2007 Toronto Blue Jays regular season thread

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:40 am

Whoa, it's $14.95 a month for MLB.tv or $89.95 for the whole thing. The baseball season is 6 months. MLB does not give you any sort of discount for buying the whole thing at once, in fact, it's 25 cents MORE expensive.

What a bunch of desperate, greedy fucks. Welcome to baseball 2007!

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:17 pm

Idiot douchebag Bill Simmons predicts the following "bust years":

Bust years from Eric Gagne, Frank Thomas, Carl Pavano, Jim Thome, Corey Patterson, Huston Street, Rich Harden (who should never, EVER be trusted), Rocco Baldelli (ditto), Gary Matthews Jr., Kenny Rogers, Casey Blake, Vernon Wells, Coco Crisp, Jorge Cantu (a sequel to last year's bust year), Scott Kazmir, Miggy Tejada and Justin Verlander.

Hahaha, yeah, Thomas and Wells definitely won't prosper hitting near, if not next to each other in 2007. What a joke. In fact, this ensures their success, as this jackass blowhard has been wrong about virtually everything he has predicted in recent memory.

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:23 pm

Yeah, Simmons is funny and entertaining to read sometimes, but he's so blissfully ignorant of anything not pertaining directly to the Red Sox/Yankee rivalry. Which is fine - He's like a sports pundit, not a real analyst or writer. He's just Some Guy With a Website who actually managed to turn it into something lucrative.

He's not much better than the douchebags in my office who throw all reasoning out the window when selecting their NCAA brackets. They pick Duke to go all the way for no other reason that the fact that they work at DOoooooooooooook. Or people that make sure to draft as many members of their favorite team as possible onto a fantasy team.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:31 pm

He (and to some extent the Onion) is the antithesis of everything I believe in when it comes to writing. I would HATE to be making the same jokes and be using the same catch-phrases (and therefore be thinking in the same way) in a couple years from now, when it comes to my games and my BBS posts. If you don't constantly evolve then what's the point of continuing to fart your tired opinions into the Internet. The Internet doesn't need it.

OK, admittedly, his shame-faced stealing of material, overwhelming self-entitlement complex and determination when it comes to being smug about football when he truly hasn't the faintest clue about what he's talking about are also in the mix. But the repetition is first.

I'm a little amazed that people can look at the Blue Jays lineup and not say, "Yes, yes this is a playoff team," but the reason is that most people don't look at actual lineups before they toss their worthless opinions out, so it all makes some degree of sense. There's not a hole in that lineup except for Royce Clayton. And you'd better get him out because the pain is coming afterwards. Christ, I hope this team stays healthy. It's the most talented one we've had since 93 by a wide, wiiiiiiiiiiiiiide margin.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:56 pm

Baseball Prospectus has an article every few days on how particular teams can win the World Series. They also have a player prediction tool (the formula they will not release) that they use often. Here's what it has to say about some 2007 Jays:

Code: Select all

             2006   2007
Player          VORP   VORP*
Reed Johnson    32.5    0.5
Alex Rios       29.0    6.1
Vernon Wells    59.8   26.0
Aaron Hill      18.7   14.2
Lyle Overbay    36.3   16.9
* As projected by PECOTA

If I had a formula tell me that Alex Rios will decline by that much, it also better tell me that he DIES.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:17 am

Here's the 25-man roster:

STARTERS
Roy Halladay, RH
A.J. Burnett, RH
Gustavo Chacin, LH
Tomo Ohka, RH
Josh Towers, RH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BULLPEN
B.J. Ryan, LH
Jason Frasor, RH
Scott Downs, LH
Shaun Marcum, RH
Casey Janssen, RH
Victor Zambrano, RH
Jeremy Accardo, RH
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

INFIELDERS
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
Royce Clayton, SS
Troy Glaus, 3B
Frank Thomas, DH
John McDonald, 2B/SS
Jason Smith, INF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUTFIELDERS
Vernon Wells, CF
Alex Rios, RF
Reed Johnson, LF
Matt Stairs, RF/LF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CATCHERS
Gregg Zaun
Jason Phillips

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:18 am

Johan was clearly the best pitcher in the AL last year, but this is retarded:

Code: Select all

  2 Chien-Ming Wang   NYY    0     51    140  0.36 | 19-6  218  3.63  1.31  76  1
  3 Roy Halladay      TOR    0     48    140  0.34 | 16-5  220  3.19  1.10 132

A guy had almost sixty strikeouts LESS than Halladay (who does not strike out many these days) and... I can't even go into the statistics. Shit like this makes you not care about the sport, when the people who write about it for a living obviously don't.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:42 am

Bugs wrote:Yeah, Simmons is funny and entertaining to read sometimes, but he's so blissfully ignorant of anything not pertaining directly to the Red Sox/Yankee rivalry.

One more thing. I should let this go, but it bugs me.

ESPN.com opened up the archives this week, in an attempt to get people to subscribe to their services or something. I read this article:

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html

It's indicative of the whiny douchebag he became. As soon as it looked like he was in for a series of shitty years for one of "his teams," he abandoned ship. What a little bitch. I've sat through more 3-13 seasons than I can count and sports is not my job or anything. It makes me sick to see this self-entitled attitude, because he'll be the first one on the bandwagon when the Bruins get good again.

(If you haven't read his columns about college basketball, you absolutely have to. He decided to watch a few games before the tournament, because he felt the Celtics might get Oden or KD and almost immediately began telling everyone what is wrong with college hoops. This would be like a douchebaggy, anonymous guest poster telling us everything wrong with this website on his first pos... oh. Well, never mind because that happens once every couple of weeks.)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:57 pm

1-0. An unearned run by Roy Halladay made the difference through nine, and then Glaus came through in extra innings. BJ for the save. EXCELLENT.

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:48 pm

Frank Thomas struck out twice.

FIRE JP RICCIARDI.

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:49 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:
Bugs wrote:Yeah, Simmons is funny and entertaining to read sometimes, but he's so blissfully ignorant of anything not pertaining directly to the Red Sox/Yankee rivalry.
One more thing. I should let this go, but it bugs me.

ESPN.com opened up the archives this week, in an attempt to get people to subscribe to their services or something. I read this article:

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html

It's indicative of the whiny douchebag he became. As soon as it looked like he was in for a series of shitty years for one of "his teams," he abandoned ship. What a little bitch. I've sat through more 3-13 seasons than I can count and sports is not my job or anything. It makes me sick to see this self-entitled attitude, because he'll be the first one on the bandwagon when the Bruins get good again.

(If you haven't read his columns about college basketball, you absolutely have to. He decided to watch a few games before the tournament, because he felt the Celtics might get Oden or KD and almost immediately began telling everyone what is wrong with college hoops. This would be like a douchebaggy, anonymous guest poster telling us everything wrong with this website on his first pos... oh. Well, never mind because that happens once every couple of weeks.)

Yeah, clearly you know more about Simmons than I do. I have noticed that he repeats jokes, but I pretty much only read his baseball material and his running diaries on things like the Grammys and the National Spelling Bee.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:33 pm

Dumb shit Derek Jeter opened up his worthless mouth and the local Sunday paper out here (that I can't NOT get, no matter who I contact) printed it.

"Having the biggest payroll is not a guarantee. We have proven that. Look at some of the teams that have won: White Sox, the Angels, the Marlins. We know we were always be competitive, that we are expected to win it every year. But that doesn't always happen."

Number of times Jeter has missed the playoffs in his career: 0.

Number of times Jeter has been in the playoffs: 11

Number of times the White Sox have made the playoffs since Jeter has been playing regularly: 2

Number of times the Florida Marlins have made the playoffs in the same time: 2

Number of times the California Angels have made the playoffs in that time: 3

BOY I GUESS HAVING THE LARGEST PAYROLL DOES GUARANTEE SOMETHING, YOU THICK, WRETCHED FUCK.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:35 pm

Bugs wrote:Frank Thomas struck out twice.

FIRE JP RICCIARDI.

People say that we are going to have trouble versus really good right-handed pitching, but Christ, doesn't everyone? Beats me. Anyway, Wells and Rios were almost mirror images of themselves last year versus lefties.

I couldn't listen to the play-by-play when Frasor was on the mound, but if he's pitching effectively then I feel a lot better about Speier leaving. (Having Justin Speier on your team is no guarantee of anything. Maybe that's what that fucking wall-faced tranny was groping for. Spending 10 times the last place team is, though.)

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:46 pm

WORST OF.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:36 am

What would it take to get you to root for the Blue Jays this year? Cash?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:43 am

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:43 am

For the record, I've been to a Blue Jays home game, so it is not specifically the Blue Jays, or even baseball, to which I object.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:25 am

I've been to their home games as well, Pinner! Thank Christ, we finally have that third thing in common to go with the drinking and quipping. And because they were the closest team to the city I grew up in, they avoid that issue you have with my appreciation of the Saints, which is that I have never been in the state of Louisiana and certainly did not ever live near there.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:20 am

My objection is a thread on a public forum which is so terribly narrowcasted that even the two people who actually read and participate in the thread are even starting to lose interest.

Admit it. You're losing interest in this thread, even as you use the bellows to fan its flames.

Right NOW, you're getting bored by it. With every word you read, your enthusiasm for this thread atrophies further.

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:28 pm

Well, RobB and I have known each other for a very long time, and this is the best method for us to keep up on our favorite baseball team. Sure, we could do it over Gmail or IM, but then we wouldn't have nattering nabobs jumping in to tell us how worthless our conversation is.

And that's really what it's all about. Talking baseball with an old friend and then being criticized for having the gall to do so.