Thundercats said:

Royals are on another one of their runs. They had that big one last year. I don't see them maintaining it. Their bullpen can only carry them so far. Their starting pitching is much worse this year, and their offense is about the same. A Ventura, Duffy, Guthrie, Volquez, and Vargas rotation is pretty brutal. No real ace, and not even a true number 2 starter either.. Ventura has potential, but that's it at this point.

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I wouldn't be surprised if the Royals finish the month of April with only a couple losses.

this current series..2 more @ Minny
3 vs Oakland
3 vs Minny
4 @ Chicago White Sox
3 @ Cleveland

On the surface our April schedule looks easy as well so hopefully we keep pace.

We play the Royals 19 times. Take care of business against them, and everything will be fine.

UMRules06 said:

We play the Royals 19 times. Take care of business against them, and everything will be fine.

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That's really not true. 13-6 vs. KCR last year and finished 1 game ahead of them for the Division title. 15-4 vs. CLE in 2013, and again finished 1 game up to win Division title.

Head to head records mean squat in the long run.

Or you can say that non head to head matchups mean squat because the Royals and Indians finished much better than us in other games and we still finished 1 game ahead of them because of head to head. It cuts both ways.

Thumb said:

That's really not true. 13-6 vs. KCR last year and finished 1 game ahead of them for the Division title. 15-4 vs. CLE in 2013, and again finished 1 game up to win Division title.

Head to head records mean squat in the long run.

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On the other hand if the Tigers hadn't "taken care of business" vs. the Royals they wouldn't have won the division in 2013 and 2014...the Royals would have.

Thumb said:

That's really not true. 13-6 vs. KCR last year and finished 1 game ahead of them for the Division title. 15-4 vs. CLE in 2013, and again finished 1 game up to win Division title.

Head to head records mean squat in the long run.

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That is exactly why head to head games mean a lot actually. Gives yourself more margin for error against everybody else.

Sorry I posted this without even reading the previous two posts. Wasn't trying to berate the point.

UMRules06 said:

To pinch hit Martinez in the 7th was too early in my opinion (we can differ on that one). Nobody out with the bases loaded, you have to count on your regular guy to AT LEAST hit the ball to the outfield and get a run in that way. Martinez still could have been needed to pinch hit for the pitcher's spot. The second time we had Romine and McCann available. You really feel that much better with either of those two guys up? It sucks that Nick failed so bad, but blame Nick who is supposed to be our everyday third baseman. You can't just pull a guy every time he has a couple of bad at bats.

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Nick batted 259/.306 /.394/ .700 last year so I guess his great OBP was the way to go. I am taking trying to maximizing the situation. We all agree VM is a way better hitter then Nick. If VM slams a single or double there its a tie game or we take the lead. I would much rather take that chance then needed a solo homer from VM to tie the game in the 9th. We can look at numbers and say hey Nick hardly grounded into DP's last year so he at worst may get a run in if he does not K. But his numbers last year as a regular were not alL that great. He still has time but ..

Yes players cost games but when will all of you who never blame the manager look at games when Managers could have put HIS said players in a spot that gives his team the best chance at winning THE GAME.. Like pulling his starter after giving up the second home run.. Or at least after the single before the third homer..

Did anyone notice how fast Cole was yanked yesterday.. It boggles me how so me how some thing a manager does not have a say in out comes of some games..

Thumb said:

Does anyone really care who's in what place 14 days in to the season?

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Well we did only win the division by 1 game last year. So guess every game counts to some extent.

biggunsbob said:

Nick batted 259/.306 /.394/ .700 last year so I guess his great OBP was the way to go. I am taking trying to maximizing the situation. We all agree VM is a way better hitter then Nick. If VM slams a single or double there its a tie game or we take the lead. I would much rather take that chance then needed a solo homer from VM to tie the game in the 9th. We can look at numbers and say hey Nick hardly grounded into DP's last year so he at worst may get a run in if he does not K. But his numbers last year as a regular were not alL that great. He still has time but ..

Yes players cost games but when will all of you who never blame the manager look at games when Managers could have put HIS said players in a spot that gives his team the best chance at winning THE GAME.. Like pulling his starter after giving up the second home run.. Or at least after the single before the third homer..

Did anyone notice how fast Cole was yanked yesterday.. It boggles me how so me how some thing a manager does not have a say in out comes of some games..

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We are just talking about one game here though. Big picture, sure I agree managers have their impact on games. I have never once proclaimed myself to be a Brad Ausmus fan. I just think we need to relax on pushing the auto "it's Brad's fault!" button after every loss, unless the situation truly warrants it. I guess I just don't understand why you weren't spewing venom at Nick for grounding into two double plays in the two biggest at bats of the game? He's a professional hitter, he has to be better than that. He's not out there for his glove by any means..he's supposed to be at least an "average" offensive player.

I don't think Brad's decisions cost us the game at all. His players failed to perform at an acceptable level in crucial situations, and Pittsburgh's guys just played better (Sanchez gave up dingers, Cole didn't).

I don't think Brad's decisions cost us the game at all. His players failed to perform at an acceptable level in crucial situations, and Pittsburgh's guys just played better (Sanchez gave up dingers, Cole didn't).[/QUOTE]

Yesterday during the Yankees/O's game....the guy Girardi picked happened to perform this time. Players gotta make plays.


Down 4-2, New York used a single, a walk and an infield hit to load the bases with two outs. Drew then stepped in for Brett Gardner, who hurt his right wrist in the first inning after being hit by a pitch from Wei-Yin Chen.

"I asked him each at-bat and he said he was OK," manager Joe Girardi said of Gardner. "Then, he came to me the last time and said, `We need a big hit and I don't know how well I can swing."

Girardi summoned Drew, who was 0 for 5 lifetime against Hunter.

"He's not a batter that is used to pinch hitting a lot and he's not used to DHing, so for him it's kind of different," Girardi said.

Drew sent a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right-center -- his second homer in two games and New York's first pinch-hit slam since Jorge Posada did it in 2001 against the Orioles.



I'm more critical at Brad for not pulling Sanchez after the homer to lead off the 7th...or worst case after giving up the hit to the next batter...but not for letting Nick hit.

manchild98 said:

I'm more critical at Brad for not pulling Sanchez after the homer to lead off the 7th...or worst case after giving up the hit to the next batter...but not for letting Nick hit.

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I agree, though I'm not happy Brad doesn't at least tell Nick to wait for his pitch.

Everyone has performed well early on, some well above what they're actually going to do for the season (Gose, Iggy), but Nick still frustrates me. He added some bulk which I'm happy about, but his plate discipline is terrible. First pitch swinging and chasing some terrible pitches. This is the point in his career where he needs other pitchers to say "if I don't throw this guy a strike he'll take the walk", we have plenty of aggressive power guys, Nick needs to be patient and wait for his pitch, then good things will happen for him.

^^ I realize this could be said about most hitters, but he's starting to remind me of Raburn/Boesch at the plate.

biggunsbob said:

Did anyone notice how fast Cole was yanked yesterday.. It boggles me how so me how some thing a manager does not have a say in out comes of some games..

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Cole wasn't "yanked" until he gave up a hit, a walk and then another hit to load the bases...all with no outs.

UMRules06 said:

That is exactly why head to head games mean a lot actually. Gives yourself more margin for error against everybody else.

Sorry I posted this without even reading the previous two posts. Wasn't trying to berate the point.

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I also wasn't trying to make it some kind of giant debate. Most of the others who posted after me missed the point completely. I was referring to where you said "take care of business vs. KCR and everything will be fine".

I was just saying that does not mean everything will be fine, after all, Minny took care of business vs. us last year (9-10 vs, the Twins), and still finished in last place. It could be argued they were more important than KCR as a vs. series, if we had done to them what we did to all the other division rivals we might have won the division by 5 games.

Thumb said:

I also wasn't trying to make it some kind of giant debate. Most of the others who posted after me missed the point completely. I was referring to where you said "take care of business vs. KCR and everything will be fine".

I was just saying that does not mean everything will be fine, after all, Minny took care of business vs. us last year (9-10 vs, the Twins), and still finished in last place. It could be argued they were more important than KCR as a vs. series, if we had done to them what we did to all the other division rivals we might have won the division by 5 games.

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Okay I understand what you mean. However we are operating under the assumption that both the Tigers and Royals will be competing for the division title this season. Minnesota was under no such delusions last season (everyone knew they were garbage and they still are), which is why the statement "take care of business against the Tigers and everything will be fine" would not apply to them

I think you were just taking what I said too literally. Yes obviously we need to perform against other teams, but the most important games are against the division rivals (in my opinion). We beat up on the Royals and we will be in a good position thats all I was saying.