Figured I'd start the new month off with a new thread.
MLB September Thread - And down the stretch they come....
Figured I'd start the new month off with a new thread.
Last edited by TheHolo.Net; Sep 2nd, 2006 at 08:16:22 AM. Reason: Topic tag added
Tigers
Yanks
Chicago
Twins
Oakland
Angels
Those are the teams battling for the 4 AL playoff spots. I doubt the Angels have much of a shot, but you never know, Oakland may confuse September for October and implode early this year. I hope they make it, I want no part o the Angels in the playoffs. The Tigers have come back to the pack a bit. Chicago still has a chance to catch them. The Yanks, after taking 2 out of 3 in the Bronx from them, have a shot at catching the Tigers for best record in the AL. They won the season series against Detroit so they'd only have to tie them. Chicago and Minnesota are neck and neck for the wildcard. Loriano is due back soon, but now Radke is battling injuries.
The Red Sox? Trading Wells was pretty much the white flag. Unless every team they play in September has Rios playing in the outfield and knocking balls into the stands for HR's they have no realistic shot whatsoever.
I don't care about the NL.
The Angels are 2 games behind us. and we beat them 2 of 3 just over a week ago. If we're dead, so are they.
The Angels are probably dead. Like I said, the only thing that could save them would be an Oakland collapse. That's who they're battling and they still have 7games left to play against each other. But Boston has to get past Chicago, Minnesota, and the Yanks to get a playoff spot. The Angels have a better chance of sneaking into the playoffs than the Red Sox. Speaking of the walking wounded, Lester is done, he has Lymphoma. I hope the kid is alright. And tonight Papelbon had to be taken out of the game because of a shoulder strain. The hits just keep coming for Boston.Originally Posted by CMJ
The Yanks may see Matsui in the DH next weekend and Shef may be back a week after that. Man, I hope the boy and I get to see Matsui hit when we go to Camden Yards next weekend.
"Dad, you killed the zombie Flanders!" "He was a zombie?"
ARod has been hot, he broke a 1-24 stint by going 9-17 with 4 homers in the last 4 games, perfect time to warm up, I mean the stretch run is a foregone conclusion now since boston dropped another game and now trails by 9 and any hopes of catching the yanks is gone but to have him playing good for the playoffs would be awesome plus jeter has been on a tear too
We've played better lately. Tek coming back has been huge, even though we prolly can't catch the Twins at this point.
Run Boston, RUN!!! THE ROYALS ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!! :evil
Took the boy to Camden Yards today to see the Yankees beat the O's 3-2. Wang was great and Jeter was... well, he was Jeter. Up 2-1 Jeter comes up to the plate with Damon on 2nd and hits a clutch double scoring what would end up being the winning run. Behind us you could hear an O's fan screaming; "DON'T PITCH TO HIM! WALK HIM! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!" It was a pretty sad afternoon for Baltimore. I'm not exaggerating when I say that 2/3 of the fans there were Yankees fans. Hell, I had almost as many Red Sox hats near me as I did O's jerseys, it was kind of pathetic. The Magic Number boys and girls is now 12. To add insult to injury, it looks like the Yankees will probably clinch the AL East when the Red Sox visit the Yanks next weekend. It's been a SWEET season so far, yes it has. :evil
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14791298/
A good article about the MVP race, and specifically about Ortiz vs Jeter.
As we come closer to the end, here's how I rank the MVP candidates:
1- Jeter
2- Morneau (could be replaced by Mauer)
3- Ortiz
4- Dye
5- Thomas
As the White Sox and A's continue to push and the Red Sox continue to fade, players like Dye, Morneau and Frank Thomas will rise while Papi falls in my book, unless all 2 of those 3 teams crap out, leaving one standing. That said, I still think it's Jeter's award to lose. Unfortunately, being in Minnesota and having teammates like Mauer and Santana will hurt Morneau, and being way out west will all but eliminate Thomas, but he's been unbelievable since the all star break.
That's how I'd rank them, although I'd put Mauer ahead of Thomas. Mauer and Morneau are going to cost each other votes, which will benefit Jeter. If not for Boston's implosion I think the MVP would have been Ortiz's. I'm starting to think Jeter could win it even without the batting title. Especially if this hitting streak gets into the 30's.
Matsui returned last night to a standing ovation and went 4-4. The only place Torre could find for him was the 8th spot! Shef could be back this week. Here's the potential playoff lineup boys and girls:
1. Damon – L .297/22HR/77 RBI
2. Jeter – R .346/13HR/92 RBI
3. Abreu – L .298/11HR/96 RBI
4. A-Rod – R .286/32HR/108 RBI
5. Giambi – L .249/36HR/107 RBI
6. Shef – R .298/33HR/109 RBI (career avg.)
7. Matsui – L .296/23HR/109RBI (career avg.)
8. Posada – L/R .278/19HR/80 RBI
9. Cano – L .335/9HR/59 RBI
Un-friggin-belivable!!!!!!!!!!!! And you'd have Cabrera and Bernie on the bench. That's just sick. To show it's not all about bats, the team ERA is first in the division, 6th in the AL, and 12 in the MLB. (4.39) To top it off, the Sandman should be rested and waiting in the pen. :evil
The Yankees solidy their standing as the favorite with each day. But if they face the Twins - look out! You know what Santana and Liriano could do to them in a short series.
The Angels scare me even more than the Twins because they always play the Yankees so well. Speaking of the Twins, I don't know how serious it is, but Loriano hurt his arm again yesterday and had to leave the game after 3 innings.
Supposedly he's done for the year. We wrote the Twins off the first time he went down, and they only came on stronger. I won't write them off again.
And how about the Dodgers the other day? I forgot to bring this up...they were leading the Cubs (the CUBS for the love of god!) 7-0, with their ace on the mound, and they managed to lose the game! I’m not saying you have to win every single game down the stretch, but you do have to win every single game where you have a 7run lead, against one of the worst teams in the league, that committed six errors in the game and you have your ace on the mound. That was truly awful.
And Barry looks like he's going to break Aaron's record. He's only 24 away from breaking it, and he's hit 23 ding dongs this year. He'll probably hit between 25-27, leaving him anywhere from 20-22 from the record. If he gets moved the AL so that he can DH, it's pretty much a lock. He'll break it, and the sad part is he'll probably only surpass it by about 5. All this hand-wringing and hair pulling so Barry can crawl past Aaron and then call it quits. Horrendous. The only hope left is that he hurts himself badly in the next 2 weeks, guys simply stop pitching to him next season (but they won't because they don't fear him anymore), or no one signs him in the off season (his contract is up). And I think all of those is unlikely. Someone will want to have the record broken while wearing their uniform. The biggest hope we have is that his knee gives out again sometime between now and 360 days from now.
Last edited by JMK; Sep 14th, 2006 at 07:09:46 AM.
If the scores hold, the Yanks magic number will be down to 5, at worst 6. The Yanks could clinch their 9th consecutive AL East title at the Stadium against the Red Sox this week. Sweeeeeeeeet. :evil
Its a foregone conclusion that the yanks are taking the division and I think it slowly becoming a foregone conclusion that Jeter will win MVP. He has now hit in safely in 23 straight games and could stretch that into the 30's, the yanks are hot and look to win 100 games and he may win the batting title. The thing is Jeter contributes more that big papi does, he is an excellent fielder, and a huge team leader, he is the yankees.
I read an article today from the Boston Globe that said that Jeter and Papi were both tied for post-all star break RBI with 40. Jeter is most likely going to win the MVP, and he'll deserve it. Big Papi will hopefully win one some day because his numbers merit some recognition as well, he's just up against too much competition.
Mets become the first team to clinch.
Yeah, that was a foregone conclusion literally months ago. The fact that they ran amock over the NL East without Pedro & Glavine for a significant period really speaks volumes about the team Minaya has put together. To think that just a few short years ago they had a washed up Mo Vaughn and Robbie Alomar out there....I'm happy for them, especially for guys like Delgado, Floyd and Wright. Of course, I'd like to see Glavine win another ring, but I don't think that's what's going to happen.
I'll be pulling for the Twinkies this post season. After that I won't really care. I guess I'll root for Detroit to finish off a great storybook season if the Twins can't get through.
The Yanks Magic Number is down to 1. EAT IT HATERS!!!!!!!
Another 5-5 night for Morneau. He's over 120RBI now, and the Twins are only a 1/2 game back of the Tigers. He's making a case that he should be the MVP, even over Jeter. Look, he's playing in a much tougher division (Boston and Toronto were out of it over a month ago realistically, and Baltimore and Tampa were never in it), and they're poised to steal the division from the team that has been the #1 team from day 1. And they're doing it without Liriano and Radke. Now THAT's value. Of course, Mauer will eat up some of his votes so Jeter will probably still get it but that doesn't necessarily mean he should anymore. Dye should be up there, but the White Sox won't even make the post season with a great line up so he's out, and Ortiz probably talked his way out of the MVP. If the Twins end up winning the division then I truly believe that Morneau will deserve the MVP as much, if not more than Jeter.
That is who I am rooting for. In the NL maybe the Dodgers, the rest of the teams don't really interest me.
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