MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

The Braves lost yet another to injury when Whit Merrifield fouled a ball off his foot Friday. There is a fracture, but apparently, he will be able to play on it.

 

And they've played winning baseball despite it all. I can't stand 'em, but it's a great organization.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but how well had he been playing? Thanks.

 

He was terrible early in the season for the Phillies, but he has been solid since the Braves picked him up in late July. He's not the player he used to be, but he has helped step up for a team that has lost quite a few key players.

 

How? Not very frequently, I suspect.
The injury epidemic is just absurd.

 

Anybody know what is happening with Baseball Think Factory? The notice about it being down was posted in May. Jim Furtado is posting on X, so he is still active..

 

“What game do you want to play?

“Candyland!”

“We’ve played that 10 times already this week. Can we try another game?”

“No, I want Candyland!”

*Sigh*. “Very well. Here, I’ll shuffle the cards …”

 

Wow. Last time the Tigers (supposedly) will play the A's in the Coliseum this afternoon.

I remember the first game we went to in 1972 after the family moved to the Bay Area from Florida, thinking how sterile and boring it was compared to Tiger Stadium, and Joe Rudi hitting a homer in the 11th to beat the Tigers, which set off a 10-year streak where I went season after season, and the Tigers lost every game. At least the view of the Oakland Hills was nice. And it was cheap -- $2.50 for second deck seats and probably no more than that for the BART ticket.

Plus, there was the incredible heartbreak of losing the 1972 ALCS -- the last hurrah for my 1968 heroes -- to those despised green-and-gold Swingin' A's and their mule and their barbershop band and their know-nothing fans. Seeing Ken Holtzman get to the last out of a no-hitter against a terrible Tiger team a couple of years later, only to have banjo-hitting Tom Veryzer line a double over Billy North's head, sending all of us home unhappy.

Going to a cold, damp game in late April 1976 with less than 3,000 people in the stands and watching the Tigers blow a 5-0 lead after Willie Horton hit a massive two-run shot halfway up the left field concourse stairs. Some rookie reliever made his major league debut after the A's had already tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and promptly gave up the game-winning hit. I don't know whatever happened to him ... Mark Fidrych something. Yeah, seeing Fidrych before he became THE BIRD was sort of like discovering the Beatles at the Cavern Club that season.

The 2006 ALCS was REVENGE! I danced around the cabin like I was 14 when Magglio Ordonez homered off Houston Street for the sweep. Take that, Sal Bando! Take that, Catfish Hunter! Take that, Reggie Jackson! I don't care if you won three consecutive World Series! It took 34 years, but the Tigers finally beat your asses!

Unlike Candlestick, which was so terrible that nobody should ever shed a single tear for that place, the Coliseum holds a lot of wonderful memories (both for the A's and Raiders) for many of the kids I grew up with. And now both teams are gone, one to Vegas and the other to parts unknown. There are a lot of faithful A's fans who have been utterly screwed by ownership and the commissioner.

How odd. How tragic. How stupid.

 

Where is this new stadium in Richmond going up? I've read two articles and neither gave an address or neighborhood.

 

I would have thoroughly enjoyed my lone trip to the Coliseum if I hadn't needed 90 minutes to find my rental car in the parking lot after the game.

 

Tigers erupt for 6 in the 8th to finish off the A's, 9-1. Now 3 1/2 back in the WC hunt, so it's pretty much officially "possible."