Play Ball! the 2013 Baseball Thread

[Volourn]

It's their right. Their bodies. Oh yeah, I forgot, only women have those rights. Men don't. If someone wants use drugs, by all means, let them. Just like if someone wants to smoke recreational 'illegal' drugs go ahead. if someone wants to bunjy jump, let them. if someone wants to d rive in circle at 200miles per hour, let them. if someone wants to tease bulls and have them chase them let them. If someone wants to ahve sex with no condoms let them. I don't care what people choose to do if it only effects them.

 

Why the need to control other people? I cna't believe in 2013 people believe in slavery and controlling other people.

[babaganoosh13]

Then it gets to the point where pretty much the only way to be successful is to take PED's, and it creates a culture of it (EDIT: moreso than there is now.)

 

I like the idea of seperate steroid leagues/olympics instead.

Edited July 23, 2013 by babaganoosh13

[Volourn]

Except steroids doesn't make one successful. That's a silly myth. Unless you think all the crappy baseball players that suck suck simply because they don't take steroids which is simply a lie,

[Hurlshort]

Except steroids doesn't make one successful. That's a silly myth. Unless you think all the crappy baseball players that suck suck simply because they don't take steroids which is simply a lie,

 

No one is saying steroids will make a crappy player great.  That isn't how they work.  You still need the hand eye coordination, the discipline, and everything else.

 

Barry Bonds is one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game.  He didn't need steroids for that.  He knew the strike zone better than every hitter of his time.  But steroids allowed him to strong arm more balls over the fence.  Does he break the homerun record without them?  The evidence of his early seasons says no.  The sad part is Barry Bonds did them because he was watching Sammy Sosa and Mark Maguire, players he felt he was far better than, getting all the attention in the homerun race. 

 

When a player does performance enhancing drugs, they are cheating, and the people who suffer the most are the other players.  They are the ones playing against someone who is cheating.  Every player in the majors is immensely talented, you don't get there unless that is true.  So when two players go against each other, and one has used chemicals illegally to give them an edge, I don't understand how you support that.

 

You are basically telling every player that they have to take PED's to compete in the big leagues.

[Hurlshort]

Here is a quote from last year's NL MVP winner Buster Posey about Ryan Braun:

 

 

 

“It’s definitely bittersweet because for me personally, I like to think everybody playing the game is playing it clean. I really do. I do think the majority of major-league players are clean. That’s the bitter part. The sweet part is, I feel very fortunate to be playing at a time when Major League Baseball is making such a concerted effort to clean the game up. I think that’s the general consensus. Everybody wants a level playing field.”

 

So this really is about the players.  The owners would probably love to let these guys juice it up, jeopardize their personal health for bigger numbers and all that.  

[Volourn]

Then players need to stop eating pain killers like theya re candy, taking shots to play through pain, and all the other so called 'legal' drugs and other stuff they do.  Buster Posey is a crybaby. Is he taking steroids? Obviously, since he was MVP, he must be since the belief is that only steroids make players great so no way does he win MVP without taking them right?

 

L0L Does. not. compute.

[Hurlshort]

Why are you making stuff up Volo? You know what, I dont think you really support PEDs, I think.you are just arguing for the sake of arguing. I will stop now, you got me.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Hurlshot

[Volourn]

*muted*

Edited July 23, 2013 by Volourn

[Guard Dog]

Here is why this Braun business matters. He won the MVP a few years ago and he was cheating. Matt Kemp didn't and he wasn't.

[Volourn]

*yawn*

[Keyrock]

Big Papi's meltdown yesterday was pretty fantastic:

 

 

My favorite part was Laser Show ducking for cover then getting in Papi's face afterward for almost unintentionally murdering him with a bat.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Keyrock

[Leferd]

To be fair...the pitch was a ball.

[Keyrock]

To be fair...the pitch was a ball.

I agree, it was a bogus as **** call.  It may or may not have been inside, but regardless, umpires never call that high strike, not that high anyway.  With that said, he may have overreacted just a tad.

[Leferd]

Lols. Ya think?

 

Could almost go up there with George Brett's pine tar incident. We'll see if it has enough legs.

[Keyrock]

My favorite incident is still Don Zimmerman charging Pedro and Pedro just tossing him to the ground.  That was insanely hilarious.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2013 by Keyrock

[Leferd]

That was classic. And if memory serves, it actually looked like Pedro was trying his best to not hurt Zimmerman. Haha!

[Keyrock]

I'll tell you what, if it means that he's going to go 4 for 4 with a dinger the following day, Papi should smash up a phone every game.

[Guard Dog]

Apparently Rangers pitcher Tanner Scheppers was attacked and beat up on the street of Cleveland. I'd say those were some die-hard Indian fans but in all likelihood they were just thugs who had no idea who he was. Or he was flirting with someone's wife and that was him being "put on notice"

 

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2013/07/27/rangers-scheppers-attacked-on-walk-in-cleveland/

[Volourn]

"Or he was flirting with someone's wife and that was him being "put on notice"

 

Why are you spreading such nonsense? There's nothi8ng like that in the article yet you post such garbage. That's how rumours start.

[Guard Dog]

"Or he was flirting with someone's wife and that was him being "put on notice"

 

Why are you spreading such nonsense? There's nothi8ng like that in the article yet you post such garbage. That's how rumours start.

When, exactly, did you lose your sense of humor Volo? It's been so many years ago I've forgotten myself.

[kgambit]

Apparently Rangers pitcher Tanner Scheppers was attacked and beat up on the street of Cleveland. I'd say those were some die-hard Indian fans but in all likelihood they were just thugs who had no idea who he was. Or he was flirting with someone's wife and that was him being "put on notice"

 

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2013/07/27/rangers-scheppers-attacked-on-walk-in-cleveland/

 

It seems he wasn't on the street at all.  Reportedly, Scheppers, reliever Joe Nathan and catcher A.J. Pierzynski were all at Panini’s Bar in downtown Cleveland when Scheppers instigated the fight around 2:30 a.m., according to the Dallas Morning News. 

 

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/28/witness-says-tanner-scheppers-lost-a-bar-fight/

 

Btw, Scheppers is 6'4" and 220# and he got whipped .....  lol

 

 

“When you get in a fight with a drunk you don’t hit him with your pitching hand. God, I can’t keep giving you these free lessons so quit screwing around and help me up.”

Edited July 30, 2013 by kgambit

[Volourn]

That witness is drunk. he says he 'lost a bar fight' but the claim is Scheppers 'verbally provoked' it. That sounds like he and othetr dudes were yelling at eahc other and someone lost their temper and threw, guess what a SUCKER punch. That's not a bar fight. The 'witness' sounds like he has some sort of issue and is making stuff up randomly. He had '10 ten chances to walk away'. Why make up such a random number? Stick with FACTS. And, we all knows cops a) weren't there so they aren't witnesses, b) are untrustworthy sicne they have atendency to shoot and not ask questions later and c) if Scheppers was truly at fault they'd have arrested him on the spot not escort him and posse back to the hotel, and d) the police are too lazy to even TRY to do their job according to the article. LMAO

 

"it's too hard, WAAAAAAAAAAAA!" - random Cleveland copper.

 

I don't know who Scheppers is but this whole thing is bull.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Volourn

[Guard Dog]

Things were pretty quiet at the trade deadline. Except for the Peavy deal not much happened.

[LadyCrimson]

Dang, I missed the Papi blowup...Lucky for me I have mlb.tv so I can go back and watch the inning.

 

...I need to get back to watching the games more often again. I've gotten used to not setting aside 3 hours per day almost every day at almost the same time every day to watch them, and just reading some of the news blurbs now and then (the latter is what I did before mlb.tv was available, since I live in CA and not many Red Sox games are broadcast here....). Watching almost every reg. season game is such a time-commitment tho.

[Keyrock]

EPIC comeback win for the Sawx tonight!  They were down 7 to 1 entering the 8th and 7 to 2 entering the 9th, then scored 6 times in the bottom of the 9th to take the game and sweep the series.  Had they lost they would still be in a virtual tie for first, with the win they're up by 1. The 1 game swing isn't so much important, what is is the fact that this is the kind of things that teams of destiny do.  Not saying call them the champs, there's a lot of season left, but that kind of comeback is generally indicative of a team that's going deep.

 

On the "trade deadline" front, the Peavy trade was definitely good for the Sawx.  If you look simply at the numbers it looks like a bad deal for the Sawx as Iglesias was batting .330 at the time of the trade.  What the numbers don't tell is that Iglesias is a lifetime .240 batter in AAA and got off to an insanely hot and completely unsustainable start (tons of infield hits, freak bloop hits, etc.).  Since that hot start he's hit about .200 for the last month.  He's a really good defensive shortstop, but no way is he a .330 hitter over the course of a season.  He's not even a .300 or .280 hitter.  Best case scenario for Iglesias is about .265 or .270 with 5 HR and maybe 50 RBI over the course of a season.  The Sawx sold high on him and got a solid pitcher in Peavy who, while he's not 2007 Peavy, nor will he ever be again, can still be a solid #2 or #3.  This shores up a battered pitching staff and once Buchholz comes back (whenever that is) you're looking at a rotation of Buchholz, Lester, Peavy, Lackey, and Dempster or Doubront.  You can win a title with that rotation.  Also, back to Iglesias, the Sawx have better prospects at both SS and 3rd ready to come up or come back (Xander Bogaerts, Will Middlebrooks).

Edited August 2, 2013 by Keyrock