Two thirds of the way through the long baseball season. Teams are starting to get tired and injuries are becoming more of a factor. August is the toughest month to battle through imo. Playoffs are still a long way off. The contenders should start pulling away from the pretenders, good teams that got off to a bad start better suck it up now before it's too late.

Mike Trout is playing like he's the best player in baseball. He's only played 126 as a pro. I thought he'd be good, but didn't expect him to be great this quickly.

you're an avprt whore

Reposting my defense of Melky from the other thread (answer to his 'lucksacking' a high BABIP) cause last week's thread isn't gonna get read any longer

"His 2011 oWAR of 4.7, 201 hits, .305 BA, and 309 TB were pretty solid as well.

Seriously tho, the guy hit .280 as a 21 year old, slumped a bit in his 2nd year which is fully expected at such a young age, then was dealing with being yanked (cwidt?) in and out of the lineup his 3rd season. He then matched his rookie season OPS as a 24 year old. Just as he's prepared to make the progression he then gets dealt to Atlanta in the Javy Vazquez trade and struggles a bit with adjusting to a new league, and playing in a drastically different city. The following year he signs back into the AL with Kansas City, and has his breakout season at the age of 26. The career trajectory doesn't seem that crazy when factoring everything in."

And in terms of his BABIP, while yes, he could be on the lucky side to some degree this year, there is also no doubt that he is hitting the ball way more solidly than he had early in his career as a kid; he went from a career high of 42XBH in his best season to a total of 67 XBH last year, which could reasonably show that he is making different contact with the ball as he matures. "

The A's, Angels, Tigers, and Orioles are all within a half game of eachother.

ESPN Story: The RedSox are only 4 games out of the wild card

what happens if there is a 4-way tie for the two wild card spots

 

Originally Posted by truesyalose

where are all the idiots of OT who blasted me for saying Cueto was a top 10 nl pitcher?

Right here pal

I think this pic sums up 2012 Astros perfectly:

Weaver bra 15-1. 4 hit shutout against one of the hottest teams in baseball against the As on the road. CY Young fav at this point in the AL?

 

Originally Posted by kellykip

Reposting my defense of Melky from the other thread (answer to his 'lucksacking' a high BABIP) cause last week's thread isn't gonna get read any longer

"His 2011 oWAR of 4.7, 201 hits, .305 BA, and 309 TB were pretty solid as well.

Seriously tho, the guy hit .280 as a 21 year old, slumped a bit in his 2nd year which is fully expected at such a young age, then was dealing with being yanked (cwidt?) in and out of the lineup his 3rd season. He then matched his rookie season OPS as a 24 year old. Just as he's prepared to make the progression he then gets dealt to Atlanta in the Javy Vazquez trade and struggles a bit with adjusting to a new league, and playing in a drastically different city. The following year he signs back into the AL with Kansas City, and has his breakout season at the age of 26. The career trajectory doesn't seem that crazy when factoring everything in."

And in terms of his BABIP, while yes, he could be on the lucky side to some degree this year, there is also no doubt that he is hitting the ball way more solidly than he had early in his career as a kid; he went from a career high of 42XBH in his best season to a total of 67 XBH last year, which could reasonably show that he is making different contact with the ball as he matures. "

Melky has gotten much better over the last few years and he has been very lucky this season. I don't see how this is debateable at all; it's just a matter of how much weight you want to put on his skill and luck improvements. Good players can get lucky to appear like great players, average players can get unlucky and appear like they don't belong in the Majors.

well u 2 look a little silly right now and everything I said in the preseason thread looks right on. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

MVP's and ROY's pretty clear cut. Agree with your CY Young's but yea NL is still def. up for grabs, and Price/Verlander, maybe even Sale could still win AL.

Fiers is perfect through 6 against the Reds.

 

Originally Posted by truesyalose

well u 2 look a little silly right now and everything I said in the preseason thread looks right on. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Yeah he's having a great year. Still don't think he's an ace.

yANKEES r fuckin awful right now, bats are just terrible. Granderson is complete shit right now and no one else is any good either. They are looking old as fuck, everyone. I am appalled.

 

Originally Posted by kellykip

lol, now I don't even have to look it up - as soon as krs throws in Verlander, I know he must lead starters in WAR.

He does. He also leads baseball in innings pitched. Felix is a good candidate as well.