Outshined_One

Go Badgers. :D

Jones and Izturis get shipped off.

DING,DING, DING,... We have a winner! ...seriously? I mean...really? I think a pitching coach has a significantly greater impact on a pitching staff than any catcher would. Yeah, catchers can have some impact, but the pitching coach is there to, you know, coach. He's there to analyze his pitchers and make sure he gets the best possible production out of them while protecting them from injury. This includes going over hours of game tape with guys, making mechanical adjustments, overseeing various exercises, keeping pitch counts, and a ton of other things which come with coaching. It's his job to do those things. A catcher, on the other hand, has nowhere near the same impact. Yeah, a catcher can educate himself to do those things, but his basic job with a pitcher is to call a game and receive the ball without incident. On occasion, he might need to do stuff like switch up the signs or go out to the mound to calm his guy down. That's pretty much it. The difference between the two is rather stark, if you ask me. The impact of a pitching coach on a given pitching performance is a heck of a lot greater than a catcher.

Facebook! Outshined_One is in a state of amazement...got the call, GOING TO GO NAP FOR A BIT AND THEN DROP IN THE GAME THREAD!!!!!! :lol:

Haha, Soto's batting above Pagan.

Yep.

I disagree, his K/9 and BB/9 are both very good and he's been the victim of some bad luck (.350 BABIP). Moreover, the Texas League is a hitter's haven. They play in some bandboxes out there, so his 1.28 HR/9 probably isn't as bad as it looks.

That's a nice little victory to take from yesterday. :D

Basically, he sprained a ligament in the top joint of his middle finger, between the nail and the middle bone. I have no idea what kind of severity or lingering effects these injuries have, but this is the kind of injury you miss at least one start for.

I'm willing to bet almost all (if not all) of the others have been Cubs, Cardinals, and Twins games.

Frankly, I'm surprised Sheets got injured in a normal way. He's in the same class as Kerry Wood and Mark Prior when it comes to freak injuries. I was waiting for the Bernie Brewer Slide at Miller Park to collapse on his pitching arm or something like that.

Living in Wisconsin taught me that a lot of people there really don't care about the Brewers. The average Wisconsin person seemed to have the following rooting interests while I was there from 2002 to 2006... 1) Green Bay Packers ... ... ... 2) University of Wisconsin football ... 3) University of Wisconsin basketball 4) University of Wisconsin hockey 5) Marquette basketball 6) Milwaukee Brewers 7) Milwaukee Bucks It's kind of funny how many Brewer fans have come out of the woodwork over the past two years, though. All of those friends I made suddenly have crisp new Brewer caps...hmmmmmmmm...

For whatever reason, 4/5ths of the Astros' rotation is doing markedly better at home this season than on the road. I'm curious about these particular splits. Only Jennings has done better on the road than at home, while everyone else has noticeably better K rates, BB rates, and ERAs at home than on the road. Have the Astros just played more difficult teams on the road or what? If that's the case, then maybe Oswalt's numbers this season might be a bit deceiving. I'm guessing the Cubs would have trouble matching teams like the Yankees and Red Sox in terms of prospects, but still, he's an acquisition who might be worth looking into.

ugh, what's the point Trade bait?

Welcome!

blister on his finger. things are going badly for the brewers. Not a blister. He threw and his finger popped and he is grimacing every time the trainer touches it. how does that happen? throwing a pitch shouldn't cause that type of injury. did he hit it on his leg during a follow through? Didn't Joel Zumaya pull a ligament in his middle finger throwing a pitch? I thought that was from playing too much Guitar Hero?

From Rotoworld: Any interest?

Unfortunately, he forgot to follow your advice. :( Gave up a three run shot to Upton with two outs. Ouch. Felix with one too. Somebody's in the mood to show he has nothing left to prove in AAA.

I'd love to acquire him for the stretch run, but something tells me the Braves are going to be in the thick of things by the time the trade deadline rolls around.

There is one thing in particular that bugs me. The starting pitching staff has been handled fairly well in terms of pitch counts and whatnot...save for one person. Zambrano's pitches per game is currently at a career-high 112.1. Say what you will about pitch counts and blah blah blah, but I'd really like to see the team let up on Zambrano a bit over the next few starts. I do not want to see Zambrano fade down the stretch because his arm is tired.

After Lou was hired, there was much consternation that Rothschild would be retained. Most people on here were not happy about Larry's performance during his time with this team, especially regarding high pitch counts, mechanics tweaking adventures with the pitchers, and a few other problems this pitching staff had over the past few years. When he was signed, a lot of people were upset. When he was re-signed, news started leaking out that much of that was a result of Dusty Baker overriding Rothschild's advice on decisions. Rothschild apparently was going to get more free rein under Piniella since the two had a positive relationship with one another prior to Piniella coming to Chicago. As most people might recall, Rothschild was more of a Hendry hire than a Baker hire. Now that we're at the halfway point here are how the Cubs stack up against the rest of the majors pitching-wise: #5 in ERA #2 in Ks #14 in BBs allowed #2 in BAA #8 in HRs allowed #2 in OBP Against #6 in SLG Against #4 in OPS Against All in all, those are some very good numbers. So, given this team's pitching performance, how do you feel about Larry Rothschild this season? Do you think he was unnecessarily handcuffed by Dusty Baker and is finally getting a chance to strut his stuff with Lou Piniella? Was it a good idea to re-sign him?

Happily, he's out until 2008.

Well that's encouraging. Hasn't Wandy pitched really well against the Cubs in the past? Derrek Lee and (oddly enough) Jason Marquis have hit him pretty hard.

Anyone see Wandy's home/road splits this season? Home: 5-2, 1.81 ERA, 59.2 IP, 9 GS, 4 HR, 12 BB, 51 K, .202 BAA Away: 1-5, 6.60 ERA, 45.0 IP, 8 GS, 8 HR, 14 BB, 39 K, .296 BAA :shock:

Bastard!! Let's hope Jock sits this game out.