Hudson looked SHARP last night!

[chillzatl]

what a way to come of teh DL eh? lets hope hampton can pick up where he left off. If so, we're going to be a dangerous team come october.

[Plainview1981]

Well, it doesn't appear Hampton had the same luck

judging by the score.

[pathway23]

Hampton is a sinker ball pitcher who needs a lot of work for that sinker to be effective. It seems like when he is fresh he throws it too high and its like BP for opposing hitters. When he is worn down a bit it sinks better. Maybe zany but it seems that way with Hampton. Maybe thats why prior to this year he was notoriously a slow starter for a few preceding years?

[Admin]

both are excellent sinker ball pitchers who both need time to warm up. Of course Brown has back issues as well, but it seems to be a fairly common thing that sinker ball pitchers need a bit longer than other pitchers to warm up.

[DominiqueWilkins]

We are now starting to become a healthy team, and it's only looking good for us. I expect us to land in first place, but I wont speak to soon.

[chillzatl]

that the Nats are the same expos that were in first place in the NL east for half of last year. They've obviously gotten a boost from having a steady home field and good fans. But they've already shown signs of fading a little. P.wilson was a good pickup for them. But he isn't enough by himself. I predict we will be in first by the time they come to Atlanta and that series will decide whether or not they stay in contention or get put away.

[Plainview1981]

I'm amazed at how weak the NL actually is.... The

Cards are the only really good team in the league

at this point. Whomever comes out of the NL will

probably get clobbered again. I just believe the

AL is stronger... They've been winning the allstar

games, the bulk of the titles and they won in

inter league play this year.

[chillzatl]

"who is better" really has nothing to do with it. It's who's playing the best when the playoffs start. None of the previous 4 winners had the best records, or anywhere close to it. It's all about momentum.

The NL still has a large overall lead in titles and in the last 10 years have won 4 of 10. Four of the six AL titles belong to the Yankees. So if it weren't for them, who's to say how it would look.

So no, they aren't any stronger.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

---

"who is better" really has nothing to do with it. It's who's playing the best when the playoffs start. None of the previous 4 winners had the best records, or anywhere close to it. It's all about momentum.

The NL still has a large overall lead in titles and in the last 10 years have won 4 of 10. Four of the six AL titles belong to the Yankees. So if it weren't for them, who's to say how it would look.

So no, they aren't any stronger.

---

The NL still has a large overall lead in titles"

That's really pointless.

"It's who's playing the best when the playoffs start"

Seems to be the AL most of the time.

The NL is very weak right now.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings

The NL west doesn't even have a good team. If that

division is so weak it's possible the Padres wouldnt

even have a winning record.

The Braves are the only good team in their division.

Washington has been fairly lucky, the Mets have an

inconsistant lineup and lack much punch behind Pedro.

The Cards are the only good team in their division.

[Plainview1981]

That's the way I see it right now. The AL has seemed

to be the stronger league the last few years and more

so this year. I can't think of a NL that looks like a

real title threat right now. We will see in a few

months.

[Weez]

while I hate the DH and thereby the AL...

how can you not make an argument that the 'advantage' is actually a figment of the fact that there is an extra decent hitter in the rotation, changing the dynamics of how one must approach players in the latter part of the order as there is no 'safety net' coming in the 9th spot?

This also serves to increase run production per game and in turn make the al offenses 'more potent.'

but that's not the truth come series time (except for the one game edge).

[Plainview1981]

Well, to me the AL just looks to have better teams

the competition appears to be better in the AL.

In the NL so many teams appear to have weak rosters

such as

Nationals

Brewers

Giants

Dodgers

Rockies

to name a few.

The NL has only one REALLY good team and that's the

Cards and hitting wise they probably are a tad off

of what they were last year..... Walker and Jim E

appear to be showing they're age and Rollen hasn't

had that great of a year.

And while teams like the Red Sox and Twins haven't

had super years, I think they are more likely to

get it together at playoff time than teams like

the Marlins.

Really, The Dogers and Giants both fell of the

wagon this year and no team has really taken

their place in the NL.