MLB 2011

[Sjofn]

My goodness, the Giants are like ... on a winning streak. Even though they still can't hit the fucking ball. Exciting!

[WayAbvPar]

Have I mentioned that BRANDON LEAGUE FUCKING SUCKS A GIANT BAG OF PUS-FILLED SHIT COATED DEMON COCKS IN HELL yet?

[Paelos]

Have I mentioned that BRANDON LEAGUE FUCKING SUCKS A GIANT BAG OF PUS-FILLED SHIT COATED DEMON COCKS IN HELL yet?

I'm going to add Scott Linebrink to that list as well.

[Sjofn]

SORRY I SAID ANYTHING GIANTS, JEEZ

[Paelos]

SORRY I SAID ANYTHING GIANTS, JEEZ

YOU GOT OWNED BY THE CUBS???

[Ingmar]

Our offense is a great thing for any pitcher who has been having a bad streak. You're welcome, Ryan Dempster!

[Sjofn]

SORRY I SAID ANYTHING GIANTS, JEEZ

YOU GOT OWNED BY THE CUBS???

I want to give Bumgarner the biggest damn hug sometimes.

And hey, four runs for the Giants is like. A lot!

[Paelos]

Braves continue to be retarded with runners in scoring position.

[Sjofn]

The Giants fans so don't want to hear it.

[HaemishM]

Holy shit, 11 RUNS? That won't last.

[Sjofn]

I sure as fuck hope not. 

[01101010]

Go Tribe!

[Paelos]

I think we've had more rainouts this season so far than we've had all season last year.

Also, Braves took the series against the Phillies! It makes it all the most frustrating that we can't beat the Nationals.

[WayAbvPar]

Go Tribe!

Mother nature screwed you guys out of two more wins this weekend. Only way to keep the Mariners from blowing a game is not to play it.

[Sjofn]

Brain Wilson has the most wins of the Giants pitchers now. 

[ghost]

Brain Wilson

[Paelos]

Braves trips out West make me stabby when they go to extras and lose. It's 1AM and I'm pissed at that point.

[ghost]

I don't watch or listen to baseball past 9PM.

[JWIV]

Fucking Gonzo and this fucking bullpen.  Orioles are killing me right now.

[Paelos]

I don't watch or listen to baseball past 9PM.

NOT A REAL FAN! 

[Muffled]

Baseball is supposed to be a day sport, they shouldn't be fucking playing that late any way!   

[Paelos]

It's the middle of May now, so let's continue with our look at the AL. Once again I'll go West to East to discuss how the American League is going to shape up in 2011:

THE AL WEST

Texas - Yep, no shocker that the last year's AL champ is in the lead in the West. The shocker is that they aren't really playing that well. A 23-21 record is nothing to write home about, but for some reason it's good enough to lead the division so far. The Rangers are good with the stick: 5th in average, 3rd in runs, 2nd in homers, 3rd in slugging, blah blah blah. They are doing well in the AL stats. The Rangers' ability to win will not suffer because they aren't scoring runs. However...the pitching staff is average. Ogando and Feliz are incredible, Wilson is fine, Lewis is ok, and Harrison and Holland are pretty awful. I'd like to see them be more consistent between starters before giving them the absolute assured victory in the division.

Oakland - The fuck? Oakland is in second? Let me check that again. Yep, it checks out. Unreal. I figured last year was a fluke with them finishing second at 81-81. Maybe not. Anyway, why are they here? In a word, pitching. Check that, "best in the MLB" pitching. That's right, the best pitching staff in the majors isn't the Phillies or the Braves or the Giants, it's Oakland. Want to know the REALLY hilarious part? The starters for Oakland make a combined $3.1M a year. Philly pays their starting rotation $67M a year. Go figure. So why isn't Oakland winning more? Oh right, you need to score runs. Oakland is 12th in average and runs scored in the AL. I don't care how good your pitching is, you'll never win a division pulling those numbers.

Angels - Man, Angels. I remember when winning the West was a forgone conclusion for you guys. What happened? 2007, 2008, 2009, it was all you! Well for starters, being 11th in runs scored doesn't help matters. The Angels who used to club the the ball out of the park at a regular rate, are now struggling to hit a homer 2 of every 3 games. That's probably due to the second "Year of the Pitcher" we're seeing in baseball right? It has absolutely nothing to do with the crackdown on steroids. Zero. In unrelated news, ESPN baseball pundits are sponsoring a new shampoo that easily removes sand from your hair. At least your team is striking out the most in the AL. Luckily for the Angels, their pitching is also quite good. They are in the top 5 in ERA, but the problem is their closer. With 9 saves in 18 opps, fans start clawing at their eyeballs when the ninth inning rolls around. The closer issue goes back to spring training when they couldn't decide, and it hasn't improved. Until they sort that out, the Angels aren't a contender in the division.

Seattle - I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that you're almost .500 at home. The bad news is that your hitting also doubles as air conditioning for the stadium. Yep, dead last in the AL in average, 2nd to last in runs, 5th most strikeouts. It's a windmill out there. Don Quixote is showing up mid-season. Once again, I get to play my favorite game "Which pitcher is batting better than your team???" Today, it's...Jorge de la Rosa from the Colorado Rockies with a .238 average. Congrats Jorge! If that pitching thing ever goes south, you could DH for the Mariners, since he's sporting a robust .226 this season. Seriously Mariners fans, how have you not jumped off the Space Needle yet with this team in town? At least your pitchers can keep games remotely close, or this season would go from embarrassing to shameful. Still, you have no chance. Cellar dwelling, ahoy!

Final Standings:
1 - Rangers
2 - Angels
3 - Oakland
4 - Seattle

I think the Angels jump Oakland because the A's low dollar starters can't possibly keep this streak going, and the Angels will eventually start hitting. Even now, they are basically tied for 2nd.

[HaemishM]

I think the Angels are suffering from Yankee syndrome. They buy players too much, and the ones they buy are too old when they give them multi-year contracts. Oakland, OTOH, are doing it right again, developing from within the system. They won't win the division this year, but they are poised to be another perennial division contender when they get some damn offense. I have Gio Gonzalez on my fantasy team and he is a beast, and they are stocked like that 1-5. Their offense is probably a leadoff man and a power guy away from being adequate to contend.

[stu]

For funsies, I did some stat checking and found that 7 of the last 20 teams to appear in the WS have been ranked 11th or worse in runs and AVG. Then I checked Oakland's updated rankings and they are 23rd & 25th in those respective stats. The only team since 2001 to have post-season success with that line is the 2005 Astros who were ranked 24th & 27th in runs and AVG. The team who swept them that year, the White Sox, were ranked 13th & 18th.

I'm more a fan of OBP and the A's are at #26 there. Matt Stairs, where are yoooouuuuuu....

[HaemishM]

Josh Willingham is their main power and RBI guy - with 6 HR and 25 RBI, avg. of .230. If you're lucky, he'll hit .260 this year and drive in 100 runs. I didn't realize how bad their offensive numbers are and they are pretty damn bad. But they are actually doing better than the teams they've played against. Their pitching really is that good.

[Paelos]

Personally I think OBP sucks. It doesn't really translate to success like runs scored.

I think the best way to look at who will be in the finals is to look at the ERA ranking and the AVG ranking, and average the rankings. If you applied that to the numbers, here's how your championship games would look

2010   Texas v. Minnesota - Giants v. Cardinals - 2/4 right
2009   Yankees v. Angels - Dodgers v. Atlanta - 3/4 right
2008   Cubs v. Cards - Boston v. Toronto - 1/4 right

[Muffled]

I think the Angels jump Oakland because the A's low dollar starters can't possibly keep this streak going, and the Angels will eventually start hitting. Even now, they are basically tied for 2nd.

I wouldn't be so sure about the A's staff falling off, they really are that good from what I've seen.  I agree that Anaheim will swing the bat better at some point, but I still think it will be close between them at the end of the season unless one or the other makes some big deal(s) to try to catch my Rangers.

[HaemishM]

I can almost guarantee the A's won't make big deals. Looking at this team, it's not a team built to win this year, but next year. The Angels WILL make some kind of deal by the trading deadline, of course. That's just in their DNA.

[caladein]

So the Angels ran Tim Hudson out of the game (eight runs!).  That's great, except for the part where Tim Hudson is on my fantasy team and his ERA for tonight is like eleventy billion.

[Paelos]

The Braves don't like the West Coast. We suck right now. We're terrible at scoring runs.

[stu]

Personally I think OBP sucks. It doesn't really translate to success like runs scored.

OBP is the highest indicator of a player's ability to score runs, with SLG as the next in line. Afterall, if you are making less outs, you are available to score runs more often.

Thinking back, OPS is probly a better overall indicator because it combines plate discipline with threat. High OBP orders wreak havoc on rotations and bullpens while OPS lineups can completely demoralize them.

[Paelos]

Yeah yeah, money ball, sabermetrics, meh.

I don't buy it.

[Ingmar]

Yeah yeah, money ball, sabermetrics, meh.

I don't buy it.

Aren't you an accountant? 

[caladein]

Thinking back, OPS is probly a better overall indicator because it combines plate discipline with threat. High OBP orders wreak havoc on rotations and bullpens while OPS lineups can completely demoralize them.

For two different stats just mashed together, OPS isn't that bad at expressing how good a batter is at generating runs.  It overvalues power, but if you compare it to wOBA which takes how many runs each kind of hit has been worth over time, it's not far off.

[JWIV]

About to head cross town and do the walk of shame into Camden Yards after the clusterfuck that was last night.   They better be serving up free Bohs to anyone actually showing up today.