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Baseball (the talkin' sport)


Tom Strange
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Maybe I'll just sit back and go with may the best team win, and enjoy whatever happens.

I think that is pretty much what I'll do although I have to admit that my heart is a little more toward the Rangers because of the years of talking about them on this thread.

I know that there is good folks in both cities that have been waiting nearly forever for this moment.

I think that its good for baseball that two teams that have never had the opportunity before will be competing...its bound to be a great boost to both places.

and....

it wouldnt be a World Series if i didnt post one of my all time favorite movie scenes...

..which of you nuts is watchin??? get those hands up...

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Go SF Giants! Not sure if I've chimed in on this Baseball thread but I follow the Giants and feelin' good now. Next stop - World Series next Wed. Game start is 4:57 pm West coast time. Giants and Rangers, AT& T Park.

We always watch the World Series no matter who's playing hiway29. It's the final playoff of the season so it's hard to beat if you like baseball.

mstart: I think that its good for baseball that two teams that have never had the opportunity before will be competing...its bound to be a great boost to both places.........agree widdat, completely.

I like the Rangers too and think this will be good competitive baseball. The Giants team this year has been really interesting to watch unfold and develop. I like Bochy's approach to managing the team, the players and the game.

The player's stories are both small and grand and there's more than a whiff of life's grit in their lives and careers. Contrasts abound - Andres Torres at 32, first time for a real spot on a Major League team. Madison Bumgarner turned 21 this year with a resume' that goes from High School to the Majors.

Some players on their way around again, others maybe on their way out, maybe for the last time and come to the team to make a contribution, not be stars. And end up being stars in a town that's embraced them as if they'd grown up there. They've got the honesty that goes with greatness, even the little kind - when they play badly they admit it, support each other openly and when they play great they celebrate together. Maybe not unique but it' just seems like the right way to do it.

They've got the trappings - The Beard, The Freak, the Old Guys and the Kids, the fans - the Panda hats (my daughter got hers at the home game 9/15 against the Dodgers and wore it as if it was as normal as wearing a watch). Sometimes they seem like they're teetering on the edge of failure and sometimes they crash but this season they've managed to bring it around enough times to succeed. If the Padres had steamed through winners they wouldn't be where they are but they didn't and this is where they're at, not expecting an inevitable win, earning every step forward. It's great baseball. :dance:

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Thanks for keeping me updated. My dad will be rooting from Heaven for this game. Also my neighbor for many years who passed away about a year ago. Baseball is a sport for these gentlemen.

Tanks, again. Without you I wouldn't know how to talk intelligently about these important things.

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Well, I've been watching the World Series for about 50 years without my team being in the big dance---I sure hope and pray that the Yankee "baseball fans" can survive their psychological trauma....I thought it odd that both League Championship Series' ended on a called third strike...A-Rod's was perhaps a little more understandable, being the Yankees were down by five and it was practically all over but the shouting...Ryan Howard's was a little less excusable...Tying runner at 2nd and the winning runner at first and you look at strike three at the knees to end your season??? Even in light of the hitting link that socks posted,that's a close call---go down swinging , for God's sakes...Howard didn't look like he was fooled---he just took a pitch that was too close to take in light of what was at stake...He's been there before, what the heck happened?...Anyway, hope it's a well played, exciting Series...

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Actually, I thought it was the other guy who said he wasn't going to be watching the Series because the Yankees were ousted...I really don't care to what extant the rabidness of what one's baseball fandom reaches...or their homerness....As a Cub fan, I've never had the pleasure of rooting for them in the W.S, but I still watch the Series, because I like to, I guess. ..Here in Arizona, I only know a few Yankee fans, and the only way I can engage in a baseball conversation with them is if we're talking about the Yankees...Sometimes it's difficult to get them to realize that there are people in Kansas City, Arizona, Walla Walla or Tucemcari who also happen to be baseball fans and really could care less about what's going on in New York...I suppose that they are not representative of all Yankee fans...

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Actually, I thought it was the other guy who said he wasn't going to be watching the Series because the Yankees were ousted...

Yeah, I'm that "other guy" but I didn't say I wouldn't be watching because the Yankees aren't in it. The main reason I won't be watching is because Texas is in it.

SF-Boston? Definitely watchable. Even SF-Tampa Bay would have been better.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that it turns out to be a ratings disaster.

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Yep, Howard took it looking alright. The radar image they showed after put the ball just picture perfect over the lower border of the zone.

Was it a strike? By the rader image and the ump call - it was. He didn't see it as a strike, otherwise he would have surely swung.

A squeaker. It's not a hitter's strike for sure. I think it gave Howard a very difficult choice to make but one he's no doubt made before.

I'd have thought he'd have hacked it if nothng else and taken a foul ball. Every added pitch in that kind of scenario adds more possibilities

to what Brian Wilson might have thrown next so if nothing else, keep him throwing.....

I'm happy with the outcome but I agree - it was a tight tight end.

And speaking of fast balls - the Giants will face Feliz soon enough. 100 mph? Sooooo....it's going to be some great baseball!

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Yeah, I'm that "other guy" but I didn't say I wouldn't be watching because the Yankees aren't in it. The main reason I won't be watching is because Texas is in it.

SF-Boston? Definitely watchable. Even SF-Tampa Bay would have been better.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that it turns out to be a ratings disaster.

I think the worst rated Series in recent memory was the Astros-White Sox in 2005...Strangely, the Sox had also not won a WS in like 90 years before then, but they've always been sorta the ugly stepsister in Chicago---I think the Black Hawks had a larger parade when they won the Stanley Cup...Had it been the Cubs, with famous Wrigley field and all, I'm sure the ratings would have been different...

I wouldn't mind if ratings went down and baseball lost some of it's popularity...As salaries, tickets, hot dog and beer prices go through the stratosphere, the one's who end up paying the price are the fans...

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Socks, the last hitter for the Mets in the Championship Series against the Cards went down looking a few years ago on a nasty curve---obviously fooled....I didn't see much movement on Brian Wilson's pitch (was he really with the Beach Boys?...Amazing how young black beard dye can make you look)...Obviously with the pressure of the situation, 3-2 count, Howard gets the call and he walks to first...But he's an RBI guy, paid to knock in runs when it counts...He's young, he'll get over it, but I would have liked to have seen him err on the side of aggression...

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The main reason I won't be watching is because Texas is in it.

O C'mon --if nothing else you have to like the Josh Hamilton story. I was very moved by his humility when he was named as ALCS MVP...I know that everyone who ever wins always thanks 'God' but when it is a former crackhead who just a few years ago was eating out of dumpsters it has a very genuine authenticity to it.

I know his is only one story in the backdrop-- but also every player, on both teams has each traveled a long and unique road to get to this point of making their childhood dreams come true...never mind what it will do for fans...

Dude--Its the World Series! whats not to like?

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Dude--Its the World Series! whats not to like?

Sorry, I can't get excited about either team.

Actually, we'll be lucky if we get to watch it here in the New York area. News Corp. has pulled Fox 5 off the air because of a bitter contract negotiation with our local cable provider (Cablevision).

So far, we've missed the entire NL playoffs and two weeks of NFL football (including last Sunday's Giants game).

I just decided, though, that I'm rooting for SF. George Dubya used to own the Rangers and I know he's a fan, so I'm rooting against them.

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Anyone bring up Umpire calls this year? The need for a better Vision Care program?

Lot of talk about instant replay in the game for settling challenges to the Ump's calls.

Good idea? Nutty?

I'm for elctronically-called balls and strikes. Nobody I've ever talked to agrees with me, though. I guess they prefer to keep mistakes and bad calls in the game.

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Couple writ's on the topic:

http://www.theyankee...-pitch-fx-22035

http://www.sciencene...kID=8&DocID=528

If a machine were used I'd want one that will yell "STUUUUUUrrrrrrrrahhhwwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiiKKKKK!!!!!!" :)

I definitely think there should be some means of accessing the replay from different angles, if needed.

Quickly - although right now I don't see how we could slow down the game any further. With every batter stepping out of the box after every swing, adjusting gloves, throwing some stink eye at the pitcher, racking the bat around a dozen time or so....going through several tap - wiggle - scratch - spit rituals and then redigging a hole to stand in at the plate - not to mention the time outs, throws to First, and.......I mean, what's another couple minutes an inning? There's a vacation after every pitch.

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No robots or machines calling balls or strikes...Not even worth arguing about...If the imperfections in the system of human arbitration is so bothersome now, I would say one is not paying close enough attention to the game being played on the field...The system we have now isn't perfect---which makes baseball alot like life in that respect...Perfectionists pursue little more than dreams, I read once...

I was explaining to somebody once how to attach a covered patio to a house...'First, you sguare it off to the house, using the '3-4-5' method of achieving a right angle...After you get the angle of the dangle and the meter of the peter using a plumb bob and whiskey stick, and measuring equi-distances between the existing structure, top and bottom, and new framing fastened straightly using a chalk line and laser level, tack it in place,...then stand back 20 feet and eyeball it...If it looks crooked, you screwed up somewhere'...I'll go with the human eyes over contraptions...

As far as reviewing homeruns, I think it's rather silly to expect a guy to make a call on a ball landing 200 feet away, so I'm ok with replay there...I'll say one thing...I think television has "queered" the baseball watching experience, ..to borrow a Wierwille-ism...You get used to seeing every close play 15 times on replays that that you almost get a little lackadaisical watching the action as it happens...

I did also notice in the NLCS that Roy Oswalt likes to mess with batters as far as timing goes...Normally a quick worker, on some batters he would seemingly deliberately stall---messing with their timing...Hitting is timing, and pitching is disrupting hitters' timing, I guess...

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I agree that timing and pacing are part of the pitchers (and hitters) strategic tools. Icing down a play either way can make a difference.

What I mean on the delays is that in every - single - pitch and bat sequence, many many batters practically get dressed again before they get set at the plate for the next pitch.

I've watched many many times where a pitch goes across the plate, strike/ball whatever. The batter doesn't swing. Nothing changes. They step out, redo each glove as if they needed it, and go through the same repeated rituals they did coming to the at bat. They'll do this after every pitch, swing or not. And the pitchers do the same kinds of things although I see that pitching would require more of a reset. Between the two players and the psyche side of it the whole thing takes forever at times.

I understand the mental part of it and the timing of it - although I think in Baseball we get visibility into the quirkiness of human nature, which is part of what makes it interesting. But it's gotten a little extreme over the years and seems to have become expected. There's the guy on the Rangers, might have been Howard - stands there at the plate and points his bat up and out towards the pitcher for - I counted it out at 9 -10 seconds several times while he stared at the pitcher. That's just lame IMO, looks stupid, to me. What's that doing? Get set and get ready to swing, there's a game going on.

Foul balls are where the replay would serve well I think. Saw several this year where the ball was clearly fair or on the line but called foul. The call's up to the Ump, agreed but when the Ump's call it "out" when it's on, there's room for debate. A ball on the line is considered fair. An inch one way or the other , if it's on the line it's on. Sometimes the Umps just don't have the view to what happened and I'd think they'd want to confirm their own calls.

Games go either way based on those calls. Maintaining a completely human measurement to the plays assumes there will be errors and there are. The fact that a guy on a couch has better views to what happens is interesting to be sure. Me, when I see the ball on TV the standard camera shot doesn't allow for depth, only height and a slight view into placement across the plate, so a strike on TV may not actually be correct. But hen a replay shows clearly what it was and it's clear the Ump called it wrong it is what it is.

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Games go either way based on those calls.

A game can end on a badly-called ball or strike. That's wrong.

Don't they use "electronic eyes" in pro tennis? Why not in baseball? Why make a stupid umpire's judgement a key part of the game?

I'm gonna keep talking about it -- maybe it'll catch on someday. People don't like change. And when it comes, it usually comes slowly.

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I've sat in the nose bleed sections of ballparks and would be somewhat amused at the hometown fans screaming "C'mon, Blue!" on a non-favorable ball or strike call to the home team,...as if their view from the third deck in foul territory was better than the guy's standing six inches behind the catcher...I guess part of the fun of baseball is to have somebody to exact your inner wrath on---most likely who's also out of earshot...

One thing you won't see on Baseball Tonight or ESPN is a playback of the three hundred or so pitches in each of the 16 daily games where the plate umps mostly got it right...Is the system really broken?...Do you trust photo radar?...They finally did away with it out here because it sucked and was too flawed...

One ump told me the strike he will never call is the nasty curve ball that crosses the plate at the knees and bounces in the dirt...Sure it's a strike, but everybody in the ballpark saw the ball hit the dirt---no way is he gonna look like a fool...

From the time a kid is in pee-wee league on up he's taught to protect the plate with two strikes on him...Expand the strike zone...One of the roles of the lead-off and number two hitters is to go deep in the count--not only to get a look at the different pitches the pitcher is throwing, but to also get an idea whether the plate ump has a tight or expanded strike zone...Any player will tell you that all they ask from the blue is a consistent strike zone---for both teams...I think the umps do a pretty good job...

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Good points there, Simon.

Actually my biggest complaint about the game itself is the amount of time between pitches (see Socks' post above). It slows down the game unecessarily.

Ever switch to a baseball game on TV after watching a football or basketball game? All I can say is: :sleep1:

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I heard some study recently that deduced more down time in football , than baseball-but it's a matter of perception.

If constant 'action' is the criteria, soccer should be the USA's #1 sport .

I do prefer being at a baseball game, over watching it on TV. Part of the problem is the camera showing nothing but the pitcher and batter until the ball is hit.

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I do prefer being at a baseball game, over watching it on TV. Part of the problem is the camera showing nothing but the pitcher and batter until the ball is hit.

Personally, I like the "mezzanine" camera angle they used to use in the old days. You rarely see that now.

I heard that in the future we may get interactive broadcasts where you can pick the camera angle you want. Now that would be cool.

Edited by soul searcher
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