Field of Dreams - All things Baseball

[Ben Staad]

Damn. Missed the game but saw the score. Happy tonight.

[mtdman]

A couple of tough games, but last night was pretty good. Nice juggling of the lineup by Leyland. Go Tigers!

[Merlin1958]

So, with a win they all come back!!! LOL LOL I really want to see the Tiger's go to the series this year. Seems more appropriate for some reason. Lord knows, I HATE the Red Sux!!!


Predictions for game 5, Sanchez vs. Lester?

[Ben Staad]

I'm going for the Tigers in a wild and high scoring affair.

[Ben Staad]

Looks like I'm going to be wrong. It sucks that we don't get to see Miggy at 100% but I suppose them the breaks.

[Walkingman79]

Let's go Red Sox!!!Good game and goodnite.What a series!!!

[Walkingman79]

I think the Dodgers are coming up with a win to push a game 7.I'll go with 3-1 Dodgers over the Cards.

[Still Servant]

Tigers needed to win last night. No way they win two games in a row at Boston. Unfortunately. Tigers should have won this series. Never should have lost game 2. I know Max says he was done, but I personally think he was covering for Leyland. He struck out two batters in the 7th and had 108 pitches. I think Leyland saw a big enough lead and wanted to save bullets for Scherzer's next start. I know Max doesn't tend to go deep into games, but it's the playoffs.

Interesting facts: On August 18 Max pitched 8 innings with 110 pitches. In round 1, he threw 118 pitches against the A's. 123 pitches against the Twins on September 25th. He could have squeezed another inning out of Scherzer. He knows it too.

The other thing is that I thought he went to Smyly too soon. I know he wanted to get Ellsbury, but you have to save Smyly for Ortiz. Bring in Coke for Ellsbury if you want. I like Leyland, but he botched that game.

[Walkingman79]

....or just a complete shalacking by St. Louis.

I gotta chime in hear Servant.Although I agree with a lot of your analysis one thing remains true.Ortiz is the most clutch postseason hitter the Sox have ever seen and he did it again.All moves aside these are major league pitchers and all he had to do was not let up the grand slam.Easier said than done against Ortiz and Hunter flipping over the wall made it the stuff of legends.Sox pitching has hung right with the Tigers and Farrel has made a few questionable moves to the bullpen himself.It has been a pretty even series and I give the Tigers the edge in strikeouts but the Sox play with heart and grit and are on the verge of something pretty special.

[Ka-mai]

The Tigers have been great this series, but they made some major mistakes. Not walking Ortiz was probably the worst one. That said, their fielding is excellent and I really thought they were going to take the championship at a couple points. No way they'll take two games at Fenway. Here's a little something from MLB.com:

The Red Sox are 5-0 all-time in Game 6 at Fenway. The most memorable of those five triumphs was the epic contest against the Reds in 1975, when Bernie Carbo hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the eighth, and Carlton Fisk hit the foul pole in the 12th.

The last Game 6 at Fenway was in the 2007 ALCS, when J.D. Drew belted a grand slam and Curt Schilling won yet another big game, forcing Game 7 against the Indians.

I think tonight is going to be a really interesting game. I can't wait.

[Merlin1958]

You do not pitch to Ortiz with a four run lead and the bases loaded. Give up the run and move on!!!

[Ben Staad]

Damn. The Tigers need to figure out how to score some runs.

[Ben Staad]

FU Shane.

[Merlin1958]

"Baseball" ends when the "Yankees" do!!! History proves it!!!

[Walkingman79]

"Baseball" ends when the "Yankees" do!!! History proves it!!!

With that theory baseball was over in May this year. C'mon over to the World series thread...still plenty of baseball

[Ben Staad]

Congrats to the American League to winning the World Series.

[mikeC]

this is a really interesting short on how this couple made the MLB schedule for 20 years
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:9897968

I tried to embed the video but it wouldn't work.
<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a 26fe0e89e&adSetCode=91cDU6NuXTGKz3OdjOxFdAgJVtQcKJ nI&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:9897968&thr uParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"/script>

[Iwritecode]

Congrats to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas for being elected to the MLB Hall of Fame.

The “Big Hurt” is one of the reasons I became a Sox fan and was my favorite player growing up. He was a guy that when he stepped to the plate you stopped what you were doing and watched him.

He’s also a really great person and I got to meet him and get an autograph and picture taken with him at the annual Soxfest convention one year. He was a little gruff to the media when he was a player but I’ve never heard a fan have a bad experience with him.

[CRinVA]

Those three are deserving; there are others in my mind, but the BBWAA rules are prohibitive (can only list 10 players) which probably kept Biggio 2 votes away from induction; AND there are a-hole voting members who have stated that they willnot vote for anyone in the PED era. The Dodgers Beat Reporter only voted for Jack Morris - didn't vote Maddux, glavine, etc because they are from the PED era - who defiines this era? Morris and Maddox overlapped several years. He said he as voting no onbe next year. Wow Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez to name a couple of first year inductees all but guaranteed!

Who says who took PEDs or any other performance enhancers before testing. Who cares about alcoholics, womanizers, gamblers, ....... What about amphetemenes? Many players took them to pick up their game; to get over a cold, etc. What about tommy John Surgery - gee taking a ligament from one part of the body and placing it elsewhefre - isn't this performance enhancement! How about cortisone shots - wow they numb the affected area so the palyer can play through the pain. Performance enhancement if you ask me!

Just saying this is clear as mud and the powers to be should re-evaluate and minimally should remove voting rights for those that are simply not voting for anyone during their def of the PED era. Lots of deserving people could be passed over just because of when they played.

[Merlin1958]

Okay, this may be trivial, but it kind of stuck in my craw. So our Chandler Youth Baseball, PONY/Colt league was sponsored by the D-Backs this year, a real boon to the league as they provided all the uniforms, hats and socks for the players. Worth probably $10K to the league and that was absolutely wonderful!! However, we played our first game and I noticed that a player on the other team had a jersey with the number "42" on it!!! Am I crazy or does that seem wrong? MLB retired number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson and Mariano Rivera, the last MLB player to wear the number, retired last year. So why is a MLB franchise issuing jersey's with "42" on it? I'm guessing that I am missing something here.

[Still Servant]

It's a youth league not the majors.

Go to any little league game in the country and you will see the #42. It's not a big deal. MLB has retired it.

That's like saying that a local little league team that calls themselves the Yankees can't use the #7 because it was Mickey Mantle's number and the Yankees retired it.

Are you sure you got got sponsored by the ACTUAL Diamondbacks? I guess I'm surprised because that stuff never happens around here. You get sponsored by local businesses. Seems a lot easier to get that done than by begging a major franchise.

[Merlin1958]

It's a youth league not the majors.

Go to any little league game in the country and you will see the #42. It's not a big deal. MLB has retired it.

That's like saying that a local little league team that calls themselves the Yankees can't use the #7 because it was Mickey Mantle's number and the Yankees retired it.

Are you sure you got got sponsored by the ACTUAL Diamondbacks? I guess I'm surprised because that stuff never happens around here. You get sponsored by local businesses. Seems a lot easier to get that done than by begging a major franchise.

I can see what you are saying, but yes, we were definitely sponsored by the MLB D-Backs. That's why it struck me as odd. Why would a major league club print a "42" when they are restricted from doing so. Especially the, D-Backs who have no ties to, Robinson whatsoever. IDK maybe I'm being too critical.

[Still Servant]

They're only restricted at the Major League level. For the 15 people who are watching youth baseball, I'm not sure they are going to worry. If some young kid wants to honor Jackie by wearing his number, more power to him.

[Merlin1958]

They're only restricted at the Major League level. For the 15 people who are watching youth baseball, I'm not sure they are going to worry. If some young kid wants to honor Jackie by wearing his number, more power to him.

Yeah, I suppose you are right. It just caught my eye is all, being such a "Yankee" fan and Mo and all. It seemed strange, but you are right.

[CRinVA]

And I am sure there are more than 15 people watching Youth Ball! :-)