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Baseball (the talkin' sport)


Tom Strange
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Meanwhile, congratulations to the Angels, who just won the division with 17 games to go.

If it were the Dodgers, the local media would be tripping over themselves with excitement. I'm not sure if it's because it's 'only' the Angels, or if the Angels have been so good that it's expected, but the news hasn't exactly 'stopped the presses' here.

I see the reality when I go to Angel Stadium. Every game is filled with rabid Angel fans enjoying the best team in LA.

The only thing going against them is they're not the Dodgers, who have owned the city no matter how bad they've been ( and they've been bad). I get the attitude from every Dodger fan I know who grew up here. The Angels don't matter whatever they do, and I get some of that from the local papers and tv stations. Part of it is that they play in Orange County (same place the Rams played), and part of it is that the Angels were also rans for so long, it's a long haul changing that image.

Anyway, we'll see if winning so early affects how they go into the playoffs. There's a legitimate opportunity for a 'freeway series' this year, though I'm sure that won't happen.

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We'll see about the Red Sox who didnt capitalize on a big chance to go into first.

I have to hand it to The Rays who played well coming back in the ninth two nights ago

yurning what could have been a potential 1/2 game Sox division lead into putting the 1 1/2 out

With another extra Inning Rays win last night they are now up 2 1/2 in the East

Its an interesting part of the year when an entire season can come down to a few pitches or a mislocated fastball,

Congratulations to Gary Sheffield who hit MLB's 250,000th HR the other day

and Jeter who passed Ruth on the Yankee hitlist

(Pete Roses comment was "Tell him the first 3,000 are easy")

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That's an interesting comment from Rose. I kind of get what he means, but at the same time he's just saying 'look at ME'.

From what I know of Jeter, he'd trade a lot of those hits for another championship. I would like to see the Yankees pull it together for another one before he retires, but if they don't, he'll have to live with 4 rings.

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Its incredibly odd---well in two ways --First fighting the RAYS for first and 2nd wondering where the Yankees are--All I know is that they are in the rearview mirror somewhere but i dont see them....

Im sure Jeter would trade all those hits for another Ring right about now.

All in all it must be a tough season for them and the fans. The usually bickering and playful trashtalkng with my Yankee fan friends is nonexistant this year and all I hear from them is depression and countdown to the last game at "The House that Ruth Built" to which they are all in various degrees of mourning.

That cant be easy

For everyone who is in next year mode already HERES the upcoming Free Agent list

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Maybe I'm a rare Yankee fan, or maybe I'm too far removed geographically, but I don't expect the Yankees to win the world series EVERY year. No team can do that, though historically the Yankees have come closer than anyone.

The most satisfying championships for me have come after periods of failure and 'retooling'. The '77 series was amazing to me, as I'd lived through the darkest period in Yankee history. '96 was another great year, after the awful '80's, and the maturing of my personal favorite Yankee team.

By the fourth championship, everyone was 'sick' of seeing the Yankees every year, and I understand that. There's such a thing as too much success. If the Red Sox put together a 'dynasty', you'll see the backlash ( though that's a problem Sox fans would love to have-just as Yankee fans don't care about naysayers).

The Yankees are clearly in need of direction (and pitching). We'll see if they give Girardi enough time to succeed.

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Well they are giving Girardi next year and Im pretty sure that they'll gear way up for the first year in the new place.

Part of it for you may be geographic, plus you have the Dodgers to keep you company.

My freinds out here dont necessarily expect to win every year, but being hit with the doublewhammy of losing the stadium AND missing the playoffs for the first time in way more than a decade is a tough pill(s) for them to swallow..Knowing my friends either one of them alone would be really tough. Together its not sitting well with them at all.

It'll make for a long winter---

Edited by mstar1
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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.

TOO LONG!!!

That's been the problem... he had Jim Lites, who is President of the Stars, 'Presidenting' both franchises... Lites is a hockey guy... that's why we're somewhat hopeful that the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train anymore... because he finally brought in a "baseball man" in the person of El Presidente Ryan... and believe it or not I think he's going to make a difference...

Glanced at the list of FAs... there's a lot of age listed under "Pitcher"... and Gabe's gonna be available for some lucky team (he had a walk off the other night)...

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For you history fans Sports Illustratedthis week has an article linking baseball to England in 1755...

Baseball is as American as ... tea and crumpets?

That may be case, according to a diary uncovered in southern England last year but only now being made public.

Julian Pooley, the manager of the Surrey History Centre, said Thursday he has authenticated a reference to baseball in a diary by English lawyer William Bray dating back to 1755 -

Bray wrote that he played the game with both men and women on the day after Easter, a traditional holiday in England.

"He was about 18 or 19 (at the time of the diary entry)," Pooley said. "He was a very social man. He enjoyed sports."

The entry reads:

"Easter Monday 31 March 1755

"Went to Stoke Ch. This morning. After Dinner Went to Miss Jeale's to play at Base Ball with her, the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford & H. Parsons & Jelly. Drank Tea and stayed till 8."

So there you have your first baseball review. Being from England Im sure that the Origins researchers are having a great time with it.

Who would have ever figured that the first baseball names would be

"Miss Molly Flutter" ?

or "Jelly"?

:biglaugh:

What Great baseball names! ---bet they couldnt hit the breaking ball though.

Edited by mstar1
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For you history fans Sports Illustratedthis week has an article linking baseball to England in 1755...

So there you have your first baseball review. Being from England Im sure that the Origins researchers are having a great time with it.

Who would have ever figured that the first baseball names would be

"Miss Molly Flutter" ?

or "Jelly"?

:biglaugh:

What Great baseball names! ---bet they couldnt hit the breaking ball though.

Okay... the journal uses the expression "base ball." But do they know whether the game he named has any resemblance to what started in the US in the 1800s?

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I have no idea --I only know what was written in the article--I know there was an english game called rounders---that was supposed to be similar....but so far they are only using it as the first mention of base ball.

I dont know what it really looked like. Of course being played by the "Three Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst and Miss Molly Flutter" then stopping for tea--- It could look like badminton or croquet for all I know.. Im pretty sure the Origins Committee at SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) will have some interesting articles on it soon......

Sometimes I question my sanity---I drove 3 hours, paid $25.00 for parking then sat through 8 innings of pouring rain --BUT--

I saw my 2nd shutout in 4 days (never seen that before)---last night as Wakefield 3 hit the hot Jays. which to me made it all worth it...

I hope those kids on the other thread make their game at Yankee Stadium today --the weather on th east coast (well just about everywhere I guess) is pretty dicey right now..

Edit: From Wikipedia:

Origins of Baseball

A number of early folk games in England had characteristics that can be seen in modern baseball (as well as in cricket and rounders). Many of these early games involved a ball that was thrown at a target while an opposing player defended the target by attempting to hit the ball away. If the batter successfully hit the ball, he could attempt to score points by running between bases while fielders would attempt to catch or retrieve the ball and put the runner out in some way....

An old English game called "base," described by George Ewing at Valley Forge, was apparently not much like baseball. There was no bat and no ball involved. The game was more like a fancy game of "tag", although it did share the concept of places of safety (for example, bases) with modern baseball.

In an 1801 book entitled The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, Joseph Strutt claimed to have shown that baseball-like games can be traced back to the 14th century, and that baseball is a descendant of a United Kingdom game called stoolball. The earliest known reference to stoolball is in a 1330 poem by William Pagula, who recommended to priests that the game be forbidden within churchyards.

In stoolball, a batter stood before a target, perhaps an upturned stool, while another player pitched a ball to the batter. If the batter hit the ball (with a bat or his/her hand) and it was caught by a fielder, the batter was out. If the pitched ball hit a stool leg, the batter was out. It was more often played by young men and women as a sort of spin the bottle.

:biglaugh:

Aprettylittlepocketbook.jpg

Edited by mstar1
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Im still waiting to see what Manny will do if the Dodgers/Sox make it to the series.....

....

you know it cant be a good thing when exactly how your pitcher tips his pitches is displayed on youtube

for all the world to see...

from yesterdays game....

Byrd gave up 8 runs in short order as the Red Sox split their doubleheader with the Jays.

Hopefully someone on the RedSox will get this video and have Byrd correct his delivery

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The clip was on a sox fan messageboard site that I go to...... We have had several conversations this year about pitchers tipping pitches--a lot of guys do to some extent but hardly ever this obviously. It takes a very keen eye with most pitchers to pick it up..

Yesterday one guy got fed up calling every pitch before it was thrown and put together the video.

There are several people in the Sox organization who are involved in the site --- so hopefully it gets back to Byrd and pitching coach John Farrell and they can make the mechanical changes necessary before his next start and before the video gets out to the rest of the league

Edited by mstar1
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Great game today --another beauty by Jon Lester who outdueled Roy Halliday. Im more impressed with him every time I see him pitch --he just gets better and more poised it seems with every outing. Rays lead is now down to 1 game with a series starting tomorrow in St Pete.

It felt very odd for me to cheer for my new friends the Yankees against the Rays :biglaugh:

_______

Just caught the no-hit highlights congratulations to Carlos Zambrano

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That was quite a gem by Zambrano...Nothing like a neutral site for a hurricaned-out make-up game...I don't blame Astro's manager, Cecil Cooper for voicing his displeasure at the choice of Miller Park, or "Wrigley Field North" as the neutral site of a couple of Cubs-Astros games...Even though Houston, batted last as the 'home team', about 23,000 fans showed up on less than a day's notice, most of them seemingly making the 90 mile drive up I-94 from Chicago to Milwaukee....Milwaukee was chosen because it was a domed stadium with no football or home baseball games on the schedule...

Gotta be tough on the Brewer fans...On the same day, your team is swept and tied for the NL wild card spot by Philadelphia, your despised rival team to the south comes into your park and throws a gem in front of 23,000 jubilant Cub fans---who also happen to be your worst enemies...Brewer fans should be happy, 'tho, that the Cubs cooled the 'stros a little, since they are also nipping at their heels for the NL wild card....BTW, Zambrano's no-hitter was the first one ever thrown on a neutral site by a pitcher whose last name began with the letter "Z"....

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I didnt catch anything but the highlights after the fact ( one more reason I wish I had the MLB package) anytime anyone throws a no hitter its an incredible accomplishment...Zambrano's reaction afterward was great as well...good for him!

Not to take anything away from Z-nohit brano but Im hearing alot of chatter from the Astros way that arent pleased about the site selection ....moving it up to Cubs territory and especially when the Stros are in a fight against the Brewers for the WC.....not really a 'home game'

Surprising that they didnt select Arlington ...or Atlanta...or St. Louis.. or even a TripleA place somewhere in Texas to at least approximate somesort of homefield or 'neutral' field adavantage

Not a big deal (well at least to me--stros fans may differ) but not hard to see the stamp of Mr. Milwaukee Bud Selig behind it either.

Simon are you going to head to the friendly confines for the playoffs?

These (go) things (go) dont (go) happen (go) every (go) day (go) you (go) know

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I didnt catch anything but the highlights after the fact ( one more reason I wish I had the MLB package) anytime anyone throws a no hitter its an incredible accomplishment...Zambrano's reaction afterward was great as well...good for him!

Not to take anything away from Z-nohit brano but Im hearing alot of chatter from the Astros way that arent pleased about the site selection ....moving it up to Cubs territory and especially when the Stros are in a fight against the Brewers for the WC.....not really a 'home game'

Surprising that they didnt select Arlington ...or Atlanta...or St. Louis.. or even a TripleA place somewhere in Texas to at least approximate somesort of homefield or 'neutral' field adavantage

Not a big deal (well at least to me--stros fans may differ) but not hard to see the stamp of Mr. Milwaukee Bud Selig behind it either.

Simon are you going to head to the friendly confines for the playoffs?

These (go) things (go) dont (go) happen (go) every (go) day (go) you (go) know

Did you say something about "GO" :biglaugh:

I think one of the criteria about picking a site was the domed stadium...There were something like six or seven rainouts over the weekend---the WhiteSox doubleheader on Sunday was a scheduled day/night affair, but had to be delayed because of the rain..The ramifications of the hurricane caused a lot of bad weather throughout the midwest as well, so they didn't want to schedule the games at a neutral site, only to have them be postponed again...At least that's what they said...Plus, the D-backs were playing at home...Then again, the 'stro's mopped the floor with the Cubs at Wrigley just a couple of weeks ago, so once the game starts, you still got to get 27 outs to win the game---the 'stros just didn't manage to sandwich any hits in-between those outs...

The Chisox game on ESPN was a doozie...Reminded me of a stRangers game...Sox blew a 7-0 lead when Marcus Thames of the Tigers tied it in the top of the 8th with a grandslam, only to have DeWayne Wise hit a grand salami in the bottom of the 8th to win it 11-7...

Astros better get over their displeasure pretty soon...After five innings this afternoon, they still don't have a hit...

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