Baseball 2012

[derspiess]

Re: the Tigers ALCS sweep, the MLB channel showed a graphic that listed the last 5 teams to sweep the LCS.  Only one of them went on to win the World Series.  Momentum and continuity are huge in the postseason.  Too easy to get cold if you wrap up the LCS too early.

[Valmy]

Re: the Tigers ALCS sweep, the MLB channel showed a graphic that listed the last 5 teams to sweep the LCS.  Only one of them went on to win the World Series.  Momentum and continuity are huge in the postseason.  Too easy to get cold if you wrap up the LCS too early.

If the Cards wrap it up tonight I don't think the whole extra day is going to kill the Tigers.  Hopefully none of their pitchers will injure themselves playing Guitar Hero this time.

[derspiess]

Re: the Tigers ALCS sweep, the MLB channel showed a graphic that listed the last 5 teams to sweep the LCS.  Only one of them went on to win the World Series.  Momentum and continuity are huge in the postseason.  Too easy to get cold if you wrap up the LCS too early.

If the Cards wrap it up tonight I don't think the whole extra day is going to kill the Tigers.  Hopefully none of their pitchers will injure themselves playing Guitar Hero this time.

That's true.  I guess deep down I'm expecting the Giants to win tonight.  Lance Lynn is pitching and he got shelled by them in Game 1.

But there's one thing we can be sure of:  when the WS starts next Wednesday the baseball media will still be talking about A-Rod more than either of the teams that are actually playing

[Valmy]

I don't get the A-Rod Controversy.  He has a long history of this sort of thing, Torre used to move do things like have him bat 7th in the post season because he has a tendency to go ice cold when the games mean alot.  So after all these years why is this still a story?

[derspiess]

I don't get the A-Rod Controversy.  He has a long history of this sort of thing, Torre used to move do things like have him bat 7th in the post season because he has a tendency to go ice cold when the games mean alot.  So after all these years why is this still a story?

Because the Yankees are out of the playoffs and New York sportswriters need something Yankee-related to write about. 

IF they're not still talking about A-Rod next Wednesday and if it ends up being a Cards-Tigers series, the story will be about how boring a Series it is because neither coast is represented.

[Valmy]

Because the Yankees are out of the playoffs and New York sportswriters need something Yankee-related to write about. 

IF they're not still talking about A-Rod next Wednesday and if it ends up being a Cards-Tigers series, the story will be about how boring a Series it is because neither coast is represented.

I find that hard to believe the Cards and Tigers have a long history together.

[Valmy]

Speaking of Tigers-Cards I remember sitting next to this guy at a UT football game in 2006 and my Dad and I were discussing the Tigers-Cards World Series that year.  So the guy turns to us and says he is a huge Cardinals fan and how he went and saw Curt Flood speak in 1993 and after the speech there was an autograph session.  So the dude gets something signed and mentions how he was at Game 7 of the 1968 series and before he could even finish his sentence Flood competely loses it, he starts screaming at him and telling him to get the hell out there.  Man even 25 years later that really bugged him.

Forgive me if I have mentioned that story before. 

[katmai]

Re: the Tigers ALCS sweep, the MLB channel showed a graphic that listed the last 5 teams to sweep the LCS.  Only one of them went on to win the World Series.  Momentum and continuity are huge in the postseason.  Too easy to get cold if you wrap up the LCS too early.

If the Cards wrap it up tonight I don't think the whole extra day is going to kill the Tigers.  Hopefully none of their pitchers will injure themselves playing Guitar Hero this time.

That's true.  I guess deep down I'm expecting the Giants to win tonight.  Lance Lynn is pitching and he got shelled by them in Game 1.

yeah but think Zito is starting for Giants so push.

[The Minsky Moment]

I don't get the A-Rod Controversy.  He has a long history of this sort of thing, Torre used to move do things like have him bat 7th in the post season because he has a tendency to go ice cold when the games mean alot.  So after all these years why is this still a story?

Torre dropped him low but didn't bench him outright.
I agree though this is only a story because it involves ARod and because of the east coast media interest.

[derspiess]

Because the Yankees are out of the playoffs and New York sportswriters need something Yankee-related to write about. 

IF they're not still talking about A-Rod next Wednesday and if it ends up being a Cards-Tigers series, the story will be about how boring a Series it is because neither coast is represented.

I find that hard to believe the Cards and Tigers have a long history together.

I agree with you, but just going by past experiences with World Series matchups not involving a team from either coast, sportswriters in NY and LA will be much less enthused over a Cardinals-Tigers series.  Whereas had it been Yanks-Giants it'd be a circus, and not just because of Brian Wilson's zaniness.

Speaking of Tigers-Cards I remember sitting next to this guy at a UT football game in 2006 and my Dad and I were discussing the Tigers-Cards World Series that year.  So the guy turns to us and says he is a huge Cardinals fan and how he went and saw Curt Flood speak in 1993 and after the speech there was an autograph session.  So the dude gets something signed and mentions how he was at Game 7 of the 1968 series and before he could even finish his sentence Flood competely loses it, he starts screaming at him and telling him to get the hell out there.  Man even 25 years later that really bugged him.

Forgive me if I have mentioned that story before. 

Awesome.  Flood was a hell of a competitor, and his screwup in that Game 7 must have haunted him for the rest of his life.

Seems like the old-timers generally carried a much greater (or at least longer lasting) passion for the game than the players of today.  When I was a kid, dad always took me to autograph signings (more as a mule to get more stuff signed than anything else, though he'd never admit to that) and the old guys would always talk about the game as if they were playing it just yesterday. 

I remember Cool Papa Bell trying to give me some hitting advice when I had him sign something at a Negro League event.  Hell of a nice guy but I could barely understand what he was saying

[The Minsky Moment]

Seems like the old-timers generally carried a much greater (or at least longer lasting) passion for the game than the players of today.

Don't know about that - watching Smoltz work the playoff games he seemed to have some very vivid recollections of his Braves heydey and the 90s.  Ken Singleton who now does TV work for the Yankees is the same way - he recalls specific games and even at bats he had in the 70s.

[derspiess]

Seems like the old-timers generally carried a much greater (or at least longer lasting) passion for the game than the players of today.

Don't know about that - watching Smoltz work the playoff games he seemed to have some very vivid recollections of his Braves heydey and the 90s.  Ken Singleton who now does TV work for the Yankees is the same way - he recalls specific games and even at bats he had in the 70s.

But that demonstrates their memory.  Valmy's anecdote about Flood demonstrates passion.  Though I'll admit my contribution seemed to support the memory side of it.

[alfred russel]

I don't get the A-Rod Controversy.  He has a long history of this sort of thing, Torre used to move do things like have him bat 7th in the post season because he has a tendency to go ice cold when the games mean alot.  So after all these years why is this still a story?

Torre dropped him low but didn't bench him outright.
I agree though this is only a story because it involves ARod and because of the east coast media interest.

I don't like how the Yankees handled the ARod thing. I know he was playing poorly, but the whole "ARod chokes in the postseason" thing is way overdone--his numbers in the postseason are good (if behind the regular season) and he has had some big series. The Yankees really needed production from him, and putting him on the bench against RHP isn't going to let him work through the slump. It was as though the Yankees bought into the media myth that the guy can't play in the post season.

Though I don't know how the story leaked, I also don't like the story about him getting the lady's phone number during the game. It comes across as a "dump on the exiting players/managers once the season has crapped out" deal that the Red Sox perfected the past couple years.

[alfred russel]

I will add the caveat that I exclude game 5 against the Orioles from that. It is a tough call, but in a do or die game I understand sitting a slumping player.

[The Minsky Moment]

I don't like how the Yankees handled the ARod thing. I know he was playing poorly, but the whole "ARod chokes in the postseason" thing is way overdone--his numbers in the postseason are good (if behind the regular season) and he has had some big series. The Yankees really needed production from him, and putting him on the bench against RHP isn't going to let him work through the slump.

But both Chavez and Ibanez were better hitters against righties during the season, and there was some reason to believe that nagging injuries were hampering Rodriguez' performance at the end of the year.  There was a legit reason to sit him.  The messaging could have been much better.