Game Thread -- Detroit Tigers at OPACY -- Friday July 13, 2012

[hector]

you made your 95 win prediction without Vlad on the team.....as Paul Simon once said "Slip slidin' away, slip slidin' away".......they have to finish 50-26 to win 95...that ain't happening with this team (Even with Vlad)...your continual bleating about Vlad is just cover for your pack-pedaling on your prediction,,, you harangued people saying what a genius your were ..these "if only we had Vlad" threads show you are in full excuse mode to avoid looking foolish.....

You are not adequately equipped to psychoanalyze the motivation behind my comments. Leaving your elementary school psychoanalysis out of it, let me explain to you my current point of view on the O's season and prospects for the rest of the year.

If you were paying attention, the fundamental rationale for my prediction was that the hitting would remain steady from last year and that assumption proved lacking thanks to off years so far from Hardy, Reynolds, Weiters and the army of hapless folks brought in to replace Vlad. A second assumption was that the pitching would improve somewhat from prior years and that has proven to be the case primarily thanks to Johnson and a couple others. The third assumption was that the rest of the AL East would either collapse or regress and that's proven amazingly accurate looking at the Red Sox, Tampa and Toronto. I'm surprised the Yankees have played as well as they have but that's primarily caused by the weaker AL East except for the O's.

My utterly amazing prediction of the O's in the playoffs is still in play if Markakis returns to his average level and if Hardy, Reynolds and Weiters step it up offensively.

You predicted 65 wins for the O's which was obviously nothing more than an unimaginative extrapolation of recent years performance. Someone such as yourself who totally missed the improvement the O's have shown in 2012 should be a little more polite when addressing another poster who foresaw that which you missed.

Let's hope the O's turn it around today against Detroit on Jim Palmer Day. Besides being a great pitcher, Palmer has the good judgment to have commented on several telecasts that the O's miss Hall of Famer Vlad.

[bmore_ken]

..these "if only we had Vlad" threads show you are in full excuse mode to avoid looking foolish.....

It's not working, just sayin'

[hector]

It's not working, just sayin'

bmore_ken, you and "can you hear me now" are both members of the 65 win club for 2012. I'm too polite to ever call you both foolish but misguided seems appropriate when it comes to predictions. Anyway, you both deserve credit for having done the best you could with what you've got.

[can you hear me now!]

You are not adequately equipped to psychoanalyze the motivation behind my comments. Leaving your elementary school psychoanalysis out of it, let me explain to you my current point of view on the O's season and prospects for the rest of the year.

If you were paying attention, the fundamental rationale for my prediction was that the hitting would remain steady from last year and that assumption proved lacking thanks to off years so far from Hardy, Reynolds, Weiters and the army of hapless folks brought in to replace Vlad. A second assumption was that the pitching would improve somewhat from prior years and that has proven to be the case primarily thanks to Johnson and a couple others. The third assumption was that the rest of the AL East would either collapse or regress and that's proven amazingly accurate looking at the Red Sox, Tampa and Toronto. I'm surprised the Yankees have played as well as they have but that's primarily caused by the weaker AL East except for the O's.

My utterly amazing prediction of the O's in the playoffs is still in play if Markakis returns to his average level and if Hardy, Reynolds and Weiters step it up offensively.

You predicted 65 wins for the O's which was obviously nothing more than an unimaginative extrapolation of recent years performance. Someone such as yourself who totally missed the improvement the O's have shown in 2012 should be a little more polite when addressing another poster who foresaw that which you missed.

Let's hope the O's turn it around today against Detroit on Jim Palmer Day. Besides being a great pitcher, Palmer has the good judgment to have commented on several telecasts that the O's miss Hall of Famer Vlad.

elementary is sufficient enough to identify your motives and lack of insight...

unimaginative? nope...realistic and far more certain to be more accurate that your pie in the sky, I'm going to ignore reality and call attention to myself predictions.....

foresaw what? did the season end last night? improvements-- who is the one constantly whining about the offense? that would be you...I am not surprised they are struggling offensively because they did zero to significantly upgrade the offense.....they needed a middle of the order slugger and go none....let's not even talk about the leaky defense...they didn't address the corner deficiencies from last year....apparently you either missed those short comings or chose to ignore them in an attempt to out cheer lead moon....

you put your head in the sand.....

2005, 2005, 2005.....I said it in April and I'm going to continue to remind you this is 2005 all over again...

[hector]

elementary is sufficient enough to identify your motives and lack of insight...

unimaginative? nope...realistic and far more certain to be more accurate that your pie in the sky, I'm going to ignore reality and call attention to myself predictions.....

foresaw what? did the season end last night? improvements-- who is the one constantly whining about the offense? that would be you...I am not surprised they are struggling offensively because they did zero to significantly upgrade the offense.....they needed a middle of the order slugger and go none....let's not even talk about the leaky defense...they didn't address the corner deficiencies from last year....apparently you either missed those short comings or chose to ignore them in an attempt to out cheer lead moon....

you put your head in the sand.....

2005, 2005, 2005.....I said it in April and I'm going to continue to remind you this is 2005 all over again...

65, 65, 65 is what you predicted. The O's need to win 19 out of their last 75 games to prove you right. Time will tell.

[Jabez]

I keep waiting for the curtain to fall and now with Hammel expecting to jump on the o-table, one would think the roof will cave in. Darndest thing I've ever seen with one team experiencing so many malaprops and misfortunes afield. One game they look like they'll pack it in and then, yesterday, they get a Doug DeCinces-like HR in overtime to win. Haven't seen this since '79. Fasten your belts, postees.