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2005 Baseball Season
- Thread starter Sayhey
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Sun Baked said:They'll have to make some improvement over the start they made, since they lost their opening series of the year to the Diamondbacks.
And I can't even remember the last time the Diamondbacks actually won a series.
The funny thing is, the D'backs could be the most improved team in baseball this year and still not sniff the postseason. They have to improve by thirty games to get to .500. I think it will be more like twenty games.
And does anyone else think that the early firing of Bob Brenly was one of the dumbest moves any team did last year? I mean, I think Brenly is moron, so it's not like I'm defending him. But the D'backs were just bad (or worse) the rest of the season. When your team loses 111 games with two different managers, then it clearly wasn't the managers' fault. Seems like they couldn't have done much worse to keep paying Brenly to manage the team!
I thought it was great that the D'Backs honored Ryno the other day, made even more appropriate by Mark Grace pulling him into the infield. Love to see that sort of thing.
I think the Cubs will be ok, but a lot of it rests on Prior and Wood, as you guys have said. The hitting will be there, with a healthy Nomar, Todd Walker, and Ramirez. Wasn't one of their problems last year the lack of situational hitting (ton of HR, but no timely hits)? That should change.
You know what freaked me out? That down and away two-seamer he struck out Nixon with. I haven't seen that from Rivera before.
Right now, I'm not sure what to make of him. It will be interesting to see what kind of success he has over the next few days against the Os - is this just a Sox thing, or something more? The rest of the AL East hitters have seen him only a little less than the Sox, so I wonder whether it's really a mental block on his part or if hitters are adjusting to the cutter through familiarity.
I think the Cubs will be ok, but a lot of it rests on Prior and Wood, as you guys have said. The hitting will be there, with a healthy Nomar, Todd Walker, and Ramirez. Wasn't one of their problems last year the lack of situational hitting (ton of HR, but no timely hits)? That should change.
You know what freaked me out? That down and away two-seamer he struck out Nixon with. I haven't seen that from Rivera before.
Right now, I'm not sure what to make of him. It will be interesting to see what kind of success he has over the next few days against the Os - is this just a Sox thing, or something more? The rest of the AL East hitters have seen him only a little less than the Sox, so I wonder whether it's really a mental block on his part or if hitters are adjusting to the cutter through familiarity.
Don't think it was a front office decision to get rid of Brenly, if you remember Collangelo was backing him fully.aloofman said:
Then Brenly got fired, a new owenership group takes over, and Jerry Collangelo abruptly quits.
So he was most likely a casualty of the political war waged by the new ownership group and their dissatisfaction with the direction of the team.
And after the dust settles, they basically don't make the major front office changes that usually occur after these battles. They liked the talent of the organization, but not the final decisions on how to spend the money.
Sox said:
As Gary Miller pointed out on ESPN.com, it's kind of weird that the D'backs are honoring two guys that are pretty much known for being Cubs. But when your team doesn't have much history yet, you've gotta expand your horizons.
Or.....it could have just been a shameless gimmick to get a bunch of Cub fan transplants -- of which there are many in Arizona -- to buy tickets.
Next week the Lakers are honoring the 20th anniversary of the 1984-85 championship team by having former players show up for a pre-game ceremony. You know, so the fans have a reason to come to a Laker game. And I say that as a Laker fan.
Finishing touches have been added to Fenway. Opening Day for the 2005 season is tomorrow, oldest and smallest ballpark in baseball.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/sports/4356295/detail.html
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/sports/4356295/detail.html
its sort of nice ... as a cubs fan ... i'm out of expectation mode and I'm happy as a fan
1. It doesn't seem like in late innings with defecits we NEED HOMERUNS to get back it seems like theres atleast a little small ball helping us get back in games.
2. The pitching still needs work but I've got my fingers crossed that it will be clicking soon ... we need a closer so badly.
3. Len Kasper and Bob Brenly aren't that great kind dull but I suppose i'll get used to thme.
1. It doesn't seem like in late innings with defecits we NEED HOMERUNS to get back it seems like theres atleast a little small ball helping us get back in games.
2. The pitching still needs work but I've got my fingers crossed that it will be clicking soon ... we need a closer so badly.
3. Len Kasper and Bob Brenly aren't that great kind dull but I suppose i'll get used to thme.
Sun Baked said:You can keep Bob Brenly for awhile (even though he still lives here), but I doubt the fans will let you have Mark Grace and Thom Brennaman back.
What is Mark Grace doin these days? Last I heard He resigned at the same time Brenly was fired.
Bench Coach Robin Yount resigned when Brenly was fired.Koodauw said:
Since last year Mark Grace has been in the television Diamondback's broadcast booth with Thom Brennaman, and fellow castoff Matt Williams is back in the Diamonbacks front office after spending a year on another teams radio show -- but will be doing some Diamondbacks radio and television in addition to being the front office duties.
So we got Mark Grace, Thom Brennaman, Joe Gargiola, Matt Williams doing television duty this year.
Actually quite a few players from the World Series team are back, though not many on the field.
Lacero said:
I think that's true only in a general sense. Winning teams have chemistry because they're winning teams. Nobody touts the togetherness of the Milwaukee Brewers, no matter how much the players might like each other.
The Red Sox had the same core of players in 2003 and only missed the World Series because they couldn't hold the lead in Game 7 of the ALCS. That series was so close that any number of random events could have won it for Boston. Would they have that "chemistry" if things had gone their way and they'd won the championship in 2003? Can it really be all about the chemistry when Boston has the second-highest payroll in baseball?
I think a better word for it is "alchemy". It's more like a combination of a well-designed team, talent, performance and luck, compared to the combination that the opposition has. I say this not to diminish the Red Sox in any way, just to say that somebody has to win the title every year and the team's chemistry seems more obvious after the fact.
I watched this firsthand when the Dodgers won in 1988. In hindsight they really had no business making it to the World Series, much less winning it, but they were the better team during that last month or so. Gibson won the NL MVP with less than 30 homers, a sub-.300 batting average, and less than 100 RBIs, something that would probably never happen now. They had a lot of guys who were better than average, but except for Gibson and Hershiser, nobody really impressed you. Now the former players can talk about their team chemistry and how something "magical" happened, etc. But it's easy to say that now. The 1991 Dodgers had similar interlocking pieces, but they came in second to the Braves, so none of the players or media will ever talk about them like that. Guess they didn't have enough "chemistry".
MacNut said:The whole day was wrong.
Yesterday was the most profoundly well-orchestrated, most emotionally moving, most poignant ring ceremony in the history of civilized athletics, perhaps only to be rivaled by a future event at Wrigley Field. It highlighted the connection between generations of fans and players, the hallmark of what it means to be a member of Red Sox Nation. No matter what happens, no matter how many more championships the Yankees purchase, no matter how many ticker-tape parades down Broadway you witness, no matter how many statues you erect or numbers you retire or players you overpay, in your sporting life you will never ever not EVER be as happy as Red Sox fans were yesterday, and have been since October 27th, 2004.
Having DLowe and Dave Roberts there in uniform was not only appropriate, but downright moving. Knowing that the fans, the city, the region, the nation, the world will never forget what they did last year, man, why would anyone want to deny a player that opportunity? Roberts ran around bowing and hugging everyone in sight, the happiest moment in a life of happy moments. Derek got a much deserved boistrous ovation from the crowd and tipped his cap, something not even the great Ted Williams ever did. They wore the uniforms because the ceremony was all about Last Year (instead, finally, about Next Year), and Last Year they wore the home whites.
Roberts and Lowe had the blessings of their organizations to come back for the ceremony, but the Cubs and Mets had games to play, so Pedro and Nomar were unfortunately absent from the proceedings. Those with commitments fulfilled them, and those who were able to participate yesterday did so with aplomb and reverence. I see no problem with that.
Welcome to the New Normal. Enjoy the complimentary Sour Grapes.
well yeah for some reason I thought Lowe was playing in a series on the east coast this week or I thought I hear that but upon further research that is simply not true. I was saying that players SHOULD NOT take a day off for it IE: Nomar and Pedro, but since the dodgers had the day off why not go? I think the controversy over the jerseys is too much ... what about O-Dawg? Pokey Reese? That whole pen thats scattered now? Minkewieiewireireieticz.... oh wait he doesn't need that memory he's the proud owner of that ball.aloofman said: