I'm a Phillies fan, but on my desk sits the baseball Mr. Seaver threw the pitch before his 1,000th strikeout. Willie Montanez hit it (foul) to my father, before missing the next one.
My first and only foul ball at my first baseball game, June 29, 1971. Who knew it would take 5+ decades to get another (including several seasons of tickets)? RIP Mr. Seaver.
I'm a Phillies fan, but on my desk sits the baseball Mr. Seaver threw the pitch before his 1,000th strikeout. Willie Montanez hit it (foul) to my father, before missing the next one.
My first and only foul ball at my first baseball game, June 29, 1971. Who knew it would take 5+ decades to get another (including several seasons of tickets)? RIP Mr. Seaver.
Earlier this year, as he was hitting a solid .219 after flirting with some records for a month or so last spring, one of the Giants announcers said of him, "He makes a GREAT first impression."
Every year I usually get in one or two rants about the blackout rule, how MLB hates its fans, and reminiscing about the good old days when WGN would broadcast all of the games that weren't nationally broadcast. At the end of last season though an amazing thing happened. The Cubs ended their contract with WGN and the two or three other stations the they had divided the games between and formed their own Marquee Network to once again carry all of the non-national games. Even more amazing Comcast got it onto basic cable by Opening Day. Once again I am able to watch every single game as god intended. This is of course greatly tempered by it being covidball instead of real baseball, but is was a multi year deal with Comcast so maybe we can get back to something close to normal before it ends. The new network is even better than WGN was too. Not only are they showing all the games, but they rebroadcast them two or three times before the next one. They have more pre and post game analysis and when they're not showing a game the programming is heavily baseball in general and Cubs in particular oriented with no Walker, Texas Ranger or Xena: Warrior Princess. Really the only thing WGN had that they don't was Harry. Once again I can go back to being pissed off when the Cubs are on nationally and I have to endure announcers who know nothing about the team and little about baseball and are likely to cut away to other games or maybe even tennis or golf or the like if they feel like it. It's a national broadcast tonight. It's nice to finally be able to hate Fox as much as they truly deserve to be hated.
So far this season the Cubs are 12-0 when they were broadcast on Marquee and 0-3 on the national broadcasts, but I'll probably watch it tonight anyway.
Location: 543 miles west of Paradis,1491 miles eas Gender:
Posted:
Aug 13, 2020 - 10:07am
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Knuckles?
Pitching mixup in Astros’ favor
The mound took center stage again at the end of the seventh when reliever Josh James ran all the way from the bullpen to pitch to start the eighth, only to find out he couldn’t. That’s because Brooks Raley, who got the last two outs in the seventh, had already tried to come back out of the dugout and ran onto the field, which meant he had to face at least one hitter.
Aug 12, 2020
·
1:05
Brooks Raley forced to stay in
Raley, acquired Sunday in a trade from the Reds, wound up pitching a 1-2-3 eighth and retiring all five batters he faced on the night. Baker said he gave Raley “knuckles” in the dugout after the seventh, but Raley didn’t know that meant he was done for the day.
“He doesn’t know me,” Baker said. “Next thing I know I look out there and he was the first one on the field and I said, ‘Oh man, you’re done.’ The umpire came out and said he had to face one batter since he crossed the line. ... It worked out great because he closed out the eighth very well.”
Raley thought Baker was giving him congratulatory knuckles.
“That meant something else,” he said. “Having been here a couple of days, I know now knuckles means ‘Have a seat.’”
The mound took center stage again at the end of the seventh when reliever Josh James ran all the way from the bullpen to pitch to start the eighth, only to find out he couldnât. Thatâs because Brooks Raley, who got the last two outs in the seventh, had already tried to come back out of the dugout and ran onto the field, which meant he had to face at least one hitter.
Aug 12, 2020
·
1:05
Brooks Raley forced to stay in
Raley, acquired Sunday in a trade from the Reds, wound up pitching a 1-2-3 eighth and retiring all five batters he faced on the night. Baker said he gave Raley âknucklesâ in the dugout after the seventh, but Raley didnât know that meant he was done for the day.
âHe doesnât know me,â Baker said. âNext thing I know I look out there and he was the first one on the field and I said, âOh man, youâre done.â The umpire came out and said he had to face one batter since he crossed the line. ... It worked out great because he closed out the eighth very well.â
Raley thought Baker was giving him congratulatory knuckles.
âThat meant something else,â he said. âHaving been here a couple of days, I know now knuckles means âHave a seat.ââ
Baseball has a lot of oddities, but the NL East right now...
- is lead by a team with 5 wins... - That is 1/2 a game ahead of a team with 8 wins... - who are 2 games ahead of a team with 4 wins... - Who are 1/2 a game ahead of a team with 2 wins... - Who are 1/2 a game ahead of a team with 5 wins?
2 teams have played 6 games....and 2 have played 13... and one team has played 9?
Has Kimbrel ever pitched well since coming to the Cubs? He was lights out in the first half of the Red Sox's championship year but got progressively shakier in the second.
He's had a few decent outings, but nothing close to what you would expect from looking at his pre-Cubs numbers, no.
6:50 pm EST At 9 -2 we are now tied for the best record in the majors with someone other than the Yankees. It would be OK if you end it now I guess, but you better hurry this could all change in a few hours.
Especially if they put Kimbrel in again.
Has Kimbrel ever pitched well since coming to the Cubs? He was lights out in the first half of the Red Sox's championship year but got progressively shakier in the second.
6:50 pm EST At 9 -2 we are now tied for the best record in the majors with someone other than the Yankees. It would be OK if you end it now I guess, but you better hurry this could all change in a few hours.
Cubs are now 7-2 and on top of the NL - end the season now, please.
6:50 pm EST At 9 -2 we are now tied for the best record in the majors with someone other than the Yankees. It would be OK if you end it now I guess, but you better hurry this could all change in a few hours.
I had the same reaction at a gut level when I stumbled across the Red Sox playing the Mets on Fox. From a distance it looked there was a group of fans behind home plate, surrounded by empty seats. I looked closer and realized those fans were just cardboard cutouts. Either Fox or the Mets were playing canned crowd noise. I couldn't watch that crap.
It may serve some useful purpose. In our first game against the Brewers they got close to having a bench clearing brawl because everyone could now hear all the trash talking from the other dugout. The following day they turned the volume up.
I think it may give a small advantage to the away team. Assuming you don't score in the top half of an inning it doesn't hurt you to walk a batter to set up a double play in the bottom half. Also strange is the situation where a team's best base stealer comes up with two away and first open. Do you walk him so he doesn't start out on second the next inning should there be one?
I don't think I'm going to consider it a real season no matter what happens. We had to endure our first extra inning nonsense last night. It ain't baseball, but it's all we got for the time being.
I had the same reaction at a gut level when I stumbled across the Red Sox playing the Mets on Fox. From a distance it looked there was a group of fans behind home plate, surrounded by empty seats. I looked closer and realized those fans were just cardboard cutouts. Either Fox or the Mets were playing canned crowd noise. I couldn't watch that crap.
They're all doing it, and it's amusing at first but once you zen in on the game and announcers, that all disappears. Some (all?) teams are using audio from the MLB video game. A little cross promotion, it usually sounds okay.
I hear you, but something about the whole arrangement seemed forced, empty and even a little creepy. I'm getting the feeling that MLB will have to shut down: a lot of players are testing positive.
As for the NFL, we'll have to see but there's a greater chance of transmission between players from what I've read. Eight players from the Patriots have opted out of the season and the team's linebacker corps is reduced to question marks. You have to ask if it's really worth the trouble of trying to play a season. My preference is to have leagues not play the season unless they can keep players in a bubble.
I don't think I'm going to consider it a real season no matter what happens. We had to endure our first extra inning nonsense last night. It ain't baseball, but it's all we got for the time being.
I had the same reaction at a gut level when I stumbled across the Red Sox playing the Mets on Fox. From a distance it looked there was a group of fans behind home plate, surrounded by empty seats. I looked closer and realized those fans were just cardboard cutouts. Either Fox or the Mets were playing canned crowd noise. I couldn't watch that crap.
They're all doing it, and it's amusing at first but once you zen in on the game and announcers, that all disappears. Some (all?) teams are using audio from the MLB video game. A little cross promotion, it usually sounds okay.
