Should've post a pic of fat bastard Eric Gregg. He really won the game for 'em.

Rest in piss.

Giants to get a rent-a-Beltran? Hmm. Having a great year, but also prone to phone it in. Plus giving up a top prospect? We'll see.

Am I the only one having trouble respecting a no-hitter if the pitcher gave up a run on a wild pitch?

Andy Hawkins wishes he still had a four (!) run no-hitter.

Why does MLB hate the Yankees!?

(This one's for Twilight Kid & Billy G.)

I don't support "worst call ever" either, but considering: 1. Both teams are fighting for the post season where one game could be the difference between making it or not--particulalry the Pirates and 2. he was called safe BEFORE he hit the plate and 3. It really seems like the ump was just looking for any excuse to get out of there and hit the buffet.

It's just a mixture of really bad that is going to give Selig a headache for all of 5 minutes before he decides to ignore it.

i don't understand what's wrong with this. is it possible that the wild pitch could have been scored a hit?

Where's the phoning it in part coming from? I know he's been injured but i've never heard the phoning it in part before.

wha?

Apparently Hideki Irabu committed seppuku.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/ ... ed-in-u-s/

Seems like he doesn't always play to his potential. I can understand how a combination of playing for the Mets plus some injuries may affect a person, though. Sure seemed to turn it on this year ahead of a contact year.

Well, he did have knee surgery this off-season against the Mets team doctors wishes. Has said it's made a big difference.

WAR when he's played 140+ games in a season by year

Royals
4.4
5.4
5.6
6.8
Royals & Astros
6.6
Mets
2.7
7.9
5.5
7.6

in 98 games this year 4.0

seems fairly consistent when he doesn't miss extended time...doubt contract year has anything to do with it.

also this

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/13/yankees-phillies-astros-business-sports-bloomberg-baseball.html

Beltran's always been a really good player when healthy. That's certainly true. If you recall though, his last free agency followed the monster second half he had after being acquired by the Astros. Beltran had never hit 30 HR in a season before and then hit 23 in a little over a half a season for the Astros and another 8 in two playoff series in which he OPS'ed over 1.500. His first season following signing with the Mets was a little disappointing. He's again turning in a great year as he approaches free agency. Small sample sizes, injuries, blah blah blah...it's all true but while I wouldn't say he's a slacker that phones it in ever I can see why Rogneeb would think he has an extra gear that he turns on as he approaches free agency.

that time with the Astros was insane. i hope he can repliate it.

Well the NL has weaker pitching and Minute Maid is more HR friendly than Kauffman Stadium (9th vs. 29 in MLB park factors for HR's in 2004). also

from Forbes article mentioned above:


Also his best season ever was the second year of his new contract. 7.9 war, highest hr total of career, .412 wOBA.


I just don't think the perception holds up to the reality. I do understand the perception.

Man, Jiminez to CLE. Who woulda thought?

Any Rockies fans here. What do you think about it?

Not relevant to 2011, but still interesting if yr a baseball geek:

Is Tigers' Legend Hank Greenberg Owed An RBI From 1937?

I haven't heard from my Denver friends about this yet, but fan reaction in the press is mixed.

As a Cleveland fan, I hope the change in scenery is good for him. Coors Field is harsh for anyone who relies on pitch movement. Antonetti is expecting the 2010 model for the next few years. I'm not so sure.

Hopefully he's healthy. Reportedly, the Yankees were interested until the Rockies said they couldn't examine his shoulder.

Since I posted this about 4+ weeks ago, Uggla has been on one of the hottest streaks in baseball. He's absolutely killing it.

The tragedy is that the Braves continue to struggle with teams they should beat and have lost 3 in a row. The wild card is now down to a 1.5 games. Not going to panic.......yet. Brian McCann and Nate McClouth return next week and Freddie Freeman has heated up. The Michael Bourn pick up could be HUGE and one of the most overlooked addition of the trade deadline.

My big concerns are that Derek Lowe continues to flounder. This is the time of year when he normally heats up. Also, Jason Heyward has only shown flashes of his rookie year greatness so far. He NEEDS to be better.

Things are heating up though. Pennant races are all over the place.

This is an interesting article, but for the most part I don't agree with recalculating these old stats. The only records to go on were box scores in newspapers, and as this article points out, they were rife with errors and omissions. The existing stats are probably inaccurate, but guessing what really happened 70 years ago isn't going to make things any more accurate, IMO. Plus, these old statistics and legends are part of the history of the game and should be left alone, mistakes and all.

I dunno that its going to take away, or gain anything for the game per se--but I do realize that baseball is a very statistical crazy game. Those SABR guys are amazing at what they do. Also, they aren't really guessing at what went on when there is evidence that it occurred through newspaper sources of the time.

If you guys aren't reading http://www.baseballcardbust.com, yr really missing out. Hilarious baseball card relics. We can now look back on some of these designs, gimmicks and laugh at how ridiculous they were. Or how incredibly odd some of the portraits were.

They were kicking the tires on him but they weren't that enamored with him and thought the asking price for him was too steep. Asking for the MRI before agreeing to a package of players was probably unreasonable and I doubt that they would have gotten serious even if they had been granted the MRI they requested and it came back clean. It wasn't really the biggest sticking point.

That's not to say that Cleveland overpaid. A lot of Ubaldo's trade value was based on his favorable contract and the Yankees aren't inclined to value that the same way a small market team would. Cleveland did get a physical before the trade became official as is customary so they must have been satisfied with his health.

Still it's a risky move. Ubaldo's velocity is down and logging all those innings at high altitude can take a lot out of a pitcher. Verducci wrote an article about how all the guys who pitched as many innings as Ubaldo has in Colorado were done soon afterward. That said, it's a little unfair because none of them were close to being in Ubaldo's class.