Frayed Knot

I'd call this one over, but it's still just the top of the 7th. There could be a dozen or more runs scored before it's all over. Just depends on how those dozen are divided up.

And we're getting a Game Seven tomorrow night!

Leaving before the 9th inning even starts Philly phans! Really ... In a potential WS clinching game?!? Got an 8:30 bedtime maybe?

Torey Lovullo tempts fate by pulling very effective starter Merrill Kelly [1 R, 3 H, last 8 retired] after just five innings/90 pitches and a 4-1 lead. He hasn't been burned by it yet (1 out/1on in the 7th) and the lead is up to 5-1 now, but the booth (and I) were all over the move and they've still got to get 8 more outs.

=bmfc1 post_id=139793 time=1698030691 user_id=73] Is it going to be Verlander v. Scherzer in Game 7?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The "born outside the US" thing is a new category. And a quite easy one. I whiffed on ATL/SEA

And the Phils will have two games to try and win one back in eastern PA starting Monday. Wheeler was, once again, stellar tonight.

Frayed Knot wrote: I miss the days when a beanball could be answered with a (no punches thrown) close-quarters yap-fest yet the result was no ejections. Do you mean to tell me that when a player got hit by a pitch his teammates reacted and their manager got very mad? I didn't know that a team could react. I thought all you could do was glare and say that the pitch "got away" from the pitcher. And it was really Bruce Bochy, more than Dusty, who should have thrown a fit. The Houston pitcher did, as judged by the umps, intentionally throw at Adolis Garcia. But what did Garcia do to warrant ejection except stick a couple of pointed fingers into the chest protector of Astro catcher Maldonado with some presumed gutter Spanish thrown in?

I vaguely remember the name but have no specific memories of him.

This argument strikes me as similar to the whole inter-league proposal, where it was talked about as if IL games were somehow in addition to other games instead of in place of others. NYM fans gain a series with the Twins & Mariners but also lose one to the Cards & Cubs. So even if one wants to argue that the novelty of an IL game vs a rarely seen opponent is the equal to one against a long time rival with history behind it, at best it's a net wash. I'd argue it's a net loss but that's a discussion for another day. With this pre-release finalist voting it *might be* creating interest (I'd argue it's little or none) for the fans of the three players "nominated" but at the same time it's killing interest for multiple others who had hopes that their guy might be in the running. Now those casual NYM fans supposedly helped by this in the case of Lindor also know for a fact that not only is McNeal not going to win in the Utility category but he's not even going to place or show. We know before the race is even run that he apparently got left in the barn. Tiny interest (maybe) gained for a few fans vs total interest completely gone for a lot more. I see ZERO upside to this.

I realize that yours was a thinly veiled (or not veiled at all) comment on Buck, so this is not a direct response to you. But think about that scene last night (the afternoon game actually): Garcia takes a fastball up on the shoulder one AB after a dramatic HR (and a trot around the bases to match) - he immediately turns around and gets in the catcher's face w/the ump in between, nothing exchanged except for a few hand gestures and probably a lot of colorful Spanish back and forth. - benches empty but nary even a push or shove ... and that's the ned of it Except that the pitcher, batter and ultimately Dusty got tossed, Dusty was for some colorful post-tossing language of his own but I don't think that any of that was necessary. But apparently all the umps have to do is form an opinion that the HBP had intent behind it and they can toss the pitcher. And I guess they just didn't like the tone of Garcia's yapping even if they couldn't actually decipher the words so they tossed him too.

We all know that fans are going to bitch about awards voting in almost every category every year, and are of course going to direct that ire towards the writers, usually with the complaint that voting should be done by baseball people. But the thing about the GG awards in particular is that those are the ones which have long been voted on by managers and coaches (although these days there's also a 30% statistical element to them) and yet are the ones which they seem to get wrong more than any other (Kate Upton's colorful comments on the AL CY voting a few years back notwithstanding). Mostly it seems like it's the one that's mostly a reputation vote (can't just out-point the champ, you've gotta knock him out to dethrone him). And it would be nice if they took showing up every day into consideration. As mentioned above, Betts is on the RF list despite playing less than 2/3 of his games there, Kim at 2B even fewer, and Rizzo at 1B in the AL, while a wonderful defensive player, played less than 100 G total (some at DH). All of which recalls the ultimate in bad voting, the year where Rafael Palmiero won a GG at 1B despite playing all by 20-some games at DH. That's an amazing amount of disagreement. I find the concept amazingly disagreeable.

Couldn't disagree more. If I care about one of my guys, or any guy for that matter, potentially being in the mix for a GG, MVP, ROY, CY, etc., I'm going to look forward to the reveal of the final results even if my fave ultimately winds up outside the top three. With the pre-release list I no longer have interest in the ones where they tell me ahead of time that he/they have no shot. There's little to no drama in finding out whether someone finished 4th or 6th

Had to cash it in after six last night and so just finished up catching up on the final three. But even broken up like that this was one helluva fun game. Particularly nice to see Kimbrel, and especially Alvarado, as the ones giving up the tying and winning runs in the 8th, to a couple of rookies no less. Both games yesterday saw wins by teams down by two in the 8th

Tonight is a 'bullpen game' for both sides. So it's top 5 in a 2-1 game and it seems like there's been about a dozen pitchers* so far. oe: tied at 2 * only eight And the bottom of the 5th brings pitcher #9

Oh man! - Rangers have 1st & 2nd no outs in the 8th but fail to tack onto to their two run lead. - Altuve hits a 3R HR in top 9 - Rangers AGAIN get 1st & 2nd no outs in their 9th ... but can't cash in. Goes back to Houston on Sunday, Astros up 3-2, road team has won all five games so far.

Oh my!!

I miss the days when a beanball could be answered with a (no punches thrown) close-quarters yap-fest yet the result was no ejections.

=Fman99 post_id=139688 time=1697824471 user_id=86] As was probably the case for lots of kids growing up in NYC in the 1950's, Mickey Mantle was my dad's favorite player.

=metirish post_id=139705 time=1697831501 user_id=72] He used to come out to Roxy Music Avalon

But then fans who think their player has a chance at some award get told before the decisions are even close that their guy has no shot ... so it's not generating any interest for them, in fact it's killing it. And emulating the Golden Globes has limited appeal without actresses in low cut dresses displaying ... well, their golden globes.

Frayed Knot wrote: his uni number always had to have a 7 in it. If you define "always" differently from me. His first two years with the Cards he wore 18. Rookies don't usually get a say in such things, particularly back then.

=roger_that post_id=139677 time=1697814041 user_id=128] It pains me that Keith Hernandez's birthday would fall on Mantle's birthday.

Or, more accurately, the Gold Glove finalists. i don't see the point in this 'finalist' stuff, but I've yapped about this before and that's where they are these days. Anyway, Lindor is the only NYM finalist, at SS obviously, along with Dansby Swanson and Colorado's Ezequiel Tovar My only real complaint is with the 'Utility' category. It's the one where McSquirrel had a good case but where two of the three candidates are guys who were also nominated at other positions: Mookie Betts (RF & Util) and SD's Ha-Seong Kim (2B & Util) It seems to me that if you play enough to be considered for one of the nine positions then you shouldn't really be thought of as a rover also. Betts played 107 games in RF plus 70 at 2B and 16 at SS (more than 162 you'll notice meaning he switched during the game at times). So he appeared in RF just shy of 2/3rds of the time and full games in RF even less. Kim played 106 at 2B plus 32 @ 3B and 20 @ SS so, again, why are we nominating a 2B who played <2/3 of the time. The utility award should be instead of a full time position award, not in addition to IMO.

DBacks score off Kimbrel on a bases loaded single by Ketel Marte. First Arizona post-season walk-off win since ... yup, THAT one.