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smittykins
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The Reds - now with Harrison Bader - are coming to St. Louis next weekend.  Cardinals fans are pretty excited.  Everyone here loves Bader and hates the Yankees, so....  :D

After that we head to Baltimore, but I read that it looks like Jack Flaherty won't be starting those three games, just because of where they are in the rotation.  I'm glad.  Not sure I'm ready to see Jack pitch against us.  :'-(

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Adam Jones, my baseball boyfriend, is retiring as an Oriole on the 15th.  Yeah, I bought tickets and am looking forward to going to a night game.   It's easier to read the scoreboard.

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Not even a Yankee fan and didnt like George Steinbrenner when he was alive.  But I miss him.  I've been watching old clips of him.  

 

Baseball imo has really gotten to out of control or hard to pay attention to with all these advanced statistics which people use as gospel.  Yet, somebody like George today and his must win attitude is seen as "old school" , "a lunatic", "a joke".    George might not have been nice but he told like he saw it.  I see that as a lot kinder in a way versus dicking somebody around over being passive aggressive with advanced player statistics.  

 

I liked the line of someday the bus won't bring you the ball games and you have to prepare for life after this.  I feel like people nowadays are too soft to appreciate him.  And well the Yankees haven't been back to a World Series since he died.  

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36 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

Adam Jones, my baseball boyfriend, is retiring as an Oriole on the 15th.  Yeah, I bought tickets and am looking forward to going to a night game.   It's easier to read the scoreboard.

I want to claim him but I won’t be greedy since he’s never been on my team.  I do love him so, though.

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1 minute ago, mojoween said:

I want to claim him but I won’t be greedy since he’s never been on my team.  I do love him so, though.

I wish you could come and join us for the game- it would be so much fun!!

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17 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Adam Jones, my baseball boyfriend

Omg, I have so many baseball boyfriends these days, all outfielders, it may be a sickness.

  • Kevin Kiermaier (Toronto)
  • Harrison Bader (Cincinnati)
  • Josh Lowe (Tampa Bay)
  • Jake Meyers (Houston)
  • Jarren Duran (Boston)
  • Julio Rodriguez (Seattle)
  • Max Kepler (Minnesota)
  • Myles Straw (Cleveland)
  • Brandon Nimmo (New York Mets)
  • Tyler O’Neill (St. Louis)
  • Andrew Benintendi (Chicago White Sox)
Edited by DMK
Much later correction because I forgot Benny. Sorry, Benny!
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Damn, I miss the days when guys like Billy Martin, Dick Williams,  Whitey Herzog, and Earl Weaver were managing.  These new-age managers today are so paranoid when it comes to managing the pitching staff.  Countless times this year I have seen teams leading, and pull the starter before the 5th inning because he  gave up a couple of hits. Of course the bullpen implodes and they end up losing.  You run through 5 or 6 relief pitchers- they are not all going to sharp every day.  The obsession with pitch counts is way out of control.  A guy's arm is not going to fall off if he throws more than 100 pitches...lol.  (Nolan Ryan once threw 235 pitches in a single game and he pitched well into his 40's with no problems.)  Managing should be done without the computer printouts.....    

Edited by morriss
word correction
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@morriss Agreed. "Protect the asset at all costs" doesn't make for great baseball. The thing is, I don't think there's any real evidence that all this mollycoddling of pitchers truly protects the asset.

Along the same lines, all these "scheduled rest days" throughout the season for 27 year-old position players in their prime are ridiculous. 

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In the 1968 World Series, Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich pitched on October 3rd, 7th, and 10th.  He threw 3 complete games (27 innings) and won them all. He also got 3 hits, including one home run.  
 

There is no way a pitcher today would be asked to do anything close to 3 complete games in 7 days.

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The thing to consider is fastball vs secondary pitches. It’s the plethora of secondary pitches these days that are giving starters health issues. Don’t really see relievers having this problem because most of them, their job is to throw fire. Fastballs. And all those Ironman pitchers from the past like Nolan Ryan were primarily fastball pitchers. Fastballs don’t hurt the arm. 

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Watching game one of the 1998 World Series (as you do) and after watching the Yankees game last night with the average age of like 24, Chili Davis looks like some other species of human.  Chili was a grown-ass man.

Also, and this is recency bias and at the time I was more likely to be playing Magic: The Gathering than watching baseball, but it’s so weird to see San Diego in the WS.  What happened to Atlanta that year?

Also also, I’ve said it before but it will never not be true to me, but old Yankee Stadium was hella ugly.

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3 hours ago, mojoween said:

Also also, I’ve said it before but it will never not be true to me, but old Yankee Stadium was hella ugly.

Did I ever mention my first visit to (old, but not first) Yankee Stadium?  Neighborhood - unimpressive.  Outside of building - meh.  Concourse - absolutely awful.  Cramped, dark, too many people.  

Then I walked up the ramp to the stadium...and wow, it was awe-inspiring.  It was Yankee Stadium and it was fabulous.  

The new stadium is fine.  It's new and shiny and bright...and just like so many other new stadiums.  It's not that I'd refuse to go there again, but I'm not sure I'd voluntarily choose to go.  

 

Someday I'll get to the 2 new stadiums I haven't been to (and want to go to - there are 3(?) that I have no intention of ever visiting). 

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7 hours ago, morriss said:

A guy's arm is not going to fall off if he throws more than 100 pitches...lol.  (Nolan Ryan once threw 235 pitches in a single game and he pitched well into his 40's with no problems.)  Managing should be done without the computer printouts.....  

What a wimp.  Pud Galvin had 72 complete games in a season once!

But in all seriousness, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Shohei Ohtani, Jacob DeGrom, and countless other pitchers might disagree with you on that one.  Sure, managers are probably overly cautious with pitch counts these days, but there are only so many unicorns who are blessed with perfect biomechanics, good genes, and good luck.

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9 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

there are 3(?) that I have no intention of ever visiting).

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Oakland is one of the ones on that list? Because I definitely believe they can’t tear that rodent infested pile of shit down fast enough. 

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1 hour ago, DMK said:

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Oakland is one of the ones on that list? Because I definitely believe they can’t tear that rodent infested pile of shit down fast enough. 

Actually, no.  I've been to Oakland many times.  I've been to all the stadiums that were open since the 70s, except Fulton County Stadium and Exhibition Park (or whatever the stadium in Toronto was called).  

I'm talking about the ones built since 1992.  I still need to go to Petco and the New, New Busch. 

I won't be going to the new Atlanta ballpark since they felt the need to leave a perfectly lovely Turner Field to get away from "that" neighborhood on the taxpayers' dime.  I also won't be going out of my way to get to the new park in Arlington, although I suppose if I should ever find myself in Texas again, I might go.  I feel like there's another one, but it's not coming to mind at the moment.  I'll see how the possible As move goes, but since I hate Vegas, chances are I won't be going there.

Favorite parks - PNC for new, Fenway for old.  And Camden Yards, of course. 

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Hmmmmm . . .

EXISTING: Citi Field, Fenway, Rodgers Centre, Wrigley, PetCo Park, Camden Yards

DEFUNCT: Shea, Yankee Stadium 1 or 2 (1.5?), Olympic, Jack Murphy, Veterans, RFK

I could have sworn I've been to more stadiums than that.

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Y'all have me beat, I've only been to Rogers. In my defense, I haven't been to the US since I was 15 (although I did have a layover in Miami en route to Ecuador a few years ago, but I dont think that counts).

If anything were to get me to go, it would be baseball. 

Actually a friend of mine- her son just got accepted to the Ontario league or the Ontario team or something, which is scouted by the D1 schools....so I have no idea what that means but if he ever makes it to the minors then maybe I would go south of the border to catch some games.

He had a game at the Pittsburgh stadium this summer. Or something with a youth team there.

On TV, I love Camden yards and surrounding area just looks beautiful. 

Edited by cleo
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I have been to one (1) major league game, at New Yankee Stadium.

They lost 6-0 to the Blue Jays and Ivan Nova gave up a grand slam.  The dinner at NYY Steak was pretty good, though.

Baseball getting criticism that it’s a regional sport is never more true to me than when the Yanks are on any network other than YES.  At least we get Coney on ESPN, though.

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The first major league baseball game I ever saw was at Shea Stadium in 1970. My dad was a Yankees fan and I would watch  their games with him, but considering the Mets were the reigning World Champions and Shea was still pretty new, only in its 7th season, that was a hot ticket. A family friend had occasional access to his company's season tickets, so we had very good field level seats down the first base line. I loved it.

A few weeks later, our friend got his company's seats again, this time at original Yankee Stadium. I'm glad I'm able to say that I attended a game at The House That Ruth Built, but by 1970, in its 48th season, it was a pit. 😨 I wanted to go back to Shea. 😄

Over the years, I saw many games at Yankee Stadium 1.5, but as I now live in the south, I've only had the pleasure of seeing one game at the new Yankee Stadium across the street. I liked it, although the ticket prices, food prices, etc. are outrageous. 

I've seen games at three other Major League ball parks, one as mentioned above by @ebk57, needlessly defunct. 😠 They are Tropicana Field, Turner Field--which was a great place to see a game--and, Kauffman Stadium.

I've been to a few Minor League stadiums, the most interesting one being Fluor Field in Greenville, SC, home of the Greenville Drive, Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Located right in the lovely downtown area of Greenville, it was specifically constructed to be a mini version of Fenway Park, with the same dimensions; complete with a 30 foot tall Green Monster and a replica Pesky Pole down the right field line. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Greenville during the summer. 

And, as I'm watching Yankees/Astros while typing this, may I just add that I'm loving Jasson Dominguez!!! 👽

Edited by ProudMary
Fixed a typo
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On 9/2/2023 at 4:16 PM, ProudMary said:

They were close. The Padres beat them in the NLCS in 6 games. I'm glad Tony Gwynn got to play in at least one WS.

There is a clip of Smoltz talking to some guy (maybe a podcast?) about Gwynn.

  • Guy: How did you do against Gwynn?
  • JS: Not good! He hit like .445 lifetime against me. Amazing stat?:  Maddox, Glavine, Pedro Marinez, and me struck out 12,000 batters between us. We faced Gwynn 330 times and struck him out a total of THREE TIMES. 

Heh. Gwynn was awesome. 

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On 9/2/2023 at 4:16 PM, ProudMary said:

They were close. The Padres beat them in the NLCS in 6 games. I'm glad Tony Gwynn got to play in at least one WS.

He played in the 84 WS too.  Unfortunately for him the Padres were kind of meh for a long time afterwards.

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There have been rule changes in the past that were big. For instance, the foul ball didn’t used to be a strike. You could foul off ten pitches and still have a 1-0 count. In the grand scheme, I don’t think it matters that much. 

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41 minutes ago, Jane Tuesday said:

Yeah, any individual records for stolen bases should have an invisible asterisk by them from now on. I don't mind the bigger bases, but the limited pick-offs rule swung the pendulum WAY too far in favor of the runner.

^^^This!

I've gotten accustomed to all the other changes. I love that the shift is gone. Larger bases, I'm fine with. The pitch clock seems to be working. The length of games is definitely down and there don't seem to be an abundance of pitch clock violations. But the limitation on pick-off attempts is a bridge too far for me. I'm especially concerned about its effect during the playoffs.

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I posted this 12 years ago on FB and a. it still made me snort-laugh and b. damn I miss Kenny.

This is how completely unsophisticated my sense of humor is - cameraman focuses on a pigeon during the Yankee game.  Michael Kay says "some relatives of the Orioles left passes" which cracks me up and then Ken Singleton says "must be an advance scout" which caused a literal LOL.

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9 hours ago, Jane Tuesday said:

Even so, such a huge rule change should be noted. The guys doing it today were apparently unable to do it with the rules of a decade ago, so they shouldn't get the same accolades of guys who did it a decade ago. YMMV

Yes, because pitchers started making endless pick-off attempts. The guys who were doing this a decade ago weren't contending with that. It was simply easier for them to steal bases. So one can say that the guys back then shouldn't get accolades for putting up higher numbers than in the last decade, because they didn't have to contend with what players in the last decade had to contend with.

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I think it’s more that replay killed the stolen base game. It used to be you beat the throw, you were in. Then with replay, if you came in too hot and were off that bag for even a nanosecond, you were out on the challenge. Not even Rickey Henderson would have as many stolen bases if he was battling with replay. 

Obviously, replay is still a factor, but the bigger bases and limited pickoffs evens it out. 

Edited by DMK
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4 hours ago, mojoween said:

damn I miss Kenny.

Ditto. I loved Kenny in the booth. 

I've been thinking this way for a while, but tonight's Tigers @ Yankees game is cementing my feeling that Carlos Rodón may very well be one of those pitchers who just can't handle New York. I realize it's still a relatively small sample size because of his time(s) on the IL, but I'm getting that impression. I hope I have to eat my words, but I'm thinking not.

 

 

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1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

Ditto. I loved Kenny in the booth. 

I've been thinking this way for a while, but tonight's Tigers @ Yankees game is cementing my feeling that Carlos Rodón may very well be one of those pitchers who just can't handle New York. I realize it's still a relatively small sample size because of his time(s) on the IL, but I'm getting that impression. I hope I have to eat my words, but I'm thinking not.

 

 

Have you tried to give him a Standing Ovation..let him know you have his back? It seems to have worked for Trea Turner.....

 

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I miss the game so much too.  Even if it was to listen to Paulie complain in the outfield about how his knees hurt.

I absolutely love listening to the Yankees talk about 1997.  “It was such a low point.”  “We had to overcome so much to make it back in 98.” “It was just the worst feeling.”

1997?  They lost in the ALDS.  Buncha losers.

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OTD at YS is the day of the season when I most hate being an out-of-market fan because I can't watch the festivities live. Because MLB.tv shows only the actual games, I have to rely on whatever the YES Network chooses to put on its YouTube channel, and this year they didn't even post the full introductions. 😠 Everything they posted is about the '98 team only. Certainly I understand that this was a 25th anniversary celebration for that incredible team, but I'd still like to know everyone who attended from other eras of Yankees' history.

I saw some photos of Ron Guidry, Roy White, Willie Randolph and Hideki Matsui, so I know they were there but no one else. Other than Jeter, Mo and Tim Raines (all on the '98 team) did any of the other Hall of Famers attend today? (Reggie, Goose, Rickey, Winfield, Mussina) Was Bucky Dent there? Chambliss? Piniella? Nettles?

Also, I didn't see Bernie there. He was just at YS a few days ago! Was anything mentioned about why he wasn't at OTD? Because I couldn't see introductions, I don't even know who else was missing from '98. It seemed like Knoblauch wasn't there? How about Homer Bush? Ramiro "El Brujo" Mendoza? Do we know if Joe Girardi was even invited?

I have too many unanswered questions!

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Willy Adames meeting his idol Derek Jeter today was the cutest thing.  Willy was so excited, just like a kid.  

Of course, that probably made Jeter feel old, to hear from a 28-year-old pro how Jeter was his idol.  

 

 

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15 hours ago, ProudMary said:

OTD at YS is the day of the season when I most hate being an out-of-market fan because I can't watch the festivities live. Because MLB.tv shows only the actual games, I have to rely on whatever the YES Network chooses to put on its YouTube channel, and this year they didn't even post the full introductions. 😠 Everything they posted is about the '98 team only. Certainly I understand that this was a 25th anniversary celebration for that incredible team, but I'd still like to know everyone who attended from other eras of Yankees' history.

I saw some photos of Ron Guidry, Roy White, Willie Randolph and Hideki Matsui, so I know they were there but no one else. Other than Jeter, Mo and Tim Raines (all on the '98 team) did any of the other Hall of Famers attend today? (Reggie, Goose, Rickey, Winfield, Mussina) Was Bucky Dent there? Chambliss? Piniella? Nettles?

Also, I didn't see Bernie there. He was just at YS a few days ago! Was anything mentioned about why he wasn't at OTD? Because I couldn't see introductions, I don't even know who else was missing from '98. It seemed like Knoblauch wasn't there? How about Homer Bush? Ramiro "El Brujo" Mendoza? Do we know if Joe Girardi was even invited?

I have too many unanswered questions!

I haven’t watched the recording yet but I know Daryl Strawberry was there.  And Scott Brosius. (sp?)

WHERE is the team that swept the Astros?  Huh?  Huh??  WHERE ARE THEY?

Edited by mojoween
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49 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

So was David Wells, and oh boy was he doing his best get off my lawn work.  Some highlights:

-Today's players are softies and crippled by stupid analytics

-Brian Cashman doesn't deserve the blame

-Nike is woke and he hates them

-Everyone should carry a gun.

I was going to post this story, but couldn't figure out how to do it without being shouty and ranty - and still not actually surprised.

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