HobbyIsBowling said:
I agree with having a nice record against other divisions, but it's best you realize the BoSox play 26 of their last 34 games against the East, with the other 8 games involving the A's, Halos, and ChiSox.
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Sports & Gaming Moderators: ghostfreak
2005 Mlb!
- Thread starter TopRocka
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I agree with having a nice record against other divisions, but it's best you realize the BoSox play 26 of their last 34 games against the East, with the other 8 games involving the A's, Halos, and ChiSox.
HobbyIsBowling
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2004
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^
Yeah, but most of them are at fenway. Check out the sox record at home this season, and you'll see why I'm not too worried
Yeah, but most of them are at fenway. Check out the sox record at home this season, and you'll see why I'm not too worried
fozzy
Bluelighter
i was out in cleveland on buisnesss today very disappointed the game gout rained out whould have made my 23rd stadium
I got super burned today. Stupid sun...I look like a dirty mexican now after a weekend of sunburning. Ill show some pics from the game tomorrow when i upload. We left in the beginning of 9th inning.
I wish they had come back sooner, coulda won.
I wish they had come back sooner, coulda won.
fozzy
Bluelighter
how'd mccarthy look?
drug related
Bluelighter
the rangers are gona win this year. A-rod will get hot and hit tons of home runs, and nolan ryan will strike out every one.
bowdenta
Bluelighter
i love barry bonds. hopefully one day he'll put up some power numbers though
TopRocka
Bluelighter
ortiz is money
How many potential Sox playoff adversaries are shitting themselves having to face this guy in the post season?
How many potential Sox playoff adversaries are shitting themselves having to face this guy in the post season?
fozzy
Bluelighter
since he's hitting about .100 at us cellular not the white sox
Semi-Charmed
Bluelighter
Right on schedule
John Donovan, SI.com
John Donovan
SI.com
All Mark Shapiro can do at this point is sit and watch. Maybe, if the urge strikes him -- and it almost certainly will -- he'll do a little fingernail chewing or a bit of lip biting. That's become his routine in these waning days of September, watching games in his Jacobs Field suite or, when the Indians are on the road, in front of the TV in his suburban Cleveland home.
Sit. Watch. Madly text message his friends and colleagues. Fret over close losses, sweat over tight wins. Then wait for the next game.
"That," says Shapiro, "is the hardest thing in the world for a GM."
It's been almost four years since Shapiro, the general manager of the Indians, took control of one of the most successful franchises of the late '90s and began to clean it like some fattened Northeast Ohio walleye. Back when he first started gutting the franchise -- notably after the trade of All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to the Mets in December 2001, barely a month after rising from the role of assistant to take over as GM -- Shapiro brashly announced that the Indians would rise again, that they would contend by the 2005 season.
ADVERTISEMENT
That's exactly what has happened. The Indians are back in contention, a half-game behind the Yankees in the American League wild card race. They've won three in a row. They're 31-20 since the All-Star break. Sixteen of their final 23 games are at home. The Indians matter again.
Now, if they can just win a few more games than the Yankees and the other AL wild-card contenders in these next couple of tension-filled weeks ...
"I want it for us," Shapiro said from his office in Cleveland, "not as any validation for me."
The 2005 Indians are a phenomenon, coming from where they've been. Few teams have torn down and rebuilt this quickly. Few front-office types have accomplished the feat as boldly as Shapiro has. But if there's one thing the '05 Indians are not, it's the Indians of the late '90s. The '05 Indians are not a group of overpaid, aging veterans. They're not the high-scoring, slug-happy team of yesterday.
These Indians can score -- they're fifth in the league in runs -- but they are more balanced than the old Indians and probably the most hole-free team among the AL contenders. The Indians are stacked with young talent; switch-hitting catcher Victor Martinez (26), shortstop Jhonny Peralta (23), and center fielder Grady Sizemore (23), to name a few. They have a good mix of starters, including C.C. Sabathia (25), Cliff Lee (27), Jake Westbrook (27) and veterans Kevin Millwood (30) and Scott Elarton (29). They have an OK defense and the best bullpen in the league, with 36-year-old stopper Bob Wickman at the end.
And, of course, they're cheap. The 2001 Indians, who lost a heartbreaking five-game playoff series to Seattle, had a payroll of more than $93 million, fifth-highest in the majors. The '05 Indians started the season with a payroll around $41.5 million, fifth from the bottom, which makes Cleveland the lowest-rent franchise among the high-flying contenders.
After Shapiro's initial teardown of the team (made necessary by the aging roster and the bloated payroll) and the two rebuilding years in '02 and '03, the Indians finally began to show improvement last season when they went 80-82, a 12-game uptick from '03. They are now in position to have their first winning season and their first trip to the postseason since 2001.
If, that is, they can get past the $200 million Yankees.
"I was having dinner with [former Tribe pitcher and current baseball operations assistant] Charles Nagy the other day, and he said 'Enjoying this?,'" Shapiro said. "And I told him, the one thing I'm enjoying is not looking at so many blank stares."
The Indians, as far as they've come, still have at least one more major step to take. They undoubtedly will get their winning season and, if things fall right, that trip to the postseason. They are built to be in contention for the next few years, too.
But Cleveland fans, who opened Jacobs Field with a string of 455 sellouts that ended in April 2001, have yet to buy back into this team. In overall attendance this season, the Indians are better only than the Devil Rays and Royals. The Indians average a paltry 23,986 fans a game.
Ever since Shapiro began to hack up the powerhouse of the late '90s, the Indians have been a hard sell. And still-skeptical Clevelanders, the thinking goes, never got a chance to warm up to the '05 Indians because the White Sox jumped out to a big lead in the AL Central.
This team is not what Cleveland fans are used to seeing, either. This is not Alomar and Juan Gonzalez and Jim Thome punching across 100 runs apiece, as they did in '01. This is Peralta suddenly emerging as one of the best shortstops in the league. It's Sizemore just starting to scratch the surface. It's Martinez, who is now beginning to show his real potential, hitting .380 since the All-Star break.
This is what the fans of Cleveland have now. These are the new Indians. But is it enough? Can they reawaken the fans of Cleveland?
At this point, Shapiro's done all he can do. Now the rest of us will just have to sit and watch, too.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=cnnsi-rightonschedule&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
John Donovan, SI.com
John Donovan
SI.com
All Mark Shapiro can do at this point is sit and watch. Maybe, if the urge strikes him -- and it almost certainly will -- he'll do a little fingernail chewing or a bit of lip biting. That's become his routine in these waning days of September, watching games in his Jacobs Field suite or, when the Indians are on the road, in front of the TV in his suburban Cleveland home.
Sit. Watch. Madly text message his friends and colleagues. Fret over close losses, sweat over tight wins. Then wait for the next game.
"That," says Shapiro, "is the hardest thing in the world for a GM."
It's been almost four years since Shapiro, the general manager of the Indians, took control of one of the most successful franchises of the late '90s and began to clean it like some fattened Northeast Ohio walleye. Back when he first started gutting the franchise -- notably after the trade of All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to the Mets in December 2001, barely a month after rising from the role of assistant to take over as GM -- Shapiro brashly announced that the Indians would rise again, that they would contend by the 2005 season.
ADVERTISEMENT
That's exactly what has happened. The Indians are back in contention, a half-game behind the Yankees in the American League wild card race. They've won three in a row. They're 31-20 since the All-Star break. Sixteen of their final 23 games are at home. The Indians matter again.
Now, if they can just win a few more games than the Yankees and the other AL wild-card contenders in these next couple of tension-filled weeks ...
"I want it for us," Shapiro said from his office in Cleveland, "not as any validation for me."
The 2005 Indians are a phenomenon, coming from where they've been. Few teams have torn down and rebuilt this quickly. Few front-office types have accomplished the feat as boldly as Shapiro has. But if there's one thing the '05 Indians are not, it's the Indians of the late '90s. The '05 Indians are not a group of overpaid, aging veterans. They're not the high-scoring, slug-happy team of yesterday.
These Indians can score -- they're fifth in the league in runs -- but they are more balanced than the old Indians and probably the most hole-free team among the AL contenders. The Indians are stacked with young talent; switch-hitting catcher Victor Martinez (26), shortstop Jhonny Peralta (23), and center fielder Grady Sizemore (23), to name a few. They have a good mix of starters, including C.C. Sabathia (25), Cliff Lee (27), Jake Westbrook (27) and veterans Kevin Millwood (30) and Scott Elarton (29). They have an OK defense and the best bullpen in the league, with 36-year-old stopper Bob Wickman at the end.
And, of course, they're cheap. The 2001 Indians, who lost a heartbreaking five-game playoff series to Seattle, had a payroll of more than $93 million, fifth-highest in the majors. The '05 Indians started the season with a payroll around $41.5 million, fifth from the bottom, which makes Cleveland the lowest-rent franchise among the high-flying contenders.
After Shapiro's initial teardown of the team (made necessary by the aging roster and the bloated payroll) and the two rebuilding years in '02 and '03, the Indians finally began to show improvement last season when they went 80-82, a 12-game uptick from '03. They are now in position to have their first winning season and their first trip to the postseason since 2001.
If, that is, they can get past the $200 million Yankees.
"I was having dinner with [former Tribe pitcher and current baseball operations assistant] Charles Nagy the other day, and he said 'Enjoying this?,'" Shapiro said. "And I told him, the one thing I'm enjoying is not looking at so many blank stares."
The Indians, as far as they've come, still have at least one more major step to take. They undoubtedly will get their winning season and, if things fall right, that trip to the postseason. They are built to be in contention for the next few years, too.
But Cleveland fans, who opened Jacobs Field with a string of 455 sellouts that ended in April 2001, have yet to buy back into this team. In overall attendance this season, the Indians are better only than the Devil Rays and Royals. The Indians average a paltry 23,986 fans a game.
Ever since Shapiro began to hack up the powerhouse of the late '90s, the Indians have been a hard sell. And still-skeptical Clevelanders, the thinking goes, never got a chance to warm up to the '05 Indians because the White Sox jumped out to a big lead in the AL Central.
This team is not what Cleveland fans are used to seeing, either. This is not Alomar and Juan Gonzalez and Jim Thome punching across 100 runs apiece, as they did in '01. This is Peralta suddenly emerging as one of the best shortstops in the league. It's Sizemore just starting to scratch the surface. It's Martinez, who is now beginning to show his real potential, hitting .380 since the All-Star break.
This is what the fans of Cleveland have now. These are the new Indians. But is it enough? Can they reawaken the fans of Cleveland?
At this point, Shapiro's done all he can do. Now the rest of us will just have to sit and watch, too.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=cnnsi-rightonschedule&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
Semi-Charmed
Bluelighter
Oh btw, the Indians just took the wildcard lead.
GO TRIBE!
GO TRIBE!
fozzy
Bluelighter
indians do have the potential to be sick but how can an article about them not mention haffner? if he's on he can flat out dominate, there bullpen's good but i wouldnt call it the best in baseball though.
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i'm still pissed i didnt get to see a game in jacobs field though
\
i'm still pissed i didnt get to see a game in jacobs field though
Semi-Charmed
Bluelighter
There isn't a night that goes by where Sizemore doesn't make some spectacular play in CF. He's my new favorite player.
byebye, Minnesota!
michael
Bluelight Crew
phils/marlins, top 9th, dtrain pitching, marlins up 2-0:
Philadelphia -
Dontrelle Willis pitching for Florida
J Encarnacion in right field.
J Conine at first base.
J Rollins singled to left.
J Michaels walked, J Rollins to second.
B Abreu safe at first on error by second baseman L Castillo, J Rollins scored, J Michaels to third.
T Jones relieved D Willis.
E Chavez ran for B Abreu.
P Burrell singled to center, J Michaels scored, E Chavez to second.
C Utley reached on bunt single to pitcher, E Chavez scored, P Burrell to third, C Utley to second on throwing error by pitcher T Jones.
S Victorino ran for P Burrell.
D Bell singled to shallow center, S Victorino scored, C Utley to third.
M Lieberthal singled to center, C Utley scored, D Bell to second.
R Howard hit for R Martinez.
R Howard safe at first on error by first baseman J Conine, D Bell scored, M Lieberthal to second.
M Tucker hit for U Urbina.
R Villone relieved T Jones.
M Tucker singled to right, M Lieberthal to third, R Howard to second.
J Rollins singled to center, M Lieberthal and R Howard scored, M Tucker to second.
J Michaels struck out looking.
E Chavez singled to center, M Tucker scored, J Rollins to second, J Rollins to third on throwing error by center fielder J Pierre.
R Messenger relieved R Villone.
S Victorino hit sacrifice fly to center, J Rollins scored.
C Utley grounded out to pitcher.
10 Runs, 8 Hits, 4 Errors
Dontrelle Willis pitching for Florida
J Encarnacion in right field.
J Conine at first base.
J Rollins singled to left.
J Michaels walked, J Rollins to second.
B Abreu safe at first on error by second baseman L Castillo, J Rollins scored, J Michaels to third.
T Jones relieved D Willis.
E Chavez ran for B Abreu.
P Burrell singled to center, J Michaels scored, E Chavez to second.
C Utley reached on bunt single to pitcher, E Chavez scored, P Burrell to third, C Utley to second on throwing error by pitcher T Jones.
S Victorino ran for P Burrell.
D Bell singled to shallow center, S Victorino scored, C Utley to third.
M Lieberthal singled to center, C Utley scored, D Bell to second.
R Howard hit for R Martinez.
R Howard safe at first on error by first baseman J Conine, D Bell scored, M Lieberthal to second.
M Tucker hit for U Urbina.
R Villone relieved T Jones.
M Tucker singled to right, M Lieberthal to third, R Howard to second.
J Rollins singled to center, M Lieberthal and R Howard scored, M Tucker to second.
J Michaels struck out looking.
E Chavez singled to center, M Tucker scored, J Rollins to second, J Rollins to third on throwing error by center fielder J Pierre.
R Messenger relieved R Villone.
S Victorino hit sacrifice fly to center, J Rollins scored.
C Utley grounded out to pitcher.
10 Runs, 8 Hits, 4 Errors
bowdenta
Bluelighter
as an astros fan, I cant decide what I want to happen in the current phils/marlins series.
my friend made a $100 bet that the marlins would face the yankees in the world series or the marlins would face someone else and win. what an asshat. Ill laugh my ass off if neither of them make the playoffs
my friend made a $100 bet that the marlins would face the yankees in the world series or the marlins would face someone else and win. what an asshat. Ill laugh my ass off if neither of them make the playoffs
fozzy
Bluelighter
i just got home from the white sox vs indians game. good to see the sox's win but god do the tribe look tough. i would hate to have to see them in the first round
playoff appearance or not...I'm proud of the A's to have taken it this far with all the injuries they've suffered. Kudos to Crosby for coming back even though his ankle isn't 100% and a tip of the hat to Kotsay playing through back pain for most of the season. This race would be much easier if Harden was around, but my benchmark at the beginning of the year for a successful season has been reached, and everything from here on out will be bonus. I can't wait to see what this team will be capable of once Daric Barton enters into the mix.
Billy Beane proves again without a doubt he is baseball's golden boy GM. I mean really...JAY FREAKIN' PAYTON. B
Baseball's youngest starting rotation, though impressive thus far, looks like it hasn't yet reached its full potential, and that's just plain ass scary. Full of incredible talent, only the Cardinals can also boast they have a full rotation featuring 10-game winners.
Billy Beane proves again without a doubt he is baseball's golden boy GM. I mean really...JAY FREAKIN' PAYTON. B
Baseball's youngest starting rotation, though impressive thus far, looks like it hasn't yet reached its full potential, and that's just plain ass scary. Full of incredible talent, only the Cardinals can also boast they have a full rotation featuring 10-game winners.