a700hitter

The O's lineup is more formidable than the Yanks or Tampa. Their starting pitching is mediocre, but their middle relief is better than most teams. Our strength has been feasting on bullpens. The O's pen has beat us the last 2 games.

I think LOL! I think Doji is right at a much higher percentage. He does often get a little too enthusiastic when a prospect is still playing T-Ball but he doesn't project these guys as stars. He usually projects them as contributors. His evaluation of Nava was pretty much right on with regard to hitting. He might have underestimated his power just a bit, and I don't think he projected his fielding versatility. I for one thought it much more probable that he would be pumping gas this summer that very ably handling RF and 1B in a pennant drive.

It's time to stop feeding the ego of that smug idiot Showalter and stop this embarrassment of the O's continuing to eat our lunch every September. Showalter is in my top two on my list of baseball idiots. He managed to get fired or quit as Yankee manager when they were on the brink of their great run. Joe Torre came in and won 4 championships in 5 years and is likely to go into the HOF. He forced Steinbrener's hand. He acted like a major jackass after the 1995 season. Then Showalter goes to Arizona and builds up their program and gets himself fired after the 2000 season and the DBacks won the championship in 2001. Oriole fans should look forward to him getting fired. I hate the douche. His biggest victory as a manager has been knocking us out of the playoff spot in 2011.

I think that we should be able to sign him for a reasonable contract. He is tainted by the medical report on his hip, and I can't see teams giving him a long term guaranteed contract when he has that condition.

The bunt instead of the steal was a very poor tactical move by the manager and essentially ended any chance of scoring that inning because Drew has really struggled against lefties. He (Farrell) took the bat out of Middlebrooks' hands on a night where he was swinging good. Of course the players win or lose the game on the field. Managers have very few tactical opportunities to affect the outcome of a game. Last night when presented with such an opportunity, Farrell blew, pure and simple. This is not a condemnation of him as a manager. He has done a very good job this season. However, last night, he blew a chance to win the game and he set up failure in that inning. Farrell's strong point is not in game tactical moves, but from what I see he is better than Tito in that regard. You asked how Farrell lost the game. IMO, he blew an opportunity, and managers don't get too any of those.

Rays won. The Rays kept trying to give the game to the Rangers, but they refused to take it.

He did push his luck with Morales and got burned. He didn't run Berry. Instead he bunted taking the bat out of middlebrooks' hands (3 hits tonight) and leaving himself with an unfavorable lefty-lefty matchup with Drew. That is when the manager managed to lose the game... right there.

Johnson blows saves and loses games all over the place, but he gets us 2 nights in a row.

Why is Victorino out of the game?

Rangers with a man on second and no outs in the top of the 12th.

f***ing O's!

Choker Nathan blew save. Rays tied with Rangers in the bottom of the 11th.

I am not quite sure about that strategy. He is a base stealer and by bunting him over we took the bat out of Middlebrooks hands and got an unfavorable lefty-lefty matchup with Drew.

Rays down by a run going to the bottom of the 11th.

He just sort of serves them up there like he is hitting fungoes.

How does Naps hit those high pitches so far?

VA's BF stinks. Jk;)

VA is not online. I suspect that she is watching this game with the lights dimmed, the sound off and some Barry White playing.

I think that they should expand the program for the post season as bad calls can change the trajectory of the playoffs. I am not sold that instant replay is needed in the regular season. I am not sure that it is worth the effort.

They probably got some calls in their favor throughout the season. I'd say that each team probably gets screwed on around the same number of calls over a 162 game span. You can't bitch and moan about a bad call in one game changing the entire trajectory of your season when you play 162 games and probably benefitted from some bad calls.

And yet they still get plenty of stuff wrong. I think that wrong calls are much more crucial and can unfairly impact a season when you only play 16 games. When you play 162 games it is not as crucial as the good and bad calls tend to even out.

I don't think you are a nut. This is a pet peeve issue for a lot of people. The technology has been available for a long time, but the baseball establishment has been resistant to implementing and expanding instant replay precisely for many of the reasons that you have raised. They certainly are taking into consideration the good of the game. If they thought that there would be no negative implications, they would have already expanded replay and had balls and strikes called by a machine. I personally I would rather have every call be correct, but look at other sports. The officiating of basketball is horrendous. In football, you could call holding on every play and pass interference or illegal contact on every other play. In boxing if there is no knock out, it comes down to a beauty contest in the words of George Foreman. Some people would like balls and strikes call by technology, and the technology exists to do it very accurately. In addition to the counter arguments that you have set forth, what happens if the technology goes down in a big game? The umpire would have to call the balls and strikes the old fashion way, how reliable would he be if he hasn't called balls and strikes in 5 years? It would be like asking kids to do math after using a calculator for their entire lives or navigate using a map after years of depending on GPS. The skill would be lost. If this was such a black and white issue, instant replay would already be in place.

If Napoli finishes strong and produces in the post season, he will probably be the better value than Abreu. I can't imagine that Napoli will command a very long term contract with his hip condition.

I don't know if Pedroia has given his opinion on being captain, but my guess is that he probably doesn't want the title. He's loud, brash and he likes to needle the other guys. As a clubhouse guy, he helps keep the other guys loose. He gets them up for games and he makes the ballpark an enjoyable place for his mates. He is a leader by example. That doesn't necessarily translate into being a captain. With Varitek and Yaz, they were also leaders by example and Yaz was by all accounts a cut up and prankster. Neither one had the willingness to deliver a tough but needed message to his mates. If Pedroia is the Captain, I think he would be the same way.

Dempster has had prior success as a reliever and closer. I would not be surprised if he stepped into Workman's role in the play offs.