Two classic A-Rod moments from the last 48 hours: The crushing DP with the bases loaded on Sunday night at Shea, followed by the homer in the ninth with the Yanks down by eight runs at Fenway. He's the best. Three separate readers e-mailed me to tell me they won money on the DP, including San Diego's Brad Garey: "I made a $5 bet with my father, father-in-law, and brother-in-law that A-Rod would ground out in an inning-ending double play. They took the bet and, of course, I am now $15 richer." Ladies and gentleman, your 2005 AL MVP!
The above paragraph was written by Bill Simmons of espn.com. I couldn't have said it better myself.
w/e....there's no denying he's a great ball-player, and it's funny, because no matter what he does, people hate on him, when he plays bad, everyone jumps on his back and says what a bum he is, and what a waste of money, and even when he plays his ass off and wins AL MVP, people still ahte on him and say things like "he choked in the playoffs, blah blah blah", while it's true he didn't play too well last playoffs against Anahiem, last time I checked, Baseball's a team game, you win as a team, and you lose as a team...
the funny thing is that most of the A-Rod haters are fans of shitty teams that only wish they had a player of his caliber on their roster.
Baseball sucks!!! watch Lost!
go Jays go
NMAS, it sounds as though you were channeling our dear friend, The Darkest Canuck with that post. :lol:
Personally, I couldn't be happier with the state of the game. The Sox are a game up on the Yankees and there's a trip to Fenway with my beloved (and my family) in the works. Yes indeedy, I loves me some baseball!
-Jenna
The Darkest Canuck Wrote:w/e....there's no denying he's a great ball-player, and it's funny, because no matter what he does, people hate on him, when he plays bad, everyone jumps on his back and says what a bum he is, and what a waste of money, and even when he plays his ass off and wins AL MVP, people still ahte on him and say things like "he choked in the playoffs, blah blah blah", while it's true he didn't play too well last playoffs against Anahiem, last time I checked, Baseball's a team game, you win as a team, and you lose as a team...
the funny thing is that most of the A-Rod haters are fans of shitty teams that only wish they had a player of his caliber on their roster.
There is no denying his talent, however, there is also no denying that he's never played for a World Series winner despite playing for the Yankees and some great Mariner teams, and there is no denying that he couldn't make a crappy Rangers team any better. Hell, even Steinbrenner has started calling him out.
The Jays will never have more than a 2 game winning streak with Lilly or Towers in the rotation. Good lord it took them long enough to send Towers down. Is he the worst pitcher in the world? I think he might be. What the line on AJ Burn-out. Is he ever coming back. What about Chacin?
Douglas Wrote:What the line on AJ Burn-out. Is he ever coming back.
I've got that Mike Sirotka feeling all over again.
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God lets hope not. Any truth to the D-train rumors?
The Hillenbrand-Kennedy rumours are making my head explode. Why trade one of your most tradeable assets for a middle infielder when we clearly need a starter more...It's clear Burnett can't be counted on this year, Lilly is Jekyll and Hyde, Chacin has a 5 ERA, towers is a huge ? for the rest of the season, Janssen is 3-3 with a good era, having made 6 major league starts, while Halladay is clearly awesome.
The jays have gotten by with subpar middle infielding because theyve been hitting well, and while the hitting cant continue at such a high rate, theres no reason to think the O will completely dry up. A starter is clearly the #1 need, and there seems to be no possibility of bringing one in. I'm frustrated by JP, as usual.
On the other hand, Alex Rios: DEITY.
cferneyh Wrote:The Darkest Canuck Wrote:w/e....there's no denying he's a great ball-player, and it's funny, because no matter what he does, people hate on him, when he plays bad, everyone jumps on his back and says what a bum he is, and what a waste of money, and even when he plays his ass off and wins AL MVP, people still ahte on him and say things like "he choked in the playoffs, blah blah blah", while it's true he didn't play too well last playoffs against Anahiem, last time I checked, Baseball's a team game, you win as a team, and you lose as a team...
the funny thing is that most of the A-Rod haters are fans of shitty teams that only wish they had a player of his caliber on their roster.
There is no denying his talent, however, there is also no denying that he's never played for a World Series winner despite playing for the Yankees and some great Mariner teams, and there is no denying that he couldn't make a crappy Rangers team any better. Hell, even Steinbrenner has started calling him out.
and it appears to be working...he went yard TWICE today, bringing his season total up to 13...it seems las though A-Rod started to heat up just as Giambi was starting to cool down...
Jeter is bringing the A-game so far this season, batting 354 or something ridiculous like that, and Posada is quietly tearing it up as well (.303 is a great average for him, if he can stay around the 300 mark this could prove to be the best season he's ever had)...
i just wish they'd show more Yankees games on tv, so i wouldn't have to watch live gameday scoreboard on yankees.com all the time...
Jenna_Bird Wrote:NMAS, it sounds as though you were channeling our dear friend, The Darkest Canuck with that post. :lol:
Personally, I couldn't be happier with the state of the game. The Sox are a game up on the Yankees and there's a trip to Fenway with my beloved (and my family) in the works. Yes indeedy, I loves me some baseball!
-Jenna
I was, I love baseball. If only the Jays could get some pitchers healthy they would be even more in the hunt with The Yanks and Sox. In fact I think they could be about three up if they weren't missing Chacin and Burnett, and Towers if he could pictch like he did last year.
From the Associated Press:
Clemens OKs $22M Deal to Return to Astros
Roger Clemens is coming out of retirement again, agreeing to a $22 million contract to pitch for the Houston Astros for the rest of 2006.
The 43-year-old Clemens, who will be entering his 23rd major league season, is agreeing first to a minor league deal that pays $322,000 over the five-month minor league season. His first start is likely to be at Lexington, Ky., the Class-A team where his oldest son, Koby, plays.
If all goes well, his second start would be June 11 at Double-A Corpus Christi, Texas, followed by a start June 16 at Triple-A Round Rock, Texas. He could be pitching in the big leagues by June 22.
"The ball's in my court now," Clemens said Wednesday at a news conference to announce his return. "This was a difficult decision on my part in a number of situations. I have to now take the next step and get my body ready to come back, get effective, win games."
Even with an abbreviated season ahead, Clemens is uncertain how he'll hold up physically.
"I can get into a game situation and my body not respond like I want it to," he said. "I pushed my body hard, but I still need to get some competitive innings, stressful innings.
"I call them stressful innings because, at my age, it's stressful."
Clemens first retired after the 2003 season, then changed his mind and joined his hometown Astros after former Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte left New York to sign with Houston. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner said he was "99 percent" retired after 2004, but he came back for Houston's 2005 run to the World Series.
Then, after the Astros were swept by the Chicago White Sox, Clemens again said he considered himself retired. But he never formally said farewell to baseball and always left open the possibility of returning, even pitching for the United States in the World Baseball Classic.
When he is added to the major league roster, he gets a one-year contract worth $22,000,022 - his uniform number is 22. Because he won't be playing the full season, he gets only a prorated percentage of that, which would come to about $12.25 million if he rejoins Houston in late June. The tentative goal is to have him start against Minnesota on June 22 - if he's put on the big league roster on that day, he would earn $12,632,307.
"I'm not riding around in the back of a convertible, waving my hat and selling tickets," he said. "They expect me to get on the field and win ballgames and do it the way they're used to seeing me do it.
"And I accept that more so than anyone."
The Astros were 27-26 and 6 1/2 games behind the NL Central-leading Cardinals after Tuesday night's 6-3 victory at St. Louis.
Houston was finishing its series with the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon, but the video scoreboard at empty Minute Maid Park was already flashing "The Rocket is Back!!!"
Clemens led the majors with a 1.87 ERA last season and helped the Astros reach their first World Series. Houston, the New York Yankees, Boston and Texas all tried to lure him this season.
Clemens said his son was a deciding factor in choosing the Astros. Koby Clemens has been rehabbing since breaking his left pinkie on a slide. But he and his father will fly to Lexington on Thursday, and Koby will be taken off the disabled list by the end of the weekend.
"Yeah, Koby is the wild card in all this," Clemens said. "Just like he told me this morning, even if he was somewhere else, we've had too many great moments here the last two years to set that aside."
Clemens last pitched competitively in the WBC, where he beat South Africa in the first round and lost to Mexico 2-1 in the second round on March 16.
In Detroit, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday that it made sense for Clemens to return to Houston.
"I'm not at all surprised," Torre said. "I didn't think that him coming back here was ever going to happen. Houston's just such a perfect fit for him - he lives there and Andy's on the team. That's why he came back before, and the circumstances haven't changed."
The Red Sox issued a statement after Clemens announced his return to Houston.
"Although we are disappointed that Roger Clemens will not be joining the Red Sox, we are glad that we went through the process and reconnected as an organization with Roger," the team said. "We wish him the best of luck with Houston and in the National League. When Roger's career does come to an end, we will welcome him to Fenway Park and will forever consider him to be a legendary and beloved member of the Boston Red Sox."
Texas owner Tom Hicks was told last week by Clemens' agents that the Rangers were out of consideration, general manager Jon Daniels said.
"Tom got the call on Friday that we were no longer in the running for his services," Daniels said Tuesday. "The way we looked at it was, it would be an honor to be associated with him but we've continued to focus on the 25 guys here. It would have been nice, but we weren't planning on it from the get-go."
Clemens won his seventh Cy Young Award - first in the NL - in 2004, going 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA. He went 13-8 last year, winning the major league ERA title for the first time since 1990.
Clemens has a career record of 341-172 with a 3.12 ERA and 4,502 strikeouts, pitching for Boston, Toronto, the Yankees and Astros. An 11-time All-Star and winner of the 1986 AL MVP Award, he is tied for eighth on the career wins list and is second in strikeouts behind Nolan Ryan (5,714).
AP Baseball Writers Ronald Blum and Ben Walker, AP Sports Writer R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis and AP freelance writers Dave Hogg in Detroit and Ken Sins in Arlington, Texas, contributed to this report.
It was awfully nice for Clemens to finally make a decision. How considerate of him to wait until over a quarter of the season was over. What a class act and great guy. :roll:
you think he would've at least went to New York or Boston, where he would've had a better shot at winning...I guess he wants to be closer to home, but still, at this point in your career why even come back if you're not gonna be in the post-season? for the money?
How bout those Yankees and Jays takin care of business?
Wells was crazy last night, i think they were sayin last night that AJ could be back somewhere around the end of june, i was a little disapointed by the attendance last night, especially it being "twoonie tuesdays"
glad to see Gus back