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Guest RiverViewer
Guest RiverViewer
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Good start to the playoffs. Pair of Wild-Card decided by 3-run homers and the use (or non use) of closers.

 

- Toronto won in 11 on a walk-off 3-run homer. Baltimore manager is criticized for not using his dominant closer in the 11th.

 

- The Giants won 3-0 last night with MadBum going to distance. Mets manager does use his closer in the 9th, and he gives up the game-winning homer.

 

In the AL, its Texas/Toronto and Cleveland/Boston.

 

In the NL, its Cubs/Giants and Nats/Dodgers.

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  • Gordon Bombay
    Gordon Bombay

    Over the summer, I went to the Oakland Coliseum to visit the place before baseball left. I LOVED this place after experiencing it. Shame the A’s are bound for Vegas (assuming all goes well after their

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    roman totale XVII

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    KJP

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those one game wild card playoffs are totally and completely anti-baseball, but...they wow are electric and lot of fun.

those one game wild card playoffs are totally and completely anti-baseball, but...they wow are electric and lot of fun.

 

Right! I didn't even have to watch the game yesterday....my neighbor was excitedly descriptively yelling out all the action, and I mean all of it. Including the pitch counts lol.

 

She lives alone.

  • 2 weeks later...

Three takeaways from last night's L.A. win over Washington:

 

- The game was 4 hours 32 minutes long. The longest 9-inning game in MLB history!

- The Dodgers used 3× Cy Young Award starter Clayton Kershaw to record the final two outs (pitching on 1-day of rest).

- Dusty Baker has now managed 9 consecutive close-out losses.

Three takeaways from last night's L.A. win over Washington:

 

- The game was 4 hours 32 minutes long. The longest 9-inning game in MLB history!

- The Dodgers used 3× Cy Young Award starter Clayton Kershaw to record the final two outs (pitching on 1-day of rest).

- Dusty Baker has now managed 9 consecutive close-out losses.

 

The Dusty Baker stat means nothing.  All of the talk radio losers in Cincinnati started repeating anti-Baker points that started in Chicago.  Now they wish they had him back -- the Reds have been dreadful since he left.  Sports studs don't like to admit the level of chance that is involved in these games.  Hell, the Bengals missed the first-round bye last year by a wink and so wouldn't have played the Pittsburgh game that they lost in an unprecedented series of freak events in the last 90 seconds.  New England lost that Superbowl back in 2007~ thanks to the crazy helmet catch; they won Superbowl 49 thanks to that insane play call when Seattle was on their 1-yard line. 

 

The Dusty Baker stat means nothing. 

 

0-9 is not nothing.  It means something.  How much of something can be debated.  But its not nothing.

 

And I'm saying that as someone who likes Dusty Baker.  He's a good guy.  He's a first-class regular season manager.  But he's also had plenty of playoff chances to show what kind of playoff manager he is.  Being a sub-par playoff manager doesn't make Dusty a bad guy or a bad overall manager - it just puts him in the same career category as Buck Showalter.

  • 2 weeks later...

good news from hoynsie in the pd:

 

 

Labor talk: Commissioner Rob Manfred, with the basic agreement between players and owners due to expire on Dec. 1, said he's confident a new deal will be reached without too much turmoil.

 

"There are certain natural deadlines that kind of flow around the end of the World Series and then through the expiration date of the agreement on Dec.1," said Manfred, before Game 2 of the World Series in Cleveland. "Each of the last couple of times we've either gotten it done during the World Series or a few days afterward. I remain optimistic that we're going to be in that same window in terms of getting it done."

 

Indians owner Paul Dolan said the fact that there hasn't been a lot of harsh dialogue between owners and players is usually a good sign that a settlement will be reached.

 

As for the new deal, Dolan said there could be some small adjustments in the international league draft that could benefit the Indians.

 

  • 2 weeks later...

Poor Oakland.

Very Stable Genius

Poor Oakland.

 

In 88-90, the A's hat became the hat of choice for west side Cincinnati jocks.  This was all thanks to ESPN and the hyping of Conseco and McGuire.  So when the Reds played the A's in 1990, a bunch of the boys in Cincinnati were rooting for the A's.  Even after they were swept by the Reds, they still strutted around saying the A's were the better team. 

 

 

"a perfect example of the city of Arlington’s profligacy"

 

now there is a word!

 

i had to look it up.

 

reckless abandon and wastefulness.

 

yeah i'll say.

 

its just nuts -- ive been to the arlington ballpark, its still smells like new car.

 

the initial render of the new ballpark, with a retractable roof (why?) and complex looks like a steaming pile of half-baked lifestyle mall-ish cheese.

 

"a perfect example of the city of Arlington’s profligacy"

 

now there is a word!

 

i had to look it up.

 

reckless abandon and wastefulness.

 

yeah i'll say.

 

its just nuts -- ive been to the arlington ballpark, its still smells like new car.

 

the initial render of the new ballpark, with a retractable roof (why?) and complex looks like a steaming pile of half-baked lifestyle mall-ish cheese.

 

 

It gets ungodly hot there.

 

Mets have a big chunk of Queens and Long Island.

 

Indians territory includes Erie and counties just south of Buffalo that are claimed be Pirates and Yankees areas on here.

 

Not surprising the NYT would try to claim the entire state of NY as "Yankees" territory.

 

Yeah, Long Islanders (including Brooklyn and Queens) are way more likely to be Mets fans.  Plus there's the "who's winning more" factor there.

 

Columbus is heavier Indians because of the Clippers.

  • 3 weeks later...

the owners met. the big change is no more ws home field advantage to the league all-star game winner. also, the dl goes from 15days to 10days. and a bit more:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mlb-all-star-game-no-longer-determine-home-field-series-article-1.2894131

 

Finally. Using the All-Star game to determine WS home field was one of the dumbest ideas ever. Now they need shorten the regular season to around 140 games to fit a 2-2-1-1-1 home-away format in the LCS and WS as opposed to that awful 2-3-2.

 

Interesting  "doughnut hole" (Lighter shade of blue) of 50% for the Braves in Metro Atlanta/Fulton County, goes up to 60% outside of Metro Atlanta

 

Transplants and perhaps college students still loyal to their home teams, most likely.

TBS had a pretty profound effect on the popularity of The Braves in the southeast.  They aired every single game just like how WGN aired every Cubs game. 

 

It always pisses me off how Ted Turner moved from Cincinnati to Atlanta -- if he had started CNN and TBS in Cincinnati we'd have a somewhat different cultural landscape in this country. 

TBS had a pretty profound effect on the popularity of The Braves in the southeast.  They aired every single game just like how WGN aired every Cubs game. 

 

It always pisses me off how Ted Turner moved from Cincinnati to Atlanta -- if he had started CNN and TBS in Cincinnati we'd have a somewhat different cultural landscape in this country. 

 

He was also a conservative, almost an activist one, before he met Miss Hanoi.

  • 4 weeks later...

TBS had a pretty profound effect on the popularity of The Braves in the southeast.  They aired every single game just like how WGN aired every Cubs game. 

 

It always pisses me off how Ted Turner moved from Cincinnati to Atlanta -- if he had started CNN and TBS in Cincinnati we'd have a somewhat different cultural landscape in this country. 

That is because TBS owned the Braves, Hawks, Thrashers and Omni Coliseum.

  • 4 weeks later...

Back when my pops was alive and he and I used to watch the Tribe together several days a week, Marte was a frequent topic of discussion. I was often having to defend Marte, optimistically believing that his "top prospect" status was deserving and he was going to turn the corner at any moment and become the Tribe's everyday third baseman. Sadly that never happened and his career essentially fizzled out as the aughts came to an end.

 

In regards to Ventura, I never much cared for him as a very good pitcher of a division rival, but he was an amazing talent that had not yet reached its full pinnacle. Just how good could he have been?

 

Ventura, along with Marte, has departed far too soon, with so much more living yet to do. And as many have pointed out, the connection between the two is eerie: Ventura was the starting pitcher in the final MLB game that Marte played in.

 

An incredibly sad day for baseball.

Yes, you are correct (I misread the stat).  The general point was that the United States isn't exactly a haven for safe driving either.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/health/us-highest-crash-death-rate/

True enough.

 

But just over 10% of MLB players are Dominican, and three of the last four active player deaths (that I can recall) were car accidents there.

 

You may recall the Indians wouldn’t let Manny Ramirez stay there during the off season.  They even brought his family here when he started getting restless.

 

Oh, I don't blame them!

"You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers

  • 4 months later...

35123010056_280e0318b5_d.jpg

 

Above is an SI cover from three years ago that half-jokingly touted the Houston Astros as "Your 2017 World Series Champs".  What made that claim a joke in 2014 was that the Astros had just finished three straight 100-loss seasons!

 

But as the cover story article pointed out, the Astros were in the midst of a rebuild unlike any other in MLB history.  Some were calling it Moneyball 2.0 or The Modern Analytics Rebuild.  But whatever it was, 2013 did mark the bottoming-out season for the Astros.  They finished with "only" 92 losses in 2014.  Then got 86 wins and an AL wild card berth in 2015, and took a small step back in 2016 with 84 wins and no playoff berth.

 

But for 2017, the Houston Astros are off to a rocket-hot start.  As of this posting, Houston is 42-17.  They have the best record in baseball - 10 wins up on the AL-best Yankees and 5 wins up on NL-best Nationals.  They've got a run diff of +104, which is better than the Yanks at +69 and the Nats at +73.

 

So the SI cover that was widely mocked in 2014, looks pretty smart in 2017.

^ I wish that every MLB team would go back to their 70's era uniforms.

It's strange how many teams in the 1980s wore light blue as their road uniform. Not sure what was behind that trend.

35123010056_280e0318b5_d.jpg

 

Above is an SI cover from three years ago that half-jokingly touted the Houston Astros as "Your 2017 World Series Champs".  What made that claim a joke in 2014 was that the Astros had just finished three straight 100-loss seasons!

 

But as the cover story article pointed out, the Astros were in the midst of a rebuild unlike any other in MLB history.  Some were calling it Moneyball 2.0 or The Modern Analytics Rebuild.  But whatever it was, 2013 did mark the bottoming-out season for the Astros.  They finished with "only" 92 losses in 2014.  Then got 86 wins and an AL wild card berth in 2015, and took a small step back in 2016 with 84 wins and no playoff berth.

 

But for 2017, the Houston Astros are off to a rocket-hot start.  As of this posting, Houston is 42-17.  They have the best record in baseball - 10 wins up on the AL-best Yankees and 5 wins up on NL-best Nationals.  They've got a run diff of +104, which is better than the Yanks at +69 and the Nats at +73.

 

So the SI cover that was widely mocked in 2014, looks pretty smart in 2017.

 

I snagged Springer in my dynasty league late in his last minor league season.  He's all that, and the Astros are for real.  Fortunately the Indians have their number, for now.

 

I like the old "Colt .45s" uniforms better.  :)

  • 1 month later...

looks like after being counted out jeter is back in the mix to buy the marlins -- and he brought in micheal jordan:

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19963249/derek-jeter-adds-michael-jordan-group-bidding-buy-miami-marlins

http://es.pn/2tK824N

 

Speaking of Marlins, this week I heard more than one media member joking about how tacky their stadium is. It sounds like it has all the aura of a Vegas casino. Then again, what do you expect when your team song is by Creed:

 

 

 

 

Speaking of Marlins, this week I heard more than one media member joking about how tacky their stadium is. It sounds like it has all the aura of a Vegas casino.

 

 

(Official version slightly NSFW)

  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2017/07/31/report-pete-rose-accused-statutory-rape-court-document/524971001/

 

So Pete Rose admitted to having sex with at least one teenager back in the 70s.  This helps explain why MLB kept him out of the Hall of Fame -- they always knew these news was out there waiting to be discovered.  If they had let Pete in the Hall they then would have been under pressure to remove him.  The news hasn't come out, but I suspect that the horse racing crowd Pete had always run around with was running some sort of teenage prostitution business and that's how someone like Pete could have been linked up with one or more teenage girls. 

 

With Pete it always comes back to horse racing.  In his book he talks about his dad taking him to the track many times and how he loved absolutely everything about it.  Maybe the track isn't as sleazy now as it was back then, but back in the 50s and 60s it was a hub of vice. 

 

 

 

 

The thing I find hard to believe is if Pete Rose did what is alleged, why would he pursue a lawsuit against Dowd for claiming this? He would have had to know these allegations would get out, and he is more popular now than he has been at pretty much any time since his ban. If he actually did this, why would he shine more light on the issue by pursuing a lawsuit?

Pete admits to having sexual relations with the woman, but only when she was above legal age. Now, 40 years later, she is claiming the relationship began a year or two before her 16th birthday. I can't imagine there's any sort of physical evidence (photos, call logs, hotel bills, etc.) after such a long time, and in its absence we are left with a he-said, she said, which isn't close to enough to convince me of wrongdoing.

 

And keep in mind that this is all blown out or proportion by John Dowd, a man who has an insatiable personal vendetta against Pete Rose, for some unknown reason.

I agree about Dowd, but I'm not going to assume her accusations are false because it's been 40 years or because Dowd accused Pete Rose of these things. I take Dowd's statements with a grain of salt, but I'm not convinced he is lying because of his vendetta against Rose.

I think it comes back to the horse racing and sports betting crowd.  Pete probably really, really screwed somebody over back in the 70s and so Dowd has been tasked with making the guy's life miserable ever since. 

 

Also, if there was an underage prostitution business in operation back then, the women would have to wait until the guys who ran it are six feet under to go public. 

Pete Rose is a trashy low-life who could swing a bat. He eternally has the hearts of west siders because he's one of their own, and he also embodies that working class, hustle hard mentality that hits home with much of the Reds fan base. For those reasons, the Reds will probably still continue to honor him every year in some capacity, as they seem to be fond of lately.

Fun fact: Rose made more outs than any player in history. In fact, he made over 1000 more outs than the next person on the list.

Pete Rose is a trashy low-life who could swing a bat. He eternally has the hearts of west siders because he's one of their own, and he also embodies that working class, hustle hard mentality that hits home with much of the Reds fan base. For those reasons, the Reds will probably still continue to honor him every year in some capacity, as they seem to be fond of lately.

 

Agreed on all counts... But the swinging the bat portion is what should get him into the HOF, not the trashy low-life portion.

 

Otherwise Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner might not be there either.

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