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Baseball season 2007

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#481
I just took a quick glance at the overall standings and a couple of things jumped out.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings?date=20070920&type=reg&br=9&year=2007&order=false&st=2

The four leading contenders in the AL are within 2 games of each other. The closest overall finish of playoff teams was 3 and there have been a couple years with a spread of 4.

All four AL teams are 2.5 games better than the best record in the NL. Once again, the winner in the NL Central will likely not crack 90 wins - all the AL Division winners will have at least 90 and more like 95-97 wins. Actually the NL Central leading Cubs would be a game or so from eliminition if they were in any AL Division.

That said - St. Louis won last year with an 83-78 record. The NL Central can't do it again, can they?
 
#483
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#486
I think it links back more to overall issues of parity and how the distribution of baseball luck goes. The teams that could have been dominant (Tigers, Yanks and Sox) ran into some injuries and/or unexpected poor seasons which brought them back to earth a bit. Think of the Sox if Drew exceeded his production of last year and had a 30 HR, 115 RBI year on top of everything else that went right for the Sox this year. I'm sure others could fill in something similar for their teams.

It could also be that if teams have a good read on their division - they'll use the old Joe Kennedy mantra when bankrolling his son's presidential campaign - "I'll pay for a win but not a landslide."

We got Beckett on the mound going for win #20, so I like my chances.
 
#488
dangnewt said:
We got Beckett on the mound going for win #20, so I like my chances.
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I said this before I realized Kazmir was pitching for the Rays; he is a great p[itcher and usually gives the Sox a very hard time. Thankfully, Beckett was the man tonight as the game was much closer than the final score indicates.

Something happened that you probably don't see that often. Red Sox batters struck out 17 times; yet put up 8 runs for the win. It was the most times they have struck out since Nolan Ryan (who else?) racked up 19 back in the 70's (Sox lost that one).

Magic numbers after the completion of play

7 for the division (thank you Greg Zaun!); 2 for the wild card.
 
#491
Philbiker said:
Go Phillies!!!!!!! I went to the game last night, and it seemed like 1/3 of the people in the stadium were Phillies fans!
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Must have been a hoot. Supporting your team behind enemy lines is always fun - and when you put on top of it the Division and Wild Card races, all I can say is - good times ahead.

I used to have a soft spot for the Mets only in that they can't stand the Yankees anymore than Sox fans. But this feeling changed a bit in October 1986. Go Phillies!
 
#493
dangnewt said:
No too much drama and baggage.
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The results of the ESPN poll were that 49 states overwhelmingly voted "no", with only Wyoming voting to the contrary. However, it wasn't shown if they actually voted "yes", or if there was just a lack of votes!
Right now, the poll is showing 60,828 votes, with 73% saying they don't want Bonds on their team.
 
#495
Top 11, Brewers load the bases, Braves get out of it.
Bottom 11 now. Renteria walks, hurts his ankle, Willie Harris is pinch running. Chipper looks like he's grounding into a double play, but The Brewer's 2B bobbles the ball. Harris at 2nd, Chipper at 1st, Teixeira at the plate, no outs. Teixeira rips it to right, Harris comes around.

Atlanta has been on fire with the exception of last night. If it's too late for them, at least they're helping out the Cubbies! 2.5 up on the Brewers now.
 
#497
xshawnxearthx said:
all that matters is that the sox have clinched a spot in the playoffs. now its division time!
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Got that right. :D

It was good to see Gagne pitch a perfect 8th in a meaningful situation and to see Drew come up with 3 big RBIs.

Wake has traditionally pitched well at the Trop so if he can pull out of his mini-funk tomorrow, the Sox will have the momentum going in right direction.

Nice pieces of clutch hitting from Tek and Lugo too.

I thought Francona may have left Dice-K in too long. What's the use in resting a guy if you then overwork him in a game? But all's well that ends well, I guess.
 
#498
With 6 games to go the Sox magic number is 5.

It is interesting that both the Sox and the Yankees have their old guys (Schill and Clemens) starting two of them - tonight and the last game.

I sure hope we see Youk and Manny out there soon, even if it is at DH to give Papi a day off or two.
 
#500
Pending the result of the Yanks-TB game - Go Rays!!

Manny and Youk both played part of the game. Manny hit a single in his first at-bat - line drive to right on a fastball. Nice ovation from the fans for both.

Schill pitched a tidy 6 innings with 1 earned run.

Gagne has another rocky 8th although he did look like he was being squeezed a bit.

Paps bailed him out on 1 pitch.

A's rallied a bit in the ninth; but the Sox added runs in their 8th so it wasn't a nailbiter.
 
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