I have to wonder about one play though. Manny hit a fly to right, that should have been an easy out. The fielder lost it in the sun and it dropped 2 feet next to him and bounced in the stands , scoring 2 runs. It was ruled an ground rule double, instead of an error. That seemed mighty generous to me, since it clearly should have been caught. I guess if his glove had touched the ball it would have been different, but I don't get it.
I have never seen a fielder charged an error on anything other than a 'physical error'...If a pitcher forgets to cover first, or if an outfielder misjudges a flyball and charges it and it sails over is head, or two infielders let a popup drop between them, or a fielder loses a ball in the sun or the Metrodome roof, the batter always seems to be credited with a hit---a cheap hit---but a hit nonetheless...
The shortest homerun I've ever seen was when Ron Fairly of the Dodgers hit a little blooper to short left and Don Kessenger and the left fielder collided full steam going after the ball...While both lay there in short left field, Fairly circled the bases for a homer...
The Dodgers are indeed in first place. 2 games over .500 but it's still first place.
Lost in Manny mania is the emergence of Andre Ethier, who's hitting a ton. When asked about the sudden hot bat he said"2 words, Manny Ramirez".
I'm starting to think my tongue in cheek promotion of Manny for mvp, isn't a joke.
The Dbacks have never looked so bad. I have to wonder about one play though. Manny hit a fly to right, that should have been an easy out. The fielder lost it in the sun and it dropped 2 feet next to him and bounced in the stands , scoring 2 runs. It was ruled an ground rule double, instead of an error. That seemed mighty generous to me, since it clearly should have been caught. I guess if his glove had touched the ball it would have been different, but I don't get it.
I'll be in my favorite seat in the loge today for the potential sweep. I was looking forward to Randy Johnson pitching, but he's been scratched with a sore shoulder.
This is true, not necessarily in a literal sense, because they've had some pretty lousy times... but for this year, they looked REALLY bad.
Perhaps better news for the Dodgers than simply taking over first place in the NLWest, news reports now say that Vin Scully will return for his 60th season (2009) broadcasting games for the LA team.
The shortest homerun I've ever seen was when Ron Fairly of the Dodgers hit a little blooper to short left and Don Kessenger and the left fielder collided full steam going after the ball...While both lay there in short left field, Fairly circled the bases for a homer...
Now THERE'S a name from my old Dodger past!
The shortest "out of the park" home run I ever saw was one I hit. In my lower teens, when visiting relatives in Erie, PA, I used to play with one of my cousins and his friends at a cemetary. Anything onto or over the roads was a home run. Well, it so happened the road in right was doggone close...I'm thinking a hundred feet or so...and I popped a few over.
I think it was druing my interim corps year as a Philly WOW that I watched the Phillies and Cubs on TV play at Wrigley (The one in Chicago of course). It was a game that went into extra inning tied at 21. During that game there were come afully weakly hit popups that did go the distance, but only because they were carried by a strong wind blowing out. I'm sure that's happened at other times though.
yea, I took a little time off from witnessing once in a while that year!
Perhaps better news for the Dodgers than simply taking over first place in the NLWest, news reports now say that Vin Scully will return for his 60th season (2009) broadcasting games for the LA team.
He, along with Joe Paterno coaching my Lions, help keep me thinking young, knowing that they were at their current jobs before I was BORN.
What a wonderful Baseball Sunday at Chavez Ravine. Of course, I'm happy the Blue Crew won, but it would have been great regardless of the score. Best moment was Nomar spearing a line drive at first for the final out, right after he'd been put there as a defensive replacement.
I'm already feeling the end of the season blues. I may only get to one more game . The playoffs are maddeningly long, yet over much too soon-then we descend into darkness for 6 months.
And thankfully Vin will be back for at least one more year. He has had amazingly good health, and hasn't lost a beat. Here's to another year.
What a wonderful Baseball Sunday at Chavez Ravine. Of course, I'm happy the Blue Crew won, but it would have been great regardless of the score. Best moment was Nomar spearing a line drive at first for the final out, right after he'd been put there as a defensive replacement.
I'm already feeling the end of the season blues. I may only get to one more game . The playoffs are maddeningly long, yet over much too soon-then we descend into darkness for 6 months.
And thankfully Vin will be back for at least one more year. He has had amazingly good health, and hasn't lost a beat. Here's to another year.
Yeah, you got a good game to be at... maddening/saddening for me however.
Do you get the feeling that Vin perhaps wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have ball games to call? I only mean that figuratively, as I'm sure he could find all sorts of things to do... but if baseball season was on and he wasn't there, perhaps he'd feel as lost as other Los Angelenos' baseball fans.
One of the oddball little details I remember from my youth...oddball only because I remember it from that many eons ago...was from somewhere around 1960, Don Demeter dropped a fly ball, and Vin employed his listening fans to do him a favor and not be too harsh on Demeter.
That Demeter incident seems very consistent with Vin's personality and character. He is ever the Gentleman, A couple of weeks ago, when all of LA was up in arms over the remarks Jeff Kent made about him, Vin refused to even acknowledge it, and said nothing disparaging of Kent in return. He also continued to state the truth that whoever batted in front of Manny was likely to get better pitches to hit.
After 56 years !!!!!!!! I'm sure Vin would not enjoy sitting out the season. The good news is that his physical and mental health is so good that it 's absurd to think of him not there. He never misses a beat, and seems to enjoy every game. I've talked about it before, but he's the only announcer I know of who still calls the game by himself, which allows him to craft the game at his own pace, instead of talking heads going back and forth. It seems to be a dieing art.
I miss the old time announcers, youre very lucky to still have him in close proximity everyday. There was something soothing and sonorous about the 'voices' when I was growing up that I hardly ever hear anymore. I had Curt Gowdy then Ned Martin for a long time. Ned was always a gentlemen too --kept the game simple and enjoyable and had a style that could, on a dime, be almost borderline poetic without skipping a beat or being annoying...
Hopefully Vin will get more national exposure in the coming year(s) Ive always liked to hear him in the booth.
...................................
In an unrelated matter, and just to show that Baseball really IS about everything. Some of the stat geeks and sabermatricians at Baseball Prospectus have applied the analytical skills learned from our game to the political sphere and have started a site
If you're a political junkie at all and want to see the current "standings", or to analyze many interesting charts, graphs, and projections, or just like poring over data its a great place to stop in...
he's the only announcer I know of who still calls the game by himself, which allows him to craft the game at his own pace, instead of talking heads going back and forth. It seems to be a dieing art.
I do remember Vin working some with Jerry Dogget in some of those long ago years. That is, I remember the name well and that he was paired with Vin, but though my memory is a little fuzzy, I don't remember hearing too much from Jerry.
The Red Sox fans set the record for consecutive sellouts at 456 games tonight (thats about 5 and 1/2 years).
In appreciation the Red Sox organization gathered every name that they possibly could of the 17 million or so people and presented it to Cooperstown. I should be on the list about 30 or 40 times.
I know that no one will ever read it (maybe some ultra obsessive Rainman type guy someday--but doubtful) and that it will sit somewhere untouched in a back archive somewhere BUT its sort of a cool feeling to know my name really IS in there.
I thought that was a very cool thing for the Red Sox to do. They did alot of nice things for the fans tonight and emphasized that WE set a major league record not them.
Oddly I was in the exact same seat that I sat in at a game 42 years ago that I remember vividly-- I was in a reflective mood and to paraphrase James Earl Jones in Field Of Dreams " They'll sit in the seats they sat in as children and the memories will be so thick they have to brush them away from their faces"--- and they were thick for some reason---players and plays from 30-40 years ago were playing -- in front of me in my minds eye like ghosts.....
Anyway--before I get too schmaltzy or weird ----its was a beautiful night at the park, weather was perfect and Lester threw a masterpiece shutting out the Rays (Papelbon closed out) moving the Sox to a 1/2 game back...
good for you starman... for an afternoon getaway game here last week the crowd was estimated at 600...
now, they're still pulling in 15k to 20k for night games even though the season has long ended... and the fans love this team... it's just the owner they're tired of... unfortunately (for the stRangers) football season has started, and this is Texas after all...
but I'll be by the channel tonight for our late meeting with the subMariners...
Yea when we were down there last series the announcers were mentioning the papers were all about football it was way in page and pages before there was any mention of the Rangers at all.
The "love" seems to go hand in hand. There were some good articles and interviews by the Sox owners the last few days, Ive said before they know what they have for fans , know how treat em right and are thankful for them so we pay em back in a manner of speaking...they take their time to do their best--the fans respond...
If the owner is not doing his best it serves him right to have 600 people show to a game ...(although thats hard to believe these days--but of course the culture is a little different up here)..
How long has he owned the stRangers anyway? Maybe a real baseball guy will buy in soon--even though I think you guys could be very close to making a big leap forward anytime if they played their cards right.
I have DiceK vs Kazmir for first in the east tonight--So Far DiceK is being DiceK and throwing about 30 pitches an inning but keeping it reasonably close (down 3-1 in the 4th).
There was a different buzz in the park last night--People are getting ready its starting to feel like the playoffs are comin' :)
..........
(Mike Lowell hits a shot 3-2 now)
...I see Manny is slumpin' ( )-- his average went down yesterday to .397 with a .498 OBP since being with the Dodgers
I havent checked the box yet, his avergae may have gone down again (--damn slacker )
Great game last night at The Fens
Sox down 3-2 bottom of the 8th, 1/2 game seperating the teams, Bay hits a 2 run homer to take a 4-3 lead going into the 9th.
in the Ninth, the Rays facing a very tough closer in Papelbon get two, go ahead, and win 5-4
It didnt turn out the way I would like obviously--but meaningful September games that twist a few times late and then are decided in the ninth are always a worth watching
btw, the Dbacks season ended today. They lost their 6th in a row and second in a row in which they had come from behind. Last night, they got a two run HR to tie in the top of the 9th, only to lose to a walk off hit in the bottom half.
Today, they came from behind 2-1 with a two run triple in the top of the ninth only to lose to a walk off two rbi hit.
Now 3 games behind the Dodgers, after now losing 6 in a row, two of which they had engineered 9th inning come from behind rallies... one to tie, the last one to go ahead. They couldn't finish off the GIANTS. 0-6 road trip.
I'd be VERY surprised if the Dodgers fell apart and the Dbacks came back to life to make the playoffs.
That's how over over is. (yes, it's sad, but no, I'm not overly depressed about it).
Im not saying things will change.. its probably not likely---but you never know
...the Mets and Rocks had completely unpredicatble finishes just last year
Im sure its especially hard after tough losses like that,
but you never really know----baseball can change on a dime
Good Luck
Well, fret not. My pessimism about the remainder of the Dbacks' season will not be the determining factor. If they get it together, I'll rejoice with and for them... I'm not going to hold my breath, however.
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simonzelotes
I have never seen a fielder charged an error on anything other than a 'physical error'...If a pitcher forgets to cover first, or if an outfielder misjudges a flyball and charges it and it sails over is head, or two infielders let a popup drop between them, or a fielder loses a ball in the sun or the Metrodome roof, the batter always seems to be credited with a hit---a cheap hit---but a hit nonetheless...
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simonzelotes
The shortest homerun I've ever seen was when Ron Fairly of the Dodgers hit a little blooper to short left and Don Kessenger and the left fielder collided full steam going after the ball...While both lay there in short left field, Fairly circled the bases for a homer...
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Rocky
This is true, not necessarily in a literal sense, because they've had some pretty lousy times... but for this year, they looked REALLY bad.
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Rocky
Perhaps better news for the Dodgers than simply taking over first place in the NLWest, news reports now say that Vin Scully will return for his 60th season (2009) broadcasting games for the LA team.
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Lifted Up
Now THERE'S a name from my old Dodger past!
The shortest "out of the park" home run I ever saw was one I hit. In my lower teens, when visiting relatives in Erie, PA, I used to play with one of my cousins and his friends at a cemetary. Anything onto or over the roads was a home run. Well, it so happened the road in right was doggone close...I'm thinking a hundred feet or so...and I popped a few over.
I think it was druing my interim corps year as a Philly WOW that I watched the Phillies and Cubs on TV play at Wrigley (The one in Chicago of course). It was a game that went into extra inning tied at 21. During that game there were come afully weakly hit popups that did go the distance, but only because they were carried by a strong wind blowing out. I'm sure that's happened at other times though.
yea, I took a little time off from witnessing once in a while that year!
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Lifted Up
Like I said...
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Lifted Up
He, along with Joe Paterno coaching my Lions, help keep me thinking young, knowing that they were at their current jobs before I was BORN.
Which event, BTW, took place in Long Beach CA.
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hiway29
What a wonderful Baseball Sunday at Chavez Ravine. Of course, I'm happy the Blue Crew won, but it would have been great regardless of the score. Best moment was Nomar spearing a line drive at first for the final out, right after he'd been put there as a defensive replacement.
I'm already feeling the end of the season blues. I may only get to one more game . The playoffs are maddeningly long, yet over much too soon-then we descend into darkness for 6 months.
And thankfully Vin will be back for at least one more year. He has had amazingly good health, and hasn't lost a beat. Here's to another year.
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Rocky
Yeah, you got a good game to be at... maddening/saddening for me however.
Do you get the feeling that Vin perhaps wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have ball games to call? I only mean that figuratively, as I'm sure he could find all sorts of things to do... but if baseball season was on and he wasn't there, perhaps he'd feel as lost as other Los Angelenos' baseball fans.
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Lifted Up
One of the oddball little details I remember from my youth...oddball only because I remember it from that many eons ago...was from somewhere around 1960, Don Demeter dropped a fly ball, and Vin employed his listening fans to do him a favor and not be too harsh on Demeter.
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hiway29
That Demeter incident seems very consistent with Vin's personality and character. He is ever the Gentleman, A couple of weeks ago, when all of LA was up in arms over the remarks Jeff Kent made about him, Vin refused to even acknowledge it, and said nothing disparaging of Kent in return. He also continued to state the truth that whoever batted in front of Manny was likely to get better pitches to hit.
After 56 years !!!!!!!! I'm sure Vin would not enjoy sitting out the season. The good news is that his physical and mental health is so good that it 's absurd to think of him not there. He never misses a beat, and seems to enjoy every game. I've talked about it before, but he's the only announcer I know of who still calls the game by himself, which allows him to craft the game at his own pace, instead of talking heads going back and forth. It seems to be a dieing art.
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mstar1
I miss the old time announcers, youre very lucky to still have him in close proximity everyday. There was something soothing and sonorous about the 'voices' when I was growing up that I hardly ever hear anymore. I had Curt Gowdy then Ned Martin for a long time. Ned was always a gentlemen too --kept the game simple and enjoyable and had a style that could, on a dime, be almost borderline poetic without skipping a beat or being annoying...
Hopefully Vin will get more national exposure in the coming year(s) Ive always liked to hear him in the booth.
...................................
In an unrelated matter, and just to show that Baseball really IS about everything. Some of the stat geeks and sabermatricians at Baseball Prospectus have applied the analytical skills learned from our game to the political sphere and have started a site
at http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/.
If you're a political junkie at all and want to see the current "standings", or to analyze many interesting charts, graphs, and projections, or just like poring over data its a great place to stop in...
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Lifted Up
I do remember Vin working some with Jerry Dogget in some of those long ago years. That is, I remember the name well and that he was paired with Vin, but though my memory is a little fuzzy, I don't remember hearing too much from Jerry.
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mstar1
I think Ive arrived.
Im officially in the Hall of Fame
The Red Sox fans set the record for consecutive sellouts at 456 games tonight (thats about 5 and 1/2 years).
In appreciation the Red Sox organization gathered every name that they possibly could of the 17 million or so people and presented it to Cooperstown. I should be on the list about 30 or 40 times.
I know that no one will ever read it (maybe some ultra obsessive Rainman type guy someday--but doubtful) and that it will sit somewhere untouched in a back archive somewhere BUT its sort of a cool feeling to know my name really IS in there.
I thought that was a very cool thing for the Red Sox to do. They did alot of nice things for the fans tonight and emphasized that WE set a major league record not them.
Oddly I was in the exact same seat that I sat in at a game 42 years ago that I remember vividly-- I was in a reflective mood and to paraphrase James Earl Jones in Field Of Dreams " They'll sit in the seats they sat in as children and the memories will be so thick they have to brush them away from their faces"--- and they were thick for some reason---players and plays from 30-40 years ago were playing -- in front of me in my minds eye like ghosts.....
Anyway--before I get too schmaltzy or weird ----its was a beautiful night at the park, weather was perfect and Lester threw a masterpiece shutting out the Rays (Papelbon closed out) moving the Sox to a 1/2 game back...
It doesnt get better than that.
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Tom Strange
good for you starman... for an afternoon getaway game here last week the crowd was estimated at 600...
now, they're still pulling in 15k to 20k for night games even though the season has long ended... and the fans love this team... it's just the owner they're tired of... unfortunately (for the stRangers) football season has started, and this is Texas after all...
but I'll be by the channel tonight for our late meeting with the subMariners...
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mstar1
Yea when we were down there last series the announcers were mentioning the papers were all about football it was way in page and pages before there was any mention of the Rangers at all.
The "love" seems to go hand in hand. There were some good articles and interviews by the Sox owners the last few days, Ive said before they know what they have for fans , know how treat em right and are thankful for them so we pay em back in a manner of speaking...they take their time to do their best--the fans respond...
If the owner is not doing his best it serves him right to have 600 people show to a game ...(although thats hard to believe these days--but of course the culture is a little different up here)..
How long has he owned the stRangers anyway? Maybe a real baseball guy will buy in soon--even though I think you guys could be very close to making a big leap forward anytime if they played their cards right.
I have DiceK vs Kazmir for first in the east tonight--So Far DiceK is being DiceK and throwing about 30 pitches an inning but keeping it reasonably close (down 3-1 in the 4th).
There was a different buzz in the park last night--People are getting ready its starting to feel like the playoffs are comin' :)
..........
(Mike Lowell hits a shot 3-2 now)
...I see Manny is slumpin' (
)-- his average went down yesterday to .397 with a .498 OBP since being with the Dodgers
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Rocky
:P
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mstar1
He picked it up with a HR and 2 RBI's last night.
I havent checked the box yet, his avergae may have gone down again (--damn slacker
)
Great game last night at The Fens
Sox down 3-2 bottom of the 8th, 1/2 game seperating the teams, Bay hits a 2 run homer to take a 4-3 lead going into the 9th.
in the Ninth, the Rays facing a very tough closer in Papelbon get two, go ahead, and win 5-4
It didnt turn out the way I would like obviously--but meaningful September games that twist a few times late and then are decided in the ninth are always a worth watching
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mstar1
This video cracked me up----
I love Francona's bit --Thanks for all the advice
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Rocky
Yeah, Francona's line in there's pretty good.
btw, the Dbacks season ended today. They lost their 6th in a row and second in a row in which they had come from behind. Last night, they got a two run HR to tie in the top of the 9th, only to lose to a walk off hit in the bottom half.
Today, they came from behind 2-1 with a two run triple in the top of the ninth only to lose to a walk off two rbi hit.
RIP 2008 Dbacks... :(
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mstar1
Sorry there Rock
thats about the worst day of the year for me.
I'll lift a beer in your direction tonight....
How over is over?
over over?
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Rocky
Now 3 games behind the Dodgers, after now losing 6 in a row, two of which they had engineered 9th inning come from behind rallies... one to tie, the last one to go ahead. They couldn't finish off the GIANTS. 0-6 road trip.
I'd be VERY surprised if the Dodgers fell apart and the Dbacks came back to life to make the playoffs.
That's how over over is.
(yes, it's sad, but no, I'm not overly depressed about it).
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mstar1
Well dont Forget Yogi
"In baseball you dont know nuthin"
and
"It aint over til its over"
Im not saying things will change.. its probably not likely---but you never know
...the Mets and Rocks had completely unpredicatble finishes just last year
Im sure its especially hard after tough losses like that,
but you never really know----baseball can change on a dime
Good Luck
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Rocky
Well, fret not. My pessimism about the remainder of the Dbacks' season will not be the determining factor. If they get it together, I'll rejoice with and for them... I'm not going to hold my breath, however.
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