MLB 2009 Playoffs Catch-All

SwampYankee wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

The A's are up 5-1 in the bottom of the second to the Red Soxs. This makes me very happy. :D

Sox can be plural as well. The "s" is not necessary.

Seriously, the socks are playing like dried dog turds thus far this season. Not at all what I would like to see.

Oh ya? How was last night?

I was up until after 2:00am watching that game.

Go Mariners!

Blind_Evil wrote:

On a less personal note, I wonder where they're gonna get him consistent at bats once A-rod gets back. Damon in left, Gardner in center, Nady in right, Tex at first, Matsui at DH... now that I think on it, didn't Nady get hurt a couple nights back? Bah. Yankees.

Nady pulled himself out of the game last night. Looks like a very serious elbow injury; rumor on sports radio today is that Nady could be done for the year. Swisher could end up being the full time RFer.

Everyone's wearing 42 today? Isn't that a bit much?

Rat Boy wrote:

Everyone's wearing 42 today? Isn't that a bit much?

You can't be serious.

Rat Boy wrote:

Everyone's wearing 42 today? Isn't that a bit much?

Didn't they do that last year?

I enjoy the odd connection of Jackie Robinson and Douglas Adams.

does anyone know of any good XM Radio's that aren't for the car? I enjoy listening to baseball far more than watching it and since i'm on cst, It's about the time I go to bed.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to listen to the a's games.

The Yankees are looking bad, a bit worse than the Mets. At least so far.

Their bullpen is a joke. To perform like that on opening day with a new stadium and with all your legends back is pretty sad.

But they're high tech.

This isn't really MLB stuff, but I just bought a 70 dollar custom maple bat. Here's hoping it's as sexy as I imagine. White handle, black cherry barrel, silver logo, my full name engraved...should be ready in 3 weeks.

I've been cheap up til now, using the same two ash $25 bats for three years or so, but after swinging my pal's maple, I had to switch.

Blind_Evil wrote:

This isn't really MLB stuff, but I just bought a 70 dollar custom maple bat. Here's hoping it's as sexy as I imagine. White handle, black cherry barrel, silver logo, my full name engraved...should be ready in 3 weeks.

I've been cheap up til now, using the same two ash $25 bats for three years or so, but after swinging my pal's maple, I had to switch.

Sounds nice. I used ti try to stick wood bats, but gave up because I broke too many of them. It was frustrating to have get a new bat all the time. I finally relented and embraced the awesomeness of aluminum wood. Yeah, it sounds like crap, and it feels cheap, but there is no doubt that you can deliver serious blows with aluminum bats.

If I bought a sweet bat like that, it would be for display.

Blind_Evil wrote:

This isn't really MLB stuff, but I just bought a 70 dollar custom maple bat. Here's hoping it's as sexy as I imagine. White handle, black cherry barrel, silver logo, my full name engraved...should be ready in 3 weeks.

I've been cheap up til now, using the same two ash $25 bats for three years or so, but after swinging my pal's maple, I had to switch.

Wasn't there controversy about maple bats last year? how they were supposedly so brittle that MLB was going to ban them after some lady got a broken bat in the face at a Dodgers game?

Novocain wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

This isn't really MLB stuff, but I just bought a 70 dollar custom maple bat. Here's hoping it's as sexy as I imagine. White handle, black cherry barrel, silver logo, my full name engraved...should be ready in 3 weeks.

I've been cheap up til now, using the same two ash $25 bats for three years or so, but after swinging my pal's maple, I had to switch.

Wasn't there controversy about maple bats last year? how they were supposedly so brittle that MLB was going to ban them after some lady got a broken bat in the face at a Dodgers game?

The debate still rages on, but it's not a matter of them being brittle. They break at a lower rate than traditional ash bats. However, they shatter when they break, instead of just cracking.

I'm really good about not breaking bats, so I'm not very concerned.

Also, wtf@Marlins/Padres? The Marlins aren't a huge surprise to me, because they always at least compete and it's about time they head toward another championship (1997-2003=6 years. 2003-2009=...). Naysayers will point at 6 of their 11 wins being against the Nats, but they are never a pushover.

But the Pads are hanging out at the top of the NL? I can't imagine that holding up, but they haven't been picking on weak teams like the Fish - they swept the Giants, took the first two against the Phils (and lost in the 9th tonight), and took two of three in Citifield's first series.

Forgot to mention this - I have a friend who played in HS against Roy Halladay who he keeps in touch with (seriously). He called Roy after his win the other day and Roy told him about a new conditioning program he'd been using in the offseason, and how great he felt. Roy said that he'd be shocked if he didn't win the Cy Young this year, and that he fully expects to win 25-28 games. No sh*t.

Blind_Evil wrote:

But the Pads are hanging out at the top of the NL? I can't imagine that holding up, but they haven't been picking on weak teams like the Fish - they swept the Giants, took the first two against the Phils (and lost in the 9th tonight), and took two of three in Citifield's first series.

I think I can explain that:

a.) The Giants are a team that plain can't hit and will never hit with the roster they have.

b.) The Phillies are off to a slow start.

c.) Don't expect much out of either New York team this year.

Jason Giambi gets frank. (NSFW for language and mental imagery).

You know a team is dysfunctional when they can't spell their players' names right on the unis.

IMAGE(http://cdn.faniq.com/images/blog/106e48442462d876442470d167e6908b.jpg)

But misspelling the team name? Seriously? That is atrocious.

Yankees have a ton of empty seats due in part to high ticket prices. In accordance with this fact, they plan to raise ticket prices by four percent next year. This will alleviate the problem by... wait, RAISE?

To be fair, this statement only relates directly to the 4,000 premium seats, of which Yankee president Kevin Levine claims 80% have been sold for this full season. Not exactly the best PR move one could make, though.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Also, wtf@Marlins/Padres? The Marlins aren't a huge surprise to me, because they always at least compete and it's about time they head toward another championship (1997-2003=6 years. 2003-2009=...). Naysayers will point at 6 of their 11 wins being against the Nats, but they are never a pushover.

But the Pads are hanging out at the top of the NL? I can't imagine that holding up, but they haven't been picking on weak teams like the Fish - they swept the Giants, took the first two against the Phils (and lost in the 9th tonight), and took two of three in Citifield's first series.

As probably the lone Marlin fan here, I do want to point out that the Marlins swept the Braves, who were picked to compete, and took 2 of 3 from the Mets. Neither team is a pushover (though I will admit the Nats are complete pushovers). I really don't think they can sustain this over and entire season, but a hot start never hurts.

gbuchold wrote:

Yankees have a ton of empty seats due in part to high ticket prices. In accordance with this fact, they plan to raise ticket prices by four percent next year. This will alleviate the problem by... wait, RAISE?

To be fair, this statement only relates directly to the 4,000 premium seats, of which Yankee president Kevin Levine claims 80% have been sold for this full season. Not exactly the best PR move one could make, though.

Yankees management seems to believe that their fans have an endless supply of cash. I'm rather interested to see if they are right, or people stop buying tickets.

gbuchold wrote:

Yankees have a ton of empty seats due in part to high ticket prices. In accordance with this fact, they plan to raise ticket prices by four percent next year. This will alleviate the problem by... wait, RAISE?

To be fair, this statement only relates directly to the 4,000 premium seats, of which Yankee president Kevin Levine claims 80% have been sold for this full season. Not exactly the best PR move one could make, though.

The seats are sold mainly to corporate accounts. The problem is, corporate execs are afraid to be seen on national tv appearing to "live it up" in their several thousand dollar seats. So instead of say, donating the tickets to Make A Wish or something, they just don't show up. The Yankees aren't losing out on the ticket prices; they're losing out on concession sales.

There's also the rumor around the Yankees blogosphere that these ticket holders are in fact showing up but are opting to hang out for the entire game in the several clubhouses, bars, and restaurants in the stadium. If that's true, the Yankees aren't losing out on a dime.

SwampYankee wrote:

Yankees management seems to believe that their fans have an endless supply of cash. I'm rather interested to see if they are right, or people stop buying tickets.

They seem to be right for the most part. ESPN just reported on a Forbes article which revealed that 10 baseball teams have decreased in value while the Yankees worth has increased 15% to $1.5 billion.

I'm torn here. I loved the old stadium. Wherever you sat you felt like you were on top of the players...in the game. The new stadium is much bigger and very spread out. The atmosphere is nowhere near the old stadium and whatever atmosphere is there because of the novelty of the new stadium and will inevitably wear out as the season progresses. Those empty seats in the new stadium also take away from "atmosphere". You couldn't find an empty seat behind home plate in the old stadium. Well, at least not since the Yankees started winning.

But I understand the concept of progress. I just wish the loyal fans who were there during the dismal 80's and early 90's weren't being shafted. We've been relegated to the upper deck and bleachers. Fine I guess because tickets can still be had for $20 bucks a pop but I'd like my child to experience Yankee stadium his first time the way I did; 8 rows behind the dugout. I'll have to pay a weeks salary now just to give that to my son.

People will still keep buying tickets. Especially the sub $100 tickets which is actually a majority of the stadium. Those expensive seats will fill back up once the economy does a 180. Love of baseball is greater than the cost of a seat. If tomorrow Boston doubled and in some case tripled ticket prices, it would piss off Sox fans and they might go to fewer games but they would still love the Sox and would still buy jerseys.

FSeven wrote:
gbuchold wrote:

Yankees have a ton of empty seats due in part to high ticket prices. In accordance with this fact, they plan to raise ticket prices by four percent next year. This will alleviate the problem by... wait, RAISE?

To be fair, this statement only relates directly to the 4,000 premium seats, of which Yankee president Kevin Levine claims 80% have been sold for this full season. Not exactly the best PR move one could make, though.

The seats are sold mainly to corporate accounts. The problem is, corporate execs are afraid to be seen on national tv appearing to "live it up" in their several thousand dollar seats. So instead of say, donating the tickets to Make A Wish or something, they just don't show up. The Yankees aren't losing out on the ticket prices; they're losing out on concession sales.

There's also the rumor around the Yankees blogosphere that these ticket holders are in fact showing up but are opting to hang out for the entire game in the several clubhouses, bars, and restaurants in the stadium. If that's true, the Yankees aren't losing out on a dime.

The question is not when they will stop, but when they will start. Those seats should drop in price next season if the economy stays stagnant. Maybe the local radio stations will finally give away good seats instead of the upper levels?

I'm just enjoying the clusterf*ck of a stadium the Yankees have built. I'm really hoping this continues and the home run totals dwarf what we have seen in Colorado. It's enough that Hank is having to commission studies to find out what went wrong already.

How much money are they going to have to spend to get any pitcher to come or stay in that ballpark if that continues? Freaking hilarious!

If it means the Yankees missing the playoffs every year, I will live with them as an example of why money doesn't dictate success in MLB. I know it does, but I will live with the Yankees as bumbling fools that can't figure out how to win any other way.

I thought Torre got screwed by the Cardinals because he was never given any talent. I was really happy for him to have found success finally in New York. Then he got screwed by the Yankees despite making the playoffs every year. Watching him take the Dodgers to the playoffs while the Yankees sat at home was great.

The Yankees are run by stupid, stupid men that just happen to have a bucketload of cash. They would be inept and driven out of sports in any other market.

Yeah, it's schadenfreude.

Psych wrote:

As probably the lone Marlin fan here, I do want to point out that the Marlins swept the Braves, who were picked to compete, and took 2 of 3 from the Mets. Neither team is a pushover (though I will admit the Nats are complete pushovers). I really don't think they can sustain this over and entire season, but a hot start never hurts.

You failed to point out that the Pirates just swept the Marlins earlier this week. This proves absolutely nothing except how early we are in the season

Novocain wrote:
Psych wrote:

As probably the lone Marlin fan here, I do want to point out that the Marlins swept the Braves, who were picked to compete, and took 2 of 3 from the Mets. Neither team is a pushover (though I will admit the Nats are complete pushovers). I really don't think they can sustain this over and entire season, but a hot start never hurts.

You failed to point out that the Pirates just swept the Marlins earlier this week. This proves absolutely nothing except how early we are in the season

In fairness, the sweep hadn't happened when I wrote that, but it was well on its way. The season is very early, and I know my Marlins will not keep this pace up. I can't help but think that starting 11-1 is only going to help as the season continues.

Jayhawker wrote:

IThey would be inept and driven out of sports in any other market.

Yep, because a fairly large amount of money is baseball revenue-driven. Steinbrenner Shipping what? That's why in the mid-90s they were thinking about a team being started in the Meadowlands, over in New Jersey.

But the clusterf*ck stadium is about 8 miles south, Citifield. An anonymous stadium for a team in a major metropolitan market. Even the seats don't reflect anything about the Mets, it represents Ebetts(sic) Field.

There is this Russian Cardinal fan in the Cards newsgroup on Usenet that posted this. I have no idea what it is, but it is extremely odd, to say the least.

http://community.livejournal.com/bas...

No ideas, other than that'll teach him to throw inside...

Jayhawker wrote:

I'm just enjoying the clusterf*ck of a stadium the Yankees have built. I'm really hoping this continues and the home run totals dwarf what we have seen in Colorado. It's enough that Hank is having to commission studies to find out what went wrong already.

How much money are they going to have to spend to get any pitcher to come or stay in that ballpark if that continues? Freaking hilarious!

If it means the Yankees missing the playoffs every year, I will live with them as an example of why money doesn't dictate success in MLB. I know it does, but I will live with the Yankees as bumbling fools that can't figure out how to win any other way.

I thought Torre got screwed by the Cardinals because he was never given any talent. I was really happy for him to have found success finally in New York. Then he got screwed by the Yankees despite making the playoffs every year. Watching him take the Dodgers to the playoffs while the Yankees sat at home was great.

The Yankees are run by stupid, stupid men that just happen to have a bucketload of cash. They would be inept and driven out of sports in any other market.

Yeah, it's schadenfreude.

Wow. The Yankees really get your blood flowing, huh? That's healthy!

The problem is not the stadium. Those home runs would have been home runs in any park. It's the Yankees pitchers beating themselves. Witness the home runs in Fenway this weekend. Yeah, the Yankees somehow brought the Bronx wind with them to Boston, right? Gimmie a break.

And let's not start choking on Torre's manhood quite yet. The Dodgers would have missed the playoffs if they didn't get Manny down the stretch and Blake back in July of '08. All of their pistons fired at the right time. Let's not forget that the Dodgers had 84 wins last year, lowest of all playoff teams. If they were in the AL East, they would have finished in 5th place behind the Blue Jays. Manny hit roughly .400 over the last 2 months of the season. The Dodgers started the season with Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre in the OF and Blake DeWitt at third. It finished the season - and made the playoffs - with Manny going on a torrent and Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier full time in the OF playing just as hot as Manny, Casey Blake at third playing better than Blake DeWitt dreams of playing, Furcal back at shortstop, and Greg Maddux and Clayton Kershaw shoring up the rotation at the right time. Doesn't matter if Torre started walking on water; it was the players playing far beyond their career averages that brought the Dodgers into the playoffs.

And I'm just curious how the the guys who built the Yankees into a $1.5 billion empire and won 4 championships in 5 years from 96-2000 suddenly became dumb. The Yankees payroll was barely $10 million more than the 2nd team during those years and the 1998 team, one of the greatest teams in history, had a payroll that was second to the Orioles'. The Yankees got those "bucketloads of cash" by being smart and investing in the business as opposed to many other baseball owners who only use their teams as a tax shelter and pocket all the luxury tax money they receive from teams like the Yankees and Red Sox. Wish your team had more money? Don't get mad at Steinbrenner. Get mad at your owner. Get mad at Billy Bean and his "moneyball" philosophy that sounds good but hasn't won the Oakland A's anything. That type of philosophy isn't about winning championships. It's about getting maximum return on investment for the baseball team owners, fans be damned. Yet King George singlehandedly rendered that philosophy as poppycock by showing that when you invest in your team and compete for championships and playoffs every year, you get an even bigger return on investment. But King George's mentality carries with it some risks. When your team plays in a city with 8.5 million people, more than twice the population of the next largest U.S. city, you obviously make more money than any other team and are expected by that population to put the money back into the team. And sometimes you go out and get a marquee player who doesn't work out as expected. Think about Carl Pavano or Kevin Brown. Mo Vaughn with the Mets. And any number of players who haven't played to expectations. Hindsight is always 20/20.

The Sox were ready to buy ARod for $1 million less than the Yankees per season. They were pennies away from buying Teixeira which would have made Lowell expendable - the same Lowell that is off to an amazing start. Where would the Sox be if they got Teixeira - who is off to his typical slow start - and lost Lowell who is a large part of their 12-6 record. Would anyone be lambasting the Sox for buying Arod or Teixeira? People like to claim the Yankees "bought their championships", ignorant of how much of the core of their championship teams were homegrown players, yet the Sox have the distinction of being #1 and #2 on the list of "World Series Champions with the highest payrolls". But no word on how the Sox "bought their championships". It's such a double standard and a glaring example of seething hatred of the Yankees prevailing over a sound mind and rational argument.

So yeah, it's the Yankees fault that Sabathia and Teixeira are off to terrible starts. It's the Yankees fault that Wang, who was the winningest pitcher in baseball from 06-07, is battling injuries. It's the Yankees fault that a 3 time MVP is battling hip problems. This is baseball and this is what's called the intangible human factor.

As Yogi said, "You can observe a lot by watching."