Quincy

I'll be morbidly curious to see how it differs from what is already being sold which is pretty much anything imagined (baby clothes, bike jerseys, etc.). But the fact that it'll be sold in Bloomingdales is so very weird. I still find it strange to see spinning racks of Hendrix and Bob Marley incense sticks packaged, as to me I imagine the smell of death or pot. I don't think that's what they're going for, but I never bothered to read the flavors.

What, no hat? I do like The Slider, enough to have bought a 2 disc edition several years ago and I do play the extras and enjoy them. But this is another tombstone I can pass on.

I subscribed for the 1st time. In part it was because 11-17-73 is one of the 4. (Maybe the best Playing sandwich). Also I want 1-22-78 which was hinted at when the series was announced and while of course the odds aren't great that it will be released within the coming year at least it's that much closer. (1-22-78 is a show that any Dead fan should want no matter what the claimed cut off point is). And of all things I shockingly bought the Spring '90 box and loved it! I'm thoroughly a Dead snob whose preference is the Keith & Donna years but I think what made it was there wasn't a single "I Will Take You Home" amongst the 6 shows represented. In the past I typically play 1.5 shows from '89-'90 a year and I'm good, but I had forgotten just how great the songs were during this time, as in 1st set songs at that. Jerry cared and sang his heart out, Phil was in good shape and they were clicking. Even the MIDI most of the time works. Anyway, I'm more receptive of all eras at the moment and it's such an annoyance to pay the postage and not be on vacation or flying for a funeral when these things get announced, so I went the easy route for once. The hint at a '69 or '70 that doesn't circulate also makes me think that maybe they're considering old traders who know where the cuts & patches are and might buy an upgrade.

Ah damn! Minnesota seems to be the new Portland for injuries.

Those uniforms make me want to have a hot dog, or a pretzel with mustard, or...It must have been great for concessions. I like all of the Astros fashions that have been shown.

After that came up in that other thread I looked up where he recorded many (most? all?) of his Capitol sides and it was Hollywood. So hooray for Hollywood! If one feels the Giants didn't get enough attention or recognition part of it was their own fault for being such a well-mannered team that was well-managed. Imagine pulling your 3rd or 4th best pitcher out of the rotation during the LCS and fixing a mechanical problem and having him ready and able to excel in a World Series start? And he didn't complain. And even bigger was taking Lincecum who had struggled for most of the season and again, without complaint, having him come out of the pen and for the most part dominate. The bench was hurt by the Melky affair and this was obvious when they used Theriot as a DH. It reminded me a little of the lack of power on the '88 Dodgers or '72 A's (with Reggie out) though of course both of those teams won too. But they again did the right thing and kept Melky off the team even though legally he could have played in the World Series. The "fault" of the Giants is there were no complainers, along with having a final opponent who were promoted beyond their ability to succeed. (If only the Tigers could have faced the White Sox). And so the other problem was it wasn't the most exciting series because of the Tigers' inability to play champion caliber ball. Amongst my baseball friends who are not Giants fans every one remarked before the series that the Giants just looked like a team of destiny. The catcher looks like he just got out of an Eagle Scout uniform - even his name Buster is boyish. Pablo is essentially a West Coast David Ortiz "folk hero" (you have to be "big boned" to be a folk hero btw) who failed to take the locker room interview bait when asked about being benched in 2010. The staff was terrific and there was the redemption of Zito. Bochy is making a case for the Hall of Fame. In fact given the extreme differences in the make up of this team and the 2010 one it's unprecedented. Oddly enough if you make the cut off year 2002 when the Giants last appeared, both the Cards & Giants have had more pennants than the Yankees in that time. (And yes, obviously dial it back just another year and the Yankees appear. But what have ya done lately?) Anyway, enjoy the well-deserved title and team that is hard to find fault with as they seem to be a bunch of good guys who came together blah blah blah.

Sports Illustrated picked the Giants to make it to the World Series at the beginning of the year. The humorous thing was not a single "expert" amongst SI or ESPN got the final matchup right at the start of the playoffs. But the "East Coast bias" stuff I hear is just so pathetic. I've lived out on this coast for 26 years and it makes me want to slap people for being such pussies. As far as ESPN's World Series ratings, well duh... And lest we forget, the all NY World Series of 2000 had craptacular ratings. Nowadays except in unusual circumstances like Boston's first appearance since '86 the ratings tend to suck until they around to game 6. And I just don't care about ratings.

You're confusing the term "pennant" with "World Series Winner". The pennant winner goes to the World Series. Yup, as far as NL pennants the most recent 2 in at least 3 years includes your Phillies who won pennants in '08 & '09 (champs in '08). Cards had pennants in '04 & '06 (title in '06). Braves pennants in '95 & '96 (title '95). Pennants in '91 & '92 as well. Dodgers pennants in '77-'78. Cards pennants in '67 & '68 (champ in '67). The AL has done the champion thing more often because of the Yankees and Mustache Gang A's, and if pennants Tony's A's the Earl Weaver O's get thrown in there as well. But mostly Yankees, Yankees and Yankees again.

Yes, this was the definition I was going for. Glad we all agreed. And it's probably best for all that qualify for this description that they don't get that 8th seed and instead fall just a little short to get another good pick for next year (assuming management knows who to draft - with Portland involved we can't assume this). That said I think both of these teams could at least be interesting and maybe get to play spoiler (I haven't looked at either team's April schedule, but I'll assume each plays somebody trying to improve its seed).

You mean "fortunately." LIllard looked good and is the 1st rookie since LeBron to have 20+ points & 9 assists in his debut. Not that he'll be LeBron mind you, but even with the low FG% & high TOs that rookies tend to have he looks like a good building block. The kid from Illinois (Leonard) didn't look totally lost either. I think the NW division doesn't have a totally sucky amongst the bunch, unlike other divisions.

To me the strangest thing was how different the roster was. Because of Panda's benching in the previous Giant World Series only their battery at times was the same. They even had a different closer. Most teams with that sort makeover rebuild, not win another title. Obviously it helps if you keep a great pitching staff pretty much intact, although even that was tweaked a little bit. Remarkable.

Perhaps but the record has been favorable to teams that have more time off. My favorite blurb from a CBS Sports article about "rest": "Teams winning the World Series have had on average, um, 2.90476 days of rest prior to Game 1. Teams losing the World Series have had on average, um, 2.90476 days of rest prior to Game 1. Once the Tigers and Giants are done, they'll throw these numbers off, but for now let us admire the symmetry and excess of significant digits." I think the issue regarding regular season records is that teams do not play anywhere near the same schedule, hence obsessing about them is misguided. The Tigers played 54 games vs. KC, Minnesota & Cleveland. That's 1/3 of the schedule! They actually had a losing record vs. Cleveland (8-10) and went only 10-8 vs. Minnesota. The Mariners were 5-1 against them. They just aren't that good.

It's cool to see Lincecum find his filthiness and to see Zito get some love, but man, this series just blows if you don't have a dog in it. This is what happens when a satanic team doesn't make the World Series.

I can't help but imagine Fisk waving his arms to the right as he drove in.

In many (maybe most) states if the key is in the ignition (whether the engine is running) they'll get you for it. Once in a great while someone drunk gets into a car, puts the keys in the ignition but thinks the better of it and sleeps it off in the car. Because the keys are in the ignition and not in the pocket it can mean a headache if an officer finds the person this way.

Since we mostly just complain about the coverage caps off to Fox for use of the super slow motion camera. It was great for showing bats busting (especially Hunter's wonky hit) and they ended up getting some great rain drop footage at the end out of it. Also (gasp) Tim McCarver made some points.

If Tim gets the call for game 1, this match up has has happened before. My how times change.

Shades of '96 when the Cards were up 3-1 over the Braves in the NLCS. They lost game 5 14-0 and game 7 15-0. Although Scutaro makes Lemke look like a hack.

Alright! Tell them it's your birthday and maybe they'll let you ring those bells. Hope you get some time to check out Silver Falls or (a wee bit farther) Opal Creek at some point, though you are in a great place if you don't.

Happy birthday, but I'm not going to wish you what you want in baseball.

I had a Cairn Terrier that was infatuated with a neighbor's normal-sized yet most impressive Great Dane. It was a match that just wasn't meant for her.

3 World Series appearances in a row and not another one after age 22. Never a champion and a lousy batting average in the World Series too. What a loser! I think that gets overlooked because his bigotry and antisocial behavior trumps it. Also that it happened a longass time ago too.

And yet in 1968 there were just 20 teams. Want to go back to no teams in San Diego, Arlington, etc.? I'm a grump too about the "let's give everybody a ribbon" society but it would be ridiculous to have 2 teams come out of 30 that we have today. The reason we have the wild card is that often it ends up being the 2nd best team, especially since we've moved to 3 divisions (see the Tigers). The 2nd wild card is here to try to give more incentive to winning the division and avoid a one game playoff, lest some dumb ump call a play wrong and end your season like that. While the old ways produced an occasional memorable race like the AL in '67 and the NL in '64, more often than not the seasons were runaways. The modern system has given us so many terrific playoff games & series since '68 I feel it's pointless to list them all. It's not like the NFL, NBA or the NHL...yet.

All I know about is the 180g vinyl release of the May 30th show which will be limited to 7500 copies.. This day seems to be all about limited vinyl to support the independent record stores as Experience Hendrix is releasing a (double) vinyl audience bootleg. And there are a lot of other vinyl only releases planned for the day. Sorry to say I'm not sure whether the Dead's release will eventually be released on CD or as a download.

The 1st one worked for me. I forgot that Hal McRae was a Red then, and it's a good thing I watched it again. Otherwise I was going to say Hal McRae was famous for taking out infielders. He kept it up as a Royal. IIRC Willie Randolph was upended by him in an ALCS. And ditto on what Matthew said.