Baseball stuff

[Bob78164]

My two least favorite teams made the World Series. There is no side for me. I'd rather do colonoscopy prep every night for the week.

Sorry Bob. I really wanted your Mets to get in.

It turns out that O’Brien’s, the Los Angeles trivia mecca, also has become a hangout for Mets fans, so that’s where I watched yesterday’s game. I watched Game 2 from the top deck of Dodger Stadium, and that was a lot more fun.

But as a Mets fan, I’ve grown inured to disappointment. Perhaps next year I’ll get to break out the First Place thread, if only for a day. —Bob

[Vandal]

A map of who America is rooting for in the World Series:

[silverscreenselect]

I have to say people got their money''s worth in that first game of the World Series last night.

[Vandal]

First ever walkoff grand slam in WS history.

[Vandal]

Start spreading the news…

[littlebeast13]

If you want to win a World Series in the 2020's, you better have a Will Smith on your team...

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[BackInTex]

If you want to win a World Series in the 2020's, you better have a Will Smith on your team...

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Seriously? Had Kevin Hart fought back he'd been crushed.

[Beebs52]

If you want to win a World Series in the 2020's, you better have a Will Smith on your team...

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Seriously? Had Kevin Hart fought back he'd been crushed.

Chris Rock?

[littlebeast13]

If you want to win a World Series in the 2020's, you better have a Will Smith on your team...

lb13

Seriously? Had Kevin Hart fought back he'd been crushed.

Chris Rock?

Everybody hates Chris, including BiT...

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[BackInTex]

Seriously? Had Kevin Hart fought back he'd been crushed.

Chris Rock?

Oh, yeah. It was Rock. Even more, would have crushed Will Smith.

Everybody hates Chris, including BiT...

Never saw the show. But I like Chris.

[Beebs52]

I like Chris.

[Jim Rome]

Don’t call him Chris…

[Jim Everett]

Don’t call him Chris…

Hey, I was Will Smith before there was Will Smith!

Or that other Will Smith....


Or that other other Will Smith....


Now I'm confused...

[Vandal]

BREAKING: It’s been announced that Yankee superstar Aaron Judge will be in Times Square this New Year's Eve to help drop the ball.

[Vandal]

Netflix is showing The Comeback, the story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. They are interviewing many of the players from that season, including Curt Schilling, he of the bloody sock in Game 6 of the ALCS. Schilling is barely recognizable in the interview. I know he was diagnosed with oral cancer ten years ago and that can age a person quickly. He turned 58 last week.

I took these with my iPhone.

Spoiler

Fuck cancer.

PS The documentary is great!

[Vandal]

Dave Parker, Dick Allen elected to baseball's Hall of Fame

Dave Parker, the rifled-arm outfielder and 1978 National League MVP for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Dick Allen, the feared slugger for the Philadelphia Phillies and 1972 American League MVP for the Chicago White Sox, are the new members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Parker, 73, hit .290 with 339 homers and 1,493 RBIs from 1973 to 1991, making seven All-Star teams. Allen, who died in 2020, hit .292 with 351 homers and 1,119 RBIs from 1963 to 1977. He also was a seven-time All-Star.

The Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot considered players, managers, executives and umpires whose primary contributions came prior to 1980. A screening committee selected eight distinguished finalists for the final vote, with candidates needing to receive at least 12 votes from the 16-person committee that consisted of Hall of Famers Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Lee Smith, Ozzie Smith and Joe Torre, plus five executives/owners and five media members/historians.

Parker was named on 14 of the 16 ballots, while Allen was on 13.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/428 ... -hall-fame

[Vandal]

Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound tonight 21 months after the second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The Dodgers are hosting the San Diego Padres. Ohtani will bat leadoff.

[MarkBarrett]

Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound tonight 21 months after the second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The Dodgers are hosting the San Diego Padres. Ohtani will bat leadoff.

It was definitely a moment to watch.

Shoehei gave up a run (sac fly) on two hits with no walks and no strikeouts in his one inning. He did throw a pitch at 100 mph. E.R.A. is 9.00.

When Ohtani batted leadoff he became the first starting pitcher to bat leadoff since Alvin Dark in 1953.

Ohtani hit a double in the third inning to tie the game and get himself off the hook for the potential loss. The Dodgers went on to win the game 6-3 with a crowd of 53,000+ though not everyone was there at the beginning or still there in the 9th inning.

[elwoodblues]

The Dodgers went on to win the game 6-3 with a crowd of 53,000+ though not everyone was there at the beginning or still there in the 9th inning.

During Covid when games were being played in empty stadiums some teams put cardboard cutouts of fans in the seats. I was saying Dodger Stadium would be more realistic if they put the cutouts in the seats during the third inning and picked them up after the seventh inning.

[elwoodblues]

Also, is there a conspiracy theory that the National League adopted the designated hitter so the Dodgers could sign Ohtani? If not, where can I go to start one?

I like the Dodgers, and I like the DH rule. But this seems a little too convenient.

[littlebeast13]

Also, is there a conspiracy theory that the National League adopted the designated hitter so the Dodgers could sign Ohtani? If not, where can I go to start one?

I like the Dodgers, and I like the DH rule. But this seems a little too convenient.

It'd been coming for a long time, and given the Manfred rule changing era that's killed my interest in baseball, it was inevitable...

I heard a story at some point that the NL owners back in the mid 80's voted on whether to adopt the DH rule due to its success in the AL. It was a close vote then, and a few of the owners didn't even bother showing up...

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[littlebeast13]

From Wiki:

At the end of its three-year trial period, the American League kept the designated hitter, while the National League still refused to adopt it. In response to increases in American League attendance because of the DH,[30] the National League held a vote on August 13, 1980, to determine whether or not to adopt it. A majority of the 12 member teams was necessary to pass the rule, and the measure was expected to pass.[31] However, when the teams were informed that the rule would not take effect until the 1982 season, Philadelphia Phillies vice president Bill Giles was unsure of how the team owner, Ruly Carpenter, wanted him to vote. Unable to contact Carpenter, who was on a fishing trip, Giles was forced to abstain from voting.[31] Prior to the meeting, Harding Peterson, general manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was told to side with the Phillies however they voted. The final tally was four teams voting for the DH (the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres), five votes against (the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, and San Francisco Giants), and three abstentions (the Phillies, Pirates, and Houston Astros).[32] Five days after that meeting, the Cardinals fired their general manager, John Claiborne, who was the leading proponent for the adoption of the DH rule, and the National League never held another vote on the issue

[Vandal]

Watching pitchers bat was like watching the backup catcher pitch the last inning of a blowout.

[Bob78164]

Watching pitchers bat was like watching the backup catcher pitch the last inning of a blowout.

Watching pitchers bat led to "one of the great moments in the history of baseball."



Not to mention the great call that immortalized the moment. --Bob

[littlebeast13]

Not to mention the great call that immortalized the moment. --Bob

Which is a little dramatic given that Colon only batted a bit over 300 times in his career. Anyone who doesn't just stand there is going to run into a homer eventually...

Another anecdote I recall (and this happened against your team): Esteban Yan of the Devil Rays homered on his first pitch, and it was a no doubter. He said he just went up there flailing, and his blind squirrel moment just happened to occur right off the bat...

I always wanted the DH in the NL, but didn't mind the occasional pitcher batting moment. Brad Penny's first pitch, no-doubt grand slam in 2010 comes to mind. That swing ended his season and almost his career....

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