MLB 2011 Thread!

[AMT]

No thread for Baseball yet? Sad.
So, my Reds are 4 and 0. Gotta love it!

[Alferd Packer]

Mets beat the Phillies, which is good. But they always do that in April and May. Then, in August and September, the Phillies utterly destroy the Mets.

Also, big thumbs up to that douchecock Phillies fan who caused the interference call. I love how they're just unrepentant assholes.

[AMT]

Mets beat the Phillies, which is good. But they always do that in April and May. Then, in August and September, the Phillies utterly destroy the Mets.

Also, big thumbs up to that douchecock Phillies fan who caused the interference call. I love how they're just unrepentant assholes.

That's pretty much par for the course for Philly though. In every context.

[Darth Fanboy]

While I was displeased with Yesterday's Yankees result I am very satisfied with the Red Sox's performance this year so far, however putting my bias aside they will probably do what the Miami Heat did this year and talent their way out of this slump and get on to competing again, it's just a matter of can the Yankees, and perhaps maybe still the Rays, capitalize to make these games being played now more important come September.

[FSTargetDrone]

That's pretty much par for the course for Philly though. In every context.

Spent much time in the city, have you? Or are you just repeating the lazy and tedious cheapshots about "those fans in Phiily" that generally spews from the mouths of people who know nothing about it? Guess I'll make a crack about the asshats at Dodgers stadium who put that poor EMT (and Giants' fan) into a coma by punching him in the back of he head and how it's reflective of all of LA's fans.

Anyway, the Phillies started the season by sweeping Houston.

[AMT]

That's pretty much par for the course for Philly though. In every context.

Spent much time in the city, have you? Or are you just repeating the lazy and tedious cheapshots about "those fans in Phiily" that generally spews from the mouths of people who know nothing about it? Guess I'll make a crack about the asshats at Dodgers stadium who put that poor EMT (and Giants' fan) into a coma by punching him in the back of he head and how it's reflective of all of LA's fans.

Anyway, the Phillies started the season by sweeping Houston.

The latter mostly.

[FSTargetDrone]

The latter mostly.

At least you're honest.

The Phillies have a big problem in that Utley has started the season on the DL and for the moment the time of his return is uncertain. Hamels fell apart pretty damn fast last night, but hopefully he will not stew over the bad start.

[Darth Fanboy]

That's pretty much par for the course for Philly though. In every context.

Spent much time in the city, have you? Or are you just repeating the lazy and tedious cheapshots about "those fans in Phiily" that generally spews from the mouths of people who know nothing about it? Guess I'll make a crack about the asshats at Dodgers stadium who put that poor EMT (and Giants' fan) into a coma by punching him in the back of he head and how it's reflective of all of LA's fans.

Anyway, the Phillies started the season by sweeping Houston.

Actually the crack about Dodger fans is more accurate than you might think. There are tons of fights whenever wherever I have seen the Dodgers play. Philly fans get their rap because one part of the fanbase embraces it out of spite, a small part actually fit that description like with any other fanbase, and another smaller part fall in to both categories to create what Colin Cowherd would call the typical Philly meatball.

That being said winning the 2008 series seems to have mellowed most of the Philly fan sout that I know, even the ones who lost bets to me in 2009.

[Norade]

Not the biggest fan of baseball ever but I do follow the Bluejays as I'm Canadian and they were doing well when I was growing up and just starting to get into sports. Like most fans of the team I'm happy with the start so far and hope that they can beat the higher spending teams in their division.

[AMT]

Woo, another win for my Reds!
Poor Astros, even when they get ahead 4-0 in the first they can't win. That was a brutal game...

[Darth Fanboy]

Not the biggest fan of baseball ever but I do follow the Bluejays as I'm Canadian and they were doing well when I was growing up and just starting to get into sports. Like most fans of the team I'm happy with the start so far and hope that they can beat the higher spending teams in their division.

They absolutely screwed the Angels on the Vernon Wells deal, which has caused a lot of Angels season seat holders not to renew. Needless to say I am having a lot of fun at Angel fans' expense.

[Ubiquitous]

My Mariners have started just like last year. No hitting, good starting pitching, horrible bullpen and inconsistent defence. This is very much a rebuilding year for us. I hope to see Pineda and Ackley develop this season, and if Michael Saunders can become a league average player that would be nice. And if Justin Smoak can become a 3-4 WAR player [like we expected when we traded Lee for him and other prospects] it would go a long way to solving our offensive woes.

King Felix has been majestic again.

[Darth Fanboy]

Most whales are quite majestic, heh. His pitching is stellar also.

To provide better evidence for my remark on the Dodgers, check out this report in the wake of the stadium beating.

[FSTargetDrone]

Manny Ramierz fails drug test, quits baseball:

Ramirez retires amid drug policy 'issue'

Updated Apr 8, 2011 9:06 PM ET

Manny Ramirez walked away from baseball on Friday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, abruptly ending the mercurial career of one of the most talented — and tainted — hitters to ever play the game.

The slumping Tampa Bay slugger informed Major League Baseball that he would retire rather than face a 100-game suspension. Ramirez served a 50-game ban for violating the drug policy in 2009, and second-time offenders get double that penalty.

''We were obviously surprised when we found out about it today, and hurt by what transpired,'' said Rays vice president Andrew Friedman, who signed Ramirez to a $2 million, one-year contract in the offseason. ''We were cautiously optimistic that he would be able to be a force for us.''

A person familiar with the situation confirmed to The Associated Press that the 12-time All-Star tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the nature of Ramirez's issue with MLB's drug policy was not publicly disclosed.

The commissioner's office announced Ramirez's decision in a statement, but provided few details.

''Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program,'' the statement said. ''Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed.''

MLB said it would have no further comment.

The 38-year-old outfielder-designated hitter with 555 career home runs left the Rays earlier this week to attend to what the team called a family matter. Manager Joe Maddon said Thursday that he expected Ramirez to be available for Friday night's game at Chicago, but he never showed up.

''Of course you're disappointed,'' Maddon said at U.S. Cellular Field. ''But at the end of the day, he has to make up his own mind. It's a choice he has to make.''

Ramirez played in only five games for the Rays, with one hit in 17 at-bats, and flied out as a pinch-hitter Wednesday. He had a strong spring training, then was excused from the last exhibition game for personal reasons.

''It's unfortunate,'' said Tampa Bay outfielder Johnny Damon, who helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year title drought by winning the 2004 World Series, in which Ramirez was the Most Valuable Player.

''I don't know everything that's been brought up. All I know is he's a great teammate and a great player,'' Damon said, when asked specifically about the steroid allegations. ''It's going to be sad not seeing Manny Ramirez ever around a baseball field.''

A schoolboy legend on the streets of New York, Ramirez was selected 13th overall by the Cleveland Indians in the 1991 amateur draft and rose quickly through the minor leagues, with a youthful exuberance and natural charisma that endeared him to just about everyone he met.

He broke into the majors in 1993 and played his first full season the following year, when he finished second to the Royals' Bob Hamlin in voting for Rookie of the Year. He went on to establish himself as one of the game's most feared hitters, adopting a dreadlock hairdo that seemed to mirror his happy-go-lucky demeanor - both on the field and off.

Ramirez signed with the Red Sox as a free agent in December 2000. He helped the long-suffering franchise win the World Series and again in 2007.

''It's sad, man, to see a player with that much talent and with an unbelievable career get him out of the game,'' Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said. ''He got his issues like a lot of people know, but, as a player, I think he did what he was supposed to.''

The Red Sox wearied of those issues, though - Ramirez's erratic behavior, his enigmatic personality - and traded him to the Dodgers in July 2008.

Ramirez instantly became a fan favorite, with ''Mannywood'' signs popped up around town, as he led Los Angeles to the NL West title and a sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the playoffs. The performance earned Ramirez a $45 million, two-year contract.

All that good will fizzled the following May, when Ramirez tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, a banned female fertility drug often used to help mask steroid use.

According to a report in the New York Times later that summer, Ramirez also tested positive for performance-enhancing substances during MLB's anonymous survey testing in 2003.

On Friday came strike three - unofficially - and Ramirez decided he was out.

''I'm shocked,'' said Colorado's Jason Giambi, who has acknowledged taking steroids during his own career. ''He always kind of portrayed that he was out there, but he knew how to hit, man. He was unbelievable when it came to hitting.''

Ramirez's positive test for a banned substance comes as baseball, which has been working hard to put its so-called Steroids Era in the past, has another of its great hitters, Barry Bonds, on trial in San Francisco. Bonds is facing federal charges that he lied to a grand jury in 2003 by denying that he willfully used performance-enhancing drugs.

It also left players and managers across the game with a mix of emotions: baffled that Ramirez would get caught again, angry that baseball is still dealing with the specter of steroid use, and disappointed that another of the game's great players has walked away.

''Once you get caught once, I mean, you're already banged 50 games, why try again?'' said White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, a teammate of Ramirez for a short time last season. ''I mean, it's a little stupid, but I guess he made his own choices. Now he's got to live with them.''

''Might have been running out of bullets,'' added Phillies manger Charlie Manuel, who worked with Ramirez in Cleveland. ''Father Time was catching up to him.''

The Rays, who were winless through their first six games, had hoped that Ramirez could add some pop to a lineup that lost several key pieces off last year's AL East champions. After all, he'll finish as a .312 hitter with 13 seasons of 100-plus RBIs and 14th on the career home run list.

And quite possibly an asterisk next to all those numbers.

''Major League Baseball, they're all after those people. They don't play around. They let the players know how tough they're going to be,'' White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. ''They say, 'We'll be checking you guys, we'll be monitoring all this stuff.'

''People think Major League Baseball plays around because they have a past,'' the outspoken Guillen added. ''If you get caught, you should be punished, because now we know for the last five or six years they're after this. Any players who do that are taking a risk, a big one, because they even check me. I'm not even playing. I'm glad they're after this.''

Still, Guillen acknowledged that Ramirez was one of the game's great hitters.

He led the American League with a .349 batting average in 2002, finished second the next year, and had an AL-best 43 home runs in 2004. He made more than $200 million during his playing career, a testament both to his hitting prowess and to the fact that fans would fill ballparks just to see him perform.

Then there was the other side of Manny - his lackadaisical nature, particularly on defense and the base paths, that rubbed some managers and teammates the wrong way.

Ramirez flied out four times in his MLB debut in 1993. In his second game, he hit two homers and nearly had a third - a long drive at Yankee Stadium bounced over the left-field fence for a double. Trouble was, Ramirez had his head down and assumed it was a home run, so he trotted past second base and was nearing third when his cackling teammates finally stopped him.

It was simply Manny being Manny.

''He didn't take life too seriously,'' said Yankees catcher Russell Martin, who was with Ramirez on the Dodgers in 2009 and '10. ''I feel like some fans live and die with the game. He just didn't take it to that level.''

The question now is whether his drug use will forever shame him.

Damon refused to discuss whether Ramirez's reputation has been tainted, instead choosing to focus on his performance on the field. They were teammates on the Red Sox from 2002-05.

''It's unfortunate,'' Damon said. ''I don't know everything that's been brought up. All I know is he's a great teammate and a great player.''

Texas manager Ron Washington offered a more somber assessment of Ramirez's career.

''Until the past couple of years, I thought he was on his way to the Hall of Fame,'' Washington said. ''I don't think many guys got as many big hits in their careers as he has. There weren't many guys who had as big an effect on a game as he had.''

''You hate to see greatness all of a sudden just fade.''

AP Sports Writers Andrew Seligman in Chicago, Howard Ulman in Boston, David Ginsburg in Baltimore, Tom Withers in Pittsburgh, and AP freelance writer Amy Jinkner-Lloyd in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Good riddance.

[CaptHawkeye]

But now who is going to play the comic relief in the MLB?

[That NOS Guy]

But now who is going to play the comic relief in the MLB?

Brian Wilson. You may now shudder.

[Qwerty 42]

I've been looking forward to the season ever since the Lee signing was announced, and so far everyone's lived up to expectations, more or less. Nice to see Hamels have a nice bounceback game, hopefully that'll keep the trolls on WIP under the bridge for a while. I'm not really comfortable with how much money the Phillies are spending, and I recognize why this isn't really good for baseball, so I'm pledging to not complain at all this season here and on the other forums I post on.

The minor leagues have also looked really good. Jarred Cosart, Trevor May, Joe Savery, and Jonathan Singleton have all played well for Clearwater. Harold Garcia, who could contend for a bench job in the relatively near future, is hitting .313 for Reading, and Domonic Brown has started swinging again in extended Spring Training and will join Lehigh Valley when healthy. I'm really excited for the Clearwater bunch to get up, since it should about coincide with the end of the careers of Halladay and Oswalt.

[RedImperator]

Man, I can't believe I completely forgot to troll Fanboy after the Cliff Lee deal.

[Darth Fanboy]

I'm not so worried about not getting Lee, we need a bullpen more than starting pitching so long as AJ gets back into form. What I'm pissed about is not getting Crawford.

[CaptHawkeye]

The Jays are second in American League East while the Orioles begin a slow but inevitable downward trend to the bottom. Vice versa for the Yankees. Jesus whatever happened to Earl Weaver?

[General Trelane (Retired)]

Saw him the other night at this roadside bar, I was walking in and he was walking out. We went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks, but all he kept talking about was glory days, well they'll pass you by, glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days, glory days. . .

[CaptHawkeye]

Was he also talking about how much he hated Don Stanhouse?

[AMT]

What... the... fuck...

Red's Pitcher Mike Leake arrested on shoplifting charges

I... I just don't get it.

[Norade]

Looks like the Jays have started the yearly death spiral already...

[AMT]

Looks like the Jays have started the yearly death spiral already...

Could be worse. Could be the Red Sox.