John Lackey held the AL ERA title with 3.01 ERA in 2007

[notherhalo]

In all of MLB there are 25 players today with a better ERA

discuss

[notherhalo]

I just earned the 'Conversation Starter' badge

[notherhalo]

discuss

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, notherhalo said:

discuss

Neigh.

[Taylor]

There was a long stretch where pitchers were at a disadvantage in the MLB and there was talk of raising the mound to bring the balance back.

Today, it's flip-flopped, and other than against the Angels' bullpen, hitters are having a tough time.

[Justin]

Baseball today is a horse of a different color.

[WicketMaiden]

I miss Lackey.

[PattyD22]

Just now, WicketMaiden said:

I miss Lackey.

I miss winning, and what he brought to the Angels also.

[Dtwncbad]

The funniest thing about Lackey was this huge, over-the-top macho attitude, and then he would turn his head and spit like a 6 year old girl.

Somebody should have taught that guy how to spit.

It made me laugh a thousand times.

[Lou]

My favorite Lackey story is when he left his cancer-stricken wife.

That was grand. 

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Lou said:

My favorite Lackey story is when he left his cancer-stricken wife.

That was grand. 

Was that better than when he shit talked our fan base on e the way out?  
By the way I’m a big Lackey fan. 

[failos]

4 minutes ago, cals said:

One time I was at the Beach Ball in Newport and a bunch of Angels were there drinking.  This is when I was living there… oceanfront (that fact isn’t really pertinent to the story, but I just wanted you all to know how much better I am than you).  Anyways, occasionally I’d run into Scott Shields there or Napoli but this night there was a bunch of them, including Lackey.  (Erstad was also there and he was a dick.  On the far end of the bar there is little room to maneuver and I was trying to get back to my seat and the chick I was with (gonna go Brandon on this one and lie and say she was a 9).  Anyways, Erstad was blocking my way back so I said excuse me like 5 times and he ignored me like I was going to bug him for an autograph or something.  So I finally say “dude, can I get by?”  And he looks up at me (remember I’m tall, like a real man) and with an expressionless face moves to side slightly so I can barely get by.

Anyways, it’s at least 90 minutes later and the place had thinned out and everyone there was nice and lubricated and I’m playing pool and a wasted Lackey comes out of the toilet and starts mumbling something to me.  Then he focuses on me and says “you’re not Ersty” and walks away.

True story.

[Stradling]

15 minutes ago, cals said:

One time I was at the Beach Ball in Newport and a bunch of Angels were there drinking.  This is when I was living there… oceanfront (that fact isn’t really pertinent to the story, but I just wanted you all to know how much better I am than you).  Anyways, occasionally I’d run into Scott Shields there or Napoli but this night there was a bunch of them, including Lackey.  (Erstad was also there and he was a dick.  On the far end of the bar there is little room to maneuver and I was trying to get back to my seat and the chick I was with (gonna go Brandon on this one and lie and say she was a 9).  Anyways, Erstad was blocking my way back so I said excuse me like 5 times and he ignored me like I was going to bug him for an autograph or something.  So I finally say “dude, can I get by?”  And he looks up at me (remember I’m tall, like a real man) and with an expressionless face moves to side slightly so I can barely get by.

Anyways, it’s at least 90 minutes later and the place had thinned out and everyone there was nice and lubricated and I’m playing pool and a wasted Lackey comes out of the toilet and starts mumbling something to me.  Then he focuses on me and says “you’re not Ersty” and walks away.

True story.

Was it your grit?

[WicketMaiden]

3 hours ago, Lou said:

My favorite Lackey story is when he left his cancer-stricken wife.

That was grand. 

i didn't know that. What a totally scumbag thing to do.

3 hours ago, Stradling said:

Was that better than when he shit talked our fan base on e the way out?  
By the way I’m a big Lackey fan. 

I didn't know that either. So he's an ungrateful wanker as well as a scumbag.

4 hours ago, WicketMaiden said:

I miss Lackey  having a reliable front of the rotation pitcher who has a strong presence on the mound, can get out of his own jams, and doesn't crap the bed on a weekly basis. 

So I changed this.

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, cals said:

Let me tell you something about myself:  I’m the only lawyer who doesn’t lie.  If I tell you guys something it’s true.  And since I’m so awesome I usually pepper it with some self-deprecating shit so I’m not hated more than I am.  I mean I’d hate to have you or Strad block me like the spineless little girls who already have.

Cute. I take you about as serious as you take me. And obviously if I take issue with something you say I go straight to you. 

[Stradling]

2 minutes ago, cals said:

Wait.  Are we frenemies?

I thought we were simply friends. Sigh. 

[failos]

29 minutes ago, cals said:

Let me tell you something about myself:  I’m the only lawyer who doesn’t lie.  If I tell you guys something it’s true.  And since I’m so awesome I usually pepper it with some self-deprecating shit so I’m not hated more than I am.  I mean I’d hate to have you or Strad block me like the spineless little girls who already have.

I’d never block you, cals. I’ll admit, it’s a great story if it’s true. 
I’ve met Scot Shields before and he was a dick, so I’m sure Ersty is too

[Taylor]

5 minutes ago, cals said:

And for fuck sake what can I do to have @Taylor block me?  I like the guy, but nothing makes me angrier than the passive aggressive emojis that Chuck added just so we’d know who the wimps are.  That said, Taylor would probably best me in a fight.  I’m old and fat now.  I’m not the Adonis that used to live oceanfront in Newport and would smoke cigs with Napoli.

You'd probably win because I've never been in a physical altercation before.

[Slegnaac]

10 hours ago, Stradling said:

I thought we were simply friends. Sigh. 

A lawyer is confrontational by nature?

[JustATroutFan]

That was still in a time where the league was juicing the baseballs to benefit offenses around the league and to keep fans in the seats. Juiced baseballs made guys like Hidalgo and Tim Salmon in 2000 look like Trout at the plate. If you look at their slash lines in 2000, i looks better than Trout's in some particular years. And yet, their OPS+ were both under 145 that season. Trout's worst OPS+ since 2012 is 168. Big gap. It's harder to hit in Trout's era than it was from 1993-2009 (hitters inflated offensive period, the juiced baseball period), especially when you have hot and cold zones that wasn't around then and tells pitchers what type of pitches a hitter has trouble with (ex: Trout with the high fastball). 

[Don]

46 minutes ago, JustATroutFan said:

That was still in a time where the league was juicing the baseballs to benefit offenses around the league and to keep fans in the seats. Juiced baseballs made guys like Hidalgo and Tim Salmon in 2000 look like Trout at the plate. If you look at their slash lines in 2000, i looks better than Trout's in some particular years. And yet, their OPS+ were both under 145 that season. Trout's worst OPS+ since 2012 is 168. Big gap. It's harder to hit in Trout's era than it was from 1993-2009 (hitters inflated offensive period, the juiced baseball period), especially when you have hot and cold zones that wasn't around then and tells pitchers what type of pitches a hitter has trouble with (ex: Trout with the high fastball). 

I'll add in little to no testing for steroids (I guess that was up and running by like 05-06, but definitely not for these seasons JATF is mentioning), and average fastball velocity being like 4-5mph lower than now.

[JustATroutFan]

6 minutes ago, Don said:

I'll add in little to no testing for steroids (I guess that was up and running by like 05-06, but definitely not for these seasons JATF is mentioning), and average fastball velocity being like 4-5mph lower than now.

MLB banned steroids in 1991. There's no point in enforcing the rule if they don't do anything or little about it. It's funny that people have turned their backs on guys like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds for steroids even though they knew that they were using it at the time to put fans in the seats( like the Sosa-McGwire home run chase in '98) and still didn't complain about it. Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds were never suspended for steroids but the evidence have been there for a long time just like the situation with Bauer and his cheating stuff, 

[Don]

12 minutes ago, JustATroutFan said:

MLB banned steroids in 1991. There's no point in enforcing the rule if they don't do anything or little about it. It's funny that people have turned their backs on guys like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds for steroids even though they knew that they were using it at the time to put fans in the seats( like the Sosa-McGwire home run chase in '98) and still didn't complain about it. Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds were never suspended for steroids but the evidence have been there for a long time just like the situation with Bauer and his cheating stuff, 

All agreed, but those guys were nowhere near the only ones. It was likely a pretty large chunk of players in the league at the time.