simonzelotes

Going through withdrawals already,eh,mstar?...Good thing Halloween is right after the series...Pacing the floor,eating candy,looking out the window,chain-smoking,endless cups of coffee,staring at the ceiling for two hours before you fall asleep....Too bad there's no meetings to go to... Thanks for all the links...I tend to give up baseball cold-turkey when the series is over...Go for walks...watch sunsets...catch some football on Sundays...BTW,it must have been big news up there when Red Auerbach died....He was quite the legend... I do like to catch up on some of my Baseball Encyclopedia reading...There's usually some major moves in the off-season,but it's so difficult to predict how different players will fit in with different teams...Or managers for that matter...As a Cub fan,you learn to abide by Murphy's Law...Whatever can go wrong,will...I am a little eager to see what Piniella is going to bring to the table in Cubs camp...I look back at Dusty Baker's tenure as Cubs manager and it's one big puzzle...His first year in town he put venom in their bite...They stared down opponents,threw at Barry Bonds,kept him in check and went toe-toe with anybody...Then they lost it---a little more each year...As if some kind of curse did actually get to Baker and his team...I don't believe in curses,but we have all winter to wonder what are the pieces we're missing,how do you turn this thing around and keep it going in the right direction?... Of course,all winter money is a big factor in all of the baseball equations...Who has money to spend,who are the free agents,what are they worth?...Look at Jeff Weaver...Would you want him?...Couldn't even compete as a starter for the Angels,then he's suddenly lights out in the playoffs...What's he worth?...What good is a great post-season pitcher if he can't help get you there...I mean,he might be the big reason the A's won the AL West instead of the Angels..The Angels lost way too many games that he started early in the year... Anyway,I have to say,this is my favorite(and only) baseball site...

Hey.if excie can have that pic of Rosalee as her avatar,then I should be able to have a pic of Harve for mine...Or maybe Ermal Owens...

If you scroll down to up real fast you can hear a very faint "I buried Paul".....

Nika,...you go girl...

getthefukouttahere!!!! If that don't scare you into celibacy,nothing will....

I came to this forum to find out HOW to get out of what I was into...All you're doing is putting me in deeper....If you wanna know anything about the Cubs' curse,I can tell you more than you'll ever know...They SUCK!...That's all you need to know.... How many days 'til pitchers and catchers report?... I thought it was a rather non-descript World Series,myself...I liked watching the teams in it...I don't care if it's a big market club or big name ballplayers...I wanna see good teams play good baseball...I was hoping for at least one slugfest,or extra-inning affair...The weather was crappy--not balmy October weather,but chilling rainy dark nites....That's bullsh it...I agree with you totally,hiway...Day baseball,weekdays and weekends for the World Series...If you can't get out of work,or they won't let you have it on tv at work,you ain't a true fan,anyway...You need to quit your job...Instead of arguing about prayer and "One nation under God" in public schools,we,as adults should be debating weather or not it should be mandatory or optional to watch the World Series in the class rooms a few afternoons out of the year...I'm telling you,this country's going to hell in a handbasket... We get Christmas off,regardless of what day of the week it falls on,New Years day,Columbus day,MLK day,presidents day,etc,etc. ...This great country of ours was founded for the sole purpose that we could be a free people---free to watch the World Series played in the afternoons in early October...Shorten the season back to 154 games,bring back the doubleheader,and let's finish the damn season and elimination series' by October 1st and play the World Series when the Good Lord meant it to be played...I say,in these upcoming elections,put your partisan politics aside,forget about the war,immigration and Medicaire issues,and vote only for those campaigning to bring back October daytime baseball to America..We need to get our priorities in order...Look at it this way---the more jobs we outsource to India,the less people we'll have ditching work to watch daytime World Series baseball...Oh,....and they should also pass a federal law that telemarketers can't call during the World Series....

C'mon mstar,don't give us the answer....According to the box score,Tim McCarver was the last Card with four at bats---0-3 and one base-on-balls.... Btw,everybody forgets that the game was already tied when Buckner missed that grounder---it would have gone to extra innings if he made the play...Wait--I think it already was in extra innings--the 11th,I believe...

....Jesus Rogers Jesus Pujols Jesus Edmonds Jesus the Carpenter ...and that Jesus Christ so-and-so Steve Bartman...

Very funny ....As a kid,I didn't know if he was named after the battery or vice-versa... I also remember when visiting relatives in Detroit,going to a Sunday afternoon game,and my uncle paying $3.50 each for box seats at the window and sitting like seven rows behind the Tigers' dugout...And that was the year right after they won a world championship...

Does Ivan DeJesus count? I distinctly remember a photograph in my hometown newspaper with the caption under it that said "These kids can hit"...Three teenage major-leaguers were in the photo and one of them was Rusty Staub....I knew he seemingly played forever,so it seemed like a good guess....Wish it was the final 'Jeopardy' question...

....and bless you too Nika... ....I just wanted to put that icon here because it hardly ever comes up on this thread...

Hmmmm...For some reason Rusty Staub comes to mind...It isn't him,is it?...

Gotta love baseball for it's non-stop excitement...

Can we get just a little bit closer closeups of the pitchers?..First we see Pujols licking his cold sores...As cold as it is,I don't want to start having to look at snot running down Jeff Weaver's nose.... Where'd you learn to spell mercurachrome?

All right is the Gambler cheatin'?...What is that orange stuff?... I don't think 'swang' is a word....

Well,as long as we're all coming out of the closet and writing our 'I wouldn't be here if it weren't for baseball' essays in 500 words or less... My entire life,...being a Cub fan coming out of the womb,would be an emotional endless path of black cats crossing it,broken mirrors,walking under ladders,full moons on Friday the 13th and nonstop days of the dark winter of the soul...I would ever more be singing,as Brook Benton so soulfully crooned "Lord I believe it's raining all over the world"... Thankfully,I also learned at a young age that baseball is just a game.... Mstar,I think Zelasko looks a little like that gal that played 'police woman'(Angie Dickenson?)... I liked Mellancamp's opening "This is my country"....'Cept for some reason I want to trade in my old Ford pickemup for a Chevy truck... 1-0 Tiggers... 2-0...Good thing for Detroit it wasn't a ground rule double...

Yeah,well bless Cathy Brubeck in your superior corpse,and bless you for blessing her and bless excie for loving you and bless God and all that,but I'm still confused about all these other birthday songs you'ns keep talking about...And I always thought satan was the author of confusion... And bless Fellowshipper and all his aborigine friends...

Hey,Miller,...I think they got a ride to the ballpark in those old campers you posted on LindaZ's thread... It seemed like Leyland was trying to establish something,or set the tone by pitching to Pujols...I know Jack Mckeon got the Marlins to the Series by not pitching to Barry Bonds...Leyland seems more prone to challenging his pitchers and the other team's hitters... Especially early in ballgames,you can get your team in a lot of trouble if Edmonds and Rolen keep coming to the plate with runners on...What does seem kinda scary for the Tigers is that the three-headed monster for the Cards all seem to be hitting....Great ballgame by Reyes...he really handcuffed the Tigers...Now that their nose is bloodied,let's see if they put up a good fight...

Bill,don't forget to thank your northern neighbors for that famous(or infamous,if your a Cubbie-fan) Ernie Broglio for Lou Brock trade...That trade actually didn't look too bad on paper....It was early in '64,Cubs were 82-80 the year before and their pitching staff was struggling...Their hitting was good,with Banks in his prime,Santo,Williams and Cowan as rising stars...Kenny Hubbs,who was poised for stardom at second base got killed in an off season plane crash at age 22...Dick Ellsworth decided to lose 20 instead of winning 20 like he did the year before... Cubs needed a pitcher to contend---and got sore armed Ernie Broglio,who gave them a 4-7 season before fading into the baseball abyss...And of course,Lube Rock(how I thought his name was spelled back then) went from being a .260 hitter with no power to being a .348 hitter with the Cards---and 12 homers and lots of stolen bases to boot...It's as if Brock traded in his Cub uniform for a blue cape with the letter "S" on the front...And of course,Brock led the Cards to the World championship in '64... I have have to agree with hiway's assessment....Should be a good series... BTW,mstar,thanks for that video of Piniella...It was hysterical...

You'd think Pujols would have heard of Blistex...The more I think about it,the more I wonder if I didn't jump the gun in picking the Tigers...LaRussa and Leyland are great friends,both have rings,and I'm sure either would love nothing more than to beat the other guy...I think the series will feature a lot of chess-playing between the managers---almost moreso than what actually goes on on the field...You have a lot of good players---Detroit's pitching and Albert Pujols,of course,...but nothing like the Bronx Bombers or a Randy Johnson or a Schilling or even a Mickey Lolich or a Bob Gibson to dominate the series...Just two good teams that are well managed...it should be good fundamental baseball.... If it's a real close series,which I believe it will be,I think Stlo will be a little cooler under pressure---less prone to miss a three-foot putt,if you will...I thought about that last strike that Beltran of the Mets looked at to end the NLCS...Joe Morgan would have called that a 'hanging curveball' that was left out over the plate..I think most any other time of the year,Beltran's looking for that pitch on a two-strike count and either fouls it off or tattoos it into the bleachers...For some reason,he just let it go by... I'm thinking that the Cards may steal this series...If they do,I'll delete my last post....If they don't,I'll delete this one...Fair enough? ...

Linda,they call those 'teardrop' campers....They're a retro style...They were originally very popular in the '40's and '50's....I belong to a website dedicated to old Ford trucks and one of the members did a whole picture tutorial on one he built from a kit...It seems like it would be a good idea if the front hitch had a removeable little piece so it couldn't be towed away by a thief...I mean,it would be terrible if you went to sleep in it in Ohio and somebody hitched it up to their rig and you woke up in Kansas or some place..

Nika,sweetheart,I think you've also gotten me a little 'at sea'....

This is as good a time as any to do my armchair-no-skin-off-my-back-20-20-hindsight-why-can't-everybody-be-just-as-smart-as me-managing...I had wondered if Willie Randolph was going to have Clifford Floyd bunt with two on and nobody out...Even though Floyd is probably a bad bunter,they say you play for the tie at home and for the win on the road...I can't say I really blame Randolph for having Floyd swing away...I mean it's cold,rainy,the seventh game,ninth inning---let's win this damn thing or go home...I would have liked to have seen Floyd make Randolph look a little better...His first swing,on what looked like a good,driveable pitch,was horrible...It was one of those 'I want to end the game with one pitch and be the hero' kind of swings...He never got a good pitch to hit after that...In fact,that's the first time,I think,I saw two good hitters look at strike three in the 9th inning of the 7th game of a series.....What a nasty curveball... You gotta hand it to LaRussa and the Cards...They backed into the playoffs and managed to push the right buttons and get the good pitching and the key hits---and here they are in the World Series...Tigers and Cards---Just like in,what was it,'68?...Tigers in six(sorry,Bill)...

This is kinda close: We're so glad that you were born 'cuz if you were not here We could not see your smiling face or hear your voice of cheer It's hard to say "God bless you" to someone who doesn't exist Especially on your birthday you would certainly be missed So happy,happy birthday to someone who is so dear And if the Lord should tarry we'll be singing to you next year. Ok,now where are my car keys?...

Happy birthday,Linda...Too bad we're too far away to toss you into the pond...