Re: 2011 Baseball Thread

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Tonight was the first baseball game I felt like watching since the Phillies lost, darn it if those Cardinals didn't beat up on the Brewers....

Sounds like Howard's surgery went well, but I doubt he will be back for spring training.

So, if the Phillies had rolled over and let the Braves win those last 3 games:

Pretty good chance the Phillies would have beaten the Rockies.

Pretty certainly the Brewers would have beaten the Braves.

And going by how the Brewers just played I think the Phillies would have taken this series.  But if the reason Howard wasn't able to run the last 1 or 2 months of the season was because that tendon was about to rupture, he probably would have gone down at some point no matter what, so who knows how things would have turned out.

[Bob]

Next weekend both the Cardinals and Rams will play in Dallas.    Seriously thinking about going there this weekend...

[k1]

The insanity continues here in Boston...

Now multiple sources are saying that Sox pitchers (Beckett, Lacket, Lester, Buchholz) were drinking IN THE DUGOUT during games on top of the previously reported "playing video games, drinking, and eating Popeyes chicken In the clubhouse during games").

It's just friggin ridiculous out here.  Each time someone comes out and says something it's just making it worse.  (Looking at you John Henry with your "we didn't trash Tito in the press, that's not how we do things.  BTW I was against signing Crawford. That was all Theo."  Bwah? I thought you just said you don't throw people under the bus?)  Then add in Ortiz "I don't like drama. Oh, I might play for the Yankees next year." YOU ARE MAKING MORE DRAMA YOU MORON! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

Henry: "We wanted Tito & Theo back next season" THEY WERE UNDER CONTRACT! IF YOU REALLY WANTED THEM BACK, WHY AREN'T THEY? Even if they wanted to leave, they were UNDER CONTRACT if you really wanted them back.

It's getting seriously UGLY around here.  The general feeling is that there's nobody out there as good as a manager as Tito so it makes ZERO sense to not bring him back.  Charington will be the GM, but he's not Theo.

There's other nonsense too, but that's my rant for today.  (Until tomorrow when Varitek goes on the radio in the morning.)


Now something to make me feel a little better:

Spoiler

[Bob]

Time to bring back Oil Can Boyd....

Oh, WS tickets average $598 a piece, so I will watch the games on TV like a chump.

[k1]

Oil Can pitched for the Brocton Rox i think last year for a game. So did Bill Lee (and he did really well).

[Bob]

Fox REALLY needs to ditch the "MRI CAM" as that is not adding a lot to my viewing experience.   

How showing a gray screen that looks like an MRI will tell me if a ball is hit off someone's foot.......

[k1]

I was really confused by it. It was on one of those shots when I first flipped over to the game.

[D.B. Barnes]

What a great game! Phenomenal starting pitching, great defense, nice pacing, and just overall good baseball. Garcia's curve was off-the-charts. Andrus and Kinsler were working some pure magic up the middle. I thought the Cards had it in the bag, but suddenly, a Motte Meltdown! Huge win for the Rangers. I think it would've been a done deal if they went down 0-2.

Anyway, this has  been a fantastic series so far.

[Bob]

The level of baseball improved greatly from the league championship series, that's for sure!

[D.B. Barnes]

Well, that was the polar opposite of the first two games. What a mess. Atrocious pitching and some really bad defense. Sixteen runs?!? That's just embarrassing. It seemed like nobody could get anybody out.

Pujols was locked in and makin' history. That first homer was a freakin' moonshot. I haven't seen a ton of games in this park, but I've never seen a ball hit up there. That was epic.

[Bob]

A beer league softball game broke out.

2 to go......

[k1]

Way to go tool who threw a whiffle ball at Holliday.

[Bob]

Way to go tool who threw a whiffle ball at Holliday.

I wonder about adults who bring whiffle balls to pro ball games.   One of the tweets from the STL pressbox was there were reports that the Ranger fans wanted to pummel the guy for doing something like that.   They looked like college kids.   I wonder how a baseball team actually enforces a ban from the stadium?    Does the ticket office have their own version of a "no fly list".

P.S.   The kid has a noodle arm.

[TeamRAD]

The insanity continues here in Boston...

You definitely have a mess there. The Tito-thing is fascinating, and the one guy who could more than likely succeed in his absence you guys aren't privy to, John Farrell.

It's gonna be an entertaining offseason following the drama in Boston this year.

The management here is great, I'm sure they will try to keep some of the free agents but there are so many this winter that it's going to be hard to keep them if other teams offer loads of cash.

Marty, what's the chatter in Philly regarding Rollins' free agency? Is there anyway you pony up and give him the 5-years he's wanting, or will you guys become a suitor for Reyes?

The level of baseball improved greatly from the league championship series, that's for sure!

Ha. You can attribute that to the cold weather.

What a ride it was for us. I never thought I'd see the playoffs in my lifetime (2 now!), let alone a series' win. It's unfortunate that duality reared it's ugly head, and our porous defense finally arrived at the wrong time in the NLCS. Marcum's arm falling off in September didn't help matters, either. He barely had any movement on his changeup in the playoffs, and boy, was that ugly.

And thankfully, "Beast Mode" is over. Oh man, did that get old.

Lastly, Prince...it was nice knowing you.  

[k1]

Lackey getting Tommy John not only improves our rotation next season but the additional option year on his contract kicks in.  Normally bad news but he will be paid LEAGUE MINIMUM that year.  So if he really blows still we can trade or cut him without feeling like its costing us.