May
29
2009
Hello fellow sports enthusiasts! It’s time, once again, for another edition of The Trader’s Arena Newsletter. Alot has been happening so let’s get right down to business.
A couple of months ago, we merged with and absorbed Cardboard Collectors.com. Alot of you former CC members haven’t made an appearance yet and we’d like to let you know that you are more than welcome here at TTA. Your old CC username is still active, but you’ll have to do a password reset. If you have any trouble logging in, please e-mail BSC at webmaster@thetradersarena.com and he will gladly reset your password for you, enabling you to log in to your old CC account.
Some new features have been added to the site recently to make your forum experience more enjoyable.
We’ve added a radio channel to the site that will allow you to listen to your favorite music in the background while you enjoy the forums.
We’ve added a site auction feature, TTA-Vbay! This enables anyone on the site to auction their items to other site members for PayPal, Money order, or Arena cash. You’ll find site sponsored auctions there as well.
We’ve enhanced the iTrader feature as well. You can now search through the iTrader for other members looking for items or selling or trading their items.
Member Site donations have been very generous over the past month and we have almost reached our goal to purchase that ever elusive Trade Manager software for the site. It won’t be long now!
Be sure to drop into the site Chat Room on Sunday evening at 7:00 pm EST for our weekly Trade Chat. The Chat Room is also open 7 days a week/24 hrs a day for any member.
Our site membership is growing weekly, but we’d still like to see more of you collectors, as well as your family members, enjoy the site. We gladly welcome members of all ages and interests to the site. We are fully COPPA compliant and have a top notch Moderating staff. Come and see all that we have to offer everyone here at TTA!
Warmest Regards,
The TTA Staff
May
21
2009
Sorry for the break all, had a busy week including a card show where I picked up some nice stuff.
News around the league…
The White Sox and the Padres have agreed to a deal that will send Jake Peavy to the White Sox, pending Peavy’s approval. The White Sox are supposedly to give up 4 players, likely to be packaged around #1 Prospect Aaron Poreda. Gordon Beckham can be included in the deal as a player to be named later, and he is possibly in the deal. The deal is likely contingent that the White Sox will have to take Peavy’s expensive option in 2013. More details as they come. He may not want to pitch for Ozzie Guillen but at least the White Sox have a chance to win compared to the Padres. UPDATE: GORDON BECKHAM NOT IN THE DEAL
The Yankees improved to 8 straight wins last night. I was actually at the park last night and the crowd was electric. Highlights of the night were back to back to back HR by Swisher, Cano, and Melky. Then on 2 HRs by the Orioles that were hit to left field near us, both were thrown back. Another guy wore a Red Sox jersey and the “A$$hole chants started and the guy was actually taken away by security for trying to rile us up. The Yankees are now winning 83% of the games when Arod has been back, Brian Bruney is now back, and Wang is back soon. Phil Hughes looked good striking out a career high 9. Yankee Stadium was great and the game was amazing as well!
The Mets lost another to the Dodgers 2-1 after giving up a run in the 8th. Livan Hernandez pitched well but the bullpen blew another game, if that is a surprise to anyone.
David Ortiz finally homered, ending a 149 at bat drought. Hopefully he doesn’t pick it up so that the Yanks can overtake the Sox and Jays, but they may go after someone to DH, someone like a Matt LaPorta, or maybe an Aubrey Huff.
Mark DeRosa is on the trading block according to the Indians, many teams could use him as a starting player at a variety of positions or even a bat of the bench (Phillies?). There should be a ton of interest just due to his versatility. The Mets should really go after him after losing Delgado and possibly Reyes.
Thats all for now, have no time! But I will try to get these up daily again
May
14
2009
News from around the league…
Ryan Zimmerman’s hitting streak has ended at 30 games. He went 0-3 with 2 walks yesterday, including one intentional walk. The streak was good while it lasted, and he is hitting over .350 from it, so not all is lost.
A pair of walkoffs: Joe Crede hit a walk of grand slam for the Twins in the 13th inning to defeat the Tigers 14-10. The Rangers got a walk off double from Hank Blalock in the 6-5 win over the Mariners.
Instant Replay overturned a HR last night, the first time that has ever happened. Not only did the first one get overturned, but it happened 2 times in the same night! One was hit by Adam Laroche which turned into a double, and the other by Prince Fielder and that was deemed foul.
Magglio Ordonez did not like a 3rd strike call and had a word with the umpire. The ump then proceeded to put his hand on the back of Magglio to push him to the dugout. Jim Leyland rushed out of the dugout and got tossed for arguing. Leyland has a strong case, considering if a player or coach touches an ump they get fined and suspended. THe ump better be reprimanded for his actions.
3 Major Leaguers had their first HR last night. They are Brett Gardner of the Yanks, Geraldo Parra of the DBacks, and Chris Coghlan of the Marlins.
Dontrelle Willis returned to action last night after his DL stint with “Anxiety Disorder” WTF? His fastball was there at 93-94 but had no control of his offspeed stuff. He didn’t last 5 innings.
Houston and Colorado played a high scoring affair yesterday with the Astros needing 24 hits to win 15-11. Each starter, including SP Mike Hampton had 2 hits. Geoff Blum and Chris Ianetta each had 5 RBI.
Alfonso Soriano hit another leadoff HR, giving him 53 leadoff HRs in his career. His is now tied with Craig Biggio for second on that list, and #1 is held by none other than Rickey Henderson with 81.
The Yankees finally broke their string of playing awful and pounded the Blue Jays 8-2.
Pete Rose in a radio interview said that Alex Rodriguez should get in the HOF, Manny is nearly there, and the big part is that steroids are worse in the game than a manager betting on baseball because steroids are cheating and take away the integrity of the game.
May
13
2009
News from around the league…
The Mets stole a victory from the Braves last night defeating them 4-3 in extra innings. They were down 3-0 but came back to 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th. Carlos Beltran stole 3rd base but was clearly out. Luis Castillo then hit a sac fly to tie the game. The Mets later won in the 10th with a Beltran bases loaded walk to win. This was payback I guess for the Braves beating Johan. They should have lost Monday, they won. They should have won Tuesday, they lost.
Roy Halladay tossed a gem against his former teammate AJ Burnett. Doc went the distance only giving up 1 run. The Yankees lost 5-1 and really had no chance against Doc. Matsui was out with a tight hamstring, and Jeter was not in the starting lineup, although I don’t think they would have mattered, Doc was just nasty. Doc improved to 7-1 on the year. He can go neck and neck with Grienke for the CY Young.
Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 30 games.
MLB.com is hyping Stephen Strasburg some more as the best pitching prospect ever. Read the Article Here
Jayson Werth had 4 steals last night including a brilliant steal of home, the unconventional way. He first stole 2nd, then 3rd. Then after watching that neither the catcher or the pitcher were paying attention so once Martin threw the ball back to the pitcher, he took off for home. The pitcher threw it real hard back to Martin but threw it high and Werth slide in safe. The Phillies defeated the Dodgers 5-3.
Pablo Sandoval was a hero in the Giants game last night. Earlier in the game, the fleet footed Sandoval tried to turn a double into a triple but fell half way to 3rd. He came back up in the 9th to hit a 3 run HR to give the Giants the walk off win.
Kevin Youkilis has been placed on the 15 day DL by the Red Sox.
Ervin Santana is scheduled to pitch on Thursday and John Lackey is likely to return this weekend so the Angels are hoping to fight back after losing their #1 and #2 guys.
May
12
2009
News from around the league…
Roger Clemens is the star in a new book American Icon that releases today where the claim is he lied and used performance enhancers. Clemens responded today that he still denies ever using them. Probably unlikely, but I would like to see one guy who is telling the truth so vehemently as he is, just to get some vindication.
Ryan Zimmerman extended his hit streak to 29 games.
Randy Johnson won his 298th game of his career last night with a win against the Nationals. Johnson didn’t pitch great, but well enough for a win. He threw 5 innings and gave up 4 runs but the Giants gave him 5 runs in the 5th to let him leave with a win. He is 2 away and should get to 300 very soon.
Johan Santana pitched well again and yet gets a loss for his efforts. This is the third game where he ERA went DOWN in a losing effort. He threw 6.1 innings, left by giving up a single and the bullpen then gave up 4 runs, including that runner to give JOhan the loss. He dropped his ERA to 0.80 and went to 4-2. He is on pace to have as many games blown as he did last year even with this “improved bullpen”. The bullpen imploded to give up 7 runs in 1.2 innings.
Josh Wilson, SS for the Dbacks, got to pitch again in his career. You may remember, he did this in 2007 for the Rays, going 1 inning there. He was called by new manager AJ Hinch in a 13-5 blowout to pitch. He threw 4 seamers reaching 89 on the gun and got a flyout, and then an inning ending double play. Put him in your bullpen, he looked pretty good.
Bobby Jenks admitted to throwing behind Ian Kinsler the other night. Most pitchers say it is never intentional, but he came straight out and said it was because he didn’t like all his teammates getting hit. I applaud him for it, he didn’t hit Kinsler, just sent a message.
Chipper Jones was held out of the lineup with a sore elbow. Tom Glavine hopes to be back with the Braves on May 28. He is starting to throw bullpens and may pitch in a rehab game next week.
Not much more to happen on a night of only 4 games.
May
10
2009
News from around the league…
Ryan Zimmerman is halfway there, he increased his hit streak to 28 games, only 28 to catch Joltin Joe.
The Mets won their 7th straight game today on the back of Livan Hernandez who has pitched surprisingly well. The Mets were up 4-2 and added a big 8th inning to defeat the Pirates 8-4.
Joba Chamberlain had a scare with a bruised thumb coming into today’s game, but he started the game anyway. He has been having problems with the first inning this year and today was no different, giving up 3 runs. However, from there he gave up no runs in 6 innings of work. The Yankees in the 6th with a Damon HR, who is having a great year with 9 HR now, took the lead and the bullpen held it to give Joba the win. Mariano Rivera pitched a flawless 9th for the save.
Manny Ramirez apologized to the LA Dodgers owner today and is supposed to talk to the team in Florida in their next away series against the Marlins.
Dustin Pedroia left today’s game in the 4th inning with a strained right groin. In other injury news for the Red Sox, Dice-K pitched 4 shutout innings today in a rehab start.
Joakim Soria has been placed on the DL by the Royals due to soreness in his pitching arm. Luke Hochevar has been called up to make a start pushing Sidney Ponson to the bullpen.
Brett Cecil pitched a gem for the Blue Jays today. He went 8 innings giving up 5 hits and no runs in a 5-0 win against the A’s.
The White Sox want to demote Jose Contreras to AAA and will have to clear waivers. No one will likely pick him up with his massive contract.
The Marlins sent Cameron Maybin to AAA. Maybin was the favorite for NL ROY but has had a slow start and the Marlins seem to like Emilio Bonafacio better.
Rick Porcello got his 3rd win this year tossing 5 innings giving up 1 run against the Indians. Detroit won 5-3 with 2 RBI each from Adam Everett and Curtis Granderson.
May
10
2009
News from around the league…
Zack Grienke tried to continue his great start last night and he did, but ended up getting the loss. He pitched great, only allowing 1 run, but Joe Saunders on the other side was better giving up no runs. They both threw complete games with Chone Figgins getting the lone RBI against Grienke. The RBI made Grienke’s ERA jump to 0.51. He is now 6-1.
Ryan Zimmerman increased his hit streak to 27 games last night with a HR.
The Dodgers won their first game sans Manny Ramirez behind SP Eric Stults, who was great tossing a CG shutout giving up only 4 hits while striking out 5. Jaun Pierre added 3 RBI in the 8-0 win.
The Mets continued to their 6th straight win defeating the Pirates 10-1. John Maine continued a nice string of starting pitching going 6 innings and only giving up the 1 run. The offense is waking up and they are now 1st in the NL East.
The suspension of Manny Ramirez was to net the Dodgers 8 MM in spending money. However, due to the deferral of funds over 5 years, they will only save about 2.5 MM this year and then 1.35 MM the next 3 years. This means they may not have the flexibility like they thought they had.
The Yankees lost again with awful pitching by Phil Hughes. He gave up 8 runs in the 2nd inning. They lost 12-5, I really have nothing to say cause I am so disgusted. When you can’t beat Adam Eaton, there are problems.
Aaron Harang looked like his old self tossing 7 innings only giving up 2 runs but more importantly, notched his 3rd win. His ERA is sub-3.00 and he is needed for the Reds to compete. The Reds won 8-3.
May
09
2009
News from around the league…
Stephen Strasburg, soon to be number 1 pick of the Nationals next month, threw a no hitter last night. He pitched 9 innings, struck out 17, and only walked 2. He faced one batter over the minimum of 27. He is just amazing, is he the next great thing or the next Brien Taylor? We should know soon since he doesn’t project to be in the Minors long.
The Yankees broke their 5 game losing streak last night with a great performance by CC Sabathia. CC tossed a complete game shutout striking out 8 and only allowing 4 hits. The Yankees got their offense from Alex Rodriguez. This was ARods first game back and he hit the first pitch he saw out of the park for a 3 run homer. The Yanks would tack another on and win 4-0.
Justin Verlander showed signs of his old self tossing a complete game shutout against the Indians. There was a scare in the 9th though. With 1 man on, Grady Sizemore hit a deep ball to center and Curtis Granderson leaped so high he was nearly 2 feet over the fence and caught the ball. They won 1-0 on an 8th inning RBI single by Clete Thomas. Granderson scored that run. Cliff Lee finally pitched well and he got no run support to show for his outing.
The Dodgers are now 0-2 without Manny Ramirez. Chad Billingsley pitched well but got his first lost of the season to go to 5-1. Barry Zito got his first win on the year.
The Mets defeated the Pirates for their 5th straight win. They had a big offensive inning in the 8th to seal up the win.
Aramis Ramirez left Friday’s game early with a dislocated left shoulder. He tried to dive for a ball at 3rd and on the dive it just popped out. This is a big blow to the Cubs.
Ryan Zimmerman increased his hit streak to 26 games.
Ian Kennedy was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his right arm. He will have surgery on his right armpit. There is no timeframe on Kennedy’s return.
May
08
2009
News from around the league…
Manny Ramirez has been suspended by MLB for 50 games for violating the leagues drug policy. Manny is said to have used a women’s fertility drug that helps restart testosterone production. This is used to restart testosterone after a steroid cycle or as a diet drug. Manny said it was for a personal medical use, but I don’t believe it for a second. He is eligible to come back July 3. I think the Dodgers will be fine since they have a big league and are in a dismal division. The Dodgers did drop their first game without him though, blowing a 6-0 lead.
The Yankees lost their 5th game in a row last night against the Rays. Andy Pettite gave up a few HRs, and then Johnny Damon tied the game in the 8th with a 2 run HR. Something that has never happened before then happened. Mariano Rivera gave up back to back HRs to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria. The Yankees lost 8-6.
The Mets won their 4th straight game yesterday behind the offense of Carlos Beltran and David Wright. KRod got his 4th consecutive save in as many days and has 9 on the season now. Somehow they are winning when Johan isn’t pitching which is a great sign for them.
The first manager to be fired this year is Bob Melvin of the Dbacks.
RIP Dom DiMaggio, he died at the age of 92. What a great family he was apart of.
The Red Sox made history last night by scoring 12 runs in one inning without recording an out. The real record happened in 1883 with the Chicago White Stockings, but this is the modern day AL record. 2 pitchers did not record an out and made their ERA skyrocket. Many players had multiple hits and RBIs in the inning. I won’t go into details as it would not be fair to Indians fans as it was tough to watch and read now.
Alex Rodriguez gets to play his first game at the new staidium tonight where he will start. Arod is desperately needed back in a lineup aching to score runs and a team with an awful bullpen. Ramiro Pena did well filling in, but no one can compete with Arod.
MArk Buerhle tried to be perfect last night and took a perfect game into the 7th inning where he gave up a double to Placido Polanco, but that would be his only hit given up. He lasted 8 innings giving up that one hit and the White Sox won 6-0.
Ryan Zimmerman increased his hit streak to 25 games last night.
Rick Ankiel was placed on the DL after his brutal collision with the wall a few nights ago.
May
07
2009
Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and will be suspened 50 games for his first violation. Next would be 100 games, and then a permanent ban. Manny had such a sweet swing that did not need steroids. I can’t say I am shocked, but I was up in the air. The news is to be announced later today and the suspension to begin tonight.First Bonds, now Arod, now Manny…
