EVIL~! alkeiper

Watching the Dudleys drive around, I get a kick out of recognizing the parking lot of the Allentown Fairgrounds.

That leaves us with three games left. Yankees (5-4) at Bridegrooms (4-5). Giants (5-4) at Dodgers (6-3). Highlanders (5-4) at Gothams (2-7). The Dodgers can clinch the top spot with a victory. The Bridegrooms can force their way into a playoff game with a win and either a Giants or Highlanders loss.

Bridegrooms (Stottlemyre) @ Yankees (Downing) Dodgers (Shawkey) @ Giants (Mays) Gothams (Hoyt) @ Highlanders (Wells) Bridegrooms 3 Yankees 10 WP: Downing, LP: Stottlemyre Yankees dominated, scoring four in the first and pouring it on late in the game. Tommy Henrich drove in four runs in the win. Dodgers 4 Giants 10 WP: Mays, LP: Shawkey A bases clearing triple by Joe Gordon in the third put the Giants ahead for good. Gothams 2 Highlanders 5 WP: Wells, LP: Hoyt, Sv: Wetteland The Highlanders scored in five different innings and five different players drove in runs. David Wells pitched eight strong innings for the win.

Usian Bolt. Jeeesus Christ. That a guy can jog to the finish line of a qualifier just isn't right. Heck, let me pose this question. Which athlete has been more impressive, Bolt or Michael Phelps? Has anyone topped them?

Here's where we stand after eight games. Dodgers 6-2 Highlanders 4-4 Bridegrooms 4-4 Yankees 4-4 Giants 4-4 Gothams 2-6 The next three series are Gothams vs. Highlanders, Dodgers against Giants and Bridegrooms vs. Yankees. No team has clinched a playoff berth, or been mathematically eliminated. If the Gothams sweep, the Dodgers sweep and the Bridegrooms/Yankee series ends in a sweep, we would have a four way tie for third place and a playoff berth. With 64 hypothetical game outcomes yet, I'll wait a game before laying out potential tiebreakers.

Highlanders 4 Bridegrooms 5 11 Innings WP: Gordon, LP: Wetteland The Highlanders tied the game with two in the top of the ninth. Tino Martinez hit the game winning home run. Gothams 4 Dodgers 5 WP: Gossage, LP: Righetti Back and forth game, the Gothams scored two in the top of the eighth to take the lead, the Dodgers tied it in the bottom of the inning. Nick Etten drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Yankees 1 Giants 3 WP: Pennock, LP: Turley, Sv: Duren Giants scored the go-ahead run in the 7th on Roy White's RBI double, and a Wade Boggs error led to an insurance run.

Babe Ruth, 1925.

Most of them I can actually. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I can name any two World Series participants off the top of my head, so I can't judge.

Can anyone honestly say off the top of their heads who "won" any of the Olympic Games? Well besides the '84 Summer games, but that's an inspired guess.

Bridegrooms 4 Highlanders 6 WP: Lopat, LP: Clemens, Sv: Wetteland Two RBIs from Nettles capped a four run fourth that put the Highlanders in the lead for good. Dodgers 8 Gothams 2 WP: Key, LP: Hernandez Two RBIs apiece for Tony Lazzeri and Paul O'Neill. El Duque pitched a quality start but the bullpen allowed five more runs. Giants 8 Yankees 10 WP: Raschi, LP: Reynolds Three RBIs for Combs and Henrich. Earle Combs came a home run away from the cycle in this victory.

They possibly could, but what's the point? Are we really so worked up over a few missed calls that we need to double-check every single call in the ballgame?

Trying to come up with a good example here. Let's say runners first and second. Batter hits a liner to the outfield. The fielder makes a play, the umpire rules it an out, the runners scuttle back to their bases. But the play is challenged, replay shows the ball bounced on the field first. What happens? The runners at this point are in jeopardy. You can't just award them the next base, that's not in the rules. You can't give the ball to the right fielder, restart the play and give him a shot at an out on the bases. Seriously, what happens in that situation? If the baserunners reached base safely, I'd say re-award them the bases. Simple. They didn't. They turned back when the umpire signaled catch.

I think it would have come about before, but it is only now that the technology has really developed to a point where it is feasible from a technical standpoint. I think that is why the idea has really developed traction this time. It used to be that the media would simply call for Don Denkinger's head on a pike. I don't think MLB is truly responsive to the idea. They are using it in the least obstructive manner possible, with the least outlay of manpower possible.

Considering Hardy wrestled tonight, likely BS. I'll close the thread and another can open it if any real information comes around.

Dodgers, sorry.

Trying to come up with a good example here. Let's say runners first and second. Batter hits a liner to the outfield. The fielder makes a play, the umpire rules it an out, the runners scuttle back to their bases. But the play is challenged, replay shows the ball bounced on the field first. What happens? The runners at this point are in jeopardy. You can't just award them the next base, that's not in the rules. You can't give the ball to the right fielder, restart the play and give him a shot at an out on the bases. Seriously, what happens in that situation?

Gothams 7 Bridegrooms 4 WP: Ford, LP: Gordon, Sv: Righetti Spud Chandler redeemed himself, compiling a quality start this time out. The Gothams came back though, scoring four in the eighth to take the lead. Wally Pipp drove in three runs. Yankees 5 Dodgers 3 WP: Hunter, LP: Pettitte, Sv: Rivera Four runs for the Yankees in the second as they held on to win. Earle Combs hit a home run and drove in two RBIs. Highlanders 7 Yankees 11 WP: Duren, LP: Ruffing, Sv: Murphy A duel between the two aces of the 1930s went as well as you'd expect. Nine earned from Ruffing in four innings, while Lefty Gomez allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings. Roy White knocked in three runs with a bases loaded triple. Six games down. Four teams stand at 3-3. The exceptions are the Dodgers (4-2) and the Gothams (2-4). I will not go into tiebreak scenarios until the last series, there is too much to break down. The league is averaging 5.6 runs per game, the hitters have it all over the pitchers so far. Gothams have a chance to make up ground as they face the Dodgers. Giants battle the Yankees and Highlanders battle the Bridegrooms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT58QqOmQ_Y Search out Youtube for others, they have quite a bit.

Bridegrooms 10 Gothams 2 WP: Chamberlain, LP: Chesbro, Sv: Griffith The bottom four hitters in the Bridegrooms' order collected two RBIs apiece. Dodgers 18 Yankees 2 WP: Wang, LP: Peterson The Yankees scored 11 runs in the seventh inning, nine off of reliever Dick Tidrow. Bobby Murcer led the attack with five RBIs Giants 4 Highlanders 8 WP: Davis, LP: Hamilton The Giants took an early lead thanks to Phil Rizzuto's (!) three run home run. Graig Nettles tied the game with a three run shot of his own. The Highlanders scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch from Johnny Murphy.

Given his number of baserunners, that's an unusually high number of runs allowed, pointing to some bad luck. A better indicator might be his opponents' batting line, which is 280/352/427. A bit above average, but the Mets will take it at this point.

The Mets have lost a couple big ninth inning leads but otherwise, not so bad. Both the Mets and Phillies have lost seven games they led going into the seventh inning. The Blue Jays have the best bullpen ERA in baseball, and they have lost ten such games. Dodgers have lost nine such games. Leading going into the ninth, the Mets have lost five games. The Dodgers have the best bullpen ERA in the NL, they have dropped three of those.

The problem is that some calls directly influence other action on the field. One of the most controversial calls in history occurred in the 1980 NLCS. With runners on first and second, Gary Maddox hit a low liner to the pitcher. Was it caught or was it trapped? The runners saw the umpire signal a trap, it was ruled a catch. The correct call determines what the runners do, what the fielders do, who is in jeopardy on the basepaths. The fair/foul home run is one of the few situations that does not encounter this problem. The problem though is that it happens so infrequently that it is hardly worth the effort and expense. For the record, if total instant replay where imposed I would demand a replay of the '77 NLCS. Starting at game four with the Phillies LEADING the series 2-1. Davey Lopes was out, damnit.

Gah. Don't worry, the program will compile its own standings.

Randy Savage's baseball career. http://minors.sabrwebs.com/cgi-bin/person....ID=poffo-001ran

That's kind of damning with faint praise.