MLB Thread

[rippleintime17]

Bryce is nowhere near Nolan in RBIs, though he might be able to surpass him in homers. I hope this whole incident reminds Bryce that he doesn't want to sign any form of extension in Washington. I've always gotten the impression that he doesn't intend to stay there once he hits free agency and that's going to be one crazy offseason when it comes. 

 

It is pretty amazing that the Dodgers STILL haven't clinched. As a Giants fan, I basically accepted defeat after they were swept by the Dodgers at the beginning of the month & then all the starters kept dropping like flies (FOUR Giants have concussions right now, FOUR!) but here we are with a week to go and the Dodgers still haven't wrapped things up. I'm certain they will at some point in this series in SF, and then they'll all party by swimming in McCovey Cove or sliding down the Coke bottle, but the fact that Giants actually have the chance to keep them sweating is pretty great. 

 

And Pirates! SWEEP THE CARDINALS! 

[hendersonrocks]

Pap Smeared (TM the brilliant person upthread) has been suspended 4 games by the Nationals, and also accepted the suspension (i.e., dropped his appeal) from MLB that was pending. See you next year, Pap!

[xaxat]

He's probably happy about that. He gets to start the off season early.

 

If the Nats really wanted to punish him, they should have made him pitch meaningless middle relief innings. That would have pissed him off.

[barbedwire]

My Dodgers need to win it tonight!  Ugh, this holding on waiting for them to clinch the division is getting old.....  real old.

[Rick Kitchen]

I assume Matt Williams is done in Washington ...

[shoregirl]

I don't think there's any other option. I think Rizzo is probably gone too. You cant be the favorite to win the World Series and miss the playoffs and not make some big changes. I would say Papelbon would be gone but they are on the books for 11 million for him next year and I doubt they can get anyone to trade for him. Especially not after yesterday . The Phillies had a hard enough time and he never tried to choke a teammate .

[EllieH]

The AL west is really interesting still. The Rangers and Angels have to play each other still, so maybe the Astros could get in still. I'm not a fan, but it's nice to have someone different. I've been cheering for the Mets because of the nice people in this forum and because they are so much more fun than normal NL front runners.

 

As a Houston native but current Dallas resident, its a stressful week for me!  Or couple of days, depending on how things go.

Edited September 29, 2015 by EllieH

[ebk57]

I assume Matt Williams is done in Washington ...

 

Many people say that.  Many people also say that the Lerners hate paying people for not working.  My brother suggested that they put Matt to work in one of their shopping malls...

[King of Birds]

As a Houston native but current Dallas resident, its a stressful week for me! 

Have we called you on the carpet? Astros fan or Rangers fan?

 

Scale of 1-10, how pissed are you at the Red Sox, mojo?

[tom87]

Scary scary collision in Pittsburgh with Cardinal left fielder Stephen Piscotty.  Knocked out cold.

http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/video/topic/8877482/v507114883

 

Neither Pirates or Cardinals  seemed to want to win this one, but Cardinals prevail.  Magic number is 2.

[RedheadZombie]

Scary scary collision in Pittsburgh with Cardinal left fielder Stephen Piscotty. Knocked out cold.

http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/video/topic/8877482/v507114883

Neither Pirates or Cardinals seemed to want to win this one, but Cardinals prevail. Magic number is 2.

That was frightening. I really thought he had a spinal cord injury. They're saying everything is negative so far.

[mojoween]

Ivan Nova was pitching, King. It was inevitable.

It appears next Tuesday is their destiny. I just hope they can hold on to the game getting played at Yankee Stadium.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Because I'm a dork and I love FB's 'On This Day' feature I was a bit giddy to be reminded that four years ago last night was the fantastic, wonderful, will never happen again crazy ending to the final day of the regular season where something like three races were determined in the span of several games ending within minutes of each other.  Do you guys remember that?

[attica]

I do! I was actually on vacation in Cooperstown, of all places, and my hotel tv's remote was getting quite the workout! I'll never forget Harold and the fellas at MLBTV just losing their freaking minds.

[mojoween]

I do remember that! I watched all of the Yanks game and watched in horror when Longoria hit that HR (which is immortalized at the Trop) but then kept seeing the updates and quick switched over to the O's/Sox. I've never rooted so hard for Baltimore and was delirious with glee when they came back and won (sorry King).

For many reasons that day cannot be duplicated and I wouldn't want it to be. It was too perfect.

[MyAimIsTrue]

For many reasons that day cannot be duplicated and I wouldn't want it to be. It was too perfect.

 

A few months later (because, apparently, there was a lot of really important pointyball shit that happened in September and October) Sports Illustrated had a wonderful timeline article about that night and it was so good I actually forgave them for their piss poor baseball coverage immediately after the fact and into the post season.

[rippleintime17]

That Piscotty collision looked REALLY bad. Glad to hear that his tests are negative. I can't believe he doesn't have a concussion though, but that may be because my favorite team gets concussions like skinned knees. 

 

Make the Dodgers fight for it, Giants! Hang on! 

[attica]

The boys in the Yankees booth last night were discussing the Pap/Harper throwdown, to really hilarious effect. They weren't trying to be funny, I promise, but I kept listening and thinking how fucked up men can be for no good reason.

• There was general agreement that Harper's not running hard to first was Not Playing the Right Way. Much discussion about 'it's only 4 times a night, geez', and 'you never know when running hard is going to make the defense screw up' and 'Roberto Clemente always said...' and other Baseball Platitudes. Not that I disagree, of course, but the tone was so tendentious. Harper's behavior was sinful, full stop. Should have been pulled from the game. Examples were given about good players benched for similar trespasses. Good players not benched for similar trespasses, however, were excused, because hey! He plays everyday and you don't want him pulling a hammy! Too Valuable!
• There was zero agreement that Pap was in the wrong for choking Harper. In fact, the only objection seemed only to be that they didn't handle it 'in the clubhouse.' Yes, boys, by all means, keep unwarranted physical abuse closeted away, so nobody finds out about it and nothing ever changes. It's somehow perfectly defensible behavior, except it looks bad if you do it in public (which kindasortamaybe suggests it's not so defensible?).
• There was prolonged (with several examples by both Ken Singleton and Al Leiter) discussion about how even on successful teams, players spend so much time together they pretty much hate each other by the end of the season, and fistfights in the clubhouse, on the bus, in the hotels, are more commonplace than players not running hard to first. Which: for fuck's sake fellas: get it together. I'm not advocating for Kumbaya, but can't we respectfully retreat to neutral corners? Or must everything be duked out lest we be taken for pussies?

I understand that my reaction to all of this will seem incomprehensible to many. I'm good with that.

[barbedwire]

Ugh!  These Dodgers are killin me.  They are really depending on Kershaw tonight against MadBum.   We shall see.

[mojoween]

Ugh! These Dodgers are killin me. They are really depending on Kershaw tonight against MadBum. We shall see.

I've already seen that show and LA would prefer a new episode, heh.

Man San Fran fans must be LOVING this, the chance to ruin the Dodgers time. I mean, I love Donny baseball but I don't really have a horse in the race so I love the intrigue.

Edited September 29, 2015 by mojoween

[rippleintime17]

It's pretty nuts. I mean, it's not like the Giants have been playing WELL these past few weeks. I went to three games in SF last week and they didn't even SCORE in two of them (that's why I went to the third, it was really hard to leave without seeing a single run scored!). Then they only got one game from the Padres. Basically all the Dodgers have had to do was win a few but instead, the Giants managed to GAIN games back on them because the Dodgers somehow couldn't even manage a win in Colorado (which if you can hit, you should be able to score enough runs to win at least ONE game!). Last night's game basically felt like a playoff, this opportunity to dangle the division in front of them for a little longer and yank it back when they tried to take it. It is fun!

 

Now I just hope that we get dominate Madison and the somewhat hittable Clayton tonight to keep this going a little longer! 

[Rick Kitchen]

 

There was general agreement that Harper's not running hard to first was Not Playing the Right Way. Much discussion about 'it's only 4 times a night, geez', and 'you never know when running hard is going to make the defense screw up' and 'Roberto Clemente always said...' and other Baseball Platitudes. Not that I disagree, of course, but the tone was so tendentious. Harper's behavior was sinful, full stop. Should have been pulled from the game. Examples were given about good players benched for similar trespasses. Good players not benched for similar trespasses, however, were excused, because hey! He plays everyday and you don't want him pulling a hammy! Too Valuable!

 

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, a player who didn't run out a fly would be fined in the clubhouse kangaroo court.

[xaxat]

Because I'm a dork and I love FB's 'On This Day' feature I was a bit giddy to be reminded that four years ago last night was the fantastic, wonderful, will never happen again crazy ending to the final day of the regular season where something like three races were determined in the span of several games ending within minutes of each other.  Do you guys remember that?

 

That was the most exciting day of regular season action ever. . . in any sport.

 

MLB Network produced a really good "tick tock" documentary about that day. For some crazy reason they don't run it that often (if at all, I've only seen it once). 

[mojoween]

It's still the first inning. I just...I don't even know.

Maybe 10,000 will come tomorrow. Or never.

[King of Birds]

[Picture me as the Garrett Morris to mojoween's post, in a square in the upper corner.]

 

"It's still the first inning I just...I don't even know"  - Red Sox scored 6 in the top of the first, lead 6-0 as the Yankees now bat.

 

"Maybe 10,000 will come tomorrow. Or never."   with link-y explanation.   OR NEVER! Ha! Only in my dreams mojo, only in my dreams.

 

eta: See? Its 6-4 now. The right field porch giveth and taketh away.

Edited September 29, 2015 by King of Birds

[smittykins]

At least the Jays and O's got rained out.(Small favors...)

[mojoween]

King I am the harbinger of doom. Also, I was hoping for some reverse psychology.

YES is rebroadcasting Yogi's funeral tonight (not sure what time) and tomorrow at 7 a.m. if anyone is interested that didn't get to watch today.

[ebk57]

Because I'm a dork and I love FB's 'On This Day' feature I was a bit giddy to be reminded that four years ago last night was the fantastic, wonderful, will never happen again crazy ending to the final day of the regular season where something like three races were determined in the span of several games ending within minutes of each other.  Do you guys remember that?

 

I was at the O's game.  It rained really hard at some point and we were losing and I just wanted to go home.  But my wonderful husband didn't want to walk to the car while there was lightning (because we could die...or something).  So we waited over an hour (fortunately, we were on the club level that night, so we were inside).  And the game started again.  And then it ended.  I believe I was screaming.  It was like we'd actually won something.  

 

Then we stayed to watch the end of the Yanks/Rays game on the Big Screen.  There were a lot of sad Saux fans around us.  (Sorry King)

 

It was seriously the second most fun regular season game I've ever been to (and the most fun night was just because of the company). 

[MyAimIsTrue]

I was at the O's game.  It rained really hard at some point and we were losing and I just wanted to go home.  But my wonderful husband didn't want to walk to the car while there was lightning (because we could die...or something).  So we waited over an hour (fortunately, we were on the club level that night, so we were inside).  And the game started again.  And then it ended.  I believe I was screaming.  It was like we'd actually won something.  

 

The next morning my O's fan coworker equated it to winning something as he looked at it as a really awesome ending to a less than stellar season.

 

And speaking of awesome, the A's hired the first female coach in the bigs.

[smittykins]

YES is rebroadcasting Yogi's funeral tonight (not sure what time) and tomorrow at 7 a.m. if anyone is interested that didn't get to watch today.

I loved Joe Torre's stories, plus the fact that they used two of my favorite contemporary hymns, Be Not Afraid and I Am The Bread Of Life.

[barbedwire]

Ooohhh, "I Am The Bread of Life" is one of my favorites too.  R.I.P. Yogi.

 

and...... the DODGERS did it!  3 years in a row!

[attica]

Picture me as the Garrett Morris

 

Picture me as old enough to get this reference. 

[Maximum Taco]

Double headers all over the country today.

 

You gotta love baseball!

 

Hope my Jays can clinch in Game 1. Would love to see all the bench guys come in for Game 2.

[Rick Kitchen]

Bud Norris is an idiot.

[xaxat]

If only Yunel Escobar respected the sport more! Then Papelbon wouldn't have tried to strangle Harper.

[Maximum Taco]

If only Yunel Escobar respected the sport more! Then Papelbon wouldn't have tried to strangle Harper.

Damn foreigners perpetuating that American on American violence!

[mojoween]

The comments section of that article delighted me.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Double headers all over the country today.

 

You gotta love baseball!

 

Hope my Jays can clinch in Game 1. Would love to see all the bench guys come in for Game 2.

 

Yay for double headers and day baseball, the way it still should be played!  I'm happy to see the Pirates took game one against the Cards.

 

Good luck to your Jays!

[xaxat]

OK MLB Network. I know it's "ye olde timey" black and white footage, but it is a criminal act that you didn't include Bill Mazeroski in your ad featuring great post-season home runs. 

[prican58]

xaxat, so correct!  As a Yankee fan that film hurts but fans really should see stuff like that. 

I'm not the huge fan I used to be. If the NYY don't get past the WC game (if they don't start hitting they may not even get there) I won't be crushed. I don't even watch every game.  But I do recall back when I was growing up in the 70's how much I loved MLB playoff season! Back then the afternoon game (!) would start about 3/4 pm and I would try to get home as fast as I could so I could watch the Twins play the Orioles (1970) or the Reds and the Pirates  (1973).

 

The air and sky had that autumn feel that made me feel real cozy and excited at the thought that baseball would be the order of the day for the next 2-3 weeks. Ahh the days of 3 out of 5 for the pennant and 4 out of 7 for the Series. Good times. 

 

Congrats to Blue Jays and their fans. I do remember the Joe Carter World Series and was mos def rooting for them (A.L. after all) back then. That's as far as I'm going.

Since The Yanks are the only ship in his race for me the only other teams I will accept winning the whole thing (no matter how unrealistic) are the Twins (Kirby Puckett and Co. I loved those teams), Pirates (Clemente; We Are Family) and yes, the Mets (David Wright factor!)! 

Edited September 30, 2015 by prican58

[Maximum Taco]

WOO!

 

My Jays own the East!

 

It feels just like 1992 all over again. I was only 6 then, but i remember being pretty excited.

[Rick Kitchen]

There was a flood at Rogers Centre during the September 18 Jays game.  Caused by a half-naked man pulling the valve off a urinal.

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/the-great-rogers-centre-urinal-flood#.sgay3Bj6o(wi

 

(with a photo)

Edited October 1, 2015 by Rick Kitchen

[mojoween]

If your pitching falls off, the hitters need to pick it up. If your bats go silent, pitching needs to be lights out.

BOTH OF THOSE THINGS CANNOT GO BADLY AT THE SAME TIME.

WTF.

[xaxat]

Oh Mets fans. I feel for you.

[King of Birds]

Yikes on the Cespedes HBP.  Hope the Xrays come back soon.

 

And - always the boy who cried wolf, aren't you mojoween?  4-4, all tied up now.  Should I post something like
OMG HOW COULD THE RED SOX BLOW THE LEAD!  FML fer reals!

 

I'm still hoping to see the Bucs come back from 7-0 down.

[ebk57]

Congrats to the Blue Jays and their fans.  But really, couldn't the O's have scored a couple more runs?  That was embarrassing...  

[EllieH]

Have we called you on the carpet? Astros fan or Rangers fan?

 

I've realized I'm more of an Astros fan (yay hometown roots) as I've been so sour about them falling out of first place in the division.  Its easy to be a fan of both when they're both bad, or when one's good and one's bad!

[Lantern7]

Cespedes got hit? Where?!? I was watching Survivor, and it sucked. Tonight is not my night.

[mojoween]

In the left hand, Lantern.

Hey. Whether the game is tied or not, their pitching sucks.

*cue Delli serving up a dinger when the Yanks had FINALLY taken the lead

[smittykins]

Man, what is it with him? Either he's really good or he totally sucks.

ETA:

If only Yunel Escobar respected the sport more! Then Papelbon wouldn't have tried to strangle Harper.

Damn foreigners perpetuating that American on American violence!

I'm actually surprised that he didn't throw in "and they should speak American."

Edited October 1, 2015 by smittykins