2006 MLB Thread

[rostasi]

Tonight, our most popular local sports announcer - Dale Hansen -

had a fit tonight on our ABC affiliate. It seems that when the news anchor

was doing a verbal segue into sports, he announced the Cardinals win.

Hansen rested his chin on his hand and said to the newsguy,

"Hey, why don't you just announce the sports tonight!" or something close to that.

The other anchor person said, "Well, why don't we take a break and we'll come back."

They went to commercials...

Hilarious...then back from commercials, they went directly to Hansen

who said, "A great philosopher once asked, 'Why am I here?' and I must

say that I agree with him..."

Real dramady at it's finest!!

Rod

Edited October 28, 2006 by rostasi

[MartyJazz]

In the past few years when the Yanks were eliminated from World Series competition I could console myself with the thought that the team that beat them then went on to win the whole shebang. But this year, not even close. The Tigers, with the exception of Sean Casey (and I guess, Kenny Rogers if you could overlook the suspicion of pine tar use), were bloody awful in so many ways - at the plate, fielding their positions, running the bases, moving runners over, hitting in the clutch, you name it. Their young pitchers looked and acted as if they had trouble swallowing, more like choking I would say. How the hell couldn't the Yanks beat this team? And of all things, for Jeff Weaver to look like a real gamer! It's enough to make most Yank fans, and certainly this one, positively gag. Congrats to the Cards, they did what they had to do and took advantage of a truckload of mistakes by a team that played horribly.

[BERIGAN]

In the past few years when the Yanks were eliminated from World Series competition I could console myself with the thought that the team that beat them then went on to win the whole shebang. But this year, not even close. The Tigers, with the exception of Sean Casey (and I guess, Kenny Rogers if you could overlook the suspicion of pine tar use), were bloody awful in so many ways - at the plate, fielding their positions, running the bases, moving runners over, hitting in the clutch, you name it. Their young pitchers looked and acted as if they had trouble swallowing, more like choking I would say. How the hell couldn't the Yanks beat this team? And of all things, for Jeff Weaver to look like a real gamer! It's enough to make most Yank fans, and certainly this one, positively gag. Congrats to the Cards, they did what they had to do and took advantage of a truckload of mistakes by a team that played horribly.

It's true that the Cards capitalized on Tigers mistakes, but they also pitched well, played excellent defense(Well, except for Chris Duncan) and hit when it counted. Trust me, I have seen many a braves team in the playoffs get runners on via hits, walks, errors, and leave them stranded. More than once they had the bases loaded with no outs, and somehow not score a single run.

Eckstein had key 2 out hits, and hit .364 for the series(after starting 0 for 9) Molina hit .412, and Rolen hit .421 after it looked like he'd never hit another pitch above 90 MPH again. Edmonds drove in 5 runs in this WS, after getting 1 hit, and no RBI's in the 2004 WS. And don't forget, Pujols may have only hit .200, but he was walked once or twice in every game but one, and scored several runs.

[Dan Gould]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

...sour grapes is right....jesus! Stop your whining, your team has been out for months.....time to move on!!!

Edited October 28, 2006 by sheldonm

[sheldonm]

In the past few years when the Yanks were eliminated from World Series competition I could console myself with the thought that the team that beat them then went on to win the whole shebang. But this year, not even close. The Tigers, with the exception of Sean Casey (and I guess, Kenny Rogers if you could overlook the suspicion of pine tar use), were bloody awful in so many ways - at the plate, fielding their positions, running the bases, moving runners over, hitting in the clutch, you name it. Their young pitchers looked and acted as if they had trouble swallowing, more like choking I would say. How the hell couldn't the Yanks beat this team? And of all things, for Jeff Weaver to look like a real gamer! It's enough to make most Yank fans, and certainly this one, positively gag. Congrats to the Cards, they did what they had to do and took advantage of a truckload of mistakes by a team that played horribly.

It's true that the Cards capitalized on Tigers mistakes, but they also pitched well, played excellent defense(Well, except for Chris Duncan) and hit when it counted. Trust me, I have seen many a braves team in the playoffs get runners on via hits, walks, errors, and leave them stranded. More than once they had the bases loaded with no outs, and somehow not score a single run.

Eckstein had key 2 out hits, and hit .364 for the series(after starting 0 for 9) Molina hit .412, and Rolen hit .421 after it looked like he'd never hit another pitch above 90 MPH again. Edmonds drove in 5 runs in this WS, after getting 1 hit, and no RBI's in the 2004 WS. And don't forget, Pujols may have only hit .200, but he was walked once or twice in every game but one, and scored several runs.

...and how about that great play at first base, throwing out Polanco from his back???

[Dan Gould]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

...sour grapes is right....jesus! Stop your whining, your team has been out for months.....time to move on!!!

Yeah yeah yeah, enjoy your championship and remember this:

I'd argue for the same proposal even if it eliminated the Red Sox or Cubs from the postseason. The dilution of the playoffs is bad enough, and the line that needs to be drawn is above 83 win teams being "champions". It was bad enough when the Twins did it with 88.

Tell you what: I'll call you champions without reservation if you admit your team sucked during the year and that you were embarassed to barely win a piece of crap division.

[GregK]

I agree with Dan. I like the Cardinals and have always wanted them to win a World Series again (except this year!!), and even travelled to see them in person as soon as I had a chance to, but this year's team wasn't even close to being the best team (I thought Minnesota would take it all!). The Tigers absolutely handed them this Series win. That was one of the ugliest Series I have ever seen, poor play all around, a little less so by the winner. There have been much better Cardinals teams that lost (85, 87, 2002, 2004, last year) so it's nice they finally did, but man that was ugly. Inexplicable how a Leyland played like that. WTF?

[MartyJazz]

One thing that was proved in this series is that a baseball team that sits out a whole week as the Tigers did waiting for the NL pennant winner to emerge, can certainly go stale in the process. Actually, the case should now be made that the opening playoff competition should be a best of seven as all the subsequent playoff series are. And that's not just sour grapes from a Yankee fan here who saw his team eliminated early. It makes no sense to play 162 games only to then play what is, in effect, a long weekend series. Hell, the Kansas City Royals proved they could win three games in a short series when they swept the Tigers the last weekend of the season. Winning four of a possible seven is more difficult and more indicative of true superiority. Regardless of whether the season should be shortened if there is fear of the baseball playoffs going into November, but a best of seven for each playoff series really should be instituted. I agree with Dan that the best teams were not represented in this series although I always did think that the Cards were a better all around team than the Tigers despite how poor the Cards' record was this year.

[GA Russell]

I would go back to the way it was fifty years ago.

I would get rid of the divisions, get rid of the playoffs, get rid of interleague play, and get rid of unbalanced schedules.

This would reduce September ticket sales for those teams that are out of the pennant race. My solution to that would be to end the season on Labor Day. Play the World Series in September when it is cool, not cold.

Times have changed. It has been decades since baseball had a lock on people's interest. When Labor Day comes, the public's attention shifts to football. Labor Day was nearly two months ago, and they just finished playing baseball last night.

Of course, none of this will happen unless a television network pays for it to happen. If the Nielsen ratings continue to decline, maybe one day a network will do just that.

[Dan Gould]

It would take more than a network to do that, because the luxury tax, revenue sharing and expanded playoffs (wild card) means so many teams are in contention in September and get ticket sales they wouldn't otherwise have. Giving up September gate revenue is a non-starter.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Dan Gould

[Dan Gould]

I think Marty is right about the need for seven game playoffs all the way through (which would definitely necesitate clipping the season by a week) and also that the Tigers lost their momentum during the week off.

[Quincy]

I don't think win records mean as much in this era of unbalanced schedules. And I give a pass to the Cardinals as it has many of the same players as the 100+ win clubs except as mentioned earlier, key guys were out for stretches. And honenstly, peruse rosters of past world series champs and look at the Cardinals bench - it blows so many out of the water. The Twins, the '85 Royals and '88 Dodgers were teams that failed to impress or were inferior to teams that didn't win it but you know what, they won it. That's the way it goes.

Secondly while the Tigers may have lost momentum due to the layoff, other teams have overcome that "burden." The '96 Yanks had a full week off while the Braves LCS went 7 games. Yes, the Yanks dropped the 1st 2 but won the series. Also in '95 the Braves had a full week off and 3 more days off than the Indians and they too won the series. Had the Tigers not had a week off Casey may not have been able to play, which means the Tigers may have hit under .100. (Kidding.)

Finally, I thought seeing Jeff Weaver succeed was one the most heartwarming things I've seen in World Series competitiion. The guy has taken some lumps and was on a long list of guys who couldn't cut it at Yankee Stadium (and probably wasn't served well by the pitching coach either), but he sure came through bigtime during this playoff run. No matter what happens (well, within reason) he'll be loved in StL for what he did last night! He sure does have some pretty questionable music taste though.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Quincy

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

...sour grapes is right....jesus! Stop your whining, your team has been out for months.....time to move on!!!

Yeah yeah yeah, enjoy your championship and remember this:

I'd argue for the same proposal even if it eliminated the Red Sox or Cubs from the postseason. The dilution of the playoffs is bad enough, and the line that needs to be drawn is above 83 win teams being "champions". It was bad enough when the Twins did it with 88.

Tell you what: I'll call you champions without reservation if you admit your team sucked during the year and that you were embarassed to barely win a piece of crap division.

...first of all, no one cares if you call a team the "champions" or not, it is what it is and the are the "Champions". Second of all, they did play poorly most of the season and they are in a weak division....but they did manage to stay in first place despite extended injuries to Pujols, Edmonds, Eckstein, Molina, Mulder, Isringhousen and Rolen. They are the first team in history to weather 3 seven game losing streaks during the year and remain in first place. The also beat favored San Diego, heavily favored New York (said my many to be the best team in the NL) and they handily beat the mighty American League champions who also had the home field advantage (the All-star game is a stupid way to determine the home field, I might add). Say what you want, they overcame a lot this year and beat all teams in their way on the way to the WS.....and I will enjoy it!

m~

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

[Dan Gould]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

...you truly are a poor loser, even months after your team has been eliminted.

m~

[Dan Gould]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

...you truly are a poor loser, even months after your team has been eliminted.

m~

It doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with it.

And how do you get from my quite reasonable proposal to some bullshit about your team having the best record for two years running? What is that supposed to entitle you to, a free pass for winning a pathetic 83 games in the regular season this year? Your team sucked then, and deserves about 25% of the credit for winning now. Now go celebrate your world championship and kindly fuck off.

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

...you truly are a poor loser, even months after your team has been eliminted.

m~

It doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with it.

And how do you get from my quite reasonable proposal to some bullshit about your team having the best record for two years running? What is that supposed to entitle you to, a free pass for winning a pathetic 83 games in the regular season this year? Your team sucked then, and deserves about 25% of the credit for winning now. Now go celebrate your world championship and kindly fuck off.

Why resort to name calling when someone doesn't agree with you? You are a poor sport and truly a class act......no more free Red Sox photos for you!

m~

[Brad]

If anybody has reason to complain, it's probably me since my team lost to the Cards and looking at how the Tigers play, you can only wonder what if?

However, I'm with this Mark on this on this one. It's sour grapes and what else matters? They got into the playoffs, maybe not in the prettiest way but they got there. They were banged up but apparently got healthy at the right time. When they beat the Mets at home in game 2, that's probably when they started to believe. What impressed me the most is that when the Mets scored a run in a close game (leave out games 3 and 4 of the NLCS), they came right back. That was impressive.

They took it to the Tigers and that probably forced the Tigers into making mistakes. The Tigers are not used to playing NL baseball. I heard McCarver and Leyland (in the postgame) say that in the AL they don't bunt a lot. The Cards played NL baseball (the way baseball is supposed to be played) and, yeah, the Tigers made mistakes but a lot of it was because the Cards were forcing the action and the Tigers, thinking something unusual might be coming, got rattled.

Baseball will never do a seven game divisional series because Selig is worried about the season going into November. 5 is fine for the first series. It builds excitement anyway, in my opinion.

I'm not happy about it but I say congrats Mark and the Cards. They earned it and whatever else we say is irrelevant; they are the champs.

Edited October 28, 2006 by Brad

[Dan Gould]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

...you truly are a poor loser, even months after your team has been eliminted.

m~

It doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with it.

And how do you get from my quite reasonable proposal to some bullshit about your team having the best record for two years running? What is that supposed to entitle you to, a free pass for winning a pathetic 83 games in the regular season this year? Your team sucked then, and deserves about 25% of the credit for winning now. Now go celebrate your world championship and kindly fuck off.

Why resort to name calling when someone doesn't agree with you? You are a poor sport and truly a class act......no more free Red Sox photos for you!

m~

Show me where I "resort to name calling".

"Fuck off" is a command.

On the other hand, "poor loser" and "Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true" sounds a lot closer to "name calling."

While you're searching in vain for "name calling" don't forget to shove your camera up your ass. That's another command, by the way.

[sheldonm]

I'd be so much more impressed with this Cards team if they'd won instead of having it handed to them. Yeah yeah, sour grapes, blah blah blah. But don't tell me about the Cards taking advantage of mistakes, those mistakes led directly to crucial runs being scored. You didn't need a clutch hit when a team throws away two outs at third base, and muffs another sacrifice bunt getting the "easy out".

IMO, no team with a winning percentage of .516 and 82 wins on the season should even have the opportunity to win a championship. There ought to be a rule that if a division can't produce a winner with a minimum of 86 wins, they forfeit their spot in the playoffs.

8 teams in the AL won more games than the Cards, including my pathetic Red Sox.

Under my proposal, if there is another team in the same league with more wins and no spot in the playoffs, they're in, shitty team is out.

If there is no team with a better record in shitty team's league, shitty team stays home, top seed gets a bye into the LCS.

Dan, my team won more games than anyone did the past two years (2004/2005) and I didn't cry and insist on a rule change because someone (especially a lowly wild card winner) came away with the victory. Give them their due, they are the champions (even if you don't think they deserve it).

Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true.

m~

Try not to be a complete ass, Mark.

...you truly are a poor loser, even months after your team has been eliminted.

m~

It doesn't have a goddamn thing to do with it.

And how do you get from my quite reasonable proposal to some bullshit about your team having the best record for two years running? What is that supposed to entitle you to, a free pass for winning a pathetic 83 games in the regular season this year? Your team sucked then, and deserves about 25% of the credit for winning now. Now go celebrate your world championship and kindly fuck off.

Why resort to name calling when someone doesn't agree with you? You are a poor sport and truly a class act......no more free Red Sox photos for you!

m~

Show me where I "resort to name calling".

"Fuck off" is a command.

On the other hand, "poor loser" and "Those who can (play), do and those who can't sit around and write about it, make preditiions that are meaningless and get shitty then their predictions don't come true" sounds a lot closer to "name calling."

While you're searching in vain for "name calling" don't forget to shove your camera up your ass. That's another command, by the way.

...that's an observation....poor sport!

[Brad]

Dan,

Why all the hostility?

[Neal Pomea]

I would go back to the way it was fifty years ago.

I would get rid of the divisions, get rid of the playoffs, get rid of interleague play, and get rid of unbalanced schedules.

This would reduce September ticket sales for those teams that are out of the pennant race. My solution to that would be to end the season on Labor Day. Play the World Series in September when it is cool, not cold.

Times have changed. It has been decades since baseball had a lock on people's interest. When Labor Day comes, the public's attention shifts to football. Labor Day was nearly two months ago, and they just finished playing baseball last night.

Of course, none of this will happen unless a television network pays for it to happen. If the Nielsen ratings continue to decline, maybe one day a network will do just that.

This makes the most sense to me. Of course, higher ticket prices would result. But I think it reflects the reality that attention turns to football in September. It just reflects badly on baseball that its World Series could dip into November.

As an alternative, go back to 2 divisions per league, a 7 game playoff between the 2 division winners, and a 7 game World Series. That would finish before the end of September. Alternate each season between AL and NL advantage of 4 games at home.

[Big Al]

This was one of the worst World Series ever. I've seen Little League games that were better played than this. Give the Cards their due: they did what they needed to do to win it all. The Tigers didn't.

God help us all if Dan is ever named baseball commissioner.