October 02, 2007 05:30 PM
Baseball Playoffs Begin! Open Thread
Many of C&Lers know I'm a huge baseball fan and post about the Yanks here...It starts today. The Phillies vs Rockies, Boston vs Angels,Yanks vs Cleveland,Cubs vs Arizona...SBNation has blogs that cover all of the teams. The Phillies were amazing and it's good to see Chicago represent!
The San Diego/Colorado game was awesome Monday night. I thought Holliday was out at the plate, but....TBS is doing the games this year and looks pretty decent.
Your thoughts please...
CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS CUBS
Go Rockies!
It's only been 99 years. Go Cubs!!!
Since my beloved White Sox aren't in the show, Go Diamonbacks!
I hear Iraq is going to get one of the expansion teams next season.
Talk about planning to stay!
Not to be as redundant as rasta - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUBBBBBBBBBBBIEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, John, but......F**K the Yanks! :-)
Since my Tiggies couldn't pull it out this season, I'll get on the Cubs bandwagon.
I have to mention that hockey's starting, since it's a real sport. Let's go Canucks!
dude, Brewers shoulda been there.
boooooooooo cubs..... hehe
Red Sox Rule!
I'm definitely rooting for my Cubbies. I'm hoping that the overall balance of the team and the postseason experience pay off here.
Go Cubs Go!!
Anonymous Source @ 8:
Thank gawd Versus does such a great job covering the NHL.
/sarcasm.
Go Wings.
I don't have a favorite baseball team. But when football playoffs begin I'm all about that.
Go Rockies! Go Diamondbacks!
Go Mariners! (Oh well, there's always next year)
The Colorado Rockies/ San Diego Padres playoff was an amazing game (even if Holiday never touched home plate).
but anyways, indians will ROCK the yanks world... please
both my dislike for the yankies and my love for cleveland are at work here
I doubt the guy who drove through our neighborhood today trying to sell burritos out of his wreck of a car to residents doing their yard upkeep will be attending the playoffs.
I'm a Royals fan through and through. Hey Red Sox fans, I bet I've have more frustration, anger, and sadness built up inside from my team than you do from yours!
L.A. Confidential @ 17:
Bush Banana Republic
The Indians are going to kick their asses.
C.C. and Carmona are the best one two punch in baseball.
That said I wish you luck because I think you're a good guy.
Only our Mets could collapse worse than the Phillies did in, what, the 70s? Oy.
Since this is about throwing balls and all, I thought I would toss this good news out there. Senator Pete Domenici said today he will retire after this term.
Go Cubbies. Win one for Ernie.
I'd like to see a Cubs/Yankees Series (Cubs in 6, BTW). Perhaps
HRC would then answer Timmeh's question.
go cubs go, go cubs go, hey chicago whad'ya say, chicago's going to win today!
TBS doesn't look very decent if you have only cheap-o cable without TBS.
Nice to be privileged isn't it?
To be able to drop all our responsibilities to watch ball.
LETS GO RED SOX LETS GO RED SOX LETS GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!
This is a baseball biased crowd here. And baseball sucks. Ergo: umm... I guess I can go on wikipedia and check if there are any rules that make this silly looking game interesting.
And NO, I am not mistaking it for english cricket... that game does not look silly, it looks stupid.
Go Tigers. Go get some middle relief.
I think I'm going to pull for the Rockies or the Phillies to defeat whichever overpaid roster represents the American League.
I think I can also speak for everyone when I say, "Go (away) Tim McCarver."
jharp @ 20:
and the INDIAN FEVER GROOOOOOOOWS...
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
Good point LA--only reason we can is that the Cubs/D-backs game is on at 9PM Chicago time.
I only wish it was on free tv...
Since I have to ride home with them on the train every night this goes on I am not so happy.
Tip peeps, if you wait until you are close to the park to start drinking instead of getting hammered on beer 20 miles out of town perhaps you wouldn't have me telling you you can't pee under threat of beating on the train in which I commute every day.
Morons.
I feel privledged that my job allows me to watch all of the games online while I'm doing
my job and while I'm doing my job I'm looking forward to the Yankees/Rockies World Serious! Or, anyone besides the Boston Choke Sox!!!
LETS GO YANKEES!!!
THIS IS THE YEAR FOR THE 27th WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP.
JessK @ 12:
Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.
Lets go Cubbies!!!
Out!
But that's the past. Bottom of the ninth now and the Phils have a chance to do the same. 2 down...
Heres to a great post-season even if my Mariners did not make it.
Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are going to win today!
Heres to the Cubbies making it to Series - only be beaten by that junior league - hopefully by the Angels!
I predict the Rockies will sweep the series. (You heard it here first.)
So how many people who are Yankees fans would be Yankees fans if the Yankees were not winning games? Being a SF/Bay Area resident I saw that once the 49'ers started consistently winning back in the 80's, so many people started being Niner fans yet now those fans have all gone missing. Same thing with the Chicago Bulls when they had Jordan and were winning. I guess I don't get the fair weather fan thing, where people choose to cheer for a team just because they have the best chance of winning. The same thing happens in other areas as well, like politics.
Hey, if watching a baseball game or any other sport takes your mind off all the bad stuff for a little while, I'm all for it. It's healthy to take a break for fun. When I watch football all weekend long, my mind takes a break and I relax and enjoy it. I shan't apologize to anyone for that and you guys shouldn't either.
The only thing "amazing" about the Phils today is how sleepy their bats became so fast.
And how wide the strike zone has become here in the bottom of the ninth. Sheesh.
Same old same old.
:(
And if the Fightin's can't get in, I'm rooting for a Red Sox/Cubs series.
Because man, I cannot stand the Yankees. Not even a little.
rasta @ 1:
I concur.
Who cares about sports?
Not me. Hope there's not a bunch of it coming this fall.
Aren't there already SO MANY sports sites?
Go Giants!
Go A's!
...oh yeah, never mind.
JRo @ 27:
*clap clap clap-clap-clap!*
yea brooklin dodgers yea brooklin dodgers! gooooooooboston black socks
Go Cubs! Go Sox! Make it happen!
So bluemd and rasta, who are you pulling for? ;)
Always the same story - people hate on the Yankees more than they actually love their own team. So sad.
That said, Lets Go Yankees!
gooooo batavia moosenuts , go fight win yeaaaaaaaaaaa
Not true at all, DocG . . .
The Red Sox will always be #1 in my heart. My second-favorite team is whoever is playing the Yankmees.
Good to see Philly lose.
And as usual dip wad TUCKER is late to the party and is gonna have a MediaMatters person on and will bash them.
And the rockies just beat the phillies!!!!!!!!!!
i have been a life long and loyal supporter of the san francisco jockstraps theyve never let me down yet yay
Any fighting Dems out there interested in boxing? Check out the Sports Blog Network boxing site, Bad Left Hook (I'm write for it, for what it's worth).
www.badlefthook.com
The Rockies will win of course. They just took game one from the Phillies. Strong pitching including relief, aggressive and opportunistic at the plate and as good a defensive team as there is. Ya'll might as well go home. Just statin' the facts.
Haven't seen a Major League game since the last strike and never intend to.
Holliday never touched home plate. But the umpires blew a call earlier in the game that cost the Rockies a home run. The game probably wouldn't have gone into extra innings if they'd gotten the call right.
And...if Holliday had been called out, the inning was still alive. And...even if they hadn't scored in the 13th, the Rockies were still tied. They deserved to win.
Kald @ 28:
Perhaps you enjoy football more? http://www.baseball-almanac.com/humor7.shtml
Robert Lockwood Mills @ 59:
All very true... and still a great game... and there would have been a man on second and third with only one out at that point... but I kinda hated to see the game end, my friend.
pissed off patricia @ 40:
AMEN!
Ah baseball, that esoteric game. A lot of people don't like baseball; they call it slow and/or boring. Once upon a time, it was our national pastime. To be sure, a great many of us still love the game, but it has been supplanted by the brute force of football. Don't get me wrong, football is good times. Baseball, however, is the thinking man's game.
It requires patience and a Zen like ability to stand around doing nothing while being completely present in the moment, fore there is no second chance to react to a smash into the hot corner. Yoda would appreciate baseball: do or do not, there is no try.
Even to watch the game, you must understand the plots and subplots between pitcher and batter. Will there be a pinch hitter? The guy coming up has good numbers against left handers with runners in scoring position, but he's only 1 for 21...lifetime...against the pitcher on the mound. And he's not just scratching himself, he's making the other guy wait...hoping to throw off his timing by even milliseconds.
I realize that baseball was huge at the same time as McCarthy, but i wonder how much better off we would be as a nation of baseball fans. Ok, i know, W is one of the biggest baseball fans out there...that only goes to show that it is a beautiful enough game for even the bad guys to enjoy.
Indians-Cubs...and go Cubbies. Chicago-Boston would be a cool series if only for it being played in the two oldest ballparks we have, but that would give the Red Sox nation something to be obnoxious about.
Sheesh, the best record in the National League and I count one -- ONE! -- person pulling for the Diamondbacks. I'll make it two. But how you get the best record when you're outscored by 20 runs for the year I'll have a hard time figuring out, and I watched the team all year. (P.S. I grew up following the Pirates, but they're so last century.)
rasta @ 1:
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((G)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
LETS GO RED SOX!! :D
Slaughter @ 64:
Ya gotta have heart! lol
State Department has a new blog. I like this one: State Department is talking in the comments about an 'expeditionary force': US Government cannot manage a sole contractor like Blackwater: How does State propose to manage an entire military campaign? Sounds like a violation of Separation of Powers. State Department should stop hiring mercenaries to bypass Congressional oversight.
[...] Original post by John Amato [...]
GO ROCKIES!!!
LibertyLover @ 62:
I use baseball for just this reason. I played a lot of shortstop as a kid in the CYO leagues of NY and love the game...With all the stuff we cover it's a nice break....
LibertyLover @ 60:
LOL no, good link tho, ty :)
If I watch sport (wich hapens very rarely and then only on TV), it needs to be something fast and furious with blood in it, like european rugby, or similar.
The Romans had the collusium.
We have TV Sports.
Unplug it, go play with friends in the park.
XL @ 37:
NEXT YEAR! The mojo is rising
Well, as a Cubs fan, we take heart every year knowing that if our team does not win, it's NOT the end of the world. Scary thing is: Nostradamus picked the Cubs to win it all this year. They might... and, it could be....
Anything can happen. Cubs win it all and All shall be revealed. What's next? Cheney and Bush at the Hague being tried for war crimes?
patthemonkey @ 58:
not even after they averted another strike, and continued the greatest game on the planet?
I wish Willie Randolph was fired from the Mets. I hate him and his 70's porn mustache
John, the play at the plate was close, but the catcher bobbled the ball. Safe.
Baseball sucks.
A player hits .225 and makes several million.
A common man earning say $25-35K takes the kids to the park and ends up spending $100 plus.
Cable surcharge for viewer rights.
Excise tax on the common man & Tax breaks to multimillionaire owners for a stadium construction (No it does not create a better economy for that city)
Cable profits create a disproportionate scale of competitiveness based on the fact the larger city teams can entice & pay players from the smaller city teams (kinda like a farm league)
At one time one player (Rodriquez??) made as much or more than the entire Twins pitching staff
Thus same teams in playoffs year in & year out (&if not the mgr & genl mgr should be shot)
Goes to show how excellent some mgrs are, like LaRossa & Kelly of the Twins before he retired
That's my 2 cents worth, more if I was from a big city
I am a life-long Red Sox fan, but more, I love baseball. I think that it's the finest sport. Objectively, I think that the Red Sox will make the AL Championship series; the Angels just don't have it this year. The Yankees-Indians series should be a great one and a toss up as should the Phillies-Rockies. I think that, even though the Yanks have pounded the Indians this year, the Indians should win in five because of the Yankee pitching. However, those Yankee bats can raise hell with a pitching staff and I would love to see the Yankees play the Red Sox again. I think that the Rockies will also win in five because they have the best momentum right now and the Phillies might have blown their wad in the race against the Mets. The Diamondbacks I'm afraid are going to make Cub's fans wait another year. If the Red Sox meet the Indians I think it will be the Red Sox. If they meet the Yankees the Yankees should win. The Rockies will be the Cinderella team to take the National League against the Diamondbacks. World Series prediction: Red Sox against the Rockies and the Red Sox win in six. You heard it here first.
Go Cleveland (you know you want to cheer them on... unless your hopeless.)
EJ @ 73:
I have no TV I keep track of the game on GameChannel on the computer or listen in my truck in the driveway. So instead of playing with my friends in the park why don't I just stay home and play with myself?
The Nation is at peace.
patthemonkey @ 58:
Please help. I've never understood this.
What's wrong with a group of people with common economic interest banding together to act as one.
And I might add they have won every single time. And with fantastic results.
Keep in mind it's the millionaires versus the billionaires.
Many polls agree: Yankees fans tend to lean conservative, while Red Sox fans are more progressive in political thought.
Didn't know that you are a Yanks fan John. I am also pulling for the team from NY that made to post season. But that is mostly because I live in Japan and Hideki is a local favorite! But my loyalty still falls with the team from my youth, you may have even heard of them: The Pittsburgh Pirates. Roberto may not hold all the records but he was the finest baseball player that ever played the game. What a thrill he was to watch.
zugzug @ 83:
And everything is copacetic on earth
Iran was invaded today
by the Project Object & The Ensemble
Modern
playing one of the best
Frank Zappa songs
Ever
Strictly Genteel
After Iran invaded the US the previous Tuesday
With the best Tabla players
Ever
Go Cubs
Retired Navy @ 86:
Need I remind you Red Sox have Matsuzaka, and Okajima?
Matsui is way past his prime.
Dr. Matt @ 13:
No GO WINGS
A lifelong fan, when I was kid back in Detroit I knew the name of every player on the team and most of the players on the other teams. Dem Der hockey guys is tough eh? hoser.
soothsayer @ 88:
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 82:
It is your right to watch or participate in any ball game you desire LOL. This is America. We are free for a few more weeks at least.
For many, being progressive or liberal isn't a full time commitment and that is OK, it is your lives, but the truth is: ANY TV is bad stuf. And hero worship of corporate owned sports franchises and their millionaire players playing a school yard game, well, you know...
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/
http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongrelationships/tp/Turn_Off_TV.htm
http://www.vikarsrant.net/Rants/TVAddiction.htm
EJ @ 91:
Well, I haven't had TV for almost ten years. But growing up I wanted to be one of two things: either a cowboy or a baseball player. Maybe I haven't grown up yet because I still love baseball. However the cowboy thing died when I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee when I was in high school.
Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, Oh please, LET THIS BE THE CUBS' YEAR!
I'd be happy to see the Cubbies take it-even though I haven't followed BB since the Mariners were great, before the Yankees overwhelmed them with their buying power and grabbed up Tino. And Griffey left. And Buhner retired. And A-Rod went to Texas. And Edgar retired.
my thoughts on baseball john or realy any sport bloggings..
Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz
if i want a sports blog i'll go to sports blogs, what I want are Crooks & Liars :) and good music of course :)
My three favorite blogs:
Crooksandliars for politics
firejoemorgan.com for (sports) humor and critique
fafblog (may it rest in peace), the bloggiest blog that ever blogged
GO YANKEES!
My thoughts John? Go Yanks!!! I'm still pissed off at the Mets for screwing up the chances for a subway series but I like the Yanks' chances for taking the series.
John Amato @ 71:
Well, If you grew up in NYC, then I'll forgive you your love of the Yankees... but my secret pleasure is loving to hate them... :) although, over the years, the yanks have had a ton of ex-Mariners on the team so... it's kinda hard to root for the player and not the team... lol
My thoughts: Captain Fabulous.
Well, I love that dirty water...Oh, Boston, you're my home!
AshWilliams @ 9:
couldnt agree more...go whoever is playing the cubs! (I'm a temporary Dbacks fan, apparently)
Vexed @ 93:
no
Way to go Beckett. Sox all the way!
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 92:
I LOVED baseball, just not the last 20 years. In my native Bay Area I saw Mays, Cepeda, the Alou Brothers, Sad Sam Jones, at Seals Stadium with it's wooden seats and SF fog.
I also have been decades without a set. Those who are mesmerized with it will defend it as if there is some redeeming value. Have you ever been around people who communicate in TV trivia metaphors? It's like a foreign language. They do that here with references to a Jack Bauer? and his escapdes.
Nice meeting you Abbey'sGhost.
rasta @ 1:
CUBS will lose-of course. Yanks or Sox will lose to the Rockies--you saw it here first.
EJ @ 91:
That's a pretty big blanket statement there EJ. While you may not like sports or TV, the fact of the matter is that both the television industry and baseball do provide a good living for lots and lots of people.
As a matter of fact, I don't know that I could come up with many better examples of truly effective trade unions than the Major League Baseball Players Association or the WGA and DGA. Every advance over the last several decades in the level of compensation has been achieved through collective bargaining, which is, let's face it, a very solid lefty progressive ideal.
Full disclosure-- I work in television. Fuller disclosure-- GO D'BACKS!! (sorry Cubbies, I wish we weren't playing you in the first round.)
:( my poor padres... it was a great game and a good year though.
they needed to add a big bat all year... MB doesn't cut it... although I did grow to like him.
Go Angels!!
it irks me to no end that one of my fav people in the world is a goddamn yankee fan, the antithesis of all that is right and good and liberal
and holliday was safe, according to the ump, he touched the plate, and barrett dropped the ball...and all is right with the world
and i hate to be a supporter of the god squad, but because they are mostly home grown and have a relatively tiny payroll, and their winning it all means that another expansion team wins it before my beloved giants....im rooting for the rox
go tulo!!!!!!!!!
rasta @ 1:
Vexed @ 93:
If not this year - we got next. After all, we won last '08!!
I am over fifty and grew up when Baseball was clearly the National Pastime. Here in Denver, we did not have a major league team until 1991, when I was in my late thirties.
Yes, there are fewer Denverites than Cubs fans and those who joined the Harry Carey bandwagon. The Dodgers are hated here because of all the former LA residents who Californicated Colorado. Everyone hates the Yankees, except for the front runners. The Red Sox have won, so that is not new.
I will not try to oushout the other fans, but please understand the joy that will come to those who have waited for the majors in Denver and now have a chance for the parade downtown.
Sox 1.
Bush 0.
Life long Cardinal fan here pulling for the Cubbies! Holy Cow!
Let me be the first on this thread to say it:
Holliday-NL MVP 2007,Rodrigues AL MVP.
Third generation, long suffering Phillies fan here. It's no easier from 3,000 miles away!
Yawn! Sorry, but baseball's only interesting in a documentary.
Football? Well, what's not to like? Cheerleaders in fetching outfits, primadonna's with multi-milliion dollar contracts getting free rides through school because they know how to handle a football and too stupid to realize when they've had one too many hits.... okay... Go Hockey!
EJ @ 105:
Nice to meet you as well EJ. Just an aside: Even though I still live baseball I miss seeing the greatest pitcher of my lifetime and the one seen on this page-Sandy Koufax. Class and guts all the way. I also miss being able to drive once a year to see the Montreal Expos. National League baseball is so different than American League ball and going to a different country with a different language and culture....ah. Alas, nothing stays the same in life whether good or bad.
Cubs vs Red Sox would be nice
Lets send A-rod and the Skankees home early
Since my beloved Chicago White Sox are not in the playoffs, I have no choice but to root for whoever faces the Cubs. Therefore, GO DIAMONDBACKS!
You've waited 99 years, why not just give up at this point?
Like Jon Stewart said the other night, they ripped out my heart and stomped on it. But I still love the Mets, and hate the Yankees. Go Indians!!!
Meet the Mets...
He WAS out at the plate. The strange thing is that the Padre Manager, Bud Black, just sat in the dugout. Why didnt' he go out and argue? And why didn't the Padre catcher tag the runner anyway?
GO RED SOX!!!!
libdemKS @ 18:
Maybe now, but prior to 2004, the previous 86 years were ROUGH! (Not that I was alive for the majority of them, but still....) What in the Royals history compares to 1978, 1986 or 2003? That loss to the Yankers in '03 was the most devastating sports-related disappointment I can recall. Afterwards, Boston was full of numb zombies for about three days who could barely speak. The only time I remember seeing that many sad faces was on 9/12/01. That's not a joke....seriously. Maybe we take baseball and the Red Sox a little too seriously 'round these parts. haha
Did someone say Hockey? They still play that? (skate up the ice, skate in circles, skate down the ice, skate in circles. Hit someone. Hit someone else. Try to undress your opponent).
If the truism "Good pitching beats good hitting" then the Red Sox should win (only Major League team with a team ERA < 4.00, and that is with designated hitters against them).
Red Sox are to progressives what Yankees are to corporations.
The problem with baseball losing appeal compared to football is that baseball is best experienced in person. There is nothing better than a sunny day at Fenway. The problem there is the cost of going to the game and the scarcity of tickets (at Fenway anyway). It's so bad that you go to Baltimore or Tampa to see the game and it feels like a home game.
With Football, the game is better on TV, in from the weather.
Football is more corporate, all of the cogs have to click. Individuality is discouraged.
Baseball is almost all in the individual pitcher-batter matchups.
Baseball is a laconic Sunday in the summer.
Football is war in the winter.
Being a Yankees fan is like rooting for Mastercard;
It's like cheering for ExxonMobile.
Ugh......eenuff with the Yankees already.
I hate that TBS is the sole outlet for the TV broadcast of postseason baseball. Local markets are getting screwed and viewers have to have TBS to see any of the series. I'm from Denver and enjoy the guys that cover all the Rockies games during regular season. Now I have to listen to the banter of guys I don't know and who act like they know my team.
I would listen to the radio but can't get any AM reception in my office.
Go Rockies!!!
TBS/TNT blows! With the exception of Stockton and Orsillo. Why not have guys that actually know the teams in the booth? The only thing worse than the stiff play by play is the crappy studio trio. I'll take anyone but the Stankees...
BRONX BOMBERS AGAIN! ALEX R = MVP!
Go Diamonbacks!
2-0 against the national sportswriters beloved Cubbies.
How do you like us now?
Get off your bandwagon and into reality.
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