EVIL~! alkeiper

If someone can find the Chamber of Horrors match on youtube, that would be preferable. The rest of the show is quite forgettable.

I think Frank TV has taken over as the bad postseason show advertised during the playoffs.

That would explain a few things. Today's Phillies game simply did not have the feel of a playoff game. It feels like I'm watching a regular Saturday baseball game.

Well that was disappointing. No real dramatics either, a game that was really just there. Great job by the Rockies' pitchers to shut down Utley and Howard, showing why you can not bat these guys back to back. Particularly against a team with a great lefty reliever like Brian Fuentes.

Well I think we can agree that nostalgia does not win championships. The Braves had Andruw Jones take over in center after the season, so that certainly did not hurt them long term. Besides, Grissom's OBP went to shit anyway. They followed up Justice in right field with Michael Tucker and then Brian Jordan. David Justice was just an average player after 1997. The Hampton trade is a disaster because they've paid him somewhere in the neighborhood of $28 million the last two seasons and he hasn't thrown a pitch.

Yet most of the threads in sports are OaO threads but without the names. And we had an offseason thread last year. I heard that Andruw wanted to come back to Atlanta, but Boras wouldn't let him negotiate another deal like he did back in 2000. If Andruw's going to let Boras control him, then that's his problem- I'm not too bummed about it. I do not want Tom Glavine back on the Braves in any way, shape or form. Fuck him and his broken down body and he is not the answer to the Braves starting pitching. Retire already. And no to Lofton coming back. Doesn't anyone remember his awful 1997 season? Probably the worst trade Scheurholz ever made. Also, I thought it was classy for Scheurholz to arrange a face to face meeting with Andruw to part ways. And I admire him for coming right out and saying he wouldn't be wasting his time dealing with Boras Schuerholz will be wasting his time with Boras. They'll just have Mark Teixeira on the table instead of Jones. Lofton hit .333 in 1997 with a .409 OBP in the leadoff spot. The Braves racked up win totals of 101, 106 and 103. Is there something I'm missing about that trade? I think the Hampton deal is easily the worst Schuerholz trade.

Since most of the links are dead I am really considering unpinning this thread. Any objections?

90% of attendance is win/loss percentage. Then you have new stadiums that draw, and old stadiums that work as a nostalgia draw. Things change in nearly every city. In 1966, Chicago drew an average of 18,000 fans a game. That's Cubs and White Sox combined.

Hate to be the one to break it to you, but Jones' glove isn't that special anymore. EDIT: I take that back. Scouts seem to say that he has lost a step in center, but John Dewan of the Fielding Bible (who I always defer to on defensive issues) has Andruw as the best CF in baseball this year in his +/- fielding metric, even above Coco Crisp (who I thought would be the landslide winner). Addressing Smeus first, if you think Andruw is more valuable than his stats indicate and you're a fan, surely his agent won't disagree. Cheech, what a lot of writers don't mention about the lost assists is that the Braves added Tim Hudson, an extreme groundball pitcher. That has to have an effect.

I didn't call it OaO, and you yourself started one last off-season. You're just jealous. As for Boras yeah I know it's his job. That doesn't mean I can't hate him for it. Let's spin this another way. If Andruw Jones had a bad season, why do you want him back?

Looking back, I think some of my behavior in the weekly baseball threads was poor at best. It is not my habit to mock opposing teams or their fans, particularly since I hold no ill-will towards most MLB players on competing teams. I have a great deal of respect for the New York Mets players and most of their fans (not the media though, that's another story). I think it is quite apparent that in the heat of a pennant chase, us sport fans tend to lose our heads a bit. To Devo, Black Lushus, NYU, PujolJunkie, strummer and Steve Rogers, I apologize for piling on to what was an excruciating end to the season.

For reference, here is the tally for Matt Holliday during the Rockies' 14 of 15 stretch. .442 batting average, .532 OBP, .846 slugging. Playing in 13 games he scored 16 runs and drove in 17. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cg...t=b#547:559:sum

The stuff about training, I get the feeling we're not getting the whole story.

And really Smeus, an MLB off-season thread? FUCK I hate OaO threads.

As an agent, Scott Boras' job is to get his players the best possible contract. That involves a bit of spin control. What the heck is wrong with that? Boras' job is NOT honest reporting of his players' skills.

I want the '87 Survivor Series. Very nice main event, the 10-team tag match, and the PPV debut of the Jumping Bomb Angels. Hugely underrated show.

I got an email from mlb.com informing me about online ticket reselling through Stubhub. For $150, you can get Standing Room Only. I think it's safe to say I'm priced out of this one.

Don't have time to do a full writeup right now, but wanted to get this started. Colorado Rockies vs. Philadelphia Phillies Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians Los Angeles Angels vs. Boston Red Sox This should be a fantastic postseason, both league races are wide open.

A couple things here. First in response to Viva, the Rockies do NOT have a weak rotation. With Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales, they have four good starters. Two of them are lefties. They also have a strong bullpen, with two lefties sitting there as well. The Rockies are no pushovers, and the Phillies certainly did not dominate them over the regular season. They're dangerous. As for the fans, the Rockies finished first their first seven years and in the top three the next two years. Now is a great time for this season, it gives the fans something to cheer and it will boost the franchise in the future. We want strong franchises, right? It's not like the Rockies' fans acted like jackasses or did something to not deserve a winning team.

Previous tiebreakers in a nutshell. 1946 NL (Best of three) 1948 AL 1951 NL (Best of three) 1959 NL (Best of three) 1962 NL (Best of three) 1978 AL East 1980 NL West 1995 AL West 1998 NL wild card 1999 NL wild card

It goes under the radar, but it's worth mentioning that the Padres two days ago were one out from the playoffs.

Padres/Rockies tied going into the ninth. Fantastic!

I hope that was sarcasm. Hard to tell over the net. If you're referring to HHH/Stephanie, they were more cohorts. I'm talking a wrestler sleeping with the GM almost exclusively for the push.

Yes, stats today count for the regular season. That means Matt Holliday has a shot at the RBI crown (one behind Ryan Howard) and can lose the batting crown yet with a bad day. Edit: To clarify that last point, Holliday would need an 0 for 5 day to lose the batting crown.

We're an hour away from Padres/Rockies. A Rockies win would not only give them the wild card, but it would be 14 wins in 15 games, possibly one of the greatest stretch runs in baseball history.