Rest of Baseball 2010

[phillymic2000]

Could be a helluva fight between ATL and the Phils...

nope, come on they are playing the Cubs!!

[MDS]

[PhillyGirl]

The reason for showing that? ew.

[Sgt PSN]

omg!  that's so totally MA and would never ever happen in a more civilized part of the country.

[Sgt PSN]

i've always liked joe west.  he's been a pretty solid ump over the years.  and now that he's calliing out the yanks and sawx for being the attention whores that they are, i like him even more.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5066650

"They're the two clubs that don't try to pick up the pace," said West, the chief of the umpiring crew working the three-game series, according to the report. "They're two of the best teams in baseball. Why are they playing the slowest?

"It's pathetic and embarrassing. They take too long to play," he said, according to the report.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

This was infuriating.

The occasionally slow pace of the game has gotten baseball's attention before. After Game 4 of last year's World Series, in which Yankees catcher Jorge Posada walked to the mound to visit CC Sabathia eight times in a single inning, MLB vice president of umpiring Mike Port said frequent mound meetings by all teams would likely be discussed during the offseason.

So, the MLB did absolutely nothing, right?  Nice work by them as usual.

[Sgt PSN]

yeah, it was driving me farging nuts.  but batters in the box are just as guilty.  nomar garciaparra (who i've been a fan of overall) is one of the most annoying people i've ever watched at the plate.  after every pitch, he'd step out of the box and do this thing with the velcro strap on his batting gloves where he'd open/close/open/close/open/close on one hand and then the other. 

he's far from the only one because most players have some stupid ritual they have to go through when they step in the box and then between every pitch.  farging annoying as all hell.  get in the box and farging stay there until your ab is over. 

[rjs246]

Lenny Dykstra

[smeags]

haa, the dude took forever at the plate. between all of all sack adjustments and spitting between pitches.

[Sgt PSN]

garrett jones has 3 hits in 10 ab's so far for the pirates.  all 3 are homers.  wonder if that's ever happened before? 

ed...

[PhillyPhreak54]

If so it was probably Rob Deer or Bob Hamelin...someone like that.

[Geowhizzer]

If so it was probably Rob Deer or Bob Hamelin...someone like that.

Except they'd be 3 for 25 with 3 HRs.

[PhillyPhreak54]

 

Yep.

There's another guy who was in that all or nothing class and the name escapes me....I think he played for the Orioles.

[ice grillin you]

steve bye bye balboni

[Sgt PSN]

nice article on hank aaron and his thoughts on the game and players today

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5068451

on pitchers:

Back in Aaron's day, it was rare for batters to charge mounds. Now, hitters sometimes glare if a pitch is even a baseball card's width inside.

As he watches these days, Aaron misses the dominating pitchers of his era.

"Most of those pitchers, when they got into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, they didn't look back and see who was warming up in the bullpen. They usually could finish what they started. And so I was happy to know that I played in that era where those guys were able to do those things," he said. "Pitching has changed. I think that if you talked to the average manager and want to know what his philosophy is as far as pitching, he'll tell most of his pitchers before the season starts, 'You give me five good innings and I can bring somebody out there to relieve you."

gives his 2 cents on the length of games and is spot on:

The biggest annoyance is the length of games.

"It bothers me one inning can last, I don't know, 25 minutes or 30 minutes, when they keep bringing relief pitchers out and the catchers keep going out talking. That bothers me more than anything."

Stepping out is another pet peeve.

"They're supposed to be in the batters' box and be ready to hit," he said. "And the pitchers ought to be ready to pitch."

and on the designated hitter:

He'd also like to see the designated hitter expand to the National League: "It ought to be uniform."

that one was a bit suprising.  most people are either for keeping things as the are (which i am...i like the subtle differences between the nl and al) or people are in favor of getting rid of it altogether.  i think he's the first person i've heard say he wants the dl in both leagues.