Scottman111

Liriano should have got in. As well as Hafner for the Tribe...

IlliNorge

Yup. Instead we get Buehrle and Konerko. No bias there. I can easily see Guillen mismanaging the AL to its first loss in 9 years. "No, I tol u to squees bun!"

Yumcha

Okay, Beuhrle's having a off-year by his standards...so, for sure Liriano is deserving of a selection. But, at the end of the day, he's a rookie. And sorry, but how often do rookies get to start in an MLB all-star game anyhow?

As for Paulie vs. Hafner, the stats are not that far apart...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/player...e?statsId=5908 vs. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/player...e?statsId=6980

So, it's definitely arguable. However, seeing that Guillen is the manager, he gets the luxury of picking his own players. Every manager does it when they manage the all-star squad...

As for mismanaging the AL, I think you need to give Oz a bit of credit...he may not shut up much and likes to get his foot into his mouth, but he's a pretty darn good manager (WS title last year, remember?)...

Always Dirty

It took the ChiSox 2 games and another 19 innings to finally get a win off the Red Sox, who were on the tail end of a 10 game road trip. I think the old power rankings need to be shuffled.

Yumcha

I was wondering when you were going to chime in about how your Sox took it to mine in the first two games.

But, whatever you say, the ChiSox still have the better record. So there.

Always Dirty

The local talk radio goons have been going crazy ripping on your Hawk Harrelson. This morning they were playing some insane clips of him saying things like Creedy is the best 3B to play the game in the last 50 years, that Guillen is the best manager ever, etc etc. Then I found this site:

http://www.heavethehawk.com/Hawkisms.html

Yumcha

Harrelson is hilarious. This guy bleeds the White Sox, that's for sure. Before Guillen ever went ballistic and called Mariotti (Sun-Times columnist) a bundle of sticks and bleeping-bleep, Hawk challenged the writer to a fist-fight right there and then sometime last season cuz the latter was saying negative stuff about the team.

IlliNorge

Every Sox hit is a rocket, every opponent's hit is a bleeder with eyes. The Sox (White) are the most unlucky, most victimized team in the history of the game. Hell, their 3rd base coach is the best ever. Come on, Harrelson, we can see the game, it's not radio. The guy is an insult to White Sox fans. And you can put that on the board.

kurt_bradley

Dude, they play in the AL Central. That doesn't compare to the AL East.

Yumcha

Hrm. You think so? The only team that scares me in the AL East are the BoSox. The Yank can't pitch so, I consider them a rich@$$ version of the Rangers. And the Blue Jays are improving but nowhere in the same caliber as the White Sox, Tigers, or even the Twins.

kurt_bradley

The Tigers aren't going to be able to keep this up all season. Every year, there is this story of a team that comes out of the basement to get everyone all pumped up about the small-market teams, and then they fall apart after the trade deadline. As for the AL east, I'm not Yankees fan, but they do seem to find a way to keep winning games (yet no rings in 6 seasons with over $1B spent in payroll...here's mud in your eye, Steinbrenner). Toronto may surprise a few of us and get 2nd in the division.

Yumcha

As much as I've hated on the Tigers, I don't think they are going away. Their pitching is good. Verlander, Rogers, Bonderman, and Robertson are as good as anyone out there...and then, they also have a solid corp of hitters in the lineup. They are not last year's Orioles if that's what you are implying.

But, we shall see. I'm just saying that the Central is not as bad as you think they are. The Yankees are over the hill and the Blue Jays are alright but their pitching is not as strong as what the Central rolls out. Only Boston is a team that would scare me...That said, IMO, (biases aside about the ChiSox), I think on the merits of the 3 teams in there, the Central is the strongest division in baseball.

CL Platano

Until the central can prove they can hang with the east, it still remains Red Sox, Yankees and whoever wins the central..The Yanks and Red Sox have owned the Tigers so far and Red Sox have taken the champions also. As long as the Yanks remain within a series of the Red Sox the East is always up in the air. The Blue Jays are good but not there yet.

Yumcha

Uh...here are the numbers...seem pretty even to me :

ChiSox versus teams from East: 8-8
Detroit versus teams from East: 8-8
Minny versus teams from East: 8-4

BoSox versus teams from Central: 5-7
Yanks versus teams from Central: 13-7
Toronto versus teams from Central: 8-8

Yumcha

Then, you have the records from last season (using the top 3 teams per division in Central and East):

ChiSox versus teams from East: 20-13
Indians versus teams from East: 19-7
Minny versus teams from East: 18-12

BoSox versus teams from Central: 22-13
Yanks versus teams from Central: 18-13
Toronto versus teams from Central: 14-19

That seems again pretty equal and "hanging" with the East in terms of the Central teams?

CL Platano

The only team worthy out of the Central right now is the Sox, Detroit and Minnesota gotta put it together on a consistent basis. Toronto is a spoiler, they will not compete in the east but cause trouble for the central

Scottman111

I think the Tigers young pitchers will wear down as the season goes on. I've heard Leyland might skip a couple of Verlander's starts to keep his innings low. They don't want to make another Mark Fyrdrich (sp?) out of him. And I'm not sure if Rogers can make it all the way either being that old, but to be honest I thought he was done after last year, so kudos to him...

I don't have any favorites in the AL Central, but I think Minnesota might take it if they can stay healthy. Mauer and Morneau both surprised me this year. And I can't see the Indians making a late run like last year (just a hunch )


Anyone brave enough to post their playoff teams yet? I'm still undecided on a few but I'll make up my mind in a few days.

Yumcha

Fearless forecast ...

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Chicago
AL West: Anaheim
Wild Card: Detroit

NL East: New York
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: Los Angeles
Wild Card: San Diego

Scottman111

After some careful consideration, here goes...

AL EAST - Boston
AL CENTRAL - Chicago (I know, I changed my mind since last night )
AL WEST - Oakland
AL WILD CARD - Minnesota

NL EAST - New York
NL CENTRAL - St. Louis
NL WEST - Los Angeles
NL WILD CARD - Houston



Come on people, let's see 'em

ZeroPSI

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Chicago
AL West: Seattle
Wild Card: Toronto

NL East: New York
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: Los Angeles
Wild Card: Cincinnatti

Yumcha

Either we all are seeing the Yanks truly as a declining team or we just really don't want them in the playoffs just so that we can them...

Always Dirty

The yankees have something like 15 games against toronto in the second half. The sox have 10 or so against the Royals. There are a couple of other uneven matchups, but almost all of them favor the sox heavily. Basically, we played the meat of our schedule in the first half, while NY has a long way to go.

Yumcha

Awesome.

Nothing makes my day more from sports than to hear how the most expensive baseball team fails...that and listening to Steinbrenner blow another gasket.




P.S. Can the league please test Giambi again? Please?

Always Dirty

Seriously. On all counts.

phipark

AL East: Boston
AL Central: Chicago
AL West: Seattle
Wild Card: Detroit

NL East: New York
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: Los Angeles
Wild Card: Cincinnatti

CL Platano

I think you nailed it there buddy. You call the Yanks a declining team, yet they are only 3 games behind Boston w/o Sheffield, Matsui or Cano. Is there any other team that can lose their core 3 guys in the lineup and still be in contention?

CL Platano

AL East: New York
AL Central: Chicago
AL West: Anaheim
Wild Card: Boston

NL East: New York
NL Central: St. Louis
NL West: Los Angeles
Wild Card: San Diego

GreenMonster

More home games in the second half too...

Sox Vs. Mets in the WS...

The Sox need to win the AL east, 'cause it doesn't look like the AL wild card is going to be from the east this year...

CL Platano

They said the same thing last year and look what happened..The key is to see what's happening during the second-third week in August. Go Yanks...

GreenMonster

No kidding... didn't the Sox and Yanks end up with 95 wins each last year... F'ing tie breaker

3 games up just ain't doing it for me... and you know the yanks are going to add some players to their roster before the trading deadline...

It's going to get interesting down the stretch...

phipark

Go NL...

Doom878

Man what a choke. 2 freaking outs. They would've won if they played Uggla.

Always Dirty

10 years straight now...

well...

The AL has won picked up the last 10 wins.

Yumcha

And who started the rally in the clutch? The guy some wheenie was whining about who went instead of HAFNER?!??

PAULIE KONERKO.

phipark

Miguel Cabrera is lazy as fuck. He probably could have gotten that ball if he tried. I bet Rolen would have given it a better effort.

sasha

Michael Young

Yumcha

And who was the yahoo that kept spewing about how Ozzie Guillen would blow/mismanage the game...?

IlliNorge

Konerko hit a routine grounder to third. Hafner hits that pitch into the Allegheny. :wink:

Guillen did a good job of getting everyone in the game and staying out of the way just enough to eek out a win, I'll give you that one. Looks like Games 1,2,6,7 in the Metrodome this year.

phipark

Oh, that brings up another point.

THE GAYEST RULE IN BASEBALL. The All-Star game determines the home field advantage in the WS. What the hell is Bud Selig thinking?

IlliNorge

He's thinking that there is so much prep time necessary to host a World Series game that best record getting home field is out of the question. He's also thinking that some Spanish guy named Clemente apparently played for this year's host city, so we better honor the guy somehow.