The 2007 MLB Season

Recreation Sports
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Play ball!!!

Yes folks, another Major League Baseball season is now underway. Most teams have only 161 games left to play.:smiley:
Ya, it’s a long, long season, but hopefully there are some baseball fans out there among the Forumosans who frequent the Sports threads. The ‘NHL hockey season’ thread is currently over 20 pages with 3000 plus views…so I figure baseball should be even livelier.

Let’s talk ball! Who do you like? Who do you hate? Any predictions on the season? Who will be among the the new young stars this year? Which seasoned veterans will lead their teams? Sammy Sosa is back. And of course, love him or hate him, there’s also the Barry Bonds home run record watch.
What’ve ya got to say baseball fans!!!

Here’s a little primer from ESPN Sports…season and playoff predictions, as well as possible individual award winners for MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year.
ESPN predicts the 2007 season
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview07 … xpertpicks

I’m a Montreal Expos fan from way back, but seeing as they are long gone, I am left with my Toronto Blue Jays. Stuck in the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox, it’s a formidable task every year to compete with the biggest spenders in MLB. I have a good feeling about the Jays this year though. They have an abundance of good starting pitching, and you can never have enough quality arms around. They have a good offense too, Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells, we stole Frank Thomas away from Oakland, and emerging young star Alex Rios. It’s way to early to say, but I think the Jays will make it interesting this year.

The consensus among sports writers for TSN, ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, and many others, is that the Detroit Tigers are the team to beat, period. The Jays beat them opening night in Detroit in 10 innings. Nice. :sunglasses:
The defending Champion St. Louis Cardinals don’t seem to be getting any respect for this coming season, most writers have them crapping out this year. We’ll see.

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I used to be an Expos fan as well and were heartbroken when the Expos were having one of their best years only to be cut short by the strike. Youppi is now a mascot for the Canadiens. How sad.

Two natural teams for an ex-Expos fan would be to place his new loyalties with either Toronto or the Expos new home, Washington. I don’t think I can ever root for a Toronto team. I’m also a Redskins fan so it seemed natural to become a Nationals fan. I was really hoping that the new team would adopt the old Senators name as it would complement well with my hockey team (Ottawa Senators). Oh well…

However, I found myself being rather underwhelmed by my emotions for the Nationals. I tried, but there’s simply no passion any more. Furthermore, my local AAA team (Ottawa Lynx) is rumoured to be moving to Allentown, PA. I find myself being less and less interested in pro baseball.

I do, however, enjoying following the Little League World Series when Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) is playing.

Another reason that I can’t root for Toronto is that I don’t like the AL in general. I prefer the NL rules where the pitcher actually has to bat. I’m a big anti-fan of the DL rule.

As for Barry Bonds, any records he breaks will forever be followed by an asterisk. I’m just not interested in following his pursuits.

What’s everyone’s favourite MLB ballpark and why? I’ve only been to four – Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, Toronto’s Skydome (now Rogers Centre), Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and SF’s AT&T Park. I saw the Yankees play the Giants at AT&T Park (it was Pacific Bell Park when I went) and I think it’s by far my favourite ballpark. The all-brick design invokes a certain nostalgia and the homeruns to right field land in the bay, which is kinda neat.

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Okay, the thread has been a bit slow to get started. I know TC likes baseball. It’s time to bait the Tainan Cowboy trap. :smiley:

The Cincinnati Reds
SUCK
!!!

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It’s early, I know, but I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that this season the Yankees are going to falter a bit and not be as dominant as usual. With Steinbrenner’s deep pockets, the Yanks are never really in a rebuilding stage, but I just don’t think they have the pitching this year.

Wang is hurt, but will be back soon, hamstring trouble from what I’ve read. I do want to see him do good, Taiwan should be very proud of him. NYY picked up Andy Pettitte for this year, lost Randy Johnson, and are working with young Japanese pitcher Igawa, who’s run into some trouble with batters already, and reclamation project and nearly constantly injured Carl Pavano. I just don’t see the Yanks pitching being good enough to compete with first, the Red Sox, who are loaded with good pitchers, and second, this year’s edition of the Blue Jays, who also are deeper with good pitchers than their usual mediocre lineups of the past few years.

Just a thought. You Yankees fans feel otherwise, let me hear from ya!!

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[quote=“Mer”]Okay, the thread has been a bit slow to get started. I know TC likes baseball. It’s time to bait the Tainan Cowboy trap. :smiley:
The Cincinnati Reds
SUCK
!!![/quote]tsk tsk tsk…
I’ve been off the island a couple of times on bidness and haven’t had the opportunity to join this thread.
Yes…I am a loyal, die-hard, to the bone Reds fan. Ahh…the '70’s were such a beautiful time…:sigh:…but back to reality. As of yesterday…they were undefeated. So hope is alive!

In some airport or hotel somewhere recently I picked up a copy of USA Today newspaper…don’t care for the paper, but their sports section is usually quite good. They had the stats and listings on the upcoming season and their predictions. I meant to keep the paper, but somehow I lost it and only kept a WSJ from tuesday 03 Apr. Maybe USA Today online has the coverage.

I also like the SF Giants a lot. Used to live just over the hill from “FrozenD*ck” Stadium." Went to a lot of games. I have not been to the new place - AT&T Park…ugh.

New stadiums - I’ve been to Baltimores Camden Yards - absolutely fantastic place. Great venue for Basball. I prefer single duty places rather than all-purpose venues…purist that I am.
Also seen 2 games at the new Cleveland Indians house. Another great place. Same architect as Camden Yards I think.
Been to Wrigley…great place ooozing with history. Go Cubbys!
Seen Fenway - historic and good.
Have caught quite a few games with the LA Angels in Anaheim…generic Baseball with a touch of Disney thrown in.
Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine is pretty cool. Its hard to believe it used to be “remote.”
Thats all that come to mind.

I also am a big fan of AAA ball. When I lived in Columbus, Ohio I went to a LOT of Columbus Clippers games. They are a farm team for the Yankees. Seen the return of Daryl Strawberry 3 or 4 times. He’s a bum.
$2 admission to the cheepseets…$2 big beers and double hot dog nights with Baseball under the summer night sky…it don’t get much better.
Much more competitive ball also in AAA. These are guys who are working for their jobs. Hoping for the shot. Lotta hustle.

Predictions?..Nope…I never make a prediction until after the All-Star break.

Remember…I’m a Reds fan…:smiley:…

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I’ve not been to nearly enough ball diamonds in my life. I’ve seen a Jays game at SkyDome, not a whole lot of baseball history or old culture there when you compare with some of the historic biggees. I also saw a couple of Expos game at Olympic Stadium way back. I’ve seen the Twins at the Metrodome, and sadly, that’s it. I don’t care for the Cubs, but of course, would love to see a game at Wrigley.

I once saw a short documentary on all the different ball diamond food available at the League’s various parks. It was amazing, honest.

Who do ya like in the AL this year TC?

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In the American League?
Any team that doesn’t have the DH.

Just kidding…not sure yet. Ask me in 2 months when the 1st round of drug testing results come in.

Hey…didn’t that episode of stadium hotel suite boinking on the big screen happen in Blue Jays stadium?
I seem to remember that. Pretty funny.

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[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Hey…didn’t that episode of stadium hotel suite boinking on the big screen happen in Blue Jays stadium?
I seem to remember that. Pretty funny.[/quote]
Indeed. Classic moment.

Still early, but my Jays are doing well so far. The injury bug has just hit though, OF Reed Johnson is having back surgery, gone for 2 months, closer BJ Ryan is on the DL, elbow strain, never good, 3B slugger Troy Glaus is hobbling a bit on a bad ankle, but should be back soon, yet the Jays seem to be holding their own in their tough division.
Dice-K makes his Toronto debut as the Red Sox visit the Blue Jays on Tuesday. I hope he gets rocked big time.

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Right on! Toronto Blue Jays…2, Boston Red Sox and Dice-K…1
You can keep your $100 million pitcher. We got game too!

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Well, Taiwan can start cheering again, Wang is back!

The Yankees activated Chien-Ming Wang from the DL today. He’s pitching against the Devil Rays right now.

Yanks activate Wang from 15-day DL
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2848250

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Speaking as a Twins fan “my condolences”. My boys are finally getting a real ballpark in a couple years though and I would love to catch a game then*.

Year in and year out the Twinkies have put together a solid team. This year is no different but I’m a little worried about the starting pitching (except Santana of course).

  • except during the winter months of April and the first half of May
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With no love whatsoever for the Boston Red Sox, I quite like this story. It sure pisses Red Sox fans off! :smiley:

It seems the controversy over whether or not there was actually blood on Curt Shilling’s sock while he pitched Boston to a World Series title in 2004 is coming up again. This time, it’s the announcer for the Orioles, Gary Thorne, who alleges that Boston back-up catcher Doug Miribelli revealed that the bloody sock incident was a hoax.

Thorne is now backing off on earlier comments, saying he misunderstood the conversation, but this isn’t the first time this issue has come up, whether or not there was truly blood on Shilling’s sock or not, and not likely the last.

ESPN had a good write-up about this new flare-up in the controversy, and the old details surrounding it as well. Previously, a GQ magazine article cited an unnamed Red Sox player as saying Shilling faked the injury to get attention.
Schilling’s famous bloody sock questioned
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2849747

The sock in question:

which currently resides in the Baseball Hall Of Fame.

Maybe they could test the sock to see if it is really blood or not, and put this to rest once and for all.

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The greatest thing so far is that ESPN Taiwan decided to go all Yankees all the time, just when they start a record-tying losing streak.

I’m sure they’ll bounce back, but the last few days have been bliss. :slight_smile:

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Ya, Yankees have been sucking big time of late. It is cause for concern if you’re a Yanks fan.

I had to chuckle though, reading this article off ESPN this morning. The writer called this weekend’s Yankees - Red Sox series make-or-break for NY. Um, dude, it’s April. There’s only 140 more games to go.

Pitching has Yankees in a tailspin
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/s … id=2851004

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A couple of interesting pitching performances from marque pitchers yesterday, one good, one bad.

The Yanks’ Wang had a perfect game going into the 8th inning against Seattle yesterday, and was just 5 outs away from a perfect game, which would have been the first for the Yankees since David Cone did it in 1999, until Ben Broussard’s homer ended his perfect day. Argh!
Still, a pretty commendable effort, and more importantly, a win for Wang and NY.

On the other side of things, normally reliable and dominating Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays got rocked big time against the Texas Rangers (who have owned the Jays this season so far) last night, losing 11-4. Halladay gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season.
The Jays are in a bit of a free-fall, having lost 5 in a row and dropping fast in the standings. Lots of time to rectify that, but Halladay is supposed to be gold! What gives??

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[quote=“MikeN”]The greatest thing so far is that ESPN Taiwan decided to go all Yankees all the time, just when they start a record-tying losing streak.

I’m sure they’ll bounce back, but the last few days have been bliss. :slight_smile:[/quote]
:raspberry:

:laughing:

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:astonished: Yikes. The basement. Cellar dwellers. The Jays are sucking.

EAST Team W L PCT GB Home Away Div Str
Boston 21 10 .677 — 9-4 12-6 10-4 W2
NY Yankees 15 16 .484 6.0 9-8 6-8 3-11 W1
Baltimore 15 18 .455 7.0 10-8 5-10 8-4 W1
Tampa Bay 14 18 .438 7.5 8-9 6-9 5-6 L2
Toronto 13 19 .406 8.5 7-8 6-11 6-7 L7

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Yankees’ Wang hit hard by Rangers

The game story is here if anyone is interested. I just thought the picture and title were rather humorous.

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Not too much action lately, or at all, on the old baseball thread here. Oh well, the season is still early.

While the season is still early, sports writers are starting to talk about it:

[quote]ARE THE YANKEES DEAD?
This is another dangerous question, considering the Yankees are “only” 7½ out in the wild-card race. Of the 24 wild-card playoff teams since the invention of wild-card playoff teams in 1995, three of them – the 2005 Astros (-10½), the 2003 Marlins (-8) and the 2001 A’s (-8) were at least eight games out in that race by the end of May.

But just one of those teams (Houston) also had as lousy a record as the Yankees have now. And that doesn’t even factor in ugliness such as the Yankees’ 3-10 record in one-run games. Or the fact that, until Wednesday, they hadn’t won one (0-7) road game against an AL East team.

Or that, after scoring more runs than any team in baseball in April, they went through a 19-day stretch in May in which they scored the fewest runs in their league. Or that they’re 11-24 when Alex Rodriguez doesn’t homer.

One thing we know, however, is this: They’re not catching the Red Sox. No team in history ever has been 14½ games out before June and come back to finish first. And only the Miracle Braves were that far back at any point and wound up playing in October.[/quote]
from ESPN

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The Jays scored on a straight steal from third to home against the Yankees last week. It was a really exciting play against a clueless left-hander Pettite. But if you want excitement, how about beating up your own teammates if you can’t beat your opponents.