2008 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Damn, without Yankee fans this thread is as good as dead.

Any takers?

[tim_m]

I'm surprised its so dead with the redsox just about catching the rays.

[faldor]

Damn, without Yankee fans this thread is as good as dead.

Any takers?

Yeah I was thinking that earlier today.  Ever since the Yankees started on the decline nobody's been talking baseball.  There are other teams, let's get going.

The Sox blew a chance to take over 1st place tonight.  Jonathan Papelbon blew the save and took the loss.  He was pitching for the 3rd straight day for only the 2nd time this season, after pitching 1 1/3 innings last night, the 4th time in his last 8 appearances he's gone more than one inning.  He's already surpassed his inning total from last season.  Upon further review they probably should've given him the night off tonight, he just didn't have it.  Missing locations all over.  Dice K was sketchy too, as he often is.  That guy has had the strangest season ever.  Great record, ERA, BAA, but my god the walks.  He has to lead the league in runners left on base.

Twins are inching back closer to the Chi-Sox.  Angels have almost clinched.  Cubs, Brewers look safely in.  Mets/Phils and D'backs/Dodgers are in battles for the division.  Will the NL West winner finish above .500?

[tim_m]

Damn, without Yankee fans this thread is as good as dead.

Any takers?

Yeah I was thinking that earlier today.  Ever since the Yankees started on the decline nobody's been talking baseball.  There are other teams, let's get going.

The Sox blew a chance to take over 1st place tonight.  Jonathan Papelbon blew the save and took the loss.  He was pitching for the 3rd straight day for only the 2nd time this season, after pitching 1 1/3 innings last night, the 4th time in his last 8 appearances he's gone more than one inning.  He's already surpassed his inning total from last season.  Upon further review they probably should've given him the night off tonight, he just didn't have it.  Missing locations all over.  Dice K was sketchy too, as he often is.  That guy has had the strangest season ever.  Great record, ERA, BAA, but my god the walks.  He has to lead the league in runners left on base.

Twins are inching back closer to the Chi-Sox.  Angels have almost clinched.  Cubs, Brewers look safely in.  Mets/Phils and D'backs/Dodgers are in battles for the division.  Will the NL West winner finish above .500?

Am i the only one that thinks its kinda sad we could have a playoff team with a losing record?

[faldor]

It is kind of sad, but the playoffs are a different season.  Maybe they play down to the competition.  Didn't the Cardinals have a record barely over .500 a couple years ago when they won the World Series?

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Well, if Boston doesn't win the division, they will get the wild card spot.  The same goes for the Rays.

The AL Central looks like a great race, I honestly didn't think the Twins would be here.

The Angels won't spray any champagne tonight, the Yankees have them by the neck.

The NL West winner will finish above .500, but AZ/LAD will bow out in the first round.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

It is kind of sad, but the playoffs are a different season.  Maybe they play down to the competition.  Didn't the Cardinals have a record barely over .500 a couple years ago when they won the World Series?

Yes.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Here are some pictures I took when I made my pilgrimage to The Stadium.





The new and old stadium in the same shot.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

I liked this sign a lot.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Behind home plate.



Monument Park, gotta love having Jackie Robinson at the end.  The only way I could have gotten inside was to have bribed an officer.  How lame.  We got there right when the gates opened, we were one of the first people inside.  But it wasn't meant to be.



Where George Costanza worked.



Press box.

[faldor]

Nice pics.  You went to a Sox/Yanks game to boot?  Which one?  I've been to Yankee Stadium a few times.  A couple Sox/Yanks, which the Sox never won.  I got peanuts thrown at me at one of them for cheering excessively for the Sox.  They took an early lead, only to get romped in the end.  It was 10-4 or something ridiculous.  How did I ever have faith that Rolando Arrojo could hold a lead?  I got razzed pretty good, luckily I wasn't drunk so I didn't talk back at all otherwise I may not have made it out alive.

[tim_m]

Nice pics of the stadium. I'm looking forward to the new one next year.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

The Yankees lost 11-3 on the 27th! 

There were a lot of fights in the upper deck.  When the game got out of hand, every now and then you would hear a loud, "oooohhhH!" and all you had to do was look for a long line of policemen heading to the trouble spot.

Unfortunately, now I'm going to have to start bagging on Red Sox nation again.

There were A LOT of Boston fans.  I would say anywhere from 10k-20k Red Sox fans were at the Stadium.  They were SILENT until the Yankee fans started leaving the game.  Then they started cheering and doing Sox chants when the Stadium emptied.  Kinda cowardly if you ask me.

Faldor, you're a good guy.

Hell, I like you, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister!

[faldor]

The Yankees lost 11-3 on the 27th! 

There were a lot of fights in the upper deck.  When the game got out of hand, every now and then you would hear a loud, "oooohhhH!" and all you had to do was look for a long line of policemen heading to the trouble spot.

Unfortunately, now I'm going to have to start bagging on Red Sox nation again.

There were A LOT of Boston fans.  I would say anywhere from 10k-20k Red Sox fans were at the Stadium.  They were SILENT until the Yankee fans started leaving the game.  Then they started cheering and doing Sox chants when the Stadium emptied.  Kinda cowardly if you ask me.

Faldor, you're a good guy.

Hell, I like you, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister!

Wow!  Thanks for the offer.  Maybe next time I'm in the area I'll take you up on that.  You could view that as cowardly, or smart.  Why take on 40,000 fans instead of 20,000 fans who are leaving.  I'll tell you what, a couple friends and I went down to Miami for a Patriots game in 2002 and they did the same exact thing.  Miami won the game and they let us know about it as we exited.  Before the game they couldn't say much as the Pats had won the Super Bowl the previous year.  It's common with passionate fans.  A little different doing it on enemy soil, but I'm quite certain Yankee fans would've done the same thing 10 years ago at Fenway.

Earlier this summer I went to a Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley and I was quite surprised at the lack of tension between the 2 fanbases.  Not only were there no fights, the 2 sides barely even acknowledged each other.  It was nothing like Yanks/Sox.  You're guaranteed some hostility there.  Maybe it was just that day, but you wouldn't know it was such a big rivalry except for the fact that tons of Cards fans were in the stands.

[freedom78]

Earlier this summer I went to a Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley and I was quite surprised at the lack of tension between the 2 fanbases.  Not only were there no fights, the 2 sides barely even acknowledged each other.  It was nothing like Yanks/Sox.  You're guaranteed some hostility there.  Maybe it was just that day, but you wouldn't know it was such a big rivalry except for the fact that tons of Cards fans were in the stands.

That's our Midwestern sensibility, I guess.  It's pretty peaceful, really.  Never seen anyone get in a fight at Wrigley, though sometimes White Sox fans show up (for non-Sox games) and people are like "what the fuck?" 

Hell, I like you, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister!

You'll need to post a pic, so faldor can know if you're being nice or horribly mean. 

[faldor]

Yeah, I will say White Sox fans weren't as hospitable to Red Sox fans,  For the most part they were, but there were a few who ran their mouths. 

And freedom is right, a picture would be nice.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Earlier this summer I went to a Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley and I was quite surprised at the lack of tension between the 2 fanbases.  Not only were there no fights, the 2 sides barely even acknowledged each other.  It was nothing like Yanks/Sox.  You're guaranteed some hostility there.  Maybe it was just that day, but you wouldn't know it was such a big rivalry except for the fact that tons of Cards fans were in the stands.

That's our Midwestern sensibility, I guess.  It's pretty peaceful, really.  Never seen anyone get in a fight at Wrigley, though sometimes White Sox fans show up (for non-Sox games) and people are like "what the fuck?" 

Hell, I like you, you can come over to my house and fuck my sister!

You'll need to post a pic, so faldor can know if you're being nice or horribly mean. 

There were two blokes at the Madre game yesterday wearing Red Sox jerseys.  Probably to give Manny a hard time.

You know what?  Even before the game, the Yankee and Red Sox fans didn't acknowledge each other.  I think the rivalry is dead for the time being.  There was no trash talking on the subway ride to the game and no trash talk after.

The Dodgers are 2 and a half games up.  Finally, some breathing room.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

OK, the Dodgers are 3 and a half up on the Douchebacks.

But if there is any team that knows how to blow a lead, it's the Dodgers.

Like Vin Scully said, "The Dodgers are the only team that can split a three game series!"

The Brewers keep losing ground to keep the NL Wild Card interesting.

[faldor]

Yeah the Astros really crept up out of nowhere.  I saw they were playing good ball but never really took them seriously.  They're right in the thick of things now though.  Hopefully Ike doesn't slow down their momentum. 

I think the Dodgers will hold off the D'backs.  Arizona's offense is pretty terrible and their pitcing hasn't been that hot of late.  Andre Ethier has turned into Manny's new David Ortiz it seems.  The guys hitting like .600 this month or something ridiculous since being moved in front of Manny.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Houston, Philly, and St. Louis all have a legitimate shot at the Wild Card.  The Astros play their best ball in September.

And it seems like Minnesota and Chicago want to keep it close!