The Baseball Thread 2007

[BERIGAN]

Anyone finding it hard to see the playoffs when out and about??? My gym's tv's don't even go up high enough to get this other TBS. And the O'Charley's I was at last night had 3 tvs in the bar on, all on some stupid college football game. At least when games are on Fox there is a chance to see a game when out of the house.....

[Soulstation1]

watch and see what happens

GO TRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!

[catesta]

At least when games are on Fox there is a chance to see a game when out of the house.....

...and no Tony Gwynn.

[Chalupa]

BoSox in five

NL West NLCS will go six....a toss up as to who will win.

AZ has the pitching, Rocks have the hitting.

Colorado had them both tonight.

I'm starting to think that the Rockies<Chris Berman voice> could... go... all.... the... way</voice>. Best team defense in the MLB, clutch hitting, speed, and good starting pitching.

[Chalupa]

D'backs fall, their fans fume

By Todd Zolecki

Inquirer Staff Writer

PHOENIX - And people think Phillies fans can be bad.

At least they show up.

Despite claims that the Arizona Diamondbacks sold out Game 1 of the National League Championship Series last night at Chase Field - they had an announced crowd of 48,142 - empty rows of seats could be found everywhere in the upper deck. But some of the fans who showed up to watch Jeff Francis outpitch Brandon Webb turned nasty in the bottom of the seventh inning of their team's 5-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies after a correctly called interference play helped kill a Diamondbacks rally.

The Diamondbacks had runners on first and second with no outs when Augie Ojeda hit a grounder to third baseman Garrett Atkins, who threw the ball to second baseman Kaz Matsui for the force-out. Matsui planned to throw to first for a potential double play, but Justin Upton slid hard into second base to break it up.

Nothing wrong with that.

But Upton turned his body and forced his elbow up and into Matsui to prevent any throw to first base. Second-base umpire Larry Vanover immediately called interference. So not only were there two outs instead of runners at the corners with one out, but Chris Snyder also had to return to second from third.

Fans didn't like this. Understandably so. But then they started throwing bottles and other objects onto the field.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle pulled his players, and there was an eight-minute delay.

"It looked like a good, aggressive slide going in, but it looked like he went out of his way to make contact," said Hurdle when asked about Upton's slide and the decision to pull the team. "We were tired of having water bottles thrown on the field. There comes a point in time where you have to make a point where enough is enough."

Imagine if that had happened in Philadelphia. It would have been on CNN and everywhere else: Bloodthirsty Philly fans strike again.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/200710..._fans_fume.html

[Tim McG]

I've changed my vote:

Sox vs Rocks in the WS!!!

You heard it here first.

[Dan Gould]

BoSox in five

NL West NLCS will go six....a toss up as to who will win.

AZ has the pitching, Rocks have the hitting.

Colorado had them both tonight.

I'm starting to think that the Rockies<Chris Berman voice> could... go... all.... the... way</voice>. Best team defense in the MLB, clutch hitting, speed, and good starting pitching.

Well, I'm not sure about that but what they mostly have is momentum and a lot of confidence in themselves. Which leaves me wondering whether there has ever been another such team that went on a hot streak to make the playoffs and then kept it going and won it all? I know that their 14 of 15 streak at the end of the season was a record, but I wonder if anyone went 9 of 10 and then carried it through or something like that.

[Dan Gould]

No comments from the legions of Tribe fans/supporters?

I will say this: If someone had said that the first game would be a blowout, I would have guessed that it would be in the Sox favor, simply on the basis of Beckett pitching and the game taking place at Fenway. Anyone hear the guys on Sportscenter giggling over the fact that Manny and Papi's statistics are more appropriate for a softball league than MLB? :g

First "must win" game tonight, and I hope that the Sox take the right approach to Carmona. It worked for the Indians against Wang and the Rockies against Webb: To beat a guy with a good sinker, don't start swinging at any balls low in the strike zone, unless he actually demonstrates that he is throwing that pitch for strikes. I'd rather see guys getting called out on strikes three times in a row than pound the ball into the ground three times in a row.

Schilling will have a smaller margin for error than Beckett had, hopefully a combination of the right approach and maybe a few nerves for Carmona at Fenway will give the Sox a 2-0 advantage.

[papsrus]

The Red Sox just look too strong. I'm hoping the Tribe can battle back and we get a good series out of it. It wouldn't be disaster if the Sox took Games 1 & 2. They're supposed to win at home after all. But man, they look powerful and really confident. Indians had no answer in Game 1. Rocks-Sox could be a great series!

[Chalupa]

Well, I'm not sure about that but what they mostly have is momentum and a lot of confidence in themselves. Which leaves me wondering whether there has ever been another such team that went on a hot streak to make the playoffs and then kept it going and won it all? I know that their 14 of 15 streak at the end of the season was a record, but I wonder if anyone went 9 of 10 and then carried it through or something like that.

So here these Rockies are now, 19-1. And that just isn't possible. Is it? Not this time of year. Well, not to a baseball team, anyway. Let's try to give you some historical perspective on how insane this is:

These Rockies have now become the first team in history to find itself in the middle of any postseason, riding a 19-1 streak that dates back into the regular season. The '27 Yankees never did that. The '36 Yankees never did that. The Big Red Machine never did that. The only team that even came close was the 1970 Orioles. But they never made it past 18-1 -- in part because they won the World Series before they got that chance.

These Rockies have also become the first National League team in 30 years, and only the second in the last 44 years, to run off a 19-1 streak at any time of any year. Last to do it: the 1977 Phillies.

But that's not all. These Rockies are now the first team in 30 years, the first National League team in 72 years and the fourth team ever to win 19 of 20 after Sept. 1. Last to do it in the NL, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: the 1935 Cubs. Last to do it, period: the 1977 Royals -- a team that called up a prospect named Clint Hurdle in the middle of that streak. The only other team in that late-season 19-1 Club: John McGraw's 1916 New York Giants.

None of those other teams extended that 19-1 run into the postseason, though. So this is historic, historic stuff.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2007...&id=3061582

[catesta]

Stick a fork in Arizona, they're done.

Cleveland still has a chance.

[AndrewHill]

Cleveland still has a chance.

Yes we do!

[Big Al]

Congrats to Manny on his historic homer!

[Big Al]

Oh, Dan..... I'm not sure I can be more apologetic about Gagne. I just turned on the game, just as Trot Nixon knocked in the go-ahead run, and the announcers just said that run was charged to Gagne.

And now Cabrera just scored, another Gagne run.

Yikes!

[AndrewHill]

That's right! 6-9 Indians in the 11th!!!!!!!!

[AndrewHill]

Now 10-6 Indians!!!!!!!!!!!

[MartyJazz]

10-6 at this point, still one out and highly enjoyable.

Gotta give credit to the Sox fans, still in their seats for 5 hours plus, and the evening having become quite chilly.

Whoa, as I write this, a three run dinger, 13-6. Seats should start emptying now.

[AndrewHill]

13-6 INDIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AndrewHill]

One down two two go....

[BFrank]

There's something wrong when a playoff game is still being played at 1:30am EDT.

Not going to attract many kids or new fans to the sport.

Last night's game wasn't over until almost 2am EDT!

I'm on the West Coast, so it's not a problem, but it ain't right.

[AndrewHill]

frick it!

[AndrewHill]

[BFrank]

I think you're about the only one still awake, HG.

[Big Al]

Whoa!

[Dan Gould]

Well I am damn glad that I went to bed after the wild pitch that scored the second run.

There is no FUCKING way any "championship" team can lose this game, at home, but they managed.

Now we will find out how the "lesser" pitchers match up, and then whether three out of the four "aces" can find their shit the second time around. I would say that the odds are better for Carmona than for Schilling, so I am no longer optimistic unless the bats wake up with a vengeance against the crap they are going to be facing, and Dice-K and Wakefield pitch as if it is June, when they were outstanding, and not any of the months since then.

And one last note about that game:

I don't know what is more amazing, that Gagne was on such a short leash or that FranCOMA is still in love with that LOSER "LOOGIE" who gets lit up by the very fucking people he is supposed to be getting out. This game was lost:

When Carmona was let off the hook over and over again. (Why are they swinging at 3-1 pitches when this guy never throws anything straight? It is ridiculous to swing at shit when so many of his pitches break out of the strike zone. And his "out" pitch -why the fuck does anyone swing? That pitch he goes to about 80% of the time with two strikes, it breaks down and in to righties and is never in the strike zone. A-Rod hacked at one that was 18 inches inside. What is the matter with these hitters? Lugo, Pedroia, Youkilis all swung at that crap - if you study the video, can't you fucking figure out that you shouldn't swing? Like I said before the game: make sinker ballers strike you out looking before you start hacking.

Schilling - an old pathetic fart. Does he have any chance of not fucking up the same way next time? Maybe the reason he looked "good" against LA was because a guy with zero career home runs had to hit cleanup. Not exactly the same lineup any more.

The pathetic inning before the collapse. Your best hitters against their worst reliever, and they do nothing.

If they manage to get back to Boston and Gag-Me gets the ball again, hide the kids. It will be as ugly as it has ever been at the old ball yard. It will be as if both Kim and The Kid flipped off the fans simultaneously. That's what they will give that fucking piece of shit.