2017 MLB Facts, Lies, Propaganda, Opinions, & Pictures

[soulpope]

Joe Girardi not returning in 2018 ....

[catesta]

I think a lot of people felt this was going to happen, myself included. I'm still disappointed though. They came damn close to making the WS at least a year ahead of when most thought they wouldn't even make the post season. He'll be snatched up quickly if he wants to manage another team or get behind a microphone. 

[JSngry]

yeah, that seems kind of harsh, and, maybe, short-sighted. I like the notion of a young team and a young-ish manager banding together with "something to prove". I saw it with Ron Washington & The Rangers, and although they never actually proved "it", they gave some of the most inspiring team play I've ever seen. The hurt of never quite getting there is topped only by the gratitude of seeing that team push until they had nothing left and more or less collapsed from exhaustion (physically, and, probably, mentally. If you're of the school that all that counts is winning it all, hey, go with that then, follow your bliss. But I'm not one of those, never have been.

Joe Girardi can come manage our mess anytime. This Hank Bannister guy we got now is kind of lizard-eyed, and I don't know but that he's all hat and no cattle.

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, catesta said:

I think a lot of people felt this was going to happen, myself included. I'm still disappointed though. They came damn close to making the WS at least a year ahead of when most thought they wouldn't even make the post season. He'll be snatched up quickly if he wants to manage another team or get behind a microphone. 

Yeah, not happy about this at all.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Nationals pursue him.  Some buzz this a.m. about Al Pedrique (who manages NY's triple-A farm team) being a possible replacement... I wish they'd given Joe a couple more years with this new nucleus of players.

2 hours ago, catesta said:

I think a lot of people felt this was going to happen, myself included. I'm still disappointed though. They came damn close to making the WS at least a year ahead of when most thought they wouldn't even make the post season. He'll be snatched up quickly if he wants to manage another team or get behind a microphone. 

Catesta, I think I've found a new manager!  And from what I understand, he's available... I'll give a call to the Yankees' front office right away:

[paul secor]

I guess if you're a manager, you accept that, sooner or later, you'll be fired or be forced to resign.

[catesta]

6 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Yeah, not happy about this at all.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Nationals pursue him.  Some buzz this a.m. about Al Pedrique (who manages NY's triple-A farm team) being a possible replacement... I wish they'd given Joe a couple more years with this new nucleus of players.

Catesta, I think I've found a new manager!  And from what I understand, he's available... I'll give a call to the Yankees' front office right away:

Here come the cotton uniforms.

[JSngry]

Yu Darvish, always gracious, even in defeat.

[ghost of miles]

Yuli Gurriel didn't mean any disrespect with his racist stunt, huh? 

Gurriel makes slant-eyes gesture at Darvish

Nice that Darvish sent out such a chill message in response, but MLB should have sat Gurriel's ass starting immediately, not for five regular-season games next year. Since that's not the case, here's hoping Darvish gets to face him again.  Not to throw at him, but to hopefully blow him away at the plate.

Oh, and memo to Gurriel--Darvish is of Japanese-Iranian descent, so your "chinito" slur wasn't even ethnically accurate. 

 

Edited October 28, 2017 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

Yeah, fuck the Love Train, people all over the world - including River-Ignorant Yankee fans and Asshole Astro-Cubanos - need to join hands and start a GEOGRAPHY Train!

[JSngry]

Also note that the term "chinito" appears to be pretty widespread in the Spanish-spaeking Western Hemisphere, . This I did not know until doing a Google search for the word and finding all kinds of, uh...widespread hits, including this restaurant in Lima, Peru: http://www.elchinito.com.pe/locales.html

So, note to Astros - cosmopolitanize your fucking players enough so this kind of provincial-level stupidity doesn't happen. It doesn't make it impossible to root for you in this WS, but it sure as hell makes it less fun. Step up to the international stage, please.

Yu Darvish has more class then most of humanity combined. I've seen it too long not to recognize it. Whatever his personal feelings about things are, when he goes public, he's always on point (and I can't believe I'm using the term "on point"...).

 

 

 

[paul secor]

The bottom line in this situation is that Gurriel is an ignorant a-hole. If I owned the Astros, I'd suspend him indefinitely without pay. Of course, for MLB owners, the bottom line is $ and winning, so nothing will happen except that half assed minimal suspension.

[JSngry]

Do you have any idea how many ignorant assholes are playing baseball today? Or how many people totally unfamiliar the "American game" there are playing it today, at all levels? Remember that little mini-incident A good organization will offer their players some variant of the old Motown finishing school.

This is two years old, but still relevant: http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/10/09/culture-clash-baseball

Yuli Gurriel played in Japan for half a season, and should have known better, especially with the gesture, which I find immeasurably more offensive than the word. But a jock is a jock is a jock, very few come to the plate (so to speak) with fully refined (or even any) graces and sensitivities. Fans, sometimes even less. And management, geez,,,management. Nolan Ryan, yeah, what you see is what you get, but Nolan was cosmopolitan enough to develop real and appropriate filters. His boy, otoh...not so much.

MLB needs to address this at an organizational level, not just single out one ragged-but-wrong guy who carried his sandlot habits onto the international stage. MLB should expect certain standards and practices of all it's organizations, as well as all of its fans (even the drunk ones).

Of course, one could ask if Guriel looked at the current tenor of general discourse in America today and didn't think it would be that big a deal....

 

[paul secor]

"Of course, one could ask if Guriel looked at the current tenor of general discourse in America today and didn't think it would be that big a deal...."

If he were intelligent enough to think that way, he'd think about what the current tenor of general discourse in America today might have to say about him and what his background is. An a-hole is an a-hole. No excuses.

[JSngry]

Yeah, critical thinking is at an all-time high these days. Civilization continues to ascend!

[Aggie87]

I'm not defending Gurriel's actions and comments, but there appears to be something of a cultural difference where he grew up, versus the U.S.  Things that are unacceptable here in 2017 may be different than what's acceptable in Latin American countries.  And despite Gurriel's age (33), he's a rookie here in the U.S., having defected from Cuba just last year.

Ozzie Guillen's comments:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21216279

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by Aggie87

[Soulstation1]

Guy should be suspended during the WS

period 

[ghost of miles]

Man, this game tonight is even wilder than Game 2!

[Soulstation1]

12-12 bottom of the 9th inning 

[ghost of miles]

As a little kid I stayed up late with my dad to watch the end of Game 6 in the 1975 World Series. This game is making a bid to rival that one, maybe even surpass it.

[Dan Gould]

I didn't watch, saw highlights obviously an amazing game but from what I saw it had big offense but 1975 Game 6 had huge defensive highlights as well - Dewey Evans catch and throw, George Foster gunning down the runner at the plate who heard "Go Go Go" instead of "No No No"

Maybe there were standout defensive plays too but I haven't seen them and the biggest opportunity was botched by the LF who couldn't get it home on the fly from short left field? WTF? At least there could have been on the play at the plate if he didn't show off his noodle arm.

[ghost of miles]

Game 5 an exhilarating, exhausting ride

Dan: I remember both of those moments, the Dwight Evans catch and throw (was it Ken Griffey who was nearly all the way to third from first?) in the 11th inning, and I think it was Denny Doyle who tried to score on Fred Lynn's fly ball to left field. (I was a huge Fred Lynn fan, which was why I was watching that series with such attention. He had a three-run homer right out of the gate that night, but also a scary moment when he crashed into the centerfield wall late in the game.)

Another good recap of last night's game via the Washington Post:

Game 5 not the best ever, but an instant classic

Edited October 30, 2017 by ghost of miles

[Dan Gould]

Dodgers definitely in trouble with Verlander going but I won't count them out yet.

I saw the clips of Dubya's two World Series first pitches. He threw a nice strike in 2001 but that was the cutter, this time he fired in the four seamer.  Not sad! Impressive!!

 

[catesta]

16 hours ago, Aggie87 said:

I'm not defending Gurriel's actions and comments, but there appears to be something of a cultural difference where he grew up, versus the U.S.  Things that are unacceptable here in 2017 may be different than what's acceptable in Latin American countries.  And despite Gurriel's age (33), he's a rookie here in the U.S., having defected from Cuba just last year.

Ozzie Guillen's comments:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21216279

 

 

 

It is believable. All you have to do is watch Hispanic TV such as Telemundo or Univision and you will see the humor is reminiscent of the 60s, 70s and 80s. You will see a lot of big teeth, men chasing women and plenty of silly costumes and caricatures. It's mostly Benny Hill, Hee Haw and Laugh In type stuff, so I can see how dude didn't think what he did as wrong.

I am amazed though that Ozzie Guillen believes it is Gurriel that is the victim of racism for making a joke. How is someone like Gurriel every going to learn better when the old guard feels this way?

Ozzie is a fucking clown though for saying that shit, he should have just left it at the dude doesn't know any better, he's fresh from Cuba.

[paul secor]

The bottom line is that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. No excuse for what he did.

[JSngry]

Really, MLB needs to be proactive about this, since the talent pool is going to become more international, not less. Have a centralized, dare I use the term?, sensitivity/awareness class for anybody who gets signed, starting with the AFL. Just keep it basic, like, these are things you might think it is ok based on where you've been, but you're not there now, this is here, so pay attention, ok?

I know some teams already do things like this at some level, I know the Rangers do, and pretty sure that other teams do. Because, yeah, Gurriel appears to be an uncouth Cubano jock. That's not a crime, it is what it is. But if he had been on the Rangers, I guarantee you that Adrian Beltre would have shut that shit down the first whiff of it he got. It took Elvis Andrus a good 4-5 years before he really earned the peership of Adrian Beltre, and that was even after org-provided media-awareness programs.

So yeah, look within, MLB, and look to organizations to deal with this on an effective level. Because, you know, jocks of any origin are generally not the most refined people in the world. Whether it includes testicle-shaving or ethnically crude tauntings, ultimately a company is responsible for the actions of its employees while said employees are representing said company in the conduct of its affairs.