Re: Baseball 2006
I'll give Bennet the benefit of doubt because of AJ's reputation. Bennet is a wuss too. But AJ had it coming. He then went on to mock Zambrano lol and said he's got issues in his family and that's why he kissed his fingers. Lying moron.
Re: Baseball 2006
I doubt he even saw the slap at the plate. I saw the clip on TV and Barret was clearly on the ground facing the other way when AJ slapped the plate. I think Barret was still not in his senses when he got up and saw AJ coming at him (I think he was going to pick up his helmet). Barret might have thought that AJ was coming to start a fight or something so he threw the punch.
And yesterday's incident was kind of stupid. Why was Zambrano talking to the third base coach? That was AJ's fault, the way he was mocking Zambrano, but he isn't an angel himself. I think hitters should be offended whenver Zambrano gets a strikeout and he pumps his fist emphatically.
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Only a Cubs fan can support what Barrett did, cz pretty much no one else will. If AJ trash talks, so you trash talk back to him, if you want. AJ broke no rule by rail roading into the Catcher at the home plate. Slap or no slap, trash talk or no trash talk, Barrett had no right to punch someone.
In any case, this is what Barrett said later on, "for all the kids out there watching, I apologize for what I did. Grown men aren't supposed to act that way."
EOS.
By the way, Giants took the series 2-1, against A's. Cain threw a one-hit complete shut out. With Schmidt, Morris and Lowry already firing well, having Cain back in the rotation, with his mechanics fixed, means good things for the team. Lets see what Wright does today against the Cards.
Re: Baseball 2006
^ and only a Giants fan can defend Bonds on steriods allegations. 
This is what Michael had to say:
Barrett said Pierzynski had every right to run into him, but added that the White Sox’s catcher – who always seems to be in the middle of wild plays – got up and nudged him after the collision, instead of heading toward his dugout.
For that he deserved that ****ing punch.
No.. he does it every time at the end of the inning. There’s nothing offense about that hitter should be offended of.
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Lets not fabricate lies here. No one defends steroids use. All players who use steroids should be kicked out of baseball. Simple as that.
Barrett acknowledged that he shouldn't have punched AJ, and here we have fans continue to defend it. Shabash!
Anyway, Giants beat St Louis Cardinals yesterday 9-2. Pujols was challanged at every at-bat, and he went 1-for-4 with a double. Bonds went 1-for-3 with a single, an RBI grounder and his 44th walk of the season. Jamey Wright was awesome. Giants' starting rotation is very stable right now, with Schmidt, Lowry, Morris, Wright and Cain. Bullpen is a different story. Benitez is very shaky and doesn't inspire much confidence at all.
Re: Baseball 2006
Well, I am not Michael so hell yeah I support punching to AJ - considering how hateful he is consider in the majors. 
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But AJ was clearly going to pick up his batting helmet and it didn't seem as if he had any intention of starting a fight.
And Faisal, do you think Giants will be interested in Shea Hillenbrand for one of your solid pitchers (obviously not Schimdt or Cain). The Jays really need pitching at this moment and have been rumoured to be shopping around Shea Hillenbrand.
Re: Baseball 2006
^ Offensively, Moises Alou will return from DL at some time late June. Even with him on DL, and Bonds in a protracted slump, Giants offense is doing pretty darn well. Trading Alfonzo for Finley was absolutely the best trade of the year.
I am not sure if adding Shea will solve anything for Giants. Our achilles heel is bullpen. Fortunately for Giants, in their recent series against Houston and A's, Bullpen was not really used all that much and there was enough run support available. Giants definitely overpaid and over-estimated Benitez and I am sure will be looking at the Closer position very carefully. They acquired Morris and Wright during the off-season for a specific reason i.e. to strengthen the starting rotation. And unless Morris implodes completely today or in the next few weeks, I don't think Giants management should re-evaluate their decision to sign him.
Re: Baseball 2006
True. There is a rumour going around about Adam Kennedy coming to Toronto for Shea Hillenbrand but i honeslty do not want that to happen. That struggles of our short stop aren't costing us any games and he can only get better from here on in. There might be chance that the Jays can trade some bullpen arms as in the set-up man Justin Spier but it would take a minor league prospect to pull it together really fast for it to happen in order to take his place as the new set-up guy.
BTW, does anyone wanna start a midseason fantasy baseball league? There hasn't been a fantasy league created in GS this year for either NBA or NHL and there is still a long time till the NFL season starts so there needs to be a league to fill in for that time. Would anyone be interested?
Re: Baseball 2006
Found this article on ESPN. Fairly interesting, actually. The writer has tried to estimate how many home runs Bonds would have hit by now, if he hadn’t taken steroids. Doesn’t mean much and there’s lots of funny math and stuff, but interesting nevertheless. The number is 616 (and counting). He’d still be catching up with Willie Mays (660) by now.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/060512
Enjoy!
Re: Baseball 2006
Don't need to... Bonds on Bonds pulled out :D
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Barrett got 10 match suspension. Good. Any ballplayer who is delusional to think they are there to have a boxing match instead of a ball game should be given a suspension.
Anyway, here is the picture that made 29 ball-clubs happy. For you, Talha - Cheers! 
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So what man? It’s not like I didn’t expect suspension. I still maintain my point of Barret punching AJ. 
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^
Tough break...Really. Albert is likely to be out for several weeks. Cards don't have fire power without him. Edmonds is already on DL, and Rolen hasn't been the same guy for past two years.
On a side note, Cubs became the first team to win the series against Cardinals in a new Busch stadium.
Re: Baseball 2006
Cards' offense seems to be on DL along with Pujols.
Houston is in a slump, and probably are waiting for Rocket to turbo-charge them. They have lost 4 out of last 5 and are 7.5 games behind.
SF Giants are on a winning mode, by taking 4 out of last 5 (including 2 out of 3 from the Eastern Division leader Mets). They are now 3 behind Diamondbacks. With Alou back, even with Bonds not firing, the offense seems stronger. Schmidt pitched a gem yesterday: 16 strike outs by pitching a 126 pitch full game and giving just 1 ER. This includes 3 strikeouts to end 9th, with runners on 2nd and 3rd base and no outs. What an ace!
All in all, life is good.
Re: Baseball 2006
A’s are on a roll, with a ten game winning streak going.
Giants suck, and so badly that it ain’t even funny. And still they are only 2 games behind the division leader and 1 game below 500. Oh, and yes, they still suck. Very inconsistent. 11 runs one day, complete shut out the next. What the heck!
But, the division that is really an eye-opener is NL East. Yes, we are not even half-way through the season, but who’d have expected Atlanta to be at the bottom of the lot, 10 games below 500 and 14+ games behind the division leader.
Re: Baseball 2006
Francisco Liriano is the real deal. 10 K's after 4.1 innings today and no runs allowed. Can this guy win the Cy Young award this season? You bet!
Liriano is 12-2 with a 1.93/0.96
Verlander is 12-4 with a 2.77/1.15 which is relatively mediocre but he's also 1.57/1.05 and 5-0 over his last six...
We may have one of the most exciting RoY races in years in the AL with these two destroying grown men left and right... And with Verlander only eight months older we could be looking at what may be two Hall of Famers beginning their careers.
This is going to be an intriguing rookie pitching season. I swore I've never seen that like that before.
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I know its old news but doesn’t that seem prophetic? The Jays got Jeremy Accardo, who is a solid young pitcher.
Re: Baseball 2006
In a few moments the best series in baseball will begin. Yankees vs Red Sox in 5 games in 4 days. Both teams are dinged up with injuries, and both teams have some dubious pitching. Yanks have added Abreu, and the Sox have added Kinski. Sox are 1.5 games behind, and their season could be make or break right here. The Sox had a day off yesterday and have a reasonably well rested bullpen. The Yanks have used their bullpen heavily, throwing 210 pitches in the last three days.
Let the modernday Roman Games begin at Fenway.