Thoughts on the 2nd half of MLB

[Sunder]

Boston has been notoriously and historically the most racist fans in all of sports. Last MLB team to integrate; basketball players that refuse to go there due to the history of the city's fans. Boston fans have absolutely no room to bash on some other city's fans.

[Thorpe]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Philly fans just bug the fuck out of me. For whatever reason, Eagles fans aren't nearly as bad as Phillies fans.

With a comment like that I just laugh when I read anything else you write about the Phillies.

Originally Posted by Akileese

Or perhaps I could bring up the World Series against Toronto?

What are you going to bring up about it? Toronto was hands down the better team. They had seven members of the American League All stars game on their team and were the defending champions. The Phillies were a rag-tag team that played their asses off to get there. That year was the most fun I've ever had watching a baseball season. That team had so much energy it wasn't even funny.

Talk shit all you want about this years Phillies. The team had 48 come-from-behind wins and was the best offense in the NL the entire season, not just September. If it wasn't for our shit ass bullpen, not to mention all the injuries we had, we would have been the clear leader of the division long before the last week of the season. If you want to enjoy the playoffs, watch the Phillies. They are a hell of a ball team with a lot of energy.

[pivot]

Philly is just a horrible city.

Also, lol Mets.

[Burkex]

Can we make a MLB postseason thread.

[Cadrid]

Originally Posted by Akileese

I've ragged on JD Drew a lot, but if he comes on in October and stays hots, then I hope Boston fans have enough pride to cheer him (they seemed to calm down a bit since Varitek literally plead to fans to stop booing him all the time).

As frustrating as it was to watch Drew he certainly showed his true colors during inter-league play. This kind of experience will give him an edge once Boston gets to the World Series, and hopefully allows JD to earn his stripes (and some respect from an oft-virulent Boston crowd).

[Algol Devilstar]

Originally Posted by kegkilla

mets fans are greasy pieces of trash from jersey and i could give a fuck how "blue collar" they are- they waltz into our park and are apparently far too dumb to realize they are walking into a shit show and go cry to security whenever someone trash talks them or pours a beer on their kids' head. man the fuck up mets pussies or stay on your own landfill toxic waste infested grounds.

and lets not forget how those dickless pieces of shit decided to postpone a game at shey earlier in the season for "rain" when not a single drop of rain fell from the sky. whatever really happened was the fightin phils were on the warpath and they knew damn well they were about to get steamrolled in that trashcan they call a stadium and ending up getting a cheap win on the exhausted phils on the late side of double header.

i would have a few choice words about your accusation of "worst franchise in baseball history" but considering you chose the rockies to beat jake peavy tomorrow i get the impression that you don't know dick and you are likely a bed wetting, met-loving freakshow.

Wow, did he just type this mess? This reads like a child molester's confession. Yuck.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Kaxmax

A Boston fan complaining about another team's fanbase is delicious irony. Red Sox/Pats fans are without a doubt the most obnoxious in sports, that's not even a debatable point. It's bad enough that the biggest Boston homer of them all (Bill Simmons) is writing articles trying to convince himself that the new 'Red Sox Nation' is actually a good thing.

Uhh, he hates the new nation. Despite what it looks like, just take it as fact. As far as Sox/Pats fans being more obnoxious than Philly fans, it's not close, but Yankee fans are worse. Most of them point out shit that they weren't even alive to see and have a sense of accomplishment for it. They cling to history and tradition because their current teams are not teams but rather collections that can't win a championship.

Also, if Boston signs gay-rod, I'm denouncing my team much like I've denounced religion. I won't root for another team, I'll just stop caring. I'd rather they resign Lowell for 2-3 and let A-Rod go to Baltimore (something thats been floating around, but it's obvious he's bolting out of NY) or Anaheim. He's not worth the clubhouse poison that he is.

[Duppin]

Originally Posted by Algol Devilstar

Wow, did he just type this mess? This reads like a child molester's confession. Yuck.

That's just how they talk...

IN KILLADELPHIA

[Neferata]

This Padres/Rockies game looks like it's going to be pretty intense.

Jesus god I love baseball. Especially playoff baseball. Regardless of what ends up happening with my team I still love it. I look forward to October every year and it makes me giddy like a school girl. Baseball is just the superior sport in so many ways.

I just had to get that off my chest.

[Kaxmax]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Uhh, he hates the new nation. Despite what it looks like, just take it as fact. As far as Sox/Pats fans being more obnoxious than Philly fans, it's not close, but Yankee fans are worse. Most of them point out shit that they weren't even alive to see and have a sense of accomplishment for it. They cling to history and tradition because their current teams are not teams but rather collections that can't win a championship.

See, here's a shining example of how obnoxious Sox fans have become. You win one fucking world series in what, 90 years, and suddenly your team is god's gift to baseball? The Yankees have won 4 series in the past 15 years, and lost 2 others. Unless you're arguing with teenagers I'd say they're old enough to have a sense of accomplishment for their team.

Jesus, get some perspective. Post 'curse' your team has won the exact same number of WS's as the lowly Phillies: 1. The Yankees in that time frame: 26, if I remember correctly.

Now I need a shower for defending the Yankees.

[kegkilla]

and thats exactly whats wrong with sox fans now. an OG sox fan would never have brought up world series wins in an attempt to bash another team. up until recently their fans didn't need a world series ring to flaunt support for their team or to talk shit to the yankees they did it out of pride for their team much like the way we've been doing it for years in philly. sure we will boo the shit out of our players when they fuck up its called tough love. now the sox fans are one in the same with yank fans just a bunch of bandwagon riding goobers the only difference is the logo on the hat. yanks buy their championships? so did you, fuck heads, they just got a lot more for their money.

[Akileese]

Originally Posted by Kaxmax

See, here's a shining example of how obnoxious Sox fans have become. You win one fucking world series in what, 90 years, and suddenly your team is god's gift to baseball? The Yankees have won 4 series in the past 15 years, and lost 2 others. Unless you're arguing with teenagers I'd say they're old enough to have a sense of accomplishment for their team.

Jesus, get some perspective. Post 'curse' your team has won the exact same number of WS's as the lowly Phillies: 1. The Yankees in that time frame: 26, if I remember correctly.

Now I need a shower for defending the Yankees.

Dude...When did I state we were God's gift? The Yankees won a few WS's during baseball's shit time when no one was drawing crowds and talent was down (late 90s was the first time I stopped caring since the sport became so god awful). Now, does that diminish the fact that they won? No but I felt like making that point.

What have they done lately besides get bounced in the playoffs and lose to a Marlins team that overmatched them in every way shape and form? Nothing. I'm getting aggrivated with Boston just spending money like a black rapper, but at least we're spending it on fucking pitching. They just keep trying to get hitter after hitter without a single care for their pitching staff and now it's showing. There's NOTHING in the open market as far as pitching and while Jaba has been solid, there's no telling how effective he'll be pitching every 4 once he goes around the majors once (same for Ian Kennedy). Relying solely on your young pitchers is a huge risk as the Mets have obviously seen.

Boston is in a position where our rotation nucleus (top 4 including Buccholz) is set for the next 5 or 6 years. The Yankees now have to walk into 2008 hoping that Jaba and Kennedy pan out as starters. Oh yeah, How is Clemens working out? Nice to know you're paying him for about 4 million a start.

So am I being a bit condescending in regards to how Yankee management has dealt with their pitching? Definitely. The whole JD Drew thing bothered me more than you can imagine (as well as Gagne). If Gabbard pans out, we have our starting 5 and we can let Schilling walk and save 13 million. If we don't sign Drew, we can platoon Ellsbury/Pena and save another 15 million. Not only that, but we wouldn't be in a position where we're forced to trade Coco Crisp just to make every day room for Ellsbury (something that will happen sooner rather than later). The only positive is Crisp has good value as a solid defensive center fielder. He's also got good speed and he's an average hitter. We could probably get 1 solid prospect for him, but I would of rather not signed Drew based on his potential.

Both teams have made horrible decisions over the years. If I were the Yankees, I'd keep Jaba in the pen. Rivera probably only has 1-2 more years of dominant relief in him and while I don't have access to a prospectus account anymore, I'll guarantee Jaba is worth more wins as a closer than he is as a starter (Paps was the same way). It'll be interesting to see how the Yankees handle this.

[Kaxmax]

How is your rotation set for the next 5-6 years? You have an ace in Beckett, a solid starter in Wakefield, and a whole lot of young guys/question marks. Not much different than the Yankees if you're looking at it objectively.

Buchholz, Gabbard, and Lester are all young (but promising). Dice-K got progressively worse as the season went on, I certainly wouldn't be enthused with that whole situation were I a Sox fan. Schilling is a question mark.

The Yanks have Wang as their ace, Pettite as a solid starter, 3-4 young guys, and question marks in Mussina & Clemens.

Maybe there's something I'm missing, but from an outside observer who dislikes both teams you really don't look all that different. I'd probably give the edge to Boston in terms of bullpens as Papelbon/Okajima will be around a while & the only Yanks reliever I can name is Rivera.

[Akileese]

Dice-K was overworked and there's a good chance Wakefield retires this off-season due to having a bad back for pretty much the whole second half. Once Dice got some rest, he was fine.

Lester is a solid middle rotation guy and once he adjusts to 4 days instead of 5, Daisuke will be a solid number 2. Buccholz is obviously a bit of a question mark as he's mostly unproven, but he's shown good promise. Calling Lester a question mark is pretty absurd at this point. He has about a year of service including last year and he's been a pretty good pitcher. So that leaves Schilling/Wakefield. I've said I felt that Wakefield will retire which means bringing back Schilling is probably a no brainer.