Brett Favre 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 You know, for all the talking heads bitching about the game going too long, messing up arms (yeah like an inning is going to kill someone), that was some entertaining baseball. People lose sight that this is just a game and don't have to take it like SERIOUS BUSINESS. Shit was fun to watch. When you look back at this game are you gonna be like "Damn, I can't believe George Sherrill went 2 innings! WTF?!" or will you look back at the great defensive plays, Uggla's crazy antics, and the great pitching and tough at bats that took place? Best game of the season thus far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Elements of Style Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Within the context of the baseball season, it IS serious business, because this means that once again, the National League doesn't get home field advantage, thanks to one of the dumbshittiest ideas Selig ever had. "Just a game" would be ideal. The length of the game isn't so bad in and of itself, but it's problematic when the game does not commence until 8.45 Eastern. They've gotta either cut some of the bullshit or move the beginning of coverage up an hour to 7/6 Central. If this means pre-empting That '70s Show and a circa-2003 episode of The Simpsons on your local Fox affiliate, then so fucking be it. FAKE EDIT: Also, holy Jesusfuck, Fox, you're the same people who brought us the great NFL music, find a better song to play for 5+ hours of baseball coverage than that awful syrupy DA DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAA bullshit WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT it's like George Steinbrenner died tragically rescuing his family from the remains of a destroyed sinking battleship or some shit OH JESUS Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Is it just me, or is Czech particularly resembling his avatar today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Orioles/Yankees last game at Yankee Stadiium September 21, 8pm on ESPN! Heres to hoping the Yankees dont make the playoffs and the Os can beat em. "Damn, I can't believe George Sherrill went 2 innings! WTF?!" More amazing than his 2 1/3 innings pitched was that he only threw 25 pitches. Hes been known to throw more than 25 pitches in save opportunities normally.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVIL~! alkeiper 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 The All-Star game itself was awesome. My only complaint is the start time. Pitcher usage, I don't think you can reasonably criticize managers for not having a contingency plan in case the game goes 16 innings. That never happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 The All-Star game itself was awesome. Seconded. I watched it start-to-finish. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVIL~! alkeiper 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1365 The U.S. Olympic roster was announced. Congrats to Phillies' prospects Lou Marson and Jason Donald for making the club. Of course, I think it's 50/50 at best that Donald is still a Phillie by then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bored 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 There will be a free preview for MLB Extra Innings starting tomorrow and will last until next Wednesday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVIL~! alkeiper 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 There will be a free preview for MLB Extra Innings starting tomorrow and will last until next Wednesday. Thanks for the heads up. I usually miss these things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JHawk 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Within the context of the baseball season, it IS serious business, because this means that once again, the National League doesn't get home field advantage, thanks to one of the dumbshittiest ideas Selig ever had. "Just a game" would be ideal. The length of the game isn't so bad in and of itself, but it's problematic when the game does not commence until 8.45 Eastern. They've gotta either cut some of the bullshit or move the beginning of coverage up an hour to 7/6 Central. If this means pre-empting That '70s Show and a circa-2003 episode of The Simpsons on your local Fox affiliate, then so fucking be it. Pregame coverage did start at 7/6 Central. After half an hour of "OMG THIS IS THE LAST ASG AT YANKEE STADIUM EVER WHO CARES ABOUT THE ACTUAL GAME" I decided not to watch. Does mlb.com have an archive of it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Elements of Style Report post Posted July 17, 2008 It couldn't have. I'm nearly certain it didn't start till well after 8 here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naiwf 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 The coverage of the midday parade started at 7 EST, the "All Star Game" coverage started at 8 and the first pitch actually took place somewhere between 8:45 and 9 PM. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nl5xsk1 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Regarding the length of the ASG, and the usage of the players ... MLB has to make up their minds instead of trying to butter their breads on both sides. Either the game is a meaningless exhibition game - so the managers SHOULD switch out players throughout the game & give pitchers only an inning or two - or the game means something - so the managers should really manage to win, even if it means some (many) players don't play. It's tough to swallow that the game means something & is serious business when JD Drew plays more than any/all of the starters & lights-out pitchers only go an inning to ensure that the next pitcher gets his turn on the mound. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dandy 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Not only do you want to use every pitcher to showcase them, but you don't want to overuse pitchers at all. Could you imagine the backlash if someone trotted out a star pitcher for 7 innings, and possibly wearing his arm out? I'm not saying that's what you meant necessarily, Niskie, but that would fall into the "playing to win" description. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Elements of Style Report post Posted July 17, 2008 The bluff and bluster about voting the starters in is particularly meaningless, too. Congratulatons to the Delaware Valley region for electing Chase Utley; too bad it ended up being the National Dan Uggla Showcase. Fuck voting the starters, vote in the reserves, since head-up-ass game management gets them thrice the face time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Perfxion 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 MLB's biggest problem is that EVERY major game is played primetime, so many people flat out can not watch a complete game. God forbid anything gets into extra innings or a game won't end until after 12. People with 9 to 5ers do not get a chance to watch the whole game, so they might not watch at all. Kids can not watch almost any playoff game because they have school or it ends way to late for them to stay up. Pretty much, long time fans and newcomers are excluded from watching due to this "lets make sure the west coast can get it at a perfect time". Main reason the NFL is king, everyone pretty much has a chance to watch any big game. All playoff games are in the day time. The Superbowl is on early evening and the world stops to watch. Baseball could learn a thing about starting the games at 6 or 7 est so that the late innings are 9 or 10 est. People could invest an hour extra to watch stuff if it goes extra innings. People are not going to keep watching until almost 2 in the morning because they didn't have the forethought that a game could go extra innings or that starting it at 9 might mean midnight end time if it ended normally. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HarleyQuinn 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 MLB's biggest problem is that EVERY major game is played primetime, so many people flat out can not watch a complete game. God forbid anything gets into extra innings or a game won't end until after 12. People with 9 to 5ers do not get a chance to watch the whole game, so they might not watch at all. Kids can not watch almost any playoff game because they have school or it ends way to late for them to stay up. Pretty much, long time fans and newcomers are excluded from watching due to this "lets make sure the west coast can get it at a perfect time". Main reason the NFL is king, everyone pretty much has a chance to watch any big game. All playoff games are in the day time. The Superbowl is on early evening and the world stops to watch. Baseball could learn a thing about starting the games at 6 or 7 est so that the late innings are 9 or 10 est. People could invest an hour extra to watch stuff if it goes extra innings. People are not going to keep watching until almost 2 in the morning because they didn't have the forethought that a game could go extra innings or that starting it at 9 might mean midnight end time if it ended normally. Not to mention, west coast teams that I'd like to watch (i.e. Oakland) have their games start at 10 PM ET. That means the game won't end until 1 AM normal... way after if extra innings come into play. NFL games start at 1 PM and 4 PM ET (11 AM and 1 PM West Coast) but MLB starts at 4 PM and 7 PM West Coast. If the west coast fans are watching mostly their teams, why not even bump the games back just 2 hours so it'd be 2 PM and 5 PM and 5 PM ET and 8 PM ET? The west coast fans could still catch their teams just as they get home while the east coast fans have time to follow their teams and maybe catch an hour or two of the west coast game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Elements of Style Report post Posted July 17, 2008 But if they played more day baseball, everyone would complain that 9-to-5ers can't watch the game because they're working, and kids are at school. There's no easy solution. Maybe the Red Sox battery (and other American League teams) can try not to have a conference after every fucking pitch. That would be a baby step. By the way, there are prime-time playoff games in the NFL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted July 17, 2008 If the west coast fans are watching mostly their teams, why not even bump the games back just 2 hours so it'd be 2 PM and 5 PM and 5 PM ET and 8 PM ET? The west coast fans could still catch their teams just as they get home while the east coast fans have time to follow their teams and maybe catch an hour or two of the west coast game. Most people don't get home right at five o'clock. You'd have a lot of empty stadiums if games started at 5 out here, plus, how is that fair? We don't make the east coast start their games at five. The problem with the All-Star Game and playoff games is that they don't start right on time. I'm not the best person for this argument, but I don't know anyone out here that makes it home for six. Eat dinner, spend a little bit of time with the kids, watch the regular season games at seven. It's a perfect system for us. Everyone always wants to cater to the east coast, and I'm getting pretty damn sick of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest The Elements of Style Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Hahaha. The Oakland A's need to be way more accessible to New England. A 5 p.m. first pitch is precisely the shot in the arm that the Oakland Coliseum needs to help its waning attendance figures. I guess it's not ideal when the Cubs are in Los Angeles and the game doesn't start till 9.35 (or maybe it's San Francisco where they have 7.35 starts), but at the same time, whatevs, it's kinda fun to have post-midnight baseball for a few days in the summer. In the big picture, I can deal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nl5xsk1 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Not only do you want to use every pitcher to showcase them, but you don't want to overuse pitchers at all. Could you imagine the backlash if someone trotted out a star pitcher for 7 innings, and possibly wearing his arm out? I'm not saying that's what you meant necessarily, Niskie, but that would fall into the "playing to win" description. I should preface this with admitting that I don't really think they should take it more seriously ... treating it like the meaningless exhibition game that all-star games are would be preferable for me. But having said that: They could impose some restrictions to ensure that a pitcher didn't over-exert himself. Maybe no more than 5 innings (or even 4) or no more than 60-75 pitches. Yes, it would still be less than a 'real' game, but it's insane to see a pitcher removed after one inning just so the manager can get 8 or 9 pitchers into one game. Another factor (and this is based off a conversation from the other board, so might be redundant to people that read both) is to have non-active managers manage the ASG. That way there wouldn't be any controversy of, say, Tito Francona trotting Wang out for 7 innings to tire him out and then Rivera for two even if he wasn't needed to close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naiwf 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Did the Yankees pick up Richie Sexson? I'm listening to Carlin and Jones replacing Mike and the Mad Dog and they're mentioning that the Yankees would need to make a roster move. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Hahaha. The Oakland A's need to be way more accessible to New England. A 5 p.m. first pitch is precisely the shot in the arm that the Oakland Coliseum needs to help its waning attendance figures. I guess it's not ideal when the Cubs are in Los Angeles and the game doesn't start till 9.35 (or maybe it's San Francisco where they have 7.35 starts), but at the same time, whatevs, it's kinda fun to have post-midnight baseball for a few days in the summer. In the big picture, I can deal. Seriously, I think of it this way.. What's worse, having the home team's fans miss half or more of the game (which happens to me a lot since I work/school later than 5 or 6 pm at times) or making some random interested east coaster stay up a little past his bedtime to watch the end of it? Get off your high horse, ESTers. We can bridge this divide across the three hour timespan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nl5xsk1 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Get off your high horse, ESTers. We can bridge this divide across the three hour timespan. Harley Quinn does not speak for all ESTers. Many, if not most, of us recognize that games are played in the most appropriate time zone for the home team. While it can lead to some unfortunate circumstances - e.g. ESTers staying up late to watch a game played in Cali or the PNW, or PSTers forced to miss part of a game that starts at 7:00 pm EST - it's a necessarily evil associated with living in the vast landmass most of us call home. USA, love it or leave it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Did the Yankees pick up Richie Sexson? I'm listening to Carlin and Jones replacing Mike and the Mad Dog and they're mentioning that the Yankees would need to make a roster move. One man's trash is another man's treasure (fingers crossed) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EVIL~! alkeiper 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Seriously, I think of it this way.. What's worse, having the home team's fans miss half or more of the game (which happens to me a lot since I work/school later than 5 or 6 pm at times) or making some random interested east coaster stay up a little past his bedtime to watch the end of it? I wake up for work at 6am. Many games end past midnight, even games played in the eastern time zone. That's galling, and unnecessary. Here's where it gets frustrating. The Pacific side needing to get home from work, that has merit. But they do the 8:30 start times on Saturday and Sunday! There is no reason a weekend game can not start at a more reasonable hour. The Super Bowl starts at 6:30, and they certainly have no problem attracting viewers. Personally, I find baseball much more entertaining the less people are interested in it. All-Star game? It'll start at 8:45, broadcast by Fox, announced by Buck and McCarver, and tickets start at several hundred dollars apiece. NY-Penn League? Doubleheader starts at 6, you can walk up and buy a grandstand ticket for $5, and they actually assign two players to the concourse to sign autographs pre-game. It's no contest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 It couldn't have. I'm nearly certain it didn't start till well after 8 here. I think the first pitch was at 8:44. What was odd was that they had gotten through like 6 innings in 2 hours and the pace of the game was speedy up until Drew tied the game up with his HR. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kahran Ramsus 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 By the way, there are prime-time playoff games in the NFL Usually only on Saturday. On Sunday there is generally one shortly after noon and the other around 4 EST. The Super Bowl is at 6:30. At least the Blue Jays are generally on at 7:00 unless they happen to have a road game in another time zone. MLB playoffs can be extremely annoying for how late they run. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Niggardly King 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 please don't tell me the Yankees are possibly thinking about bringing Barry Bonds in... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 Dont be silly..no one wants him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
