^^I would have agreed with you a few years ago about Sox fans, but I don't think they have much of an inferiority complex anymore given the divergent fortunes of the Sox and Yankees franchises.  And I don't think the attention that team gets is purely because of the rivalry with the Yankees.  It probably has the second biggest fanbase in the country and is arguably the best run franchise.

 

In any case, given the proliferation of on-line outlets for baseball news and analysis, it's pretty easy to ignore the MSM sports narratives these days, so I can't say they bother me at all. I'm a huge baseball fan, but over the year's I've consumed ESPN (on line and on TV) less and less.  I think the only ESPN stuff I consume now are Keith Law articles and the scheduled pitching matchups (I like their format).

The Braves are one of the oldest MLB franchises, and have been in Atlanta for almost 50 years. Not exactly an expansion team.

 

I shared his sentiment back when I was a kid and cable TV was in its infancy.  Ted Turner branded them "America's Team" and you couldn't flip through the channels without the Braves being on.  Couldn't stand them.   

 

Now, ehhh I could care less. 

Personally, I irrationally hated Chipper Jones and his blond wife they showed constantly...

 

Speaking of the Braves...stay classy Cobb County

 

http://deadspin.com/opponents-barred-from-speaking-as-cobb-county-approves-1582556255

The Braves are one of the oldest MLB franchises, and have been in Atlanta for almost 50 years. Not exactly an expansion team.

 

I shared his sentiment back when I was a kid and cable TV was in its infancy.  Ted Turner branded them "America's Team" and you couldn't flip through the channels without the Braves being on.  Couldn't stand them.   

 

Now, ehhh I could care less. 

 

Their announcers were so goddamn boring.  TBS had the effect of turning the entire south into Braves fans.  I was so upset about it at the time because Ted Turner is Cincinnati born and bred and Ivy League educated and invented his phony anti-intellectual southern persona and there were the southerners lining up to lick it.  Plus he inherited his daddy's business like most blowhards (Donald Trump, etc.). 

 

If you remember going to a Reds game in the 80s, the fans were still glowing from the legacy of the 1970's teams and were very astute and focused fans.  Pretty much everyone in the stadium knew what the hell they were seeing, including the women.  People knew what the count was and how many outs there were.  At some point in the 90s it started watering down and now most people go to baseball games to upload selfies of themselves at the baseball game.   

 

 

It’s been said that “fantasy baseball” saved baseball in much the same manner that pari-mutuel wagering saved horse racing.

 

In my case, it makes it hard to hate the Yankees or Red Sox (too much) when I have Masahiro Tanaka and David Ortiz on my keeper team.

can anybody suggest a better phone app than the espn app to keep up with mlb games & other sports events? what do you use the most to follow the action??!

On Android I use the Google drop down feature which, when configured, will update you on the scores of whatever game you wish to know about. With the Tribe, for example, I will get the update score and if I wish to see live play-by-play, I can hit that link and it will show four different options to get the "live" updates.

 

I am cheap and choose not to pay for an app if I can help it.

^^  I realize this is an Ohio forum, so it's predominantly fans of other teams than the Yankees (full disclosure, I grew up a Yankee fan), but there's something admirable about a player, who's arguably the best in his position, played his entire career for the same team, who's won multiple championships on that team, AND who has managed to do it without getting caught up in all of the typical nonsense high profile sports figures get involved in (including, but not limited to, the steroid fiasco), and who is held in high regard by players, fans and media. And managed to do all this for two decades. That's worth celebrating, whether or not you're a Yankee fan.

 

Of course, the Yankees, being who they are, were fortunate enough to have two such players that happened to play together at the same time and who retired back to back. Still, if I'm MLB, and I'm trying to drum up interest in a sport that is losing eyeballs, I'm trotting these guys out to as much fanfare as I can.

 

I've always hated the Yankees, but I really like Jeter -- especially after that idiot Brian Cashman treated him like crap a few years ago, badmouthed him and said he was too old to play. All I could think of was Omar Vizquel remaining relevant into his 40s. And here's Jeter, still a relevant shortstop at 40, and I wish him the best.

 

But I think the farewell tour is stupid. And if MLB wants to attract new eyeballs, celebrating a retiree is not the way to do it. Nor is a tedious month of playoff games that drag on long after the bedtimes of the next generation of fans. Instead, we need quicker games (Step 1: shorter commercial breaks. Step 2: fewer pitching changes.) and more day games, at least on weekends, so kids can participate.

can anybody suggest a better phone app than the espn app to keep up with mlb games & other sports events? what do you use the most to follow the action??!

 

It's MLB-only, but I'm a big fan of the MLB At Bat ap.

can anybody suggest a better phone app than the espn app to keep up with mlb games & other sports events? what do you use the most to follow the action??!

 

I use CBS Sportsline, but that's where my rotisserie team is based so I'm npt sure how good it is if you're not a paying customer.

fun!

 

 

 

Sad new from the game of baseball.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11091626/hall-famer-tony-gwynn-san-diego-padres-died

This is upsetting because in the 1980s everyone knew that chewing tobacco caused throat & mouth cancer but there was Gwynn and Lenny Dykstra still chomping it up, day after day. 

Sad new from the game of baseball.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11091626/hall-famer-tony-gwynn-san-diego-padres-died

 

It's been a privileged watching Gwynn play all those years. Class. Act. Always.

 

I've been listening to ESPN Cleveland all morning.....so naturally I had to get this sad news from a friends text.

 

You don't want to interrupt talk of what Johnny Manziel did over the weekend.

This is upsetting because in the 1980s everyone knew that chewing tobacco caused throat & mouth cancer but there was Gwynn and Lenny Dykstra still chomping it up, day after day. 

 

According to Gwynn's doctors, his cancer was unrelated to chewing. Yet still, you absolutely have to wonder.

Sad news from the game of baseball.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11091626/hall-famer-tony-gwynn-san-diego-padres-died

 

That really is a shame.  Class player, class person.  Still too young.

Hit 394 in 1994 until the strike came in August. That's probably the craziest single season stat since 1969

Hit 394 in 1994 until the strike came in August. That's probably the craziest single season stat since 1969

 

News that year was a "computer simulation" had him hitting .400 AND the Indians winning the World Series.

Hit 394 in 1994 until the strike came in August. That's probably the craziest single season stat since 1969

 

News that year was a "computer simulation" had him hitting .400 AND the Indians winning the World Series.

 

The Reds were awesome that year.  That was our chance for an all-Ohio series, and of course the second Reds world championship of the decade. 

 

 

If I recall Montreal was awesome that year.  I always assumed it would have been Montreal/Cleveland WS.

The Reds were awesome that year.  That was our chance for an all-Ohio series, and of course the second Reds world championship of the decade.

 

Actually, 1995 was the year we came closest to having an All-Ohio World Series.  The Tribe made it, but the Reds were swept by Atlanta in the NLCS.  In 1994, I'm not sure either team was going to win their respective pennants, particularly the Indians who would have had to go through tough New York and Chicago ballclubs.

CBS just sent off Jeter with style

 

@CBSNews: Michael Jeter takes bow at his final All-Star game http://t.co/pjKV5CUvv9

can anybody suggest a better phone app than the espn app to keep up with mlb games & other sports events? what do you use the most to follow the action??!

I think yahoo sportacular is the best app for scores.

The Reds were awesome that year.  That was our chance for an all-Ohio series, and of course the second Reds world championship of the decade.

 

Actually, 1995 was the year we came closest to having an All-Ohio World Series.  The Tribe made it, but the Reds were swept by Atlanta in the NLCS.  In 1994, I'm not sure either team was going to win their respective pennants, particularly the Indians who would have had to go through tough New York and Chicago ballclubs.

The 1995 Tribe fell to Atlanta's pitching.  Against the Reds, it would be more of a slugfest and the Indians would have likely prevailed.

CBS just sent off Jeter with style

 

@CBSNews: Michael Jeter takes bow at his final All-Star game http://t.co/pjKV5CUvv9

 

How so?  By getting his name wrong??

I wonder if Wainwright gets in any trouble for "grooving" the pitches to Jeter. The game isn't batting practice or exhibition anymore; Wainwright's giving freebies to Jeter could have affected home-field advantage for the World Series.

 

Sure it's a stretch to say Wainwright acted unethically, but it has made for some interesting work conversation.

I wonder if Wainwright gets in any trouble for "grooving" the pitches to Jeter. The game isn't batting practice or exhibition anymore; Wainwright's giving freebies to Jeter could have affected home-field advantage for the World Series.

 

Sure it's a stretch to say Wainwright acted unethically, but it has made for some interesting work conversation.

 

I think Whinewright was just making excuses for his crappy performance. He has a perpetual habit of whining, complaining, and making excuses. Saying he did it on purpose is an excuse for throwing a crappy inning, and is more in-line with his character than actually grooving a pitch.

The All-Star Game was much more interesting before interleague play AND before ESPN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.  In the 80s and early 90s, you pretty much only saw your home team (and NL stadiums) and then the ABC Game of the Week on the weekend.  This meant the guys in the American League remained a near-total mystery, meaning the All-Star Game, and of course the World Series, had an air of exoticism about it that has been completely extinguished.   

 

The 1995 Tribe fell to Atlanta's pitching.  Against the Reds, it would be more of a slugfest and the Indians would have likely prevailed.[/color]

 

And a very generous strike zone for ATL's staff...  :whip:

Maybe it is just because I'm older but the All-Star game has lost some of its luster. The rosters are too bloated, the voting system is a mess, and requiring at least one player from each team dilutes the talent and robs guys who are more rightfully deserving (even if it means there are no Reds and/or Indians). I do think there should be an exception that at least one guy from the team hosting the game makes it in. If baseball is worried about too few teams being represented, get a salary cap and level the financial playing field.

 

While I'm ranting, it also seems silly to have the game on a Tuesday night and doesn't finish until pretty late on the east coast. Move it to a weekend and bump the starting time up a bit.

 

Finally, I don't like the fact that guys only play a few innings. This will never change because of injury concerns.

 

In my pre-teens and teenage years during the 1990s when I was baseball-crazy I loved the All-Star Game, and looking back I do feel like it was much more compelling then.  This could be for no other reason than the fact that I don't feel like the modern game has star power...at least not on a historic level like it feels like existed in the 1990s.

 

That said, for many of the same reasons as you, I have grown to really dislike the All-Star Game and what it stands for.  If it's an exhibition game, fine, have the teams play it out like they currently do.  But if you want to make it about showcasing the league's best players AND making sure it's realistically competitive to determine home field advantage for the World Series, I suggest that the All-Star Game should become the All-Star Series. Baseball is a game of big sample sizes, and a single game is nothing more than a coin flip.  They should either play a best-of-three series or play three games and tally the runs to determine which league gets home field advantage.  This would allow the games to more realistically mirror actual baseball games, with starting pitchers and fielders playing more innings and to, in general, allow more players to get involved in a more organic manner.  I would expand rosters to 40 players, keeping the rule for minimum one player per MLB team, but eliminating the notion for managers that every player should make an appearance in a game.  Simply being invited would be the honor in and of itself.

 

Also, the fan vote has to go.  Derek Jeter was ranked 9th out of 10 in OPS for AL shortstops with the qualified number of plate appearances.  If the game is about determining something as important as WS home field advantage, no league should be handcuffed by being forced to use (let alone start) inferior players, even if they are aging superstars on the cusp of retirement.

Wish the Tribe tried to actually improve the team before the trade deadline like Detroit just did by getting David Price. BTW, have you seen the battle of the Fox stations in Tampa vs. Detroit?

 

Tampa fired the first shot....

 

Detroit returned it....

Bullsh*t rustbelt shaming.

pardon my crocodile tears and pass me the tiny violin while mushnick laments in the post haha:

 

 

Stadium still full of nothing

 

An empty Yankee Stadium

Photo: Getty Images

 

Saturday, as seen and heard on FoxSports1, was a fabulous summer afternoon in Yankee Stadium; the Yankees in second place, five back.

 

But new Yankee Stadium — the one with the moat to keep the big suckers from the empty seats built for bigger and biggest suckers — was dead. Again.

 

At 2-0, Cleveland, Yankees with two on in the fourth, the joint was dead. Cloistered monks make more noise.

 

Bottom of the sixth, 2-0, Yankees again with two on, yet the only noise came from the p.a. system’s canned encouragement to make noise. Few takers.

 

It was the same thing on Sunday. On such days in old Yankee Stadium, the joint would be jumping. Just sayin’.

 

^ Link??

I watched both games and was amazed at how empty the stadium looked, especially behind home plate.

Where is AJ93[/member] to report on Derek Jeter's final game in Yankee Stadium?  It ended with Jeter hitting a walk-off single to win the game!

Where is AJ93[/member] to report on Derek Jeter's final game in Yankee Stadium?  It ended with Jeter hitting a walk-off single to win the game!

 

Scripted!  Fixed!  But it's over now....

Nonsense. His Jetertude was never more evident. All hail The Jete, for his love is all encompassing. Also, if you're good to him, he'll send you a fruit basket. Just don't be this good to him (NSFW)

 

http://deadspin.com/derek-jeter-ass-eating-gossip-we-really-want-to-be-true-1636889346

i watched the game and i call shenanigans -- le chef servea hima spicy meataball!

 

and in a rarity even the home team homer media is questioning it:

 

http://nypost.com/2014/09/26/jeters-heroics-were-a-little-too-perfect/

 

How bout those Royals?  First they get a hit song.  Then they break the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports (29 years from their 1985 World Series win).  Then they knock out the Moneyball team in the Wild Card game.  Then they sweep the best-record-in-the-AL LA Angels to advance to the ALCS and face Baltimore.

 

Yesterday the NLCS was set.  SF Giants, because its an even numbered year.  And the Cards, because its a year.

^ ugh, my spouse and i picked ws teams back at the star break. i said it would be all cali angels vs dodgers. she said hell no it will be royals vs cardinals.

 

am being lorde-ed over and mocked.  :laugh:

 

Those KC Royals are living the dream.  After breaking their 29 year playoff drought, they've won seven straight post-season games.  They're now up 3-0 on Balitmore and only one win away from the World Series.

 

But as charmed as the Royals are, that might pale with the run third baseman Mike Moustakas is on.  In the regular season, he was .212 and batting ninth.  But in the post-season, he is "Moose" with 4 HR's at the plate, and a combo of Brooks Robinson and Derek Jeter in the field.  Just watch this video of his fielding plays from last night's game.  The best is about a minute in when he tumbles over a railing into the dugout suite seats and got caught by the KC fans!

 

VIDEO: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/98547204/royals-mike-moustakas-catch-amazes-involves-kansas-city-crowd

Go Royals!!!!

No Battle of Missouri in the World Series.  The Royals will face the Giants (yes, them again).

I got a minor chuckle out of Mike & Mike this am. They've been playing songs from 1985 in honor of the last time the Royals were in the playoffs. Today they started playing songs from 2012, the last time the Giants were in the world series.

 

They also made reference to the fact that Mike Greenberg is a bit of a dilettante, while Golic is an ex jock. I don't believe they've done that before.

I got a minor chuckle out of Mike & Mike this am. They've been playing songs from 1985 in honor of the last time the Royals were in the playoffs. Today they started playing songs from 2012, the last time the Giants were in the world series.

 

They also made reference to the fact that Mike Greenberg is a bit of a dilettante, while Golic is an ex jock. I don't believe they've done that before.

 

Before 5:59am maybe...

During the WS last year or the year before, there was an audio glitch where the booth audio cut out.

 

No commentary at all. While you still got to hear the crowd, the ball off the bat, the p.a. announcer and all of the sounds of being right there at the stadium. And this was all accompanied by all of the great, extra camera shots you get during the World Series.

 

It was by far the most enjoyable half inning of baseball I've seen in ten years.

 

 

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has exercised an opt-out clause in his contract and is no longer their manager.  When the Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman left to become President of Baseball Operations for the L.A. Dodgers, that triggered Maddon's opt-out clause.

 

Apparently, the 37-year-old Friedman was key to assembling the teams that Maddon guided to the four post-season appearances, two AL East titles and one World Series appearance in his 9 seasons with the Rays.  Friedman's new position with the Dodgers leads to immediate questions that Maddon might also be lured to the Dodgers (something the Dodgers and Friedman are denying).

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11754873/tampa-bay-rays-manager-joe-maddon-exercises-opt-clause-leaving-team

Maddon is expected to be going to the Cubs: http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/11786485/joe-maddon-expected-become-chicago-cubs-manager

 

Oh, and Game 7 of the Giants/Royals series tonight.  Dynasty vs. Destiny!

Dynasty over Destiny - Giants win their 3rd World Series in 5 years

 

Madison Bumgarner became a World Series legend last night by clinching the series with 5 innings of shutout relief.  That's on two days rest after pitching a complete game shutout in Game 5 and after a 7 inning, 1 ER win in Game 1.  The Royals had no answer for Bumgarner.