The 7th Inning Stretch a.k.a. MLB 2k7 Season thread (Fantasy baseball included)

General Discussion
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He’s hated by us because he’s a drama queen that can’t seem to go without the spotlight. That, and the fact that he allows the pressure to get to him and fails to produce in the clutch(see the last three playoffs featuring the Astonishing A-Rod). He does seem to be a lot more focused at the plate this year and I’m starting to believe it’s not a corked bat and he really wants to win. But at the end of the day, he’s really a numbers guy. If you read the Sports Illustrated article about him last year, it’s there. The guy can recant his season stats like nothing. He’s too focused on himself when he should be focused on winning WITH the team and not by himself.

But yeah, I think he’s a lot more focused this year. And two stellar pitching performances back to back by Pavano and Dandy Andy. Hopefully Mike(MY BOY!) Mussina won’t fuck it up. Abreu is just too strong. He is the true RBI machine of this Yankee line-up. And look! Melky got a hit! AND it was an RBI no less. AND he’s playing a solid left field. And Kevin Thompson getting 2 RBIs with that nice double. Maybe it was the cold weather after all.

AND HAH!!! Take THAT Linty! Frank Thomas and Vernon Wells go for a combined 1 for 8(no RBIs). And your boy Josh Towers gets tagged up for 3 runs and allows 10 hits.

3-way tie for first already and it’s not even the end of April. Boston/Toronto/NY: The AL East may be the division to watch this year.

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Why can’t you count?

I don’t hate any sports team, not even the Yankees, but I’m so sick of these pussy-ass Yankee fans who pin everything on A-Rod because they don’t know shit about baseball.

Yeah, A-Rod doesn’t want to win–that’s why he left Texas, right? That’s why the best shortstop in baseball moved to third base to accomodate Captain Intangibles–because he didn’t want to win, right? He doesn’t care about winning because he knows his own stats? What the fuck is that shit? Get that new age hippy bullshit the fuck out of here. He can’t go without the spotlight? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU HAVE PLAYING SHORTSTOP, MOTHERFUCKER? Do you think David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez don’t care about their stats? Funny, I think Boston won with them anyway! Go figure! And I love it when nobody ass motherfuckers start trying to psychoanalyze strangers they see on TV. He needs to focus on winning with the team! Instead of by himself! I know because I’ve been in his brain! English, motherfucker, do you speak it? That shit doesn’t even make sense. What the fuck is “winning with the team”? I don’t know if you noticed, but if A-Rod produces, IT HELPS THE TEAM WIN. If he doesn’t produce, in the so-called clutch or otherwise, IT DOESN’T. This is BASEBALL. You don’t get assists at the fucking plate. You can’t throw a chop block for a guy coming around third. You hit the fucking ball, and run. All this fairy tale bullshit needs to stop. I can’t believe these are the same motherfuckers that forgave Giambi for DOING STEROIDS (while making 20 mil a year, by the way–but A-Rod can’t fall short ever because he’s so high paid! Eat a bowl of dicks).

Oh, and here’s some facts about A-Rod’s playoff performance that didn’t come from cattle rectum:

2004: A-Rod hit .421/.476/.737 in the ALDS, and followed that up with .258/.378/.516 in the ALCS. Captain Intangibles, by comparison, hit .316/.350/.526, and followed that up with an abysmal .200./.333/.233. Jeter didn’t even show up, but somehow, a teamwide meltdown turned into the Kill A-Rod-fest, while Jeter, as always, escapes scot-free from any criticism. He also put up a monstrous .409/.480/.773 against the Yankees in the 2000 playoffs, but since nobody else showed up, they lost. Seemed pretty “cluch” then, so did he just forget how to be clutch? Now, he did suck in '05 and '06 for a grand total of 29 at-bats between them. Anybody can suck for a short period of time, just like Jeter did. But get your fucking facts right. Why the fuck to I know more about your team than you do?

Fucking Yankees fans.

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Next year when Cabrera/Bedard/Loewen get one year better, it will TRULY be the division to watch.

This year the Central is just a little bit tougher. Next year it shouldn’t be a contest.

Also I agree with the above poster. I’m much more of a Yankee fan than a Red Sox fan, but fans who hate A-Rod for not showing up in the playoffs is really retarded. They couldn’t beat the Angels because of pitching, or the Tigers, or the Marlins, not because A-rod had a bad average.

His best moment will always be trying to hit Arroyo’s (I think it was him) glove and jarring the ball loose. Then his priceless look when he got called out. That should show he wants to win :smiley:

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There’s your answer. He want’s the glory when he knows the one guy standing in his way is playing Shortstop.

Unfortunately for you, I was one of those fans that didn’t like Giambi since his Oakland days. I always figured the Yankees could do without him. He’s a shitty first baseman.

Ok, so I guess you got me there with 2004. And even then, I was blaming the entire team for dropping the ball on that one. And that was all thanks to Mariano Rivera. He gave up those runs in the 9th and the next 4 games were all down to the pitching staff. 2005 and 2006 were horrible, though. You can’t deny that.

See, but where Jeter lacks in offense, he makes up with defense. Jeter isn’t there to put up astronomical numbers. His job is to get on base and have batters 3, 4, and 5 bring him in.

I’m loving your post, too. At this rate, I’ll keep bashing A-Rod if you’re gonna go nuts about it.

DaFlipMasterIV: The Yankees could’ve beaten the Angels in 2005. We took them all the way to 5 games. That’s a fucking accomplishment compared to 2002 where the Angels pitching just dominated. 2005 wasn’t as hot for Angels pitching. It’s just that the Yankees bullpen and the lack of hitting in the clutch is what brought us down. Let’s not forget A-Rod hacking at everything he saw(Just for you Warpticon).

Against the Tigers: Same scenario. We lost because our pitching couldn’t keep up. Yeah, the Tigers had a shitload of young arms. Our offense just went to sleep after that first game. And even when we got our men on base, shit wouldn’t happen at all.

Against the Marlins(sans A-Rod): I felt that we had that, but Wells back spazzing out on him threw us waaaaaaaay off. And look at what we threw out there on the mound: Jeff Weaver. And adding to that, Juan Pierre just killed us. We couldn’t stop their running game at all. The pitching was good between Beckett and Willis.

And at the end of the day, regardless, if A-Rod wants to win he should get some sort of rally started rather than killing it. He was swinging at shit that shouldn’t even be swung at. Just look at last night’s at-bat in the 8th. He would have normally swung at those sinkers in the dirt. He didn’t. A-Rod was hacking too much rather than taking the walk. I’d rather him take the walk, than go out swinging at something that is impossible to hit.

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A-Rod is human. He has the same tendencies as everyone else, he isn’t a god or anything. He wasn’t getting a lot of breaks, which caused him to force the issue, which resulted in bad hitting.

To give two examples, in poker when you run bad, or take a bad beat, everyone tends to get it back, by playing more hands, and palying irrationally. Most times, it ends bad.

In basketball, when a shooter starts off bad, they tend to make more shots, eventually it’ll turn around, but sometimes it doesn’t, and they end up having a 1-13 day with like 8 points.

I can’t recall the other two series, but I do remember A-Rod hitting the ball pretty hard against Detroit, and getting nowhere. Then he started hacking, then he got dropped to 8th, and he finished off terrible.

The thing with slumps is that eventually all of them go away. In an ALDS, there isn’t as much time as with other sports to break out of that slump. Which is why A-Rod tends to have some pretty bad series. I don’t think it’s something you can just bust out of, which is what makes Baseball playoffs really random. It’s not just about being “clutch” and being cool under pressure, it’s also about getting the breaks. The last couple years, A-Rod hasn’t gotten them. In the 90s, I can’t even begin to imagine how lucky the Yankees have been. They caught a lot of breaks. Nowadays, they are pretty unlucky in the playoffs.

There’s a lot of luck involved in MLB playoffs. It’s what makes it exciting to watch. I don’t think Detroit was any more clutch in the playoffs, their pitchers just managed to heat up. Same with Chicago’s pitching.

I don’t think A-Rod is as unclutch as most people think. If he gets to the playoffs, he will eventually heat up, and you guys will love him again. Just look at Peyton Manning.

Also about A-Rod starting rallies, he hits in a spot where it’s really tough to start rallies. He either keeps them going or he kills it. A cleanup hitter’s job isn’t to start rallies, it’s to clean up the bases, or score yourself with a HR. It’s not to have a .450 OBP so your #6-7 hitters can bring them in.

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…oh man…wait… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Jeter was very bad defensively for a long time. Now, he’s merely slightly below average.

He’s defense is immensely overrated. The Gold Glove award is a joke.

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Haha, you got to it before me. DS, you should do stand up, you’re funny as hell.

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See, but that’s my beef. At that time, he was getting the hits, but with no man on base. So it’s like, yeah, he got out of a semi-funk, but then there’s no man on to drive them home. We left so many men on base that series, it was ridiculous.

That was another thing about A-Rod. He let the pressure get to him. It’s not easy playing in New York. There’s always gonna be pressure. We’re used to winning. This year, he seems to be operating without that pressure and not giving a fuck anymore. He’s serious this year. Which is awesome. The last thing we need is Emo A-Rod swinging the bat. He’s calmer and is taking pitches and sees the ball a lot better than he did last year. I mean seriously, look at his stats from last year. WTF? He finished the season batting around .260 and STILL had a helluva year. Over 30 homeruns and over 110 RBIs.

I would love for this year to be his lucky break. He really DOES deserve it. But fuck, his slumps happen at the worst time of the year: October.

Considering that the Yankees never got the lead in last year’s ALDS, the Tigers didn’t need to be clutch at all. Marcus Thames was just a beast. Their bottom three made our top 5 look like little leaguers.

It’s not a hate for A-Rod from my end. But, it’s a dislike that I have with him. Let your skills do the talking, not your mouth. Nobody cares about what’s going on between you and Jeter(at the time of the events). Just shut up and play ball. And that’s what he seems to be doing this year. He’s gonna have an MVP year. No one in their right mind could even say that A-Rod is not one of the greatest baseball players alive. NO ONE can make that transition from shortstop to 3B easily. Even Cal Ripken Jr. admitted it himself.

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Right. Because I praised him and considered him the greatest shortstop of all time. :rolleyes:

Never said he was God at his position, but he plays it fairly well.

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Defensively A Rod is actually a better Shortstop then Jeter is, that being said its Jeter and there is no way he is changing positions.

If you really want to see why A Rod commited so many errors last year just look at most of his arm angles from the years before and last year.

I have said this for years, this whole A Rod isnt a true yankee thing is fucking stupid. Does he play for the Yankees? Then he is a true Yankee, and I dont want to hear this bs about how he never did anything in the playoffs. Donny baseball didnt either

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No, no he doesnt. You said what he lacks in offense he makes up for in defense, which is funny because it’s actually the other way around.

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If fairly well means average, sure. Jeter was consistently well below average defensively at shortstop for years. He didn’t get back to average until he got a spare shortstop playing with him on the right side of the infield. To talk about him like he’s freaking Ozzie Smith and any offense he provides is just a bonus is the height of delusion.

So, in conclusion, nothing you said here:

Is true at all.

  • Jeter does not lack in offense, and he certainly doesn’t make anything up in defense. he has to be offensively productive to be valuable.
  • He doesn’t get paid 20mil a year to play average defense and get bunt singles. He’s paid that way to be one of the best offensive players at his position in baseball history, which he is, and to hopefully be at least average with the glove.
  • How is hitting .200 “getting on base and having batters 3, 4, and 5 bring him in?” Hint: it’s not. At all.

Also, you beef with A-Rod for getting hits with nobody on base in ‘04. Remind me, does Jeter hit before or after A-Rod? Oh, before, right. So, Jeter (among others) doesn’t get on base, and somehow its’ A-Rod’s fault that he can’t knock him in from the dugout. Right.

Fucking Yankees fans.

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Jeter isnt bad defensively guys, he isnt Ozzie Smith but he isnt Miguel Tejada(who because of injuries isnt a very good defensive SS). Jeter still makes the routine plays and he hustles.

I like Jeter I just dont understand the whole A Rod isnt a true Yankee thing, that has to be the dumbest shit I ever heard.

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But nowhere in my post did I go saying that Jeter is anywhere near Ozzie Smith in terms of defense. I never glorified Jeter as a shortstop because I know there are better shortstops in the league than him. He’s good, but he’s not the greatest.

An error on my part. Game situation where he isn’t hitting, he’ll step up his defense.

See above.

That’s the thing though, I’m referring to him snapping out of the funks at the wrong moment. Everybody is hitting, A-Rod all of sudden got into a funk and just throws away a good opportunity to do some damage.

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Deathsythe come on, last year was A Rods worst year in along time and he still hit .280 with 40 plus hr and 100 plus rbis. Most guys would love to have that season for ONE YEAR, never the less his whole freaking career.

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Oh, I made mention of that in one of the posts(response to DaFlipMasterXV). Anyone would kill for those numbers. I’m just talking about his hitting funks. That’s what worries the most about a guy like A-Rod. Yeah, he did all that in a hitting funk(which is fucking scary), but they never seem to go away come playoff time.

As I said before, he seems to be a lot more focused this year and sees the ball a lot better. When he took that walk in the 8th last night, it was different. He knew where the pitches were going to hit and he didn’t swing at those sinkers like he always did. He’s more relaxed. Which is great. Which explains that monster of a week he’s had already.

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Dude, you said he made up for his offense with his defense. There’s no other way to look at it. You have to be exceptional defensively for that sentence to ever apply.

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man this pitcher for the mariners is gold… felix hernandex i think his name is. 21 years old and shutting down teams… almost no hit the red sox… only gave up one hit it was broken up in the 8th inning and his first outing was good also. I want him on my FANTASY TEAM!!!

I like the media giving arod crap because he was tanning in a public park with his shirt off… New york Media FTW…
Arod is real good… i hate jeter… just cuz jeter is overrated, jeter has a gun on him though

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Did he put up the same numbers as Pudge did when he won the MVP?

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Joe Mauer totally deserved that AL MVP award. For playing a position that normally wouldn’t be able to put up the numbers that he has is just mind-boggling. I disagree about Derek Jeter being overrated though. The guy IMO is the 2nd most valuable SS in all of baseball (1st is Jose Reyes)…i’ll be glad to have Jeter on my fantasy squad any day.