One & Only MLB playoff discussion thread

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I agree on that, but as a long-time Cubs fan and having seen them play for so long, I take nothing for granted. We shall see how things unfold.

 

As for the story in Boston, I'm finding it hard to believe that they would attack a guy for just doing a double pump fist. I think in this case, both parties are in the wrong, because I'm sure that both did stupid things to let it get to the point that it reached. I'm enjoying myself watching the Cubs/Marlins series, while the Yanks/Red Sox feud has just gotten so out of hand that it's almost not even worth watching. I know everyone like conflicts and bench-clearing brawls, but it's gotten to the point where the slightest oddity seems to result in an overreaction of huge proportions. When you see the crap that went down in Boston today, you are reminded of just how childish pro athletes are allowed to be about the littlest things. You couldn't go beat a co-workers ass because you thought that the coffee he made tasted lousy, so certainly the attitude that a lot of these guys carry shouldn't be condoned, yet it is, because they make money, they draw fans, blah, blah, blah. I say 86 the Yanks and Sox right here, right now and give the championship to the Cubs. At least they and their fans show some class.

[Guest Anglesault]

I'll take Nelson's side of the story here. I have no reason to doubt him. Why, exactly, would he randomly attack some guy for no real reason when his team is WINNING the game?

[Guest Choken One]

Yeah Take the Home town guy's side...

 

I'd say it's a mix of both people at fault here...

 

but Nelson will get away with it with a little probation or something.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Why was the groundskeeper in the Yankees bullpen in the first place?

 

I don't see too many Yankees employees walking around the visiting teams bullpens at Yankee Stadium.

 

There are a bunch of reasons he doesn't belong there...ranging from security issues to simple distraction tactics.

 

Anyone who isn't a player or coach or official who gets withim striking distance of a player or coach or official deserves a beating. It's just that simple.

[Guest Anglesault]

Yeah Take the Home town guy's side...

Nelson's from Baltimore.

 

I've been to Baltimore exactly twice.

 

Not hometown guy.

 

And I stick by my point. There's no reason for Nelson to have attacked the guy.

 

There's also no reason for Boston's finest to back Nelson up.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Tomorrow's game is important for the Cubs. If they can win the series without going to Wood/Prior, than they can set up those two for games 1 & 2 of the World Series.

[Bored 0]

Man Pedro beating up an old man...talk about your cheap heel tactics. Maybe Vince can pay the Red Sox to have Manny Ramirez hit Mae Young over the head with a bat.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

At the end of the day...Pedro lost...and that's all that matters.

[the pinjockey 0]

Oh get off it, Zimmer obviously was replaced by a stunt granny for that bump.

[Guest Anglesault]

Tomorrow's game is important for the Cubs. If they can win the series without going to Wood/Prior, than they can set up those two for games 1 & 2 of the World Series.

I'm not big fan of the possibiliy that both series can end in five, but the NL team (Cubs) would get a extra day off over the AL team (Yankees).

 

It's only a day but it annoys me.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Well, if the Yankees are the SUPER TEAM that some build them up to be, then they can work past the one-day rest difference. I can see where you're coming from, but it's supposedly the greatest franchise in MLB going against the most hardluck team in MLB (although it may officially become the Sox if they don't make it and the Cubs do), so I don't think the difference is that much of a factor.

[Guest Anglesault]

I won't matter anyway, because I think Yankees/Sox will go six or seven, meaning with this fuckng TV schedule, ends sometime in December. They still have at least one more day off, don't they?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

They play tomorrow, and if they're scheduling it like the NLCS, they'll play Monday, as well, with Tuesday off.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I'm glad the Cubs are going to win.

 

The only Series final I really didn't want was Yankees vs. Marlins because that held no appeal to me.

 

The Marlins were a nice story...and if the A's had beaten the Red Sox and the Cubs had lost to the Braves...I'd be rooting for them...

 

but the Cubs story is just better.

[Guest Anglesault]

They play tomorrow, and if they're scheduling it like the NLCS, they'll play Monday, as well, with Tuesday off.

I know it was scheduled before the Yankees/Sox series started, but a whole day off for that massive Boston to New York flight feels like such a waste.

[JHawk 0]

Anglesault, can I just say boo the fuck hoo about your little whiny "The NL will have an extra day off" bullshit. You're going to have home field advantage and won't have to travel before game 1 (provided it goes 6 or 7), so knock it off.

 

As far as the situation with that game goes:

 

Pedro threw at Garcia. Boston fans can spin that however the hell they want to, but the bottom line is that Pedro Martinez's control is too damn good to go that far inside on anybody unless he's throwing at them. And then he essentially admits to it by pointing at his head, so he should be suspended for the rest of the postseason for it right there.

 

Manny should have been tossed for charging the mound, and he should seek psychological help for thinking that pitch could have possibly hit him unless the stood on home plate.

 

Pedro and Zimmer were both in the wrong in their little skirmish. If Zimmer was throwing a punch (and I saw the clip several times and couldn't tell for certain), then he should have gotten tossed to the ground. But Pedro has a history of being a chickenshit in a bench clearing brawl (I can't remember the game off the top of my head, but a couple of years ago he hit a batter, and when the retaliation and brawl started in the bottom half of the inning Pedro was the only one who didn't leave the bench), so a lot of people are going to assume that Pedro was being his usual chickenshit self by throwing down the oldest man on the opposing bench. And just to play devil's advocate for a second: Maybe Zimmer threw his punch because he thought Pedro might try something? Pedro didn't exactly stay in one spot when Zimmer came toward him.

 

I didn't actually see the altercation in right field at the bottom of the ninth, but why in the fuck was a groundskeeper in the Yankee bullpen in the first place? Isn't the groundskeeping equipment on the Boston side of the field?

 

But coming from a guy who came into this series rooting for the Red Sox, this was all started by Pedro and then by Manny, and the very fact that very few Boston fans seem to get that is exactly why people who are lifelong Yankee haters are hoping the Sox don't win another game at this point.

[Guest Anglesault]

Anglesault, can I just say boo the fuck hoo about your little whiny "The NL will have an extra day off" bullshit.

It's not about the Yankees. If the Red Sox beat the Yankees in fie and the Cubs beat the Marlins in five, it should end on the same day. They've accomplished the same thing, why should one get an advantage?

[JHawk 0]

Anglesault, can I just say boo the fuck hoo about your little whiny "The NL will have an extra day off" bullshit.

It's not about the Yankees. If the Red Sox beat the Yankees in fie and the Cubs beat the Marlins in five, it should end on the same day. They've accomplished the same thing, why should one get an advantage?

And the AL winner has home field advantage and has less traveling distance, so it evens out.

[Guest Anglesault]

Anglesault, can I just say boo the fuck hoo about your little whiny "The NL will have an extra day off" bullshit.

It's not about the Yankees. If the Red Sox beat the Yankees in fie and the Cubs beat the Marlins in five, it should end on the same day. They've accomplished the same thing, why should one get an advantage?

And the AL winner has home field advantage and has less traveling distance, so it evens out.

The AL earned the home field advantage. How did the NL earn the extra day? Or was that a consolation prize?

[JHawk 0]

Anglesault, can I just say boo the fuck hoo about your little whiny "The NL will have an extra day off" bullshit.

It's not about the Yankees. If the Red Sox beat the Yankees in fie and the Cubs beat the Marlins in five, it should end on the same day. They've accomplished the same thing, why should one get an advantage?

And the AL winner has home field advantage and has less traveling distance, so it evens out.

The AL earned the home field advantage. How did the NL earn the extra day? Or was that a consolation prize?

Obviously, it's really done to make sure there's at least one game on TV every night before the Series. But maybe it's also done that way to make sure that things are as even as possible in the event that people complain about it.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I say 86 the Yanks and Sox right here, right now and give the championship to the Cubs. At least they and their fans show some class.

On the note of Cubs fans not being complete idiots, FOX continued its streak of quality broadcasting by saying that Cubs fans aren't belligerent like Yankees and Sox fans because they're "simpler people in the Midwest, so teams really enjoy going there, St. Louis too." So now East Coast Bias has spread to stereotyping entire regions of the nation as being inferior low-functioning humans? I wouldn't characterize Chicago as a simple and docile place with hearty cow-oriented Midwestern folk...it's a major American metropolis. Simpler people my ass.

 

Well at least the Phillies didn't get the wild card or the FOX idiots would be going on all "Golly, these Philadelphia fans! They booed Santa Claus! They're just wacky and zany! Why, they booed Santa Claus! The Vet is a dump! Can you believe they booed Santa Claus?"

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Well at least the Phillies didn't get the wild card or the FOX idiots would be going on all "Golly, these Philadelphia fans! They booed Santa Claus! They're just wacky and zany! Why, they booed Santa Claus! The Vet is a dump! Can you believe they booed Santa Claus?"

 

Of course we booed Santa Claus. He couldn't hit a curve.

 

And Anglesault, weren't the Yankees a beneficiary of an extra day of rest before they faced the Red Sox? And to further that one a bit, the Yankees received an extra day off in the middle of the division series.

 

Honestly though, I don't think the off days matter for anything except pitching matchups. And the Yankees have four starters of similar quality, so they can pitch whoever without it making a big difference.

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

The entire Zimmer-Pedro conversation seems to have been beaten into the ground between the two threads, so I'll just go out and say: both men were wrong for their actions. Pedro, Clemens, Manny, and Zimmer all should have gotten the boot. But that's a moot point now.

 

The more pressing matter in my mind is the bullpen issue. Now, the way the groundskeeping equipment is stored in Fenway is with the two bullpens being separated by the groundskeeping area. The groundskeeping crew often stays in this area to cheer on the Sox.

 

The challenge comes when groundskeeping will enter both bullpens in the 6th-8th inning. They go in to repair the mounds in both bullpens so they are more like the game mounds. Happens every game. Evidently, this is not one of the games where it should have happened.

 

Groundskeepers are also known for cheering for their team while in the opposing bullpen. It seems like this one guy cheered too much for the Yankees liking, and Nelson took a offense to it. But why in the ruddy hell did Garcia jump the bullpen fence in order to join in the melee? It sounds like once again, both guys were in the wrong, but Nelson and Garcia took this to a whole lower level.

[the pinjockey 0]

Garcia jumped in because he thought his teammate was getting attacked by a fan. If that happens, you better get your ass in there and back him up.

[sfaJack 0]

I'd almost go as far as to say that the extra day of rest could actually hurt the N.L. team. Sure, it's nice to have a day off to rest, but sometimes when you're on a roll (i.e. the one the Cubs appear to be getting on), the last thing you really want or need is an extra day to sit around and do nothing, travel or no travel. You just want to get out there, play, and win some games. Sometimes a long layoff does nothing but kill your momentum.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

If the Cubs win today...they'll be in already.

 

If the Yanks lose...the series is tied 2-2.

 

That just bad planning all the way around.

[sfaJack 0]

Pedro, Clemens, Manny, and Zimmer all should have gotten the boot. But that's a moot point now.

Why Clemens? He didn't throw at Manny intentionally. That ball was high, but it was over the plate. If he had been throwing at him, I promise you that he would have hit him.

 

Pedro shouldn't have been kicked out, either. Now if he had hit Posada or someone else after plunking Garcia, yes, toss him out on his ass. It is pretty rare for someone to get tossed for doing that without the umpires having issued a warning first, however. Intentional or not, Pedro didn't deserve to get kicked out, even after he threw Zimmer to the ground.

 

Manny should have been tossed. Zimmer got "punished" enough; no ejection needed there.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

No one should have been ejected.

 

Least of all Clemens.

[sfaJack 0]

If the Cubs win today...they'll be in already.

 

If the Yanks lose...the series is tied 2-2.

 

That just bad planning all the way around.

Cry me a fucking river. The Cubs will have taken care of business; they deserve the "extra" day off.

 

Nothing is stopping the Yanks from winning their series in 5. Doing so would minimize the supposedly blatant and unfair "advantage" the N.L. team might have. Quit your goddamn bitching about the schedule and just win some fucking games.

 

If your team is good enough, they'll win the WS anyway.

 

(By the way, my living nearly 2000 miles from NYC limits my knowledge on this, but I've yet to hear any of the Yankees actually complain about this. It just seems like another excuse for their whiny-ass fans to lean on if they don't win it all again.)

[iliketurtles 0]

Garcia jumped in because he thought his teammate was getting attacked by a fan.  If that happens, you better get your ass in there and back him up.

Right, when there's no one else there to save your teammate and he could be in danger.

 

Not when there's 10 Boston Police officers already there breaking it up.

 

Once again, the cops deal with the incidents with un-authorized people on the playing field. That's their job. Garcia was not only endangering other people and making the problem worse by getting in the middle of it, but he even hurt himself.

 

It's called being professional. If my memory serves me right, I didn't see Bernie Williams running out to the bullpen. It's because he knows better and he seems to be one of the few professionals left.