How' bout those Expos.....Ahem ...Nationals.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:18 am

The quad injury certainly took a little out of him for the first month so I'll give you that...but what about the last 3 months? I will not deny that he's not a very good player, he's just not worth 12 mil a year...and all the hype he's gotten.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 12:29 pm

And the soon to be rookie of the year keeps on keepin' on.

Jeff Francoeur in 28 games

.382avg 9hr 26rbi 23runs

8 outfield assists (2 behind the league leaders)

Un-freakin-real for a 21 year old. Kinda reminds me of that guy in St. Louis who was a little ridiculous himself as a rookie a few years ago.

Oh yeah...and zero walks in 102 at bats, lol. It's not like the guy is selective at the plate...he can just hit everything. You know...like Vlad. A strike zone from his shoe tops to his chin...gotta love it. Hell, the only reason his OBP is .394 is because he's gotten hit by a few pitches...even he won't swing at those.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 12:51 pm

There must be a stat bug at MLB.com. I swear it has Clemens' ERA at 1.32. That's freaking unbelievable.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 12:52 pm

Francoeur is amazing. I loved it yesterday when he nailed Luis Gonzalez at the plate, not once, but twice.

Last week I thought I was going to see his first walk when he went to a full count, then he managed to get an infield single out of it. In fact, I think he had two infield singles that game.

I thought Francoeur would be good, but I never thought he would start out like this. It's really fun watching this Braves team right now.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:00 pm

DChaps wrote:It's really fun watching this Braves team right now.

They are fun to watch. After more than a decade of rooting against the Braves, I am going to root for them this post season. Bobby Cox deserves another ring. A few weeks ago I was listening to a Pirates' radio broadcast and they had the crowd mic down by the Braves' dugout. You could hear Bobby the whole game encouraging the players. It was funny to hear someone call John Smoltz "kid"...lol.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:03 pm

Leebo33 wrote:A few weeks ago I was listening to a Pirates' radio broadcast and they had the crowd mic down by the Braves' dugout. You could hear Bobby the whole game encouraging the players. It was funny to hear someone call John Smoltz "kid"...lol.

Yeah...but everyone is a kid to you when you're 70 years old. This is Bobby's best season yet. Getting team with 12 rookies on it to the playoffs is ridiculously good. That's also the reason why Andruw should get some MVP consideration even though he will never win it with a .275 average. He carried them single handedly for almost two months...it really has been an amazing season thus far and I really hope the Braves can cash another one in while Bobby is around. It would be a shame if they can't.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:03 pm

Leebo33 wrote:There must be a stat bug at MLB.com. I swear it has Clemens' ERA at 1.32. That's freaking unbelievable.

Yeah, Mike and Mike asked who do you give the NL Cy Young to? My initial thought was Carpenter, who has been amazing. But that ERA for Clemens, and in that hitter-friendly Baby's First Ballpark(tm) they have in Houston...unbelievable. I think the only thing holding me back is his ridiculous Sugar Ray hairstyle

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:07 pm

Yeah...I really think ERA should be the biggest deciding factor in Cy Young voting. Sure, a guy may win 20 games, but if he's getting 5+ runs per game from his team, it's hard not to win 20. Clemens, even though he doesn't have the win total that Carpenter does, is proving that theory correct. His team doesn't score for crap when he's pitching...why should that hurt his chances at the CY? That's my opinion on that matter anyway.

Not to mention the dude is 42 and probably pitching better than he ever has before. It's incredible.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:48 pm

Yeah, Carpenter got hurt by a couple of early season losses where he gave up quite a few runs. His and Clemens numbers are pretty close in all the other categories, except that Carpenter has 4 shutouts.

If the season ended today, I'd probably give it to Clemens. For a starter to give up less than 2 runs per game these days is incredible.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:19 pm

With just over a month to go before the playoffs start, the Eastern & Western division (sorry Colorado) is turning into a thriller in the NL. It'll be interesting to see if San Fran will get that final boost should Bond return anytime soon. Got to pull for the underdog Nats in the eastern divison but I think it'll be between Atlanta & Philly.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:58 pm

I will never bet against HOTlanta.

The NL West is a joke, I don't care who loses the first round match-up out there.

I'm interested in the potential White Sox collapse and the AL Wild Card battle with my Twins finally poking their heads up a little.

As I say that, Shannon Stewart gets hurt catching a Konerko liner. F*ck.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:17 pm

Dave wrote:The NL West is a joke, I don't care who loses the first round match-up out there.

That's the only division in baseball the Braves have a losing record against...so I'm worried about all the sh*tty teams out there.

And the Nationals aren't winning sh*t. If anyone beats the Braves, it's the Phils or the Marlins...the Mets and Nationals belong in the West.

Sully · Post by **Sully** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:00 am

The Phils are dominating the West this year, going 20-7. I'm still waiting for them to fall apart. Being a Phillies fan for so long, I expect failure. We haven't played too well against the East this year, and most of our remaining games are against teams within the division. We do have 7 games left with the Braves.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:42 am

The Twins beat the White Sux for the 4th straight time, this time breaking up Garcia's no-hitter with a solo shot in the 8th, the only run of the game.

The Sux close up their season with something like 14 of their last 17 games against either the Twins or the Indians.

Hard to believe it could be an interesting race in the Central. The Indians are a scary team right now and only 7 back.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:57 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:
Dave wrote:the Mets and Nationals belong in the West.

Why the Mets?

They are only 2 games out of the Wild Card on only 5 1/2 from 1st in the East. Incredible, considering that Beltran has struggled basically all year, Looper has been awfull(so has most of the bullpen), we get no power from 1st base(Anderson/Offerman/Mantkei*** and Pedro has been the only dominant starter for them.

What kills the Mets right now was their 5-10 record in interleague games and their awfull record on the road the 1st half of the season.

The team has started to play better, but the loss of Piazza takes away even more pop in the lineup.

I don't think they'll get in, but to suggest they should be put in the West is ridiculous considering that the Braves haven't been able to pull away completly from them nor any other East team.

BTW, Mets record vs the East is 2nd best behind the Braves.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:24 am

Dave wrote:Hard to believe it could be an interesting race in the Central. The Indians are a scary team right now and only 7 back.

Man, we caught a HUUUGE break in Tampa Bay last night, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, tying run on third, Wickman balked, clear as day, but for some unkown reason the umps didn't call it. Piniella blew his cork, and rightly so.

Next pitch, the batter grounds out, game over.

Hey, we'll take it.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:42 am

lexbur wrote:Man, we caught a HUUUGE break in Tampa Bay last night, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, tying run on third, Wickman balked, clear as day, but for some unkown reason the umps didn't call it. Piniella blew his cork, and rightly so.

Next pitch, the batter grounds out, game over.

Hey, we'll take it.

Lucky SOBs! I was beginning to wonder if umps were cracking down on balks--I've seen more called in the past two weeks than I can remember in the last couple seasons. Most were not very obvious, either.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:49 pm

The Cubs go a cool 1-6 against the Braves this year. Nicely done.

All I know is that I'm glad the Braves beat SD in the finale on Sunday...if they hadn't it would have been the first time in the History of the Braves franchise that they got swept by a National League team for the season. They have gotten swept like 3 times by AL teams, but all after interleague play and all were 3 game series, rather than 6 games or more like the NL always is.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 11:59 pm

This is what it looks like right before a chin-high fastball gets deposited in the left field seats for a walk-off homer.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:08 am

Another close game against Nats tonight. It's getting interesting....

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:18 am

10spro wrote:Another close game against Nats tonight. It's getting interesting....

The Braves bully is a disaster. If they don't get back on track soon, no way in hell they finish off the division...let alone advance in the playoffs. A 7-1 lead choked away. You can't walk 2 guys in with the bases loaded and expect to win very many games.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:32 pm

I was watching that game on TBS. I'm more worried about my beloved Nats.... (well, I've been worried for months now)

I think the injuries deflated our sails a long time ago.....

Our 3 games against the Phils is crucial.... I think it will tell me if the Nats have a shot or not.......

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:40 pm

If Washington doesn't learn how to run the bases soon, they will be in a world of hurt. They basically lost about 4 runs in the series because of baserunning mistakes. I thought I was watching a little league team when it came to station to station baseball.

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:36 pm

Why, whatever do you mean? Such as Vinny Castilla getting doubled off trying to scamper back to first?

Or whomever getting nailed in the run down heading back to third while the other runner was on it? (actually, that may have been the third base coaches fault, as on the replay the dude was almost at home plate himself....)

Yes, they are falling apart. I can only pray that somehow Zimmerman somehow injects some enthusiasm into the team.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 11:52 pm

And for Javi's viewing pleasure:

Andruw Jones:

491 ab .273 avg. 44 hr 110 rbi 80 runs

Carlos Beltran:

468 ab .265 avg. 14 hr 62 rbi 66 runs

Now who's worth 12 mil again?

Oh and one thing I didn't realize...Andruw is a whole day older than Beltran (April 23rd to April 24, 1977). I never knew they were virtually the same age. Everyone made Beltran out to be this young guy coming up that was worth the ridiculous jack, like A-Rod...guess not.