Dropped Third Strike

IMHO - 9.27.08

Here we go again - the Mets' chances of making the playoffs come down to the last day of the season. I would imagine that Mets fans have a higher level of stress than most - and may even have a shorter life expectancy because of it.

Johan Santana is worth every cent spent on him. I have said this all along. He proved it again today by tossing a three-hit shutout, on three days rest, in a game where he was needed the most. 16-7, 2.53 ERA - only a few wins away from a Cy Young. The bullpen is to blame for this. For everyone that said his stuff isn't as good as it used to be - this is his lowest ERA over a full season. He also gave up 10 less home runs this year than last year.

I would like to change my pick for NL MVP. As much as it hurts, Ryan Howard is the correct choice. His level of production has been incredible, and the timing is even better (unless your a Mets fan).

Please come back Mark McGwire.

Where in the world is Barry Bonds? Is he still working out hoping some one signs him? I haven't seen anything.

The Rays did it. The are the Anti-Mets. The won the AL East when no one thought it was possible. Thank you Rays for knocking the Yanks out of the playoffs. I am glad to see them go, just like the Braves a few years ago.

Is Larry (Chipper) Jones going to name his next child Citi?

We could see a Cubs-Rays World Series... That would be different. I am not sure the Tropicana Dome is ready for the World Series. I love the stadium - parking might be a problem!

If K-Rod wins the Cy Young because he leads the league in saves, then Ichiro should win the MVP for leading the league in At-Bats.

Jason Giambi is a dork.

IMHO - 9.7.08

I am excited to see two Mets-Phillies games today - they are always fun to watch. This is probably a make-or-break situation for the Phillies. If the Mets win two today, they will have ended the last head-to-head match-up up four games with only a couple of weeks left. Now, I know what you are thinking - the whole 7 back with 17 left last year, but this is a different Mets team. Last year, they started strong and fizzled for the entire second half. This year, the Mets have been playing well for a couple of months, and just finished a dominant sweep of the Brewers. They are playing great baseball, and besides, the Mets spend the next two weeks playing the Nationals and Braves... The Phillies need to make a move today.

I cannot believe the Marlins played a game this week with something like 600 fans in the stands - absolutely pathetic. Fans only get part of the blame though, maybe if the management were more committed to winning, fans would actually care. Instead, the will sell off parts to other teams this off-season. The Marlins are the junk yard for Major League Baseball.

K-Rod should not be considered for the Cy Young or MVP.

The Mets have three legitimate MVP candidates - Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado. I hope that the fact their are three doesn't prevent one of them from getting it. The Mets have been waiting a long time for an MVP. Jose Reyes seems the most likely - the Mets have scored more runs in the first inning than any other MLB team by far - Jose Reyes has scored many of those. He is also among the league leaders in many categories.

Cliff Lee should win the Cy Young in the AL. I guess Brandon Webb in the NL...

Watch out - the Dodgers are now in first place. The have been my pick all year.

As a Mets fan, I would like to thank Omar Minaya again for not making any stupid moves at the trade
deadline. Just pick up a couple of pitchers this winter.

David Murphy is going to learn to play second base. Anyone need a vastly-overpaid second baseman with bad knees (Luis Castillo).

That's all.

Looking Back at a Few Trades

So now that we are a full weekend series past the trade deadline, I wanted to take a look back and see how some of the big trades that went down are working out. Yeah, I'm aware that it's been 4 days (including today) but who cares, some of them happened before the deadline anyway. So here we go:

Manny - So Manny has been tearing it up so far in LA and Boston fans have to be happy with the production they are seeing from Jason Bay so far. The Pirates - well, who cares about them since they don't really matter for the rest of the year. When this went down I thought the Sox would be hitting some kind of hardship, but it seems that isn't the case. Let's see how long it is until Ramirez is sidelined with knee pain, pinky toe pain, or the biggest ego on the West Coast.

Ken Griffey Jr. - If nothing else, this trade got me to order a new copy of Slugfest for the N64 on eBay (should be here in about a week!) So far he is played in 3 games for the ChiSox while hitting 3/7, scoring  1 run, and driving in 2 (including Jim Thome, not really a point for me pointing that out.) It looks like this trade will work out not too badly for Chicago as long as they don't play him every day in Center. If they do, who knows how long it'll be until he realizes he's got 2 more seasons after this one to mark the 4th decade in which he's played.

Tex to the Angels - Bottom line, not much to write here. Take one of the best players in baseball and add him to the best team in baseball and what's to discuss? The real losers here, the Braves who wasted their time getting him last year.

Nady/Marte - The part that makes this trade go almost no matter what happens is the fact that they grabbed these players for nothing. So far Nady has been ridiculously good batting .385 while belting 3 homers. Marte has been somewhat average, but whatever - Nady makes up for it. This trade is a win-win for the Bombers.

Pudge to NY - Any trade that makes Farnsworth go away is a winning situation for me. In his first few games in the Bronx, he has done a pretty good job including a homer in a big win against the Angels and catching Fatty McLoser (I mean Sidney Ponson) through a pretty darn good game. The only drawback is that Farnsworth is still hurting the Yankees by allowing a comeback win against the Rays.

All right, thats enough premature thoughts on trades. We'll see how they turn out at the end of the year.

DTS Top 5/Bottom 5 - 8.4.08

Each week here at DTS we will be picking the Top 5 and Bottom 5 teams in baseball. The writers here vote, and we will post our results here each Monday. First place (or last place for Bottom 5) are in parentheses.

Top 5
1. Angels (2) - What a great week it was for the Halos, going a combined 5-2 on the road in Boston and New York, and perhaps more importantly, picking up a much-needed power bat in Mark Teixiera. The Rally Monkey lives on!
2. Rays (1) - The Rays are ahead in the toughest division in the majors and nothing seems to be able to stop them.
3. Cubs - To go along with their impressive sweep of the Brew Crew this week, they also improved their already MLB-best run differential to +131. FYI - the second best in baseball belongs to Boston with +91.
4. Red Sox - Maybe trading Manny was a good thing - they haven't lost without him, and Jason Bay (I know he's not technically his replacement, but come on, you know that's how he's going to be looked at all year) is hitting .363 in those three games, and has even gone yard once.
5. Minnesota - He's baaack... Liriano looked good on Sunday.

Other teams getting votes: White Sox

Bottom 5
26. Braves - I pity the fools...
27. Giants - Put Tim Lincecum on a team that hits, at all, and he's a Cy Young candidate.
28. Padres - Which comes first - Hoffman retires, or they bring in the fences at PETCO? The are in last place in the weakest division in the majors.
29. Mariners - They gave up George Sherrill and "The Other" Adam Jones, among others, for Erik Bedard, who has made only 15 innocuous starts this year. It doesn't look like too many more are ahead for him in a Seattle uniform, either. Oops.
30. Nationals (3) - Does their broadcasting crew return from breaks with a hearty, "Welcome back to Major League Baseball...sort of" call, a la Harry Doyle in Major League 2? Is there anybody out there in the Beltway area who can confim this suspicion for me?

Other teams getting votes: Indians, Pirates

Email Q&A - 8.3.08

It's been a great first week here at Dropped Third Strike - We've had almost 2000 page views, from all over the U.S., and a few other countries. Here are the top 5 cities with the most readers this week:
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Cincinnati
4. Chicago
5. Tallahassee (Go Noles!)

Each week, we'll be answering your questions. The person who sends the "question of the week" will win an awesome "Dropped Third Strike" fan pack. Here we go -

Steve in Atlanta writes:
Mike, why are you so hard on the Braves? The only reason they are sitting in fourth place is because of hard luck, we have had a ton of injuries. The Mets woke up today in third place anyway, that isn't much better.

Mike Says:
Steve, I am hard on the Braves because I hate them, you can thank John Rocker for that one, and by the way, I find it hard to believe that they have 2000 pounds of injuries this year... A ton is a weight measurement, not a number. Next time try saying a bunch of injuries.

First of all there is a huge difference between 3rd and 4th place in the NL East. The Mets are two out, and the braves are something like ten. Besides, I think the Mets have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug this year - Moises Alou, Ramon Castro, Brian Schneider, Luis Castillo, Moises Alou Again, Ryan Church, Pedro Martinez, Pedro again, John Maine, Billy Wagner, and Ramon Castro again. Don't tell me about hard luck...

Now, a couple of Manny questios (shocker):
Ed in Los Angeles writes:
Do you think Manny will re-sign with LA next year?
Kenny in Colorado (do you live in South Park?) write:
Hey Lee - looks like you got it wrong, Manny didn't stay in Boston. (Hey, Kennie, that's not actually a question.)

Lee Says:

Let’s Play “Who Wants to Sign a 36 Year-Old, $20M + Malcontent?”

So Manny Ramirez was dealt to the west coast on Thursday, essentially nullifying any fragment of credibility I had after my very first post on this site, proclaiming that Manny would in fact, remain in Boston, and reemerge as a productive member of the American League’s most frightening everyday lineup. What’s that, you say you’re still reading what I have to say? Fine then. As long as you’re still here, let’s try to figure out where America’s favorite showboating, lollygagging, and absent-minded outfielder will wind up playing in 2009. The way I see it, there are two very logical choices for Man-Ram…

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in California near the Pacific Ocean

I think Manny in SoCal is a great fit. Manny in the National League, turning 37 next May, however? Not so much. Clearly, Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras will be using the remainder of the 2008 season with the Dodgers as a glorified audition tape to send to potential suitors this off-season, and so far, so good. In his first three games with L.A. (8/1-8/3 vs. Ari), he’s hitting at a .615 (8-13) clip, with 2 HRs, 5 RBI, 2 runs scored, and one awesome jersey number (moving to L.A. and emulating Gretzky’s # 99? Classic.). And if the Dodgers somehow pull past Arizona and win the putrid N.L. West, this will only make him that much more attractive to their neighbor in the O.C., the Angels. They have three sluggers in their lineup whose contracts expire at the end of the 2008 season: Vlad Guerrero (although I would expect the Angels to pick up his option for 2009), Garret Anderson (who, like Manny, is a LF/DH type), and their own trade deadline acquisition, Mark Teixiera. Look for the Angels to be big players in the Man-Ram sweepstakes this winter, and if they’re lucky enough to come out the winner, to subsequently cut bait with Anderson, who’s the same age as Manny, but without the gaudy career stats.

New York Yankees

I know that the Yankees’ days of chasing big name free agents are supposedly over, in lieu of building from within, but really, how could Cashman and his brain trust ignore the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”? This guy has absolutely crushed New York during his time in Beantown, and “George, Jr.” just might be crazy enough to persuade the organization to make a run at Manny, if for no other reason than to spite the Red Sox. We know the Bombers have the resources to sign him and who knows, the money that they could offer, in addition to the chance to play in his hometown and go after the franchise that, at least in his mind, did him wrong, just might add up to Manny in the Bronx in 2009.

and now for the question of the week,
Bob B. in Shirley, New York writes:
Do you think Billy Wagner is overrated?

Mike: sometimes
Jack: yes
Lee: absolutely...

Hey Bob - that was actually a terrible question - but I picked it because I once lived in Shirley (proud Charles E. Walters Elementary Alum). So you get a DTS fan pack! Send us your address to dtsblog@gmail.com.

Send us your questions, next Q&A is next weekend! dtsblog@gmail.com

Trade Deadline Winners and Losers

With the trade deadline behind us, it is time to take a look at our not-so-expert opinions of the days winners and losers.

Winners
Mike - Dodgers - This doesn't make the Dodgers the best team in baseball by any means, it doesn't even put them in the top five in the National League. What it does is put the Dodgers in position to take the West. That kind of move in such a weak division is huge. They are 13th in the NL in runs scored, and 15th in home runs. They are, however, first in ERA... They are only one game out... Watch out Arizona. Besides, what better place to send an over-paid, self-centered crybaby who can hit then to Joe Torre, who dealt with those kinds of players for years.

Lee - Angels - After a subpar showing in last year's ALDS, they finally got the power bat that they've been searching for to bolster their chances of defeating the Beasts of the East come October in Mark Teixeira. Although Teixeira and the man he's replacing, Casey Kotchman, have the same number of World Series rings (for those of you keeping score at home, that would be zero), you have to think that getting a guy with a higher slugging pct., as well as HR and RBI totals and runs scored, and for a worse team, mind you, is a significant upgrade. Angels management seems to be all in for 2008, and the folks in SoCal should applaud them for it.

Jack - Yankees - The Yankees are the clear winner at this year's trade deadline. Coming down the stretch, they had obvious needs at Catcher, Left Field, and in the bullpen. They turned out one of the best deals when they took a solid left fielder in Xavier Nady and a proven late innings pitcher in Damaso Marte from the Pirates for nearly nothing with 4 minor league prospects. They then picked up a solid veteran catcher with Pudge Rodriguez from Detriot for the useless, inconsistent pile of nothing named Kyle Farnsworth. They come into August looking much more solid and ready to take that second AL East playoff spot from the BoSox.

Losers

Mike - Mariners - Has anyone told them they are awful?? They asked too much for players that are either too old or just don't pitch that well. They could have come away with some pretty good young talent. It is time to take this team in a different direction. It's too bad the Mariners are so bad, I've seen Frasier, and the people of Seattle seem too nice to deserve this. In a very close second is the always pathetic Atlanta Braves. I am glad Mark Teixeira is worth all the talent they sent to Texas last year, he sure did help them. They re-gifted him to the Angels.

Lee - Red Sox - Me calling the Red Sox a bunch of losers? Sounds like any other Thursday, I'll admit, but today I actually have a reason. But to trade a future Hall of Famer because of what seems to be little more than a personal beef seems like a rather short-sighted and immature decision by Theo Epstein and Co., who are normally amongst the brightest at their jobs in the league. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really think that if Boston management would have just held out past the deadline today, Manny would have flown straight for the remainder of the season, realizing that he was playing for his job in 2009. Instead, a career .312 hitter with 512 HRs and over 1,600 RBI, a man who is notorious for destroying the hated Yankees, both in the box score and in their melons, a man who is widely considered the greatest right-handed hitter since DiMaggio, has just been shipped 3,000 miles away for Jason Bay. The same Jason Bay who, when placed in the only remotely meaningful and pressure-packed situation of his major league career, the 2005 Home Run Derby, metaphorically crapped his pants on national television (probably the only time he's played on national television, of course). Perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit with my last point, but really, in my opinion the Red Sox are taking a huge risk by trading away one of most clutch right-handed RBI producers in recent memory for a guy who has proved absolutely nothing in a town where even the people who live there don't watch the team. And why? Because Manny hurt your feelings by saying some mean things to ESPNDeportes? Grow up. You may have set yourselves up nicely for the future, but rebuilding sounds like something more suited for a team in Pittsburgh than Boston, and that's not something I think the Chowda' Heads in New England will take lightly.

Jack - Pirates - It was a tough decision between the Bucs and the Rays, but how can I fault a first place team for sticking with what has been working? The Pirates sold off 3 of their biggest pieces and didn't get much in return. Xavier Nady is gone to the Yankees along with teammate Damaso Marte. In return for losing a solid outfielder and a proven set-up man, they received four minor leaguers; it seems everyone around agrees that this was a steal for the Yankees. Jason Bay is off to fill the whole left by the most self-centered man in baseball, Manny Ramirez. They do pick up Andy LaRoache to keep third base warm until Pedro Alvarez is ready to take over, but Brandon Moss taking over in left field is no replacement for Jason Bay.

National League Predictions - Mike's picks...

With a little more than two months remaining in the season, here are my picks for the National League:

N.L. East - New York Mets

Obviously the Mets are the strongest team in this division. For those of you who don't see them as the obvious choice, here are my reasons: First of all, they have the strongest pitching rotation in the East. Johan Santana has been very good this year, but has lacked run support. Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey have been really strong in July, and they are still getting better and more consistent. The offense has started to heat up too. It is true they were underachievers for most of the 1st half, but the production has been great as of late. Carlos Delgado will be the difference maker. Look for the Mets to put some distance between them and the rest of the division in August. Their biggest weakness is the bullpen, they are too inconsistent. I think Jerry Manuel should let his starters go a little deeper into games to take some pressure off of the bullpen.

Longshots - Marlins and Phillies - The Marlins can't pitch and I hate the Phillies.

By the way - the Atlanta Braves are pathetic. They were waiting to decide whether they were buyers or sellers. You've got to be kidding me, did anyone besides them and their fans think they were still in this?

N.L. Central - Milwaukee Brewers

C.C. Sabathia is a great rental. It would be sad if they didn't win with him, because this is their only chance. The Cubs have a good team, but will blow it because they are the Cubs.

N.L. West - Los Angeles Dodgers

Isn't it a shame that every division has to be represented?? Almost every team in the A.L. East would be in first place in the N.L. West. I guess someone in the West has to win it, and at least Joe Torre knows how to win (at least in the regular season).

Wild Card - Chicago Cubs

Well, we can forget about anyone in the West. The Marlins don't have the pitching, and I hate the Phillies.

National League Champs - New York Mets

Well there are my picks - no bias at all.

What do you think? Leave me a comment.