Inter-league 2010 thread

[Guest Kong76]

How did FOX get the game moved to 7? Were either of the Sat games
that way last year? I forget, but don't think so.

I hate what this upcoming series and inter-league play has become.

[Guest Kong76]

I didn't check the FOX sched, are they showing two games?

[nymr83]

when did they move it? it says 7:00 on my schedule

[Frayed Knot]

No, just the one, but they're putting several of their Saturday games into prime time this year.

[Guest Kong76]

Thanks, it was a lazy question. I just hate it, all of it. I want it
to go away and they do everything in their power to turn it into
some major event when I can't wait for Monday to come -- even
if the Mets were to sweep the series I really really mean it.

[Fman99]

Interleague sucks.

[bmfc1]

Kong76 wrote: How did FOX get the game moved to 7?

FOX is experimenting with moving their Saturday games from afternoon to night. There's another Saturday when this happens again.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I like it, especially when the Mets get to play the Tigers.

I've seen a number of interleague games -- Reds/Tigers, Indians/Brewers, Twins/Brewers and two of the Mets/MFY games and Mets/Tigers twice -- and they're fun. This year I'm going to see the D-Backs and Tigers.

[Frayed Knot]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I like it, especially when the Mets get to play the Tigers. I've seen a number of interleague games -- Reds/Tigers, Indians/Brewers, Twins/Brewers and two of the Mets/MFY games and Mets/Tigers twice -- and they're fun. This year I'm going to see the D-Backs and Tigers.

I understand it from a viewpoint of a fan, like you, way out of his home element - but the Mets come to Detroit, what, once every 5 or 6 years? Probably longer in some cases. And, of course, every series they play in Detroit means one less series they play somewhere else which detracts from that misplaced Met fan's opportunity to see his team.
In the meantime, I'm not knocking going to a big-league game, but I don't see where a Tigers-DBacks game is anymore interesting than say a Tigers-BoSox or Rays game.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Is Tiger Stadium is the only ballpark the Mets have played in but never won?

[G-Fafif]

A good game is a good game, and a great game is a great game. The Mets and Angels played a great game in the middle of their series in 2005 -- Marlon Anderson's pinch ITP homer the featured element -- and it didn't matter that there was zero reason beyond the almost random reshuffling of the schedule for them to be playing.

But a bad game is a bad game, so when it's a bad or at least nondescript game -- which generally means the Mets losing in moribund fashion to some team to whom we generally give little thought -- the lameness factor is magnified. The Mets can lose a lousy game to the Cubs, but it's understood the Mets play the Cubs. The Mets lose a lousy game to the Indians, it's foreign and it must be expunged for more lousy games against the Cubs.

The relatively few gems don't seem worth the blandness of unfamiliar opponents. The Subway Series...I used to think that made the whole thing worthwhile, but I doubt I'd mourn its passing if MLB suddenly decided it and its Chicago, L.A., et al doppelgangers weren't the cash cows they once were.

I reserve the right to change my mind if it's a good weekend.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: Is Tiger Stadium is the only ballpark the Mets have played in but never won?

0-3 at the Metrodome. 0-3 at Safeco, with a theoretical chance to take care of that 0.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Is Tiger Stadium is the only ballpark the Mets have played in but never won?

No.

EDIT: Oops, Fafif beat me to it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wow, we need some sort of emergency at Target so the team can return to the Humphreydome and get that ofer taking care of.

[G-Fafif]

Tiger Stadium's the one everybody seems to remember as oppressively futile (I was there for the first of those games -- great park, 14-0 loss), but all three oh-and-three-and-out series in those A.L. parks were as ugly as that Hefty Bag fence in Minnesota. As all wrong ends of sweeps are, I suppose, but still, they really stunk up it in the Metrodome, once for 15 innings of grueling dreariness, once losing on a walkoff in the ninth and once to that Santana kid who's never going to amount to anything or my name isn't Drayton McLane.

As for the Safeco set, I was so bummed out by the time it was over, I had to watch my staticky cassette of "No Surrender," the 1985 Met highlight tape, to rejoin the living. I believe his overwhelming mediocrity against the Mariners and bad attitude thereafter is what got Mike DeJean sent on his way.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Greg and I were both at that 14-0 game -- before we knew each other, of course.

Remember, that you guys are all in a city where both leagues reside, so you can all see any player you like.

But for someone in Detroit, one of these series might be their only chance to see Albert Pojols, or to boo Chase Utley and Chipper Jones without having travel four hours to Cincinnati.

I'm not saying interleague is the best thing ever. But I'm saying it has its nice aspects, too.

And yes, the Mets only come to Detroit once every five years or so. (Wish I could say the same, because it's a truly horrible place.) But I'll relish those opportunities. The other nearest place to see them is Chicago, and I've watched them a couple times there, but getting tickets is really tough. Milwaukee's about five hours from home, and Cincy is about that as well.

[Frayed Knot]

Thanks to last night's game, the NL won the first weekend of IL play via a 22-20 edge

Fla v ChW -- ChiSox take the first two before getting thumped by a 13-0 blowout

Cin v Cle -- Cincy takes Ohio bragging rights 2 of 3

Col v KC -- Rox win 2 of 3

Mil v Min -- Twins win first game by blowout then split two cliff-hangers

Oak v SF -- Giants score just one run in the whole series as Oakland gets the only sweep of the weekend

LAD v Det -- Tigers salvage the final game behind Rick Porcello

SD v Sea -- Padres win the rubber game as Mat Latos outduels Felix Hernandez

Chic v Tex -- Cubs win 2 of 3

Tor v Arz -- Blue Jays (just 1 game behind Yanx) win 2 of 3

TB v Hou -- Astros won the opener but the current BTiB (best team in baseball) won the final two

Bos v Phi -- Sox put a thumping on Halladay on Sunday to take the series

LAA v StL -- Cards took two of three

Was v Bal -- A Nationals walk-off (Willingham) in the 10th on Sunday gives them the 2-1 series

[Ceetar]

As long as we're sorta discussing it, I'll say I like interleague play. I'm not really old enough to remember 'rivalries' with Cubs or Cardinals or really remember the 2-division format that well, so maybe I'm biased, but most of the time if you're telling me I can see the Dodgers or Brewers or Astros another couple of times, or the Mariners or Tigers, I'd go with the AL matchup just about every time. I enjoy the variety. I'd be fully in support of a system where they mix it up throughout the season more like the NHL does where you occasionally play the other conference in every month except September.

Keep September as mostly in-division.

Let the schedule makers notice budding non-division rivalries. the Phillies may have a rivalry brewing with the Dodgers and Rockies from the playoffs, let them see each other an extra time maybe.

[Gwreck]

Ceetar wrote: Let the schedule makers notice budding non-division rivalries. the Phillies may have a rivalry brewing with the Dodgers and Rockies from the playoffs, let them see each other an extra time maybe.

This is just silly (and highly impractical).

I do enjoy getting the opportunity to see the Mets play the AL teams and certainly the opportunity to travel and see the Mets play at different stadiums on the road, but the inherent inbalance in the current interleague schedule is annoying and unfair.

Even further imbalance is not the way to go.