Baseball Thread VI

Interesting story in that A -rod attributed some of his success today to " Sweet Lou" who was at A-Rod's house till 3 am last night talking to him about playing in NY. A Rod termed Lou his "angel from the sky"

 

And last I checked ranked third in AL balloting for the All-Star Game, behind Varitek and Pudge. But like Mark Grudzielanek, I'm sure he's going to be picked by Guillen for it.

 

I'm pretty sure almost everyone Guillen picks will be better than the players voted in to start. And speaking of Guillen's picks, how many Sox do you think he'll take? Crede, Thome and Buerhle are locks, Dye, Konerko and either Contreras or Garcia are strong contenders. Iguchi should get consideration too. He's certainly better than Cano.

 

that has to be unprecedented. as unbelievable as the twins have been playing, they're not even in the wildcard race. i can't wait until the twins, sox and tigers start playing each other again so we can see who the frauds are and who will stay in the race. my money is on the twins being the frauds (and i'm a twins fan) and the other two staying in the race.

 

ChiSox-Tigers after the All-Star break will be huge. If you're a Twins fan, whom do you root for?

 

Cano is on the DL with a hamstring tear. Even if he's voted in, he won't be playing.

 

Look - Mauer should be an all-star and his batting average is huge but lets not get carried away with the man-love.

Compare Mauer to the NL batting leader Nomar Garciaparra who has 10 HR (Mauer 5). a .590 SLG (Mauer .533) and 47 RBI (37 for Mauer) along with 46 runs (41 for Mauer).

And Nomar was hurt for weeks (58 games played so far compared to 68 for Mauer). Give me Nomar's .362 over Mauer's .389 (as of this morning) ten out of ten times

 

Seriously, lou lou, how can you knock a guy who after today's 2-for-3 is hitting .392? ;D

 

A man who likes stats. Very noble.

But Nomar is a former batting champion. He's moved to 1st base now. Very little strain physically, or mentally.

Mauer is a catcher, who has a thousand times more responsibility mentally, not to mention the physical strain of squatting under 10 pounds of gear. I think Mauer's .392 is more impressive in this instance than Nomar's .362.

 

Joe Mauer in June - .448 BA / 16 R / 1 HR / 12 RBI / 1.129

Dan Johnson in June .373 BA / 11 R / 4 HR / 16 RBI / 1.099 OPS

David Wright in June .354 BA / 20 R / 10 HR / 29 RBI / 1.144 OPS

Mauer is hot right now but just a bit hotter than Dan Johnson and a bit LESS than David Wright (who is better than A-Rod)

Oh and Mauer is also 6'5" - so you think he'd be able to handle that catching gear. Oh and at 6'5" he better learn to hit home runs (Carlton Fisk laughs at Mauer's 5 HR). The league already has one Jason Kendall.

 

Damn, Lou, you beat me to the David Wright June stats comparison.

Not to mention, Mauer plays half his games in a climate controlled building on a surface that resembles a billiards table.

 

But say they split the series, then it really doesn't help the Indians or Twins below.