MLB 2014 season thread

Elias Sports Bureau ‏@EliasSports

If @Yankees win one more game Derek Jeter will be the 1st @MLB'er to play 20+ seasons, every one of them for a winning team. 7pm @YESNetwork

 

The Giants come back to beat the Padres, and have an on-field celebration and then go full-on with the champagne in the clubhouse -- 10 hours after they clinched a wild-card spot when the Brewers lost.

 

From what I see on baseball-reference, there are 91 hitters who played at least 20 seasons. That number will grow to one next year if Raul Ibanez finds a job. Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu and David Ortiz would be entering season 19

 

You shouldn't have a fkin champagne celebration if you qualify for the play-in.

 

How many times can Hunter Pence use the f-word as an adjective before CSN Bay Area decides showing it live is a bad ide?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBVc6TROr0

 

The number of things that had to happen for Jeter to get that chance in bottom-9.

 

It's amazing, isn't it?

It's like Ted Williams. We all know he homered in his final at-bat, at Fenway. But he was on deck, then, in the bottom of the ninth. A pop-up, strikeout, infield lineout, or force out at home, and he comes up again with two outs. A double play and he leads off the 10th. Batter hits a double play ball. Force at second. Ball thrown away to first. Game over. Williams never bats again.

 

The whole flow of the game.

Orioles hit 2 solo homers in top-1 and you think it'll be a blowout. Nope. Yanks tie it in bottom-2 thanks to Jeter's RBI-double, among other things, and then Kuroda settles down and retires 16 in a row after the 2nd inning. Anyway, fast-forward to top-9 and it's 5-2 Yanks and everyone -- EVERYONE -- is wondering how Girardi is going to pay homage to Jeter. Tell the position players to stay back in the dugout extra-long during middle-9 so that Jeter's the only one to trot out there, thus allowing the stadium to go bonkers for 5 minutes? Send them all out and leave him in till the second out and then go get him?

What was Girardi's big thing going to be?

And then the cuckoo bird appeared. Adam Jones hit one to Yonkers -- that was a fucking crusher -- to make it 5-4.

But that's OK because Robertson strikes out MVP Nelson Cruz for the second out.

OK, Girardi, start walking up those steps ... go get Jeter ... let the Bronx go nuts.

Nope, doesn't happen. Looks like Jeter will just play it out. He probably told Girardi not to pull any stupid-ass stunts because he's had enough of the adulation. Maybe he listened to Olbermann's rant and it embarrassed him and he didn't want to make it about himself anymore. Who knows. Jeter said something though for Girardi to stay in the dugout. Not like there was that much time to think about it because Robertston got right into the next batter, Steven Pearce. And would you fucking believe the kid smacked a home run to tie the game. I've seen a lot of crowd-silencing homers in my lifetime -- and that was one of the best. I laughed.

Obviously, everyone's next thought was "Jetes will hit a walk-off!"

Even if you wanted that to happen, so many things had to fall into place, and they did.

But let's be real: 1 out, man on second, you know that Showalter should have walked Jeter to create the double-play opportunity. That he didn't lets you know that even he wanted to give Jeter a final chance to write one for the ages.

 

And let's not forget the throw from Markasis damn near nailed the runner at home.

 

All of which is why baseball is the greatest game.

 

If Jones hit it to Yonkers it would have been a foul ball the way the stadium is
situated.

 

Did Markakis at first not think the runner was going to try to score? It seemed like he was pretty non-chalant when he first picked up the ball, then had to hurry up and get it in.

I wonder how often, in that precise situation, the manager doesn't intentionally walk the hitter? It can't be very often. Does that merit an asterisk?