dlk9s

It's all good. Just one of my pet peeves. Still BFF.

Please spell his name correctly.

Yeah - his fastball is looking awfully straight. Really nice one to end the 2nd, though.

Oh, Ryan Braun... http://i.imgur.com/tZZbO.gif

Do you have a GIF for that? http://i.imgur.com/XzlrT.gif

I guess this is pretty exciting.

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3182/tumblrleftkrhjkw1qf8yek.gif

I don't know why that series of events is hard to believe. 1) Suffer injury Sunday night. 2) It hurts, but hope/think it's just a bruise that can be managed. Likely ice it that night/next morning. 3) Test out the hand during an early batting practice, but can't grip the bat properly. 4) Tell manager, see doctor. Sounds pretty normal to me. So you break your primary throwing/writing/eating hand and you would wait nearly 24 hours to get treatment? Not me. Re-read the bolded. Also, if I didn't know it was broken, I'd totally wait a day or two to get treatment. I'd likely ice it on and off and see how much the pain subsides. If, after a day or two, I can't write, grip the steering wheel, etc., then I'd think, "Yeah, maybe it's broken," and see a doctor. Of course, if my hand looks grotesque or otherwise obviously messed up, then sure, I'd see a doctor ASAP. I see absolutely nothing odd about Lucroy waiting until the next day to see how it felt. When he determined he could grip a bat, he saw the doctor. Now, if he was married to my wife, she would've made him go to the emergency room, but she wants to take our kids to the doctor the moment they get the sniffles.

I don't know why that series of events is hard to believe. 1) Suffer injury Sunday night. 2) It hurts, but hope/think it's just a bruise that can be managed. Likely ice it that night/next morning. 3) Test out the hand during an early batting practice, but can't grip the bat properly. 4) Tell manager, see doctor. Sounds pretty normal to me.

I'm going to convince myself that this rash of injuries will turn out like the 2010 Packers' string of bad luck.

He's banned from MLB, not the game. http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7629/7allinthefamilyarchieci.jpg

I think a Hall of Fame deciding to prevent the enshrinement of someone who is banned from the the game makes total sense.

The "other" hand was likely the hand that got hit. That, or it happened as he was sliding his hand out from under the bed. He didn't see it coming?

Even if that's the case (and we don't know that it is, really), their absences create a domino effect that hurts the team. It's pretty obvious that when Estrada had to move into the rotation that the bullpen suffered. Now without him, the best we can reasonably hope for is that his replacement in the rotation can come in and be ok. Sure, maybe Fiers/Peralta/Thornburg/Joe Schmo will be amazing, but realistically, I'm just hoping for a guy who can be a decent #5 starter for now. And the bullpen still sucks.

God bless the internet.

Women.

B.J. Surhoff

Sympathy pains.

Agreed. I posted this in the last IGT, but really, when it comes to the lineup, there's not much RR or even DM can do. Braun and Hart have played to expectations (I'm not looking at projections, just my estimation). Lucroy has exceed expectations. Aoki has been better than expected, too, but he hasn't played enough to really matter imo (looks like he's going to, though). Despite their hot starts, both Gomez and Kottaras are about where we thought they'd be, with Gomez's numbers still maybe a bit high because of his fast start. Then you have Weeks, Morgan, and Ramirez, the three guys surrounding Braun in the lineup most of time, who have totally fallen off a cliff. Nobody could have predicted that steep a drop in production. Then, with season ending injuries to Gonzalez and Gamel, you're forced to play AAA-caliber players in the starting lineup. Even if they were a little better (and I suppose Ish hasn't been too bad, but has to be a platoon player), it would still suck to be starting bench players all season. And now that Ishikawa and Izturis are on the DL, RR is forced to play even more AAA players. And yeah, we're all high on Green, but it's not like he's been all that great so far. So basically, you have the two corner outfielders and starting catcher playing at or above expectations. Everyone else has either forgotten how to hit a baseball or is a AAA-type player who can barely hit a baseball as it is. Sure, some of the problem has to do with DM's construction of the team, but that's really only a couple players at this point. There's only so much the powers that be can do. And that's just the hitters.

http://i.imgur.com/B5IAS.gif

http://i.imgur.com/reDuU.gif

Obviously we miss Prince, but his absence isn't the reason why the lineup is sad (I'll ignore the pitching staff for now). For the most part, it's been a whole lot of unforeseen, and rightly so, issues. While nobody expected Mat Gamel to fill Prince's shoes, at the same time nobody expected Morgan, Weeks, and Ramirez to fall off a cliff. Nobody expect the rash of injuries that would result in players being summoned from the Land O'Lakes league to man positions in the starting lineup. You have Braun and Hart performing to expectations (I'm not looking at ZIPS projections or anything - this is just off the top of my head) and Lucroy exceeding expectations. Aoki is exceeding, as well, but imo he hasn't gotten enough playing time yet to really factor in to the analysis. Kottaras and Gomez started hot, but are basically what we thought they'd be. Everyone else is either just totally failing beyond anyone's worst nightmare or is a AAA player (the latter mostly not by design). DM and RR aren't perfect, but I can't really blame them all that much for the lineup. And Prince's absence isn't good, but had things gone like everybody thought (or at least come reasonably close), it wouldn't be that huge a deal.

You REALLY value BA vs LHP.

I might give my wife a hall pass for him just so I could raise little Braun babies.

True, true.