The baseball thread.

[pappag]

The nephew of a girl I used to work with came up with Atlanta when Shef was on the team. She heard nothing but great things about the guy...like he was a father figure for the kid. Then again, the nephew was making a mighty fine bank and wasn't Latin.

[The AD]

I have a new "favorite name in baseball." Felix Pie of the Cubs.

He's only the current leader. My all-time favorite is still John Wockenfuss.

[pappag]

I blame the last two Mets losses on STEVE. You suck. So does Heilmann. Too bad we can't package him in Lastings for the same value this year as lasts.

[iceman]

Kinda nice to see Tito get so pissed off tonight...although throwing the gum out first was kinda calculated.

[MassLiberal]

Some ugly games being played by the Sox lately. Theo's retarded off season signings are beginning to catch up with them.

At the end of the season, I think I would be happy to see him canned, he has repeatedly showed that he has no sense for position players. He's built a pretty good pitching staff, but his mistakes are glaring:

Willy MO
Renteria
Lugo
Drew
Crisp
Letting Orlando Cabrera Go
Letting Alex Gonzales go
letting Johnny Damon go

Not to mention his complete inability to put a bullpen together (this year being the major exception, and I'm chalking it up to luck).

[Brock Landers]

Some ugly games being played by the Sox lately. Theo's retarded off season signings are beginning to catch up with them.

At the end of the season, I think I would be happy to see him canned, he has repeatedly showed that he has no sense for position players. He's built a pretty good pitching staff, but his mistakes are glaring:

Willy MO
Renteria
Lugo
Drew
Crisp
Letting Orlando Cabrera Go
Letting Alex Gonzales go
letting Johnny Damon go

Not to mention his complete inability to put a bullpen together (this year being the major exception, and I'm chalking it up to luck).

THEY ARE UP BY 10 GAMES- STOP IT.
They never play well in Oakland, and the offense is sputtering a bit. This is the SAME team that was leading the league in runs last week- even though they apparently have a "sub-par" lineup. How do you lead the league in runs, or even get close to the top, with "no sense-for" position players. Its a long season, even the greatest teams dont play .700 ball all year.

And what the fuck has Johnny Damon done in NY? Defintely not worth the 13 mill he's getting from NY for this year and the next 2.

[ECbum]

^^^ AMEN.

These things happen, and the ship will right itself. Drew and Lugo WILL hit better this year, Crisp will continue to contribute with his speed and fielding. This is a tough stretch for them and really the first test of the season. We'll see if Schill stops the bleeding and they cart off to AZ without a horrendous night of travels.

It'll come around.

[smmokan]

Can't blame him for Renteria... although I think he traded him a little early. The non-production from him was more Renteria's fault because he couldn't handle pressure in Boston. Its almost like Theo has already reached his "Keith Hernandez" (you'll know what I'm talking about if you read the Sports Guy) stage... where he can do just about anything he wants and just sits back like "dont' worry, it'll work out because I'm Theo Epstein".

I don't know how much better Drew and Lugo will be- maybe .250-.270? 2-3 more years of each of those guys- that'll be fun.

[72Twenty]

The Rockies/Astros series has been kind of a junk show by both teams thus far. I am getting ready to head towards Denver for todays game... and it is lightly snowing here in Laramie with high winds.

[MassLiberal]

Sorry, sorry, I get a little cranky after going to bed really late, watching my team lose games that they should have won. It drives me crazy.

Still, I definitely do not think that Theo is all he is cracked up to be. Many of his moves have made little to no sense, and at times, I feel we are winning in spite of him.

[smmokan]

The Rockies/Astros series has been kind of a junk show by both teams thus far. I am getting ready to head towards Denver for todays game... and it is lightly snowing here in Laramie with high winds.

I'll be at today's game too.... just got my friend's season tickets for the game. Directly behind home plate, 15 rows up.

[72Twenty]

I'll be at today's game too.... just got my friend's season tickets for the game. Directly behind home plate, 15 rows up.

DUDE! I'm directly behind home plate, 14 rows up!!!!

My wife and I will be wearing Astros jerseys and we will have our little baby with us...

See you there!!!

[MassLiberal]

nice guys! eat a hot dog for me, i wish i was going to a game today.

[smmokan]

This is just the beginning for me... during the summer of Steve, I plan on going to at least a handful of Rockies day games.

[pappag]

The mets' magic number is 109, and are the only team in the NL over .600! woo hoo! They have the second-best record in baseball!

and atlanta is 4-6 in their last ten. life is good.

everyone hates the braves.

(:

-steve

For the record, the Mets had the 2nd best record in baseball for nearly two weeks before your jinx, so your post was unwarranted. Also since this post, Mets have lost 2 straight series (something that hasn't happened all year) and have lost 5 of the last 7 games. THAT's IT! You're going in the bathroom!

[pappag]

Bumping for MUSH!!




Dude, you suck.

[steve]

For the record, the Mets had the 2nd best record in baseball for nearly two weeks before your jinx, so your post was unwarranted. Also since this post, Mets have lost 2 straight series (something that hasn't happened all year) and have lost 5 of the last 7 games. THAT's IT! You're going in the bathroom!

like i said, i've learned not to be superstitious.

i suggest you do the same.

-steve

[Telemarketeer]

I went to the rocks/astros game today too(6/7). Great rally in the 9th to win it. It was my GF's first bball game ever. We were sitting section 115 along the right field fowl line. It was nice weather when we left the house so all we wore was shorts and t-shirts. It was kinda cold but we stuck it out and were rewarded in the end with a 9th inning rally. I broke my major-sporting-events losing streak too. The last 5 games (broncos/avs/avs/broncos/avs) I have been to, the home team has lost. Thanks rockies!

[smmokan]

Yep, great game today... and nice running into you 72Twenty. We had seats one section apart- 15 rows behind home plate. It was nice to see Tulo have the game winning hit- I think that guy's going to be very good in the coming years.

Was it just me, or did it seem like every hit (by both teams) was a solid no-doubter? I haven't seen that many balls hit that hard in a long time.

[pappag]

like i said, i've learned not to be superstitious.

i suggest you do the same.

-steve

Baseball is the most superstitious sport there is. And it's no coincidence at all that since your unnecessary comment, they have not only lost 3 games in a row to the Phillies on late-inning homeruns, but 6 of the last 8. Do every Met fan a favor, and keep your comments to yourself. Seriously.

[CUBUCK]

Baseball is the most superstitious sport there is. And it's no coincidence at all that since your unnecessary comment, they have not only lost 3 games in a row to the Phillies on late-inning homeruns, but 6 of the last 8. Do every Met fan a favor, and keep your comments to yourself. Seriously.

Was at the game lastnight and agree with the statement above.

[steve]

Baseball is the most superstitious sport there is. And it's no coincidence at all that since your unnecessary comment, they have not only lost 3 games in a row to the Phillies on late-inning homeruns, but 6 of the last 8. Do every Met fan a favor, and keep your comments to yourself. Seriously.

do you really actually believe that? honestly?

because for the life of me i can't imagine why an otherwise intelligent adult would actually think that it's possible to "jinx" a pro baseball team with a comment on a message board.

same thing is true with snow forecasts.

grow up, and for christ's sake, be proud and excited about your team. it is now, has been, and is going to continue to be, a great season.

-steve

[pappag]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03042007...aro.htm?page=3


DOIN' ALL WE CAN
FAN SUPERSTITIONS ARE GREAT PART OF THE GAME

March 4, 2007 -- TAMPA - This, I swear, is a true story: It is Oct. 15, 1986, and the Mets are playing the Astros in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, and the campus is electric with a kinetic combination of Mets fans and Mets haters, all of them tuned to the drama unfolding on television sets in dorm rooms, in bars, in student lounges, in the Rathskeller.

A friend of mine - well, let's say he has taken his time this day in answering one of nature's most basic needs. He's a busy guy. He's drunk a lot of water. He really should tend to this issue. But there is a problem: the Mets, who entered the ninth inning down 3-0, are rallying. My friend is sitting in his car, just outside his campus apartment, listening to the game on radio. Since he parked, the Mets have scored a run and put the tying runs on base.

"I can't go inside yet," he announces. "My power is in the car."

Soon enough, his power would have to be transferred elsewhere, because the Mets tie the game in the ninth but they don't win. They take the lead in the top of the 14th inning, but don't win because Billy Hatcher hits the fair pole with a blast off Jesse Orosco. The Mets take a three-run lead in the top of the 16th inning, and then make everyone suffer a little bit more - my friend more than anyone else - as they give up two-thirds of the lead before Orosco finally fans Kevin Bass for the pennant. In Houston, Texas, there are 25 joyful souls piling on top of each other near a pitcher's mound. In Olean, N.Y., there is one grateful junior bursting through a front door and down a hallway.

"So," we asked our friend, about 20 minutes later when he re-emerged. "Was it worth it?"

"Sure it was," he said. "They won, didn't they?"

This is where the basic premise of the fan/athlete relationship is flawed, you see. Every now and again, when we think too long and too hard about why we care so much about games, about seasons, about performers and performances, about any competition in which we have only a rooting interest, and not a financial interest, we wonder if it's even remotely worth the time invested. Somebody talks about the Giants game, they say, "We really looked good this week," and his cynical friends will immediately respond, "We? What position do you play?"

But real sports fans know better. They know that if you sit in a certain position, the Knicks are bound to go on a 10-2 spurt in the fourth quarter. They know if they wear a certain hat a certain way, then the Yankees are going to find a way to turn a little ninth-inning magic. They know that if you simply deny your bladder ...

OK, maybe there are some extreme examples. But it's true. Does it work? Oh, it probably works a lot less than we want it too. Even the luckiest of lucky chairs doesn't always yield a game-winning basket, and even the most elaborate rally cap ever invented doesn't always hold off a 1-2-3 ninth, no matter how much you want to empower it.

Doesn't matter, of course. We'll empower them anyway, because we want to believe - maybe because we need to believe - that we can help control the things that affect our favorite teams. It allows us to feel involved. It allows us to truly believe that sports can be about "us" and "we" even long after we hang up our spikes and sneakers for the last time. It keeps us involved. Sometimes that involvement takes absurd forms, but that's sports.


COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU: Admit it, fans, you know you had something to do with Scott Norwood's "wide right" and Jesse Orosco's win in Game 6 versus Houston.


And, really, if you're a Giants fan, won't you forever remember what seat you were sitting in, what position you were in, when Scott Norwood's field goal sailed wide right? Don't you believe - or want to believe, anyway - that you had something to do with that? If you're a Rangers fan, won't you always remember exactly which bar stool you were sitting in, or which room you were pacing in, when Stephane Matteau slipped the puck behind Martin Brodeur? Do you even remotely think that would have happened without your mystical help?

Of course not. Fans believe, because they have to believe. And as much as athletes want to think they're above this kind of thing, they're not. They're superstitious. They're creatures of habit. [The 85/86 Mets] invented rally caps, after all. And less than two weeks after my friend's marathon case of self-denial helped elevate the Mets to the World Series, Keith Hernandez found himself sitting in the manager's office at Shea Stadium on the evening of another Game 6.

That one was the World Series. This time it was the bottom of the 10th, the Mets were trailing by a deuce, and Hernandez had just flied out for the second out of the inning, retreating to the clubhouse, sitting in Davey Johnson's chair to watch the World Series end on TV. That's when the Mets started to rally. And last summer, recalling that night, Hernandez explained, all over again, why he refused to leave that chair, or that office, as the Mets staged the most historic rally of their history.

"That chair," he reasoned, "had more hits in it."

He was right, of course. His teammates might have thought him loony. His fans surely knew better.

[pappag]

Let me guess, Turk Wendell was a schmuck for brushing his teeth between every inning?

[steve]

i am blown away that you're serious about this. or, at least, serious enough to be angry about it.

let me guess - the next thing you're going to tell me is that harry potter is a real person.


believe what you want, but do me a favor: don't apply your buckus beliefs to me.