MLB...League Championship Series....I'm Hooked!!!!!
Oct 21st, 2010, 06:29 PM
#22
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shanek - it's the greatest game. It doesn't get decided by time and the most difficult thing to do is hit a round ball with a round bat. You have to watch during the regular season and watch it and listen to the announcers. Then just listen on the radio. You are learning nothing with the pitch by pitch! I'm a bit disgusted this season, but it hooks me every spring. Go to a minor league game and spring training game - it's so much fun!
I spent a lot of time as a young adult watching baseball in bars while my future husband played darts (he's very good). I was young and cute, and men hit on me a lot. I usually scared them off when they realized I really was watching the game and knew way more about it than they did. My future husband just laughed at them as I rattled off the entire starting lineup's batting ave and ERA. That was before WHIPs. Such fond memories.... Oh to be young and cute and have a good team. Sigh.
I spent a lot of time as a young adult watching baseball in bars while my future husband played darts (he's very good). I was young and cute, and men hit on me a lot. I usually scared them off when they realized I really was watching the game and knew way more about it than they did. My future husband just laughed at them as I rattled off the entire starting lineup's batting ave and ERA. That was before WHIPs. Such fond memories.... Oh to be young and cute and have a good team. Sigh.
Oct 21st, 2010, 06:39 PM
#23
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We live in a house (in Texas) divided...
Me: Huge Yankees fan, trying lamely to root for Rangers and not succeeding.
DH: Go Rangers!
But now I am hooked on Giants-Phillies.
And now I want the Giants to win the Whole Enchilada!
Me: Huge Yankees fan, trying lamely to root for Rangers and not succeeding.
DH: Go Rangers!
But now I am hooked on Giants-Phillies.
And now I want the Giants to win the Whole Enchilada!
Oct 22nd, 2010, 05:37 AM
#25
There is a documentary done by Ken Burns about baseball. It is beyond excellent. Maybe you can get it from your library.
http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Film-...7754380&sr=1-1
Right now I am watching the one he did on America's National Parks. I am humbled watching it.
http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Film-...7754380&sr=1-1
Right now I am watching the one he did on America's National Parks. I am humbled watching it.
Oct 22nd, 2010, 05:56 AM
#27
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That documentary by Burns in unbelievable. Every decade was done as an "Inning". He just released another inning to cover everything since the release of the Documentary in 1994. Well worth watching.
That call on the foul bunt last night was pathetic. Other than that, it was a great game.
That call on the foul bunt last night was pathetic. Other than that, it was a great game.
Oct 22nd, 2010, 08:43 AM
#28
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I totally missed this thread.
ahotpoet - I think ESPN just had an article about those braided things. Usually it's just pitchers I see wear them. Apparently, some pitcher wore something that was supposed to give them extra energy, etc. (I don't know all the claims, but the necklace was supposed to do something good). And then others started wearing them, and they've become more popular.
ahotpoet - I think ESPN just had an article about those braided things. Usually it's just pitchers I see wear them. Apparently, some pitcher wore something that was supposed to give them extra energy, etc. (I don't know all the claims, but the necklace was supposed to do something good). And then others started wearing them, and they've become more popular.
Oct 22nd, 2010, 12:59 PM
#30
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I will have to check out the Ken Burns doco, thanks for the suggestion. Being such a huge sports fan, I am literally a "sponge" trying to soak up as much information as possible about my new found addiction.
Having not watched the game, did the bad call directly effect the outcome? It's a real shame if it did. There is a big push in cricket at the momment to use technology to decide tight calls. In some competitions they have introduced a challenge system similar to tennis. Also, the umpires on the field can call for a "third" umpire to review footage to assist them make the correct decision. I like it. Many others do not. There is so much riding on big time sport, anything that can be brought in to make sure the rules of the game are policed correctly should be at least explored, in my opinion.
Thanks for the explanation on Batting averages. Could anyone give me a concise breakdown on how a pitchers ERA is calculated? I could look it up but I am enjoying chatting to all you guys about it.
It is rainning heavily this morning, our time, which may mean that cricket is cancelled and I may get to sit home and watch game 6 in the Texas v NYY series....Go Rangers!!!! Actually, it may be better if the Yankees win so the series go's the distance.
Having not watched the game, did the bad call directly effect the outcome? It's a real shame if it did. There is a big push in cricket at the momment to use technology to decide tight calls. In some competitions they have introduced a challenge system similar to tennis. Also, the umpires on the field can call for a "third" umpire to review footage to assist them make the correct decision. I like it. Many others do not. There is so much riding on big time sport, anything that can be brought in to make sure the rules of the game are policed correctly should be at least explored, in my opinion.
Thanks for the explanation on Batting averages. Could anyone give me a concise breakdown on how a pitchers ERA is calculated? I could look it up but I am enjoying chatting to all you guys about it.
It is rainning heavily this morning, our time, which may mean that cricket is cancelled and I may get to sit home and watch game 6 in the Texas v NYY series....Go Rangers!!!! Actually, it may be better if the Yankees win so the series go's the distance.
Oct 22nd, 2010, 01:13 PM
#31
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ERA = # of Earned Runs allowed X 9 / # of Innings Pitched. Earned Runs are runs scored when there are no errors allowing the runners to reach base. Its a strange stat on how they are scored. Probably better off looking it up. But ERA is a good indication of how effective pitchers are. Using an ERA of 4, a pitcher would allow an average of 4 Earned Runs over every9 Innings Pitched.
That blown call may have lead to 2 runs as the runners did move up a base on it. But nobody knows what would have happened if it was called foul. May have gotten the next pitch down for a bunt or grounded into a double play.
If you come to the East Coast, take some time and head to Cooperstown, NY for the Baseball Hall of Fame. There are a lot of minor league teams too that you can enjoy.
That blown call may have lead to 2 runs as the runners did move up a base on it. But nobody knows what would have happened if it was called foul. May have gotten the next pitch down for a bunt or grounded into a double play.
If you come to the East Coast, take some time and head to Cooperstown, NY for the Baseball Hall of Fame. There are a lot of minor league teams too that you can enjoy.
Oct 22nd, 2010, 02:19 PM
#32
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shanek, since you are getting hooked, I would like to recommend a good book. A bookseller friend recommended it to me and I gave it to my fil last spring. (Of course, I read most of it first!). I very much enjoyed it - especially as someone who didn't play baseball.
"The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules and Its Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct " by Ross Bernstein.
Here are comments from the reviews:
The Code is an indispensable guide to the inner workings of baseball's internal system of justice and sportsmanship, all described by the men who've enforced it. You'll never watch a game the same way again.
"If my manager tells me to take out the second baseman on a hard slide and I don't do it, then I should get punished accordingly. I had at least better try to do it and make it look good, or I am going to be in the doghouse.... It's not personal, it's just business. That is just the way it goes down sometimes. Hey, that's the code." --Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center fielder
"I remember once during a lopsided game with the Cubs, Doug Dascenzo laid down a suicide squeeze on me in like the eighth inning.... So while he was running to first base, I drilled him right in the back. It had to hurt. As far as I was concerned, they were trying to embarrass me and my teammates, so I did what I thought was necessary to retaliate and send a message." --Baseball analyst and former "Nasty Boy" Rob Dibble
"Steroids are definitely a violation of the code. Players are looking for any way to enhance their performance, though, which ultimately enhances their paychecks. There are people out there who are willing to break the law if they think that they can get away with it, and some of them are compensated handsomely for cheating, which is really sad in my opinion." --Hall of Famer Dave Winfield
"The Code: Baseball's Unwritten Rules and Its Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct " by Ross Bernstein.
Here are comments from the reviews:
The Code is an indispensable guide to the inner workings of baseball's internal system of justice and sportsmanship, all described by the men who've enforced it. You'll never watch a game the same way again.
"If my manager tells me to take out the second baseman on a hard slide and I don't do it, then I should get punished accordingly. I had at least better try to do it and make it look good, or I am going to be in the doghouse.... It's not personal, it's just business. That is just the way it goes down sometimes. Hey, that's the code." --Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center fielder
"I remember once during a lopsided game with the Cubs, Doug Dascenzo laid down a suicide squeeze on me in like the eighth inning.... So while he was running to first base, I drilled him right in the back. It had to hurt. As far as I was concerned, they were trying to embarrass me and my teammates, so I did what I thought was necessary to retaliate and send a message." --Baseball analyst and former "Nasty Boy" Rob Dibble
"Steroids are definitely a violation of the code. Players are looking for any way to enhance their performance, though, which ultimately enhances their paychecks. There are people out there who are willing to break the law if they think that they can get away with it, and some of them are compensated handsomely for cheating, which is really sad in my opinion." --Hall of Famer Dave Winfield
Oct 22nd, 2010, 06:07 PM
#34
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Baseball writers? How about *A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti
* by A. Bartlett Giamatti (1998), excerpt from "The Green Fields of the Mind "
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone. ..."
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone. ..."
Oct 22nd, 2010, 06:24 PM
#35
Tchoiniere, Have you seen Burns' doc on New York? Fascinating! If I had seen ity while I was living there as a teenager I would have had a completely different appreciatin for the city and the people in it.
ShaneK and everyone else
You will love that documentary.
Karens, do you think there are magnets in those things or what?
Have the game on now. Top of the 7th. Looks like the Yankees have their work cut out for them
ShaneK and everyone else
You will love that documentary.
Karens, do you think there are magnets in those things or what?
Have the game on now. Top of the 7th. Looks like the Yankees have their work cut out for them
Oct 23rd, 2010, 03:53 PM
#40
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ahotpoet - I've read the titanium necklaces are supposed to increase energy. I found the article I just recently read:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big...urn=mlb-114513
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big...urn=mlb-114513
