tkihshbt wrote:

Big win tonight. It'd be nice to see them win 6 of the next 7.

Doable. They miss Burnett when the Pirates come to town, and there's no excuse for not sweeping the Astros at home. Even with The Norris going.
Am I the only one who hasn't given up on the division? Maybe it's because of my utter disdain for TTTIB, but I still think the Cardinals have a run in them, and the Reds can't play .750 ball for the entire second half of the season. Right?

artie_fufkin wrote:

the Reds can't play .750 ball for the entire second half of the season. Right?

I thought the same thing about Milwaukee a year ago.

artie_fufkin wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Big win tonight. It'd be nice to see them win 6 of the next 7.

Doable. They miss Burnett when the Pirates come to town, and there's no excuse for not sweeping the Astros at home. Even with The Norris going.
Am I the only one who hasn't given up on the division? Maybe it's because of my utter disdain for TTTIB, but I still think the Cardinals have a run in them, and the Reds can't play .750 ball for the entire second half of the season. Right?

I dont think the Reds can play .750 the rest of the season and I like the Cardinals chances agains them head to head.  However my issues lay with the Cardinals and how they havent been able to put together streaks.  Good streaks anyway.

tkihshbt wrote:

Yeah, I agree. And I think what's made it more frustrating is that Cincinnati, Washington, Atlanta and even Pittsburgh have been able to put together a good 4-6 weeks instead of a good two weeks like the Cardinals. The Cardinals have more talent than all of those teams.

And as of August 16, I think we'll be seeing a Los Angeles/Atlanta NLCS with the winner getting the right to have New York bludgeon them in the World Series.

Don't know about the Dodgers. If they don't win the division and have to burn Kershaw in that WC play-in game, I don't like their chances.
Washington is going to be a tough team to beat, no matter what they end up doing with Strasburg. Even without him, they pitch it, catch it and hit it pretty well. And TTTIB can't be ignored, especially if they end up with home field.
I don't watch the AL much, but I don't think it's a slam dunk for the Yankees. Too little pitching depth, which is exactly what Texas's strength is. I keep waiting for the Angels to stop screwing around and reel off about 15 straight wins, but I guess God will continue to test them by keeping them wallowing in mediocrity.

tkihshbt wrote:

I think LA takes the division with Melky out, plus I like the depth in their rotation.

Atlanta's bullpen is rivaled only by Cincinnati's, but I'll take their offense over TTTIB.

Washington without Strasburg is just not convincing me. I like Jordan Zimmerman. I like Edwin Jackson. But I don't like Edwin Jackson to give them two good starts per series. And Ross Detweiler is no better than Joe Kelly. If the Cardinals came out and said "we're going with Joe Kelly in Game 3 of the NLCS" would that inspire confidence? Probably not.

I'm not big on the Rangers like I was last year. They've got Matt Harrison, but Dempster, Oswalt, Darvish, Feldman and Holland are a mash-up of mediocrity.

I still like the Giants' pitching.
I'm also assuming that this innings limit on Strasburg is a pile of manure and they go with a 3-man of Gio/Zimmermann/Strasburg in the playoffs.