Baseball 2003
Posted by: ErikL on 01 June 2003
As the midway point of the season approaches (and I start to pay attention) I'm starting to hope for a few things:
- Roger Clemens is beat up in a game or in the subway, is sidelined, and is stuck on 299 wins all year (especially after donning a cocky "300" patch in his start a few days ago)... and then retires.
- The Expos, the league's best talent developer, win the NL East. Nobody but Ted Turner and his traitor/trolip Jane Fonda likes the Braves anymore.
- The Dodgers set an example, again, for ethnic harmony in America and bring another foreigner onto the team- maybe someone from India... or how about Iraq?
- Red Sox versus Sammy Sosa and the Cubs in the World Series. It would be great for baseball and for two cities of fanatical fans with long droughts.
Any other hopes or predictions?
Posted on: 16 October 2003 by matthewr
I fell asleep around the 4th inning and woke up to breakfast TV.
The error by Alex Gonzalez was bigger than the fan interference as well.
Matthew
Posted on: 18 October 2003 by matthewr
The Yankees are so hateful.
Matthew
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by ErikL
Be glad you didn't grow up a Dodgers fan and son of a diehard Yankees fan. This was particularly unpleasant in the late '70's. It was also unpleasant following Game 7 of BoSox-Yanks when the phone rang.
Isn't Juan Pierre cool? He epitomizes everything I love about the NL style of ball.
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by matthewr
Indeed - he's this year's Craig Counsel (sort of). In fact Florida's style in general has a lot in common with Anaheim's from last year. Which gives me hope.
Matthew
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by John C
The base running from the Florida top two and Pudge's throwout of Johnson are why I love baseball. Pierre is the best lead off man I've seen (Vince Coleman before my time. He's what Delino Deshields should have been.I want him to try to steal home before the end of the series.
John
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by ErikL
Pierre and Coleman wouldn't even make a list of the top 20 lead-off batters I've seen (but I still love watching Juan P). Just the last 20 years we have guys like:
Rickey Henderson- the best ever, by far
Kenny Lofton- deadly in his prime
Eric Young
Ichiro
Brett Butler- repeatedly forced 10+ pitches per at-bat, and his bunting was surgical
Roberto Alomar
Brady Anderson
Tim Raines
Craig Biggio
Pete Rose- turned singles into doubles and eliminated the possibility of a double-play
Wade Boggs- early in his career he was a great lead-off guy
Barry Larkin
Derek Jeter- in the late '90's
DeShields was a great lead-off guy in Montreal. Then he went to the Dodgers where he was overpaid, lazy, and worthless.
[This message was edited by Ludwig on SUNDAY 19 October 2003 at 22:32.]
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by ErikL
quote:
Originally posted by John C:
I want him to try to steal home before the end of the series.
Me too! But I don't think any of the Yankee pitchers have a slow enough delivery to make it a possibility.
Posted on: 19 October 2003 by ErikL
Did you boys know the "Negro" League teams played Major League teams 438 times in the 1920's and 1930's, and won 309 of the games?
PS- Josh Gibson was the greatest player ever (.350-.384 AVG, "about" 800 HR)
Posted on: 20 October 2003 by matthewr
I suspect that 309 figure has been inflated out of a little social concern by a media desirous of a little success for black players.
I noted on the WS player intros that "America's Game" is now pretty much The Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico's game. The Yankees only had about 2 starters who identified themselves as Americans. Which was interesting.
Matthew
Posted on: 20 October 2003 by ErikL
I highly doubt the figure has been inflated. The Negro League players were so dominant and won so often that white attendance slipped dramatically and the inter-league games were eventually cancelled.
I think it's overwhelmingly positive that so many foreign players are in MLB (and NBA, and NHL). Signing the best talent in the world only makes the game stronger.
Anyhow, let's hope the Marlins can get some quality pitching and run production in Game 3.
Posted on: 20 October 2003 by matthewr
I was paraphrasing Rush Limbaugh.
Its great that its such a multi-national game and a fact I often like to raise when ill-informed Brits slag it off (there are only two arguments made by such people -- "Rounders is a girls' game" and "why do they call it the World Series when only America takes part").
Matthew
Posted on: 20 October 2003 by ErikL
Ludwig, sensitive
Posted on: 20 October 2003 by Bhoyo
quote:
Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
ill-informed Brits slag it off -- "why do they call it the World Series when only America takes part".
But it's not a bad question. A pal told me the series was originally named after a sponsoring newspaper, called the World. However, everyone else I've asked says this isn't true.
Davie
Posted on: 22 October 2003 by ErikL
Is Soriano not the worst lead-off batter you've seen on a championship caliber team? Yikes.
Posted on: 22 October 2003 by matthewr
Soriano is a good example of outstanding natural talent struggling for consistency. He does swing at too many pitches (says possibly the least knowledgable baseball fan ever).
Bhoyo said "A pal told me the series was originally named after a sponsoring newspaper, called the World"
That's what I heard as well and more than once but I've never been able to find an official explanation. In the NFL they call the Superbowl a "World Championship" which is patently ridiculous but then most Americans I've had this conversation with actually agree its pretty dumb.
The point is though its still terrible to dismiss an entire sport on the basis of one piece of naff Americanism the exact origins of which are lost in history.
Matthew
Posted on: 22 October 2003 by ErikL
To go even further, at the conclusion of the NBA Championships, the commentators always announce "...and the <city> <team name> are now the world champions!"
I agree that such labeling is stupid, as in none of these cases are we referring to the Olympics or a World Cup sort of event.
Posted on: 22 October 2003 by Bhoyo
I've also read that the original series was known, semi-offically, as the American Championship. However, the press started calling it the World Series, more or less as a joke, and the name stuck.
But you're right - dismissing a great sport because of a debate about nomenclature is ridiculous. My usual defence is based on the fact that baseball, as a codified and professional sport, is about as old as football (or futbol as we now say here).
Go Pudge! And don't Cabrera and Beckett look like superstars in waiting?
Davie
Posted on: 22 October 2003 by ErikL
Damn it, I can't resist all of the commercials for the new season of 24. They're sucking me back into watching. I skipped last year.
Okay Roger Clemens' last start... let's watch...
Posted on: 23 October 2003 by ErikL
Davie, I liked the composure and maturity Cabrera showed in his first at-bat last night. To almost get decapitated by an inside pitch, and then to stay focused and fight off pitches until a spankable one came his way was impressive. And all of this against a legend twice his age, in legend's final game, in a crucial World Series game- that's no small feat. He's a keeper. Too bad he'll be playing for my team when his current contract expires.
Posted on: 24 October 2003 by Bhoyo
Ludwig:
I'm still a baseball novice, and don't really have a favourite team. But I'm enjoying watching the local boys do so well, whatever happens at Yankee Stadium. The Marlins have been superb, and winning in NY would be perfect (not for Boston, not for Chicago - for Miami).
Cabrera probably will need a bigger stage than South Florida can give him. Not only are sports fans here notoriously fickle, but baseball's regular season falls during our very scary lightning season. The storms usually start just as people are thinking about setting off for the game - and persuades them to head to the bar instead.
Davie
Posted on: 25 October 2003 by matthewr
Josh Beckett has a very dodgy beard. I can't decide if its worse than Eric Gange's.
Matthew
Posted on: 25 October 2003 by ErikL
Brilliant
Despite his chin snatch, Josh Beckett turned in a flawless game tonight.
I also appreciated how the Marlins stuck to plaing good ol' NL style small ball. The Yankees fail unless their big bats are swinging, and they weren't.
A perfect ending to a great postseason.
Posted on: 25 October 2003 by ErikL
Matthew, let's compare:
Josh Beckett
Eric Gagne
I'll go with Gagne's being the nastier carpet. Given that LA and Miami both have plenty of salons that wax those sorts of things, they should both be removed.
Posted on: 26 October 2003 by matthewr
I almost felt sorry for Andy Petite who pitched very nearly as well as Beckett and got let down by his highly regarded teamates. Then I remembered he was a Yankee.
It was great watching a bunch of kids (and Pudge) dance around Yankee stadium and well worth the 4am bedtime. Only problem now is Steinbrenner will "buy everything that isn't nailed down" (and he could do a lot worse than starting with Beckett, Cabrera and Pierre).
On the beard front I'd forgotten how bad Gange's was. Pictures of him always looks like they've been defaced by a 12 year old with a marker pen.
Matthew
Posted on: 26 October 2003 by Bhoyo
I nominate Matt Clement. Cub fans have taken to wearing long, blue facial appendages in honour of Clement's Chia Pet/Amish variation on baseball's regulation goatee.
