EVIL~! alkeiper

And the Simpsons rerun is the Mark McGwire cameo!!

That Backlund/Patera match was the first WON Match of the Year in 1980.

I like the subtitle idea myself. Despite last night's loss, good series from the Phillies to take two of three from the Mets. The Mets though took the season series 11-7. They outplayed the Phillies and if they go on to win the division at this point, good for them. Red Sox/Rays kick off tonight for a three game series. Rays have a 1.5 game lead, so only a sweep will knock them entirely out of first place.

Ugh. Let's please not start up this unclutch nonsense again. And for what it's worth, Hamels won his last 2007 start, a win over the Nationals that put the Phillies in first place for the first time. He pitched eight shutout innings and struck out 13.

Hamels sure shit the bed today. Intentional walk to Brian Schneider with two outs. If you don't trust your ace to get Brian F'n Schneider out, you really should just throw in the towel.

Phillies need to pull their shit together and keep this close.

AND after. He came off the bag.

Yeah, awarding first base is the rule on a catcher's interference. And now the Phillies hosed on another call. Jesus.

Agreed. Someone feel free to start one.

It's 8:04. Why the FUCK is ESPN still showing Football highlights?

It's cool. Keeping an eye on Pawtucket/Scranton. Phil Hughes has struck out nine in seven innings with no runs, Bartolo Colon has a two-hit shutout going. Hughes' fine performance is perhaps a ray of hope for the Yankees (in 2009 of course).

Orioles are now 20 games out of the wild card. If they won every single Sunday, they would STILL not be in first place. Meanwhile, the Yankees trail the Mariners 4-2. A loss will drop them into fourth place in the AL East. Boston/Tampa Bay kicks off next week. Tampa will go in leading by a game and a half.

You asked last time too. Regarding the Cubs, making the playoffs is really all that matters. We've seen the '00 Yankees, the '05 White Sox and '06 Tigers look like crap down the stretch and immediately start kicking ass in the postseason. They are still the class of the National League. Tonight we have Phillies/Mets on ESPN, Cole Hamels and Johan Santana on the mound. A tie for first place on the line. This is what pennant race baseball is all about.

The only real issue with the Babe/Race matches is who owns the footage. Isn't it property of All Japan?

Thankfully the guys on Savage's team had a bigger beef with Honky (particularly Steamboat and Roberts).

Here's one. The day before the infamous Merkle Boner game, the Cubs came into the Polo Grounds and swept a doubleheader from the Giants, coming from two games back to tie for first place in the National League.

Almost certainly in the days when doubleheaders were more common occurrences. I know the Braves and Giants went into a doubleheader tied for first on Labor Day (they split). I keep thinking the 1949 showdown between the Red Sox and Yankees was a doubleheader, but it was a weekend series.

Mets/Phillies already rained out. Makeup game tomorrow at 2:15 as part of a day/night doubleheader. Oakland/Baltimore rained out for the day game, though they still hope to get in the night game tonight. I can understand a day/night doubleheader for Mets/Phillies. You have division rivals, a hot ticket and not much time left in the season. Canceling a game entirely will create a lot of unhappy ticket holders who could not acquire similar tickets with a raincheck. But scheduling a day/night doubleheader when you're playing another sub .500 team in September? When you drew less than 15000 paid the night before? What's the POINT? Straight doubleheader guys, you'll make it back in concessions. This was an odd day/night double header for the O's in the first place. They moved a game from yesterday as not to inconvenience the almighty NFL game. And they didn't have to play Sunday as a result. How convenient. I doubt they even bother to make this game up.

There's footage of the Orange Bowl match with Superstar Billy Graham.

It's superstition. But people get legitimately upset at this sort of thing, like that ESPN shouldn't show it on their bottom line or anything.

Can this jinx nonsense die already? No hitters aren't broken up because someone spoke up and broke the delicate spiritual balance. They are broken because a no-hitter is really a statistically difficult thing to do. Do you realise how dumb you sound? No, I don't.

I think there's too much emphasis on emotional play from the Phillies, or any team really. Utley hustles his ass off, he certainly isn't loafing out there.

Dubee presumably argued balls and strikes. He was walking away when the umpire tossed him, no idea what exactly he said. Smith got involved arguing that close play where Howard was called out at first base. That was the game where Soriano hit the go-ahead home run. I think Smith threw his helmet, but my memory could be iffy on that.

Oh yeah, the Orioles' wild card hopes have taken a minor hit with their seven game losing streak. The Orioles are now 20 games out of the wild card with 22 to go. Of course, they have an easy stretch coming up in their schedule, so they should take care of business and get back into the race.

In 76 at bats. I've seen this with Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Jim Edmonds, Frank Thomas, etc. Older star player puts up bad numbers, all the sudden everyone has scouting reports about how bad their swing is. I don't buy it. Griffey at bare minimum was a league average hitter the last few years, all the sudden he's done after a month? I don't buy it, and I've been burned too often.