2006 MLB Playoffs

[Captain Japan]

The difference is they can all play a reasonable amount of defense. Matsui is only passible at that at best and with little to no arm.

This is completely true. He can't run. He can't really throw (though in comparison to Damon he has a canon). But for some reason his lack of defense never gets mentioned.

I don't think they'd unload Matsui - at least not for a few years. They'd dump Sheffield before that would happen. And I think next year Sheff will be the guy to go since they have to swallow Abreu's $15 mill. Even Steinbrenner has his limits.

[canman]

I was watching ESPN and they had their baseball tonight crew on and according to them its a done deal that Daisuke Matsuzaka is headed to the Yankees. I was a little surprised by that, but then I got to thinking, what if Matsui can't come back from the wrist or isn't the same type hitter. They will need someone to keep all the Japanese reporters and the money from Japan pouring in, who better than Matsuzaka. He is young at 26, got a good fastball and has wanted to go the the States for two years now. We could see the end to Matsui's reign in left sooner that thought. But I agree that Sheffield will be gone before Matsui, Abreau is a much better fit for the Yanks. Less steriod rage in the club house.

[Gilligan]

While Matsui is certainly not gold glove material, I don't think he's a defensive liability -- I mean he's not Manny Ramirez by any stretch of the imagination. And while his arm isn't strong, he makes up for it by getting rid of the ball faster than the vast majority of outfielders.

As for the Japanese money, I don't really think that that enters into the equation, for 3 reasons. First, money generated from international interests other than stadium advertising goes through MLB and is distributed to all MLB teams. Second, even if the Yankees get a little extra from Japanese advertisers, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what they get from the YES deal and other revenue sources. Third, the Yankees weren't too concerned about money issues BEFORE they got Matsui, so why would that change now?

That will absolutely suck if the Yankees get Matsuzaka -- but it would be all the more reason to keep Matsui around to help him adjust (playing well for a major league team is one thing, playing well for the Yankees is something completely different -- just ask Jose Contreras and friends). And it makes sense that they would go after him because they'll probably get more for their money than they would if they signed Zito or Schmidt.

[Gilligan]

Splitting in New York today and facing a hurting Randy Johnson tomorrow, the Tigers definitely have a shot at stealing the series. Not that I'd want to put any money on it happening, but they do have a shot.

(Matsui went 3 for 4 with a run scored)

[Captain Japan]

(Matsui went 3 for 4 with a run scored)

I wasn't dumping on Matsui necessarily. It's just that I think his defense really isn't so hot. He's certainly one those guys I'd want at the plate with the game on the line.

Kenny Rogers got bombed in his last start. And the Yankees didn't seem bothered by Robertson (also a lefty) in Game 1. If he can keep it together the Tigers have a great shot.

Bonderman's ankle is bad but I'd feel more comfortable with him going instead of Rogers or Robertson. But I'm not Jim Leyland.

[Gilligan]

I wasn't dumping on Matsui necessarily.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you or anyone else was; I was just passing that info along.

[Greji]

I was watching ESPN and they had their baseball tonight crew on and according to them its a done deal that Daisuke Matsuzaka is headed to the Yankees. I was a little surprised by that, but then I got to thinking, what if Matsui can't come back from the wrist or isn't the same type hitter. They will need someone to keep all the Japanese reporters and the money from Japan pouring in, who better than Matsuzaka. He is young at 26, got a good fastball and has wanted to go the the States for two years now. We could see the end to Matsui's reign in left sooner that thought. But I agree that Sheffield will be gone before Matsui, Abreau is a much better fit for the Yanks. Less steriod rage in the club house.

I don't know if that is a done deal or not! Coming from their announcers, I'd have to rate that as assisted speculation at best. Just like everyone hates the giants here, they still have the largest fan base and the Yankees are no different. Everyone hates them, but they're always the team you want to be on and the team to beat. Also, everybody in Japan has been centered on the Yankees since Babe Ruth came to visit. Any other team is an "also ran"! So these ESPNers might be getting the "frantic""He's got to go to the Yankees" feed from Japan. Japan doesn't like to lose their stars from baseball, but if they must, their ego demands they go to the best!

The problem is whether or not Matsuzaka can go. I would argue that his fastball is not that good, but it is setup nicely by his outstanding breaking stuff, which helps his loss of speed (very pronounced over the last couple of years). He has two medical problems. One is his shoulder which the idiot "Golden Boy" almost ruined during the Sydney Olympics, by not pulling Matsuzaka in the game where he injuried his shoulder and than starting him in a game after that, to aggrivate the injury, which occasionally reoccurs to this date. Nagashima (don't start me on him) said in a press conference later that it was "Shoganai", you know, "kuninotame". The other problem is that he tends to swing between highs and very low days at times, which certain pro-staffers claim is attributable to his acute diabetic condition. Bad cases of this are tough on pro atheletes with their schedules and it is even what drove Hoshino out of his managerial position with Hanshin. I am not saying Daichan couldn't throw in the states, nor that he couldn't win, but it will be tough on him and a big jump that he cannot wait to long to make, because it would be his last career move.

[Captain Japan]

I don't know if that is a done deal or not! Coming from their announcers, I'd have to rate that as assisted speculation at best.

The Lions would have to post him, placing him on the market. So I don't see how it is a done deal. I imagine there are quite a few teams that would bid for him. For example, if the Mets lose in the Zito sweepstakes I would bet that they would be serious contenders.

[Greji]

The Lions would have to post him, placing him on the market. So I don't see how it is a done deal. I imagine there are quite a few teams that would bid for him. For example, if the Mets lose in the Zito sweepstakes I would bet that they would be serious contenders.

That's right. They just lost two didn't they! Does it look like Pedro will really be back?

[GuyJean]

WooHoo!.. 3-day weekend, Yanks-Tigers on TV in an hour.. My stomach content from scrambled eggs, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, salsa, a fluffy piece of toast, home-brewed coffee with a drop of vanilla extract, and a glass of 7-11 OJ.. the sun is shining.. The sky is blue and douched from the typhoon.. Life is good.. All I need is a blowjob before the first pitch..

GJ

[GuyJean]

Kenny is PUMPED!!.. The Yanks look like deer caught in headlights..

GJ

[Greji]

All I need is a blowjob before the first pitch..GJ

Don't waste it all on the first games. It's going to be a long post season!

[Blah Pete]

Go A's. First time in a while they didn't choke in the first round.
Bring on the Tigers.

The New York who????

[GuyJean]

Whao!!..

Yanks pitcher dies as his plane crashes into building
http://www.newsday.com/am-plane1012,0,225622.story?coll=ny-arts-headlines&track=mostemailedlink

Yankees pitcher and registered pilot Cory Lidle was believed to be aboard the small plane that crashed into a Manhattan apartment today, Yankees officials said, in an incident that killed at least two people and trapped others on higher floors.

GJ

[Captain Japan]

Lidle used to play for the A's, and he just pitched that last game against the Tigers. I'd expect to see some kind of memorial before Game 2 tonight. The first thing I thought about when I saw that come over Yahoo! was Thurman Munson...
[img]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2235&stc=1&d=1160603903][/img]
Thurman Munson's final hour
NY Daily News

CANTON, Ohio - Six hundred feet short of the runway and decades before his time, Thurman Lee Munson died a quarter of a century ago in the fiery wreckage of a blue pinstriped jet. He was 32 years old.

Munson was not planning to fly that day. He was not even going to keep the jet, a $1.4 million Cessna Citation he'd bought three weeks earlier so he could spend more time with his family. It was too powerful, too sophisticated, too much plane for him. "People who know anything about flying and aviation knew this was nuts," Diana Munson says.

She is sitting in a booth in a Bob Evans restaurant, drinking an ice tea, talking about the catcher who was the Yankee captain, the scruffy and gruff and squat-bodied anchor of back-to-back world championship clubs, and about the man of much more enduring achievement, the husband who made sure he gave his children tenderness and love, because his own childhood included neither.

Thurman Munson made a series of fatal mistakes in the last moments of his life; so says the accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board. He was also a hero in the last moments of his life, says Jerry Anderson, who survived the crash and believes he owes his life to Munson's poise and tenacity....more...

The first Yahoo! story I read wasn't sure Lidle was on the plane but now it seems he was.

[kamome]

I was only a couple of blocks away and walking along 1st Avenue when the airplane hit the building. From my vantage point, I couldn't see the airplane, but I saw the mushrooming fireball and heard the explosion. I took some photos of the burning building also (will upload when I figure out how to work my new camera). Very scary and sad as hell. Everyone on the street had a deja vu moment with 9/11. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I found out it was Cory Lidle behind the controls.

Even freakier: my plan was to go into that very building today to view an available apartment. By chance, the traffic was too heavy to get to the building so we changed our plans and headed to a different building to look at apartments. The plane hit right when we left the other building. Had we not changed our plans, I would have been on the 25th floor at the time of the collision.

[GuyJean]

Even freakier: my plan was to go into that very building today to view an available apartment. By chance, the traffic was too heavy to get to the building so we changed our plans and headed to a different building to look at apartments. The plane hit right when we left the other building. Had we not changed our plans, I would have been on the 25th floor at the time of the collision.

Holy shit, man!.. Maybe you shouldn't move.

GJ

[Greji]

I would have been on the 25th floor at the time of the collision.

Wow, that was close! BTW bird, what are you doing in the big apple? That's even farther away from Kamiyacho than LA!

[kamome]

Wow, that was close! BTW bird, what are you doing in the big apple? That's even farther away from Kamiyacho than LA!

I've been living/working here for more than a year! Didn't you know that gulls and pigeons are cousins?

[IkemenTommy]

More of like a classic dead F gaijin story.

[Greji]

I've been living/working here for more than a year! Didn't you know that gulls and pigeons are cousins?

Well, I don't sup'ose you'd know the difference on a yakitori stick! If you keep movin in that direction, you're going to have to come into Tokyo through the Gobi desert!

[GuyJean]

A-Rod's Plane Over-Runs CA Runway
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4658882

An airplane carrying Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez ran off a runway in Burbank, California Friday.

Officials say there were no injuries and that everyone, including A-Rod, is ok.

GJ

[kamome]

Well, I don't sup'ose you'd know the difference on a yakitori stick! If you keep movin in that direction, you're going to have to come into Tokyo through the Gobi desert!

Yeah, maybe I'll hit London, then Frankfurt, Moscow, Shanghai and Tokyo in succession. That would be an interesting career.

[Captain Japan]

[Captain Japan]

Game 1 of the World Series is about to start. Taguchi is in left for the Cards. I hope the Tigers slaughter 'em.

Cardinals' Taguchi gets first start of postseason
AP

DETROIT (AP) -- So Taguchi, 4-for-4 in the postseason with a pair of big hits off the bench, was scheduled to get his first start for the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of the World Series on Saturday night.

Rookie Chris Duncan was the designated hitter. He was 1-for-8 in the NLCS, the lone hit a pinch homer in Game 5 that ended a 2-for-25 slump.

Taguchi hit a go-ahead homer off Mets closer Billy Wagner in Game 2 of the NL championship series and hit a two-run double in a 4-2 Game 6 loss. He hit .266 in 316 at-bats this season, but was used mostly as a reserve after Duncan and Preston Wilson settled into a platoon in left field in August.

As expected, Detroit used Sean Casey as its designated hitter -- putting him in the lineup for the first time since he injured his left calf in the AL championship series opener at Oakland. Manager Jim Leyland said Casey would also be the DH in Game 2.

Casey was traded from Pittsburgh to the Tigers on July 31. A three-time All-Star and career .302 hitter, he made his major league debut in 1997 and hadn't played in the postseason until this year.

"If everything looks OK, he will play first on Tuesday (at St. Louis)," Leyland said.

[GuyJean]

Taguchi is in left for the Cards.

.. He's their hottest hitter]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/18453abc4cb4aa9.jpg[/img]

GJ

[Greji]

[quote="GuyJean"].. He's their hottest hitter]

As usual, GJ, ya gotta it wrong again. The New Gas House Gang is going to murderlate the Detroit Pussies!

[GuyJean]

As usual, GJ, ya gotta it wrong again. The New Gas House Gang is going to murderlate the Detroit Pussies!

We'll see.. So far, the week off looks like it really hurt the Tiger's momentum..

GJ

[Greji]

We'll see.. So far, the week off looks like it really hurt the Tiger's momentum..

GJ

Tigers, niyaaauuuu!

Cardinals 7 -2!

[canman]

What a gutsy performance. I know they will probably lose, but he has really changed my mind about his pitching. What is up with NHK's broadcast? Half the time I can't hear what Rick Sutclifffe is saying. Get your volume under control. We don't need to hear so much of the fans etc. It was like last night Japanese game on NTV, the volume of the fans and those damn Oenda people was driving me crazy. I switched to BS and listened to the game on subchannel with no commentary, it was great.