (since we have so few playoff appearances)...and memories of that start lingered far longer than Nick Blackburn.