Baseball

[dont_do_it_doug.]

not one swear word DDID tame match thread !!

They're not allowed to swear, top Mod is a right clearing in the woods. It can get very heated, that was pretty tame as it's only the second game.

When seasons are often decided by one game, every game counts.

[El Zen]

Wow, that's double-trouble Ian, I feel really sorry for ya

[El Zen]

DDID is right, though, every game does count (they're certainly not irrelevant, Ian R). Divisions and wild card spots are often decided by very few games.

But I'd still like them to play just a few games less. Then, what do I know, I'd like to merge the AL and the NL too, or at least introduce the DH to the NL.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

DDID is right, though, every game does count (they're certainly not irrelevant, Ian R). Divisions and wild card spots are often decided by very few games.

But I'd still like them to play just a few games less. Then, what do I know, I'd like to merge the AL and the NL too, or at least introduce the DH to the NL.

Or get rid of the DH from the AL. Gives the AL an unfair advantage in interleague games.

[El Zen]

DDID is right, though, every game does count (they're certainly not irrelevant, Ian R). Divisions and wild card spots are often decided by very few games.

But I'd still like them to play just a few games less. Then, what do I know, I'd like to merge the AL and the NL too, or at least introduce the DH to the NL.

Or get rid of the DH from the AL. Gives the AL an unfair advantage in interleague games.

One of the two, anyway, but I like big offense so I'd prefer the former

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Ahhhh, so the steroid era is YOUR fault

I much prefer a pitching duel, horses for courses I guess. I've never understood why the DH was introduced in the first place. And don't get me started on the All Star game deciding home advantage in the WS! It's meant to be fun FFS!!

[El Zen]

I guess we can agree that it should be either/or anyway. And I definitely agree with you on the All Star/home advantage too, doesn't really make any sense now that I think about it.

[kurtsimonw]

I don't really have 1 team in baseball. I usually follow teams from New York so I have a bit of fondness for both the Mets and Yankees, but have liked the White Sox since the md-90s, so I kinda have 3 teams. Cheating I 'spose

I agree with DDID on the All Star game, it's meant to be a laugh and shouldn't mean anything serious. The team with the best record in the regular season should get homefield in the World Series, it's only fair.

[maqroll]

don't get me wrong I like it, it is simple and anyone can play it who can swing a bat, they even make it easy to catch !!

just so many games

and possibly the only sport in the states with any sense of tradition

I beg to differ, Ian. The NFL was founded in 1920, the NHL in 1917. Not quite as quaint as the FA, but 90 years constitutes tradition just about anywhere else!

[TheSufferingVilla]

I go to Shea stadium a few times a year, it's a great game to go to, you chug beers, eat hotdogs and abuse players. What's not to like?

[leviramsey]

irrelevant really I mean when they play 120 games ia season does losing the odd one matter

Part of the beauty of the sport is that every club knows going in that they'll win 60 games and that they'll lose 60 games. It's the other 40 games that matter.

do their forums go mad over it ?

Sons of Sam Horn... at one point Curt Schilling was a regular poster there (I guess the VT equivalent would be Gareth Barry posting here) before setting up his own blog; John Henry, one of the owners, has also recently started posting there (I wonder where the idea of a club director posting on fan forums came from...). Game threads look to get about 40-50 pages worth of posts.

Their soccer forum has some entertaining thread titles:

"Liverpool: Does 5th place still count as Top 4?"

"Spurs: Watch Gareth Bale go through puberty"

"Fulham: America *% Yeah!"

"UEFA Cup: Some do give a shit"

"2008 FA Cup: Reserves vs. Cinderellas"

"Newcastle '07-'08: Starting with a police raid!"

"Norwich City: We don't suck anymore"

"Leeds United: Somebody has to watch this mess"

"The League Cup: Where the kids play for faux silver"

Sadly there are no Villa threads... FFS Norwich has enough shared fans with the Red Sox to have its own thread! (though given that Chinless Yankees are generally of East Anglian extraction, I guess that's not too surprising)

"Ayuh, yuh cain't get ta Buhminehm from heah," I guess.

[leviramsey]

Or get rid of the DH from the AL. Gives the AL an unfair advantage in interleague games.

Many would argue that it gives the NL an advantage in the interleague games, since NL pitchers are more used to batting than AL pitchers are and AL managers generally have forgotten the calculus of when to call in a pinch hitter for the pitcher. All an NL manager has to do when playing away to the AL is remember to put his fourth choice outfielder or second choice first baseman on the lineup card as the DH.

[B-dub]

The new stadium for the Mets ("Citi Field", naming rights sold to Citicorp) is adjacent to the current Shea Stadium. Although it has quickly become one of the crappiest and most antiquated stadiums in the league, I will be somewhat sad to see it go, because I have a lot of memories there as a life-long Mets fan; went to my first game in 1981 when I was 7 years old (I grew up in Queens, about 15 minutes from Shea). It pretty much symbolizes all I know and feel about the game of babseball and also represents a piece of who I am and where I come from.

Anyway, getting back to harsh realities of life, the Mets (like the Yankees) have jacked up their ticket prices for this year, presumably to help finance their new parks and also to lessen the sticker shock when the prices *really* go up when the new stadiums open in 2009. As much as I will be excited and curious to experience the new stadium, I am really dreading the inevitably huge prices that it will bring.

[leviramsey]

not one swear word DDID tame match thread !!

More to your liking

[Oakland pitcher] Blanton is the cup in two girls one cup...

This is Opening Day because starting the season in Japan just wasn't right. America's Pastime should kick off in America at least so we can watch the damn games.

It’s time for Jose Melendez’s KEYS TO THE GAME.

4/1/08--No Excuses

1. Whatever happens in tonight’s U.S. opener, can the Red Sox promise Jose something? Don’t blame anything on jet lag.

Blaming failures on jet lag is a handy excuse, but a poor one. “I have cancer”—that’s an excuse. “I was struck by lighting”—that’s an excuse. But “I didn’t do well because I have jet lag, because I’m a little sleepy”—that’s no excuse at all.

If Jose couldn’t perform when he is sleepy, every single KEYS would look like this

It’s time for Jose Melendez’s KEYS TO THE GAME.

1. F*ck Jose is tired!!!!!!

2. 2weriwe#$%SDFVJ

3. Seriously, f*ck you guys.

I’m Jose Melendez and those are my KEYS TO THE GAME.

And yet people persist in using jet lag as an excuse. Jose had a boss once who blamed jet lag for absentmindedness after flying to Boston from Miami. She might has well have said, “I just drove up from Weymouth, so I’m really jet lagged.” Just about the only time when jet lag is a legitimate excuse is when one is returning from Newfoundland, with that weird half hour time zone. And then it’s not because one is tired, but because the idea of changing by only half an hour is a total mindf*ck. (Note: In fairness, confusion over crossing the International Date Line is also a good excuse. You move an hour forward, then another hour forward, then suddenly you’re 24 hours in the past? Can you imagine Manny trying to figure that one out?)

The fact of the matter is that in this day and age, where jet lag can be easily remedied through a combination of alcohol and the abuse of prescription drugs, no one should complain about it ever.

The Red Sox also shouldn’t complain about parasites. First of all, how the hell did Kevin Brown and Jason Giambi get parasites in Japan? Are you seriously telling Jose that Brown never picked up a parasite in his hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia (note: Lastings Milledge, founder) but he got something in a country where taxi drivers where white gloves and have doilies on the seat backs?

Dear Daisuke,

Throw **** strikes.

Signed,

The Fans

That was slightly more entertaining than listening to your girlfriend's dad wanking.

Did you just groove a **** [fastball] to Jack **** Cust? That's like laying out a twinkie in front of Refridgerator Perry and getting pissed that he ate it.

And a lot of whining about sopcast not working and one-line posts...

[Tom_L]

I'll be going to see the braves in early june when i go on my deep south road trip... can't wait, never been to a game before, not quite sure what to expect but i'm sure it will be an experience.

[maqroll]

I'll be going to see the braves in early june when i go on my deep south road trip... can't wait, never been to a game before, not quite sure what to expect but i'm sure it will be an experience.

The Braves have shit support, and the stadium is next to a freeway. If you can manage to get to Houston, see an Astros game, the atomosphere will be much better, even though Houston the city kind of sucks.

An option worth entertaining would be to see a minor league game. You've probably heard of the movie Bull Durham. Well there's a team in Durham, N.C. called the Bulls. N.C. is not the Deep South though. Check out the Birmingham (Alabama) Barons website, and see if you can make a game. It will be far cheaper, and you'll get a better sense of grassroots baseball culture. Definitely worth a look.

[MacGyver]

I thought this was kind of amusing:

The Mets will have a runoff to determine their new eighth-inning sing-along tune.

The organization received 5 million votes on its Web site after inviting fans to choose from among 10 selections to potentially replace Sweet Caroline. An issue arose, however, when FARK.com readers bombarded the Mets with gag votes for a write-in candidate: Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

The Astley tune actually won.

Rather than commit to that as the new eighth-inning tune since it probably doesn’t reflect the fan base’s wishes, the Mets will play the top six selections once apiece during the first six games of their home stand. The one that draws the largest crowd response will stick.

The other songs that made the cut, in descending order: Livin’ on a Prayer, Bon Jovi; I’m a Believer, The Monkees; Movin’ Out, Billy Joel; Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond; and Build Me Up Buttercup, The Foundations.

The Mets suggested the Fark tune winning didn’t necessarily result in the runoff, saying the contest rules stipulated Internet voters would “help decide” the outcome.

Mets avoid getting Rickroll'd

EDIT: Upon further inspection, the New York Mets have, in fact, been Rickroll'd:

and Here

[yakulto]

Love the sport, though I've watched the Japanese version way more than the American one.

It's helped me greatly to acclimatise to life in Japan, as when I moved here one of the biggest things I missed was the Villa. I needed to find some sort of substitute. Tried watching J-League soccer but it just got me pining for the English game so I gave baseball a go.

Hadn't ever watched a game before I got here so started off pretty clueless, but soon got the general idea and started to love the sport. Eventually chose the Tokyo Yakult Swallows as my team and they've proved a worthy Villa substitute, and my level of passion for them is approaching that of Villa.

That was seven years ago and I go to around 30-40 games a year and have been to a fair few away games too (Japanese fans travel to away games much the same as UK footy fans).

As for the sport itself, it's much more akin to a condensed game of cricket as a spectator sport, though I'm not a real fan of cricket. People go to the games to cheer the team, socialise with friends, drink a lot of beer, eat food and generally be merry.

I think, similarly to cricket, if you watch a short segment of a baseball game it comes across as deadly boring. But the overall ebb and flow of a game is fantastic. It's one of the few sports that's not over until it's over - I mean in footy, if a team has a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go, more often than not the game is effectively over. In baseball, unless you're really getting a beating, all it takes is a string of hits and you can come back into the game, even in the final inning.

Plus in Japan, draught beer is served at your seat by young girls with a keg of beer strapped to their back - this alone is worth a visit.

[NibblyPig]

Bah, Red Sox with an indifferent start to the season.

7-2 down, bottom of the ninth, against the 0-7 Tigers.

Down to 0.444 unless we can pull off a miracle tonight.

[leviramsey]

I think, similarly to cricket, if you watch a short segment of a baseball game it comes across as deadly boring. But the overall ebb and flow of a game is fantastic. It's one of the few sports that's not over until it's over - I mean in footy, if a team has a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go, more often than not the game is effectively over. In baseball, unless you're really getting a beating, all it takes is a string of hits and you can come back into the game, even in the final inning.

There are three sports, as near as I can tell, where the measurement of time depends on how well the competitors are doing: cricket, baseball, and tennis.

Oh, and any football game where the top 4 are playing...

Another aspect of baseball (although I suppose that the same could be said of cricket) is that it balances individual and team performance exceptionally well: while the essence of the game is pitcher against batter and is perhaps the most individualist of team sports, it's also very difficult for one player to take control of the game in the manner of, say, a Ronaldo. One's big-time slugger has difficulty affecting the game if he's not on the immediate horizon to bat.

Plus in Japan, draught beer is served at your seat by young girls with a keg of beer strapped to their back - this alone is worth a visit.

And then these young maidens are tentacle raped, I presume?