Tuesday Morning Relievers: Retreat, Rebuild, and Reclaim

We're back for our second edition of "TMR," where we do our best to recap the teams we love and the stories that captivated us the most in this week of baseball.

MLB 2010 Preview: Expansion Era

For our 2010 MLB preview, we're lumping teams into the eras we feel they most resemble. This will cause our rankings to look more like Power Rankings than Divisional rankings, but, like most things at LCB, I wouldn't take any of it too literally. Enjoy, comment, critique, lambast.

Cal Ripken's Number Stolen

In the shadows of Camden Yards, the aluminum number eight, a monument to the ironman Cal Ripken, was stolen. The police apprehended three men for the crime: Matthew Rayner, Jason Stoneberner, and Patrick Reynolds.

However, surveillance tapes reveal that their ring leader is still on the run and may be dangerously hungry. Below, LCB has posted a picture of this criminal in an effort to aid local authorities. If you or anyone you know has any information on his whereabouts, then please call The Baltimore Sun at 1-800-TROGGLE.

AL East All-Stars

In a season where the Rays have emerged as a title contender, relegating the once-powerful Yankees to third place, the Red Sox have the division lead at the break. It should be a tight race, as New York probably will not go away quietly. Boston should get Ortiz back soon, and the major question will be can Tampa stay in the race? Toronto and Baltimore have looked good in stretches, but look for both of them to fold in the second half.....Without further ado, the AL East All-Stars.

Starters:

C- Dionar Navarro, Tampa Bay. (.310, 4 HR, 35 RBI, 76 Hits, 25 R)
1B- Kevin Youkilis, Boston ( .314, 15 HR, 63 RBI, 103 Hits, 56 R)
2B- Dustin Pedroia, Boston (.314, 9 HR, 47 RBI, 124 Hits, 67 R, 9 SB)
3B- Alex Rodriquez, New York (.312, 19 HR, 53 RBI, 87 Hits, 53 R, 13 SB)
SS- Derek Jeter, New York ( .284, 5 HR, 42 RBI, 100 Hits, 52 R, 5 SB)
OF- Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay ( .270, 8 HR, 47 RBI, 99 Hits, 62 R, 23 SB)
OF- Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston ( .269, 5 HR, 27 RBI, 87 Hits, 60 R, 35 SB)
OF- J.D.Drew, Boston( .302, 17 HR, 55 RBI, 84 Hits, 63 R)
DH- Aubrey Huff, Baltimore( .284, 18 HR, 59 RBI, 99 Hits, 53 R)

Six of the nine position players made the actual Mid-Season classic. Navarro has hit over .300 all season, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Youkilis and Pedroia have been hit machines for the BoSox. Arod has still hit 19 HR's despite injuries, as he barely gets the nod over potential rookie of the year Evan Longoria. Jeter has had sort of a down year, but the other SS's in the division are pretty weak. Ellsbury leads the league in steals, while Drew has been huge with Ortiz out with an injury. Carl Crawford finally gets to play for a winning team, and if he hits for a higher average in the second half, Tampa Bay will be dangerous. One suprise here is Huffzilla, who has been a steady run producer in Bmore.

SP- Roy Halladay, Toronto (11-6, 2.71 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 121 K's, 7 CG)
SP- Jon Lester, Boston ( 7-3, 3.38 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 82 K's, 2 SHO)
SP- James Shields, Tampa Bay( 7-6, 3.83 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 100 K's, 3 CG)
SP- Mike Mussina, New York ( 11-6, 3.61 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 68 K's)
SP- Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay (7-5, 3.04 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 91 K's)
RP- Mariano Rivera, New York ( 4 Wins, 23 Saves, 50 K's, 1.06 ERA, 0.64 WHIP)
RP- Jonathan Papelbon, Boston ( 3 Wins, 28 Saves, 51 K's, 2.43 ERA, 0.96 WHIP)
RP- George Sherril, Baltimore ( 2 Wins, 28 Saves, 43 K's, 4.08 ERA, 1.41 WHIP)

Halladay is a warrior, and is truly a throwback with 7 complete games in an era where pitchers simply do not go deep into games anymore. Lester pitched a classic no-hitter against the Royals, and apparently I'm pretty stupid for dropping him from my fantasy team. Mussina has been a suprise in the Big Apple, and Kazmir and Shields have been studs for Tampa Bay. Shields pitches a lot better than he fights, as evidenced by this clip:

There are some very good closers in the division, as Rivera and Papelbon are among baseball's best. Sherrill has faded a little, but still is at the top of the league in saves.

Bench:
Ramon Hernandez, C, Baltimore
Jason Giambi, 1B, New York
Brian Roberts, 2B, Baltimore
Jason Bartlett,SS, Tampa Bay
Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay
B.J. Upton, OF, Tampa Bay
Johnny Damon, OF, New York
Manny Ramirez, OF, Boston
Daisuke Matzuzaka, SP, Boston
Josh Beckett, SP, Boston
Dan Wheeler, RP, Tampa Bay
B.J.Ryan, RP, Toronto
Shaun Marcum, SP, Toronto
Jesse Litsch, SP, Toronto
Scott Downs, RP, Toronto

This is where it gets a little difficult, specificly with the quotas of each team getting a certain number of team members. All of Toronto's East all-stars are pitchers, as they have generated little to no offense. Litsch and Marcum have had solid years behind Halladay in the rotation. Beckett has not been as good as last year, but should pick it up in the second half. Wheeler has been very good for the Rays as the main set-up man.

Up next, the AL Central All-Stars, where I will try to table my hatred for the White Sox and be as objective as possible.

Massholes visit Camden Yards

This is a nice follow-up to the Yankee-Red Sox fight I posted a couple weeks ago. So as we all know the O's are playing decent baseball with a terribly young (ed note: minus melvin,b-rob, and millar) but talented team. They recently swept the Sox in a nice little 2 game series. This brings us back to the video that I found on Stet Sports of a brawl at Camden between 2 O's fans and 2 massholes. Look for the always fashionable bright red Ortiz t-shirt jersey.








There are 2 conclusions I made while watching this video.

1. Massholes fight everywhere they go
2. O's fans our buying into the hype and actually outnumbering Sox fans, atleast in this section of the stadium ( Everytime I have been to a Sox or Yankees VS O's game, the Baltimore fans have been outnumered). Whatever the reason it is a nice sight, last season it was depressing to see the stands at Camden Yards.

I wonder what the O's fan could have said to piss this masshole off, any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

Narcoleptics, dippers, and felons

I don't know how many of you play fantasy baseball on Yahoo!, but I do and throughout this season I have noticed a couple of terrible photos. Here a few that I have noticed while rummaging for hr's, rbi, and saves. First of all, is none other than Adam Jones. Is he narcoleptic, sleepy, stoned, or just blinded by the light.
Then there is Johnny Gomes, who looks as if once the game ended he left the stadium without changing out of his uni and pulled a furcal and got arrested driving drunk.
Next up is George Sherrill, I think he should give Kevin Mench his hat size back.

Last but not least, is Nick Johnson, who was unaware that half horseshoe dips dont help make the best shot. The last thing, i dont know if any of you know, but do they give them more than chance for the photo. Or is it one and done.