2017 Baseball.

[zeeblofowl_1969]

My season is going worse than yours. If that's possible. Should I name the team?

Hint: At least Madison Bumgarner comes back tonight.

I know I'm going to be laughed at by the two Dodger BLUUUUUZER fans fans. But I don't mind.

1988 ... it's fun!

No hope in sight Giants fan.
You had a nice run now get used to being worse than the Padres......

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Dodgers rolling is the best thing for the Mets. Only 3 more with them at home. Another soft schedule excluding home and home with the Nats. A series with the Astros could have our pitching shut them down. 12 games against the Phillies, Reds, and Braves.

Oh, that Yankee series. Fuck them Yankees. Wild card for them.

I agree fuck those Yankees.

 

[Jagger69]

My Redbirds are a lost cause I fear. Mozeliak needs to get busy this off-season and find us some hitters.

 

[bodie54]

I know I'm going to be laughed at by the two Dodger BLUUUUUZER fans fans.

No laughter from me. You've got three recent rings. We've got nada for 29 years.

Dodgers rolling is the best thing for the Mets. Only 3 more with them at home.

Whoosh those were ugly! Thank goodness for those back to back to back homers in the first inning of game 2 or I'm not sure anyone would have noticed the Mets even showed up, except to pitch batting practice

 

[Jagger69]

Perhaps a watershed moment in the 2017 MLB season occurred in the bottom of the 6th inning of the game between the Cardinals & Royals last night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Trailing by a run with 2 outs and the bases loaded and reliever Peter Moylan on the mound for KC, perennial all-star catcher Yadier Molina was at the plate for the Redbirds. Suddenly a little gray cat somehow found its way out onto the field and made its way across the outfield toward the CF wall. Play was halted and a groundskeeper emerged to track the tabby down, only to be repeated clawed as he snared the critter and painfully trotted his way back to the railing (ouch!). After he and the kitty exited the field and as if on cue, Molina promptly drilled Moylan's first pitch into the left field seats for a dramatic grand-slam homer to give the Cardinals an 8-5 lead. Trevor Rosenthal was once again dominant in relief to close the game out in favor of St. Louis. Take a look at the events as they unfolded. Even if you hate the Cardinals you would have to admit this is pretty awesome:

They are already dubbing the feline the "Rally Cat" to compliment the "Rally Squirrel" that became the unofficial mascot of the Cardinals' 2011 playoff run that ended with a dramatic game 7 World Series win over the Texas Rangers. Of course, it's too early to tell if the Rally Cat will signal a reprise to a similar ending for St. Louis but suddenly this hitherto lackluster and mediocre team is only 1.5 games behind the Cubs in the race for the NL Central! Personally, I had given the Redbirds up for dead when they didn't make any moves at the trade deadline but a recent 5-game winning streak coupled with the magical occurrence last night at Busch Stadium has got me thinking that somehow this team could possibly find a way to at least make a go of it this season. Getting interesting!! Cubs fans must be getting nervous!!! :stir:

 

[pool_hustler]

Yankees eliminate the Indians, who had been so sizzling hot the last couple of months. That surprised me. Next up the Astros.
Dodgers will be facing ?. Would be more interested in seeing a Cubs rematch than the Nationals.

Hoping the Dodgers will break their long dry spell but thinking they won't.
Astros win it all?

 

[Monder]

If you didn't know any better you would have thought that the Washington Nationals purposely threw the game tonight.They screwed up in almost every way imaginable.Even when the Cub's bullpen gave them every opportunity to come back and they still shot themselves in the foot.
On another note.It's absolutely ridiculous that a 9 inning game took over 4 and a half hours to play.The number of times the pitching coaches came out to the mound was beyond terrible.

 

[Jagger69]

Yeah that game was painful to watch. What a battle of attrition! Absolutely heroic performance in relief by Wade Davis. I think Maddon himself would have had to take the mound if somehow the Nats had tied it in the 9th and the game had gone to extra innings. The Nats and Dusty Baker seem to be pre-programmed to implode at the most crucial times because they sure found plenty of ways to fuck things up last night. Errors, dropped third strikes, wild pitches, hit batsmen....it was a fundamental disaster. I thought Baker made a huge tactical error by not having his hitters take pitches against Davis in the 9th instead of swinging away. I'm convinced that Davis was incapable of throwing 3 legitimate strikes in any at-bat before he would have thrown 4 balls. His arm must have felt like jello....he got the Nats to swing at some pitches that were out of the strike zone as evidenced by the final swinging strike against Bryce Harper to end the game. Poor Nats fans! Cubs have a quick turnaround and will be up against it tomorrow night with Kershaw likely toeing the rubber for the Dodgers. Should be a great series but I'll take LA in 7.

Likewise with the Yanks/Astros series. If it comes down to a battle of the bullpens the Yankees have the edge but the Stros are loaded from top to bottom and New York's starting pitching can't match up to a combo of Keuchel and Verlander so it will be very important for Houston to jump out ahead and maintain leads in this series. If the Yankees are ahead going into the 7th it will be very tough for Houston to overcome. Still, I like the Astros to rise to the occasion in this one and win it in 7 games.

Of course, the media is hoping for an LA/NY matchup in the World Series and would also be very happy with a Cubs/Yanks series. Houston, although a huge media market, is not a baseball-crazed city and does not command the following that the other teams involved do. I'd like to see them win for provincial reasons since I am a huge baseball fan and would like to see Texas become more focused on it instead of it just being football all the time....probably a pipe dream but it would still be fun to see the Astros advance.

 

[RASQ]

Yankees vs Astros Game 2.. Verlander pitched a beautiful complete game. You couldn't ask for a better ending.

 

[John_8581]

I'm rooting for the Cubs ... just because the LAD are in the NLCS.

My observation of the play at the plate:

Joe Maddon was a big critic of the "Posey Rule" when he was the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays - He criticized Bruce Bochy and the entire Giant organization unmercifully. Serves him right that he now gets ejected because of it.

And yet Ron Darling defends Joe Maddon and the play. He thinks Charlie Culbertson was out.

Ron Darling is a jackass! On a separate note, I dislike him and Gary Cohen, the Mets broadcasters immensely. If I watch a Mets game. I shut the sound off and listen to Howie Rose. Howie Rose is an excellent broadcaster not like "homer" rah-rah guys like Darling and Cohen.

Dave Roberts was correct in asking for the play to be reviewed.

 

[darkwarrior3007]

I'm rooting for the Cubs ... just because the LAD are in the NLCS.

My observation of the play at the plate:

Joe Maddon was a big critic of the "Posey Rule" when he was the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays - He criticized Bruce Bochy and the entire Giant organization unmercifully. Serves him right that he now gets ejected because of it.

And yet Ron Darling defends Joe Maddon and the play. He thinks Charlie Culbertson was out.

Ron Darling is a jackass! On a separate note, I dislike him and Gary Cohen, the Mets broadcasters immensely. If I watch a Mets game. I shut the sound off and listen to Howie Rose. Howie Rose is an excellent broadcaster not like "homer" rah-rah guys like Darling and Cohen.

Dave Roberts was correct in asking for the play to be reviewed.

I like both the Mets television and radio broadcast teams. On the flip side, I can't stand any other broadcast team.

 

[John_8581]

I like both the Mets television and radio broadcast teams. On the flip side, I can't stand any other broadcast team.

Thumps down on Gary Cohen and Ron Darling! Ugh. I can't stand those "homer" rah-rah guys. I mentioned Howie Rose. Yes, he's an excellent broadcaster. Keith Hernandez is also an excellent analyst. The thing is that he cannot say how he really feels on certain plays. He's passionate. Although, SNY does not censor him, they do restrict his conversations. He has criticized the Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon in the past. And SNY has told him to tone it down. Since Sandy Alderson has taken over as the General Manager, Keith hasn't really said anything bad about the Mets. Because Sandy is trying to revitalize the team.

 

[Jagger69]

Yankees vs Astros Game 2.. Verlander pitched a beautiful complete game. You couldn't ask for a better ending.

He sure did but Keuchel was just as good the previous game for the Stros. They are going to be hard to beat in a 7 game series since you'll see both of these guys twice if it goes 7 games and they each look to be almost unhittable the way they are pitching. Yanks only chance is to get to the Astros bullpen early and with a lead. NY has the advantage in the relief corps so Joe Girardi has got to hope his hitters can find a way to squeeze out some runs against Houston's starters.

I'm rooting for the Cubs ... just because the LAD are in the NLCS.

My observation of the play at the plate:

Joe Maddon was a big critic of the "Posey Rule" when he was the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays - He criticized Bruce Bochy and the entire Giant organization unmercifully. Serves him right that he now gets ejected because of it.

And yet Ron Darling defends Joe Maddon and the play. He thinks Charlie Culbertson was out.

Ron Darling is a jackass! On a separate note, I dislike him and Gary Cohen, the Mets broadcasters immensely. If I watch a Mets game. I shut the sound off and listen to Howie Rose. Howie Rose is an excellent broadcaster not like "homer" rah-rah guys like Darling and Cohen.

Dave Roberts was correct in asking for the play to be reviewed.

Contreras plainly stuck his leg out and blocked Culberson from reaching the plate....a clear violation of the rule. Uncle Joe can whine all he wants but them's the rules, like 'em or not.

I know the networks are rooting for a NY-LA or Chicago series but I am really jumping on this Astros bandwagon since my Redbirds are Deadbirds again this year. Houston has an exciting and extremely talented team....fun to watch. They've never won a world series in almost 60 years of existence. This city was decimated by Hurricane Harvey and could use some good news for a change and this baseball team is just the ticket. I don't care who they play from the NL....they can compete with anybody. Go Stros!

 

[Monder]

Bye,bye,Cubs!
Dodgers will be tough to beat now that they will be able to line their starting pitching up the way they want to for the Series.
I still think that Justin Turner is John Kruk's long lost son.

 

[Jagger69]

Congrats to the Dodgers. They totally dominated the Cubs and will make a formidable opponent to their counterpart from the AL in the Series.

The Yankees have taken the LCS right away from Houston. The Astros bats have gone silent and they appear to be pressing now so I give NY the clear advantage. Still, I would not be surprised to see Houston take game six with Verlander on the hill so I wouldn't count the Stros out just yet but it will be an uphill climb no matter how you slice it. The media is salivating over a potential LA/NY World Series.

 

[John_8581]

The Astros bats came to life especially against Luis Severino and Dave Robertson, winning 7-1. Justin Verlander pitched another masterpiece again. Tomorrow night is game 7. Congratulations to Dave Roberts and his coaching staff for winning the NL Crown and bringing the NL Pennant back to Los Angeles. But I cannot, in all honesty, root for their players or their team in the World Series.

 

[pool_hustler]

But I cannot, in all honesty, root for their players or their team in the World Series.

Aw c'mon now John you all have got three rings to lord over us can't you at least root for us to get one?

My guess: All depends on game one. If the Dodgers lose game one I'll take the 'Stros in 6. If not I'll take them in 7.

PS: I hate the 2-3-2 format. Hate it. All it takes is a split of the first two to give the visiting team a slight advantage, which should not be the case. Give me the old 2-2-1-1-1. That was fair.

 

[John_8581]

Aw c'mon now John you all have got three rings to lord over us can't you at least root for us to get one?

My guess: All depends on game one. If the Dodgers lose game one I'll take the 'Stros in 6.

PS: I hate the 2-3-2 format. Hate it. All it takes is a split of the first two to give the visiting team a slight advantage, which should not be the case. Give me the old 2-2-1-1-1. That was fair.

The Dodgers ownership says they only retire numbers of Hall of Famers. Yet Jim Gilliam's # 19 has been retired and he's not in the HOF. When the Dodgers retire Gil Hodges' # 14 and Steve Garvey's # 6 then maybe I'll root for them.

But until then .... NO!

The Dodgers ownership, fanbase and community should honor Gil Hodges and Steve Garvey.

---

The Padres retired Steve Garvey's # 6 - And he only played four seasons down south.

 

[Jagger69]

Aw c'mon now John you all have got three rings to lord over us can't you at least root for us to get one?

My guess: All depends on game one. If the Dodgers lose game one I'll take the 'Stros in 6. If not I'll take them in 7.

PS: I hate the 2-3-2 format. Hate it. All it takes is a split of the first two to give the visiting team a slight advantage, which should not be the case. Give me the old 2-2-1-1-1. That was fair.

I despise the format as well. Is MLB really so cheap they can't afford the extra travel in a standard 2-2-1-1-1 format? A split on the road now is a possible death sentence for the home club from my view as well.

Bums have the advantage in both starting and relief pitching so I give them an edge in that department. If the Astros bats stay hot they'll be tough to beat however and Kershaw has shown vulnerability in the past in the playoffs so we'll see how he does this year. Stros need Keuchel and Verlander to be shut-down starters that go deep for Houston to have a legitimate shot in my book. Should be a great series, looking forward to it, being a Houston boy I have to say Stros in 7 but I ain't betting on it.

 

[feller469]

Gotta get Springer going. With two lefties against them to start, Bregman will bat second. If Reddick can be a spark at the bottom of the order, they can do some damage.

 

[Jagger69]

Gotta get Springer going. With two lefties against them to start, Bregman will bat second. If Reddick can be a spark at the bottom of the order, they can do some damage.

Reddick looks like a deer in the headlights right now. These guys need to relax and just play baseball. To quote Clint Hurdle when it comes to the playoffs...."The game don't know how big it is".