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YanksFan won the Throwdown.

PhillyEagles36

Throwndowns: 68
Record: 10 - 52 - 6
Springfield, MA
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Throwndowns: 85
Record: 70 - 11 - 4
Arlington , TX
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Pro Triangle Tourney Round 2: Which team that leads their division as of today (6/13/08) has the best chance of ending of not winning their division?

YanksFan said 06/13, 08:04 PM
I will say the Phillies because Florida is right there and the Mets and Braves will give them a run. Ryan Howard is been in a slump all year and Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, Cole Hamels, and Brad Lidge have kept them where they are. If a couple of them start to slump the team will fall becuase the Marlins have a great team overall and the Braves are doing good, and you can never count those Mets out.

(The other possiblilities are Boston, White Sox, Angels, , Cubs, D-Backs

PhillyEagles36 said 06/13, 08:37 PM
Ok, for the sake of the argument I am going to take the Boston Red Sox. Hopefully I don't catch a bunch of crap from the Red Sox fans for doing this, please give me a chance.

The Boston Red Sox have been very good this year but they are playing in a pretty good division. The Yankees always start off slow then turn it up to make a push for the playoffs and now the Rays are no longer a push over, they are the real deal. The Rays are only 2.5 games back and the Yankees are just 7 back with plenty of baseball yet to be played.

The key for me is the injuries that the Boston Red Sox have encountered on their quest to repeat as champions. Start off with their ace Josh Beckett who has been dealing with back injuries that have bothered him his whole career. DiceK was pitching very before he went down. They lost David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury also.

Currently they have had to rely on some suspect pitching to help them through their injuries. Bartolo Colon has been a successful story but how long can this but kept up? He was considered by many to be done, even being placed on AAA teams.

I've got more to come but I am now out of room. Good Luck

YanksFan said 06/13, 08:53 PM
First off as a Yankees fan, thank you for picking them , but I disagree.
Jacoby Ellsbury is back, David Ortiz wasn''t showing his normal self becuase of his knee still. Josh Beckett is doing good and with Bucholz and Lester pitching the way they have they will do just fine and finish maybe a game or two ahead of the Yanks. Bartolo Colon has pitched tremendous while he has been up in the MLB, and I think he will stay that way because he is pitching just fine and with Dice-K on his way back the Red Sox pitching staff is great. There hitting is doing just fine without Ortiz. So, that is why even though it is hard to say that the Red Sox will stil win.

For, the Phils, I don't think Utley will keep it up, he might start hitting a little less and when Chipper gets fully healthy and the Mets start hitting and Wagner doesn't keep blowing saves the Phils will be scared and might fall apart and the Mets or Braves will win the division.

PhillyEagles36 said 06/13, 09:21 PM
Yeah, Ellsbury is back but losing Ortiz is still a major blow. He is an important part of the Redsox. Beckett has pitched alright, 6-4 with a 4.22, if you can call it that. No where near the Ace that the Red Sox need to stay in first place.

Funny you mention Bucholz, he is another pitcher that the Red Sox do not currently have due to injury. Lester has pitched pretty well, but one player isn't going to make that much of a difference. Anytime you have to rely on Bartolo Colon to be a consistent starter in your rotation you have something to worry about.

You said that the Phillies would be scared when Chipper gets better and Wagner stops blowing saves... why would they do that? I seem to remember last year the Phillies straightening up when other teams went through slumps to win their division. The have nothing to be scared of. There is no reason to believe that Utley cannot keep up his ridiculously hot start he has shown no signs of slowing down. With the lineup the Phillies run out everyday no team can afford to pitch around him.

The Phillies have a great offense, among the best in the MLB. They also have a stud pitcher in Cole Hamels and good supporting cast.

YanksFan said 06/13, 09:29 PM
Yea, but the Phillies could be like the Mets last year and the Mets/Braves could captalize on them slumping. Like, I said you never know some of their best hitters could go in a slump and then they will collaspe. When the Sox are back to most of their team healthy their is no way they can fall, also J.D. Drew has been on a tear lately and the Sox have a great bullpen so once you get the 8th inning and you are loosing, you are going to loose with Papelbon and Okijima.

PhillyEagles36 said 06/13, 09:40 PM
The Mets and Braves both don't have the pitching required to make that sort of run. Outside of Johan Santana the Mets pitching has been pretty bad. The Braves have a very old rotation and they just lost John Smoltz.

J.D Drew has been on a tear as of recently but who expected that? There is no reason to believe that he can keep up this up when his best season was about 31 HRs and 93 RBI's. This happened 5 seasons ago and now he is going to have his best season... he will slow down.

The Red Sox bullpen is very good but their starting pitching is struggling and making them work to keep or get leads.

Alright well I'm out of stuff... thanks for finishing this so quickly. Good Luck

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