MLB 2008

[Quincy]

  BERIGAN said:

The Dodgers have to be given some credit though...

They have Furcal for the first time since May as well, but the other key for the Dodgers was those experienced older players getting injured. The Dodgers scuffled when they were playing Andruw Jones, Nomar, Kent and Pierre. Notice that none of those old fogies are starting now. Adding Manny of course has helped immensely but having Ethier, Kemp, and Looney not have their at bats taken away by those other bums has made them a much better team. Hell, with Andruw in the lineup it was like batting 2 pitchers. Getting Kent off the field mean has improved the pitching so much you can easily afford a less powerful bat there. It was Kent who suggested a war between the older vs. younger players when Grady Little was managing. Had Little been so lucky to have had a similar rash of injuries with those older farts he may had better success.

[zen archer]

  Quincy said:

  BERIGAN said:

The Dodgers have to be given some credit though...

They have Furcal for the first time since May as well, but the other key for the Dodgers was those experienced older players getting injured. The Dodgers scuffled when they were playing Andruw Jones, Nomar, Kent and Pierre. Notice that none of those old fogies are starting now. Adding Manny of course has helped immensely but having Ethier, Kemp, and Looney not have their at bats taken away by those other bums has made them a much better team. Hell, with Andruw in the lineup it was like batting 2 pitchers. Getting Kent off the field mean has improved the pitching so much you can easily afford a less powerful bat there. It was Kent who suggested a war between the older vs. younger players when Grady Little was managing. Had Little been so lucky to have had a similar rash of injuries with those older farts he may had better success.

Is NomaH a Mascot ? I didn't see last nights game did he play , does he play?

[tkeith]

And the Phillies realize they're facing Jeff Suppan. See ya next year, Milwaukee. Ah, Ned, we hardly knew ya.

[tkeith]

  Quincy said:

  BERIGAN said:

The Dodgers have to be given some credit though...

They have Furcal for the first time since May as well, but the other key for the Dodgers was those experienced older players getting injured. The Dodgers scuffled when they were playing Andruw Jones, Nomar, Kent and Pierre. Notice that none of those old fogies are starting now. Adding Manny of course has helped immensely but having Ethier, Kemp, and Looney not have their at bats taken away by those other bums has made them a much better team. Hell, with Andruw in the lineup it was like batting 2 pitchers. Getting Kent off the field mean has improved the pitching so much you can easily afford a less powerful bat there. It was Kent who suggested a war between the older vs. younger players when Grady Little was managing. Had Little been so lucky to have had a similar rash of injuries with those older farts he may had better success.

Nah... Grady would have found a way to fuck it up.

[Quincy]

  zen archer said:

Is NomaH a Mascot ? I didn't see last nights game did he play , does he play?

He's on the roster but isn't starting. Pierre is on the roster as well. Some fans are already getting ahead of themselves saying he'll DH. Kent is on the roster but Torre has said he's only available to PH. I probably read too much into Torre's tone, but I heard it as "I don't care if you think you can field, I'm not giving up another 2 runs a game because you can't move or bend over." Andruw Jones is not on the playoff roster.

[Dan Gould]

To say Piniella is some horrible manager is ridiculous. The Yankee roster was horrible when he was there; he won a World Series with Cincinnati and tied the all-time mark for wins in a season in Seattle. Players win championships (managers lose them on rare occasions like Grady Little) and there is no reason why Piniella can't be the one to break the curse.

[zen archer]

  Dan Gould said:

To say Piniella is some horrible manager is ridiculous. The Yankee roster was horrible when he was there; he won a World Series with Cincinnati and tied the all-time mark for wins in a season in Seattle. Players win championships (managers lose them on rare occasions like Grady Little) and there is no reason why Piniella can't be the one to break the curse.

The Manager of The Red Sox lost the 86 WS ....i blocked his name out (was it Darrell Johnson) he should of

put Stapleton at first , he did that whole year for defensive purposes.

And he should of left Clemens in the game (unless Rocket asked out ?????????)

[Quincy]

  Dan Gould said:

To say Piniella is some horrible manager is ridiculous. The Yankee roster was horrible when he was there; he won a World Series with Cincinnati and tied the all-time mark for wins in a season in Seattle.

Some knock Piniella in the NW because of the way pitchers were handled. Some also feel he should have won more with the talent he had. Personally I enjoyed his time in Seattle a great deal and was sorry to see him go. Had there been a wild card in '86 the Yanks would have won it. And he did a hell of a job with the Reds.

  zen archer said:

The Manager of The Red Sox lost the 86 WS ....i blocked his name out (was it Darrell Johnson)

Darrell was '75. It was McNamara in '86.

[zen archer]

  Quincy said:

  Dan Gould said:

To say Piniella is some horrible manager is ridiculous. The Yankee roster was horrible when he was there; he won a World Series with Cincinnati and tied the all-time mark for wins in a season in Seattle.

Some knock Piniella in the NW because of the way pitchers were handled. Some also feel he should have won more with the talent he had. Personally I enjoyed his time in Seattle a great deal and was sorry to see him go. Had there been a wild card in '86 the Yanks would have won it. And he did a hell of a job with the Reds.

  zen archer said:

The Manager of The Red Sox lost the 86 WS ....i blocked his name out (was it Darrell Johnson)

Darrell was '75. It was McNamara in '86.

Oh Yeah , i could i forget McNamara !!!!....he actually looked like my dad .

Damn , McNamara blew it for the Sox

[ejp626]

  Dan Gould said:

To say Piniella is some horrible manager is ridiculous. The Yankee roster was horrible when he was there; he won a World Series with Cincinnati and tied the all-time mark for wins in a season in Seattle. Players win championships (managers lose them on rare occasions like Grady Little) and there is no reason why Piniella can't be the one to break the curse.

I think his decisions in game 1 were really questionable, particularly expecting the pitcher to pitch his way out of a jam when he had control problems from the first inning. Just too old school for me. Now his real dilemma is the middle relief has pretty much sucked all season. So maybe he didn't feel he had a choice, but the grand slam really sucked the life out of the Cubs. Then when Z imploded the next game, they all tightened up, realizing it was all over. Given they couldn't get over the hump with a talented club, I can't see it happened any time soon.

[BERIGAN]

  Dan Gould said:

Don't forget, Conrad - for a long while in the Division era, a five game series decided who won the pennant! I think though that three 7-game rounds would require an earlier start, which means knocking games off the regular season, and no one in baseball wants to do that.

In fact next year is going to be crazy. I think the season starts late because of the WBC or for some other reason, and Game 7 of the Series is scheduled for like November 5! Hope that game is in a dome or on the west coast or in south Florida.

Dan, I forget that a 5 game series decided who won the pennant!

What you mention for next year though, if they can do that, play til the 5th of Nov, why not extend the first round?? More money for the teams, fans would feel like their team had a better chance to show what they can do, and a chance for snow delays....who wouldn't want that?

[Tim McG]

  zen archer said:

Cubs fans ,trust me on this ...Sweet Lou will go down in history as the guy who kicks Baseball Caps and throws dirt on bases and screams at umpires , loses his cool , speaks bad spanish .........NOT THE GUY WHO MANAGED THE CUBS TO THEIR FIRST WS TITLE IN 100 YEARS!!!!!!

He is not the guy !

Not a Cubbies fan...but you were right, Zen.

Cubs just flat stunk up the joint.

What piss-poor baseball that was.

[Chalupa]

  Quincy said:

Andruw Jones is not on the playoff roster.

You mean the Dodgers signed him to a two-year $36.2 million contract and then left him off the playoff roster because, like some posters said in this forum at the time of the signing last December, that he just flat out sucks???? Ha Ha.

[zen archer]

No One wants to Win this game ................

[BERIGAN]

  zen archer said:

No One wants to Win this game ................

The Red Sox can win the series( I am sure Red Sox nation is glad to hear I said it's ok) but, damn I am glad to see the Angels get that (non rally) monkey off their back! That looked like too many games I have seen were the underdog(I know they had a great year, and we all know how much that matters) fight, scratch, and claw to keep the score tied, but that team can't get a run to save their lives.

The Angels have a hell of a lot of fight, unlike some other teams in the playoffs. In a perfect world, every playoff team would win one game. I hate to see fans have nothing to cheer about 3 days straight.

I really should be a liberal!

[papsrus]

  BERIGAN said:

I really should be a liberal!

Nah, where's the fun in that?

I was happy to see the Angels steal one last night as well. In the event that the Rays escape with their series, I wouldn't want them to face a well-rested Red Sox team.

[Dan Gould]

As Sciocia said, the pressure is on the Red Sox now. If they don't manage to make Fenway a house of horrors for old time's sake for Lackey, the Angels could easily send this game back to Anaheim for a loud, uproarious "We finally beat those guys" celebration. Anyone notice that the Angels actually have more guys smoking the ball up and down the lineup than the Sox do? Pedroia is unlucky, Papi is too anxious, Lowery still can't hit and Varitek is still old and with the bat speed of Grandma Moses.

They better win tonight or it will be over.

[zen archer]

  Dan Gould said:

As Sciocia said, the pressure is on the Red Sox now. If they don't manage to make Fenway a house of horrors for old time's sake for Lackey, the Angels could easily send this game back to Anaheim for a loud, uproarious "We finally beat those guys" celebration. Anyone notice that the Angels actually have more guys smoking the ball up and down the lineup than the Sox do? Pedroia is unlucky, Papi is too anxious, Lowery still can't hit and Varitek is still old and with the bat speed of Grandma Moses.

They better win tonight or it will be over.

The Ump behind the plate did not hep matters ( But then again he blew calls for both teams)

I think Lowell is done for the year , he is really hurting !

Also Francona did not help matters sending Beckett back out when he was clearly DONE!

[Quincy]

  BERIGAN said:

The Angels have a hell of a lot of fight, unlike some other teams in the playoffs. In a perfect world, every playoff team would win one game. I hate to see fans have nothing to cheer about 3 days straight.

I really should be a liberal!

The "visuals" of putting the surfer kid Weaver into the game in extra inning relief to save your season was classic. Uh, I guess classic SoCal. Jered still looks like an overgrown 15 year old to me.

So Dodgers-Phils in the NLCS. I was going to say it makes me feel 30 years younger but I suppose it should make me feel only 25 years younger as I always forget about '83. I remember the SI cover of Rose, Perez & Morgan though as it sure looked strange seeing all those Reds with "P's" on their caps.

[Tim McG]

Go Philly!

[tkeith]

  Quincy said:

So Dodgers-Phils in the NLCS. I was going to say it makes me feel 30 years younger but I suppose it should make me feel only 25 years younger as I always forget about '83. I remember the SI cover of Rose, Perez & Morgan though as it sure looked strange seeing all those Reds with "P's" on their caps.

Always felt that way myself. That photo was just... well, wrong.

[papsrus]

Nice win by those Rays. Happy to be done with A.J. "I'm-ready-to-play-some-real-baseball" Pierzynski and his pals, although I gotta say that Ozzie kinda grew on me over the last few games.

[tkeith]

  papsrus said:

Nice win by those Rays. Happy to be done with A.J. "I'm-ready-to-play-some-real-baseball" Pierzynski and his pals, although I gotta say that Ozzie kinda grew on me over the last few games.

F*ck Ozzie with a donkey dick. I'm so glad I don't have to watch that prick make goo-goo eyes at the camera anymore this season. I'll be so happy when he's finally out of baseball -- egotistical camera hound.

[papsrus]

  Thom Keith said:

  papsrus said:

Nice win by those Rays. Happy to be done with A.J. "I'm-ready-to-play-some-real-baseball" Pierzynski and his pals, although I gotta say that Ozzie kinda grew on me over the last few games.

F*ck Ozzie with a donkey dick. I'm so glad I don't have to watch that prick make goo-goo eyes at the camera anymore this season. I'll be so happy when he's finally out of baseball -- egotistical camera hound.

Well yeah, there's that.

[Big Al]

Strange game, this baseball: both teams who had the best record in the respective leagues (Cubs and Angels) upset by wild card teams in the first round. Oddly enough, Cubs manager Lou Piniella was the manager of the Seattle Mariners when they won 116 games in 2001 and lost to Yankees in the ALCS.

A potential Sox/Rays matchup in the WS: I could see Dan & Marty at the Trop, rooting ferociously against each other, annoying everyone within a ten-row radius.....

Edited October 7, 2008 by Big Al