Mephistopheles

It's accurate enough.

Crazy game in New York. Cleveland Inning Summary - T. Hafner singled to third - J. Peralta singled to left, T. Hafner to second - S. Choo homered to deep left center, T. Hafner and J. Peralta scored - R. Garko fouled out to catcher - B. Francisco doubled to left - A. Cabrera singled to center, B. Francisco scored - G. Sizemore doubled to deep right, A. Cabrera to third - M. DeRosa doubled to deep right, G. Sizemore and A. Cabrera scored - M. DeRosa to third on wild pitch - V. Martinez singled to right, M. DeRosa scored - A. Claggett relieved C. Wang - T. Hafner doubled to center, V. Martinez to third - J. Peralta doubled to deep center, T. Hafner and V. Martinez scored - S. Choo walked - R. Garko singled to center, J. Peralta to third, S. Choo to second - B. Francisco struck out swinging - A. Cabrera homered to deep right, J. Peralta, S. Choo and R. Garko scored - G. Sizemore homered to deep right center - M. DeRosa struck out swinging - End of Inning (14 Runs, 13 Hits, 0 Errors) Every Indian had a hit and scored a run in the inning.

and Asdrubal Cabrera just hit one.

1.1 IP, 8 H, 7 ER - Today 1.0 IP, 6 H, 8 ER - Last Start 3.2 IP, 9 H, 8 ER - First Start He's the first pitcher in over 50 years to give up at least 7 ER in his first three appearances to start the season. He may be the first ever, but can't go past '57.

Watching on TV is no better when you're talking about clipping the corner or not, unless they give you an overhead shot. The pitchers camera is way off centered. Pitches that clip the inside corner (for a LH) look a lot further off the plate than they really are. Pitches that clip the inside corner (for a RH) look like they're down the middle. My point is the pitch was a lot closer than any of you are willing to admit. It's a call that can go either way. It just did not go our way. Fans of every team say "the bad calls always go against us". Don't play that card.

and of course austin kearns just hits one off josh johnson.

fwiw, the third strike clipped the zone according to gameday. it's hard to bitch at the umpire on a pitch like that. who cares if hes out two games. he's hurt as it is.

meh it's not a significant difference.

we all knew our bullpen would suck before the season. should die hard nat fans not worry about their rotation after one week?

If you touch the umpire, you've gotta go as far as I'm concerned. Incidental or not.

So we're going to punish umpires for blowing one call because of some dbag player like Bradley who can't control his emotions worth squat? Find, be mad, say something to the umpire. That's fine. Getting completely blown apart like Bradley does (with regularity) is incredibly stupid, immature and worthless. The fact is, Bradley was and still is a bad tempered a-hole. The umpires not at fault here. Bad calls happen and are a part of the game. Umpires don't go: "Ohh that one looks close. Milton Bradley's an ass. If I call him out on this maybe he will go nuts and I can be on SportsCenter. STRIKE THREE!" all in 10 tenths of a second. The umpires initial reaction was that it was a strike. So he called it one. There's no conspiracy. He shouldn't be punished for one call because it caused Bradley to go nuts. If he makes bad calls the entire time, that's something else. FWIW, if a call looks bad on TV and the umpire calls it a strike, I'm more likely to give the benefit of doubt to the umpires. TV angles don't give an accurate representation of the location vertically of the pitch. There's also a ton of gray area on the height of the strike zone. The fact is calls on balls and strikes get missed all the time and are part of the game. They help you just as often as they hurt you. So just live with it. Milton Bradley on the other hand, has no control over his emotions and constantly puts him in situations to lose his cool. It's his own damn fault.

but most of those people are a hell of a lot worse than lou.

if you don't have me on there there's something wrong.

I'm sorry but you've gotta protect the umpires here. Yes, it was a bad call. However arguing is a waste of time. It won't change the call and won't lead to more "fair" calls later in the game(s). The umpires are doing their best and they aren't trying to screw him over with the calls. Bitch at them won't help anything. Be mad, but just walk away. That's something Bradley has never been able to do. His temper causes him to get into situations where things like this can happen. Arguing and getting pissed off has never changed a bad call. Move on.

You guys are incredible. You're blaming everybody but Bradley.

Fun fact, since Aaron Sele was the first MLB player named Aaron, its entirely possible that this is the first Aaron for Aaron substitution. 1879 Aaron Clapp 1917 Aaron Ward 1943 Aaron Robinson 1963 Aaron Pointer

The conversation started when I said that if Micah hit 37 HRs this year it'd be the same thing as what Ludwick did. I'm not sure if you saw the beginning of the conversation or not.

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. No not mad but Ludwick was a second round pick with a lot of promise. I do not believe Hoffpauir was drafted in the first 10 rounds. All this points out is he was highly rearded and not some undrafted player...Barden was highly touted before he had the hernia issues as well. The Cards have been good about looking at players that others have neglegted to care about. Ludwick had a great year in the minors before the Cards got him. But come on. Nothing in this description suggests that Ludwick would become the hitter he's become. It could have been projected that he'd hit like 08 Ankiel or maybe a little better than that, but the level he's on right now comes completely out of nowhere. You are right. My only point was he had talent early on that we are seeing today. In no way am I saying I knew he would be this good. For what it's worth, Micah's and Ludwicks raw power grades have always been about the same. Ludwick had more athleticism and was a more polished overall hitter than Hoffpauir was. Either way before 2007 Ludwick had a .750 or so OPS the two years prior in AAA as a 26 and 27 year old. Prior to 2008 Micah had a .850 or so OPS in AAA as a 26 and 27 year old. In his age 28 season Ludwick had an OPS of about 850 between AAA and MLB. In his age 28 season Hoffpauir had an OPS over 1100 in AAA and over 900 in limited MLB experience. In his age 29 season Ludwick was on the Cardinal Juice and had a .966 OPS in the majors with 37 homers. Ludwick had previously never had an OPS over .900 for a full season (combined in a season between any level). In his age 29 year season what will Micah do? Really it's nearly an identical story if Micah hits like Ludwick did. It's not hard to see the parallels.

My point is that Micah and Ludwick were forgotten guys in the late 20s who always had plus raw power which didn't materialize until after they were 26 or so in the minors. Micah wasn't a great prospect, but his bat was never completely unquestioned. He had no position and didn't produce enough to be a first baseman. The Cubs at least have the argument that they saw something in Micah, he's been in the organization forever. The Cardinals pretty much took trash and it became gold. There's a complete difference there, but that's it. Really it's guys coming out of nowhere who are well past prospect age who hit like an all star.

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick. Not really. Actually it would be.

Unfortunately, crappy Zambrano is better than our worthless middle relievers.

Another Cards fan here. We are not irked by Fontenot and Theriot. But I doubt any Cubs fan is seriously irked by our no-named infielders. I wouldn't be irked either, except we can't seem to get Brian freaking Barden out! Stop talking!!!! God. 2004 Zambrano plz come home.

Would you be pissed if Hoffpauir hit 37 home runs this year? Because that would be the same situation as Ludwick.

Fontenot has always had talent. Ryan Theriot, Brendan Ryan, Aaron Miles and company have not.

He has one bad start out of three and you're getting mad at him? Jesus christ.