This Week in Baseball 4/7 - 4/13

[Boon 0]

This series has been pretty good by Sox/Yanks standards in regards to length. Wang dealing in game one, Beckett in game two kept those games short. If they're not your teams, and you don't enjoy seeing good hitting pick apart bad pitching, you probably haven't enjoyed most of the games from the past five years.

 

Saying "baseball can be so much better" is pretty one-sided. It's just a different kind of game. There's a lot of other baseball to watch if you don't want to commit the time.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Guys, what's the best place to buy throwback baseball jerseys? I want a Mets away jersey from 1986, and e-bay only had home. So what's the cheapest online store?

I don't know, but this jersey is better:

They should use that "New York" script again, so that it matches the "Mets" script rather than the Red Sox.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

This type of game makes you go to bed and hope your team won in the boxscore the next morning.

 

It's also the type of game that lends credibility to the argument that baseball is an uneventful, plodding sport.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Guys, what's the best place to buy throwback baseball jerseys? I want a Mets away jersey from 1986, and e-bay only had home. So what's the cheapest online store?

I don't know, but this jersey is better:

They should use that "New York" script again, so that it matches the "Mets" script rather than the Red Sox.

 

That's the one I want! Is that the home one? or from a different year or something?

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

I'll have to check which year that's from. I remember from '86 World Series footage that the greys that year just said "Mets."

 

EDIT: I checked Dressed to the Nines, and it's from 1987 and only 1987. They used the same one that the Yankees use for a few years after that.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Some of you guys really miss the general point. In the first inning, Jose Molina went out to the mound three times to talk to Phil Hughes during the same at bat with Jason Varitek. That is inexcusable. There is no reason the teams can not play the same style, but have MLB crack down and say, "quit wasting time and play baseball."

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Good thing pitchers don't bat in the American League. Makes things more exciting.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I know it's way too early to talk about stuff like this, but Gabe Kapler is making a strong case for "Comeback Player of the Year", if there was an official award like that.

 

There is one. Actually, two.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Not that it's that surprising, but I'd just like to point out that I live in Wisconsin, and the Cubs-Phillies game was blacked out on TBS...a game in Philadelphia! MLB's archaic black out laws really need to end.

Everything from what appears to be east of Janesville and south of Racine is considered Brewers/Cubs/White Sox territory. Since the Cubs were carrying it locally on Comcast Sportsnet, the Cubs territory was blacked out. WISCONSIN DOESN'T HAVE COMCAST SPORTSNET, FOOLS. While the Cubs certainly have a claim to the territory--Kenosha is basically Chicagoland now, and the Cubs were the area's National League baseball for 30 years--you can't black out a game that people can't otherwise watch because their cable isn't provided by the evil empire. (The White Sox' claim to the southeastern corner, like many of its distant territorial claims, is tenuous at best.)

 

Curiously, the Brewers seem to claim a share of Rockford and Moline. Ostensibly, Rockford doesn't carry FSN Wisconsin or channel 41, so a fat lot of good that does anyone. And hey, what IS the deal with channel 41? Generally, the idea of putting games over the air on free television is that they're available to more, not fewer, people than the games being aired on cable television. Whither Super 18? Channel 41 is some low-power station that only seems to exist on expanded digital cable packages. So if I'm hanging out in the L of G and I want to watch an "over the air" Brewers game, I can't! Between the Brewers farming games out to a one-watt transmitter, the Cubs scaling back their WGN coverage, the Braves not being on TBS at all, and Fox carrying baseball in the first place, baseball television contracts are chapping my ass something fierce.

[Boon 0]

Some of you guys really miss the general point. In the first inning, Jose Molina went out to the mound three times to talk to Phil Hughes during the same at bat with Jason Varitek. That is inexcusable. There is no reason the teams can not play the same style, but have MLB crack down and say, "quit wasting time and play baseball."

While I agree the three minutes Molina spent talking to Hughes were wasteful, I hardly consider them detrimental to the pace of the game when it's well on its way to 4+ hours.

 

Good thing pitchers don't bat in the American League. Makes things more exciting.

Grinding out at bats is boring. Late-game strategy is preceded by 2-3 sure outs. We've heard all these arguments before. They're just different games. Are we really turning this into NL vs. AL again? Watch the type of game you like and don't bother with the other if it's such an annoyance.

 

I'm sorry every game can't be an extra-inning event won on check-swing RBIs and throwing errors, fellas.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

I'm sorry every game can't be an extra-inning event won on check-swing RBIs and throwing errors, fellas.

This wasn't unbearably condescending enough. Go revise it so it is.

 

At any rate, a regulation baseball game should not take four hours to play. This is especially egregious when it means a game doesn't end till after midnight on the east coast, on a school/work night. Move the start time up, have the umps speed the process up, do whatever you need to do to in getting the time between first pitch and 27th out down to about 3.00 or 3.15. These are nationally showcased games. Who's watching?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

How exactly do you manually speed the game up besides cutting down on mound meetings and batters taking timeouts? It would seem the only way to do that is having a pitcher that shuts down the opposition with less than 6 pitches per batter on average.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Enforce time between pitches and speed up mound visits. Technically, you're supposed to get the pitch off in fifteen seconds.

[Boon 0]

I'm sorry every game can't be an extra-inning event won on check-swing RBIs and throwing errors, fellas.

This wasn't unbearably condescending enough. Go revise it so it is.

One good turn deserves another, buddy.

 

These are nationally showcased games. Who's watching?

They start late because they're nationally showcased. Boston and New York are two of the biggest media markets and have by far the largest fan bases. Hence, put it on later Sunday night to make more money nationally. Baseball isn't going to move the start time up to accommodate the east coast when they know those two cities will be watching until the last pitch regardless.

 

I agree they should be cutting down on mound visits, time between pitches, hitter time outs, etc. But those things aren't nearly as responsible for the lengths of the game as you and Al are arguing. The lengths of game one and two were not bad at all. Good hitting met bad pitching in game three. Sprinkle in some terrible ESPN hype and you have a four hour game. It's really that simple.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I love how some of the Yankees and Red Sox fans are taking this personally, as if we wouldn't complain if it were taking two other teams four hours to play nine innings of baseball.

[Brett Favre 0]

I love how you can just NOT WATCH THE GAME.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

I also think part of the issue... haven't read all the recent posts... but from what I've noticed even on games on NESN is the penchant for the batter to "step out of the box" in between every.single.pitch!

 

This makes a long game even longer when you have two teams that can and will take pitches and be happy with multiple 6-8 pitch at bats.

 

Has anybody "timed" an at bat?

 

A quick mathematical formula done in my head... let's assume it takes 10-12 seconds in between each pitch for the pitcher to get ready, hitter to step back in, etc. (never timed this so can't say for sure).

 

A 3 pitch at-bat would come out to almost 40-50 seconds not including any foul balls that have to be chased down by the ball people, the umpire switching balls with the catcher/pitcher, or mound visits.

 

Another thing that galls me is when a hitter stands there for 5-10 seconds after a called strike as if the umpire will change their mind. You struck out and the ump made his call on a 'questionable' location, suck it up and go away!

[Guest Smues]

I love how you can just NOT WATCH THE GAME.

 

Yes, but you're missing the point that people want to watch baseball, and dull 4 hour + games are taking a TV spot from another potentially entertaining game.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

Baseball isn't going to move the start time up to accommodate the east coast when they know those two cities will be watching until the last pitch regardless.

I don't deny that all the world loves the Yankees and Red Sox, but what about having to get up on Monday morning, which many of us also have to do?

 

[the max 0]

I didn't realize that someone was propping your eyelids open ala Alex DeLarge. Go to bed.

 

Christ, I'm a fan of the Red Sox and I gave up after the Bruins game was over at around 1030.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Back to mets uniforms, fuck the black cap. The black mets cap sucks dick.

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

I didn't even watch the game, you assholes, because I stopped caring. I'm speaking on behalf of those who aren't here to speak, like a baseball Lorax.

 

The Mets need to simplify their uniform set. It must be hard to keep all that shit straight! Like, how do you know what to wear each day, and why? They only need the blue hat, blue socks, pinstripes, and greys. What a mess. There are so many ways to fail to correctly dress yourself.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I love how you can just NOT WATCH THE GAME.

My god, what a retort! Like Smues said, you're missing the point. I watched the early parts of the game because I love to watch baseball. I do not, however, love to watch baseball games that are ground to a near-halt so frequently and run four hours without the need for extra innings. I stopped watching for a while, started up again, and then called it quits when they were only in the fifth inning at like 10:30 p.m.

 

This isn't a Red Sox or Yankees thing, so quit trying to make it one.

[Cartman 0]

This latest discussion leads me to a good question for all. Do you enjoy watching ANY baseball game regardless of who is playing, or do you only really enjoy watching your favorite/home teams? I guess I could ask this for all sports in general too.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I like to watch most teams play, partly because I love the game and also because it's nice to watch a game without risk of cardiac arrest.

 

In my years of subscribing to the Extra Innings package, the NL West games were the only ones that really bored me on a regular basis.

[Brett Favre 0]

I love how you can just NOT WATCH THE GAME.

My god, what a retort! Like Smues said, you're missing the point. I watched the early parts of the game because I love to watch baseball. I do not, however, love to watch baseball games that are ground to a near-halt so frequently and run four hours without the need for extra innings. I stopped watching for a while, started up again, and then called it quits when they were only in the fifth inning at like 10:30 p.m.

 

This isn't a Red Sox or Yankees thing, so quit trying to make it one.

 

It's not a Yankee/Red Sox thing to me either. You don't see me complaining about how sucky the Pirates/Giants game was because I'm not seeking out to watch it. You like baseball, fine, but that doesn't mean you're forced to watch every single game out there. Don't watch the game.

 

I do not, however, love to watch baseball games that are ground to a near-halt so frequently and run four hours without the need for extra innings.

 

No one is forcing you to.

 

And to answer Cartman's question, with the exception of the Yankees (and some Met games), it depends on whats on TV.

[Slayer 0]

My order goes:

- my own team

- competing division rivals

- any good/hot team not in the above two

[CanadianChris 0]

My order goes:

- my own team

- competing division rivals

- any good/hot team not in the above two

This sums it up for me, except to add that I'll watch any game in HD over any other game except for the Jays.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I love how you can just NOT WATCH THE GAME.

My god, what a retort! Like Smues said, you're missing the point. I watched the early parts of the game because I love to watch baseball. I do not, however, love to watch baseball games that are ground to a near-halt so frequently and run four hours without the need for extra innings. I stopped watching for a while, started up again, and then called it quits when they were only in the fifth inning at like 10:30 p.m.

 

This isn't a Red Sox or Yankees thing, so quit trying to make it one.

 

It's not a Yankee/Red Sox thing to me either. You don't see me complaining about how sucky the Pirates/Giants game was because I'm not seeking out to watch it. You like baseball, fine, but that doesn't mean you're forced to watch every single game out there. Don't watch the game.

 

I do not, however, love to watch baseball games that are ground to a near-halt so frequently and run four hours without the need for extra innings.

 

No one is forcing you to.

 

I stopped watching for a while, started up again, and then called it quits when they were only in the fifth inning at like 10:30 p.m.

 

Added emphasis for those with reading comprehension issues.

 

[Brett Favre 0]

So what the hell are you complaining about when you didn't even watch the whole game? You make it sound like you were forced to watch all four hours.