MY All-Star Teams

This is how I think the teams should look

 

Americal League

 

C- A.Avila (Det)

 

1B- A. Gonzales (BOS)

 

2B- R.Cano (NYY)

 

3B- A.Rodriguez (NYY)

 

SS- A.Cabrera (CLE)

 

LF- C.Granderson (NYY)

 

CF- J.Ellsbury (BOS)

 

RF- J.Bautista (TOR)

 

SP- J.Verlander (DET)

 

BENCH

 

C- A.J. Perzynski (CHW)

 

1B- P.Konerko (CHW), M.Cabrera (DET)

 

2B- H.Kendrick (L.A.A)

 

3B- K.Youkillis (BOS)

 

SS- A.Ramirez (CHW), Y.Escobar (TOR)

 

OF- A.Gordon (K.C), A.Jones (BALT), B.Boesch (DET), M.Joyce (T.B.)

 

DH- D.Ortiz (BOS)

 

PITCHERS

 

Sabathia (NYY)

J.Weaver (LAA)

J.Shields (T.B.)

C.J. Wilson (TEX)

J.Beckett (BOS)

M.Pineda (SEA)

G.Gonzales (OAK)

S.Baker (MIN)

Rivera (NYY)

J.Walden (LAA)

C.Perez (Cle)

A.Crow (K.C)

P.Humber (CHW)

 

 

NATIONAL LEAUGE

 

C- B.MCann (ATL)

 

1B- J.Votto (CIN)

 

2B- R.Weeks (MIL)

 

3B- C.Headley (S.D.)

 

SS- J.Reyes (NYM)

 

LF- R.Braun (MIL)

 

CF- M.Kemp (L.A. D)

 

RF- L. Berkman (ST.L)

 

SP- R.Halladay (PHI)

 

Bench

 

C- Y.Molina (ST.L)

 

1B- P.Fielder (Mil), G.Sanchez (FL)

 

2B- B.Phillips (Cin)

 

3B- C.Jones (ATL)

 

SS- S.Castro (CHI), T. Tulowitzki (Col)

 

OF- H.Pence (HOU), A.MCcutchchen (PIT), J.Upton (ARI), J.Bruce (Cin), D.Stubbs (CIN)

 

Pitchers

C.Lee (Phi)

C.Hamels (PHI)

I.Kennedy (ARI)

C.Kershaw (L.A.D)

T.Lincecum (S.F.)

K.Lohse (ST.L)

J.Jurrjens (ATL)

T.Clippard (WAS)

J.Hanahran (PIT)

B.Wilson (S.F.)

J.J. Putz (ARI)

A.sanchez (FL)

 

Observations and Thoughts

Does Mike Quade even want this job?

Can I jump on the Pirates bandwagon?

If the Twins come back and win the divison, does that say how bad the AL Central is?

Is anyone ever excited for the All-Star Game anymore?

Does Aramis Ramirez have a fear of pulling a hamstring by hustling?

Would Jim Hendry be stupid enough to trade Castro for Hanley Ramirez?

What kind of donut does Hendry love most?

Why is it the people who think racing is boring are the same people who watch soccer and golf?

Am I the only one loves 4th of July cookouts?

Anyone watch the Nba Draft? Boring.

The Interview

Just got a tape of an interview Jim Hendry had with Ryne Sandberg and Mike Quade. Here’s how it played out

 

(Ryne and Mike walk in)

Jim Hendry: Hey guys, ho’s it going. Come in and sit down

Mike Quade: Nice to see you Mr. Hendry

Ryne Sandberg: Jim, hello

Jim: Here have a donut

Mike: oh no no I don’t want to eat any of your donuts

Jim: ah don’t worry I got 5 boxes still

Mike: please Mr. Hendry, no I can’t

Ryne: well I’ll have one

Jim: oh ok well here you Ryne

Ryne: hey glazed donut…thats good Jim!

Jim: alright well I brought you both here so we could all do this interview together. I thought it would be more conveient.

Mike: Thats a great idea Mr. Hendry

Jim: well thank you Mike. 1^st question is…..favorite donut?

Mike:Well Mr. Hendry I like all donuts. I don’t think 1 donut is better than the other. They are all superb.

Jim: hmmm good answer..you Ryne?

Ryne: umm I don’t know. I suppose glazed??

Jim: ok ok….2^nd question….if you ahd to choose between a hot dog or a chili dog what you picking?

Mike: Well I go with the chili dog. Th emore unhealthy the better

Ryne: excuse me but what does this have to do with baseball?

Jim: its important, whats your answer Ryne?

Ryne: uhh a hot dug with mustard

Jim: and???

Ryne: relish?

Jim: hmmmm ok

Mike: weak lol

Jim: you can say that again

Ryne: can we go on please?

Jim: sure sure…ok if there’s a runner on 1^st with 1 out and you put on a steal and he gets thrown out..what do you say to the player??

Mike: hey it’s ok keep your hea dup…lets go boys!

Ryne: I would say run harder you pu**y!!!!

Jim: woah! Ryne calm down now

Ryne: what? No reason why he should be out

Mike: well he may not have good speed

Ryne: then why the hell are we sending him

Jim: Ryne! Please watch the language

Ryne: ok ok sorry

Jim: Mike..you had success last year when you took over for Old Lou, why?

Mike: well it’s because I let the veterans do what they want. I wasn’t going to try to be their boss’

Jim: Ryne how would you handle the veterans

Ryne: like their scum! You play hard or you get splinters on you ass

Mike: Language!

Jim: Yes watch your language come on!

Ryne: sorry I just get fired up!

Jim: speaking of fied up….I’m gonna fire up the oven and bake a ocuple cakes after this

Mike: Mind if I join?

Jim: of course now..ill pop in another rone for you

Mike: Oh boy

Ryne: what the hell is this?

Jim: I love angel food cake

Mike: so do I…so delicious

Ryne: are we gonna talk baseball or not?

Jim: ummm I made my decision..mike the job is yours

Mike: YES!

Ryne: take it..your gonna be managing under a idiot g.m. Anyway

Jim: oh come on Ryne..join us for cake and ice cream

Mike: hey ice cream to!

Jim: whats cake without ice cream?

Ryne: patchetic good bye (slams door)

Mike: attitude problem

Jim: no doubt.. come on mike lets go!

 

Chicago Beatdown

Is anyone expecting the Cubs to actually win a game versus the Yankees? Anyone?

A sucky road trip

The Cubs return home today to face the Brewers. A 2-8 road trip will have the seats looking empty, or taken over by the Brewer fans who will take the

trip down. Even though Baker, Johnson, and Soriano will be off the D.L. In a short time, this is not a good team….at all.

MLB Realignment

Major League Baseball has been talking about doing a possible realignment with their teams. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, so I came up with how I would have it

 

 

1)New York Yankees

2)Boston Red Sox

3)Toronto Blue Jays

4)Baltimore Orioles

5)Washington Nationals

 

1)L.A.Dodgers

2)S.F. Giants

3)Oakland Athletics

4)San Diego Padres

5)Anaheim Angels

 

1)Seattle Mariners

2)Texas Rangers

3)Arizona Diamondback

4)Colorado Rockies

5)Houston Astros

 

1)Chicago Cubs

2)St.Louis Cardinals

3)Milwaukee Brewers

4)Pittsburgh Pirates

5)Cincinnati Reds

 

1)Chicago White Sox

2)Detroit Tigers

3)Minnesota Twins

4)Kansas City Royals

5)Cleveland Indians

 

1)Florida Marlins

2)Tampa Bay Rays

3)Atlanta Braves

4)Philadelphia Phillies

5)New York Mets

We are awful….

Cubs score 5 in the 8th to come back against Philly but lose 7-5. Why do I care? Why do I put myself through this??

What’s there to look forward to? Well here’s some ideas

1)The amazing play of Starlin Castro

2)Marmol’s filthy sliders

3)The 1-2 combo of Wood and Marshall

4)How many times Ramirez and Soriano walk out a grounder

5)The $10 million dollar thief Carlos Pena

6)How much Fukudome will suck the rest of the year

7)If Koyie Hill can hit over .200

8)If Zambrano takes anyone’s head off

9(Dempster’s awful Harry Caray impression

10)Mike Quade looking clueless

11) Darwin Barney over-achieving

12)Marlon Byrd making diving catches

13) the firing of Hendry and Quade?? Please

There’s no hope for this year. It’s a lost cause. Just sit back and enjoy the other teams I suppose.Next year is the year

How the All-Star team would look if I picked the teams

I’ll do this before the All-Star game also

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catcher: A.Avila (Det) 297. 9 hr’s 33 rbi’s

1^st Baseman: Adrian Gonzales (Bos) 336. 12 hr’s 55 rbi’s

2^nd Baseman: Robinson Cano (NYY) .273 12 hr’s 39 rbi’s

3^rd Baseman: Alex Rodriguez (NYY) .276 11 hr’s 34 rbi’s

Shortstop: A.Cabrera (CLE) .302 12 hr’s 42 rbi’s

Left Field: Jose Bautista (TOR) .345 20 hr’s 41 rbi’s

Center Field: Curtis Granderson (NYY) .264 18 hr’s 43 rbi’s

Right Field: Carlos Quinten (CHW) .270 17 hr’s 46 rbi’s

SP: J.Weaver (LAA) 7-4 2.24 E.R.A.

Bench

Catcher:

Matt Wieters (BAL) .270 5hr’s 28 rbi’s

1^st Baseman

Paul Konerko (CHW) .318 15 hr’s 49 rbi’s

Miguel Caberea (DET) .317 13 hr’s 45 rbi’s

2^nd Baseman

Howie Kendrick (LAA) .301 7 hr;s 18 rbi’s

3^rd Baseman

A.Beltre (Texas) .260 12 hr’s 46 rbi’s

Shortstop

Alexi Ramirez (CHW) .298 6 hr’s 33 rbi’s

Y. Escobar (TOR) .286 7 hr’s 24 rbi’s

Outfield

Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS) .310 7 hr’s 32 rbi’s

Alex Gordon (K.City) .284 7 hr’s 33 rbi’s

Matt Joyce (T.Bay) .338 10 hr’s 34 rbi’s

D.Span (Min) .294 2 hr’s 15 rbi’s

DH: David Ortiz (Bos) .326 15 hr’s 36 rbi’s

Pitchers

Justin Verlander (DET) 7-3 2.89 e.r.a.

D.Haren (LAA) 5-4 2.41 e.r.a.

Josh Becket (BOS)t 5-2 2.06 e.r.a.

Alex Ogando (TEX) 7-0 2.10 e.r.a.

M.Rivera (NYY) 16 sav 1.90 e.r.a

K.Farnsworth (T.Bay) 13 sav 1.17 e.r.a.

N. Felzi (Tex) 13 sav 1.21 e.r.a.

C.Perez (Cle) 15 sav 2.70 e.r.a.

D.Pauley (Sea) 4-0 0.99 e.r.a.

A.Crow (K.C.) 2-0 1.47 e.r.a.

G.Gonzales (Oak) 5-4 2.62 e.r.a

C.C. Sabathia (N.Y.Y) 7-4 3.15 e.r.a.

J.Shields (T.Bay) 5-4 2.85 e.r.a.

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Catcher: B.Mcann (Atlanta) .304 7 hr’s 32 rbi’s

1^st Baseman: Joey Votto (Cin) .336 8 hr’s 38 rbi’s

2^nd Baseman: Ricki Weeks (Mil) .275 11 hr’s 26 rbi’s

3^rd Baseman: P.Polanco (Phi) .310 3 hr’s 33 rbi’s

Shortstop: J.Reyes (NYM) .335 1 hr 23 rbi’s

Left Field: Ryan Braun (Mil) .312 13 hr’s 45 rbi’s

Center Field: Matt Kemp (L.A.) .329 18 hr’s 53 rbi’s

Right Field: Jay Bruce (Cin) .297 17 hr’s 47 rbi’s

SP: R. Halladay (Phi) 8-3 2.56 e.r.a.

Bench

Catcher:

Y. Molina (StL) .314 4 hr’s 24 rbi’s

1^st Baseman:

A. Pujols (St.L) .277 14 hr’s 40 rbi’s

P. Fielder (Mil) .301 17 hr’s 55 rbi’s

2^nd Baseman:

Brandon Phillips (Cin) .285 5 hr’s 34 rbi’s

3^rd Baseman:

100. Headley (S.D.) .274 2 hr’s 23 rbi’s

Shortstop:

S.Castro (ChC) .303 1 hr 27 rbi’s

T. Tulowitzki (Col) .264 11 hr;s 40 rbi’s

Outfield:

H. Pence (Hou) .315 8 hr’s 45 rbi’s

A. Eithier (L.A.) .335 5 hr’s 32 rbi’s

50. Berkman (StL) .331 15 hr’s 45 rbi’s

J. Upton (Ari) .272 11 hr’s 30 rbi’s

PITCHERS:

100. Kershaw (LA) 6-3 3.44 e.r.a.

C.Hamles (Phi) 8-2 2.58 e.r.a.

T. Lincecum (S.F.) 5-4 2.85 e.r.a.

1. Kennedy (Ari( 6-2 3.01 e.r.a.

K. Lohse (ST.L) 7-2 2.41 e.r.a.

C. M orton (Pit) 6-2 2.52 e.r.a

A. Sanchez (Fl) 5-1 2.97 e.r.a.

J. jurrjjenz (Atl) 8-2 1.82 e.r.a.

S. Marcum (Mil) 6-2 2.58 e.r.a.

C. Kimbrel (ATL) 18 saves

F. Rodriguez (NY.M) 18 saves

J.J. Putz (Ari) 17 saves

J. Haranhan (Pit) 15 saves

T. Clippard (Wash) 2.52 e.r.a.

 

A Sign Your Not a Manager

After Albert Pujols hit a walk-off home run against the Cubs Saturday, Mike Quade said he “didn’t sleep a wink” after replaying the Pujols home run over and over. Quade said he is “not a believer in walking a guy with 2 outs and nobody on base.” So I guess if Paul Bako was behind Pujols, Quade would still want to pitch to Pujols? Whatever Quade.

Well on Sunday, with the score tied at 2 in the bottom of the tenth, here comes Pujols. No one on base, does Quade remember what happened Saturday and walk Albert? No. Walk off home run again. 4 Home Runs in the series for Albert, and many people now realizing Quade can not manage a major league ball club.

The guy was a Triple A manager for how long? 17 years! And due to the Cubs minor success last year when Quade took over (24-13), Jim Hendry decided to hire him. It was a bad decision then and it’s still looking like a bad decision.

After the loss, Carlos Zambrano, who pitched great, called the Cubs a “Triple-A team” and that “everyone should be embarrassed.” Now Carlos is going to catch some heat for saying that but everything he said is true. The Cubs ARE playing like a Triple-A team, and their play has been embarrassing. It will be interesting to see if Zambrano finds him self in a possible trade. Zambrano has a no-trade clause(who doesn’t on this team?), but with the way the Cubs are going, he just might agree to be traded out of Chicago. Which would be a shame.

Your awful 2011 Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs enter June 2^nd 5^th in the Central with a 23-31 record. They sit 8.5 games back of the Cards and just got swept by the Astros who reside last in the Division. It’s been a painful start for the Cubs with injuries, horrible weather, and just plain bad baseball.

The Cubs have a run differential of -45, which is 3^rd worst in the Majors. Though they rank 2^nd in Batting Average they are 16^th in runs. Their pitching has been horrendous.

Here’s a look at the team

 

Jeff Baker-Currently on the D.L. The lefty killer is batting .367 in 87 at bats. Likely to be traded before the deadline.

 

Reed Johnson-Currently on the D.L. Many people wondered why he was brought back. He has made some great plays in the field and has shown he can hit with a .367 avg in just 80 at bats. Also has a game winning homer. Also will likely be dealt.

 

Luis Montanez- was called up with all these injuries. In just 9 at bats he’s hitting .333. Could see more playing time but we will will see with how Quade decides to go

 

Starlin Castro- The best player on the team and will likely be the only-all star representative. Hitting 313. with 25 RBI’S. Quade has been moving him up and down in th eline up and Castro has done a great job adjusting

 

Marlon Byrd-Currently on the D.L. After having his face shattered while in Boston. Only had 11 RBI’S while being put in the 3 spot. Hitting over .300 so why is he not in the 2 spot??

 

Koskue Fukudome- Are we almost done with him? Hitting .307 but he struggled in May and will keep going down. Only has 7 extra base hits in 137 at-bats and only 5 rbi’s. Just a singles hitter

 

Darwin Barney-Surprise so far. Hitting over .300, shows good patience at the plate and actually hit sthe ball to right field when he needs to. I can’t stop thinking he will be another Ryan Theriot though, and that is not a good thing.

 

Aramis Ramirez-2 home runs. That’s all. 2. For your number 4 hitter. Wtf.

 

Blake DeWitt-Lost the starting job in Spring Training, now getting starting time in left with Soriano on the D.L. Hitting .276 in 58 at-bats. Will likey be dealt at the deadline I feel

 

Alfonso Soriano-Currently on the D.L. With a quad injury. Whoohoo…Leads the team in home runs with 12. Sad thing is combone all the rest of the home runs and they have 27. Soriano has almost half. Ouch! Hitting .271 but only has 6 walks with 49 strikeouts. But this doesn’t surprise you right?

 

Tony Campana-Fans love this guy. He hustles, makes good catches, and he’s a skinny white guy! I can’t stand the way he wears his hat though. Only has played in 12 games yet is tied with Castro for most stolen bases on the team. Ugh

 

Geovany Soto-I give up on him. 2008 will be his career year. Now it’s a matter of can he stay healthy and in shape. Already visited on the D.L. Once and is now hitting just .219

 

Carlos Pena- What does 10 Million dollars buy you? A .214 average with 7 home runs and 24 rbi’s. About what we expected from this guy

Koyie Hill- Guh.. What has to happen for this guy to be off the team? A .213 average with 1 hr and 7 rbi’s is a career year for him.

 

Wellington Castillo- When Soto went on the D.L. To stuff his face full of Twinkies, I figured Castillo would get a majority of starts. Wrong he got 4. Thanks Quade. Or Hendry. Whoever

 

Tyler Colvin- .108 averag in 65 at bats. Yea?! Another David Kelton?

 

Pitchers

 

Sean Marshall- MVP of the pitching staff. A 1.17 E.R.A in 23 IP.

 

Andrew Cashner- Was excited to see this guy pitch. Makes 1 start, a good one, and now he’s on the D.L. Such a Cubbie occurrence

 

Kerry Wood- Why did he leave in the first place? Love this guy. Hope to see him get a ring before he retires, it won’t happen in Chicago

 

Carlos Marmol- Hasn’t gotten a lot of opportunities. Still wild as ever, but still damn good.

 

Matt Garza- 2-4 with a 3.3 E.R.A. Has been a strike out machine so far. Was he worth giving up some top prospects for? I don’t think so

 

Justin Berg-Pitched in 8 games and not to bad. That’s all

 

Jeff Samardzjia- Walks too many guys but you gotta deal with it. Looks like he’s another Farnsworth

 

John Grabow- 4.09 E.R.AA in 22 Ip. Why do we have him?

 

Carlos Zambrano- Bounce back year for this guy. 5-2 with a 4+ E.R.A. Looks absolutely dominant some nights still

 

Jeff Stevens-So good he got DFA’D

 

Randy Wells- 2009 was his only and will be his only good year

 

Marcos Mateo- Please don’t let him near the mound

 

Doug Davis- Can’t you see Jim Hendry waiting to offer him a 2 year deal?

 

Ryan Dempster- A 4-4 record with a 6+ E.R.A?? Good gosh. Leave please

 

James Russel, Casey Coleman, Scott Maine, Rodrigo Lopez—Suck, suck, suck, suck