Lefty Specialist

....that you REALLY REALLY miss George Steinbrenner. Think about it. He'd be ripping every player in that clubhouse. Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman would be answering questions about their status for next year. The batting coach would have been found dead in a cheap Detroit hotel. George would be promising to be trading half the team and buying every free agent in sight. He'd apologize to the city for the Yankees' spectacular incompetence. The papers would be having a field day. Boy, I really miss George Steinbrenner. He was made for moments like this.

metirish wrote: Plus is sets up Verlander to start game 7.......but let's hope they finish it tonight and Verlander gets to start game 1 of the WS. BTW, he is somethign else to watch. and, Darling and Smoltz are a great team. Smoltz has surprised me. He's quite easy to listen to, makes good points and has a good sense of humor. He does play well off Ronnie; I didn't think two pitchers in the booth would work but it has. TBS sure beats the pants off of Tim McCranky and Joe 'What do you think, Troy Aikman?' Buck. My only fear is that Ronnie will be lured away from our pop stand of a franchise for Network Bucks. Keith probably fears it, too. Then he'd have to work 150 games a year.

Man, Twirling Arm Lady brings back memories. You wonder if somehow, somewhere, for one brief moment, she distracted one Red Sox pitcher just enough to change the course of Met history. I like to think so.

This isn't something _I_ generally judge people for, but many do. Can people (Buzz Bissinger most recently 2 hours ago) un-sarcastically write "Baseball's classiest act" about a guy dating a 22 year old girl 16 years younger than him? Hannah Davis: You know, I'd let her break my ankle. Nightly.

Dock Ellis was so high that day that he saw everything in grainy, fuzzy black and white.

Another point from the no-no....when someone at SNY said "screw the commercials" and just let the cameras roll between the end of the eighth and the top of the ninth, letting the tension build. That was good television. Certainly better than watching Derek Jeter drive his Ford aimlessly through empty streets.

metirish wrote: When Johan took the mound for the 9th.....wow Yeah, that gave me the chills for the first time in forever.

Cabrera has the first Triple Crown in 45 years on a team going to the post-season. If that isn't MVP material, I don't know what is. Trout will have more chances, whereas Miggy could get into a drunken bar fight and have his hamstring severed by a broken beer bottle this winter.

Frayed Knot wrote: So it's Cardinals at Atlanta on Friday for the WC play-in game. Bat-Time and Bat-Channel still TBD AFAIK Bleh. Two teams I hate. Upside is that one of them will be gone soon.

So how do I rip MY abdomen? Because it seemed to work pretty well for R.A......

Didn't Digital Domain go bankrupt this year, missing naming-rights payments on the park in Port St. Lucie? I thought that was Tradition and how Digital got in? Oh who knows. Digital Domain now outsourced to China and India. I'm guessing that baseball will now be a lower priority. Digital Domain emerges from bankruptcy September 28, 2012, 4:21 p.m. Digital Domain, the once-storied visual effects house co-founded by director James Cameron, has emerged from bankruptcy with new Chinese and Indian owners vowing to expand the Los Angeles-based studio. Digital Domain Media Group announced Sunday that it had accepted a bid from Galloping Horse America, a division of a Beijing media company, and Reliance MediaWorks, part of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Group, to buy the company's visual effects studios in Venice, Calif., and Vancouver, Canada, for $30.2 million. The deal closed Thursday and effectively removes Digital Domain from a potentially protracted Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by its parent company in Florida this month. That filing caused the near-shutdown of the company's new animation building in Port St. Lucie, Fla., laying off most of its 320 workers. Founded in 1993 by "Titanic" and "Avatar" director Cameron and other partners, Digital Domain has created special effects for more than 90 movies, including "Titanic," "Tron: Legacy," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and the "Transformers" films. (Cameron no longer has a stake in the company.) Ulbrich said the focus now would be on returning Digital Domain to its roots in visual effects, as opposed to producing animated movies, creating military simulations and other costly initiatives that contributed to the company's financial woes. The deal is expected to improve Digital Domain's ability to compete on a global scale by giving it access to Reliance's production pipeline and to low-cost labor in India and eventually China, where Galloping Horse expects to open a visual effects studio. But executives from both companies emphasized that they would invest in Digital Domain's overall business, not outsourcing jobs to India and China. Digital Domain employs 733 people at its studios in Venice and Vancouver. "The L.A. operation will continue to grow," said Venkatesh Roddam, CEO of film and media services for Reliance MediaWorks. "There is enough work to be had out there." The deal could help Digital Domain expand its business in China, where there is a strong demand for quality visual effects, said Ivy Zhong, vice chairman and managing director of Beijing Galloping Horse Film Co. "It's a very strategic investment for us," Zhong said. "In China the quality of visual effects is very, very low. If we set up a branch in China, we're going to have a lot of business."

Didn't Digital Domain go bankrupt this year, missing naming-rights payments on the park in Port St. Lucie?

The MLBPA must be having a shit fit.

Grr.

In play, run(s).

Tell me again why Josh Thole is wearing a major league uniform?

metirish wrote: Our first new(actual posting) member in maybe 5 years? seriously? Does this mean I don't have to carry around that pink Hello Kitty backpack any more?

Hey, that Piazza fellow was pretty good.

You could still kick dirt on top of it if you were properly motivated, I'd imagine.

I've been waiting forever for some jerkwad pitcher to go back there and mess it up with his spikes. I'm sure that there's some edict from Bud that says if you do you're suspended for 50 games, but I'd love to see it happen just once, since that logo is visible the whole freaking game. Oh, to dream.

Fortunately for him, the Mets hitters have an excellent record of turning shit on cheesy crackers into fine caviar on toast points.

People at work are wondering why I'm wearing a bag on my head today.

suck verb \?s?k\ Definition of SUCK transitive verb 4 slang : to be objectionable or inadequate Origin of SUCK Middle English suken, from Old English s?can; akin to Old High German s?gan to suck, Latin sugere First Known Use: before 12th century Related to SUCK Synonyms: bite [slang], smell, stink [slang] Antonyms: rock [slang], rule [slang]

The question regarding the offense isn't why it disappeared, but why it was actually scoring runs in the first place. One thing noted with frequency in the first half of the season was how many runs they scored with two outs. It was a statistical anomaly, and sure enough, it didn't last. There's a randomness factor to that. Secondly, they have no power and no team speed. That makes it hard to score runs in bunches. Thirdly, in the first half, there were guys who were contributing that you wouldn't have expected, like Nieuwenhuis, who was on a pretty good run initially until the league figured out how to pitch him, Hairston, Baxter and even Duda for a while. And David was flirting with .400. All these things flamed out in the second half (Baxter crunching his shoulder in the no-no didn't help). This team has gaping holes. I don't think one player fixes the outfield. By my count, they need three outfielders, a real second baseman and a catcher. And most of a new bullpen. That's a tall order for Sandy to fill. He'll have to get creative.