Friday, September 10, 2010

SweetSpot Roundup 9/10

By The Common Man and Bill

Austin's Astros 290 Blog: Astros overcome themselves for series win
Austin recounts an ugly win for the 'Stros.

Disciples of Uecker (Brewers):  Axford Takes Center Stage
"Realistically, John Axford has been the closer since June, and there’s no denying that he’s been fantastic. Now, with Hoffman’s quest for 600 over, the the real story in the bullpen is to see if Axford can maintain this excellent story over his next 50 innings and beyond."

Fungoes (Cardinals): Winning division still "realistically" possible for the Cardinals
Based on what the Cards and Reds have done in 2010, Pip argues that the Cards still have a shot.  He's right, of course, but you couldn't get me to put any money down on it.

The View from the Bleachers (Cubs):  Catching Up With the Recently Traded
Daver checks in with some ex-Cubs who have had moved on. 

Dodger Thoughts: A certain kind of torture
Jon Weisman recaps the truly strange debut of 33 year old rookie John Lindsey, who was announced as a pinch-hitter, then called back when the Padres made a pitching change.  Thanks, Joe Torre!

Mets Today: Win Over Nationals
Joe is not terribly impressed by the Mets right now: "It is very encouraging to see that the Buffalo Bisons can beat the Washington Nationals, when they have a couple of “ringers” in the lineup."

Ducksnorts (Padres): Thursday Links
Geoff's got a lot of links, including a bunch of great ones about the death of the Portland Beavers.

Crashburn Alley (Phillies): Brad Lidge Is Effective Again
Of course, he's also injured. "While many Phillies fans roll their eyes at another Lidge-related injury headline, it is worth noting that he has been effective since the beginning of August."

Fire Brand of the American League (Red Sox): Picking Up Ortiz's Option Not Really an Option
Charlie looks at some other options, and at Big Papi's underappreciated, excellent 2010, and concludes that the Sox really need to make David Ortiz $12.5 million richer next year.

Sox Machine (White Sox): Diagramming Mark Teahen's Defense
Holy crap. If you read only one blog post over the next, let's say, three point seven days, besides the one you're reading right now, read this one. Jim spent a metric butt-ton of time coming up with a hilarious flowchart that tells you how Mark Teahen goes about playing D.

The Daily Fungo (Tigers): Here Comes Jim Joyce! (Big Whoop)
Jim Joyce is calling the balls and strikes thrown by Armando Galarraga tonight. Mike determines (quite reasonably, I think) that we really shouldn't care.

Royals Authority: The Next Hidden Gem
Clark notes something really interesting -- all the American League contenders save one have a key, home-grown player drafted in the 5th round or lower. He looks at several candidates to be that guy for the Royals' next contender.

Nick's Twins Blog: In Control
Nick has been very cautiously optimistic, but after the White Sox's loss on Thursday dropped them six games back, he's willing to let down his guard just a bit. Logically, I know Nick is dead on, but it's impossible to shake the memories of the last few years in the AL Central (especially, as Nick notes, the future champ Twins' 5.5 game deficit on this date last season). Hmm.

It's About the Money, Stupid (Yankees): How the HOF Acknowledges PEDs
Jason on a great statement on PEDs and the Hall (as identified by Craig Calcaterra and one of his readers) that appears in a very unlikely place...the Hall itself.

Baseball Time in Arlington (Rangers): Thursday Morning Rangers Notes: "When I Was Seventeen..."
Not immediately seeing the Sinatra reference (though it's certainly been A Very Good Year for the Rangers!), but Joey's got three highly detailed Rangers notes (more like astute observations, really).

No comments: