2013 Major League Baseball: World Series- Boston Red Sox vs St. Louis Cardinals

This topic should say postseason now Kush.

And congrats to the Pirates. Been a really long time.

This 5th inning is stressing me out.

Wow. That's two innings in a row that the Rays have escaped. Destiny? :p

Whew. One more inning!

In Rod(ney) we trust.

Yes!

Now let's beat Boston.

Stele wrote:

Yes!

Now let's beat Boston.

+1

Red Sox fans definitely don't want to play us. They have been rooting for Texas and Cleveland all week.

Congrats Rays! Besides Detroit, Tampa's the only AL playoff team that can beat Boston.

karmajay wrote:
Stele wrote:

Yes!

Now let's beat Boston.

+1

-1

Red Sox fans definitely don't want to play us. They have been rooting for Texas and Cleveland all week

I was rooting for the Rays. I was hoping to watch some playoff baseball this year, and now I don't have to fly to Boston, and pay $500 for a ticket. Hoping to drive down for Monday's game.

I admit it, money certainly was a factor keeping those Yankee guys around. I'm glad the team and their funds were managed in such a way as to enable that. The fact that the Yankees have a boat load of money doesn't negatively color my opinions at all.

What's the actual emotion here? Anger against a team that has seen some remarkable success in the last twenty years, perhaps at the expense of your favorite team? Frustration that good players from teams you like head for other teams chasing a larger paycheck? Maybe you're thinking that your team could be that good if they had enough money to keep those core players around and playing together that long. Maybe you think the MLB is dumb for not having some sort of salary cap rules in place.

Sure.

What I can't stand is the, "The Yankees are only good because of all that money."

Here's a fun looking list from Forbes, March 2013. http://www.forbes.com/mlb-valuations...

1) Yes indeed, the Yankees have a bunch more money than every other team.
2) Money is correlated to success, but not that strongly. I draw your attention to the ranking of the Rays vs the Yankees and which team actually made the playoffs. I also draw your attention to the cubs ranking and their playoff results.

Being a good baseball team is about having the resources, true, but it is much more about manging those resources well, and then playing good baseball.

What I can't stand is the, "The Yankees are only good because of all that money."

Sorry, the Yankees are MOSTLY good because of the money. I think I'm gonna have to pull a "A Time to Kill" on you.

"Imagine you have a great player on your team. The fans love him. He is a monster player. He has played great for the 5 years of the contract. He says he wants to stay but you know he expects to get payed with a huge contract. You just spent a huge amount of salary on another great player this year. It just isn't feasible to pay another huge contract. The fans know he will be playing for another team next year maybe even a division rival.

Now imagine that player is Cano/Jeter/Riviera/Posada"

/mic

Yeah, spending all that money doesn't guarantee you the championship but it typically put them in the playoffs for many years.

Money is correlated to success, but not that strongly. I draw your attention to the ranking of the Rays vs the Yankees and which team actually made the playoffs. I also draw your attention to the cubs ranking and their playoff results.

If this is the case, what is the reason for NOT having a salary cap like all the other sports? If it is so great that smaller payroll teams are making the playoffs, shouldn't owners be livid that all this money is going to waste? If it didn't make a difference why don't they just pocket that cashola?

So St Louis is piling on the runs. Think I can take a break and come back for the next game.

Here is a quick work up of a chunk of the yankees 2009 team (too much to go into bullpen and utlity players)

2009 Yankees Champoinship team
C – Jorge Posada – In 2007 He signed a four-year, $52 million contract to remain with the Yankees
1B – Mark Texeira - In December 2008, Teixeira agreed preliminarily to a deal with the New York Yankees worth $180 million over 8 years
2B – Robinson Cano – Called up 2005
SS – Derek Jeter - Jeter signed a ten-year, $189 million contract before the 2001 season to remain with the Yankees
3B – Alex Rodriguez - On November 15, 2007, the New York Yankees and Rodriguez agreed on the "basic framework" of a 10-year, $275 million contract that would have him playing until he is 42
CF – Melky Cabrera/Brett Gardner – both 1st stint with Yankees
RF – Nick Swisher - not sure of salary but looks like a trade with the White Sox
Dh – Hideki Matsui - Matsui signed a four-year deal for $52 million, surpassing Ichiro Suzuki as the highest paid Japanese player in baseball, and securing his place with the Yankees through 2009
Pitchers –
Andy Pettite - Pettitte agreed to a one-year, $5.5 million contract with incentives on January 26, 2009. Based on incentives such as innings pitched and days on the active roster, Pettitte eventually earned $10.5 million for 2009
AJ Burnett - On December 18, 2008, Burnett signed a five-year $82.5 million contract with the New York Yankees
Chien Ming Wang - On December 22, 2008, Wang and the New York Yankees avoided salary arbitration when they agreed to a $5 million, one-year contract. Wang made $4 million in the 2008 season after losing in salary arbitration. He had asked for $4.6 million
CC Sabathia - On December 18, 2008, Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million contract with the New York Yankees
Joba Chamberlin – 1st stint with Yankees

karmajay wrote:

If this is the case, what is the reason for NOT having a salary cap like all the other sports? If it is so great that smaller payroll teams are making the playoffs, shouldn't owners be livid that all this money is going to waste? If it didn't make a difference why don't they just pocket that cashola?

I'm not arguing against a salary cap, it sounds good to me. I'm not arguing that money doesn't relate to success, it does. The trend shows that bigger market teams go to the playoffs more often. That's a trend that the Yankees are one part of, but get the most hate for. LA, Boston, Chicago, these teams rarely get hate for being money-winners with even close to the same vitriol that the Yankees do.

I'm just a bit tired of the Yankees money hate. A few Yankees fans shared some memories and appreciation for Rivera and the core-4, and the first few responses are, "well, that wouldn't have been so special if it hadn't been for the dang Yankees with their dang money."

I've always found rooting in favor of a team more fun than rooting against teams you don't like.

Ah, afternoon baseball. Go Rays!

Stele wrote:

Ah, afternoon baseball. Go Rays!

Boo Rays hehe

Evening games decidedly more entertaining than the afternoon ones today. 7-1 and 12-2 vs 4-3 and currently 3-2 in the 8th.

Come on David Price. Go Rays!

Hah. Finally the Rays get one off that stupid wall.

Wife and I are headed down tomorrow for the Sox game. We were able to get some front row seats just behind third base, much cheaper than I expected. Win or lose, it should be a good time.

Yeah sadly Rays tickets always seem to be available for the away team. :p

My wife is out of town until Tues, so maybe we'll go to Game 4, assuming there is one. But I think she'd be mad if I went tomorrow without her.

Stele wrote:

Yeah sadly Rays tickets always seem to be available for the away team. :p

My wife is out of town until Tues, so maybe we'll go to Game 4, assuming there is one. But I think she'd be mad if I went tomorrow without her.

Tell her it seems likely there won't be a game 4

Alex Cobb might be the Rays best fielder tonight too. He's got the final out of the last 3 innings, and a couple were impressive throws.

Longoria!

Finally some life for the Rays.

YES! Lobaton walk-off HR. Landed in the rays pool.

Stele wrote:

YES! Lobaton walk-off HR. Landed in the rays pool. :lol:

Woot!

Good grief. Dodgers going nuts with champagne and on field celebration. You'd think they won the World Series already.

Stele wrote:

Good grief. Dodgers going nuts with champagne and on field celebration. You'd think they won the World Series already. :lol:

Seriously, you won a division series (which is no small feat) but act like you've been there before.

As a Braves fan I'm used to the yearly post season choke. Why the f*ck wasn't Kimbrel out there in the 8th? You have one of the best closers in baseball and you don't put him out there in a must win division series game? For f*cks sake.

Gumbie wrote:
Stele wrote:

Good grief. Dodgers going nuts with champagne and on field celebration. You'd think they won the World Series already. :lol:

Seriously, you won a division series (which is no small feat) but act like you've been there before.

As a Braves fan I'm used to the yearly post season choke. Why the f*ck wasn't Kimbrel out there in the 8th? You have one of the best closers in baseball and you don't put him out there in a must win division series game? For f*cks sake.

Yup, there's video of Kimbrel where you can see him mouthing that he wanted to go out there at the start of the 8th. He also apparently told Frediot earlier in the game he wanted to go 2 innings if they had the lead also... Just another instance of terrible ingame management by the coach. I thought with Bobby Cox gone the Braves would have freed themselves from this crap, instead, they hired his clone.

Great game at the Trop last night. Wife an I had a great time despite the end result. Report card below:

The Good
The crowd - The stadium was full. No half full stadium for the playoffs this time around. Hope they keep it up. Crowd was about 80% Rays fans. Let's go Red Sox chants were quickly shouted down. Crowd was knowledgeable and energetic as well. Booing at delays (throws to first, mound visits, etc...) and standing and getting loud whenever their pitcher got two strikes on the batter.
Individual fans - I considered them to be the right mix of abusive and respectful. Caught an earful on more than one occasion, but nothing too confrontational. At Yankee stadium I'd have people turning around screaming at me, trying to start fights and following you all the way out of the stadium giving you grief. That's not a commentary on Yankee fans, as I'm sure they receive similar treatment at Fenway.
Pretty sure I caught Dempster sneeking a peek at my wife's rack. It's cool Ryan, I get it.
The Bad
Stupid catwalk - Dead horse and all, but I don't think there's another stadium where a popup above the plate can go out of play by hitting an obstruction.
Concessions lines - Terrible, just terrible. Running to the bathroom and grabbing a beer took an entire inning. That's saying something considering the speed of play.
Obnoxious Security - I expect the fans to get in the game, unfortunately the security guard sitting right next to me was in the habit of starting "Buuuuuchhoooolz" chants, shouting "Mine!" and "I got it!" whenever a Rays popup was sent near us, and insisting that half the Red Sox are on steroids. Shut it random security dude.
Replays - Jumbotron didn't show replays of key/controversial plays. If they did, it was only once. It would have been nice to get an extra look at some of those close plays.
Sour Grapes
Jumbotron - Instead of showing close plays the chose to instead show a cat DJ spinning a DJ hero turntable and having the mascot "lip-synch" Bon Jovi. Probably a league wide deal to cater to those with short attention spans, but the videos were terrible.
Cowbells - Aren't they considered noisemakers? From the Rays website:

Noise makers, air horns, laser pointers and any other irritating or distracting items are prohibited and will be confiscated.

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/tb/ball...
It's not the Rays, I hate thunder sticks too.

Looking forward to tonight's game

Dude. Don't talk about DJ Kitty.

More Cowbell is an important thing to the Rays. And entirely within MLB rules.

I have mine sitting on my desk at home, and ring it appropriately during games: opposing batter with 2 strikes, or Rays hit/run.