stevejrogers

Detroit and Seattle are staying alive in their respective divisions, Arizona can end the Dodgers NL West reign tonight. The Red Sox with their win tonight clinched a playoff spot, which means Detroit pretty much needs to win every game and hope the Indians and Yankees lose every game. FWIW the Yankees number for both the Mariners and Tigers stands at 3. And heading into the final week of the regular season, only the Tigers and Mariners are barely alive in the AL but 5 teams are still alive in the NL Wild Card (Phillies (1 game back right now), Rockies (3 games back), Braves (5 games back), Dodgers (6.5) and Brewers (6.5) Also in the NL, along with the Phillies the Braves are still "breathing." Well, the number to continue the current streak of years without a division championship is now at 1. Same for the Dodgers in the NL West, but the Rockies at 4 and Padres at 8 are still left to deal with. The Brewers are the last team left battling in the Central.

And for the 7th year in a row we will have a new MLB World Champion! And 11th different NL champ since the 95-96 Braves.

Hey a one time Spring Training Met! My question, how in the heck is he sucking his gut in for that shot! Then again, he did perform as his emo alter ego Chris Gaines on Saturday Night Live and he was supposed to be one slim fellow.

="Kid Carsey"]You can watch anything you want for a price in all the major sports including most college crap. It's not a Metscentric thing but a sports/media relationship thing based on love of the almighty buck. BINGO! And yes, the causal NBA and NHL (if there were any even before the lockout that canceled the entire season) is gone forever as well. At this point the only thing that can bring baseball back is someone so transcendent on the Jordan, Tiger Woods level that there is no question about their legitimacy. Even ARod, Pujols and Howard are shrouded in the same steroid black cloud. Also that player must win multiple championships on a team that is not the Yankees/Mets/Dodgers/Red Sox, and therefore shows that there is no inequality issues when it comes to multiple postseason apperances. See Derek Jeter for this example, who is loathed by scores of non-Yankee fans due to the simple reason that he is a member of the New York Yankees, despite the fact that he truly is one of the "good guys" that the sport is built around. Okay he clearly isn't anywhere near the ARod/Griffey/Bonds/Pujols/Howard level, or even Jimmie Rollins/Hanley Ramierez level in terms of impact short stops, but he is a future HOF if he remains healthy as he is on pace to race through the 3,000 hit club. So pretty much he is Paul Molitor/Craig Biggio before people started to realize they were putting up HOF caliber numbers.

cooby wrote: Alienating fans because of arcane territory rights that black out certain markets on MLB.com's MLBTV service This point could be highly expanded on to include ESPN games (I'm too local to watch the Mets) and private team ownership television channels (I'm talking to you Mets and Yankees) which don't allow romote fans to buy their channels on cable (I'm too far away to watch the Mets) That may be more of a cable provider issue though. I doubt Cablevision or Time Warner, even through their new fangled digital services carry out of market networks like NESN, Comcast, Turner South, your local FOX regional sports network, ect. DirecTV does offer a wide selection of those networks but, and here I will agree with you, due to MLB Extra Innings and the NBA and NHL packages black out ALL team related programing (classic games, pre/post coverage, weekly highlights, ect) not just the current game if you are out of the market.

martin wrote: scalping your own tickets doesnt seem like a problem. i have always thought sports venues miss out on profits by not getting market (scalped) value for their seats. more money for baseball is not a "problem" dont see the problem with latin players "excluding" americans. talent is talent. people like to watch anyways. I'm not sure if the article listed them as problems as opposed to just exposing something baseball doesn't want you to know. Also, the Latin American point was labeled "As American As Apple Pie...And Job Outsourcing" which probably is more of a social statement than a localized baseball statement, but there does seem to be more movement towards the factories in Latin America than there are here in the Continental U.S. ]last time you made these points i mentioned that nascar ratings are not impressing the way they used to. maybe you should do a "nascar is dying" thread. Which probably is why the author didn't mention the actual ratings other than the decline in MLB in the piece =

Smart Money is a monthly magazine put out by the Wall Street Journal, and every month as a "10 Things" column. This is only in the print edition, so from the October '07 issue Ten Things Major League Baseball Is Not Telling You by Barry Petchesky Number One, "So Much For The National Pastime" really is good evidence in my "baseball is dying" argument as it mentions a Harris Poll from 1985 where baseball as a favorite sport was listed by 1/4th of the respondents. In 2006, that number dropped 14% which is half as much as the NFL. Petchesky also mentioned the rise of NASCAR and soccer in the context of it, but showed no reason for the inclusion of those two sports. Also mentioned is the Nielson ratings where the postseason ratings since 1985 have fallen 50% and the fact that all 10 of the lowest rated World Series have occurred within the last decades. Inconvenient game times is given as the culprit, and more to the point there is a quote from SABR's Gary Gillette that says "the diehards will always be there...but the causal fans have left in droves." The other items include; -How MLB is essentially scalping their own tickets by going to bed with Stubhub and other resellers. -Alienating fans because of arcane territory rights that black out certain markets on MLB.com's MLBTV service. -The rise of the Latin American player at the expense of American born players. -Crazy accounting that makes teams appear to be losing money and in turn more raises in prices at the ballpark, not to mention getting the public to finance new ballparks in one form or another. -There are still many problems with the drug policy, especially in the case where you can not test for HGH. -And the coziness of having that anti-trust exemption. Its good for a quick read on the problems still facing baseball, despite what the revenue streams of attendance records and merchandise sales will have you believe.

And now, the complete lyrics for Revolution # 9. Artist, The Beatles, author, John Winston Ono Lennon Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9 Number 9...

TransMonk wrote: Last night on BBTN, the biggest geek not named Buster Onley stated that no team in the history of the game has had a 7 game lead on September 12th and failed to make the playoffs. There is a slight problem with that, its a complete arbitrary date that has no context. In recent years, yeah that has been roughly around the mark when there is 2 weeks left, but since that date falls on a different calendar day every seven years, there isn't a real context you can grab on to. Sometimes is more, sometimes its less, and sometimes the season went through the first week of October (there is no start date for the data so is it since 1969? 1995? The start of baseball? Give me a fact with a more soild base to it, like "No team with a 7 game lead with 2 weeks to play..." or even Labor Day (ALWAYS first weekend of September) but the date is hard to make a stand off of.

The Mets clinched the NL East. If the Mets blow this lead, to borrow a line from the late Herb Brooks, they will take it to their F'N GRAVES!

soupcan wrote: Where's the reception - Longshore? Yup.

BTW, the Mets did have a 73 once, Kenny Rogers who wanted 37. Also that BP jersey looks more like an mid-90s (after the Mets lost the tail on Mets) jersey than the 80s, and I doubt thats Rob Dromenhauser in that photo, though I need to do some more research on that.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Fornicating? I meant masturbation, no clue how fornicate came out.

David Cone fornicating in the bullpen Vince Coleman hurling firecrackers at crowd, hitting a small child Bret Saberhagen soaking reporters with bleach Ex-Yankees but still Mets Karim Garcia and Shane Spencer beating up a Pt. St Luice pizza delivery guy What was that a wise man once said about he who casts the first stone?

I would be there on Saturday, if not for an old college buddy of mine's wedding. Interestingly enough the wedding ceromony is taking place in the chapel on the Fairfield University campus! He lives in the town of Fairfield. Reception is in Westport though.

In Philly, the Rockies gave Jeff Francis 3 runs in the top of the first, he then proceeds to give all those runs back, and Philly goes ahead, and are still batting in the top of the 1st, leading 4-3. Are you sure this is in Philly and not Colorado? = Toronto up 1-0 on Yankees in the 3rd up in Toronto Orioles lead 2-0 against Anaheim, also in the 3rd in Baltimore. Cards continue to fall out of it, losing to the Reds 5-4. Games that matter tonight Cubs at Houston Tampa Bay at Seattle Padres at Dodgers Game with nothing but pride on the line Texas at Oakland By the way, has anyone tried the new chat rooms that MLB.com now has for every game?

Phillies Lose in Colorado But the Mets win at Shea means ol' Zach Taylor had the number for just a few seconds, much like his actual Presidency, giving way to # 11 James Polk (1845-1849)

Edgy DC wrote: Isn't it telling that he identified himself so nobly with the guy who toiled honorably only to lose credit to the more glamorous and self-centered, and that guy turned out to be a world-class phony? He's deeply invested in frontrunning Yankee culture. If that song was writen in the mid-80s I'm sure it would have been "but the Mets grab the headlines everytime." Rose's fate some 10-15 years later has nothing to do with it.

Phillies lose to the Rockies, so... Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) of Cayuga County, New York gets the magic number tonight.

Edgy DC wrote: ="SteveJRogers"]Okay, maybe in the part you and Cha are in, but its apparantly that is the exception to the rule. Give me a break. Being a dick is being a dick is being a dick. Yeah, and my perception, granted its from a fan perspective from reading and watching interviews and the like, but it seems there are more dicks in the entire industry (no matter what genre) than there are good people who will give people breaks, respect those who came before (even if you didn't care for it) and acknowledge whats coming after them.

Okay, maybe in the part you and Cha are in, but its apparantly that is the exception to the rule.

Speaking of big-leaguing and the genre I mentioned up thread, there has been a hell of a lot of big-leaguing in that genre through the years. From Johnny Cash being treated like crap early on in his Opry Days, to Charile Rich burning the CMA award thing that listed John Denver as the Entertainer of The Year to virtually all of the older generations of stars running down Garth Brooks every chance they get. And I'm not even touching the rap genre. The music industry is pretty much always a "big-leaguing" industry.

="Edgy DC"] If he ever aspires to anything like that sort of status, he should treat Grand Funk with respect. He should be thankful for the career he's had. He's got no business big-leaguing anybody. Please, everyone big-leagues everyone in that industry, or any other entertainment industry, even sports. The lead guy from Oasis once was told by Bono that he (Bono) thought they (Oasis) would someday be bigger than the Beatles. The jerkwad responded that they already were bigger than the Beatles! If I was Bono at that moment, I'd would have decked him. Its not uncommon to keep trashing something or someone you always looked upon as crud. If he didn't like them in the 60s why would he change his tune 30-40 years later?

Well considering NYSOM closes out Shea after every freaking game, clearly someone running the boards at Shea, or someone above them wants that to be the Mets "New York, New York"