Baseball Fever... CATCH IT!

[IWilKikU]

Who's your baseball team if you have one? Spring training's almost over and the Cubs are about to commence to arse-whoopin'! :brow:

[Taliesin]

What's baseball?

[subterranean]

:D ...............

[Scheherazade]

IWilKikU, thought you were British?? What are you doing talking about baseball?? Aren't ya supposed to be watching cricket or something? ;)

[subterranean]

Mike is an American..rigghttt???!!!

[IWilKikU]

Mike is American, but he's studying in Bracknell, which is the skidmark in the underpants of England. And most English don't actually like cricket, much less Americans who are stuck here. The English like football. But Mike likes American Football, Baseball, Basketball, and refering to himself in the third person. Sooooooo.... Does anyone else have the intellectual prowess to appreciate the sophistication of baseball?

[Sancho]

Oh yeah, Chicago has a baseball team too.

Only joking of course. I have a very warm spot in my heart for the Cubbies. When I around 6 or 7 my Grandfather took me to my first ever Pro Baseball game at Wrigley Field. We watched the Cubs slay the Mets. He got us seats right behind home plate and I sat there for nine innings with my glove over my head waiting for a stray pop fly.

Great memory.

But hey, lets talk about a real ball team...the Braves.

Oh yes, Grand-pappy was fond of saying, "In baseball, good pitching defeats good batting every time,... and visa versa."

[Monica]

When I was small I always used to play baseball with my best friend (we called it "baseball" but it was actually partly invented by us and there were only two people involved). It usually finished up in a broken window :) I tried watching baseball on tv once or twice but the rules are too complicated for me. Like counting points. Or the way the guy (how is he called? a tosser? ;)) tosses the ball.

[kilted exile]

The first baseball game I saw was the Blue Jays against the Texas Rangers in July 1992. At that point the Skydome/Rogers Centre was packed and I was up in the nosebleeds. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and since moving out to Canada in 2001, I have attempted to get to around 15 games a season. I am however currently very disillusioned with baseball as a whole - mainly due to the steroid use & vast amount of money the players get paid. Also because I know the Blue Jays will never make the playoffs in the current format against the Yankees & Red Sox.

Anyway...........GO JAYS!

[Basil]

Kik, I hate to tell you this:

Prior's out indefinitely (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/specials/spring_training/2005/03/14/bc.bbn.cubs.priorout.ap/index.html).

Kerry Wood's currently riding the wood as well. I think both of them are expected to be ready by opening day, but it's not a good sign to have your two aces complaining of pain and inflammation in Spring Training.

But yeah, I'm with Sancho--the Cubs are my SECOND favorite team in the NL. How cool would it be if the Sox and the Cubs won the World Series back to back?

[papayahed]

Wait are there no AL fans here??? I guess I'll be the lone reed...... The first time I was ever able to buy beer was at Tiger Stadium, so for that and many other reasons I for the Detroit Tigers, even though they kinda stink.

Go Tigers!!!

[Koa]

What's baseball?

Eheh that's my question too.
But I also have an answer: it's a sport featured in American movies where people have to do something I'll never understand no matter how many times I'm explained about it. Some hit a ball, some run... the reasons behind it are beyond me.

:D

[Scheherazade]

Well, if you look at it that way football (soccer for ya yanks) is even worse. One player kicks the ball and runs after it. The moment he catches up with it, he kicks it again... :D

I am neither a Brit nor a yank just for the record! :D

[Koa]

I wasn't questioning the depth of the game cos every sport is like that if you look at it that way... I was just underlining my total ignorance about the matter. I've only ever seen baseball in American movies (or the Simpsons), I actually knew a person whose brother played it here as a kid but I've never managed to get the rules... It's very far from popular in this side of the world anyway.

[shortysweetp]

Go Yankees!! even though they arent their best this year and having a few minor pitching problems. they will soon be fixed

[NNoah3]

I love baseball!!!! My team is San Diego Padres.

[shortysweetp]

well how is everyone's teams doing? Yankees are on top (well they are fighting to stay on top now). GO YANKEES

[YellowCrayola]

San Francisco Giants all the way. We'll win it next year. Muahahhaa. http://clicksmilies.com/s0105/teufel/devil-smiley-023.gif

Well, my team just lost a chance to win the division series to the Padres, and now we're fighting for 2nd place against Arizona. At least we can finish the year strong despite our sad record. :D

[samercury]

I love baseball (even though I'm not very good at batting)... but I love watching it been played. My all time favorite team is the Boston RED SOX!!!!

Go Sox (yeah) :D

[samercury]

Red Sox made it!!! (excited)

[Basil]

Go Braves
__________________

[shortysweetp]

the yankees played their scrubs today is the only reason boston won today but anyway
:D

[samercury]

Not true! (they still won so it doesn't really matter does it?) :p

[Basil]

the yankees played their scrubs today is the only reason boston won today but anyway
:D
You know what's funny, though? I bet the Red Sox have an easier time with the White Sox than the Yankees will playing the Angels. So while, yes, the Yankees won the AL East, I think they have to play a much more difficult team as a result.

I predict Boston and the L.A. Angels will be playing each other for the AL pennant.

Oh, and the Braves vs. the Cardinals in the NL.

[shortysweetp]

so what about those White Sox huh? poor poor Boston. :) but the cardinals are definitely in for the NL

[samercury]

I was sooo disappointed :(

[Basil]

Yeah, I blew that Boston call, didn't I? But you better watch out, shortysweetp, the Yankees are down 2 games to 1--on the verge of (dare I say it?):E-L-I-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N!!

Go Bravos!

[samercury]

When is the next game supposed to be?

[shortysweetp]

update - braves lost yankees won (one more game to go)

[B-Mental]

OK, I'm in it for White Sox and Astros in the Series for five bananas. Holy Smokes, but I can't believe that the Astros beat the Braves in 18 innininininnningns, especially because (I work nights) when I went to bed this morning, THE BRAVES WERE UP BY FIVE!

[Basil]

THE BRAVES WERE UP BY FIVE!
Jesus wept.

[B-Mental]

I'll try to hide my smiles, but the Yankees are out of it. I'll reiterate my stance on rooting for the White Sox. Its difficult, because they used to play the Brewers all the time when I was growing up so my teams were Brewers and Cubs,(still are despite division change). I'll root for Chicago as I would for the underdog.

[samercury]

If the Red Sox didn't win at least the Yankees didn't either :evil smile:
(That was kind of mean... wasn't it?)

[shortysweetp]

ok ok :D hmm i have to semi agree with you samercury but the other way around if the yankees arent going to win then at least the red sox arent either.
My hubby says that its my fault that the yankees keep losing. Every since we have been dating they have lost. he jokes and says he will divorce me if they lose again (which they did and he didnt) :D

[papayahed]

Hey!!!!! How about those Detroit Tigers????

[Boris239]

If the Red Sox didn't win at least the Yankees didn't either :evil smile:
(That was kind of mean... wasn't it?)

Yes, that's true. I'm more into soccer and hockey, but I'm still always happy when Yankees lose. My parents live very close to Fenway, and I went to Kenmore Square when Red Sox won at first against Yankees and then the World Series. Actually the celebration after Yankees victory was much bigger.

[higley]

My poor Indians :(

[papayahed]

My poor Indians :(


Who?????:lol:

[Virgil]

Welcome back Papaya. I haven't seen you in a bit. I guess you would say the same thing about my poor Baltimore Orioles. :bawling:

[papayahed]

Welcome back Papaya. I haven't seen you in a bit. I guess you would say the same thing about my poor Baltimore Orioles. :bawling:

Thanks Virgie!! I've been kinda wrapped up in work, I know I've been saying this for a year and a half but once I get a computer at home you guys will be begging me to leave!!

[Scheherazade]

I know I've been saying this for a year and a half but once I get a computer at home you guys will be begging me to leave!!I believe that when I see it! http://wwwdb.bb.go.th/board/editor/images/smiley/msn/icon_smile_sarcastic.gif

Welcome back! :)

[kilted exile]

Hey!!!!! How about those Detroit Tigers????

I have been waiting expecting the Tigers collapse all season, I didnt think there was any way this would continue and when they went something like 19-37 towards the end of the season I thought it had come, then they beat the Yankees :lol: , Kenny Rogers somehow figured out how to pitch in the postseason, and are now good and rested to face whoever wins in the NL, looks like Detroitt is gonna win after all (which means I'll need to put up with the annoying SW Ontarians from Windsor etc going on about the Tigers all winter :( ).

[TEND]

I'm still hoping the Mets will pull something off although it looks unlikely, Maine could be a hero tonight and redeem himself. Anyways, I have to agree it looks as though the Tigers will take it this year.

Virg, Higley, although we've gone over this before, I feel your pain with my poor Bosox.

[Basil]

Traditionally, I've always hated the Mets and I certainly do not want to see them win the World Series, but I love this guy:

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/4059/juliofranco794670yd3.jpg

Julio Franco: still playing baseball at the incredible age of 48 years old. And not just playing the game, but playing it pretty darn well.

[Virgil]

Go Tigers. I'm rooting for them!! And Julio Franco is amazing.

[papayahed]

Sheesh! I'm dying to see who wins the Cardinals/Mets series. I'm hoping for the Cardinals only because I only live 4 hours away and I'm hoping to get tickets to a game - to see my Tigers of course!!.

[TEND]

Mets are still alive! :D :D Sorry Papaya the Cards are not taking it :D .

[Virgil]

Big Game Tonight!!! I Can't Wait.

[TEND]

I would love to see the Mets and the Tigers in the World Series, those are two teams I don't mind, keeping in mind there are only teams I don't like, and teams I don't mind beyond the Red Sox, that would be as good as it gets for me.

[TEND]

Ahh, the Cards took it. Looks like as much as I hate to say it, I'm rooting for one of the Red Sox division rivals in the World Series. Well let's all hope for a Tigers win!

EDIT: Sorry for double-posting, but you know.

[Virgil]

Poor Mets. I don't know why, but I can't warm up to the Cards at all. Go Tigers.

[papayahed]

I don't know why, but I can't warm up to the Cards at all.


Me Neither!!:D

Operation Get Papaya tickets now in effect!!! :brow:

[TEND]

Wow, can't believe the Cards pulled off game 1. I didn't get a chance to see it so I don't know if the Tigers played poorly, or the Cards played well, or if the game just sorta went their way, but I am quite surprised. Anyone have any comments on the game?

[papayahed]

Wow, can't believe the Cards pulled off game 1. I didn't get a chance to see it so I don't know if the Tigers played poorly, or the Cards played well, or if the game just sorta went their way, but I am quite surprised. Anyone have any comments on the game?



I'm not sure what happened the first game - and I watched it!

[Virgil]

Forget game 1. Tigers all the way from now on. Did you get tickets, Papaya?

[papayahed]

Bump

I was looking for another thread about beer and I found this one, since baseball season is getting close I thought I would revive it!

[kilted exile]

yeah, baseball season's getting close but my jays are gonna suck - maybe its time to trade halladay & get some more youngsters for the future......

[higley]

Bet Virgil knows just how I feel about this particular subject :D I have a good feeling about the Indians this year!

[Virgil]

Yes I do Higley. But I think the Twins may be the best team in that division this year. ;) But we'll see. The game has to be played on the fied not by predictions. My Balitmore Orioles will be lucky to climb out of last place. :(

[BlueSkyGB]

Yes...that time of year....
Glad to see that Randy Johnson is going to at least pitch another year...although that team...
Guess for this year I'll just pull for individual players...although the Red Sox have a heck of a pitching staff...

[mono]

*feels his testosterone levels rising, which peak from April to October*
Okay, last year really surprised me, and, for once, I felt relatively indifferent, not really feeling a fan of either teams. Congratulations to the Phillies, nonetheless - they have had a rough few decades, and it seemed about their time to get somewhere.
My teams: for the National League - Atlanta Braves (who always seem to do so-so). For the American League (mind you, I have loved them even when they did not do so well) - Boston Red Sox. Of course, I support my most local team, Seattle Mariners, too, and have seen a few games of theirs.

Glad to see that Randy Johnson is going to at least pitch another year...although that team...
Funny that you mention this, because I had a gut feeling the other day, while watching the SF Giants practice, that they may have a good season this year - the same with the Cardinals, but I cannot explain my rationales - just an inkling. I felt relieved to see that Johnson will pitch another season, and prize him (even while he pitched for the Yankees - grrr!) as one of the few long-standing players who has not, at least to my knowledge, done the steroids thing - ahem! (Bonds, McGwire, Rodriguez) ah-choo! (Canseco, Clemens) . . . excuse me!

My Balitmore Orioles will be lucky to climb out of last place.
I wish them all the luck, but they simply have not seemed the same without Cal Ripken. Ah! seeing that guy swing, I could almost feel the wind from his bat from my living room!

Guess for this year I'll just pull for individual players...although the Red Sox have a heck of a pitching staff...
I cannot think of anything that has felt nearly as good as when Jonathan Papelbon threw the last pitch of the 4-game sweep against the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series.

[Virgil]

Hey the new Yankee stadium was opened to the fans this week and it got rave reviews. I won't go (I hate the Yankees) but it's good for the game that these new gorgeous ball parks have been built. Much better than those 1960's and 70's ball parks that were so sterile.

[BlueSkyGB]

I won't go (I hate the Yankees)

My whole house is with you on that one....:lol::D:)

all 3 of us....but we seem to differ on other teams...:D

[MissScarlett]

I love the Yankees!

[BlueSkyGB]

I love the Yankees!

I respect some individual players ...:)
but as a team/organization.......sorry...:p

[MissScarlett]

I don't think the organization is really any worse than any other team. However, my very favorite baseball team is...a secret for now. But it's NL.

[kilted exile]

I have n more problem with the Yankees than I do the red sox. Hate having to compete with both in the same division though

[BlueSkyGB]

I don't think the organization is really any worse than any other team. However, my very favorite baseball team is...a secret for now. But it's NL.

hmmm... intriguing
sounds like?
begins with?
a guessing game.....:lol:

[Virgil]

I respect some individual players ...:)
but as a team/organization.......sorry...:p

Me too. Derek Jeter is all class. He's a great young man, especially for a hot shot ball player.

[Virgil]

I have n more problem with the Yankees than I do the red sox. Hate having to compete with both in the same division though

I know. Tell me about it.

[mono]

Hey the new Yankee stadium was opened to the fans this week and it got rave reviews. I won't go (I hate the Yankees) but it's good for the game that these new gorgeous ball parks have been built. Much better than those 1960's and 70's ball parks that were so sterile.
I already thought very highly of you, Virgil, but you have just made my A+ list! :nod: To answer any questions in advance that may come clearly, no, I do not hate the Yankees because I love, and have always loved, the Red Sox; they have just plainly always pissed me off indescribably.
Speaking of that always-exploited battle between the Red Sox and Yankees, did anyone else hear about that nonsense about someone burying David Ortiz's jersey in the Yankee Stadium concrete, in attempt to curse the Red Sox. Even more ridiculous? The silly thing got auctioned off for over $100,000. :rolleyes:

[Virgil]

I already thought very highly of you, Virgil, but you have just made my A+ list! :nod: To answer any questions in advance that may come clearly, no, I do not hate the Yankees because I love, and have always loved, the Red Sox; they have just plainly always pissed me off indescribably.
Speaking of that always-exploited battle between the Red Sox and Yankees, did anyone else hear about that nonsense about someone burying David Ortiz's jersey in the Yankee Stadium concrete, in attempt to curse the Red Sox. Even more ridiculous? The silly thing got auctioned off for over $100,000. :rolleyes:

haha, that story about Ortiz's jersey was big here in New York. It was front page on some of the newspapers. :) Thank you for your kind comment Mono. You are a perfect gentleman here and one with such grace.

[higley]

I had an interesting experience with some drunk Boston fans at one of the ALCS games in 2007. ;) Security had to keep coming down and telling a woman next to me to stop standing on her seat. To be fair, there were some fairly toasted Indians fans to my left too.

I hate when stadiums are renamed to take on the awful brand names of their sponsors--like Gillette or Progressive. Jacob's Field will always be Jacob's field to me. I still feel sick when I think about it.

[Virgil]

I had an interesting experience with some drunk Boston fans at one of the ALCS games in 2007. ;) Security had to keep coming down and telling a woman next to me to stop standing on her seat. To be fair, there were some fairly toasted Indians fans to my left too.

I hate when stadiums are renamed to take on the awful brand names of their sponsors--like Gillette or Progressive. Jacob's Field will always be Jacob's field to me. I still feel sick when I think about it.
Yeah I know what you mean about the stadium names. The Mets lucked out though. Their new stadium will be sponsored by Citi Bank and so it will be called Citi Field, which works out nicely with a team named the Metropolitans.

[LadyWentworth]

However, my very favorite baseball team is...a secret for now. But it's NL.
Mine definitely isn't a secret at all! For people who have paid enough attention, they will definitely remember who is my #1 team. :D With what I will write below, you can figure out who it is. ;)


I hate when stadiums are renamed to take on the awful brand names of their sponsors--like Gillette or Progressive. Jacob's Field will always be Jacob's field to me. I still feel sick when I think about it.
There is so much here that I feel that way about. We have the U.S. Cellular Arena (:sick:), but I still call this place The Mecca. I do that with so many things that have their names changed because I still think of them with the original name. It seems like I just can't make myself use the new names. I just don't like them.


Yeah I know what you mean about the stadium names. The Mets lucked out though. Their new stadium will be sponsored by Citi Bank and so it will be called Citi Field, which works out nicely with a team named the Metropolitans.
That is why I was satisfied that Miller Brewing got involved. I really like the sound of Miller Park. It has an "old-fashioned" sound to it.

[papayahed]

That is why I was satisfied that Miller Brewing got involved. I really like the sound of Miller Park. It has an "old-fashioned" sound to it.

The new baseball stadium in detroit is called Comerica Park. :sick: Shortening it to CoPa would be fun but I don't think that's happened yet.

[kilted exile]

ok, opening night - first one I've missed in 5years. Lets go Halladay, tame those kitties

[Virgil]

Orioles are playing the Yankees right now. :D

[papayahed]

ok, opening night - first one I've missed in 5years. Lets go Halladay, tame those kitties

Hey Now!

Go Tigers!!

[LadyWentworth]

The new baseball stadium in detroit is called Comerica Park. :sick: Shortening it to CoPa would be fun but I don't think that's happened yet.
You know what? I didn't know where Comerica Park was. I knew about Detroit getting the new stadium, and I heard the name, but I honestly never realized that the two were together. :confused: Actually, CoPa does sound better. I wonder if anyone would catch on to it now that you've said it. :)


I am not expecting too much from The Brewers. Maybe that was a fluke last year. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. All I know is that I have learned through the years to never expect much from them. That way when they aren't the number 1 team, or aren't even the Wild Card, I won't be as disappointed because I wouldn't have had my hopes up. Then, if they do make it to at least one of the playoff series, that will be a pleasant surprise for me. :)

Nevertheless, I will say
GO BREWERS!!!!!

[kilted exile]

Woohoo, this aint gonna happen much so taking advantage while it does. 5-1 jays in the 4th




EDIT - make that 6

[papayahed]

Woohoo, this aint gonna happen much so taking advantage while it does. 5-1 jays in the 4th




EDIT - make that 6

pfffww, good thing I didn't ask if you wanted to bet on it.

[Virgil]

Woooo hoooo!


O's win opener against Yankees
Top of order shines as O's get to Sabathia, pound out 14 hits in victory
By Jeff Zrebiec | [email protected]

For five innings Monday, Opening Day 2009 had gone exactly as the Orioles had hoped. Jeremy Guthrie, who couldn't get anybody out in spring training, had allowed only one run. CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees' ace who was presented with a seven-year, $171 million deal this offseason, was pounded for six runs and had already exited a game that he was expected to dominate.

And the biggest Opening Day crowd in Camden Yards history took great pride in showering New York first baseman Mark Teixeira with boos after his decision to sign with the Yankees and not his hometown Orioles.
[SNIP]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-oriolesgame405,0,4335954.story

[higley]

Ouch! Indians tanked their first. 1-9 to the Rangers.

Oooh I bet the Yanks aren't going to get their money's worth out of CC. You never should have left Cleveland, Sabathia!

[mono]

I am not expecting too much from The Brewers. Maybe that was a fluke last year. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. All I know is that I have learned through the years to never expect much from them.
Their progress last year really surprised me, too! They have not done so great since Paul Molitor's times in the 1990's; I cannot remember who he traded to later in his career, but he seemed to have an attachment to the Brewers that brought out the best in his game - subsequently, they did impressively!

Woooo hoooo!
O's win opener against Yankees
Top of order shines as O's get to Sabathia, pound out 14 hits in victory
By Jeff Zrebiec | [email protected]

For five innings Monday, Opening Day 2009 had gone exactly as the Orioles had hoped. Jeremy Guthrie, who couldn't get anybody out in spring training, had allowed only one run. CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees' ace who was presented with a seven-year, $171 million deal this offseason, was pounded for six runs and had already exited a game that he was expected to dominate.

And the biggest Opening Day crowd in Camden Yards history took great pride in showering New York first baseman Mark Teixeira with boos after his decision to sign with the Yankees and not his hometown Orioles.
[SNIP]
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-oriolesgame405,0,4335954.story
Huzzah! I could hardly believe it either! That 8th inning - intense! :nod:

[Virgil]

Huzzah! I could hardly believe it either! That 8th inning - intense! :nod:

Oh were you watching itt too? Yes that was a good eigth inning. :D

[mono]

Oh were you watching itt too? Yes that was a good eigth inning. :D
Yeah, it happened to come on while cleaning my apartment, and I listened to it more than watched it. I still cannot believe it - what a good start for the Orioles! :D

[LadyWentworth]

Their progress last year really surprised me, too! They have not done so great since Paul Molitor's times in the 1990's; I cannot remember who he traded to later in his career, but he seemed to have an attachment to the Brewers that brought out the best in his game - subsequently, they did impressively!
He went to the Blue Jays, and then eventualy the Twins, which is where I think he kind of wanted to end his career. He is from Minnesota, anyway. A major problem of the Brewers for so long was the owner. We have someone now who really tries with the team. Then they seemed to be plagued with bad managers. Firing Yost was very satisfying for me.

As for their first game today:
Brewers 6
Giants 10

CLASSIC!!!! :thumbs_up :p So typical of them. :rolleyes:

[mono]

As for their first game today:
Brewers 6
Giants 10

CLASSIC!!!! :thumbs_up :p So typical of them. :rolleyes:
D'oh!
Oh well, The Giants have not done too impressively for a while (take that, Barry Bonds! :D), and it seems only typical that they should have some benefit one season. Probably just a fluke - the Brewers just need to get back in the habit out on the field.

[Virgil]

Haha!! Orioles beat the Yankess again!! :D

[pussnboots]

Haha!! Orioles beat the Yankess again!! :D

we'll see who's laughing by the all-star break :D

[kilted exile]

One thing I am going to enjoy greatly is Burnett failing in NY

[Virgil]

One thing I am going to enjoy greatly is Burnett failing in NY

Yeah, he won today and now the Orioles are no longer undefeated. :(

[higley]

The Indians have a perfect record, they haven't won a single game. >:(

[kilted exile]

well that was a nice series to open things up. 3-1, not gonna continue but happy while it does.

I cant stand Burnett - he will fail & I will be deliriously happy about it

[mono]

Did everyone else hear about this (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/04/09/adenhart.killed/index.html)? The tragedy of Nick Adenhart, another victim of a drunk driver, among more passengers. :(

[kilted exile]

Yeah, saw that - freaking shame. Apparently he was going to be their hot young thing this year too

[Virgil]

Did everyone else hear about this (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/04/09/adenhart.killed/index.html)? The tragedy of Nick Adenhart, another victim of a drunk driver, among more passengers. :(

Yes. Very tragic. It breaks my heart, not just because he's a ball player. But when someone is a public figure, the news becomes prominant and makes it more poignant. :(

[papayahed]

Whoo Hoo. Tigers smashed the Rangers in the home opener. 14-2, I think.

[mono]

Did anyone else see the Boston Red Sox beat the LA Angels yesterday? 5-4
Jason Bay does not have the greatest record, especially playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates for so long (eek, sorry!), but with his two homeruns and left field catches yesterday, he made a good impression on me! No one quite beat Jonathan Papelbon's pitches - thirty-something pitches in the 9th inning (LAA wanted that tie to go into the 10th inning bad, especially after one hit that homerun in the beginning of the 9th), and he still did not throw one fastball under 85 mph. :eek:

[Virgil]

I was impressed with Jason Bay last year. He's maturing but I think he's a solid player.

[higley]

The Indians have finally won a game! No thanks to the pitching staff.

[papayahed]

Nice, Tigers came from a 4-0 deficit to win. They're looking pretty good so far.

[mono]

The Indians have finally won a game! No thanks to the pitching staff.
Yeah, I think if they had a better pitching team, they would really do well. Cleveland, I have noticed, tends to do either really well (they have made it to the playoffs within the past few years) or really . . . meh. :rolleyes:

[papayahed]

I think I spoke to soon.

[andave_ya]

(every time I read the thread title I want to say "NO!")

:p

[kilted exile]

so a question - Roy Halladay? best pitcher in baseball? or home town hype?

[mono]

so a question - Roy Halladay? best pitcher in baseball? or home town hype?
He has definitely impressed me, kilted, especially for a rightie; his fastballs seem difficult to compete with, for sure. In fact, I think he earned his nickname, "Doc," for that reason, after the gunslinger Doc Holiday, also taking into account his last name. The best? Eh . . . difficult to say, because a few pages ago, someone mentioned Randy Johnson pitching another season, and, especially with all of his years invested, he seems difficult to compete with, too.
I have not seen too many Toronto games lately, but I remember he made a good impression on me in 2007 - a good season for them! :nod:

[Virgil]

so a question - Roy Halladay? best pitcher in baseball? or home town hype?

I don't know if he's the best pitcher in baseball, but he's no hype. He's the real thing. If he stays healthy he will be a hall of famer.

[AuntShecky]

We like Roy Halladay and think he's in the top 5 with the Indians's Cliff Lee, but right now methinks Johann Santana
is the best pitcher in baseball. If a certain bullpen hadn't thwarted his outstanding performance in 08, he would have won the Cy Young. This afternoon, as he is starting w. the Mets against the Brewers, his ERA is .071.

[metal134]

My poor Indians :(
I'm really begging to worry that Fausto Carmona is a fraud. I keep crossing my fingers hoping he's going to turn that corner and get it back, but he keeps on disappointing. On the flip side, Lee has looked pretty darn good his last couple of times out. It may sound like a stretch to say this, but I think that the fate of this rotation (and thus,k the fat of this team) rests on Carl Pavano and Aaron Laffy. And that scares me. Especially Pavano.


And to answer the question on Halladay, not the best pitcher in baseball, but top 10. Maybe even top 5.

[Virgil]

Yankee/Red Sox games have been excellent! Baseball at its best.

[kilted exile]

Ok, so I am at a loss to explain what the hell is going on with the jays to this point. I still dont expect anything from the season, and am waiting on it all falling apart around me. Still, enjoying it while it lasts though - Aaron Hill is shaping up to have a really good year

[Virgil]

It's early Kilt. I've been fooled with many a good start by the Orioles. One really can't assess until forty games (one quarter of the season) have been played.

[kilted exile]

yeah virg, I know what you mean. think things may probably turn when our young pitchers get seen a bit more and teams get familiar with what kind of stuff they have.

[BlueSkyGB]

Yankees/BoSox.....
Stealing Home....so glad I was watching this game.....
loved it.....
Daughter's fav. the Mets...hmmm...need to step it up a little...

[Virgil]

That steal was something!! You don't see that every day. :)

[higley]

Well the Indians are still in last place in the Central Division, but they're only 3.5 games back as it's all pretty tight and there's a couple ties. Grady made an amazing catch the other night, just after receiving his Golden Glove right before the game. :D Speaking of stealing home, he's the only one I've actually seen do it--live, I mean.

I'm glad I got to see Griffey JR once or twice before he went back to Seattle.

Fausto Carmona needs to step it up.

[metal134]

Well, Fausto pitched very well tonight, but I agree, he needs to step it up in the long term. The good news is that Lee has returned to form and Laffy has been outstanding. He has the potential, but will he keep it up?

[metal134]

The Indians game tonight has been a perfect microcosm of their season. It started out bad and things look glum, but then they put some on the board and you think, 'hey, maybe they're going to be alright after all.' Then they blow it again, causing you to further despair. Then, they come back again and the bullpen blows it and as I type this, everything hangs in the balance. Thus hass gone this game, thus has gone this season.

[papayahed]

What? This thread reminded me to see how my Tigers are doing. Is it possible that they are in secon place in the division? Behind Kansas City??????

[metal134]

The Tigers are a talented team. But they are like the Indians in that they need a lot of ifs to fall into place if they are going to contend. But if those things do fall into place, then look out.

[AuntShecky]

Hey baseball fans! Tell me what you think of the idea of MLB's "interleague play." In my extremely humble opinion, I think it's the worst idea since manipulating with the height of the pitcher's mound. (And don't get me started on the designated hitter.)

Anyway, let's hear your opinions.

[kilted exile]

hate it big advantage for the national league teams going up against teams where the pitcher has never even seen a major league pitch in a lot of cases

[AuntShecky]

What I hate most about interleague games is that the NL will be spending time on a number of games from the precious 162 on AL teams, instead of valuable face time with teams from divisions in their own league.

[papayahed]

oh, I thought it was a pretty good idea, the fans get to see teams they don't normally get to see. But I always wondered if the AL pitchers had to bat, that wouldn't seem fair.

[Virgil]

oh, I thought it was a pretty good idea, the fans get to see teams they don't normally get to see. But I always wondered if the AL pitchers had to bat, that wouldn't seem fair.

I don't think it's such a big deal. The NL pitchers aren't much of hitters anyway, and when the NL teams come to the American League parks and have to insert a DH they don't usually have an established DH.

[papayahed]

I don't think it's such a big deal. The NL pitchers aren't much of hitters anyway, and when the NL teams come to the American League parks and have to insert a DH they don't usually have an established DH.

ehh, I'd have to disagree. Even if the NL are bad hitters they at least do it every 5 or so games verses AL pitcher that bat maybe 2-3 games a season and everybody has pinch hitters.

[Virgil]

Well, since the beginning of inter league play, the AL has 1,536 wins to the NL's 1,420 wins. And that's despite their pitcher being at a disadvantagve hitting. So I do think the AL has some sort of advantage from something.

[JuniperWoolf]

Baseball's too slow and non-violent for me... it's got nothing on hockey. GO PENGUINS!

[mono]

Hey baseball fans! Tell me what you think of the idea of MLB's "interleague play." In my extremely humble opinion, I think it's the worst idea since manipulating with the height of the pitcher's mound. (And don't get me started on the designated hitter.)

Anyway, let's hear your opinions.
To put it bluntly, I think it defeats the purpose of the World Series. Sure, it would not hurt to do some off-season interleague play, just to prevent mold from getting to the bats and pitchers' arms getting rusty, but I really think they ought to keep it as they have. It would not break my heart if MLB encorporated interleague play into modern baseball, but I still think it absurd.

SoooOOOooo, wow! Did anyone else see that Seattle Mariners vs. SF Giants last night? They tied 1-1 then went to not the 10th inning, not the 11th inning, but to 12 innings, until the Mariners finally got one run and won at the bottom of the 12th. I suppose I have to support them, as my most local team, even though they (just barely) beat the Red Sox this season. With the exception of Griffey Jr. and Ichiro, their batting staff do not really impress me, but their pitchers, outfielders, and basemen really have something to call home about, in my opinion.

. . . the AL Red Sox have still done okay this season, and I suppose I can still keep my fingers crossed for the NL Braves, but the Mariners have definitely made some improvements from the last few seasons. :D

[Virgil]

No I did not see any of those games Mono. But Red Sox look good, though I'm sure Kilt is in heaven. Here we are at a quarter of the season and Toronto is still in first. I would have to say they're for real at this point. To be honest, other than Hallowday I don't know who else Toronto has on their pitching staff.

[kilted exile]

No I did not see any of those games Mono. But Red Sox look good, though I'm sure Kilt is in heaven. Here we are at a quarter of the season and Toronto is still in first. I would have to say they're for real at this point. To be honest, other than Hallowday I don't know who else Toronto has on their pitching staff.

I am.

We had heard of the kids before but thats all they were. A lot of them should still be even just at AA. I am really impressed with Aaron Hill just now - he is having a great year & deserves some recognition with regards to votes for the All-star game

[Virgil]

I am.

We had heard of the kids before but thats all they were. A lot of them should still be even just at AA. I am really impressed with Aaron Hill just now - he is having a great year & deserves some recognition with regards to votes for the All-star game

Well, I'll check the box scores and statistics to see who these kids are. By the way, isn't their current manager Cito Gaston, who brought them to the world series a few times, oh when was that, in the 90's? Maybe he's just got the touch.

[kilted exile]

yep, cito came back mid last season. In fact since he came back we have had one of the best records in baseball

[papayahed]

ok kids, I was just flipping stations and found a preseason game!

[Virgil]

Yes, pre-season has started. Every year I get less interested in baseball. It's the same damn teams that win every year, and if you're not a fan of those seven or eight teams, then you know your season is over by the All Star game. Something's got to change in baseball.

[kilted exile]

This is shaping up to be another dreadful year. The only plus is that that dolt ricciardi is gone.

[Virgil]

This is shaping up to be another dreadful year. The only plus is that that dolt ricciardi is gone.

So the Orioles have a chance to beat out the Blue Jays this year? Seems like we have our competition and the Yankees and Red Sox have theirs.

[kilted exile]

So the Orioles have a chance to beat out the Blue Jays this year? Seems like we have our competition and the Yankees and Red Sox have theirs.

I think it could be a distinct possibility. I'd be surprised if anyone on the jays starters won more than 13/4 games this year now halladay is gone - we may get a quick start cos of the kids but it will all peeter out by mid june

[papayahed]

Sad day in the Motor City:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2010-05-05-302209693_x.htm

[Virgil]

Sad day in the Motor City:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2010-05-05-302209693_x.htm

I heard last night. I bet we're probably the only two here who knew who he was. May he rest in peace.

[papayahed]

I heard last night. I bet we're probably the only two here who knew who he was. May he rest in peace.

You may be right. Many a night was spent on the porch with Grandpa listening to Ernie call a game on an old brown leather transitor radio.

[Virgil]

You may be right. Many a night was spent on the porch with Grandpa listening to Ernie call a game on an old brown leather transitor radio.

Being that I lived in NY I never got to really hear him except for an occaisional TV appearence. He had a great voice for baseball.

[Basil]

Ouch.

Blown call costs Tigers' Galarraga perfect game (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300602106)

Sorry, Papaya.

[AuntShecky]

Ouch.

Blown call costs Tigers' Galarraga perfect game (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300602106)

Sorry, Papaya.

Several pundits have said that we will remember this pitcher and his graceful acceptance of a "lost" perfect game
long after we've forgotten the perfect games that have been unsullied by an imperfect call. Such is the capriciousness of immortality.

[Virgil]

Several pundits have said that we will remember this pitcher and his graceful acceptance of a "lost" perfect game
long after we've forgotten the perfect games that have been unsullied by an imperfect call. Such is the capriciousness of immortality.

I agree. But you know, Galarraga will forever be known as the pitcher who threw 28 perfect outs, a sort of super perfect game. He will stand out in the history books. :)

[kilted exile]

Its so hard to keep track of how my Jays are doing - checking the standings only tells me so much

[Virgil]

I have completely given up on baseball. The Orioles are about to have the worst record in the history of baseball and it's no fun.

[Sancho]

I have completely given up on baseball.

Baseball is dead - long live baseball

I gotta tell ya, if the NL East weren't so weak, the Braves would be stinking up the place a whole lot worse than they already do.

[papayahed]

How about that world series huh?

I'm hoping the Rangers can pull it out.

[Virgil]

How about that world series huh?

I'm hoping the Rangers can pull it out.

I am too. Unless the Yankees are playing, I usually go for the American League team. And the Yankees thankfully lost. :D

It seems like the Rangers have the better team but they are not getting it done. The Giants must be a team of over achievers.

[Basil]

I'm pulling for the Giants simply because I do not wish to see this man win a World Series.

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq298/Mr-Sack/Jeff_Francoeur.jpg

I am a man driven by spite and pettiness.

[AuntShecky]

Hey, Basil, what has "Frenchy" ever done to you?

Anyway-- in this tiny little corner of the world yours fooly and her kith and kin were so gosh-darned happy that the Stinkees and the Sillies were out of it, that we were rooting for BOTH the Rangers and the Giants!

Congratulations, SF!

[jajdude]

I'm just a bit sad now baseball is over and winter is near.

[Virgil]

Congrats to San Fran. Strong pitching and clutch hitting did it.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

My Rangers didn't pull it off, but they finally made it to the world series. Most of the fans are thrilled in the fact that they reached the series, even though they lost.

It may take another 38 years to get there again.


Gilliatt

[Virgil]

I'm just a bit sad now baseball is over and winter is near.
When I was in my teens I used to feel the same exact way. Baseball was life! :)

[Sancho]

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/South_Park_Braves_Baseball_2_by_JayJaxon.jpg

Take me out to the ball park!

[papayahed]

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/South_Park_Braves_Baseball_2_by_JayJaxon.jpg

Take me out to the ball park!

doh!


My Tigers are stinking up the place.

[Sancho]

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Braves.gif

The home team is starting to show a little life. Early on in the season the Mets were using the Braves like a 10-dollar hooker.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Texas_Rangers.svg/250px-Texas_Rangers.svg.png



Will the third time be a charm?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've grown up right next to St. Louis, home of the Cardinals. I'm sure any even moderate baseball fan knows St. Louis's reputation of being a baseball town. Opening day is a bigger holiday than Christmas around here, if one were to judge by the news coverage, and I'm not exaggerating. That being said. . .

I HATE BASEBALL.

I really, really do. It's so boring, and he amount players are paid for playing a child's game is insane. I root for The Cards to lose for the simple reason that if they do, it's that much less time I have to hear about them.

[papayahed]

Will the third time be a charm?

No.



s5cr

[Sancho]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Texas_Rangers.svg/250px-Texas_Rangers.svg.png



Will the third time be a charm?


Oh yeah, yous got a baseball team too.

[Sancho]

I've grown up right next to St. Louis, home of the Cardinals. I'm sure any even moderate baseball fan knows St. Louis's reputation of being a baseball town. Opening day is a bigger holiday than Christmas around here, if one were to judge by the news coverage, and I'm not exaggerating. That being said. . .

I HATE BASEBALL.

I really, really do. It's so boring, and he amount players are paid for playing a child's game is insane. I root for The Cards to lose for the simple reason that if they do, it's that much less time I have to hear about them.

Okay, I'll bite.

MM, you don’t understand. Baseball is the game of life. It’s as much like a children’s game as James Joyce is like Dr. Seuss. Baseball has everything: tactics, strategy, politics, pathos, ethos, mythos, plot, tension, drama, history, philosophy, love, and hate. It’s the sort of thing that makes us human.

Now football, that’s a sport for complete imbeciles.

Also, the Cards suck horse c*ck.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

One could apply any number of hyperbolic adjectives to even the lamest of subjects if one were to try.

Are you really saying baseball has more tactics than football? Are you really saying that? There's nothing to baseball. You hit a ball, run around bases while someone attempts to catch the ball and get the runner out. That's it. WOW! What complexity! Football, now that actually has tactics, configurations, planning, strategy. Plus, the players are actually tough. I've seen baseball players injure themselves when running. RUNNING! They're a bunch of overpaid pussies.

I agree that baseball is what makes us human, though. Humans are generally idiots, so that baseball is the American pastime comes as no surprise.

Though only sport worse than baseball is NASCAR, though I'd hesitate to even call that a sport.

And, yeah, the Cards suck ****. I thought I we pretty clear on that point.

[Sancho]

^

Now football, that’s a sport for complete imbeciles.

See what I mean.

All kidding aside, football fans aren’t really imbeciles and the Cards don’t really suck horse c*ck. I’ve enjoyed many a fine fall afternoon on the gridiron and many a fine afternoon at Busch Field (I saw Ozzie play). I used to live on the other side of St. Louis from you, MM. I lived in Eureka, MO in the 90s – out there with the hoosiers.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Oh sure, I've heard of Eureka, though I'm not sure if I've ever been there. I'm in Belleville. Not Hoosier country, but ignorant country all the same.

Seriously, my only dislike of baseball stems from the constant news coverage. When I turn the news on in the morning, I want to hear about the news, not the Cardinals. Sports should not be headline news unless a team wins the championship of said sport, and even then it shouldn't last more than 5 minutes. But being from this area, you know that's not the case when it comes to the Cardinals. Now every news show has to broadcast live from Bush stadium on opening day, play off games, whatever, in an inane attempt to outdo the other stations Carsinals fandom. It's highly annoying.

[Sancho]

I see your point, MM. The Cardinals are riding high now and cashing in on their popularity after last season, so I say - ride that pony ‘till it drops. Back when I lived there the Cards stunk up the entire Mississippi river valley and some of Big Muddy’s as well. They couldn’t buy a 30-second spot on local news. Scalpers were starving. You could get 4 free tickets with the purchase of a large Imo’s pizza, and you’d have practically a whole section of seats to yourself. You may have had to share the center-field section with a troop of Cub Scouts and their Den Mother, who was usually content to sit there and catch up her knitting, but other than that you’d have the place to yourself.

Then Mark Maguire got into an anabolic steroid race with Sammy Sosa, and that sparked things up a little, but truthfully that was pretty boring baseball. More interesting was the Macarena dance video the players made:

Dale a tu cuerpo alergria Macarena – Toe-knee Larussa.

Anyway, my wife worked downtown, so from time to time, I’d get her to play hooky and we’d take in an afternoon game. Then we’d wander over to Soulard and listen to live music and tilt a few cold ones. All in all, it made for a good day.

But, not to worry, I predict the Cards will start sucking again soon, and then things will be back to normal, or as John Steinbeck said, “Once again the world was spinning in greased grooves.”

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

No.

s5cr

Thanks.

[papayahed]

Thanks.


Glad I could help!

hahaha

Actually I've always like the Rangers.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

I'm actually a casual observer. They started out great, but now they seem to be stagnating.
There's plenty more baseball left though.
What's the latest with the Tigers?

[Sancho]

Los Yanquis de Neuve York are in town for the next few nights, and I’m thinking:

3 GAME SWEEP

But I won’t say if the Braves will sweep the Yankees or vice versa.

[papayahed]

I'm actually a casual observer. They started out great, but now they seem to be stagnating.
There's plenty more baseball left though.
What's the latest with the Tigers?


Right now we're doing pretty good against the Reds but overall we're in the crapper.

[Sancho]

Okay, so, after last night's game (NYY-3, ATL-Zip), I'm pretty sure the Braves won't sweep the Yanquis.

[Sancho]

So then, I found myself in Boston last Thursday, and then I found myself wandering down Boylston in the evening, and then I found myself in front of Fenway Park chatting with a sidewalk entrepreneur:

“Aye, you theyah, need tickets?”
“What you got?”
“I got box tickets and I got grandstand.”
“How much for the box?”
“80 dollahs.”
“Too much. How much for the grandstand?”
“25 dollahs.”
“Still too much.”
“How much you got?”
“I got 10 dollars.”
“No way. I wouldn’t give you these tickets for 10 dollahs during the 7th inning stretch.”
“Alright then, I’ma go talk to that guy over there.”
“Wait! Okay, 10 dollahs. Yer killin’ me.”
“Thanks, man. Here’s a 20. Keep the change.”
“Bah! Haha! Yer a friggin’ comedian. Enjoy the game.”
“Thanks, man.”

Sancho’s 10 dollar seat:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Myseat.jpg

A seat that Sancho liked better, but was asked to leave by the park staff:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/notmyseat.jpg

(Bo-Sox lost to the Angels 13/14)

[papayahed]

Nice, I've always wanted to see a game at Fenway.

I was in Arlington at Rangers Stadium last week, there was a bit of a rain delay but it turned out pretty good:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4115/arlington.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/arlington.jpg/)
Ranger lost to the Twins

[Sancho]

Nice stadium. My only question for you, Papaya, is: how did you deal with the hypoxia up there?

A few years ago I almost got to go to a Rangers game at Dubya’s ball park, but I was out voted by my fellow revelers and we wound up going to 6 Flags instead.

So then, Tuesday night I got to go to a Giants game at AT&T Park in San Fran. There’s definitely a different attitude there than in Boston. At Fenway the fans were – intense. There was a pop fly to short right field and the Bo-Sox 1st baseman and right fielder looked at each other as it dropped between them. The dude beside me nearly blew a gasket: “Jeee-sus Christ! This is the may-jah leagues you bums! Get offa my field. Get outta my town! You F**ks.”

Just a bit more laid back in San Francisco: Middle of game, score tied, Giants have runners on 1st and 3rd, nobody out. We’re sitting there thinking – squeeze play. Am I right? Well the next three batters swing away, three up, three down, runners stranded. We’re talking to each other about how we can’t believe they didn’t bunt. The California dudes in front of us (who were wearing their Giants ball caps and jerseys, and waving their big orange foam fingers, cheering the home team the whole game) turned around and asked us, “Hey man, what’s a squeeze play anyway.” We told them how it worked and they agreed that it would’ve been a good idea.

Ah well.
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/giants.jpg
Giants lost to the D-Backs in extra innings 6 to 8.
Right Fielder Hunter Pence did swat the 62nd homer from AT&T Park into the San Francisco Bay that night, which was pretty cool.

[papayahed]

Nice stadium. My only question for you, Papaya, is: how did you deal with the hypoxia up there?


I practiced by holding my breath.

[papayahed]

Miguel Cabrera 1st Triple Crown winner in 45 years
By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer – 7 hours ago
It is more rare than a perfect game and about as uncommon as an unassisted triple play.

Miguel Cabrera won baseball's first Triple Crown in 45 years Wednesday night, becoming only the third living player to achieve the feat.

Cabrera led the American League with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs and 139 RBIs, making him the 15th Triple Crown winner and the first since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h8ZHNGLSr-7uURpidGTxnSCo6iqQ?docId=eb0341d8918c4e469086e1389 0607cd5

And look how cute he is:
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2012/baseball/mlb/10/03/cabrera-triple-crown.ap/miguel-cabrera-ap.jpg

[togre]

My Milwaukee Brewers came back from the dead in September and made a late run for the playoffs, but faded at the end and came up short.

The Tigers (who have former Brewer Prince "the largest vegetarian in the world" Fielder) are a team I generally respect and wish well. Cabrera's achievement is amazing.

Now the playoffs have begun I can only hope the Yankee's lose tonight and exit the playoffs in shame and disgrace. That would make me happy.

I'm kinda rooting for a Nationals vs. Orioles World Series. It would be historically surprising given the clubs' recent histories.

It's a good year to be a baseball fan.

[Sancho]

Ichiro, Safe!
What do they feed those guys in Osaka?
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/ichiro_zpsc7972e22.jpg

Infante, Safe?
Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, could’ve made that call from upper deck: “He missed the tag, Ump, he missed the tag!”
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/infante_zps4693dd21.jpg

[jajdude]

Ichiro is great. I'd put him on the team of best players I've ever seen, in the outfield with Tony Gwynn and Ken Griffey Jr. On the infield I'd put Albert Pujols, Roberto Alomar, Cal Ripken, and maybe George Brett. As catcher, probably Ivan Rodriguez. Leaving out lots of other greats of course. Not sure about pitchers, that's another area to consider. Been watching baseball for 30 plus years.

[Sancho]

Hmm, I might go with The Big Unit on the mound.

Well, the ALCS 2012 is history. Think the Bronx Bombers were missing this guy? (ouch!)

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/jeter_zpsa939693c.jpg

[papayahed]

Well, the ALCS 2012 is history.


How much fun was that?

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/10/17/1350444423083/23ec24e3-a70d-4b4a-a967-552912b1ed52-460.jpeg

[Sancho]

Los Gigantes move on to the fall classic.
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/FeartheBeard_zps44b877b2.jpg
What a game!

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I'm so happy!

[Sancho]

^
Ya see. In the game of baseball, there's a little something for everybody.

Last night a dark cloud descended over the Middle Mississippi River Valley. From St Louis, Missouri to East St Louis, Illinois; from Big Muddy (the Missouri River) to Big Muddy (also the Mississippi River); from O Fallon, Missouri to O Fallon, Illinois, people had a little less spring in their step, a not-so-bright twinkle in their eye, a little less lead in their pencil. And yet, out east of St Louis, over on the Illinois side of the river, out there in a corn field somewhere, a little ray of sunshine shined down.

Baseball, MM. Ain't it grand?

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

My Rangers burned out early along with Big Tex, so I no longer have a dog in the hunt.
I reckon I'll pull for Papaya's Tigers and Miguel.

[Sancho]

Man-O-man the Tigers stranded a lot of runners last night.

I gotta tell ya, though, I’m kinda pulling for Old Crazy Eyes:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/marty-feldman.jpghttp://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Hunter-Pence-demon.jpg

Or maybe:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/oddball.jpg

You decide:
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Heres-Johnny.jpghttp://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/hunterpence.jpg

Game 4 starts now. See ya later.

[papayahed]

My Rangers burned out early along with Big Tex, so I no longer have a dog in the hunt.
I reckon I'll pull for Papaya's Tigers and Miguel.


Thanks man. What a damn shame though, huh?

[Sancho]

From The Onion:

DETROIT—Sources close to Major League Baseball confirmed Tuesday that, oh, um, the World Series just happened. “So, yeah, Giants won it in four,” sources told reporters. “They beat the Tigers.” At press time, a new report confirmed that, uh, one of the Giants won the MVP, too.

*sigh*

[papayahed]

I can smell the peanut from here......How I wish I was at the ol' ballpark this afternoon.

[Sancho]

The Bravos be boomin' early on.

However, the entire Yankees organization seems to be on the injured-reserve list.

[jajdude]

Jose Reyes of the Blue Jays suffered an awful-looking injury and may be gone for months if not the whole season. He's a great player.

[Sancho]

^Walk it off, man. Walk it off.

I gotta tell ya, the rookie Evan Gattis has Braves fans excited this year – and the Bravos still be booming.

So then, the other day I had a wave of nostalgia wash over me as I remembered the first Little-League Louisville Slugger I ever owned was embossed with this fellow’s siggy:

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/TyCobb_zpsafcc3c47.jpg (http://s971.photobucket.com/user/mollyandbruno/media/TyCobb_zpsafcc3c47.jpg.html)

And I thought San Fran’s Hunter Pence was intense last year.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/Ty_zps2e142dc8.jpg (http://s971.photobucket.com/user/mollyandbruno/media/Ty_zps2e142dc8.jpg.html)

It took a real man to guard the plate when Ty Cobb was bent on stealing home.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/stealinghome_zpsc5edb90f.jpg (http://s971.photobucket.com/user/mollyandbruno/media/stealinghome_zpsc5edb90f.jpg.html)

Hats off to one of the greats:

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/TyCobbhattip_zpsa09724f8.jpg (http://s971.photobucket.com/user/mollyandbruno/media/TyCobbhattip_zpsa09724f8.jpg.html)

[Scheherazade]

Are women allowed in baseball teams or do they have women-only separate league as in other sports?

[*Classic*Charm*]

Women do not play on MLB teams







...because "There's no crying in baseball!!"

[WyattGwyon]

Are women allowed in baseball teams or do they have women-only separate league as in other sports?

I'm sure there is no prohibition against women playing professional baseball in the U.S. major leagues—if only because it has never been an issue; As yet there have been no viable female prospects.

[cafolini]

I think that before this so-called issue becomes an appropriate issue there must be women that qualify and are rejected.

[Sancho]

As far as I know there's no rule barring women from professional baseball, but so far it's still an exclusive man-zone.

One of the things that appeals to a lot of people about baseball is that professional baseball players seem like regular guys. They're not freakishly big like professional football players (NFL-style football, not soccer). So anybody can play baseball. I mean, we played it as kids. It's a kid's game. Am I right?

Well, Major League Baseball players aren't regular guys. They just give off that illusion. Last season I got to go to a Giants game in San Francisco. In fact I posted a cell-phone picture from the stands on this thread (2 pages back). In that ball park there's a free viewing area at field level behind right fielder. You can see it on the photo I posted. You just walk along behind the stadium, by the San Francisco Bay, and there's a standing-room-only area where you can watch the game and the only thing between you and the players is a chain-link fence. So I watched the first couple of innings from there, waiting for the scalpers to drop their prices. At one point the right fielder (Pence) was playing deep, which put him pretty close to us, and I remember thinking - man, that's a big dude. Then the ball came his way and he took off after it and I remember thinking - man, that dude's fast.

At any rate, I'm not saying women aren't capable of making it in the Majors. I'm just saying it hasn't happened yet. (At least I don't think it has.)

That said, there's a pretty cool story about minor-league pitching phenom, Alta Weiss. She played on a men's semi-pro team around about the same time Ty Cobb was playing for Detroit. Ken Burns covered her story in his PBS series - Baseball.

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/image-2_zps498cb7a4.jpg (http://s971.photobucket.com/user/mollyandbruno/media/image-2_zps498cb7a4.jpg.html)

[papayahed]

It's really tough to steal second in a dress.

[Sancho]

Giants are SLAYING the Royals tonight.

[papayahed]

Doh, I know. I'm pulling for KC, they've been bad for a long time.

[Sancho]

I don't really have a horse in this race, but I found myself pulling for the Giants last night. I've been to a few of their games in San Fran so I've become familiar with the team a little bit. I guess I've never followed the Royals so I don't really know their personalities all that well.

Pence was freakin' intense last night. Oh, okay, he's always intense. I think he's the new "Johnny Hustle." Also game three was brilliant for "small-ball" fans.

[Sancho]

Whoops!
Sorry Pete. I meant "Charlie Hustle."

Ah well, Johnny Reb, Billy Yank, Charlie Hustle, Intense Pence, they're all hustling MoFos.

[Sancho]

"Slump? I ain't in no slump... I just ain't hitting."

-Yogi Berra

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/8640b540dead31ca4d079abb05d90660_zpsmctl18tn.jpg

So long, Yog'

[papayahed]

*sigh* my Tigers...

[Sancho]

Well, in my new environ's I'm finding it difficult to root for the Seahawks, but the Mariners...now there's a team that sucks so bad that I think I can really get behind them.

[Sancho]

^yepper!

Baseball is back! Opening day! I love the game. I don't know why. So last year I moved from Atlanta to Seattle, a city with a fine team to a city with a ... well ... not-so-good team. I think I can get behind M's. They suck. I couldn't care less about about the Sea Hawks. They're pretty good. But the Mariners - Hoorah!

Also their AAA club, The Tacoma Rainiers, have a really nice park, and it's close to my house, so El Sancho is now a bona fide Rainiers booster.

[bounty]

wait----you mean the seattle baseball team isn't the pilots?!? when did that happen!!?

[Sancho]

Ha! Ain't that the troof. And so last month I was down in Flat Bush and saw absolutely no sign of the Dodgers, or Ebbets Field, for that matter.

Also despite my characterization of the Bravos as a fine team, I see that they are 0 and 8.

[bounty]

the next thing you know you'll be telling me the polo fields are gone and the giants are no longer in ny either!

I just read a cy young biography a little while ago that I enjoyed.

[Ecurb]

According to a new biography, Ty Cobb wasn't as bad as Al Stump and Ken Burns made him out to be. Stump (who wrote a famous article about the several days he spent working with Cobb on his autobiography) in particular is blasted for making stories up. I haven't read the book yet, but here's a link to an article by the author.

http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/who-was-ty-cobb-the-history-we-know-thats-wrong/

I do remember that in "The Glory of their Times" several of the old-timers interviews blasted Cobb. However, acc. Leershen, Cobb was less racist than many of his contemporaries (although racist by modern standards), and Stump made up a bunch of stuff about him in this article for "True".

[Sancho]

^ I read it. Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty. By Charles Leerhsen.

Good book. Impeccably researched. Very readable, for lifelong fans of the game as well as people who only have an awareness of baseball as that annoying sport that preempts their favorite sitcom sometimes during the fall.

Anyway Leershen does a nice job of undoing the hatchet job done to Cobb by Al Stump. That said, all those things we think we know about Ty Cobb, assumptions we've made, are hard to throw away. But not that hard. Not for me anyway. I'm biased. My first Little-League bat was a Louisville Slugger embossed with Ty Cobb's name. I lived in South Carolina at the time and I'll bet most of our bats were Ty Cobb bats. (Cobb being a southerner, you see)

Besides, Ty Cobb was the first player inducted in to the baseball hall of fame. He got more votes than the Babe. He was the master of inside baseball. Hell, the man invented the Hit-and-Run play. Well, even if he didn't invent it - he perfected it.

As for the Polo Grounds, Bounty, I hear you, man:

Baseball is dead... So, Long Live Baseball!

[tailor STATELY]

Baseball rocks !

Yankees, Giants, A's, & River Cats (AAA) are my teams. Yankees because of my early heroes, Mantle and Maris, when growing up in N.W. Seattle (long before the Pilots and Mariners were conceived - both of which I never warmed up to). Family moved to the Bay Area the year of the Seattle World's Fair... so Giants and A's due to my Bay Area roots: East, West, and South S.F. Bay Area. My father worked with some of the Giants in the off season when player's salaries weren't much to speak of; he played golf with some also - so I got to meet some of them when I caddied. The River Cats are a decent farm club down the hill an hour+ away near Sacramento, and they play some pretty good ball. Ball Four... excellent book - read in my teens when it first came out: Kind of jaded my impressions of some my heroes due to their extracurriculars, but that's life. I wrote a barely passable baseball poem directly after the heated Game 7... 2003 ALCS Yankees/Sox game: "The Curse, revisited... 2003", but hey, it's baseball !

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Ecurb]

Al Stump's "Ty Cobb" was published in 1994. The autobiography he ghost wrote was published in 1961, and his "True" magazine story came out in that same year. "Glory of Their Times" was published in 1966, so Stump's hatchet job on Cobb may have influenced the memories of some of his former teammates and opponents. Nonetheless, here's Davy Jones, Cobb's teammate:


(Sam Crawford) is still one of my best friends. Cobb, though -- he was a complex person -- never did have many friends. Trouble was, he had such a rotten disposition that it was damn hard to be his friend. I was probably the best friend he had on the club..... He antagonized so many people that hardly anyone would speak to him, even among his own teammates.....

Sam Crawford agrees. He claims Cobb was bitter about minor hazing, and never had a sense of humor. In addition, it appears that he was so competitive he'd sulk and fight if he had a bad day. He was even competitive with his teammates: Crawford says that Cobb couldn't stand it when Crawford had a better day at the plate than Cobb did.

Jimmy Austin was the third baseman in the famous picture of Cobb sliding into third base. He has no complaints (but he wasn't a teammate).

My guess: Cobb was so competitive and serious that he couldn't take a joke. Michael Jordan was a little like that, too. He was abusive to his teammates. Apparently Kobe Bryant's teammates didn't like him, either. Still, I wonder how these legends got going (although evidently Al Stump just made some of them up). Sam Crawford, by the way, was the only player to lead both leagues in home runs and triples, and still holds the record for most triples in his career.

[Sancho]

^Oh, he was prickly, no doubt.


Baseball rocks !

T.S.! Welcome. So you've been badly bitten by the baseball bug too, eh? (To much alliteration?) I think I'm starting to enjoy minor league baseball more than the majors.

Now I don't understand all the ins and outs of the farm system. Nobody does. But when you get down into the weeds there is still some really good baseball out there in small town America (I should say in small-town Americas...oh yes, and in Japan too)

Here's a good baseball show (not the big show, but a side show): The Battered Bastards of Baseball. It's on Netflix.

So back in the 70s The Portland Beavers, a AAA club in the Pacific Coast League, wasn't getting the love they needed in Stump Town, so they up and left for Spokane, WA. Seeing an opportunity, and being a huge baseball fan, Bing Russell (former Hollywood actor and father of Kurt Russell) buys into the Northwest League, Class A, Shortened Season, and founds The Portland Mavericks. Now guys playing at this level are probably never going to the majors, and are very likely coming to the end of their playing careers, and are quite possibly playing ball out of pure love of the game. Hoorah! But the benefit of this for a single-A club is that they can build team cohesion, unlike a AAA club that sees players bounce back and forth from the big leagues to the minors for seasoning.

So anyway, for the few years of their existence the Mavericks build a tremendous following in Portland, largely out of the sheer force of personality of Bing.

Great fun. ^I think I got most of that right. And it's free...with a Netflix subscription.

[Sancho]

... I wrote a barely passable baseball poem directly after the heated Game 7... 2003 ALCS Yankees/Sox game: "The Curse, revisited... 2003", but hey, it's baseball !

So, let's hear it.

I seem to remember an assignment in grammar school to write a poem, so I immediately scribbled out a baseball poem. It wasn't even barley passable, and I'm pretty sure I lifted some of it from "Casey at the Bat."

[tailor STATELY]

ok. This was the first year I began writing poetry; my early poetry was pretty rough (now it's just incomprehensible, lol): https://sites.google.com/site/apoetingardenvalley/




The Curse, revisited... 2003

The Rocket against Pedro... Game 7... ALCS!
The New York Yankees at home against Boston's Bosox...
Another classic... what else would you guess ?

But The Rocket was chased, and by the 4th he was gone
Hindered by home runs, one by Millar and two by Trot Nixon
Clemens head down, through the tunnel... a walk too long

Though Jason Giambi was demoted, rightly so, to 7th in order at bat
With two mighty launches of the ball in the 5th and 7th inning
the comeback was alive ! In their seats Bosox fans just sat

Score 5 to 2, bottom of the 8th... Boston leading the Yanks
Jeter doubles to start the rally, then Williams and Matsui get hits
Jorge Posada doubles to clean up, score now 5 to 5, and Torre gives thanks

While the Bronx Bombers chip away, their bullpen, in the past, a disgrace
send a parade of pitchers their way to the mound... biding time
... setting up for Mariano Rivera... their prolific reliever ace

The Bosox boys are now baffled, their swings most untoward
Mariano goes three long masterful innings of relief blanking Boston
His series heroics to soon win him the coveted ALCS MVP award

It's now the 11th, Wakefield's pitching mastery of the Yanks has been most hot
but New York's Aaron Boone swings at Wakefield's first offering...
Jim Bouton might have said: A knuckle-ball's fickle... a walk-off home run is not !!!

There's no joy tonight in Beantown... yes, that's a given
"The ghosts will show up eventually" Jeter confided to Boone
Again... the Mighty Bambino, curse invoked, has arisen

10/16/2003

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[bounty]

tailor, that's pretty neat.

you mentioned being a yankee and mantle fan---have you read "the last boy: mickey mantle and the end of America's childhood?" by leavy?

speaking of ty cobb and babe ruth everyone---I read a book a few years ago that talked about their rivalry, and more importantly, their relationship/friendship after their playing days were over. if you can believe it, the main focus of the latter part of the book was their golf playing and a competition they set up between themselves as a charity benefit. it was a pretty good read. "ty and the babe" by Stanton.

and you all mentioning minor league baseball---if you wanna watch a fun movie, try "summer catch." its a romance with Jessica biel (sigh) and Freddie prinze, jr, but baseball is the backdrop and its got a lot of baseball "story" to it. its not as good as the sandlot (one of my all time favorites!) but if you like baseball, and Jessica biel (does anyone not?), its worth watching.

something else about minor league baseball too---just this past year i saw a little documentary about a team who had used (and still do i believe) a couple generations worth of golden retrievers as bat boys. i love animals and found the story very moving.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Minor-League-Team-Pays-Tribute-to-Beloved-Bat-Dog-214895291.html

[Ecurb]

Isn't Richard Linklater's new movie (Everybody Wants Some) about some college baseball players? I haven't seen it, because it hasn't made it to Eugene yet, but I will go, because I'm a Linklater fan.

I read "The Last Boy" (In the literature forum I started a thread about baseball literature a week or so back). One question: why is it that football has replaced baseball as the American game? I have a couple of theories:

1) Football is a better TV sport; baseball is better in person and in the newspapers. It produces better literature, in terms of journalism, box scores, and books. Since TV has become the dominant media, football rules.

2) Baseball is more international. Americans (see "The Donald") continue to be parochial and xenophobic. I haven't looked up the numbers, but probably 25% or more of major leaguers are Latins, or Japanese, or Korean. Football is all-American. Basketball is becoming international, but not to the extent baseball is. (Hockey, of course, is international even if we count Canada as part of our continent).

3) Baseball is rural, basketball urban, football in between. America is far more urban than it was 100 years ago, and 50 years ago.

By the way, soccer is the best TV sport (I think) mainly because you get 45 minutes without a single commercial.

[bounty]

I have another theory as regards your question ecurb, and while it might seem cynical, I suspect its really not.

if indeed baseball has been replaced by football as "America's pastime"---it speaks to the possibility that we are becoming more like ancient rome in our desire for "bread and circus"---in that regard, football is more gladiatorial.

on a lighter note--have you listened to George carlin's humorous contrast between baseball and football?

[Sancho]

Nice, Tailor. I remember that game now. It all came back to me after reading the first verse. Clemons was off his game that night, out in the 4th.

Donno, guys. I think a lot of those theories have some truth.

Gotta say, though, I've always thought of baseball as an urban rather than a rural sport. And despite the fact that it's expanded across North America and, as you-all said, across the world, I think it's center of gravity is still in NYC: The Bronx, Queens, and (ah-hem) Brooklyn*; and then Boston, Philly, Baltimore, and Detroit, and then everywhere else.

*Try, The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn (A little sentimental, but pretty good)

I love that scene in Good Will Hunting where the Robin Williams character uses a baseball reference to connect with the Matt Damon character. The older man is trying to explain to the younger man about lost opportunities and what it means to love a woman. So to drive it home the older man goes to an event he knows they will both connect with: game 6 of the 1975 World Series, Reds vs Bosox, at Fenway, 12th inning Carlton Fisk smacks one down the left-field line, looks like it's going foul, but Fisk waives it, no wills it fair. The ball HITS the foul pole. They're still talking about it Boston.

http://youtu.be/jg_9FQk6UnA

I and a couple of friends got to drinking in an Irish pub in Manhattan a few years back and struck up a conversation with a couple of blue-collar New York-types. Well the conversation eventually worked its way around to baseball. One of the guys said to me, "Aye, you ain't from 'round heyah. Where yous from?" I said, "Atlanta." He said, "Oh yeah. Yous got a baseball team too, eh?" Just drunken bar talk. We had to choose sides on important topics such as the designated hitter rule, stuff like that. Those boys being Yankees fans and us being Braves fans, it wasn't hard to figure what side we took in that argument. Anyway, it was all in good fun. Although it might have gotten ugly if they'd've been Mets instead of Yankees fans, the Mets being natural enemies of the Braves.

Anyhow, baseball and football both involve tactics and strategy, but I've always thought baseball is a more strategic game while football is a more tactical game. Similarly both sports are physical and mental, but where football favors physical prowess, baseball favors mental agility. So does that make football a more visceral sport? A game more given to immediate gratification? I think so. And does that say something about our ever-changing national personality (if there is such a thing)? Again, I think so.

I like the tie-in between football and and the gladiators of Ancient Rome. I also like the Donald Trump reference. The two don't outwardly seem to have a connection. But I think maybe they do. For this I think we've gotta leave Roger Kahn and go to Edward Gibbon. So when we're talking about Ancient Rome, we're talking about Caesar's Rome not Cato's Rome: the Roman Empire not the Roman Republic. When the Romans made Julius Caesar Emperor for life, The Republic became an Empire. They traded citizen control for a strongman. Day-to-day life in Rome was great, and keeping up with the business of the Republic was just too much work, so why not cede control to Caesar, that way they could get back to more important things, like toga parties, orgies, and gladiatorial contests over at the colosseum. Yeah baby! Honestly I see a little of that laziness in Trump supporters ~ let The Donald handle all those barbarians at the gate. He'll kick their asses; build a wall and make them pay for it; just do it, Donald; I've got a six-pack, a king-size bag of Doritos, and a sofa waiting for my keister. Kick-off is in two minutes. See ya.

So anyway, El Sancho prefers baseball.

[Ecurb]

Thomas Boswell (the longtime Washington Post scribe) has a list of reasons why baseball is better than football, although they're not as funny as Carlin's.

Two of America's favorite team sports favor huge people (football and basketball). I think this appeals to our egalitarian instincts. I used to play a lot of pick-up basketball, and legion were the numbers of good (but not THAT good) basketball players who thought they'd be pros, "If only I were 6'7". It's a sort of built in excuse. In the case of baseball, because the statistics are so telling and clear-cut, there can be little doubt about the talents of the players. It's a meritocracy, in the black and white of the box score. In a sport like soccer (or hockey, which I played in college) talent is less measurable. Football players are equated with their size ("he's a 6'6", 300 pound left tackle), basketball players by their height, and baseball players by their stats. Paul Bunyan, after all, is one of our culture heroes. How many times do we hear some broadcaster say that NBA players are "the greatest athletes in the world", as if no mere 6' tall mortal could be a great athlete?

Football is a strange game because no fans understand it. All we see is the skill positions -- hence the endless palaver about quarterbacks. "This game will be won in the trenches," intone the announcers, but nobody watches what goes on there.

Our American individualism would seem to favor baseball, which is a game of individual match-ups and not really a team sport in the sense that other sports are, because it doesn't involve much teamwork.

It's amazing to me how most people who talk about sports for a living don't understand them. "Golf is 80% mental," say the broadcasters, despite the fact that it is clearly the case that golf is the least mental and most physical of sports. If you have a perfect swing and a decent caddy, you barely need to think at all. In all the team sports like basketball, hockey or soccer, the endless permutations of where your teammates are and where the opponents are must be constantly computed in your mind. Same with football, except you get to huddle up and think about it between every play (or let your coaches do the thinking for you).

[bounty]

ive got a bunch of allen guttman (a cultural/sport historian at umass Amherst) texts and in one of those, I remember there being a mark twain quote concerning baseball and urban/rural---hopefully i'll remember to hunt that up.

[Darcy88]

I think heaven is a baseball park. Until I wrecked my arm irrevocably forever my great ambition and hope and dream was to become a major league pitcher. More than being a rock-star or a movie-star or anything else that was my grandiose unrealistic childhood vision of perfect happiness. My arm got destroyed from practicing pitching with my dad in the back-yard endless hours a day and afterwards I began my quest to become a writer. But even if that quest proves real and I become a writer professionally I bet it will be nothing in terms of happiness next to the joy I would have had as a baseball player. Like I said - heaven is a ball park.

Anyway. I am a Seattle Mariner's fan and have been since I can remember. They have two solid sluggers and an out of this world pitcher but I have low expectations nonetheless. And as a Canadian I like the Blue-Jays, and I've actually come to really adore the team lately though I once hated them beyond all rational measure since the Toronto channels would shove them down our throats even though we are endless hundreds of miles away from that particular city. But I like the Jays now, probably because I'm a shameless band-wagon jumper ever since they've gotten good. They don't air Mariner's games anymore on my local cable for some insane unknown reason like they once did, despite the fact that I live practically next-door to Seattle, up here in the Pacific North-West.

Anyway. I think the Royals could repeat, or else the Giants. Everyone is saying the Cubs will do it but its hard for me to accept that given that they haven't won in over a century. That seems to me a genuine curse, in the realm of the super-natural. A century-plus of championship failure is truly hard to imagine in fact.

I might sound ignorant but the only team I'm really confident in is the Kansas City Royals. I saw them destroy the Jays last year, every game of that series tragedy, and with their base-running and stealing and all the rest I can't put any team above them. Maybe the Giants, maybe the Cardinals, but the Royals is who I'd put my money on if I had any money to speak of.

[bounty]

here's the account of allen guttman's mark twain quote. its from his book, "from ritual to record: the nature of modern sports."

"one way to understand is to see it against the background of what it is not. when mark twain was informed that albert spalding's touring baseball teams had played an exhibition game in the Hawaiian islands, he marveled at the cultural contrast: 'I have visited the sandwich islands...where life is one long slumberless Sabbath, the climate one long, delicious summer day...and these boys have played baseball there!--baseball, which is the very symbol the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming 19th century! one cannot realize it; the place and the fact are so incongruous; its like interrupting a funeral with a circus.'"

its been years since ive read the book but there's a chapter in it called "why baseball was our national game" and an immediately following one called "the fascination with football."

if any realllly wants to know what guttman thinks about those things, id be happy to re-read and share some of his gems.

[Sancho]

Interesting quote, bounty. I'd like to read some of guttman's gems.

Darcy, looks like the M's are picking up a little steam. Sorry your local station is not baseball-fan friendly. I can't watch the game on TV until the playoffs, but baseball is one of those games I like to listen to on the radio while I'm working on stuff in the barn - if the announcer is any good.

[bounty]

hang in there with me Sancho---im reading the da vinci code and loving it!

[bounty]

okay I did a quick perusal, with some dedicated reading in Guttmann.

the really short answer as to why baseball was our national pastime, is found in two prominent qualities relatively unique to baseball. its pastoral nature (which hearkens to pre-modern, "primitive" times) and its high degree of quantification (which speaks to modern times), the merging of which have created a dynamic that appeals to us and was appropriate to the times.

a telling quote ends the chapter:

"baseball may have been a vehicle for transition, a peculiar game whose combination of modern and primitive-pastoral elements helped to bring the united states emotionally into a decisively secular modern world. to speak this way is not to suggest that baseball will now decline and disappear, but it is hard not to believe that the primitive-pastoral aspects of the game are not mostly anachronistic. it seems all too likely that baseball has had its day in the sun."

the next chapter is "the fascination of football."

[Sancho]

Thanks for the quotes, Bounty. It's an interesting theory, and who am I to say? Probably he's right. And at any rate, I like his style.

But is it really a pastoral sport? Despite it being played more or less on a pasture, I've never thought of baseball that way. Granted outfielders in the Little League are living the bucolic, pastoral life. I know this first-hand: I stood out in center field many an hour, hemming, hawing, scratching, chewing, spitting, daydreaming; but that was Little League. The outfield in the big leagues is intense.

A few years ago I went to a Giants game at AT&T Field in San Francisco. They've got a free area behind Right Field, under the "Levis" sign. You can just walk under the bleachers and there you are, field level, nothing between you and the Right Fielder but a chain-link fence. It gave me a real appreciation for the athleticism of a Major League Baseball player. I mean those guys look like normal guys on TV, but they're not - they're professional athletes - freaks of nature. Anyway, Hunter Pence was playing RF and I've gotta tell ya, the dude was wired, spring-loaded, and freaking fast. Yes, well, so anyway, they call him Intense-Pence for a reason.

[bounty]

lemme head back to the book Sancho and i'll see how Guttmann elaborates on "pastoral"

[bounty]

here's a good quote to start: "in a new and relatively open country, baseball and cricket---once popular in America---rivaled each other as fulfillers of a psychosocial need, much as plants and animals struggle to occupy ecological niches....Two quite dissimilar factors are at work---the place of baseball in the cycle of the seasons...[this latter part being a part of Guttmann's pastoral sense].

he goes on to talk about how historians and most especially novelists, have explored and written on that subject.

another quote: "the ceaseless effort to discover rural traits in an essentially urban sport indicates the importance of the pastoral impulse in baseball."

he talks about the pilgrimage to cooperstown and the commemorative postage stamp from 1939 that symbolically showed a sandlot, a barn, a church and a country school.

he goes on to say that pastoralism is "more than an emphasis on the rural. the gestalt is a complex one which includes open space, grass, warm weather, the bright sun" and that those factors have been "woven into the rhetoric of baseball."

a good quote to finish from someone Guttmann quoted (gerard McCauley): "as soon as the American earth softens mackinaws are shed for sweaters and American boys are feeling the sting of balls snapping into gloves, anticipating that in a very short time the trees will bud, the sun will linger, telling them baseball is here."

[Sancho]

I see his point. Who knows, there may something deep in our dna that yearns to be on a lush green field as the buds are popping, particularly for city kids living in a concrete jungle.