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Aug-18-12
 | | OhioChessFan: <Saw this question in the program: how is it possible, for a run to be unearned for the team, but earned for the pitcher who gave it up?> Happened to know that one and <Phony> cited the applicable rule. |
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Aug-19-12
 | | WannaBe: Ah, pretty cool exprience, field level, between 3rd base and foul pole, Section 128, Row 21, Seat number lucky 13, $32. Large Dr. Pepper, $6, what killed me was the parking, $17. SEVENTEEN BUCKS! The whole upper-deck was covered with tarp, only directly behind home plate, above the broad-caster's section was open. Probably because of TV. Fans are a bit more down to earth than SF Giants fans, even sitting at field level, and for $32 bucks, you can't beat that! I can't even get to second level at Dodgers/Angels/Giants for that price! Whole stadium was no smoking, gates are (all??) marked with "No Re-Entry", so I actually sat through 8 1/2 innings (game time 3 hr. 10 min) without a single smoke! Personal record. Bobble-head give-away day, first 15K fans, I got there an hour before game time, got my ticket at self-serv kiosk, figured I am early enough to get a bobble-head. No luck, all gone. Had free time to walk around, and see the concrete structure. Now, I've never seen the Kingdome, I wonder, after seeing Alameda County, I get a feel/picture of what Kingdome would be like. Getting into and out of the stadium was relatively painless, compared to Dodgers Stadium, it's was a breeze. Also picked up 2 tix at the self-serv kiosk, for the last game of the season, it's Wednesday vs. Texas, could be Wild Card, or possibly AL West Division. Plus, A's Wednesday home games have $2.00 BART special, so I got 2 of them for 4 bucks, no TicketMaster handling/shipping fees at all. Section 246, Row 1 (!!!) Seats 6 & 7. |
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Aug-19-12
| | WannaBe: Saw the box score for the LAD-ATL game, the Dodgers only got 4 hits, but all 4 were homers!! And won the game. Which begs the question has any other team ever done this? Where all the hit(s) were homer? Regardless whether the team won or lost? |
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Aug-19-12
 | | Phony Benoni: I couldn't find anything definite, but it's probably not that rare for all a team's hits to be home runs. Here's the last time the Dodgers did it: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... |
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| Aug-19-12 | | playground player: <Wannabe> Field-level seats at Yankee Stadium, 2012 season, go from $85 (out behind the outfield) to $300 (behind home plate). The seats my wife and I used to get for $15 are now $275. Strat-O-Matic, anyone? |
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Aug-19-12
| | WannaBe: <playground player> Yikes!! |
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Aug-19-12
| | WannaBe: Is that PIT-StL game over yet? :-) Gotta love them (non-scheduled) double header games. Taipei and Japan(Little League) locked in a pitching duel. |
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Aug-19-12
| | WannaBe: That power hitting Ichiro just parked one into second deck in right field, off J. Beckett. Ouch! |
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Aug-20-12
 | | keypusher: Question for Mr. Bartle: are you familiar with something called ayahuasca? My ex-wife and daughter are in Ecuador and are being invited to partake. My inclination is to say no as to my daughter (she is nine). |
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| Aug-20-12 | | Jim Bartle: Yes, very familiar, but haven't taken it. It's a vine with hallucigenic properties which grows in the jungle. A friend of mine is the curator of the "Magical Plants" museum in Cusco, and a large part is given to ayahuasca, second only in space to coca. Ayahuasca brings on visions, sometimes pretty spectacular, and there are paintings by people who have taken it, very wild, hallucenigenic. I think there's generally sort of a shamanastic ritual to taking it, but I'm not sure. I'd recommend against in general, and certainly for your daughter. |
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Aug-21-12
| | keypusher: Thanks, Jim. Returning to regularly scheduled programming...the Orioles are the only team in baseball with a negative run differential and an over-.500 record. http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings
I wonder how common that is. |
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| Aug-21-12 | | Shams: <keypusher><My inclination is to say no as to my daughter (she is nine).> You didn't ask me but: Jesus, no. That goes for your wife too unless she already has significant experience with psychedelics. Even the powerful psilocybin where I come from, or peyote in the Southwest don't compare to ayahuasca, which may be the strongest hallucinogen on the planet. |
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Aug-21-12
| | keypusher: Thanks, Shams. I thought of Jim because he lives in that part of the world, but of course I am happy to hear from anyone who knows anything useful! |
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| Aug-21-12 | | Jim Bartle: I don't think it's all that rare that a winning team scores fewer runs than it gives up, though I'd guess it would usually be with teams just barely over .500. The O's are ten games over, and have scored 47 fewer runs, which I would guess means they've been clobbered a few times and have also done well in one-run games. I think the Giants scored fewer runs than they scored, or close to it, one of the years they made the playoffs 10-13 years ago. I also see that Boston, 4 games below .500, has scored 34 more runs than it's given up. Must have had some wins by big margins. Maybe a lot of that depends on the quality of the closers and relief pitcher, whether the team wins the close games, but I don't know if research would bear that out. |
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Aug-21-12
 | | perfidious: <Jim> Orioles have been exceptionally effective in close games (defined as decided by 1-2 runs), winning 70%. Last I knew, they were 22-6 in one-run affairs. Regression to the mean, as we say in poker, will come their way, though it may not be this year. A study in contrasts re your bullpen remarks: Baltimore's bullpen have been outstanding all year and Boston's very good for the most part since a dreadful April. Red Sox, however, have been poor in close/extra-inning games. |
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| Aug-21-12 | | Jim Bartle: Whether you liked them or not, for many years Boston was a real interesting team, and very identifiable. Who says "Red Sox" on that team today? The manager certainly doesn't. I'd say Pedroia, Ortiz and maybe Ellsbury. The rest are just guys. They invested heavily in Josh Beckett, who has not been great, not even close. And now a huge contract for Carl Crawford, who first didn't do much and now is out for the year. When they were on top, I could name Ortiz, Youkilis, Pedroia, Damon, Varitek, Manny Ramirez, year after year. |
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Aug-21-12
| | perfidious: <Jim> Agreed, and I am a Boston fan. Francona let them play, though I wasn't impressed with how he handled Crawford last season. On the whole, he did a good job though. Valentine at the helm has been a train wreck and it's hard to imagine him going back. As to Beckett, they've had some good years from him, but he hasn't performed to the level of his contract on anything like a consistent basis. After the whole golf business this past spring, it was clear where his priorities lay. |
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| Aug-21-12 | | Jim Bartle: Valentine and the Red Sox just didn't fit together, from the day it was announced. I think I complained about that on this page at the time. Overall, after being hailed as a superstar after the 2003 season, Beckett really has been a disappointment. At least it seems so to me; every time I watch him pitch he seems to get lit up. Not the stopper they thought they were getting. And what happened with Youkilis? I heard for weeks he was going to be traded, but he's a really good player, and very identified with the Red Sox. Trading him just seemed spiteful. |
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Aug-22-12
| | Phony Benoni: Something odd tonight in the Tigers game. They had nine walks and no strikeouts. |
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| Aug-22-12 | | Travis Bickle: Dr Benoni, How are those Lions looking to your trained eyes? P.S. The Chicago Bears #1 pick from Boise State DE Shane McLellan looks pretty good, as does their 45th pick that big wideout Alshon Jeffery from South Carolina. |
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Aug-22-12
| | perfidious: < Travis Bickle: ....The Chicago Bears #1 pick from Boise State DE Shane McLellan looks pretty good, as does their 45th pick that big wideout Alshon Jeffery from South Carolina.> What did Bears do to help their beleaguered QB avoid death by week six or so? Anything? It seemed a weakness of last year's team, so far as I could tell. Another season with a porous OL would leave Cutler running again, and he isn't as mobile as either Vick or Newton. |
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Aug-22-12
| | Phony Benoni: <Travis> Some uncertainty about the Lions, as the #1 running back is still out with concussion systems from last year and will miss at least half the season. In fact, I'd give odds against him ever returning; this has been an ongoing problem his entire career. #1 pick Riley Reieff is looking good on the offensive line, though that's hardly a glamour area. A couple of the DB picks are looking good, and they'd better be; that's where the team got burned last year. The game against the Ravens last week re-established that Calvin Johnson cannot be covered adequately by anything less than eleven players and a stepladder. But we'll see who is still alive after they visit Oakland this weekend. By the way, Travis, we need more Cubs fans to start rooting for the White Sox. The Tigers might not be able to catch them otherwise. |
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Aug-22-12
| | perfidious: <Phony Benoni> Jahvid Best is still out? He was one of the 'Gang of Four' on one of my fantasy FB teams last season: the same week, I had four RBs go out with one thing or another, with one of the other three also not coming back in '11. On the topic of covering Calvin Johnson, maybe a blackjack and a set of brass knuckles would help. Other than that, sounds hopeless to me. Facing him as either a defender or a DC has got to be one of the biggest nightmares imaginable. One way or another, this is a team which is finally recovering from the disastrous Matt Millen epoch and looking more than respectable. Don't see them beating the Pack for the division, but what do I know, anyway? |
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Aug-22-12
| | Phony Benoni: <perfidious> Best is on the Physically Unable to Perform list, and must miss at least six games. I'm taking the pessimistic view, but then I'm a long-time Lions fan. The team has some character issues, and there's no guarantee the secondary will hold up. But they can score with anybody. |
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| Aug-22-12 | | Shams: <PB> How has Mikel LeShoure looked? If he's a horse that offense will be devastating. Meanwhile, Seattle has the biggest pre-season game in team history coming this Friday. |
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