8/8-8/11 Cheering, Venting and MANNYYYYY

[m16a]

[ayebatter]

Manny.............there can be only one.

[ayebatter]

Saturday, August 11th

AL
New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays
(R) Ivan Nova (10-6) vs. (L) Aaron Laffey (3-2)

Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians
(L) Franklin Morales (3-2) vs. (R) Zach McAllister (4-4)

Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles
(R) Luis Mendoza (5-8) vs. (R) Chris Tillman (5-1)

Oakland Athletics at Chicago White Sox
(L) Travis Blackley (4-3) vs. (L) Francisco Liriano (3-10)

Tampa Bay Rays at Minnesota Twins
(L) David Price (14-4) vs. (R) Nick Blackburn (4-7)

Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers
(R) Justin Verlander (12-7) vs. (L) Derek Holland (7-6)

Seattle Mariners at LA Angels of Anaheim
(R) Hisashi Iwakuma (2-3) vs. (R) Dan Haren (8-8)

NL

Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs
(R) Bronson Arroyo (7-7) vs. (L) Travis Wood (4-8)

Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants
(L) Drew Pomeranz (1-6) vs. (R) Matt Cain (10-5)

San Diego Padres at Pittsburgh Pirates
(R) Jason Marquis (5-6) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (14-3)

St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies
(R) Jake Westbrook (11-8) vs. (L) Cliff Lee (2-6)

Milwaukee Brewers at Houston Astros
(R) Marco Estrada (0-5) vs. (L) Dallas Keuchel (1-4)

Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
(R) Kris Medlen (2-1) vs. (L) Johan Santana (6-7)

Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami Marlins
(R) Joe Blanton (8-9) vs. (R) Ricky Nolasco (8-11)

Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks
(R) Edwin Jackson (6-7) vs. (L) Wade Miley (12-7)

[ensanimal]

Rolling with Hort's mancrush Estrada and Price today. Leaving Holland on the bench against Det. Hoping for big K's and 1 win as we know Estrada can't get one. Cliff Lee laughs at his win total.

[Bwanna]

Probably my best single-day total ever for wins last night:


Woo hoo.

Max was a scary start in Arlington - had him benched up until 5 minutes before game time, then said what the heck... at least I'll get a few Ks. Thanks, Max.

[ayebatter]

Leaving Holland on the bench against Det.

Still in your starting rotation this morning & I'm gonna let Cain get knocked around at home.

[bayside]

So does anyone still want to defend Cliff Lee?
Because this guy has been downright horrible considering his draft cost. Worst "ace" ive ever had the misfortune to own.

Not only did i trade away Strasburg preseason to get the rights to Lee, but i burned the 26th overall pick to keep him. Guess hes packed it in just like the rest of the pathetic phillies team

[GiantsFan14]

It's not hard to defend cliff lee because he's still pretty much the same pitcher he's been since he got good.

3.85 ERA isn't even that bad but it's misleadeding
3.50 FIP
3.20 xFIP
3.19 SIERRA
8.37 K/9
1.62 BB/9
career high GB%
LD% is down

BABIP is up 20 points
HR/FB 5.5% over his career average

he's still an ace. i'm gonna love taking him in the 5th round next year.

[bayside]

if my league counted SIERRA and K/BB then Lee would be awesome.
But it counts ERA and Wins so for a fantasy early 3rd round pitcher, hes sucked.

And im not sure how many of his starts you've had a chance to watch, but seems like part of the reason his BABIP is up (and 20 point is not much at all, hardly even significant) is becasue hes constantly making terrible pitches. Getting ahead of batters and not walking guys, but not finishing them off, and making egregious mistakes inside the strike zone.
Which is may be why his HR rate is nearly double what it has averaged over his past 5 yrs.

I expect his fantasy numbers to improve a bit next yr, but honestly when I watch Lee pitch I see a guy in decline. He doesnt throw hard, hes already getting hit around, and and hes old. Would not be surprised to see Timmy 2.0

[GiantsFan14]

wins are pretty much impossible to predict and ERA contains a lot of luck. pitchers can only control so much and the things Lee does control he does a pretty damn good job of.