Frayed Knot

Or they could go full-on minor league and adopt one of those double names that seem to be almost required in today's lower levels -- the Erie Polluters -- the River Fires -- the Lake Mistakes -- the Drew Careys -- the Rust Belters

Another name for the ALDS this year -- both series -- is simply 'Home Run Derby'

Edgy MD wrote: Nicknaming to underscore your locality's most lucrative tourist attraction is a really minor league practice. We object to that implication -- the Binghamton Rumble Ponies

So legend has it Mantle once hit a homer nearly 100 feet further than the one Stanton just clubbed? No fuckin' way. 5 - 4 Rays end of 4

Meanwhile over in Ssndy Eggo, the Rays are going long off JA Happless Yanx went with an 'opener for one inning so as to get Tampa to load their lineup with LHBs while Boone switched to the lefty Happ in the 2nd. But that strategy isn't exactly working. 5-1 TBR thru 3

So how does Dusty Baker deal with his toothpicks and keep his mask on at the same time?

And it was a full nine inning post-season game that clocked in at under three hours!! (2:54) I didn't think those were still permitted.

From the folks who brought you the glowing puck all those years ago

Oct 5; Marlins "at" Atlanta in Houston - 2:08 So I'm doing the DVR/catch-up thing ... so the game is now over two hours old but I'm still in bottom 3 Acuna bombed the 2nd pitch that Sandy Alcantara threw into the RF seats. But then Miami HR'd back in the 2nd off Fried and tacked on 3 more for a 4-1 lead. Acuna gets plunked in his second AB and wasn't happy about it, but two two-out Atlanta doubles later so he's probably over it. 4-3 Marlins end of 3 ... which is either new news to you or old news, I just figured we needed a thread for these games.

TB reliever John Curtiss, the extra S is for 'Suck'

10-5 was your final. 8:07 First Pitch -- Gerrit Cole vs Blake Snell

Monday Oct 5: Astros "at" Oakland, 4:05, TBS, Dodger Stadium Yanx at Rays, 8:05, TBS, Petco Park Daytime at Dodger Stadium and the ball is flying. Two HRs each and it's 3-3, top 4

Rays, Ays, Brayves, and Padrays

And of course, most of the best and most numerous Bob Gibson stories came via McCarver. The one I most remember was one where McCarver talks about an early meeting between the two. Gibson is nearly six years older but they debuted in the bigs the very same year (1959) McCarver, as a "bonus baby", was up by age 17 and had been signed for a lot more money than Gibson, the college man with less leverage (except maybe for his Globetrotters option). As a way to tweak McCarver, Gibson asked for a sip of the soda Timmy was drinking one day on a team bus. McCarver, the son of a cop (or was it fireman?) from then still very segregated Memphis, said he could only look at the large black lips on Gibson and think about what he was taught as a kid about the (lack of) cleanliness of negroes and what diseases they might carry. So he hemmed and hawed for a moment before settling on ... well, I'll save you a bit when I got towards the end as a way of sharing without risking getting the can back afterward. Gibson's sly 'I got you' grin at that reaction showed it was exactly the reaction he was searching for, and in front of an audience no less. They'd go on to become good friends of course and good on McCarver to tell that story on himself years after the fact rather than attempt to re-write not just his own history and upbringing but also that of many kids of his era and background.

Astros fans have got to be pretty damn sick of always getting stuck in the earliest time slot, one which tends to put first pitch smack dab in the middle of their work day. It was bad enough when they were in the NL and usually considered to be in one of the least desirable markets to the TV networks, but even after moving to the AL and winning a WS they're still treated as second class and the only time they get prime time games now is either by reaching the WS where there's no other competition or by being matched up against the Yanx in an earlier round and getting there by playing the party of the other part.

Another Seaver/Gibson Cooperstown story which managed to both illustrate how much they all loved that weekend but also Seaver's love of rough humor: GTS told the story of sitting around on Cooperstown weekend with a bunch of other pitchers and when Gibson walked by they refused to let him sit down because everyone at the table at that moment was a 300-game winner and Gibson wasn't so he (at least temporarily) was shunned.

What a weird bottom 7th -- runner on 1st, bouncer to 2nd = no outs + E, 2nd & 3rd -- based loaded (following IBB) bouncer to 3rd = run in when 3B fails to touch base AND throws poorly home (and Molina fumbled the pick-up). Still no one out. -- a walk brings in another run (3-0) -- another IF bouncer this one resulting in the rare 4-2-6 DP ... although it took the 2B ump a minute to realize that it WAS a force at 2nd

StL defense letting them down. Two consecutive potential (though neither easy) DP balls were turned into a total of ZERO outs.

Pads up 1-0 after six If SD holds onto this lead, then the four NL Central that reached the playoffs will be the four 1st round losers I've never heard of any of these SD relievers (and they've used like 17 of them so far. And I hate to sound like a broken record, but the opening six frames of a 1-0 game took right about 2-1/2 hours

Benjamin Grimm wrote: She was offended by Lupica's "vituperative" column. But not by his haircut?!?

The HP ump called Wilson Contreras back after ruling that he stuck his wing in front of the pitch. Don't see that too often but it was the right call. Two pitches later he got hit in the same spot but this time it was legit.

=bmfc1 post_id=47848 time=1601643948 user_id=73] Watching Central and West teams is novel for us in 2020. Other than STL, we haven't seen any of these teams play the Mets this year (I'm including Spring Training). SD is impressive. Let's wish them success tonight against STL.

Now if I were a network exec I'd pre-empt Trump coverage for David Wright news ... but that's just me.

Oakland advances, will face Houston. Nice recovery after nearly being no-hit in Game 1

22 innings = zero runs scored for the Reds Remember when Atlanta's early season problem was their starting pitching? =MFS62 post_id=47798 time=1601582869 user_id=60] Second game of Cubs/ Marlins series rained out.