by JazzNU Of course this is who the Mets just hired as their new GM. So, so on brand to get themselves into this kind of situation. Swear they can barely go 2 weeks without having a problem.

I'll post a link to the Tweet, that also leads to the ESPN story on it. The Tweet has a word that might be against site rules. But the gist is captured in the headline alert I got on my phone - NY Mets GM acknowledges sending unsolicited, explicit images while working for Cubs


https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1 ... 3797967872

Full ESPN article - absolutely worth the read. It's worse than the initial blurb. - https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/307 ... icago-cubs

by ponchi101 As a man that has lived almost all his life in a male chauvinist society, high with misogyny and all the other ills of that kind:
What makes a man believe that sending a woman a picture of our weirdest looking body part will cause any effect other than revulsion? Guys, it looks like a fungal infection, even if you don't have a fungal infection!!!
I mean, don't fire him for the offensive nature of the act. Fire him for being stupid. Period.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:40 pm As a man that has lived almost all his life in a male chauvinist society, high with misogyny and all the other ills of that kind:
What makes a man believe that sending a woman a picture of our weirdest looking body part will cause any effect other than revulsion? Guys, it looks like a fungal infection, even if you don't have a fungal infection!!!
I mean, don't fire him for the offensive nature of the act. Fire him for being stupid. Period.
If a woman isn't interested in you why would you think showing her your genitals would make her stop what she's doing and call you so you can hook up? I've never understood sending that kind of pic to someone you don't know. Sharing pics between consenting adults can backfire too. Maybe he should've sent her his MAGA cosplay pics... :lol:

by JazzNU He was fired this morning. The team president was at the presser and said they received glowing character references during the interview process about him. A female reporter asked him "did you consult any women?" and shouldn't be surprised that the answer was no. Whew! Do better Mets, it's 2021.

by Deuce He'll likely re-surface as the public relations director of the Astros. :D :roll:

by ti-amie

by JazzNU I'm sick of the Barry Bonds not being in there. He was a HOFer long before the steroid use and everyone agrees that is the case, so the punishment for the steroid use that you're not sure who else used is tiresome. Did you not already let in Mika Piazza? Mike was great, but let's not pretend he was more impressive than Bonds. When some of these other guys go in 10 years from now who have super suspicious histories but because of their team, don't get talked about much, it will be even more annoying that he's not in.

Wonder when the vote was taken though. Curt was out here defending the seditionist mob, so I'm thinking this is the closest he'll ever get.

by ponchi101 I am on the other side. It was the reason I stopped following MLB. Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, Clemens, Palmeiro and in a few years, A-Rod... I would feel so weird letting them in when we knew they are using all those things.
Agree with you about Piazza.

by JazzNU But there's a lot of people who were using that didn't get the spotlight like those athletes, that's the issue. Piazza isn't even a secret and he's still in, which is outrageous and makes zero sense.

And I wasn't even thinking about A-Rod. He's gotten his public Scarlet A. But like Big Papi? Barely a word when everyone knows he was using. But he gets revered and will sail into the HOF as if we didn't know. He's in the exact same boat as A-Rod, a positive PED test that went public. But he's likable and you know, Boston. So who cares?

The unequal treatment makes MLB even more of a joke to many. They want to be all holier than thou about steroid use. But only sometimes. In some cases, they're willing to look the other way.

by ti-amie I agree about Bonds. If Piazza is in he should be in.

by Deuce
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 12:43 am I am on the other side. It was the reason I stopped following MLB. Bonds, McGuire, Sosa, Clemens, Palmeiro and in a few years, A-Rod... I would feel so weird letting them in when we knew they are using all those things.
^ I agree.
I believe all of the above players either admitted to steroid use, or there was irrefutable evidence of their use. For the others (Piazza, Ortiz, etc.), there may or may not have been suspicion, but, as far as I know, there was no admission from the players or irrefutable evidence of their use.

Any player who significantly cheats (and using steroids is significant cheating) should never enter the Hall of Fame - no matter what their career was like before they became cheaters.

by JazzNU You're wrong about that. Positive PED test and admitted use.

by Deuce
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:21 pm You're wrong about that. Positive PED test and admitted use.
I've just checked - Piazza did admit to using 'Andro' while it was still legal to use it in MLB. Ok - based on that, he DOES NOT get a pass from me. If using a substance helps you perform your tasks better, then it's cheating, whether it is legal to do so at the time or not. The fact that 'Andro' was later banned by MLB highlights the fact that it was always cheating material.
So... Piazza in the Hall of Fame? No.

I've also done some checking on Ortiz. From what I see, he has admitted only to 'shopping at GNC' before he was told not to. He does not admit to any PED use. He says he is afraid of putting any chemicals in his body.
There is a matter of his name coming up as having tested positive for PEDs in 2003 - but that it very murky, as in unclear. He denies he ever tested positive. So the jury is still out on him.

All that said, I maintain that anyone who ever used PEDs should not be in the Hall of Fame of any sport. They should consider themselves very fortunate to have had the careers that they had without being thrown out of their respective sports.

by JazzNU He was the NL Cy Young winner in 2020.



by ponchi101 How are they paying these salaries with the future still so cloudy because of the pandemic? I mean, the parks will not be full this season, and the economy will continue to be difficult for the millions that can buy the products endorsed by athletes.
I just don't understand it.

by ti-amie

Image

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:17 pm How are they paying these salaries with the future still so cloudy because of the pandemic? I mean, the parks will not be full this season, and the economy will continue to be difficult for the millions that can buy the products endorsed by athletes.
I just don't understand it.
Remember when the owners were telling us all how poor they were last spring?

Unless things change, it doesn't matter that MLB's overall popularity has waned, the number of games it plays drives their market more than anything. The local TV deals and local advertising for their market on top of the national stuff means they basically print money. Claims of being poor were a joke. Any whining about losing billions needs to be set against the fact that they've been making billions for years, so a down year or two cutting into that revenue is nothing.

by JazzNU

by JazzNU
'Make amends'? Seattle Mariners CEO Kevin Mather can't take back those 45 disastrous minutes of disrespectful words


by Jeff Passan


Over the course of a 45-minute chat to a local Rotary Club in early February, Seattle Mariners CEO Kevin Mather disparaged a Japanese player for not learning English, belittled a star prospect from the Dominican Republic for his language skills and derided another top prospect while admitting to manipulating his service time. He called his team's best pitcher "very boring" and embellished the pitcher's actions in a clubhouse incident, told another falsehood about a well-respected veteran and complained that the franchise's best player over the past decade was "overpaid."

Any one of these blunders is incalculably foolish. Together, they expose pathological levels of arrogance, hubris and myopia. This was one of the 30 people entrusted to run a Major League Baseball franchise before Mather resigned from his position Monday afternoon.

It wasn't just that Mather said what he did. It's that he thinks it in the first place. And that he believed a group of Rotarians represented the right audience to tell his warped version of the truth. And that in an apology, he deemed the episode a "lapse in judgment," as if bigotry is a one-time thing you try out on a call with strangers, or telling fake stories about the people who are the heart of the business you're supposed to be running constitutes good management.

The mistrust sown by his comments reverberated deep in the player ranks Sunday, sources told ESPN. The gamut of feelings ranged from "angry" to "sad" to "what the [expletive] was he thinking?"

Apparently Mather emptied his reservoir of candor during the Q&A, because his statement alternated between disingenuous -- him trying to take ownership of his comments on baseball operations decisions when they clearly reflect organization-wide priorities -- and hollow.

Mather's statement that he is "committed to make amends" and will "do whatever it takes to repair the damage I have caused to the Seattle Mariners organization" sounded rather familiar. Perhaps it's because in 2018, after a Seattle Times report exposed two complaints from female employees against Mather, he said: "I am committed to ensuring that every Mariners employee feels comfortable and respected."

I wonder whether Julio Rodriguez feels comfortable and respected. He is 20 years old and one of the best prospects in baseball, a slugging right fielder from the Dominican Republic. When asked about him, Mather said: "He is loud, his English is not tremendous." Two years ago, the Mariners thought enough of Rodriguez's English to post a video of him speaking in it on their YouTube channel. His English sounds pretty good, and I don't imagine it has worsened since.

I wonder whether Jarred Kelenic feels comfortable and respected. He is 21 years old and the Mariners' other prized outfield prospect. The organization thinks so much of Kelenic, Mather told the Rotarians, it offered him a six-year contract with three club options. Because Kelenic turned it down, he said, he will be starting 2021 in the minor leagues, though the Mariners plan on bringing him up in mid-April, at which time they'll have ensured he remains under team control for an extra year. Everybody knows a foundational element of comfort and respect is service-time manipulation.

I wonder whether Marco Gonzales feels comfortable and respected. He is the Mariners' ace, a 29-year-old whom Mather considers "very boring" because ... he doesn't throw very hard? Anyway, Mather delighted in telling a story about Gonzales "pushing [former teammate Mike Leake] into the locker" after Leake resisted team rules. The problem, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN, is that the story is untrue. While Gonzales did confront Leake, he did not lay hands on him.

I wonder whether Mitch Haniger feels comfortable and respected. As was the case with most of Mather's comments, they included compliments, and initially he spoke well of the 30-year-old who has missed the past 1½ years due to injury. After suggesting Haniger will be an All-Star this season, Mather said, "he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder as we talk about our prospects and these young kids. He's mentioned more than once: What about me?" According to a source close to Haniger, he has not discussed his standing with regards to the coming prospects.

I wonder whether Kyle Seager feels comfortable and respected. Since he debuted in 2011, Seager has compiled 32.2 wins above replacement. That's more than that of Evan Longoria, Anthony Rizzo, Nelson Cruz, Justin Upton, Justin Turner, Michael Brantley and a host of others who played in the previous 10 seasons. Before the 2015 season, Seager signed a seven-year, $100 million contract extension. Over the past six years, according to FanGraphs, he has produced $147.7 million in value. But Mather wants to say he's overpaid.

I wonder, most of all, whether Hisashi Iwakuma feels comfortable and respected. In January, the Mariners brought back Iwakuma, who pitched very well for the team over six seasons after coming over from Japan, as a special-assignment coach. After explaining the hiring, Mather's first words to the Rotarians were: "Wonderful human being. His English was terrible." Mather felt comfortable enough to air a grievance: "I'm tired of paying his interpreter." He smiled and laughed as he said it.

Iwakuma is 39. He made nearly $50 million with the Mariners. He doesn't need this job. He doesn't need this organization. He doesn't need someone who is going to look at his desire to be understood as a weakness. And he damn sure doesn't need to be judged by someone who was promoted even after he was the subject of sexual harassment complaints for allegedly rubbing one female employee's back without permission and making inappropriate jokes about women in the office to another employee.

This is how bad culture takes root. More than a decade ago, two women reported Mather to human resources -- a department he oversaw at the time. They left with settlements, according to the Seattle Times, totaling more than $500,000. He remained employed. Mather then kept ascending -- to president and, eventually, CEO. It took a newspaper to expose his past misdeeds.

He did it himself this time. And whether he was puffing himself to sound like someone who matters -- he spoke with confidence of an electronic strike zone being implemented within two years -- or actually is a person of consequence no longer matters. He was the CEO of an organization -- and the kind of guy who tells stories in which people from foreign countries where they may not have had the opportunity to learn English are the punchline.

Actually, Mather did that on the Rotary call, too. In talking about the improvements Seattle had made to its Dominican academy and educational programs for players, he recounted that the team would give teenagers from Latin America a $30 per diem.

"Surprise, surprise!" Mather said. "They'd get in trouble because they wouldn't know how to speak the language or make change or even buy dinner."

Surprise, surprise. Just like that. Never considering what so many teenagers in baseball need to do: go to a foreign country, one with as many potential hazards as the United States, and pack into a tiny apartment, five or six blow-up mattresses on the floor because the sport doesn't pay its minor leaguers enough to get a place with your own bedroom, and try to learn how to navigate all that while spending the rest of the day figuring out how to hit 98 painted on the corner.

It's the easiest thing in the world to sit in a tower of privilege and look down on others, to denigrate, to act with impunity because history showed you could without consequence. That's the lesson here. That's the takeaway. I couldn't help but think of one other thing, though, after hearing Kevin Mather blather on for 45 minutes.

He's the last person who should be talking about others being bad at speaking English.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/309 ... tful-words

by ponchi101 Kind of person that needs a CAT Scan immediately, to find that brain tumor...

by ti-amie He thought he was in a safe place where he could say what he said. I'm glad someone there was disgusted and dimed him out.

by JazzNU Sigh. Texas.



by ponchi101 And of course, no one in Texas will take his mask off to chomp a hot dog down.
Positive aspect: Texas will be the Sweden of this second part of the experiment. See how fast can you really open up.

by ti-amie My father, ad other old time Mets fans, must be spinning.


by ponchi101 Will sports teams learn? "DO NOT include any politicians in your teams". It is too polarizing, for and from either side.
Plus: What can Chris Christie bring to a baseball team, other than organizing a hot dog eating contest?

by ti-amie

by skatingfan :shock:

by ponchi101 Certainly brought enough for the whole team...

by JazzNU So, so mad, but can't even pretend this doesn't ring true. I was dying when I saw this.



by ti-amie


by ponchi101 Moving the ASG from Georgia? Heck, move the Braves back to Milwaukee or Boston, for (expletive)´s sake.

by JazzNU Sports and entertainment that could be moved hightailed it out of North Carolina when they passed that BS a few years ago. I'd be great if it happens here, it's a great warning shot for states looking to follow suit.

by patrick However some states won't care at all

by JazzNU Haha. Mets lost ground in this deal since just this morning.




by patrick Overpaid, IMO

by JazzNU Awesome! I thought it would happen when they players floated the idea, they've strengthened their union again after their battle with they owners last year.



by ti-amie I'll be supporting MLB this year. Not in person but watching as much as I can. This is a great move.

by ti-amie MLB is the only major US Sport that isn't preceded by "The". I saw a huge discussion about this on the bird site the other day.

by ponchi101 Good move by MLB but others should join. The Hawks are playing; they should do something. The Falcons should be next.
There is no way we can expect The Masters/Augusta National to do anything, given their history. And the PGA has no balls in issues like this so we can't expect anything from golfers. But more needs to be done.

by JazzNU Maybe the Hawks, Falcons, Atlanta United FC will do something, but I wouldn't count on it. What happened in NC, for example, was that they loss special events more than anything else, they never lost Panthers or Hornets games. They lost things that have somewhat easy ability to up and leave for a different site, not ones that are tied heavily to the area. Part of why the "this will hurt Georgia" thing is a bit overblown, is that they will still have revenue from Falcons, Braves, etc. from all their homes games. They won't go under in the least. But special events? Gone. Those special events bring a lot of money, each one typically brings tens of millions. Likely more important now than ever before to have those special events, so they could use the revenue boost and they won't be getting it from the MLB.

I fully expect the Atlanta Open will go off without a hitch. I've told @Ti before that watching that tournament has been real interesting in years past.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 11:33 pm Maybe the Hawks, Falcons, Atlanta United FC will do something, but I wouldn't count on it. What happened in NC, for example, was that they loss special events more than anything else, they never lost Panthers or Hornets games. They lost things that have somewhat easy ability to up and leave for a different site, not ones that are tied heavily to the area. Part of why the "this will hurt Georgia" thing is a bit overblown, is that they will still have revenue from Falcons, Braves, etc. from all their homes games. They won't go under in the least. But special events? Gone. Those special events bring a lot of money, each one typically brings tens of millions. Likely more important now than ever before to have those special events, so they could use the revenue boost and they won't be getting it from the MLB.

I fully expect the Atlanta Open will go off without a hitch. I've told @Ti before that watching that tournament has been real interesting in years past.
Isn't that the Isner Open?

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 5:00 am
Isn't that the Isner Open?
Totally.

by ti-amie The folks who think what MLB just did is somehow wrong should look at the reaction from some quarters of the political universe.


by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Nah. Keep it in the south. Someplace nearby. If you host it in a Yankee state, the message is not the same.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:01 pm Nah. Keep it in the south. Someplace nearby. If you host it in a Yankee state, the message is not the same.
Where though? Florida? Maybe out West?

by ponchi101 Florida Marlins. Imagine that: the MLB would rather hold the ASG in Florida than in your place, because you are TOO racist.
The equivalent of telling Budweiser "your beer sucks" and then buying a case of Miller Light.

by JazzNU I don't think so. Political message doesn't need to be sent with the selection. And rewarding states that may not have passed similar laws yet but are trying very hard to soon and their efforts are well known, doesn't make a bit of sense either.

MLB has enriched certain teams a bit too much in the last year and need to strike a balance, especially because one team should still be in the midst of being severely punished. Certain places shouldn't be getting it and that most definitely includes Texas and Florida. Maybe it'll happen, but I can't imagine that sitting well with the owners as a whole.

West (but not CA or AZ), Midwest, or Northeast seems most likely to me.


Also, Florida Marlins made me laugh. Old school fan that doesn't recognize the new name? I still call it the Pac 10 and have no plans on changing so I understand if that's why,

by ponchi101 I stopped watching baseball after the infamous years of doping and PED's. So I really did not know that they are no longer the FLORIDA Marlins, but the MIAMI Marlins.
My bad :D

by shtexas Comment forwarded to me:

"Why does mlb have to involve themselves in politics? Another sport ruined for this baseball fan. 😡 (btw they require ID to purchase alcohol at their stadiums...Is it racist to require ID for alcohol?)"

Ugh...

by ponchi101 That is one confused person.

by Deuce
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:24 pm I stopped watching baseball after the infamous years of doping and PED's. So I really did not know that they are no longer the FLORIDA Marlins, but the MIAMI Marlins.
My bad :D
Me, too.
I used to love baseball. I played it at a decent level, and followed MLB closely.
But at one point, I realized that there was no such thing as a TEAM anymore. To me, a team is a group of individuals who stick together for years. But baseball (among other sports) became just a game of ego and greed - if a player could get $17 more per season by going to another team, he would. Rosters started changing dramatically every year - I couldn't follow where players were playing anymore. It was all just random.

I used to know some MLB players (a friend of mine was on the original Florida Marlins team). I knew a General Manager. I used to know who probably 85% - 90% of all the MLB players were, the position they played, and the team they played for. Today, it would be difficult for me to name more than 10 current MLB players - let alone who they play for.

Back in 1988, players on a certain team were given free Hyundai Excels to drive for the season, as part of a sponsorship promotion. Hyundai Excels! And most of the players drove them without any shame. Today, no player would be caught dead in anything less than a top-of-the-line Lexus - and most have Mercedes or Porsches (which they drive from city to city, as they change teams about every year or two).
I don't watch now, and don't care anymore.

by ptmcmahon As an old Expos fan, 94 killed a lot of love for me, and a lot more died when they moved. I'll still watch a lot of playoffs, but unless I hear of something going on important during a regular season game (ex ongoing no hitter maybe) I won't watch much regular season.

I still play fantasy baseball pretty intensely though.

by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:15 pm As an old Expos fan, 94 killed a lot of love for me, and a lot more died when they moved.
If the Rays move to Montreal will you become a fan?

by ptmcmahon Not really sure. I'm guessing the magic is gone though. Everything had magically aligned for 94 and that was finally going to be the year ;) But never say never...maybe if they did wind up on a playoff run I may become one. We'll see when/if it's not a hypothetical someday.

by ti-amie I watched some baseball yesterday before the family Easter Dinner. I enjoyed it.

by JazzNU

by JazzNU ^^I'm not sure who Abbott thinks he's hurting by doing this. He's proven time and time again he's doesn't give a (expletive) about people. But seems to me this is a game that would've had a lot of eyes on it for several reasons, and showing a handicapped governor throwing out a first pitch would've been quite the positive and powerful moment for that community.

by ti-amie




by ti-amie They even woke Tim Scott up to add his voice to the lie.

As we speculated here yesterday they moved it out West avoiding the North East and California.

by JazzNU Opening day. Whatever could go wrong.



by ponchi101 Worry not. If the virus shows up they will shoot it with their guns.
Wait...

by ti-amie

by Deuce I had never heard about that ^.
Attacked for wearing an opposing team's jersey and in a coma for 9 months, and not able to live life anywhere near the way he naturally used to, as a result.
In the 'land of the free'.

No words are sufficient to describe how bad that is.
Incredible.

(And she should have had the mask over her mouth and nose when she gave him the ball - that IS the purpose of masks, right? Not as mere chin decorations.)

by ptmcmahon What would be really nice to see - if he would be up to it of course - would be to throw the first pitch at Dodger Stadium.... but understandably he may not want to, or even be able to.

My closest personal experience was when I went to a Green Bay @ Cincinnati game with wife ... she had Bengals jersey on, I had a Favre jersey on. Fortunately (?) for me Cincinnati won and Favre threw a career worst (which is saying something) FIVE interceptions. Game infamously was stopped with him driving down field, down 21-14, in the last minute when a fan ran on field and took ball from him which certainly didn't help them keep momentum.

After game, walking back to car was yelled at several times, but mostly by happy (mostly drunk) idiots thanking them for the interceptions. I changed out of my jersey as I realized it just wasn't worth risking anything.

by ponchi101 In Caracas, around the mid 90's. My dad and I went to see our team, the Caracas Lions, play the Magallanes Sailors, our archrivals. We were not able to buy tickets on OUR side of the stadium so we bought in the Magallanes side. Magallanes was winning all the game, leading by 2-3 runs, but we were home club. My dad was joking with some Magallaneros but, as we were losing, they were having the best of it.
Then, bad luck. Ninth inning, down by three, two outs but three on base, and our team hit the grand slam. Moods changed immediately. We were pelted with insults, I had to protect my dad and run out of there, cars were attacked outside the stadium (broken windows and lights).
It was the last time I went to one of our games. People get too incensed by silly stuff like this.
About sports in the land of the free: much more civilized than in almost all other parts of the world. Do not forget the infamous Heysel stadium disaster (English Vs Italian fans) and how in most of South America soccer is played with separated fans because we have the "Barras Bravas" (Angry fans, literal translation) which are nothing more than hooligans.
Wikipedia has a "list of soccer stampede disasters". A reminder of how well we behave in large concentrations.
---0---
About this man. I hope his attackers are still in jail.

by ptmcmahon Doubtful, unless for other reasons - they got 8 and 4 years:

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/nati ... nts/57885/

by JTContinental A's reliever Jesus Luzardo broke his finger playing a video game

by ptmcmahon ...how?

by ti-amie The Mets are the worst.


by ponchi101 The assumption is that there are FEWER vaccinated people going to a METS game than NON-VACCINATED?
Awright.

by ptmcmahon I don't think it has to do with how many people are vaccinated... but how much they can charge per section.

by ponchi101 Ah, so you pay more for the vaccinated section? Which is also on the worst section of the park? Interesting.

by ptmcmahon That's not what I was initially thinking... but oh man wouldn't that be a low move :) Make people pay more to sit with healthy people.

Was more thinking you want to pack as many as you can in cheap seats so make that the vaccinated sections... may not be able to fill up the behind the plate seats with people who A) are vaccinated and B) can afford it.

by ti-amie I don't kow who runs UFC but...


by JazzNU

by JazzNU

by JazzNU This is how indignant (and likely guilty) baseball players are currently acting with the new rules checking for foreign substances.






by JazzNU

by ti-amie

by JazzNU

by ti-amie

by ti-amie While everyone is piling on England let's not forget our home grown biases...



There have been a lot of baseball players who don't speak English and I could be wrong because I don't follow his antics much but has he ever said this about anyone else?

by ponchi101 I obviously don't have the "pleasure" of listening to Smith very often. But what surprises me the most is this: he is not good. He is really not good, at all, discussing or talking about sports. All he does is pick some inflammatory topic, proceed to stick his shoe in his mouth, and start a non-discussion about something that is not related to whatever sport he is "talking" about.

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:09 pm I obviously don't have the "pleasure" of listening to Smith very often. But what surprises me the most is this: he is not good. He is really not good, at all, discussing or talking about sports. All he does is pick some inflammatory topic, proceed to stick his shoe in his mouth, and start a non-discussion about something that is not related to whatever sport he is "talking" about.
And I'd argue he's one of the best especially when it comes to covering the NBA. And what's really annoying about that is, you can't even see that because this excellent sports writer turned TV commentator used to not add nearly so much flair to his TV appearances, and those shows got cancelled even though he was great then. This format, on the other hand, has been a ratings blockbuster so you get this version of him most of the time.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 6:17 pm While everyone is piling on England let's not forget our home grown biases...
Arguably, the second most offensive thing he said yesterday.

by ti-amie I just saw that he made fun of the names of Nigerian players. Doesn't he know his own history? Many of those names would've been our names today if not for a certain historical occurrence that brought most of us to this country?

"In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty"
Bob Marley

by JazzNU MLB in their infinite wisdom with their overpacked year-long game schedule said to themselves, you know what, let's do a big Red Sox vs. Yankees game on Thursday and have no other games played on that day at all coming out of the All Star Break. It'll be a big draw.







by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 11:13 pm MLB in their infinite wisdom with their overpacked year-long game schedule said to themselves, you know what, let's do a big Red Sox vs. Yankees game on Thursday and have no other games played on that day at all coming out of the All Star Break. It'll be a big draw.









by ti-amie

Fans getting out of Dodge after gunshots were heard during the Nationals game last night.

by ti-amie Video from last night.


by JazzNU



by ponchi101 I like the logo with the ball.
Sounds like a good change.

by JazzNU Image

by JazzNU

by Fastbackss I am very curious to see what tonight's ratings will be.

If THAT game can't pull big ratings, with no football on, well there might be a problem...

by ptmcmahon What a couple of wild card games. Yankees-Sox. And the Dodgers, off a franchise record for wins, 1 game off best record in baseball... playing a team that won 17 in a row to get in. I'll probably watch these two games closer than I watch any of the rest of the playoffs.

by Fastbackss I will watch too, the entire time thinking (just like I do every year) how stupid it is to have 1 game decide a season that is predicated on a large sample size. Why they can't do best of 3...

Speaking of dodgers - I saw on many sports books they were still favoured to win it all despite being in wild card game!

by ptmcmahon I'm the opposite... don't win your division, you're lucky to get a chance to get into playoffs. You had the longest professional regular season to finish first.

Maybe not so much when you finish 1 game behind the top team in the league of course :D

And I love the drama of the single elimination game.

by JazzNU
Fastbackss wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 1:24 pm I will watch too, the entire time thinking (just like I do every year) how stupid it is to have 1 game decide a season that is predicated on a large sample size. Why they can't do best of 3...

Speaking of dodgers - I saw on many sports books they were still favoured to win it all despite being in wild card game!
I like the drama of the single elimination game too. But also, one game to decide it all is better than no games and sitting at home with no option to get in the playoffs at all, which is what it was just 10 years ago.

I'm not against a Best of 3. But I would really only be okay with that if MLB finally shortened their regular season.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 7:10 pm
Fastbackss wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 1:24 pm I will watch too, the entire time thinking (just like I do every year) how stupid it is to have 1 game decide a season that is predicated on a large sample size. Why they can't do best of 3...

Speaking of dodgers - I saw on many sports books they were still favoured to win it all despite being in wild card game!
I like the drama of the single elimination game too. But also, one game to decide it all is better than no games and sitting at home with no option to get in the playoffs at all, which is what it was just 10 years ago.

I'm not against a Best of 3. But I would really only be okay with that if MLB finally shortened their regular season.
They really need to look at that.

I'll be watching tonight.

by ti-amie I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?

by ti-amie Why would you send Judge in that situation? Idiocy.

by Fastbackss The red Sox sucked the air out of this game early.

PS - the call saying stanton's ball was gone (in top of the 1st) , when it wasn't, was emblematic of this game

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:21 am I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?
$324 million. This is why he they got him.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:54 am
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:21 am I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?
$324 million. This is why he they got him.
He lasted what, a little more than two innings?

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:19 am
JazzNU wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:54 am
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:21 am I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?
$324 million. This is why he they got him.
He lasted what, a little more than two innings?
Yup. Boone, who never should've been hired in the first place, best be getting fired in the morning and Cashman better be shown the door immediately too. An embarrassing showing on every level, with more talent than Girardi had when he overperformed with the team he took to the ALCS and was a game away from getting to the World Series and he still got fired. Time to clean house.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 3:19 am
He lasted what, a little more than two innings?


by JazzNU I don't watch a ton of regular season baseball anymore, so I'm SO not used to Albert Pujols being a Dodger. Not at all, like it's weird seeing him in non-red lettered uniform and even stranger in a game against the Cardinals.

by JazzNU Awesome! Now that was fun, the opposite of last night's game.

by JazzNU

by JazzNU And a tennis tie-in during the celebration! 😀 Her brother was a MLB player for those that didn't know.



by Fastbackss I couldn't stay up long enough; I see now I should have sucked it up.

by JazzNU
Fastbackss wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:20 am I couldn't stay up long enough; I see now I should have sucked it up.
Yeah, it was great. So much attention (understandably) given to Yankees vs. Red Sox, but this was the game we had hoped that one would be. Close and competitive throughout, uncertain of which way it would go, many tense moments. For a second, when we heard the crack of the bat, it looked like we were going to get a serious Hollywood ending with Pujols hitting a walk off HR against his old team, but the one we got, from a player that has been struggling with his hitting no less, worked almost as well.

by ptmcmahon
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:21 am I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?
He's a good pitcher who had a good year. No one is on every game. Despite our sports narratives we like to tell, pitchers can't just make themselves pitch better just because it's the playoffs :) (If so, then batters are just going to try harder too right?)

Plus he was rested, which was probably just as important.
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:11 am Why would you send Judge in that situation? Idiocy.
The thought of sending him was ok...the execution...not so much :) Trying to find a replay but the third base coach was very hesitant to send him and that wound up a big factor.

Dodgers-Cardinals was tons of fun to watch.

by ti-amie
ptmcmahon wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 6:08 pm
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 1:21 am I admit I haven't followed baseball that closely lately but why was Gerrit Cole chosen by the Yankees to start this game?
He's a good pitcher who had a good year. No one is on every game. Despite our sports narratives we like to tell, pitchers can't just make themselves pitch better just because it's the playoffs :) (If so, then batters are just going to try harder too right?)

Plus he was rested, which was probably just as important.
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:11 am Why would you send Judge in that situation? Idiocy.
The thought of sending him was ok...the execution...not so much :) Trying to find a replay but the third base coach was very hesitant to send him and that wound up a big factor.

Dodgers-Cardinals was tons of fun to watch.
I'm sorry I didn't stay around to see the entire Dodgers - Cardinals game.

by ptmcmahon I record any interesting sports just in case I fall asleep... and I did and wound up watching it last night instead :) Plus side... no commercials :)

by JazzNU That was a real ****** up way to end a playoff series last night and MLB deserves every suspicious question they are getting today. There were some questionable calls throughout the series, and again last night. But when this happened, the Dodgers were about to win anyway most likely, they didn't need it gifted to them. Messed up.

I really thought we had a chance to win the World Series this year, but proud of the season the Giants had.

I'll be over this in a few days and rooting for the Dodgers to win it all again, they remain one of my favorite teams that I've cheered on since childhood. They just rank lower than the Giants and the A's.

And technically they rank lower than the Pirates too, but until they stop being an embarrassment on just about every level, I don't count them.

by ti-amie Can someone please explain to me what this woman is trying to say?




by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 6:59 pm Can someone please explain to me what this woman is trying to say?
Houston Astros will play the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. Intl Players Anthem is a rap song featuring two groups. one from Houston and one from Atlanta. She made the Tweet she did about it playing before games, and it's a joke. Many got the Tweet, hence the likes she got, but many did not, hence the "this is America!" replies that came for her.

The song is not exactly unknown, but I wouldn't say it's one that has aged well in terms of airplay, and not the biggest of deals overall outside of hip hop enthusiasts, but it could've been in Houston and Atlanta for all I know. It's crystal clear from the replies that people in Houston are under the misconception that the Texas group is better known nationally than they are. That song registers because of the Atlanta group (Outkast) and that's all there is to it. This tweet being misunderstood and getting the replies it did was foreseeable. But she's getting noticed, had a few Tweets that went viral, and I assume that's the point for her.

by skatingfan
ti-amie wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 6:59 pm Can someone please explain to me what this woman is trying to say?
If the World Series is being played between Houston & Atlanta then the 'International Players Anthem' should be played before every game.

This is the 'International Players Anthem':




The reactions are hilarious. :bananas: :bananas: :bananas: :bananas:

by skatingfan UGK are from Texas, and of course, Outkast are from Atlanta.

by ti-amie I obviously need to get out more. Thanks.

by skatingfan
ti-amie wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 8:12 pm I obviously need to get out more. Thanks.
No problem. ;)

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 8:12 pm I obviously need to get out more. Thanks.
In this instance, you really don't. If you know Outkast, then you're good. Not hearing of this song and UGK is not a big deal, their popularity is with southern rap enthusiasts and pretending otherwise is a stretch. They have this and one other song that registered outside of that realm and both songs have much, much larger acts tied to them.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie Did Houston wait too long to take Valdez out? Atlanta was literally teeing off his pitches.

by ptmcmahon I still haven't watched a second of baseball since the Wild Card games. Funny how it works. I started watching first baseabll during the last few innings of Seattle's game 161 win... watched all of Sunday game 162 and both wild cards... and not a pitch since. :)

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:39 am Did Houston wait too long to take Valdez out? Atlanta was literally teeing off his pitches.
Probably, could've been pulled right before the 2-run homer. But there's hardly a blueprint for the right approach when your starting pitcher in Game 1 of the World Series is ready to be pulled in the first inning. Also,


Image

by ti-amie When I first moved into the complex I live in they had their own cable and Atlanta sports were available. I've been a closet Atlanta baseball fan ever since. I was fine with it but I do question why they left him in that long.

by ptmcmahon Yeah, even in Canada I remember a time where we had TBS and could see almost every Braves game - could see even more of them than the Blue Jays or Expos games.

by JazzNU Like I said before, I have a hierarchy of teams I root for. The Braves are very high on the list. I LOVED the 90s team and watched them all of the time. Ted Turner was brilliant to put them on TBS, it made them into a national team that it otherwise never would've been.

I'd be rooting for the Braves even if I wasn't a fan, but it definitely was nice that I had so many I was happy to root for this year over the Cheating Astros. I was less than thrilled to be rooting for the Boston Red Sox for the first time in my life, but circumstances being what they are, it's what happened. The only thing I will find a way to be happy about if the Cheating Astros win is that Dusty Baker finally wins a World Series. But that's it.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Seeing this Braves crowd is wild. Inside the stadium AND outside looking not resembling Atlanta. Truly mission accomplished.

by Deuce I still can't watch Major League baseball. I began to lose interest about 20 years ago when more and more players began just chasing the money and going to a different team almost every year. If another team offered them $7 more per year, they'd go - because it all became a pissing contest where players measured their 'success' by being paid more than most of their peers.

I used to love baseball. I played it as a kid, I followed it closely until the late 1980s, which is when I got to know some Major League players personally, and that provided interesting experiences and insights into the game. And I got back to playing at around the same time, after not playing for about 10 years. Then I stopped playing again in about 1994, and went back to it in 2006 (that's when I discovered that, during my absence, they had placed the bases further apart, batters were hitting the balls much harder, and pitchers were throwing much faster than they were 12 years previous :D ).

I've tried to watch some of this World Series... but I end up watching 10 or 15 minutes, then changing the channel. I have no idea who these players are... And if I do recognize a player (which is very rare), he's always on a different team than the team I know him from, of course. I used to know pretty much all the players - back when a team was a team, and the majority of a team's players would stay together as a team for several years. Now, though, there is no such thing as a team - today, it's simply a group of individuals which changes dramatically every year as the players just chase the money, not caring where they end up. I think this happens in baseball more than in any other professional team sport in the USA/Canada.
'For the love of the game' is a beautiful concept... but there's definitely not much of that remaining, sadly.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 4:23 am Seeing this Braves crowd is wild. Inside the stadium AND outside looking not resembling Atlanta. Truly mission accomplished.
And that is why TFG felt secure going there.

by JazzNU



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by ponchi101 MLB lost me after the McGuire/Sosa/Palmeiro/A-Rod/Clemens era. Too many players cheating on PED's. But the Braves were my team, so this is welcomed.
Hope they can stay competitive for a few years.

by ti-amie I'm glad Atlanta won. Not only for #44 but for baseball. I have no issues with Dusty Baker but he was, in my opinion, brought in as window dressing to try and erase the teams legacy of cheating.

by ptmcmahon Funny we just went through this with Sean Connery in the In Memoriam thread...but I was going to ask why so many mentions of Hank Aaron specifically this year and not 90...whatever other year they won....but I had forgotten he passed earlier this year.

by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:03 am Funny we just went through this with Sean Connery in the In Memoriam thread...but I was going to ask why so many mentions of Hank Aaron specifically this year and not 90...whatever other year they won....but I had forgotten he passed earlier this year.
I think this goes back to you not watching since the Wild Card games to some extent. Surely seeing the 44 etched in the Braves outfield game after game would've jogged your memory.

The 1995 team, the last year they won, got a lot of mention as well. More I'd say, it just wasn't a tribute to them.

by ptmcmahon Game 6 was the first and only Braves game I saw all year. So didn’t see the Braves field at all this year :)

by JazzNU Here you go, for anyone that missed it.


Image

by ptmcmahon Have to assume it was just me :) Thanks.

by JazzNU Oh I don't think so. Ratings were not great for MLB, so I'd guess a few around here didn't tune in for a single game and didn't know about it or get to see it.

by JazzNU This is likely the trip to the official parade route, but I still haven't seen one going this fast ever. Those people were waiting for hours!



by JazzNU



by JazzNU

by JazzNU ^^ Not that it wasn't before, but officially a joke. Ortiz juiced for years and years and everyone knows it, but you let him in and not Bonds, the best player most anybody ever saw well before he was juicing? The Baseball Writers need to get over themselves, they're gonna get mocked for this one til the end of time.

by ponchi101
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:44 am ^^ Not that it wasn't before, but officially a joke. Ortiz juiced for years and years and everyone knows it, but you let him in and not Bonds, the best player most anybody ever saw well before he was juicing? The Baseball Writers need to get over themselves, they're gonna get mocked for this one til the end of time.
I did not know that Ortiz was also involved with PED's. Txs.
That was the reason I stopped watching MLB. McGuire, Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro, Clemens, A-Rod. It was so depressing that all these "greats" were really cheaters. This selection makes me even more hesitant to return to the sport.

by ptmcmahon Yeah, but don't think they care that they are going to mocked sadly. With great power comes.. well great chance of abusing it.

That said, I'm not too torn up over Bonds and Clemens not being in. Just Ortiz should be on outside with em.

by Fastbackss Now they test more ardently for it, so instead they juice the balls and allow(ed) pitchers to use crazily sticky substances.

I saw a funny post somewhere - basically how the writers were ensuring that the HOF goes out of business

by ptmcmahon What were they using as their argument for that? Is anyone going to think of going to the Hall of Fame, then decide not to because Bonds and Clemens aren't in? Other than maybe some die hard fans of the two.

by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:32 pm What were they using as their argument for that? Is anyone going to think of going to the Hall of Fame, then decide not to because Bonds and Clemens aren't in? Other than maybe some die hard fans of the two.
Baseball HOF is essentially a museum and it will no longer accurately capture the history of the sport. It's a joke now. It's been bad enough that Pete Rose is nowhere to be found in anyway there to explain who he was, but this will definitely make it take a hit. It's not diehards that have a problem with this, it's baseball fans in general which is who visits the HOF, they watched Bonds play pre-steroid era, there's no question on whether he belongs there.

by Deuce The Hall of Fame is more a way to honour individuals and their accomplishments and contributions to the game than it is a museum of baseball history.
That's why Rose, Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa, etc. aren't in it - because, though they did accomplish things in the game, they also very profoundly tarnished the game through their actions directly relating to their positions as players, coaches, etc.
So... was their overall contribution to baseball more negative or positive? If that question needs to be asked, they don't belong in the Hall of Fame.
I'm perfectly fine with the fact that these players are not in the Hall of Fame.

by ti-amie

I love old pictures.

by ti-amie

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by JazzNU This whole thing has been super strange.

by ti-amie This is Eric Kay. Not the guy that comes to mind when "drug dealer" is mentioned in a story.

Image
LM Otero/Associated Press)

via @ LATimes

by JazzNU

by JazzNU ^^ Remarkable how much the MLB owners misplayed their hand here. The MLB Players Union very clearly strengthened during the pandemic amidst the healthy about of BS the MLB owners were shoveling at them, especially when they were publicly claiming they were poor.

by JazzNU

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by JazzNU Important reminders of why we are here



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by ptmcmahon The best to ever hit as a Tiger I assume they mean? :)

by ponchi101 BTW. He is ONE OF THREE that have 3,000 hits, 500 HR and a career batting average of .300.
The other two are Hank Aaron and Willy Mays. Not too bad.

by ptmcmahon Adding that would have made it ... closer to true at least :) But is anyone really saying he's better than Aaron or Mays outside Detroit? :)

Would've guessed Pujols over .300 too, but since 2013 his best average was .272. A-Rod was close too at .295

by JazzNU They are adding his name to the list of "the best to ever hit" not claiming he's the best baseball player to ever live. They are honoring their player's achievement, as they should. Some of the wording will be a bit of an embellishment, but it's allowed and really expected on a day like that.

And the stat @ponchi added is correct. He also has the chance to get to 600 doubles in the coming days. I believe that would be a list of just Hank and Pujols right now. Every club at this point that Cabrera enters is rarified air.

by ti-amie

:notworthy:

by ponchi101 WTF?! :clap: :clap: :clap:

by JTContinental I’m surprised Ichiro didn’t hit 3000

ETA: never mind, he did and with a .311 average, but 500 HRs was never going to happen

by ponchi101 Ichiro has a very good claim to being the greatest hitter of all time. He played 9 seasons in the Japanese league, which plays fewer games.
I say he is, at worst, second to Rose. I don't know how many seasons he hit 200+ hits.

by JTContinental I just checked, and it was 10 (2001-2010)

by JazzNU It's like Nick knows something sad/bad/awkward is being mentioned and he feels the need to rise to the occasion. His timing is off the charts.



by JazzNU He truly isn't and hasn't been the problem.



by JazzNU From the weekend if you missed it.






by ti-amie

by Cuckoo4Coco
ti-amie wrote: Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:25 pm
What do they have to do call up players from the minor leagues?

by ti-amie I believe so C4C.

by Cuckoo4Coco
ti-amie wrote: Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:33 pm I believe so C4C.
That is just totally crazy. That is almost half the team.

by ti-amie

I haven't been paying close attention to baseball but are these nominees really that bad? So far there are no positive responses.

by patrick No induction for 2023. Beltran had that great postseason with Astros one year but nothing great.

by ponchi101 Rodriguez was a very good reliever, for a very short time. But not enough.

by Cuckoo4Coco Looking at the stats the only one that has any chance is Carlos Beltran. 435 HR"s and 312 SB's so he was kind of a double threat of power and speed I guess.

by ptmcmahon I guess no one actually good retired that year? Most of those players shouldn’t even be in the top 30 of a years nominees.

If I had to pick one I’d go Krod as he was maybe the best closer in baseball for a few seasons. Six time all star, still holds the single season saves record, twice won the reliever of the year award. He wouldn’t be an awful choice.

Plus he had that great postseason where he won five games. That’s not easy to do as a reliever.

He’s also one of six pitchers to save 400 games. I’m talking myself into him being a good candidate actually.

by ptmcmahon
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:29 pm Rodriguez was a very good reliever, for a very short time. But not enough.
He had five great years of 35 saves or more. I forgot that five years later then he had three more such seasons for Milwaukee actually.

by Deuce This is the incredible human ego at work once again...
Trying to drastically 'improve' a game that has been played for over a century.
This type of meddling, with people more interested in 'leaving their mark' on the game than they are with ensuring that the state of the game is healthy, is extremely unfortunate.
I'm not the only one who predicts that this will be a disaster...

Baseball Adding New Rules for 2023...

.

by patrick Only thing I can say is baseball wants to speed the game and improve offenses.

by ti-amie No doubt the networks are behind this nonsense.

by Deuce I used to follow baseball quite closely, and knew a few MLB players personally... but I haven't watched anywhere near a full game in several years. I really don't like the absolute business that the game has become at the major league level. I'd much rather watch kids play at the local park, as they don't play for fame or money, but for the pure joy of it.

A couple of nights ago, I found myself watching the late innings of the Yankees/Blue Jays game. It went into extra innings, and I was astonished to learn that each team now begins every inning with a 'ghost runner' on 2nd base. Just like that. I found it disgusting.
A little research showed that this unfortunate rule was implemented during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to minimize the time of games. Ok... I guess... But now, pretty much everything in pro sports has returned more or less to normal (whether that should be the case or not is a separate subject)... and they have elected to keep this silly 'ghost runner' in extra innings rule in the books possibly permanently.
Incredible.

If they keep going with these idiotic changes, within 5 years, every MLB baseball game will not be played on the field, but will merely be a couple of team representatives playing a video game which lasts 10 minutes.

by Deuce Some sort of interesting by-products of Aaron Judge's 61st home run of the season...
Glad that it did get to the right person in the end.

Judge Hits #61...

.

by Deuce Beacause I'm not feeling well, and because I'm Canadian, I decided I'd watch some Blue Jays wildcard baseball...
I watched yesterday's loss to the Mariners...
Today, I watched until it was 7-1 for the Blue Jays. I figured that was enough, as everything was going the Jays' way - 2 home runs, scoring on a passed ball, scoring on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch... So I switched over to watch the rest of the curling... then the beginning of a pre-season hockey game...

A few minutes ago, I accidentally tuned to the baseball game channel, to see that the game was now in the 8th inning - and was incredibly tied 9-9! And there had just been a violent collision between Springer and Bichette, after which Springer had to be taken off the field on a cart.
If the Jays lose, they're gone. They were up 7-1 and in complete control.
Or so it seemed...
:roll:

by Deuce They were actually ahead 8-1 in the 6th inning.
And they blew it.
Lost 10-9 in the 10th. Season over.
(EDIT - they lost it in the 9th, not the 10th. I should have known that, as there was no idiotic 'ghost runner' starting on 2nd base in that last inning!)

I decided to watch greedy major league baseball for the first time in a long while. It didn't go well.

by ti-amie I was watching the Toronto game and thought it was a done deal until it wasn't. I'm now watching the Mets game. This is the first baseball I've watched all year.

by Deuce Ouch...


One of the comments:
"Just smashed my TV in front of 30 guests at my son's birthday party because of the blue jays. My wife just took our crying kids and said they’re all spending the week at her mom’s house. This team has ruined my marriage. I can’t handle this anymore. Goodbye, I am no longer a fan."

by JazzNU Can't wait to see how Aaron Boone talks his way out of this. Should've been fired last year, but somehow wasn't. This year is significantly more embarrassing.

by ptmcmahon I didn't watch series, but what is embarrassing about 99 wins and losing the ALCS to best team in the American League?

Not to say people won't call for him to be fired anyway.

by ponchi101 I stopped following baseball a long time ago. But I still root strongly against the Dodgers and the Yankees.
So, indeed. Why must the Yankees go completely into a fire sale, simple because they did not win the WS? Talk about being spoiled. They are a very good team, that got beat by another very good team. It happens.

by ti-amie The best thing about last night was Ted Cruz getting a warm and friendly NY greeting



Then there's this. Link only because the fans spoke true New York-ese...

https://twitter.com/bethyr87/status/158 ... 2iIzvQKkpQ


by ti-amie So go Phillies!

by ti-amie

by JazzNU
ptmcmahon wrote: Mon Oct 24, 2022 1:23 pm I didn't watch series, but what is embarrassing about 99 wins and losing the ALCS to best team in the American League?

Not to say people won't call for him to be fired anyway.
I think if you follow baseball, but don't know how this was embarrassing on any front, there's not much I could say to convince you of it. It's objectively an embarrassing loss, like there are stats that are making the MLB history books for how pitiful the Yankees were.

If I had to guess, Aaron and Brian both stick around and they will thank their lucky stars that Daddy Steinbrenner is not there running the team. The announcement would've already been made if he was still alive.

by ptmcmahon That's what I mean, I'm not following what happened. I don't know what stats there are that made the Yankees look pitiful. All I know is their regular season win total and that they lost to a team with more wins that I've heard was clearly the class of the American League this year. I didn't watch a single game of the series.

It looks like despite being swept they were only outscored by nine runs?

What are the stats that are making the MLB history books? I'm not saying there aren't any, I'm asking what they are.

by Deuce A nice little article...

Why Freddie Freeman is Playing for Canada...

.

by ti-amie MLB is very active on Mastodon so I'm kinda up to date on injuries, etc. My question is why are there so many injuries and the season hasn't even started yet?

by Fastbackss Wait till players get hurt in the World Baseball Classic...only creating additional anarchy

by ti-amie
Fastbackss wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:28 pm Wait till players get hurt in the World Baseball Classic...only creating additional anarchy
Interesting that the true World Series is being held in Japan isn't it?

by ponchi101 Would love to see the USA MLB champ go against the Japanese league champ. Best of 7. The Japanese can play.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:40 pm Would love to see the USA MLB champ go against the Japanese league champ. Best of 7. The Japanese can play.
So would I. That would be must see TV.

by ti-amie 1h
WBCBaseball@sportsbots.xyz
β World Baseball Classic :verified_business: 🤖
@WBCBaseball@sportsbots.xyz
These lineups are stacked!

This Dominican Republic-Venezuela game will be one of the best we see during this #WorldBaseballClassic. 🤩

Image

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by ti-amie


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by ti-amie MLB_News
@MLB_News@botsin.space
Colombia Announces Its Presence With Upset Win Over Mexico
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... er-mexico/
#MLB #Baseball #BaseballAmerica

by ti-amie

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by ponchi101 Back home, people are making jokes about our win over Dominican Republic. The Dominicans made a few jokes too many about Vennie having never beaten them.
Take that.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Mar 12, 2023 4:53 pm Back home, people are making jokes about our win over Dominican Republic. The Dominicans made a few jokes too many about Vennie having never beaten them.
Take that.
I was really surprised DR lost tbh.

by ponchi101 Sure. But we play too. It is out national sport, and it is not as if we are ignorant on how to hit a ball.
DR is the powerhouse of the Caribbean. That is undeniable. But we have won the Caribbean Series 8 or 9 times.
I mean, we grow up playing "chapitas" (beer cap). Your parents drink a case of beer, your get the caps from the bottles, and you learn to hit by throwing the caps at the other player, and the other player batting them. With a broom stick.

by ti-amie So Japanese all stars against Caribbean all stars in our fantasy match up?

Italy though...

by ponchi101 Surprised that Italy is playing. They are so much into football that I didn't even know they played ball.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Mar 12, 2023 7:59 pm Surprised that Italy is playing. They are so much into football that I didn't even know they played ball.
That makes two of us!

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Deuce A little more on why Freddie Freeman is playing for Canada. I found this within an article...


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by Fastbackss
Fastbackss wrote: Fri Mar 10, 2023 9:28 pm Wait till players get hurt in the World Baseball Classic...only creating additional anarchy
Really?


Sincerely,
-NY Mets (Edwin Diaz)

by ponchi101 But didn't he get injured during the celebration? That was a freak injury.

by Fastbackss Yes, but does it matter?

Signed,
- Arizona Cardinals (Bill Gramatica)

by ponchi101 Well, he could have slipped in the bathroom back home, waiting for spring training to start.
Notice how the other cursed team from Arizona (they all are cursed) lost their star new acquisition during the warm up of a game. Nothing you can do about those freak things.

by ti-amie





I don't know if this is a thing outside of NYC but these two nationalities really don't get along. No one outside of the two groups knows why though.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:49 pm

Right after the Mets lose in the playoffs

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 6:49 pm ...

I don't know if this is a thing outside of NYC but these two nationalities really don't get along. No one outside of the two groups knows why though.
Because we also play the Caribbean BB series, and DR and PR are the powerhouses of the Caribbean. And they really want bragging rights.

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by ponchi101 Cuba gets Australia, Japan gets Italy (really?) and we get the USA?! WT-major-F?
Well, it's Miami. Sort of we get homefield advantage... :cry:

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WTH with this score?

by skatingfan Mexico was up 3-0 in the 7th, but Japan just hit a 3-run homer to tie the game.

by patrick So they capitalized on the challenge on Mexico runner being out in the top half. Thought the runner was safe and Japanese player missed the tag completely despite the throw being there miles ahead of the runner.

by ponchi101 They got the final they wanted. JAP vs USA. Could be a very good game.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Awful announcing? More like great announcing. Every ounce of that shade is warranted.

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 3:15 pm They got the final they wanted. JAP vs USA. Could be a very good game.
Indeed they did.



by ti-amie

by ti-amie Worth a second look


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by ti-amie The Athletic
@athletic@sportsfeed.me
World Baseball Classic ‘100 percent’ returning in 2026, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says https://theathletic.com/4333821/2023/03 ... l-classic/ MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters Tuesday that the World Baseball Classic is “100 percent” returning in 2026, calling this year’s tournament “unbelievable.” Here’s what you need to know:

When asked about the goal moving forward for the WBC, Manfred said he’d “like to see pitching staffs that are of the same qua...


World Baseball Classic ‘100 percent’ returning in 2026, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says

by ti-amie MLB_News
@MLB_News@botsin.space
Yankees’ Jimmy Cordero suspended for remainder of 2023 season for violating domestic violence policy
https://theathletic.com/4668227/2023/07 ... uspension/
#MLB #Baseball #TheAthletic

by ti-amie I just became aware of this story yesterday. Apparently a 19 year old girl who has a child somewhere between 18-24 months blabbed about Wander Franco being involved with a 14 year old girl now. I forgot to mention that he's 22.

Mark Taylor 🇳🇿:TheCDN4:
@emarktaylor@thecanadian.social
⚾ #MLB #Baseball @baseball@a.gup.pe @baseball@chirp.social

Via Jeff Passan @JeffPassan
·
22m
Tampa Bay shortstop #WanderFranco is being investigated by Dominican authorities, and a division that focuses on minors/gender violence and a judge who's a child-abuse specialist are handling the case, which is in its early stages, per the @AP .

https://t.co/LcY4eGv5So

by ti-amie Word among Spanish speaking communities (Puerto Rican and Dominican) in NYC is that the situation with Wander Franco is much, much worse than has been revealed so far in press reports. One of my daughters friends told her to "get ready" for what's about to come out. It's important to say which communities since there are several in NYC.

I'm surprised MLB hasn't been writing checks left, right and sideways.

by Fastbackss Gonna miss watching Miguel Cabrera play, even as he aged.

Not exactly sure why Tigers made him an advisor, but whatever

by shtexas Yep. I'm still alive and on cloud 9++++

My Texas Rangers are finally World Series Champions. :yahoo:

by ptmcmahon Haha, been awhile since I've seen you outside of the SP. Congrats! What a crazy run, especially 11-0 on the road.

by ti-amie Image

Bloomberg Markets :press:
@markets@press.coop
Dodgers Ohtani Says He Never Placed Bets With Bookmaker

Shohei Ohtani addressed gambling allegations that led to the firing of his friend and interpreter last week, saying, “I never bet on baseball or any other sports.” Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million contract with baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, spoke Monday during a press conference in Los... #press

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024

by ptmcmahon Hard not to think it's a cover-up story. Meanwhile, rumor has it Pete Rose is checking to see if he can find someone to volunteer as his "interperter." :)

by Tybal Man, the Mets just can't catch a break, can they? Thanks for sharing the link. I had a look at the ESPN article, and it's pretty messy. It's crazy how these scandals keep coming up. Wonder how this will affect the team moving forward.

by ponchi101 Why the Mets? Ohtani is with the Dodgers. And the article at the link has been removed.
I am missing something.