View Full Version : How well do you feel that your team should be doing right now?
Mattingly
05-27-2008, 05:59 PM
I was going to wait until I had some kind of summary on the Yanks, my own team. However, no such ideas right now. Y'all will have to wait. :p
Looking at some of those games you'd felt were very winnable but were botched, if you only took a few of those games, and looking at the talent level that your team has, where do you believe they should be in the standings right now? This as opposed to where they are now.
If your team is at .500 or so, even at .600, do you think there's something about your team that's stopping it from doing better than it is right now? If so, then what would that be? Lackadaisical attitude? Inability to hit breaking balls? Relievers who can't keep the ball in the park?
Every team has its woes, every fan has their complaints. Please express yours, and what you feel should and can be reasonably done to improve your team if you were to lend a voice to someone in charge.
Please step up to the soapbox and speak! :D
Thanks. :)
rockin500
05-27-2008, 07:45 PM
cubs should be better really. they need to play better on the road (they are currently 20-8 at home, under .500 on the road). More consistency in their offense would be a good thing.
gojays
05-27-2008, 07:57 PM
It's a testament to the Blue Jays' amazing pitching staff that a team hitting .231 with runners in scoring position can be 3 games above .500. IMO, that is the only thing stopping this team from contending for the Wild Card or even the division.
Blackout
05-27-2008, 08:05 PM
yankees stink so far!
this is going to be a long season
redlegsfan21
05-27-2008, 08:17 PM
I would say get rid of the 2 guys who went 1-16 in one game (1 infield single) but that would leave my team still with issues. We have 3 catchers and six outfielders though luckily two have secondary positions in the infield. We need pitchers that can keep the ball inside of Petco Park (I thought that was a pitcher's park). I wish Harang and Arroyo would go every 3 days with Volquez to go every 5 and then Cueto and a person off the street pitching on the other days. In fact, I would send so players packing in order to make room for new talent. But, it always seems like we're one year away.
bigtime39
05-27-2008, 08:37 PM
It's a testament to the Blue Jays' amazing pitching staff that a team hitting .231 with runners in scoring position can be 3 games above .500. IMO, that is the only thing stopping this team from contending for the Wild Card or even the division.
Pretty much ditto for the Orioles. Nobody on the offense is within sniffing distance of their usual OPS, yet the team everyone expected to lose 100 games is 25-25, and tied with the Yankee$ in a rain delay middle of the ninth inning.
DodgerBlue8188
05-27-2008, 09:05 PM
If Brad Penny and D. Lowe were pitching like last year LA would be in first. Chad got off to a rough start too.
brewcrew82
05-27-2008, 09:32 PM
The starting pitchings sub-par, the relief pitching stinks, the guys who should be producing on offense aren't. Basically, the Brewers stink! :grouchy
The Dude
05-27-2008, 09:33 PM
The starting pitchings sub-par, the relief pitching stinks, the guys who should be producing on offense aren't. Basically, the Brewers stink! :grouchy
I couldn't have said it better myself. And we thought 2006 was a dissapointment ... well ... at least I finally got my Braun Jersey in (ordered it 2 months ago)! And ... we still got some season left to play.
brewcrew82
05-27-2008, 09:51 PM
at least I finally got my Braun Jersey in (ordered it 2 months ago)!
At least there's one positive to come out of this season thus far. :ughh
Honus Wagner Rules
05-27-2008, 10:15 PM
My beloved Giants are were I expected them to be right now: out of the NL West race. But there are some good signs, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez at times, Fred Lewis. Even Rowand has surprised me. I still think the Giants overpaid for him but he's having a very good year. On the other side Zito has been a complete disaster.
Old Sweater
05-27-2008, 10:25 PM
Rockies just have flat out stunk it up with RISP even before the DL bit us.
Same go's for the pitching with RISP.
Tenorman
05-27-2008, 10:53 PM
Awesome starting pitching + abysmal run support = mediocre record.
Given the way the Jays' rotation has been going deep into every game (and 6 CG already), you'd think they'd be better than 2 games over .500.
So much potential... (sigh) :sorry:
DownUnderDodger
05-27-2008, 10:57 PM
The Dodgers are too inconsistent. Whenever they look as though they are going on a winning streak they do the reverse and start losing! They are not too bad in some of the stats in the NL:
AVG .271 4th
OBP .341 4th
SB 48 2nd
ERA 3.94 5th
BAA .255 5th
OPS .701 3rd
WHIP 1.33 5th
however.....
R 232 9th
SLG .390 13th
OPS .732 9th
SV 9 13th
QS 20 11th
Offensively the team is really lagging.
Best BA is Matt Kemp at .315 which places him 15th.
Most HR is James Loney with 5 which doesn't rank in the top 40 in NL.
Loney also tops the RBI's at 29 which ranks him equal 28th.
Defensively, Brad Penny is equal 12th with 5 wins, but his ERA is 5.32. Hiroki Kuroda (2-3) is the best in terms of ERA at 3.48 but is in 19th in the NL.
Lots of work to be done off the mound as well.
That they are only 3.5 games behind the D'Backs and 5.5 games ahead of the 3rd pace Giants doesn't say much fro the NL west division this year.
TigerFan84
05-27-2008, 11:06 PM
Nope the Tigers are doing awesome:laugh
brewcrew82
05-28-2008, 03:19 AM
Nope the Tigers are doing awesome:laugh
It's all a part of the plan. They're lulling the rest of the Central into a false sense of security. ;)
mojorisin71
05-28-2008, 01:59 PM
The last time the Dodgers were 26-25 after 51 games was the 2005 season. That season, we had a lot of injuries to a bunch of players. That's not the excuse this year.
KHenry14
05-28-2008, 02:12 PM
I agree with Wags, the Giants are where I expected them to be in the standings. I had hopes that they could get to .500, but they just don't hit enough to do that. Funny thing though, they potentially have four all-stars on the roster in Molina, Lincecum, Rowand and Wilson.
Tenorman
05-29-2008, 09:52 AM
Here, in a nutshell, is why my Jays are only 3 games over .500...
Team Offensive Stats (all of MLB)
Batting Average: 18th
Runs: 26th
Hits: 11th
Home Runs: 27th
SB: 13th
RBI: 28th
SLG: 26th
...and here is the only reason they are not a whole helluva lot further down in the standings...
Team Pitching (all of MLB)
ERA: 2nd
IP: 2nd
CG: 1st
SV: 1st
SHO: 5th
Strikeouts: 2nd
I am going to make a case for this rotation as being probably the most underrated in the majors. All 5 starters have been nothing short of spectacular, despite almost no run support. Halladay, Marcum, Burnett, McGowan and Litsch are a combined 25-18 with 284 strikeouts, 6 complete games and 351.4 IP. No other staff in the game right now have been as consistent, top to bottom. Even BJ Ryan has been spectacular, 12/12 in saves with a paltry 0.53 ERA and 20 SO in 17 IP.
Imagine where they could be with some offense, especially with RISP... :sorry:
The Mariners sniff elbows big-time; but the A's are playing pretty snappy ball, much better than expected. Pitching is the A's best strength.
Seattle1
05-29-2008, 02:18 PM
The Mariners should be in first place. That was the expectation before the season started.
DownUnderDodger
05-29-2008, 09:38 PM
Here, in a nutshell, is why my Jays are only 3 games over .500...
Team Offensive Stats (all of MLB)
Batting Average: 18th
Runs: 26th
Hits: 11th
Home Runs: 27th
SB: 13th
RBI: 28th
SLG: 26th
...and here is the only reason they are not a whole helluva lot further down in the standings...
Team Pitching (all of MLB)
ERA: 2nd
IP: 2nd
CG: 1st
SV: 1st
SHO: 5th
Strikeouts: 2nd
I am going to make a case for this rotation as being probably the most underrated in the majors. All 5 starters have been nothing short of spectacular, despite almost no run support. Halladay, Marcum, Burnett, McGowan and Litsch are a combined 25-18 with 284 strikeouts, 6 complete games and 351.4 IP. No other staff in the game right now have been as consistent, top to bottom. Even BJ Ryan has been spectacular, 12/12 in saves with a paltry 0.53 ERA and 20 SO in 17 IP.
Imagine where they could be with some offense, especially with RISP... :sorry:
I only included NL stats for the Dodgers.....if I did it over the whole MLb it would have been too depressing.....as if the NL stats aren't bad enough!
Old Sweater
05-29-2008, 09:50 PM
The Mariners sniff elbows big-time; but the A's are playing pretty snappy ball, much better than expected. Pitching is the A's best strength.
A's ballpark also.
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/mlb/statistics/2008/venueopsstatistics_mlb_regular.html
Lowest OPS and runs scored.
keystone
05-30-2008, 12:06 AM
The Cards are actually doing better than I thought they would. They're using a bunch of AAA guys and I had no idea that Kyle Loshe (!!!) would pitch as well as he has.
It's still too early to tell, though. I think guys like Ryan Ludwick are going to cool off and then Pujols will once again have no protection.
Mattingly
05-30-2008, 08:48 PM
Just a few complaints, all made in random order:
Guys like Farnsworth and Ohlendorf who can't keep the ball in the park. A 1-inning appearance for a hold is too much for Farnsworth quite often. Ohlendorf, who's supposed to be the longman, has trouble in his 2nd inning of work.
LaTroy Hawkins is about as bad as Farnsworth.
Bases loaded, nobody out, the only run which scores is from a walk. Why can't anybody hit a flyout like they would otherwise? I know the pitchers are trying to prevent this by throwing the ball low, but manufacturing those runs with a bloop hit or a sac fly seems like an adventure in Yankeeland. Hits up the middle always seem to get converted into GIDPs.
LOB--the biggest rally-killer ever invented that doesn't necessarily involve the DP. When guys cannot get a man home from 2B with 1 out, there's definitely something wrong with that.
Sloppy baserunning. When Jeter got caught off 2B and was picked clean the other day, that really bugged me. Here's a really good baserunner who does something I'd more expect from one of the younger guys. Then guys not tagging up on a flyout. If it looks like it could be caught, stay close to the base, I feel.
Lots more, but that's all I can think of for now. If the Yanks could get rid of several of these problems, we'd have at least another 5+ wins by now.
Mattingly
05-30-2008, 08:51 PM
The Mariners sniff elbows big-time; but the A's are playing pretty snappy ball, much better than expected. Pitching is the A's best strength.
What exactly does sniffing elbows mean?
Solair Wright
05-31-2008, 12:50 PM
I like the way the Cardinals are playing this year. They're doing a better job this year than (obviously) last year. The one team that I have trouble finding out is the Mets. They were picked to be the team to beat in the NL East, but the Philadelphia Phillies are scorching anyone who gets close to them in their division champion repeat quest.
The Red Sox and Rays are doing well, but the Tigers are looking like the late 1990s incarnations again instead of their 2006-07 counterparts.
keystone
05-31-2008, 05:51 PM
Oh, yeah. The Tigers are really a mystery. I didn't expect Kenny Rogers to do anything, but what happened to Verlander?
redlegsfan21
05-31-2008, 05:58 PM
I change my mind, I want the Reds to just play on the road like they play at home.
rockin500
05-31-2008, 07:26 PM
I change my mind, I want the Reds to just play on the road like they play at home.
i'd like that for the cubs! then i wouldnt have to worry about anything until october...
redlegsfan21
05-31-2008, 09:14 PM
Well, the top 5 differences on the road are
Team Diff.
ATL .499
BOS .401
CHC .323
CIN .321
BAL .258
SamtheBravesFan
05-31-2008, 09:51 PM
Well, the top 5 differences on the road are
Team Diff.
ATL .499
BOS .401
CHC .323
CIN .321
BAL .258
That is really freaky.
Damn Atlanta if Atlanta could actually arrive on away days they'd have a brilliant record by now! 7-20 on the road and STILL over .500? Crazy.
Mattingly
06-01-2008, 06:06 AM
Damn Atlanta if Atlanta could actually arrive on away days they'd have a brilliant record by now! 7-20 on the road and STILL over .500? Crazy.
What is it about the home field that teams can so easily adapt to, especially with the fans at their back, which is so difficult to do on the road? The booing fans? Adjusting to a different stadium?
Any ideas what the Braves (or any other fan's team) could do different to bring up the win differential from home to road?
redlegsfan21
06-01-2008, 07:48 AM
What is it about the home field that teams can so easily adapt to, especially with the fans at their back, which is so difficult to do on the road? The booing fans? Adjusting to a different stadium?
Any ideas what the Braves (or any other fan's team) could do different to bring up the win differential from home to road?
Well, maybe play in parks that play similar to GABP, that's my onyl solution right now. During that SD series, I think there should have been a record for most HRs in a 3-game series at Petco. Mainly, it's the relief pitching on the road (which I'm going to guess is the same for Atlanta). When they leave the small confines of Great American, they tend to pitch with more risk since "the ball doesn't go as far as it would in Cincy" but pitches up in the zone can still travel 500 billion orbits around the sun.
Oh, by the way, thats 292008927025257500000 Miles.
SamtheBravesFan
06-01-2008, 08:59 AM
Mainly, it's the relief pitching on the road (which I'm going to guess is the same for Atlanta).
It's not. It was that way yesterday, but that hasn't been the general problem. If you ask me, it's the utter lack of timely hitting. The Braves have very nice offensive stats overall, but for some reason, they have a very hard time stringing hits together for runs, especially on the road. It's a team problem. I don't know whether this means Terry Pendleton should be fired or not, but that's a possibility.
redlegsfan21
06-01-2008, 10:27 AM
It's not. It was that way yesterday, but that hasn't been the general problem. If you ask me, it's the utter lack of timely hitting. The Braves have very nice offensive stats overall, but for some reason, they have a very hard time stringing hits together for runs, especially on the road. It's a team problem. I don't know whether this means Terry Pendleton should be fired or not, but that's a possibility.
Well, all I've seen of Atlanta playing on the road is a couple of walk-offs.
What exactly does sniffing elbows mean?
It's just a G-rated variation of a common profanity. :)
JimSulli
06-02-2008, 09:28 AM
I like the way the Phillies are playing right now. Sure we had Howard slumping for a bit, but other players stepped up. Utley is and always will be amazing in my mind, and we get a lot from our bench. I could deal with better starting pitching, but the bullpen picks up. Very happy right now.
Cubsfan97
06-02-2008, 09:53 AM
I cant argue about the Cubs, we're the best team in the league on June 1st for the first time since 1908. Sure, I could say "Soriano needs to learn what catching is" and I could say "Our lefties need to get their stuff together" but we're number one in the whole freakin league, Im not gonna sit back and complain abotu it, Ima sit back and enjoy it while it lasts!
SamtheBravesFan
06-02-2008, 09:53 AM
Well, all I've seen of Atlanta playing on the road is a couple of walk-offs.
Usually, the woes consist of falling behind and not being able to come back and wasted pitching performances.
redlegsfan21
06-02-2008, 01:15 PM
Usually, the woes consist of falling behind and not being able to come back and wasted pitching performances.
So Sunday is a better example than Friday and Saturday.
SamtheBravesFan
06-02-2008, 01:20 PM
So Sunday is a better example than Friday and Saturday.
No... last Friday is a good example of all the problems rolled into one. Sunday was a poor starting performance and inept offense. Saturday was blowing a lead. The most accurate thing that I can say is that the series in Milwaukee and Cincinnati both can be put up as the reason why the Braves are where they are right now.
redlegsfan21
06-02-2008, 01:27 PM
No... last Friday is a good example of all the problems rolled into one. Sunday was a poor starting performance and inept offense. Saturday was blowing a lead. The most accurate thing that I can say is that the series in Milwaukee and Cincinnati both can be put up as the reason why the Braves are where they are right now.
Well, you don't have to worry about it now for 7 days, we have 8 days to worry about our relief pitching and pitching in general.
spark240
06-02-2008, 01:31 PM
What is it about the home field that teams can so easily adapt to, especially with the fans at their back, which is so difficult to do on the road? The booing fans? Adjusting to a different stadium?
Any ideas what the Braves (or any other fan's team) could do different to bring up the win differential from home to road?
All teams, over time, do better at home... but a specific differential for one team in one season is pretty much a fluke.
The Braves had the relatively rare distinction, a few years ago, of having a better W% on the road than at home, for one season. Curious, but it didn't really mean anything, and this doesn't either.
SamtheBravesFan
06-02-2008, 06:38 PM
All teams, over time, do better at home... but a specific differential for one team in one season is pretty much a fluke.
The Braves had the relatively rare distinction, a few years ago, of having a better W% on the road than at home, for one season. Curious, but it didn't really mean anything, and this doesn't either.
In 2001, they became the only division winner to have a losing record at home (40-41). ;)
Brannu
06-02-2008, 10:51 PM
The Cleveland Indians should be winning their division with what they have been able to get out of their starting pitching, but the league's worst batting average is in their dugout and so is the league's worst bullpen ERA, thus, leaving them as a sub .500 team trying to compete in an underachieving division.
I'm not faithful in their ability to come together as their attitude seems to be in need of adjustment. "We will turn it around." That, to me, sounds more hopeful rather than willful. Victor Martinez has not hit a homerun this season. Travis Hafner is in the midst of a two season slump, hitting well below his capability. Dellucci needs to be playing somewhere else. Sizemore is batting .254 and before today was leading the team in rbi's. Peralta leads the team in homeruns and is batting .228.
They really aren't good right now.
Mattingly
06-03-2008, 12:53 AM
It's just a G-rated variation of a common profanity. :)
Oh, I've gotcha. The brown nosing thing, I figure.
I think that if the Yanks weren't so adept at continuing to lose leads, we would win quite a few more games. I mean if you're on the road and add 2 runs, why does our pitching and defense give it right back at the bottom of the inning?
keystone
06-03-2008, 01:23 AM
Brannu -- I'm surprised at Sizemore. I wonder if it's that curse of the sophomore slump? He struck me as being a player who was above it.
The Braves had the relatively rare distinction, a few years ago, of having a better W% on the road than at home, for one season. Curious, but it didn't really mean anything, and this doesn't either.
In 2001 Seattle, Cleveland, Houston and Atlanta all won their divisions with a better Away record than Home. Seattle had a .728 record on the road that year!
keystone
06-03-2008, 02:13 PM
Nice tidbit of information, Bob. I didn't realize that 2001 was such an "Away" year. Wan't that the year Seattle won a gazillion games?
Brannu
06-03-2008, 05:51 PM
Brannu -- I'm surprised at Sizemore. I wonder if it's that curse of the sophomore slump? He struck me as being a player who was above it.
Well, Keystone, I wish I could say that it was a sophomore slump for Sizemore, but, as I was telling someone yesterday ... this is Sizemore and Peralta's 4th full season, Hafner and Martinez's 5th ... and all of them have had playing time at the major league level before they became everyday players. They are beyond the sophomore slump and at a place where they should be showing greater consistency across seasons. The fact that they aren't means something else to me. I'm not quite sure what that means yet ... but ... something. Sabathia, Lee, Westbrook, Byrd, Betancourt, Borowski ... these guys have all been in the bigs long enough to step up and make some things happen. They're looking for veteran leadership from a guy like Dellucci when they need to be looking at themselves - they've been here long enough.
(I feel my anger coming out, I better stop)