Jumping off of a rubber warning track is totally the same as jumping off of dirt!

Super Torii!

Close your eyes and imagine this guy at the plate. There is a reason Hunter is batting in the middle of this underwhelming lineup. Picture Boston in town. Those Red Sox fans and their incessant “Let’s go, Red Sox” are making you nuts, but the bases are loaded with two outs and Daiske Matsusaka's losing it. Suddenly, on a 3-2 count, Matsusaka throws a fastball 6 inches wide of the plate.

There it is, a bases loaded walk. The game is tied and the rally monkey is jumping.

Wait, what’s that?

It’s Torii Hunter flailing away and topping it weakly to short.

Rally killed.

“Let’s go, Red Sox.”

#2

Nice.

Today is November 23rd and we already know who is representing the AL next October.

AL East: Sox/Yankees
AL Central:
AL West: Los Halos
Wild Card: Sox/Yankees


exactly what is so interesting about American League ball again?

How do we "know" that? The Blue Jays look pretty strong, and the Red Sox and Yankees both have some giant question marks. If the Twins keep Santana, they'll give Cleveland a run for their money, and Detroit can't be counted out entirely.

Besides, wouldn't you like the Padres to be heavily favored instead of up against three other good teams?

Oh no doubt there will be a battle in the central.
But the Blue Jays have no shot in the East. None.
Maybe somebody steals a the wild card from the East, I'll give you that.
it won't be the Jays.

i'm a huge jays fan, and gotta be honest, they stink.
there were a lot of surprising performances from them this year, and most of them won't be repeated. wells isn't going to return to form; neither is overbay. Marcum will come back down to earth. They're a .500 team. The only team that I could see putting it together to upset the wild card next year is the tigers, if the pitchers all click, which i doubt they will. The NL is quickly closing the gap with the AL--I'd say the two leagues may be even once again going into next year. Certainly the majority of up and coming, exciting young talent seems to be in the NL.

Today is November 23rd and we already know who is representing the AL next October.

AL East: Sox/Yankees
AL Central:
AL West: Los Halos
Wild Card: Sox/Yankees

Right, just like we knew the Mets were going to win the NL East in '07.

Close your eyes and imagine Torii in centerfield. There is a reason Hunter is playing in the middle of this outfield. Picture Boston in town. Those Red Sox fans and their incessant “Let’s go, Red Sox” are making you nuts, but the bases are loaded with two outs top of the 9th and Rodriguez is losing it. Suddenly, on a 3-2 count, Rodriguez throws a fastball down the middle of the plate.

"Crack" goes Big Papi's bat as he smacks the ball toward the right center fence, a grand slam home run to give the Red Sox the lead. The rally monkey looks over to see Papilbon warming in the bullpen and gets a lump in his throat.

But no......you open you eyes to see Torii run full speed toward the outfield fence and leaps above the wall and snags the ball. The crowd roars "Torii Torii Torii".

Angels win.

If they played the game in Japan, it would be Tora! Tora! Tora!

If they played the game in Japan, it would be Tora! Tora! Tora!
*rimshot*

If the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim actually played in Los Angeles it would be Torre! Torre! Torre!

Right, just like we knew the Mets were going to win the NL East in '07.

I know what you're saying, but you're kind of making his point. He didn't argue that pre-season favorites always make the playoffs. He argued that the AL is boring in comparison to the NL.

And lately, in some respects, he's been right because the good teams almost always win in the AL (because they're really very good) whereas the good teams don't always in the NL (because they're not really very good).

To some, that makes the NL more interesting.

I don't totally disagree, philly, but one of the things I love most about baseball is that the second you think you know what's going to happen, the exact opposite thing happens. That's sort of where I was going with the Mets thing.

The AL's had some pretty interesting stuff happen the past couple of seasons...the Yankees storming back from oblivion to make the playoffs in '07, the Indians blowing a 3-1 lead to the Red Sox in the '07 playoffs, the last three AL Central races. And the Red Sox finished in third place last year; it's not like Boston and the Yankees have some sort of impenetrable death grip on the top of the AL East.

To each his own, I guess. The NL had some really great races between some fairly mediocre teams last year. If that's what you're into, it's cool with me.

Right, just like we knew the Mets were going to win the NL East in '07.

The Mets' collapse was historic but it is revisionist history to say they were locks to win the division going into 2007. Look at the rotation they went into the season with: 40+ year-old Glavine as the ace, El Duque coming off a season in which he posted an ERA+ less than 100, Maine who was coming off a season in which his ERA was solid with poor peripherals, Perez who had been bad for 2 years, and a rookie in Pelfrey.

At best, the Mets were slight favorites to win the division.

At best, the Mets were slight favorites to win the division.

Bodog had them as 1-3 favorites to win the division and favorites to win the National League pennant before the season.

Certainly the majority of up and coming, exciting young talent seems to be in the NL.

Top ten players 27 and under by HBT's WS by league:



But how will the NL players fare against Major League competition?

Vaux, I'm usually on your side, but jeez, we're really all THAT jaded? The article is a colloquial storytelling/interest tale. He doesn't cite a number of crappy-ass stats that incorrectly dub Torii as an offensive powerhouse or utterly misinterpret his skills. In fact, he admits exactly the opposite as far as Torii's power goes. He imagines a big game that indicates a personality, and the amazing things Torii has shown he can do on the field and how they would make for some incredible baseball. Have we reached the point where we aren't even allowed to be OPTIMISTIC and romantic about our new acquisitions? Yay, internet.

Pfffft.

it's not like Boston and the Yankees have some sort of impenetrable death grip on the top of the AL East.

I don't know if finishing first and second 9 out of the past 10 seasons is an "impenetrable death grip," but if it's not, it's pretty damn close.

It's either that or two of the other three teams in the division making decisions as if they were being run by, um, a random 8-year-old Eskimo. Present company excluded, of course.

Hmm. Add Pujols, age 27, 32 WS to the NL.

Close your eyes and imagine Torii in centerfield. There is a reason Hunter is playing in the middle of this outfield. Picture Boston in town. Those Red Sox fans and their incessant “Let’s go, Red Sox” are making you nuts, but the bases are loaded with two outs top of the 9th and Rodriguez is losing it. Suddenly, on a 3-2 count, Rodriguez throws a fastball down the middle of the plate.

"Crack" goes Big Papi's bat as he smacks the ball toward the right center fence, a grand slam home run to give the Red Sox the lead. The rally monkey looks over to see Papilbon warming in the bullpen and gets a lump in his throat.

But no......you open you eyes to see Torii run full speed toward the outfield fence and, leaps above the wall and snags the ball because it's an actual wall rather than a flexible plastic bag, he breaks every bone in his body when he slams into it. The crowd roars "Torii Torii Torii" gasps, "Oh, my god, I think he's dead!"

Red Sox still win.

Give the Angels a break! They are just trying to make the AL West more competitive for the next several years.

If they played the game in Japan, it would be Tora! Tora! Tora!
*rimshot*

If the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim actually played in Los Angeles it would be Torre! Torre! Torre!

If next year was 1998 it would be Tory! Torii! Tore!

If they were managed by Sparky Anderson, it would be Torey! Torey! Torey!

#2

Nice.

Yeah, and Julio Lugo leading off for a decent part of the year dragged the Red Sox down.

#25

I'm guessing you didn't care for Vaux' joke?

Well, reading Wok, I got the impression that Lugo did drag the Red Sox down.

But, seriously, the Red Sox won, so Lugo wasn't a bad player in 2007?

I dodn't say that he was a good hitter, but they overcame that obstacle. Whatever. I'm sympathetic to Lassus's point in #17. That's all.

As for Wok, he hates just about all players below his high standards.

Have we reached the point where we aren't even allowed to be OPTIMISTIC and romantic about our new acquisitions?

There's a reason many of us sit alone at the keyboard...

If next year was 1998 it would be Tory! Torii! Tore!

and if the Whigs lost three elections in a row, it would be..

(oh, never mind)

#27

I'm also sympathetic to Lassus' point. I'm actually kinda in favour of that deal.

I still found Vaux and #21 very funny.

He's been in MLB for 3 years now. He's gotten a little publicity too. Could you guys please spell his name right? It's "Papelbon" not "Papilbon". WTF? If you can get the whimsical double i in Torii right you should be able to get that right.

People are confusing him with the papillomavirus.

It's "Papelbon" not "Papilbon".

Then why do they call him Big Papi? Shouldn't it be Big Pape?

Papelbon, Papelbon , Papelbon got it.

Houston Street .....now there's a easy name to spell.

Houston Street .....now there's a easy name to spell.

... but also an easy one to mispronounce.

Houston street is a New York shibboleth.

Not really, Obo, or at least not in the sense that New Yorkers are mispronouncing something. Houston Street is not named for the same guy as Houston, Texas. From Wikipedia:

The street name Houston confuses many people from outside of New York (invariably becoming one of the easiest signs of spotting tourists) because the letters "ou" are pronounced as in the word house, whereas the same letters in the name of the city of Houston, Texas are pronounced like the "u" in huge. This is because Houston Street was named for William Houstoun (a member of the Continental Congress from Georgia - note that the spelling is different), long before the fame of Sam Houston, for whom the city in Texas is named. Some people mistakenly believe that the pronunciation was popularized by the accents of local Jewish immigrants.

and New Yorkers know that SoHo stands for "Sooth of How-ston"

Vaux, I'm usually on your side, but jeez, we're really all THAT jaded?

It was odd, since I think Vaux is a Tigers' fan.

VLMJ: I meant in the sense that it can be used to identify outsiders when _they_ mispronounce it.

Gotcha. And PD Jeter, I've long thought SoHo should be pronounec "SowHow".

He's probably joking, but he spelled Street's name wrong.

The Blue Jays look pretty strong, and the Red Sox and Yankees both have some giant question marks.

There's a lot of uncertainty in any projection, but "giant question marks" is an exaggeration. Both teams can be expected to field very strong lineups (perhaps scoring 850-900 runs) and have above-average pitching. The Blue Jays are good enough to catch either team if they falter, but I have trouble imagining them winning 95+.

If the Twins keep Santana, they'll give Cleveland a run for their money, and Detroit can't be counted out entirely.

The Twins? How? Their offense was pretty weak already, and they just lost Hunter. Unless they have some terrific offensive prospects ready to step in, I just don't see it. They might have a better chance of contending in 2008 if they trade Santana -- because right now they have multiple holes to fill. If they can get somebody to give up three +5 WARP talents, that will more than compensate for the loss of their ace.

Could easily see the Tigers winning again, however. It was the post-World-Series fatigue that did them in this year.