Baseball Talk

[DaBestSpoona]

[dunkin deeznuts]

haha

nice

god...i've always hated roger clemens

[hawkeye]

Way to go Oki:

Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima was honored today as baseball's top setup man in MLB.com's annual This Year in Baseball (TYIB) Awards, as voted on by fans.

Okajima had a minuscule 2.22 ERA in 69 innings of work this season as batters hit just .202 off the rookie lefty. He had 63 strikeouts and just 17 walks in his 66 appearances.

Okajima joins Josh Beckett (top starter), Jonathan Papelbon (top closer), and Clay Buchholz (top performance) as Red Sox TYIB winners for the 2007 season.

Boston.com

Also (I dont think anyone mentioned it when it happened...) Okajima was the 1st Japanese born pitcher to play in the World Series! So, he's got that goin' for him.

[eastcoastrider27]

Nice.

I think people thought that Oki's success was due to batters having never seen him before (which could possibly account for some of his success), but he's got good stuff. He wasn't really this dominant in Japan, but with the help of John Farrell and the development of the "Oki-doke" (split-finger change with screwball-like movement) he's become a great reliever.

Hopefully Oki can continue to adjust to the rigors of the MLB season and maintain his status as one of the best setup men in baseball.

I think the Red Sox realize what they have in Oki and will be very careful with him this season. That's not to say they'll baby him, but rather use him like they did Papelbon at the beginning of last season.

[JFposc]

Yeah I don't think that Oki was a pure first time wonder like, say, Kaz Ishii, one of those pitchers who are only good until the hitters catch onto his style. In fact, with proper rest, I bet Okajima can be as good this year as he was last year.

[dunkin deeznuts]

Yeah I don't think that Oki was a pure first time wonder like, say, Kaz Ishii, one of those pitchers who are only good until the hitters catch onto his style. In fact, with proper rest, I bet Okajima can be as good this year as he was last year.

I'm not sold on him yet. He's got some pretty good stuff but if you compare his first half stats to his second half, the hitters got to him late in the season. this might be due to a few factors (tired from over use....) but he does have a unique windup and pitching style that might fool hitters the first few times but they were definitely starting to catch up to him after the all star game....

G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

Pre-All Star 39 0 2 0 4 0 0 43.1 24 4 4 1 12 37 0.83 0.83 .161

Post-All Star 27 0 1 2 1 0 0 25.2 26 13 13 5 5 26 4.56 1.21 .263

[Chicken]

this pretty much explains the state of baseball right now.

[eastcoastrider27]

I'm not sold on him yet. He's got some pretty good stuff but if you compare his first half stats to his second half, the hitters got to him late in the season. this might be due to a few factors (tired from over use....) but he does have a unique windup and pitching style that might fool hitters the first few times but they were definitely starting to catch up to him after the all star game....

G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

Pre-All Star 39 0 2 0 4 0 0 43.1 24 4 4 1 12 37 0.83 0.83 .161

Post-All Star 27 0 1 2 1 0 0 25.2 26 13 13 5 5 26 4.56 1.21 .263

I really think that Oki's numbers took a dive (although they were still pretty good) in the second half of the season because he was fatigued and not because batters had adjusted to him.

Oki's delivery is unorthodox, but it's not deceptive. The batter can see the ball the whole time. Oki looks downward as he releases the ball, but that shouldn't deceive the batter in any way. It's not like the batters had to make any adjustments to his pitching style.

I bet if you compared the stats of batters that faced Oki multiple times to those who faced him only once, there wouldn't be any difference.

Oki is the beneficiary of a great pitching coach and the development of a great pitch (the oki-doke). I'm sure he'll be just as successful (if not more) this season.

[kwiteaboy]

In other news, the Mariners are giving 4/$48mil (reportedly) to a guy who gave up more runs per nine than strikeouts last season. They're so so so bad at evaluating talent.

Josh Towers would've pitched better for us for a book of postage stamps.

[Chicken]

our downward spiral continues?

matsui crashes his car.

[hawkeye]

interesting that it says "earlier this month" hmm, did they try to sweep it under the rug? I heard they were trying to send him to the Giants earlier this month too...

54 days!!!

[Chicken]

by giants do you mean yomiuri giants?

meh.

[hawkeye]

SF Giants, not going to happen though.

[hawkeye]

cant figure out how to post this in here, so here's the link:

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c39216e887be0116e88dfd0d0003

47 days!

[Chicken]

^ nice tights.

not that i think canseco's a model citizen or anything, but it's hard for me not to believe him when he says there are still a bunch of names missing in that report. (regardless whether they're members of the red sox or not.)

[hawkeye]

Completely agree, this was only the testimony of TWO trainers, there has to be a lot more going on out there.

I dont really see many of the Sox as being guilty though, guys like Donnely and Gagne, I think everyone knew they had done somthing in the past. This summer this guy in Chicago was trying to get in this big argument with me by telling me that Manny and Ortiz were big HGH users, but when you look at the guys that have done it, they were likely coming off of injuries or on the decline and needing a little sumthin sumthin to keep them in the game. Manny is just an idiot savant hitting machine, he gets injured, but just takes himself out of the lineup and there arent real dramatic jumps after he comes back. Ortiz was playing injured all this season and his power numbers went down, but the guy became an on base machine, he just knows how to hit.

The Red Sox I could potentialy see as being potential users are Schilling, Lowell, Varitek and Drew, and those guys seem like they are just too clean cut purists to do something, though, I guess if Pettite did it anyone could have.

[eastcoastrider27]

Completely agree, this was only the testimony of TWO trainers, there has to be a lot more going on out there.

I dont really see many of the Sox as being guilty though, guys like Donnely and Gagne, I think everyone knew they had done somthing in the past. This summer this guy in Chicago was trying to get in this big argument with me by telling me that Manny and Ortiz were big HGH users, but when you look at the guys that have done it, they were likely coming off of injuries or on the decline and needing a little sumthin sumthin to keep them in the game. Manny is just an idiot savant hitting machine, he gets injured, but just takes himself out of the lineup and there arent real dramatic jumps after he comes back. Ortiz was playing injured all this season and his power numbers went down, but the guy became an on base machine, he just knows how to hit.

The Red Sox I could potentialy see as being potential users are Schilling, Lowell, Varitek and Drew, and those guys seem like they are just too clean cut purists to do something, though, I guess if Pettite did it anyone could have.

Well said.

[whatuknowaboutthat]

White Sox!!!!!!

go tribe 2008!!

[hawkeye]

bored looking through old pics, thought Id post:

1916 (Babe Ruth on left)

Philly World Series 1913

Manzanar 1943

[Chicken]

sweet pics. you always seem to have great access to great pics, hawkeye.

[hawkeye]

Anybody see Clemens on 60 Minutes last night? I dunno, he seems pretty guilty, and he sorta flinched at the lie detector question. But how can McNamee prove anything, its his word against Clemens'. Half of me wants to believe him and the other just wants him to come out and be a man about it like Pettite was. Should be interesting if they both go to Congress to testify.

Also, looks like Cashman doesnt really like the new Yankees hierarchy, and this is the last year in his contract, I think he walks at the end of the season.

[Chicken]

i'm afraid to watch the interview. probably won't be following the whole thing too closely. might be too painful.

[Chicken]

The Yankees' Mitchell mess

Some baseball executives wonder whether federal investigators will uncover drug-dispensing trainers and batboys in other cities, in Los Angeles or Kansas City or Boston or Texas or some other place. "You have to figure that there was a Kirk Radomski in just about every clubhouse," a GM said the other day. "It wasn't only in New York."

But so far, the fallout from the Mitchell report is generally confined to New York, where Radomski and Brian McNamee mostly worked. Some friends who are Yankees fans have believed all along in the conspiracy theory that New York got the most scrutiny because George Mitchell is on the board of directors of the Red Sox.

i don't care if this conspiracy is true or not. the result is still the same, regardless. yankees are going to be knee deep in this mess, possibly throughout the season. blehhhhh.

btw, yankees pulled out of the santana deal once again.

[ExileOnMainSt]

i havent been reading up too much on baseball in the past little bit with hockey/football going, but I seem to be the only passionate Detroit Tigers fan on superfuture, so I have to say that assuming the bullpen stays healthy, the Tigers are a top prospect for AL champs in 2008, and they will 100% win their division.

[kunk75]

you're not the only detroit fan. it's just that most detroit residents become homicide victims before proclaiming their love for the tigers.

[hawkeye]

Stolen from Sons of Sam Horn.

A couple of days old, but you get the gist.

[james nicolas]

anyone else on here play baseball?

my season starts in a few weeks

can't wait to start playing games again

[dunkin deeznuts]

santana in white blue and orange looking like a real good possibilty.......

[Chicken]

looks like a done deal.

thank goodness the green monster didn't get bigger than it already is. well, maybe a little too early to say but.

[dunkin deeznuts]

yeah...johans got to ok it though....

liking the mets starting pitching now.....

johan

perez

martinez

maine

(who ever they want to plug in)