Baseball Thread...

[Ruckus]

And tonight reminded me/us again why baseball still can be the greatest game in the world.  Tonight was simply the most incredible night of baseball I have ever seen.  Sure it wasn't Game 7 of the World Series...it was better!  Still shaking

[WSS2]

was all that real? all of that? in one night?  I cannot recall a greater evening of sports...at least night in recent memory...unreal.  I'm a Red Sox fan, bummed out, but I mean...wow...as a sports fan, I am not sure I'll ever see that again in my lifetime

[Bigsky]

Red Sox suck...how the hell did TB come back from being down 7 nothing? It's not easy being a RS fan... :'(

[WSS2]

Papel-crazy can shoulder the blame there...you're asked to pitch1 inning, season on the line, get it done ... if he sticks around, I hope he ditches his super-lame windup / intimidator shoulder drop ... looks SO stupid when he does that

Also am coming around that closers are a dime-a-dozen, if one isn't working, swap him out immediately...should have moved away from Papel weeks ago

I need coffee like a mother to get through today

[iLikeBeer]

Red Sox suck...how the hell did TB come back from being down 7 nothing? It's not easy being a RS fan... :'(

Cry me a river.  I wish the Indians could have 1/2 the payroll as the Red Sox afford to have?! 

What's funny is, the Red Sox and their insanely high payroll are cleaning out their lockers today just like my beloved Indians and their piddly payroll!   ;D


As for last night, that was one incredible night in sports.  Four games to decide the final 2 playoff spots.  Two of those game go to extra innings and one of those games was decided in the bottom of the ninth???  Not to mention, one of those games included a 6 run 8th and a game tying homerun in the 9th to key a comeback from a 7-0 deficit???  Freaking INSANE!   :D

The MLB playoffs have a tough act to follow for sure after last night!

[ophidiophobia]

As a Red Sox fan I'm glad it is over with. The team flat sucked this month. I look for the team to have a different look to it after the nose dive that was September. Couldn't give two shits about the teams left, but I guess I'll root for the Cardinals since they are close to Oklahoma even though the Phils will beat them handily.

[bowl of soup]

As this forum's long suffering Rays fan - I am still drunk and I find it impossible to focus on anything beside last night.  Not sure when I will get better.  I was at the Trop, sitting in the nosebleed.  Magic.

There was a weird buzz when Longo came up in the 12th.  Half the crowd knew that the Sox had blew it, but the scoreboard was slow to put up the final.  The score finally flipped to 4 - 3, there was a roar that went through the crowd and Longo stepped out.  2 pitches later and the game is over.

Best fact about last night:  That weird little low wall in left at the Trop was not always like that.  They cut down that portion of the wall so that Carl Crawford could rob people of home runs down the line.  Its called the "Crawford Cutout."  Is that irony?  Karma?  Thats just a double off the wall if it weren't for CC.

So thanks Carl for taking all of money from Boston (I really don't blame you for that one), for stinking it up in Boston all year, for dropping that slidding catch last night, and for the Crawford Cutout.

And Dan Johnson (the Great Pumpkin around these parts) you can retire and never do anything again - we'll take care of you for the rest of your life.

[Ruckus]

Wow Soup! :D  Congratulations to you and all the Rays fans!  I can't imagine what it must have been like to be there.  Thanks for the Crawford Cutout tidbit.  I had no idea and makes it that much more entertaining. Last night had me thinking about many things.

1.  I had no horse in the race other than the O's and my disdain for Red Sox fans in general.  I'm not pointing out individuals here because I've met a great number of nice Sox fans but we all know the ones I'm talking about.  The bandwagon is lighter today.  For example, I was at Wrigley earlier this month and a wasted older Red Sox fan tries to buy a cigarette off of me for 3 bucks.  He proceeded to tell me in his Sox hat and shirt how he had travelled all the way to Chi to go to Wrigley telling me how they understand our pain. ::)  I gave him a smoke because I won't take money for them, but in hindsight I should have charged him 5 bucks.  Moral of the story...the Red Sox weren't even playing but he was decked out in their gear and just wanted to blab about them.  It was a Cubs/Pirates game.  Then I asked him what Jim Rice's career season high in home runs was?  ;D

2.  How would this have played out if MLB didn't have the "1 seed plays the wild card unless they are in the same division" rule?  I'm sure the Yanks would have done EVERYTHING to make sure that the Sox and Rays played 163.

3.  WSS2 pointed out what I've been harping on for years.  Closers are so overrated and overpaid.  Additionally, the Save is the most arbitrary statistical category ever that is in no way indicative of a player's value or ability.  Wow, Craig Kimbrel had a lot of saves this year and was in fact dominant early on.  Papelbon only blew a few saves all year.  Woopity doo.  There is Mariano Rivera and then everyone else.

4.  What if the Cards had Wainwright?

5.  Soup you also got me thinking about something just now.  Pure hypothetical and probably an apples and oranges kinda thing.  I've been a Cubs fan for about 16 years now and an O's fan for 5.  I was wondering whether I'd rather be at game 5 of a Cubs blowout victory to win their 1st World Series in over a century or be at an extra inning walk off win to make the playoffs after coming back from 7-0 in the 8th inning of the last game of the season?  That will never happen again and you will always have that with you.

[Ruckus]

Ohhhh yeahhhh.  Don't get me started on Phillies fans.  jrud, yagtf and peafunk are alright in my book.  Otherwise...

They are like frickin' locusts!  Where did they come from?  At that same Wrigley game, 4 Phillies bros, decked out in matching Phillies gear top to bottom, yelling and screaming at a Cubs/Pirates game.  I don't get it.

Remember the Lovely Ladies from Baseball Stars? ;D

[Jaimoe]

Two of my least favourite teams in any sport, Red Sox and Braves, collapse and miss the playoffs on the same day! If only my Jays had better pitching (even average would have made the season interesting). Oh well, go Rays and Brewers... and Halladay! I hope the Yankees get clobbered.

[mahg33ta]

As a Sox and Oriole fan, that was sure a strange night.   But I was 100% pulling for the Sox because I knew my son would wake up crushed this am (he did) and I wasn't ready for the season to end.

The mind boggles at how low a likelihood that all unfolding was.   Rays down 7-0 in the 8th.  Yanks have lost a game like that twice before IN THE HISTORY OF THEIR FRANCHISE.   Coupled w/ the 9th inning Sox disaster.   

A one game head-to-head game today would have been good drama, but hard to argue anything could top what happened last night.

[bowl of soup]

5.  Soup you also got me thinking about something just now.  Pure hypothetical and probably an apples and oranges kinda thing.  I've been a Cubs fan for about 16 years now and an O's fan for 5.  I was wondering whether I'd rather be at game 5 of a Cubs blowout victory to win their 1st World Series in over a century or be at an extra inning walk off win to make the playoffs after coming back from 7-0 in the 8th inning of the last game of the season?  That will never happen again and you will always have that with you.

I can't tell you how rewarding that was last night.  Strange how a silly game can do that to your soul.  I've been with the Rays since the inception and we've been good since '08 and we will be good for many years to come, so we're past the whole "good for you plucky underdog" thing, but wow.

We just get killed all day by ESPN - they hate us and can't stand that we are good - it's bad for business.  So all we ever hear about is how lousy our fans are and how we never show up.  Thing is we do have good fans and I'll spare you the litany of excuses as to why we don't draw well.  Last night did more for us than we can ever messure.  The fans there and the kids...just wow.

[peafunk31]

Ohhhh yeahhhh.  Don't get me started on Phillies fans.  jrud, yagtf and peafunk are alright in my book.  Otherwise...

They are like frickin' locusts!  Where did they come from?  At that same Wrigley game, 4 Phillies bros, decked out in matching Phillies gear top to bottom, yelling and screaming at a Cubs/Pirates game.  I don't get it.

Remember the Lovely Ladies from Baseball Stars? ;D

lol, you say that now. But be warned when i come down to Camden Yards next year for a Phils - Orioles game I plan on using you as a human shield if the Baltimore fans start throwing shit at me. I'll be an easy target in my super-de-duper awesome Chooch jersey

[Ruckus]

Ohhhh yeahhhh.  Don't get me started on Phillies fans.  jrud, yagtf and peafunk are alright in my book.  Otherwise...

They are like frickin' locusts!  Where did they come from?  At that same Wrigley game, 4 Phillies bros, decked out in matching Phillies gear top to bottom, yelling and screaming at a Cubs/Pirates game.  I don't get it.

Remember the Lovely Ladies from Baseball Stars? ;D

lol, you say that now. But be warned when i come down to Camden Yards next year for a Phils - Orioles game I plan on using you as a human shield if the Baltimore fans start throwing shit at me. I'll be an easy target in my super-de-duper awesome Chooch jersey

I'm really looking forward to that man!  We will make it happen.  Just don't let any strange O's fans near your IPA's

[BH]

The best thing that has ever happened to the Braves is having the Red Sox collapse eclipse their own miserable finish.


11 wins to go.

[peafunk31]

Ohhhh yeahhhh.  Don't get me started on Phillies fans.  jrud, yagtf and peafunk are alright in my book.  Otherwise...

They are like frickin' locusts!  Where did they come from?  At that same Wrigley game, 4 Phillies bros, decked out in matching Phillies gear top to bottom, yelling and screaming at a Cubs/Pirates game.  I don't get it.

Remember the Lovely Ladies from Baseball Stars? ;D

lol, you say that now. But be warned when i come down to Camden Yards next year for a Phils - Orioles game I plan on using you as a human shield if the Baltimore fans start throwing shit at me. I'll be an easy target in my super-de-duper awesome Chooch jersey

I'm really looking forward to that man!  We will make it happen.  Just don't let any strange O's fans near your IPA's

;D I'll be imbibing through an IV so there will be a 0% chance of contamination

[capt. scotty]

Red Sox  ;D


Pirates  :(

[ericm]

Yanks playing an elimination game is rough enough on the nerves, but good - God!! How is any Yankee fan's heart going to be able to take it with AJ f'ing Burnett pitching?

Hopefully he settles in, cause that first inning was scary.

[peafunk31]

Not sure where the good luck came from, but I scored a lower level outfield ticket to tonight's Phils - Cards elimination game :D Citizens Bank Park is going to hit a new level of insanity! I'm going to ditch the rally towel & instead swing a dead squirrel around by its tail. LETS GET IT ON!!!

[ericm]

Not sure where the good luck came from, but I scored a lower level outfield ticket to tonight's Phils - Cards elimination game :D Citizens Bank Park is going to hit a new level of insanity! I'm going to ditch the rally towel & instead swing a dead squirrel around by its tail. LETS GET IT ON!!!

Enjoy the game.  I hope your Phillies fare better than my Yanks did last night.  ::)

What a bummer that was. I think I could have handled it better if Detroit just clocked the hell out of A.J. the other night, and ended it there. What a freakin tease to win game 4 on the road behind him, only to come home, and not be able to get it done.  :(

At least you got Doc going tonight. Should be a good one, and I'll be rootiing for ya.