Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

Echoing it: There has never been a night like this in the history of baseball. That's largely because there could never be a night like this, owing to the recent wild-card expansion, but ... geez, you had three cliffhanger games at the same time, all with do-or-die playoff implications. Think about how many times you can watch a night of baseball and say "you know, I've never seen that before." And we end up in a discussion of how unfair baseball is?

Moving on, Tigers-Yankees is the series I most want to see. I like Detroit a lot in that one.

 

I don't have a MLB team I root for. Not sure why that concept is so difficult for everybody.

 

Who said I didn't enjoy watching the baseball tonight? It was very entertaining.

TSP on the other hand, felt the need to start an argument.

 

Also the Cardinals handled the Phillies pretty well this year -- 6-3 and I thought I saw a graphic on MLB that they have really taken a torchlight to the Phillies' starters.

 

http://www.camdenchat.com/2011/9/28/2457024/overflow-red-sox-os#comments

 

Tonight is one of those nights that make me happy I'm a baseball fan. For all the bullshit about ticket prices, salary caps, 4-hour Yank/Red Sox games, ESPN playing favorites, World Series games ending at 1 a.m., tonight is what it's all about.

Oh, and if any Rays fans see Buck Showalter, buy him whatever drink he wants. Even if it's a half-pint of milk. And next year, when the O's visit Tampa for the first time, give that team a standing ovation.

 

A noob who shall go unnamed may disagree with me, but the Braves have been one of the most overrated teams over the last 20 or so years. All that pitching. All that talent. Bobby Cox, almost a deity. And ONE World Series? And last year the talk was, after they lost to the Giants, "Oh, they didn't have Chipper." Well, they had Chipper ... and found another way to lose.

 

Had to appreciate it as Atlanta was churning its little legs as hard as it could to keep its season alive, and Philly marched out Bucky and Alfalfa and my little nephew Freddie from Allentown, and just kept shutting them down.

What was the winning pitcher's name again? Heather Von Trapp?

 

The Braves' big problem was that they never had that closer who would just slam the door in the postseason. Pena, McMichael, Stanton, Wohlers, Lightenberg, Rocker et al would have one or two excellent seasons, then flame out in the playoffs (except for Wohlers in '95 ).

If the Braves have Rivera, or perhaps Hoffman, we'd be having a much different discussion.

 

Not that the Sox have much excuse, but along the lines of how cool it was to see the Orioles going balls-out, don't Sox fans have a beef with the Yankees not using Rivera? He has only pitched twice in the last week -- 28 pitches in all -- and won't throw again until Friday.

 

No. Can't have a legitimate beef either way.

If the Yankees decide it's in their best interest to go balls-to-the-wall, that's their call.

And if they decide they're better off to rest some people with the playoffs around the corner, that's their call.

 

Yeah, I know that thinking ... it just seemed glaring that in the ninth inning of a one-run game they'd think "no, we don't need Mo" when he isn't due on the mound for another 48 hours. Yankees-Sawx being what it is, I'm sure it was noticed and commented on in Boston too.