cryptique Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Payroll is pretty insignificant when you've got God on your team.Who did they drop to open up a roster spot for Him? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ction Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Who did they drop to open up a roster spot for Him? Todd HELLton Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Manny Corpse? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Duck-Billed Catechist Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 So glad to see this Eric Byrnes guy on the post-game. He doesn't get enough run. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ction Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Btw, at some point last night as I was trying to fall asleep and coughing up a lung, I came up with the stunning discovery that the time in between the 1967 WS and the 1986 WS was 19 years, and the time between the '86 and '04 Series was 18 years, and that you put those together and it gives you 1918. Or something. And then I coughed some more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
OOO Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Some gems from last night's broadcast "The third base coach is really important, because home plate is right after third base, and thats where you score runs." "A bunting play like that will work if you can run, but if you can't run, it probably won't work" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Serak_the_Preparer Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Pretty much what I would expect from a Red Sox fan. Big market fans always like to say salary is insignificant, but money talks. Beckett made a tad shy of $7Mil this season while Francis made $750K. Very rarely does a team win based on their farm system. Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Lugo, Beckett, Schilling, Gagne - all bought from other teams. Holliday, Helton, Atkins, Hawpe, Francis - all from Colorado's farm system. I am from the midwest - and from a smaller-market farm-based team. I am pulling for the Rockies (although I think the Red Sox will win again). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MrRain422 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I know that this is the World Series thread, but I'm going to go ahead and treat it as a general baseball thread. So...hooray! This is fun. A-Rod won a meaningless award that will piss off some A-Rod haters. A-Rod named baseball's most clutchYankees slugger claims inaugural award presented by PepsiBy Bryan Hoch / MLB.com NEW YORK -- The Yankees' year might have been an early loss if not for Alex Rodriguez's heroics. Time and time again, he came through with success in tight situations, helping to lead the club into the postseason. For his efforts in what will be remembered as a remarkable individual season worthy of praise, Rodriguez has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the 2007 Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Year, presented by Pepsi. The officially sanctioned Major League Baseball award recognizes the player who performed his best when the game was on the line, and was revealed during a one-hour special, produced by Major League Baseball Productions, on ESPN on Wednesday. Off to a disappointing 21-29 start despite Rodriguez's exceptional opening act, the Yankees had a large hole to dig out of if they wanted to keep their streak of 13 consecutive postseason appearances intact. The 32-year-old Rodriguez had a major hand in helping them do so, leading all of baseball with 143 runs scored, 54 home runs, 156 RBIs, and a .645 slugging percentage. "It's a year I'm proud of, just because the guys battled hard all year," Rodriguez said recently. "It's been the toughest year trying to get to the postseason, that's for sure. Many people kind of doubted us, and it's weird for us to be able to overcome such adversity. Personally, I feel good about the year." No batter in the Major Leagues hit more home runs to tie the game or put his team ahead, situations in which Rodriguez went deep 22 times. Philadelphia's Ryan Howard and Houston's Lance Berkman tied Rodriguez in that category. Rodriguez's success in the late innings certainly helped his case, showing a great improvement over his performances in 2006. Rodriguez batted .463 (19-for-41) with eight home runs and 21 RBIs in the ninth innings of games this year, compared with .143 (5-for-35) with three home runs and five RBIs last season. "I realized that I'm going to let my baseball do the talking," Rodriguez said. One of Rodriguez's most memorable moments -- and a tell-tale sign that this year had earmarks of being different for him -- came April 7, during the Yankees' first homestand, as A-Rod stepped in against Baltimore reliever Chris Ray. Having already hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, Rodriguez belted an offering into the black beyond center field for a game-winning, walk-off grand slam, lifting the Yankees to a 10-7 victory and playing out a stretch in which he hit six home runs and collected 15 RBIs in the first seven games of the season. "It felt awesome," Rodriguez said then. "I was so excited, I felt like a fool running around the bases, like it was Little League. I just remember I almost knocked [coach Larry] Bowa over at third. I saw the fans rocking behind him. That was kind of cool. "You relish it. As an athlete, you always want to be in that opportunity." One of Rodriguez's most dramatic moments also came in the game's most heated rivalry, where he has had trouble in recent years. With the Yankees down to their final strike of the ninth inning June 3 at Boston, Rodriguez turned on a 95 mph Jonathan Papelbon fastball and drilled it high through the raindrops into the Fenway Park night, helping the Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Red Sox and two out of three games at Boston. "I was just trying to not to do too much," Rodriguez said then. "With two strikes, that's the last thing you're trying to do, to hit a home run. It's always a tough at-bat [against Papelbon]. He has so many ways of getting you out. The guy's a great competitor. Just to be able to win that game and then have Mo [Mariano Rivera] close the door was great." With the Yankees driving toward a Wild Card spot and an eventual Division Series matchup with the Cleveland Indians, Rodriguez found another gear. He drove in 111 runs in his final 105 games of the season, averaging one RBI every 3.7 at-bats over the course of the whole campaign -- leading the big leagues with that ratio. "I think this whole year was just an amazing thing that he did," outfielder Johnny Damon said. "He came in and showed everyone why he is the best player in the game." When the Yankees needed a boost at home during the regular season, too, Rodriguez was there often. With 26 home runs in the Bronx, Rodriguez equaled his own single-season record -- set during his 2005 AL MVP campaign -- for homers hit by a right-handed batter at Yankee Stadium. "Definitely, he helped us a lot," second baseman Robinson Cano said. "He helped so much, I can't tell you about it, especially when we were struggling in the beginning. He got those walk-off home runs and those comeback games. That's something that you've got to appreciate looking at them now." The 2007 MLB Clutch Performer of the Year Presented by Pepsi winner was selected by the fans from a list of six nominees chosen by a special editorial panel from MLB Advanced Media and Major League Baseball Productions. From Oct. 5 through Oct. 19, Major League Baseball fans voted for the award on pepsiclutch.mlb.com, a site powered by MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and created specifically for the MLB Clutch Performer Platform. To further engage fans in the selection process, Pepsi introduced an online sweepstakes in conjunction with the award. As part of the program, Pepsi, the official soft drink of Major League Baseball, fans were entered to win a trip to the 2008 All-Star Game by voting for the 2007 MLB Clutch Performer of the Year. Previous monthly winners of the MLB Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Month awards include: Rodriguez (April); Ken Griffey Jr. (May); Chone Figgins (June); Aramis Ramirez (July); Andy Pettitte (August); and Alfonso Soriano (September). Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Pretty much what I would expect from a Red Sox fan. Big market fans always like to say salary is insignificant, but money talks. Beckett made a tad shy of $7Mil this season while Francis made $750K. Very rarely does a team win based on their farm system. Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Lugo, Beckett, Schilling, Gagne - all bought from other teams. Holliday, Helton, Atkins, Hawpe, Francis - all from Colorado's farm system. I am from the midwest - and from a smaller-market farm-based team. I am pulling for the Rockies (although I think the Red Sox will win again).Blah blah blah you're gonna make me go all bobbob on you and list the Series champs of the past 20 years with their salaries next to them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MrRain422 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Of course salary is significant, but it's not the be all and end all of success in baseball. Having a ton of money to spend is a huge advantage, but a smaller market team can be competitive if it's smart about how it uses its money. Basically, having a ton of money will make it a whole lot easier to get to the playoffs. Money is why the Yankees are in the playoffs every year, and it's why the Red Sox are in the playoffs almost every year. But once the playoffs begin, anything can happen. The worst team in the league will beat the best team in the league in a 7 game series from time to time. A well constructed small market team can win easily in the playoffs with the right breaks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caliber66 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 "The third base coach is really important, because home plate is right after third base, and thats where you score runs."I was going to say something about that one when it happened, but I was frankly just too stunned for words. Very rarely does a team win based on their farm system. Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Lugo, Beckett, Schilling, Gagne - all bought from other teams.You say that as if Lugo and Gagne have done a feckin thing. And you're ignoring the fact that Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon, all from the Sox farm system, are a huge reason Boston is in the World Series and up 1-0. Free agency is a big part of baseball now. Ideally, a team will use its homegrown resources in conjunction with free agents to put together a winning team. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PigSooie Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 And, Lowell wasn't exactly bought. He was thrown in on the Beckett deal. The Sox had to take him to get Beckett. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
quarter23cd Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Baltimore Orioles (2007) $ 93,554,808 Sometimes you can't even buy mediocrity. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ction Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Baltimore Orioles (2007) $ 93,554,808 Sometimes you can't even buy mediocrity. At least half of that is for Angelos' security team. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Serak_the_Preparer Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I was going to say something about that one when it happened, but I was frankly just too stunned for words.You say that as if Lugo and Gagne have done a feckin thing. And you're ignoring the fact that Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon, all from the Sox farm system, are a huge reason Boston is in the World Series and up 1-0. Free agency is a big part of baseball now. Ideally, a team will use its homegrown resources in conjunction with free agents to put together a winning team. How did Papelbon help them win last night? He didn't even pitch. Gagne did. I will admit that Youkilis killed last night. Pedroia had a dong and that was it. It was a solo dong and while it did set the tone for the game, it did not win the game. Ortiz and Ramirez went a combined 6-9 with 4 RBI and 5 runs scored. There was your nail. And I never said that the highest salary team wins. Just that when they lose they should wonder where the money went. I know small market teams can win, and I LOVE when they do. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caliber66 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 How did Papelbon help them win last night? He didn't even pitch. Gagne did. I will admit that Youkilis killed last night. Pedroia had a dong and that was it. It was a solo dong and while it did set the tone for the game, it did not win the game. Ortiz and Ramirez went a combined 6-9 with 4 RBI and 5 runs scored. There was your nail.Oh, I forgot that they just started the season yesterday. The last three games of the ALCS, when the Red Sox were facing elimination, Pedrioa and Youkilis were a combined .577 BA with something like 18 home runs and 47 RBI (the BA is correct, the other two are estimates). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 And I never said that the highest salary team wins. Just that when they lose they should wonder where the money went.Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton? Really, though, the Rockies have brought a bunch of great players up through their Farm system. This is the key to where they are right now. The Sox are notorious for doing the same. Of course, the willingness to spend freely on free agaents doesn't hurt, either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tongue-tied Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 You say that as if Lugo and Gagne have done a feckin thing. Lugo can bunt and he can run, which is pretty important when you bunt. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Serak_the_Preparer Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Oh, I forgot that they just started the season yesterday. Oops - yeah, I didn't read your complete statement! And I totally agree that Youkilis is a beast. As for rookie middle infielders, I'll take Tulowinski over Pedroia any day. And for my next controversial statement, I believe Ryan Braun deserves the NL ROY. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Serak_the_Preparer Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 You say that as if Lugo and Gagne have done a feckin thing. No, I say that because their combined salary is $14.25 Million this season. It sucks that they aren't worth the money... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MrRain422 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Lugo can bunt and he can run, which is pretty important when you bunt. And bunting is pretty important when you're terrible at hitting. I'm just saying. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Edie Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Rockies fans: don't despair. In 1984 the Cubs won the first playoff game by 11 runs or something and then lost the series -- and there have been many others who have suffered the same fate. just sayin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 True. I'm not overconfident that the Sox will win. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Edie Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 And I think the Rsox won the first game over the indians by a lot, no? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Stewart Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 And I think the Rsox won the first game over the indians by a lot, no?Settle down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.