The baby Rox are still hanging around — 4 games back in both the division and in the wild card after another crucial comeback win tonight.
Who’da thunk it?
Ahem.
Search
Archive Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
Archives
Categories
- A Government That Can Force You to Buy Health Insurance Can Make You Do Anything (3)
- a protein wisdom philosophy primer (3)
- academics (25)
- armadillo (8)
- Friday Fiction 100 Word Challenge (51)
- from the protein wisdom conceptual series (136)
- identity politics (33)
- If Republicans Win the Senate in 2014 (1)
- in which celebraties comment on current events (67)
- language / intentionalism (88)
- legal (6)
- My brief conversations with inanimate objects (130)
- NSA / FISA (46)
- One Term to Serve, the 2012 Revival (6)
- Overheard in a Fallujah bunker (27)
- Poems from 196x, Revised by the Ghost of Richard Brauti (27)
- protein wisdom's DNC coverage (30)
- protein wisdom's RNC coverage (29)
- protein wisdom: the movie Lists (20)
- Provocateurism (16)
- real-time empirical observations (51)
- red pills found behind the sofa cushions (42)
- Scenes from my driveway (61)
- Talking back to 80s music (41)
- The Martha Stewart Chronicles (58)
- The protein wisdom interviews (10)
- The protein wisdom original poems (142)
- Uncategorized (20,046)
- Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, abridged (34)
Recent Comments
- In The Mailbox: 02.28.23 (Afternoon Edition) : The Other McCain on Hey, longtime pw readers…
- In The Mailbox: 12.23.22 : The Other McCain on Patrick J. Carroll truly IS a sad, embittered psychopath
- Danger on Patrick J. Carroll might be a psychopath
- Danger on Patrick J. Carroll might be a psychopath
- In The Mailbox: 07.18.22 : The Other McCain on Patrick J. Carroll might be a psychopath
Of course, I’ve likely just jinxed them all to hell.
Even with the injuries to their pitching staff (3/5 of the starting rotation gone for the season), they lead the NL in ERA after the all-star break. If they could situationally hit, they’d have won another 5-10 games.
But tonight they came back from 5-1 to win in walkoff fashion – and are now tied with the Phils for the NL lead in come from behind wins.
Could get interesting down the stretch. Or they could fold from a bullpen that will be worn ragged by the end of September (6 scoreless innings tonight).
My Cardinals, the reigning World Series Champions, are kind of the same way. Despite a season that could be described as average, at best, as a result of being plagued by bad luck and injuries, they have still managed to keep themselves within a couple games of the Division title. With the Cubs and the Brewers there, history suggests that the Scrubs and the Brew Crew will take a dive any time now.
Watching the Braves sink slowly, slowly, slowly. Sinking feeling and only the wild card.
I’m just going to blockquote this from Jeff’s link cause it’s probably just me but that’s the most baseball I’ve ever read ever.
The first parenthetical mystifies me, but that’s not to say it doesn’t make perfect sense.
Of course, I’ve likely just jinxed them all to hell.
You mean like the three-game tailspin the Phils went into after you told me they looked unbeatable after the Mets series? Hmmmmm?
Uh-oh. Italics alert!!
Bored with the dishwasher search?
Okay. One question…do you think the Rox have the pitching is takes to get to the playoffs? The way i see it, the last few weeks of the regular season are a playoff type of situation where you must win clutch games, and as the cliche goes…pitching wins.
Nah. The Phightin’s are amused by jinxes. They manufacture their own bad luck – for instance, moving Brett Myers to the bullpen. With Garcia done (what a great signing he was), Moyer showing his age, & Hamels dinged up, that leaves zero quality starters in the rotation. I don’t trust Kendrick: a starter who strikes out 3 men per game is living on the edge.
I’m still not giving up. This team scores runs by the metric assload. If Burrell gets hot again, we could see 7-8 runs a game. Even Adam Eaton can win with that kind of support.
Except for A-Rod getting caught banging yet another steroidal chick-dude, this has been the least interesting baseball season ever.
There are no good teams.
F everybody.
1. You mean like the three-game tailspin the Phils went into after you told me they looked unbeatable after the Mets series? Hmmmmm?
“We’re the team to beat.” — Jimmy Rollins. Heh.
2. Jeff, my main concern with the Rockies is Troy Tulowitzki, who’s the shortstop on my fantasy team. If you wouldn’t mind asking him to pick up the pace a little, I’d be truly grateful.
Starting pitching, no. But what Hurdle did last night was use some of those September call-ups to eat up innings once his 21-year old starter up from AA got in trouble. So he might be able to use a committee approach for a couple of those rotation spots and limp through September. The bullpen for the Rockies, as much as they drive me crazy at times, has been very good.
Francis is solid when he’s on his game. How many people in the National League realize the Rockies have a guy who’s 15-6? Fogg is Fogg. He keeps you in games, and with the offense the Rockies have, that’s good enough most days. It remains to be seen how Jimenez handles the pressure of a pennant race. But his stuff is some of the best in the NL. Morales has talent, but he is raw. You can’t hang curveballs to major league hitters, and you can’t keep cutting your fastball inside to right handed hitters. 95 mph or not, they’ll open up on it unless you can pitch to the outside corner, as well.
Hell, if you’ve got Tulo on your fantasy team, he was likely one of the steals of the year.
Braun of Milwaukee is putting up great offensive numbers hitting in front of Fielder, but for my money, Tulowitzki is the NL Rookie of the Year. He’s hitting in the .290s, leading NL rookies in runs, hits, rbi, and he’s played just about every day at shortstop. His 19 homers have tied the NL record for home runs by a rookie shortstop (with Ernie Banks), and he’s leading all MAJOR LEAGUE shortstops in nearly every defensive category.
Braun, on the other hand, has a fielding percentage below .900 — unheard of for a major leaguer.
Don’t get me wrong: Braun is going to be a two way stud sometime soon. But so is Tulowitzki — and he’s been one of the best late game clutch hitters in the majors this year. Playing shortstop as a rookie on a team in the pennant chase is much more demanding (and important) than manning the hot corner and hitting fastballs pitchers are hoping to keep away from Prince Fielder.
Too, it should be noted that Tulo’s 75 RBI are mostly out of the 7 spot in the lineup — though he’s hit second and sixth on occasion, as well.
It’s conceivable (though unlikely) that both he and Helton (who has been on base something like 20 out of his last 31 plate appearances) could get RBI hot down the stretch, giving the Rockies 5 regulars with 90 RBI or more.
Holliday is second in the league to Ryan Howard, and Atkins and Hawpe are about 13 back, with 95 each right now. Tulo has 75, and Helton, 71.
15-6 is just solid ? That is an excellent record in the NL. Last year, those numbers, as they stand, would have placed him as a strong contender for the CY Young.
Sorry. Ain’t nobody takin’ my Pads down!
Jinx!!!!! (As in, I just cast my own on the Padres)
Cubs fans … Does it hurt more to be mathematically elminated before the All-Star break, or is it more painful when they choke in September?
I would think that lulling you into thinking that this might actually be the year would make it more painful when they get around to shitting on themselves down the stretch.
Down 5-3 in the 9th last night, with the Twins ace reliever on the mound, the Tribe scored 2 to tie, and 2 more in the 11th to win. That made them 9-1 in the last 10 and now 7 games up on the Tigers.
Speaking as a BoSox fan dating a Cubs fan, it’s expected. It doesn’t hurt, because the really cynical ones know it’s just a matter of time. Doesn’t matter how long they’re on top, they’re bound to finish just short.
Yup. Jinxed ’em.