Baseball 2005

[catesta]

Now, maybe this dipshit will finally get fired.

[Dan Gould]

Now, maybe this dipshit will finally get fired.

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Why? Number one, Steinbrenner doesn't have to fire him, his contract expires at the end of the month. But more importantly, Cashman deserves more credit than Torre for the team's return from the near-dead, cuz he was the one who had Wang, Chacon and Small to save the team. Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, it was the idiots in Tampa who said "sign Tony Womack!"

Cashman has been in an impossible position for a long time: He's hardly in full control of the team, he has to battle the Tampa morons every day, yet he's the public face as the GM, he has to act as if every personnel decision was his even if he fought it from the start. Add to that the way Steinbrenner treats him, its time for Cashman to say "screw you, George" and finally get out of there.

And anyway, he won't get fired. This man will get fired:

So that George can bring this man back:

After all, he's got fire.

[catesta]

Cashman has been in an impossible position for a long time: He's hardly in full control of the team, he has to battle the Tampa morons every day, yet he's the public face as the GM, he has to act as if every personnel decision was his even if he fought it from the start. Add to that the way Steinbrenner treats him, its time for Cashman to say "screw you, George" and finally get out of there.

Oh please.

This was an opportunity of a life time. When the Yankees win he's got no problem putting his little stupid boy mug on screen and radio. When they lose it's because he does not have full control of the team. Do you think he ever thought he would?

I mean this is Steinbrenner and the Yankees we are talking about, not Milwaukee.

I'm all for him saying "screw you, George" and going somehwere else to showcase his talents. Then we will see what his talents are.

And yes Torre will be fired, but he'll have a list of teams to choosea new job from.

[Evonce]

Yeah, you gotta love it when the old "neighborhood play" isn't called.  That one was so obvious - and yet I think if he had been making the pivot and threw to first, he gets the call.  But its a simple force play so you better make damn sure your foot is on the base. 

Totally. I'm not into the "neighborhood" business, because once you operate on that, the game disappears. We may as well have neighborhood catches, grand slams, lineups ("Well, I meant to say he was batting fourth."), etc. It doesn't matter who the teams are. I wouldn't want my team to gain advantage from a bad call, nor would I want an opponent to gain an advantage. Some folks say, well, it's just a foot on the base, he would have been out anyway. And that's precisely the point - it's just a foot on the base. If you can't manage that, the runner is safe.

When I saw that aforementioned play (NY at Fenway) where Matsui took two flagrant steps out of the basepaths (into the diamond grass, my goodness), and it wasn't called, I just turned the TV off. I was no longer watching a baseball game, apparently. Sorry this is all old, petty news, but I'm a stickler for the basic rules.

[Johnny E]

Unfortunately for this Yankee fan, you guys knocked A-Rod pretty good and he sure didn't disappoint you.  And the difference between him and "Captain Clutch", aka Derek Jeter, when it comes to quality hitting in a must game will never be more glaring.  The guy who really surprised me with a bad hitting performance however was Matsui - 0-9 in the last two games with lots of bad outs, e.g., pop ups with men on base.

Oh well, I thought this team had too many weaknesses to go all the way, but I am surprised they're knocked out this early.

I told you, THE YANKEES WILL NEVER WIN ANOTHER WORLD SERIES UNTIL THEY GET RID OF A-ROD. I'm not fuckin' around, it's the truth. You look at his numbers and it makes you drool, but once you've gone through a couple seasons with him on your team you start to realize that he's not a gamer. I'd take Jeter over A-rod in nano second.

Also, I heard the Mariners are going to go after Matsui in the off season. With his performance in the playoffs I'd suspect our chances of landing him just got better. The Yankees might not want him back.

[MartyJazz]

Ichiro and Hideki on the same team!!! Well, it's obvious that they would be frequent dinner buddies that's for sure. Yet I suspect that he'll re-sign with the Yanks - assuming he still wants to stay in the majors - and that playoff performance notwithstanding, the Yanks would want him back. And, despite all conjectures to the contrary, I think Torre will manage the Yanks another season. Objectively speaking, when you lose 3/5 of your pitching staff for all or most of the season, and you still get into the playoffs as a division winner, ya gotta cut the guy some slack IMO. Anyway that's how I feel. George is nuts if he thinks he can hire Pinella and get the same kind of levelheaded restraint from criticism as Torre shows. We'll see.

[sheldonm]

If we fired every player that didn't perform in the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves would no longer have a team!!!

[Tjazz]

And of course Posada is bitching about that Cano-basepath-interference call from last night. I remember Matsui taking a Sunday stroll on the infield grass whilst running to second base against the Red Sox, and that WASN'T called, when it was plain as day. So for the Yanks to bemoan their "bad luck" is ree-duckolous.

←

Yeah, I was amazed Cano was called OUT on that play. The ANGELS definitely messed up on that play. The ANGELS firstbaseman should have been on the inside of the bag instead of in foul territory. The catcher threw properly on the inside part of the bag and the first baseman missed the ball.

If Cano would have run on the foul line toward first base, he could have run over the firstbaseman legally.

Very lucky for the ANGELS.

But the ANGELS did have someone backing up the throw, so the runner on 2nd, would have only advanced to third only.

The Yanks would have had the bases loaded, with 2 outs.

Oh well, the game's over.

[Soulstation1]

do the yanks have anything in the farm system?

otherwises they are gettin' old

[Johnny E]

And anyway, he won't get fired.  This man will get fired:

So that George can bring this man back:

After all, he's got fire. 

←

Why not sign Griffey and Buhner and complete the transformation?

[Quincy]

Now, maybe this dipshit will finally get fired.

←

Seeing that photo I can't help but think of those Kellogg's 3d baseball cards.

[ghost of miles]

I really hope Torre doesn't get canned. He's a classy guy... and a tip of the hat to fellow Yank fans here for the class they display season-round.

I'll be pullin' for the Chisox in the ALCS.

[PHILLYQ]

I don't know if Torre will be fired, but he might just quit. He may have hit the end of the line in putting up with Georgie Porgie's BS and constant criticism. I watch the Yanks nearly every game, and I thought that this year may have been Torre's best in terms of managing. After all, he lost plenty of pitching(Yanks used 14 different starters this year!) and had some glaring holes and still managed to get the team into the playoffs.

As for Cashman, there's talk that the Phillies may be interested. It's a bit difficult to accurately judge Cashman, since every good deal is claimed by the Tampa clowns and every bad deal is his. I give him lots of credit for shaking the team up by promoting Cano(work in progress) and Wang & making the deals for Small & Chacon. It'll be interesting to see how he does on his own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe JazzyPaul picked the Chisox & Cards for the World Series many many pages ago in this thread, and so far it's moving that way. I'd like to see the Chisox end their lonnnnng schneid and win a World Series. Bosox in 2004, Chisox in 2005, are the Cubbies next?

[PHILLYQ]

do the yanks have anything in the farm system?

otherwises they are gettin' old

←

If they keep Wang & Chacon their rotation gets younger right there.

[Soulstation1]

blue trane was just played during the game

Edited October 12, 2005 by Soulstation1

[Soulstation1]

LA showed me something last night, i thought they'd be tired and shit

wrong again

ss1

[Dan Gould]

I kind of figured them to be the "reverse lock" and I was right. It will be tough without Colon but I don't think the White Sox will have it easy either.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

... I can't help but think of those Kellogg's 3d baseball cards.

hey! I've got one of Jose Cardenal! not sure why I still have it?

[jazzypaul]

I kind of figured them to be the "reverse lock" and I was right.  It will be tough without Colon but I don't think the White Sox will have it easy either.

←

Nope, we don't. Of course, it doesn't help matters when we're making stupid plays left and right (Pierzynski stealing bases? WTF????).

The Sox have to play some smart baseball against this team if we want to beat them. I hope this game proved that to them.

Sheesh.

The pitching in this game (on both sides) was just fucking amazing though.

[Noj]

Nice hoaxy finish in the Angels/White Sox game. WTF?

[MartyJazz]

That was one of the worst home plate calls I have ever seen. Just terrible! While I'm rooting for the White Sox, I was hoping that Crede would make the third out and that the game would go into extra innings because I hate to see a game decided on a blown call. But with an 0-2 count on Crede and room to waste a pitch or two, Escobar throws a strike over the heart of the plate, what are you gonna do? That umpire crew is going to get quite a greeting in L.A. come Friday.

[jazzypaul]

I've gotta chime in here and say that I agree that it was a horrible call. I'm glad we got the win, but I'm sad that this is how we got it. I think these next three games just got a lot harder for the south siders.

I've gotta say though, the pitching in both of these games by both sides has been nothing short of fantastic, though.

[Evonce]

So who's for video review in baseball?

What an embarrassing way to "win" a game - like snatching a purse and finding a winning lottery ticket inside. I know I've stood up for nitpicking calls in my last couple posts, but that's because they were the correct calls. The Sox were handed an extra out and a baserunner in the bottom of the motherstuffing 9th inning. I'm sure there was synchronized wall-punching all over LA last night. That's a truly horrible abortion to what could have been an exciting extra-inning finish.

I know the arguments for not having video replay for baseball, but I also know that last night was a clear argument FOR it. Everyone at home saw what happened, and anyone who's ever worn a catcher's mitt knows that he had the ball caught in the web of it. If it's "inconclusive" as one authority had it, then why do we award the baserunner and extra out to the team that struck out? Tie goes to the loser?

I don't envy the Angels having to move on from that call. I'm just a schlub sitting at home and I can't even watch any more.

For some reason, the '99 Stanley Cup Finals come to mind....

[Dan Gould]

  That umpire crew is going to get quite a greeting in L.A. come Friday.

←

That umpire crew - or at least the home plate ump - better never, EVER work a post-season game again.

WTF is right!

[Dan Gould]

And what was this from the umps about the tape being "inconclusive"???

The view from behind and to the right was absolutely unmistakeable: The ball went straight down into the glove.