The official 2008 MLB thread

[SirFozzie]

Besides Lopez, who do the Sox have in their bullpen for the ninth?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I suppose. But really, right now, with us getting beat by you guys again, I just don't want to hear you badmouthing us, too. We're taking enough shit from ourselves. So we don't really need the help there.

valid point. my apologies. if it helps i'd be badmouthing the red sox guys if they were doing the same thing. my irritation with it was on a sportsmanship-level.

[Sublime 2]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Besides Lopez, who do the Sox have in their bullpen for the ninth?

You don't think Paps will finish it out?

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Sublime 2

You don't think Paps will finish it out?

Paps doesn't have a single two inning save this year. I'd have Manny Delcarmen ready just in case.

[Sublime 2]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Paps doesn't have a single two inning save this year. I'd have Manny Delcarmen ready just in case.

Just in case, absolutely, but I'm confident in Paps finishing it out.

[SirFozzie]

Well, if they keep on getting out in one pitch (GREAT play by Youk)... I think Paps can finish

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

valid point. my apologies. if it helps i'd be badmouthing the red sox guys if they were doing the same thing. my irritation with it was on a sportsmanship-level.

I can see that. Really, these guys have all been pretty straight up and cool all year. Not really a lot of bad sports on the team. I think the streak is getting to them. And let's face it, we haven't gotten a lot of help from the umps tonight.

I'm gonna say we give them a break, since we just can't seem to beat you guys. Think about you guys versus the Yanks before 2004. That's what it's like for us with you. That's the shit we're dealing with. We're a pretty damn good team here, and you would never be able to tell with how we play you guys.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I can see that. Really, these guys have all been pretty straight up and cool all year. Not really a lot of bad sports on the team. I think the streak is getting to them. And let's face it, we haven't gotten a lot of help from the umps tonight.

I'm gonna say we give them a break, since we just can't seem to beat you guys. Think about you guys versus the Yanks before 2004. That's what it's like for us with you. That's the shit we're dealing with. We're a pretty damn good team here, and you would never be able to tell with how we play you guys.

Gotta say, Chief. I respect Angels fans a ton.. and the weird thing is (and NO, I'm not trying to rub it in).. I can think of three four games where there was walkoffs or what have you.. this streak isn't that we're so much better then you, the breaks have just gone our way, which is maddening I'm sure.

[Young Drachma]

Wow. Nice catch.

[Chief Rum]

You see? Plays like that. The Red Sox make plays like that against us.

[SirFozzie]

Youkilis! Are you kidding me!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Gotta say, Chief. I respect Angels fans a ton.. and the weird thing is (and NO, I'm not trying to rub it in).. I can think of three four games where there was walkoffs or what have you.. this streak isn't that we're so much better then you, the breaks have just gone our way, which is maddening I'm sure.

Exactly. Foz, this goes back to Dave Freakin' Henderson. This streak killed a man, for Crissakes. And 19 years after he died, it's still going.

[Chief Rum]

Another good game, Red Sox. You made the plays when you needed to. We made some plays, too. But it's the team that makes the last play that takes the game, and you guys have a lock on that.

[SirFozzie]

Ball game. Wow. Talk about trouble. The Angels have to face Beckett in game 3, Lester again in game 4 if need be, and then again, Dice K in game 5

[Chief Rum]

Oh Gawd. "You needed an epidural just to walk..."

I hate announcers. Not everyone is freakin' Kirk Gibson.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Ball game. Wow. Talk about trouble. The Angels have to face Beckett in game 3, Lester again in game 4 if need be, and then again, Dice K in game 5

Well, I'm not really freaked out about facing Dice K. Not that we'll see him again.

[Karlifornia]

I can't feel sorry for Angels fans. At least you guys have a title to enjoy. Let them suffocate under the dirt that's burying them. Finish it off, Sox. Do it for Framingham, do it for Gloucester, do it for Billerica, do it for my old town of Winchester, do it for Brockton, do it for Cambridge, do it for all the places by Cape Cod. Ipswich and so forth.

..and then, if you wouldn't mind....get spanked by the Rays in the ALCS

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I can't feel sorry for Angels fans. At least you guys have a title to enjoy. Let them suffocate under the dirt that's burying them. Finish it off, Sox. Do it for Framingham, do it for Gloucester, do it for Billerica, do it for my old town of Winchester, do it for Brockton, do it for Cambridge, do it for all the places by Cape Cod. Ipswich and so forth.

Sure thing.

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

..and then, if you wouldn't mind....get spanked by the Rays in the ALCS

No.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I can't feel sorry for Angels fans. At least you guys have a title to enjoy. Let them suffocate under the dirt that's burying them. Finish it off, Sox. Do it for Framingham, do it for Gloucester, do it for Billerica, do it for my old town of Winchester, do it for Brockton, do it for Cambridge, do it for all the places by Cape Cod. Ipswich and so forth.

..and then, if you wouldn't mind....get spanked by the Rays in the ALCS

Word

SI

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

Still a longways to go for the Phils. I believe that the Brewers will take Game 3 based on momentum for playing at home and desperation from the players. So, it will all come down to Hamels in Game 4.

I still think the Phils will win (especially now, considering I have tickets to Game 6 of the NLCS assuming the Dodgers win, Game 5 if the Cubs pull it out), but I'm not conceding slam dunk just yet.

I am so pissed at myself right about now. I hadn't checked my home email this week and just saw that I had a chance to get tickets for the NLCS.

[lungs]

I'll be at Brewers-Phillies tonight for the first Brewer playoff home game in 26 years. Series hasn't gone well but hopefully we can get a win tonight.

Not too optimistic with Suppan going tomorrow if necessary, but hey, stranger things have happened.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I can't feel sorry for Angels fans. At least you guys have a title to enjoy. Let them suffocate under the dirt that's burying them. Finish it off, Sox. Do it for Framingham, do it for Gloucester, do it for Billerica, do it for my old town of Winchester, do it for Brockton, do it for Cambridge, do it for all the places by Cape Cod. Ipswich and so forth.

Wow. Brockton, Gloucester and the 'ricca nation? Why don't you throw Fall River, Dorchester and Pittsfield on that list of terrible towns in Massachusetts?

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Ball game. Wow. Talk about trouble. The Angels have to face Beckett in game 3, Lester again in game 4 if need be, and then again, Dice K in game 5

I don't think Francona will do it, but what about going to Byrd or Wakefield Game 3? There's not much difference between them and Dice-K, and it would line Beckett up to go 1-4-7 in the ALCS if we could get the win. If we lose, we still have Beckett-Lester Games 4 and 5.

[hoopsguy]

Pretty clear that college football (early conference play) > MLB (playoffs) around these here parts ...

Cubs off to another crappy start - six groundouts so far against Kuroda and down 2-0 heading into bottom of 2nd.

[Young Drachma]

Wow, how about that choke job by the Cubbies? Did anyone expect that? Will the White Sox do the same against the upstart Rays? Red Sox loves beating up on expansion teams, though I expect the Rays to put a number on the Sox like the Marlins did on the Yankees in the Classic a few years ago.

It's all part of the plan to get them nice and prettied up so MLB can move them after the Marlins get their new stadium and the Rays fail to get theirs.

Brooklyn anyone?

[DanGarion]

I tried to post a couple times while I was at the game, but ATT coverage sucks at Dodger Stadium when there are 56,000 people there. Here are some pictures I took at the game.

Picasa Web Albums - DanGarion - Dodgers vs. C...

From Dodgers vs. Cubs 2008 NLDS

From Dodgers vs. Cubs 2008 NLDS

From Dodgers vs. Cubs 2008 NLDS

From Dodgers vs. Cubs 2008 NLDS

I took like 400 total, since I do lots of sequence shots.

[Karlifornia]

I looked over at BleedCubbieBlue.com....Cubs blog that gets a lot of traffic and a lot of comments during the games... Not too many comments during tonights game, for whatever reason (in game chat, maybe), but the few comments that were there after the season-ending loss were just brutal to read. I was kind laughing about the Cubs failures over the past few days. Now I feel bad for laughing. It's just hard to stomach, even as a die-hard fan of a baseball team that hasn't won a title in over a half-century.

[RedKingGold]

The Phils offense continues to struggle. We got the luck of a few fluke plays in the first two games (Cameron's center-field drop in Game 1; Brett Myers channeling Babe Ruth in Game 2) that we just didn't get in Game 3.

In fact, the Phils best scoring chance of the night came on another fluke play when Corey Hart dropped the ball after a spectacular catch, converting a Jayson Werth out into a triple. That was how Philadelphia scored their only run of the night.

Good ole' Charlie made some pretty bad moves tonight in switching Victorino and Werth from their #2/#5 spots and leaving Chad Durbin in too long in the 7th.

Also, it was just a weird night. From the shifting strike zone (which went from really tight to much larger as the game progressed), to the Victorino interference play (what the hell was going on in his mind).

I guess you just chalk it up to, as Billy Beane would say, the "playoffs being fucking luck", and hope Sunday is different.

I just saw that Blanton is going today instead of Hamels. Probably a smart move, but I really don't want to see Sabathia again in Game 5.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

The Phils offense continues to struggle. We got the luck of a few fluke plays in the first two games (Cameron's center-field drop in Game 1; Brett Myers channeling Babe Ruth in Game 2) that we just didn't get in Game 3.

In fact, the Phils best scoring chance of the night came on another fluke play when Corey Hart dropped the ball after a spectacular catch, converting a Jayson Werth out into a triple. That was how Philadelphia scored their only run of the night.

Good ole' Charlie made some pretty bad moves tonight in switching Victorino and Werth from their #2/#5 spots and leaving Chad Durbin in too long in the 7th.

Also, it was just a weird night. From the shifting strike zone (which went from really tight to much larger as the game progressed), to the Victorino interference play (what the hell was going on in his mind).

I guess you just chalk it up to, as Billy Beane would say, the "playoffs being fucking luck", and hope Sunday is different.

I just saw that Blanton is going today instead of Hamels. Probably a smart move, but I really don't want to see Sabathia again in Game 5.

Agree with all that coming from the other side.

I will say Miller Park was as electric as I've ever seen it. Home plate ump had a horrible strike zone.

There is a ray of hope left for the Crew. At least the Cubs got knocked out.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by lungs

Home plate ump had a horrible strike zone.

Understatement of the year.

I can't remember seeing such a horribly called game. He was awful for both sides. At any given time a pitch almost right over the middle, ankle high, a foot off the plate, etc... had about the same odds of being caled a ball or a strike.

[EagleFan]

dola: I wouldn't mind if he was missing consistantly where maybe all game you knew that a pitch 3 inches outside would be called a strike, or something along that line.

[lungs]

Agreed. From my view, I could only see high and low but I just couldn't make sense of the zone at all. I also thought they blew a check swing call that went the Brewers way? I forget which one but I thought it was one that a Brewer clearly swung and they didn't call it.

[EagleFan]

Hopefully today is called much better.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by lungs

Agreed. From my view, I could only see high and low but I just couldn't make sense of the zone at all. I also thought they blew a check swing call that went the Brewers way? I forget which one but I thought it was one that a Brewer clearly swung and they didn't call it.

The outside and inside were being called no better. During one of the Brewers' at bats the count was 2-1 and the next pitcher was called a ball but in the replay pitch tracker the pitch was clearly in the zone (not even right on the edge). The following pitcher the batter though he had walked but it was called a strike. The replay clearly shows that one was about 5 inches outside. The 3-2 pitch was called strike 3 and the replay shows that was about 5 inches inside (probably about 8 inches farther inside than the 2-1 pitch which was incorrectly called a ball).

[Bad-example]

Nose rags swept by douche bags. Fucking Cubs.

[Buccaneer]

Whiniest fans swept by ignorant fans.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Bad-example

Nose rags swept by douche bags. Fucking Cubs.

Awwww

[Toddzilla]

*cry*

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Pretty clear that college football (early conference play) > MLB (playoffs) around these here parts ...

That's just sad and the product of ignorance. It's like people talking about how baseball needs to end before football so they don't have to miss a couple of meaningless weeks of football.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I tried to post a couple times while I was at the game, but ATT coverage sucks at Dodger Stadium when there are 56,000 people there. Here are some pictures I took at the game.

Picasa Web Albums - DanGarion - Dodgers vs. C...

Cool- I'd love to go to a playoff baseball game

SI

[EagleFan]

HR Burrell!!!!! 4-0

[EagleFan]

lol, should have waited another minute to post.

HR Werth!!!! 5-0

[MrBug708]

Who knew Werth would be so good

[lungs]

Damn

[Izulde]

Anyone else getting Poor Quality Signal on their TVs for the White Sox game?

I got mine at the start of the 2nd inning.

[Young Drachma]

I really like Harold Reynolds. He's chatty, but...I like that he's knowledgeable and clearly loves the game. The TBS crews have been good in both games, with John Smoltz and those other guys, as well as this crew for the White Sox v. Rays game.

[JetsIn06]

Woo! Big homerun for Upton.

[Izulde]

Come on, guys. Don't blow it!

[JetsIn06]

Come on Rocco!

[Izulde]

I love watching Bobby Jenks.

2-1 series!

Sad part is, this could just as easily be the other way right now if we hadn't stranded so many damned runners in Game 2... but I'll take the staying alive.

[Chief Rum]

All right, this is the first time I have really paid attention to Beckett and noted his numbers this year. They seem a bit underwhelming. I understand that he missed some starts, but a 4.00+ ERA isn't something I expect from him, and now knowing his numbers, I am wondering if maybe Lester should have been #1 overall for the Sox anyway (starting Games 1 and, if necessary, 4).

So can Sox fans give me a synapsis of what's gone on with Beckett this year? Has it just been the injury issues? Everyone knows what the guy can do when healthy and in a good place, especially in the postseason. His phenomenal ability in October is truly amazing.