2013 Awards Finalists announced

[BigDDude]

For now, he'll be in pinstripes soon enough


Good Afternoon.

Just better hope he does not turn into another big fat toad.........

 

[$500 Million]

Just better hope he does not turn into another big fat toad.........

RIP Irabu

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

speaking of toads

where's hammer?

 

[$500 Million]

speaking of toads

where's hammer?

He went to a BBQ at Tony Gywnn's house and Gywnn ate him.


Accidentally.

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

He went to a BBQ at Tony Gywnn's house and Gywnn ate him.


Accidentally.

isnt that how atlee hammaker lost an arm?

 

[$500 Million]

isnt that how atlee hammaker lost an arm?

Wasn't that Dave Dravecky?

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

Wasn't that Dave Dravecky?

all italians look alike to me

didnt hammaker snap an elbow throwing a pitch too?

 

[$500 Million]

all italians look alike to me

didnt hammaker snap an elbow throwing a pitch too?

Don't think so, nothing on Wikipedia about that.


Does say he was half Japanese, half German.

Should have named him Axis

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

Don't think so, nothing on Wikipedia about that.


Does say he was half Japanese, half German.

Should have named him Axis

know what I remember about hammaker?

all star game, not sure what year, had to be the 80s

bases loaded, fred lynn up, 2 strikes, he throws a perfect pitch, right down the middle

I mean...right down the middle

called a ball

next pitch, grand slam

 

[BigDDude]

know what I remember about hammaker?

all star game, not sure what year, had to be the 80s

bases loaded, fred lynn up, 2 strikes, he throws a perfect pitch, right down the middle

I mean...right down the middle

called a ball

next pitch, grand slam

Because, this IS all to know of him. Poor guy was a touch soft in the head, in that he never recovered from that one homer. And, you can look it up......


And, he was not an arm breaker like Dravecky. The only other guy I can think of that went Dravecky was a guy named Tony Saunders, late of the Rays.

 

[rokketmn]

When Fidel Castro died, his brother took over. And, since then, he has been working towards letting the better athletes leave to play their sports elsewhere. In fact, there is legislation in the works now that would open Cuba up even further.

Then why the charade of the "defection" if the athlete is allowed to leave?

It still smells of "payola" to me.

 

[rokketmn]

If he does not come into next year as a much more mature young man, then I will be very disappointed. That said, as long as he continues to produce, well, certain things can be overlooked......

...until the production dips....

a la "Manny being Manny". I get it, but some guys "earn" that first by performing and then becoming a diva. Not many come into the game already a diva.

I am all for showing emotion. Just run your ass around the bases and don't stand at the dish admiring long fly balls. Otherwise, I will admire my fastball as it drills you in the ribs.

 

[Brahmsian]

butch hobson and joe kerrigan were bad managers

i dont think Zimmer was a bad manager, I think he ran his starters into the ground in 78 (and I mean position players), but I dont think he sucked as a manager

Zimmer didn't just run his starting pitchers into the ground, he ran his regulars at every position into the ground.
What he did to Carleton Fisk was INEXCUSABLE!

He was too mentally lazy to consider ever changing his starting lineup unless injury left him no choice,
resented any player who had an IQ over 100 and resented other players for no reason at all that I can see.

His big cheeks and apparently very small brain made Bill Lee's nickname for him ("The Gerbil")
an all-time classic!

 

[RedSoxWorrld]

Zimmer didn't just run his starting pitchers into the ground, he ran his regulars at every position into the ground.
What he did to Carleton Fisk was INEXCUSABLE!

He was too mentally lazy to consider ever changing his starting lineup unless injury left him no choice,
resented any player who had an IQ over 100 and resented other players for no reason at all that I can see.

His big cheeks and apparently very small brain made Bill Lee's nickname for him ("The Gerbil")
an all-time classic!

thats what I said, position players

 

[rokketmn]

Because, this IS all to know of him. Poor guy was a touch soft in the head, in that he never recovered from that one homer. And, you can look it up......


And, he was not an arm breaker like Dravecky. The only other guy I can think of that went Dravecky was a guy named Tony Saunders, late of the Rays.

I did look it up. This is from a "Where are they Now" piece done on him 8 years ago.

Unfortunately for Hammaker, injuries could touch him. By the time he toted a 1.70 ERA into the 1983 All-Star Game at Comiskey Park, he had been dealing with shoulder tendinitis for probably his previous three starts. Nevertheless, he agreed to pitch that night, and wound up allowing seven runs in two-thirds of an inning. Fred Lynn tagged him for the first grand slam in All-Star Game history.

To those fans who believe Lynn's slam irreparably ruined Hammaker's psyche, he politely might answer, "Rubbish." Hammaker said his All-Star Game memory is a positive one. That doesn't mean he wasn't aware of those negative perceptions.

"I already knew what people were gonna say," Hammaker said, adding that he put off going on the disabled list because, in essence, he wanted to prove to any doubters that the slam would not affect him.

His first start after the All-Star Game: a complete-game, 4-2 win over the Cubs. His last start of '83: a 14-strikeout, one-walk, 7 2/3-inning outing against Houston. So much for a damaged psyche.

A damaged body, that's another matter. Hammaker missed most of the 1984 season after having arthroscopic surgery on his rotator cuff and enduring bone spurs in his elbow. He missed all of the '86 season because of shoulder problems, surgery on both knees and a debilitating virus.

Hammaker returned in 1987, and had a 10-10 record for the Giants in their NL West-championship season. Of course, some fans remember Hammaker in '87 only for the three-run homer he allowed to the Cardinals' Jose Oquendo in Game 7 of the NLCS in St. Louis' 6-0 romp.

Unlike Lynn's slam, Oquendo's home run hasn't been that easy for Hammaker to accept.
"Now that one was frustrating," is how Hammaker put it.

 

[BigDDude]

Then why the charade of the "defection" if the athlete is allowed to leave?

It still smells of "payola" to me.

Because this has only been happening in the past year or so. Like I said before, it will continue to happen, and be easier to happen, going forward.

 

[BigDDude]

a la "Manny being Manny". I get it, but some guys "earn" that first by performing and then becoming a diva. Not many come into the game already a diva.

I am all for showing emotion. Just run your ass around the bases and don't stand at the dish admiring long fly balls. Otherwise, I will admire my fastball as it drills you in the ribs.

Fair enough. Teams usually need baserunners any way they can get them.

 

[BigDDude]

I did look it up. This is from a "Where are they Now" piece done on him 8 years ago.

Unfortunately for Hammaker, injuries could touch him. By the time he toted a 1.70 ERA into the 1983 All-Star Game at Comiskey Park, he had been dealing with shoulder tendinitis for probably his previous three starts. Nevertheless, he agreed to pitch that night, and wound up allowing seven runs in two-thirds of an inning. Fred Lynn tagged him for the first grand slam in All-Star Game history.

To those fans who believe Lynn's slam irreparably ruined Hammaker's psyche, he politely might answer, "Rubbish." Hammaker said his All-Star Game memory is a positive one. That doesn't mean he wasn't aware of those negative perceptions.

"I already knew what people were gonna say," Hammaker said, adding that he put off going on the disabled list because, in essence, he wanted to prove to any doubters that the slam would not affect him.

His first start after the All-Star Game: a complete-game, 4-2 win over the Cubs. His last start of '83: a 14-strikeout, one-walk, 7 2/3-inning outing against Houston. So much for a damaged psyche.

A damaged body, that's another matter. Hammaker missed most of the 1984 season after having arthroscopic surgery on his rotator cuff and enduring bone spurs in his elbow. He missed all of the '86 season because of shoulder problems, surgery on both knees and a debilitating virus.

Hammaker returned in 1987, and had a 10-10 record for the Giants in their NL West-championship season. Of course, some fans remember Hammaker in '87 only for the three-run homer he allowed to the Cardinals' Jose Oquendo in Game 7 of the NLCS in St. Louis' 6-0 romp.

Unlike Lynn's slam, Oquendo's home run hasn't been that easy for Hammaker to accept.
"Now that one was frustrating," is how Hammaker put it.

My opinion stands corrected then. Like always, with more info comes better understanding...

 

[rokketmn]

Another one:

Cuban right-hander Raicel Iglesias has successfully defected from his country and is currently in Mexico.
The 23-year-old was detained on his first attempt to escape Cuba, but he was successful during his second try, which took place last month. Baseball America's Ben Badler reports that Iglesias will be exempt from international bonus pools and can sign without restrictions once MLB declares him a free agent. Iglesias logged a 1.68 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 20 walks in 53 2/3 innings this past season in Serie Nacional. The 5-foot-11, 165 pounder, who pitched for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, can hit 92-95 mph on the gun and owns a sweeping 76-81 mph breaking ball, according to Badler.

 

[BigDDude]

ESPN's Jim Caple gives this coming offseason "The Onion" treatment. Some of it is pretty funny.

A look inside the Off Base crystal ball. …
Nov. 6: Boston's entire plumbing system is backed up by facial hair clippings clogging the city pipes after Red Sox wives and girlfriends insist that the players finally shave their ridiculously long, bushy and ugly beards.

In a related story, Boston rescinds a three-year contract offer to Mike Napoli after a medical examination reveals the free agent has rabies from the raccoons that had been nesting in his beard.

Nov. 9: New agent Jay-Z announces that free agent Robinson Cano is demanding a $300 million baseball contract as well as a $100 million recording deal. "He'll either sign with the Yankees, the Dodgers or Def Jam Recording," Jay-Z says.
Scott Boras reacts by saying Jay-Z is ruining baseball with his greedy demands.

Nov. 12: Still insisting that they suffer more than anyone else, Red Sox fans point out that they haven't won the World Series at the old Huntington Avenue Grounds for the past 110 years, when they beat the Pirates in 1903. "We haven't won there since before Babe Ruth signed with us," one fan says. "That means we're still suffering through The Curse of the Bambino."
Fans in Cleveland, Houston, Seattle, Milwaukee, San Diego and the north side of Chicago are unconvinced.

Nov. 14: Miguel Cabrera aggravates his strained groin while receiving the MVP award.

Nov. 22: Attempting to replicate Boston's worst-to-first success, the Astros acquire R.A. Dickey, Josh Reddick, Brian Wilson (the pitcher, not the singer), Kenny Rogers (the singer, not the former pitcher), Zach Galifianakis, ZZ Top, Fidel Castro and the cast of "Duck Dynasty."
With this significant addition of talent, Houston goes on to improve its record by 20 victories in 2014 and finishes ahead of the Mariners in the AL West.


Thanksgiving Day: Pirates fans gather and give thanks for the first time in more than two decades.
Meanwhile, in New York, a fully healed Derek Jeter receives the thunderous applause of thousands as the grand marshal of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Shortly afterward, however, Jeter suffers yet another setback when he is trampled by shoppers during the mad rush to enter Macy's for its early opening on Black Friday.
And in Seattle, Felix Hernandez's wife, Sandra, will later experience her own personal Black Friday when she opens her credit card bill for December.

Nov. 29: Christmas shoppers are greeted by the familiar sight of general managers Billy Beane and Andrew Friedman standing next to red kettles outside department stores, ringing bells and asking for donations so they can sign enough players for 2014.

Dec. 1: Catcher David Ross opens his jammed mailbox and finds 372 letters asking for his autograph, along with 210,000 letters from children and teenagers asking him to bring them the new X-box and smart phone for Christmas.

Meanwhile, up at the North Pole, Santa Claus moves Ryan Braun to the "naughty list" for 2013. Baseball moves Alex Rodriguez to the naughty list through 2015.

Dec. 8: The winter meetings open in Orlando with the Angels tossing out the ceremonial first $200 million contract they will come to deeply regret within six months.

Dec. 10: Tea Party Republicans again try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, this time by shutting down Stephen Strasburg.


Dec. 12: Angels owner Arte Moreno gives Cano a blank check, his platinum American Express credit card, the passcode to his offshore bank accounts and complete power of attorney.

Dec. 15: Fozzie Bear loses his job when Michael Wacha replaces him on the Muppets annual Christmas show and delivers such a spectacular performance that even Statler and Waldorf in the balcony give him a standing ovation.

Dec. 23: Baseball announces that A-Rod will be suspended for the entire 12 days of Christmas. The player's lawyers immediately appeal, saying Rodriguez should only have had to sit out the eight days of Hanukkah.

Dec. 24: Torii Hunter's annual delivery of Christmas presents to the poor goes awry when he gets stuck slipping head-first down a chimney, with only his legs visible above the bricks. His assistant, security officer Steve Horgan, raises his arms in either a call for help or a display of seasonal joy.

Christmas Day: After Cubs fans once again receive lumps of coal in their stockings, their parents tell them, "Just wait 'til next year."

Dec. 31: Tens of thousands gather in Times Square to watch the traditional dropping of the New Year's ball, followed by Yasiel Puig picking it up and overthrowing cutoff man Ryan Seacrest.