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| May-26-09 | | square dance: makarov was rookie of the year(calder trophy) for the flames. offhand i'd say it was in 89 or 90. |
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| May-27-09 | | Jim Bartle: My mistake. I just checked the NHL Hall of Fame, and he wasn't there, so I figured he'd never played in the NHL. |
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May-27-09
 | | Phony Benoni: Hey, <Travis Bickle>! We let you win one, so how about the Bears giving the Lions a break this year? Oh, who am I kidding. I'm still sweating over tonight's game. |
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| May-27-09 | | Jim Bartle: Lions are in good shape, they picked up a couple more wide receivers. |
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| May-27-09 | | Jim Bartle: Wings already won, no reason for worry. |
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| May-27-09 | | A.G. Argent: Jim, well, these Dodgers do seem to be the real thing, now don't they. Seems to be official, the NL West is theirs and it ain't even June. This Pierre guy is playing huge in the absence of Ramirez. They are just plain solid. Cards checkin' into SF Friday still staying in front even with all the injuries. The rooks and the youngsters called up are coming through. The lowest ERA in the Majors helps, needless to say. Pitching has been incredible. Too damn bad Carp didn't get a win out of a 2 hit 8 inning stint the other night but still it's obvious he's back with serious chops. And PB, whaddaya got to say about your Tiges? Granted it's an anemic division but still they're playing quite well. Cabrera, Verlander, Polanco. Ya gotta be a little jacked. |
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| May-27-09 | | Jim Bartle: I saw Carpenter pitch for the first time (that I remembered) a couple of weeks ago, and he looked unhittable. LaRussa took him out after six, though. Giants might win some games 2-1, but not 6-5. No chance. |
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| May-27-09 | | Jim Bartle: I think our host went out celebrating... |
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May-28-09
| | Phony Benoni: Celebrate? Me? That would be totally premature. But I had to watch the highlights on the 11 o'clock news. And the post news hockey special. But I drew the line when they started interviewing the equipment manager. The Wings won without four of their starting players. One guy (Erickson) skated in practice today, complained of stomach pains, and went to the hospital. They removed his appendix. He'll probably play this weekend. He's a hockey player. The amazing thing about the Tigers is that they are doing it with pitching. Verlander has been unhittable lately. Edwin Jackson looks like a great pick-up. The rookie Rick Porcello won his fifth straight today. Dontrelle Willis has had two impressive starts. And Jeremy Bonderman may be on the way back. I do wish that Fernando Rodney had not graduated from the Todd Jones School of Saving Games While Riding a Roller Coaster, but he hasn't blown one yet. It's the hitting that's been their problem. Polanco, Grander and Ordonez are all hitting around .250-260. If it wan't for Cabrera, they'd have almost no offense at all. Also, in their good years of 2006 and 2007 they started fast and faded, so that's something else to worry about. Not like the Dodgers, who never fold once they get a lead. |
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| May-28-09 | | Jim Bartle: Referring to the Dodgers, you must be referring to recent history. All Giants fans remember 1962, where the O'Malleys definitely folded, as well as the historic one in 1951 (13.5 games ahead and lost in playoff!). Giants knocked them off in last game of 1982, giving the Braves the division. And, and, lots of others I can't remember! |
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May-28-09
| | Phony Benoni: JB, you should realize by now that (a) I know a bit about baseball history, and (b), I always write with tongue firmly implanted in cheek! Yes, the Giants have broken the Dodgers' hearts a few times, but it has worked the other way around. Back in 1934, the Giants were the defending World Series champions. Before the season, manager Bill Terry was asked about the Dodgers' chances that year. He replied, "Brooklyn? Is Brooklyn still in the league?" By early Septemeber, the Giants had a seven-game lead over St. Louis, but faded a bit. Going into the last two days, the teams were tied, and the Giants were schedlued to play ... yep. The Dodgers, managed by some clown named Stengel, were mired in sixth place--but they won both games considered the season a success. |
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| May-28-09 | | Jim Bartle: Oh, the Giants have had their hearts broken by the Dodgers too many times for me to count. 1965 and 1966 were the worst, with the no-hit great-pitch Dodgers beating the Jints both years, using their rock-hard infield to get cheap hits, the only kind they could. Remember, in Sandy Koufax's perfect game, the Dodgers only got one hit themselves of Bob Hendley of the Cubs (and a former Giant). And they got their comeuppance in the 66 Series, scoring only two runs in the four-game sweep. Now I know Dodger Stadium is a terrible stadium for hitting at any time, and that the strike zone of that time was defined in favor of the pitcher. But at the time, I just thought the Dodgers were lucky. |
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| May-28-09 | | playground player: Dodgers? Dodgers? Did somebody say Dodgers? We hates the Dodgers, precious! Hsssss....! When I was a kid, the Giants and that Other Team were both in New York, both on TV and radio (along with the Yankees, who played in that Other League that we never paid any attention to). You wouldn't believe the things my mother said about Duke Snider in particular and the Dodgers in general. To this day I remain convinced that grave-robbing, simony, and treason are the Dodgers' favorite off-season activities. None of that applied to Roy Campanella. As Ma said, he should've been a Giant. Yes, us Giants fans have had our hearts broken by the Accursed Ones many times. But they will never, never, never be able to pay us back for Bobby Thomson's 1951 home run! If that was the only time we ever got 'em, we'd still be way ahead! So there. |
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| May-28-09 | | YouRang: <Yes, us Giants fans have had our hearts broken by the Accursed Ones many times. But they will never, never, never be able to pay us back for Bobby Thomson's 1951 home run! If that was the only time we ever got 'em, we'd still be way ahead! So there.>
Yeah? Well, in 1988, Gibson hit that 2-out, down-by-1, 9th-inning, 2-run homer to steal game 1 of the World Series, and the Dodgers went on to win the Series from Oakland in 5 games! And everyone knows that Oakand and San Francisco are basically the same thing. ;-) So there! |
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May-28-09
| | Phony Benoni: <YouRang> Sorry, but as a neutral observer from That Other league, I have to give this one to the Giants. Dennis Eckersley's reaction was nothing compared to Ralph Branca's: http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2... That's Cookie Lavagetto on the left. Ask Bill Bevens about him. |
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| May-28-09 | | Jim Bartle: A's fan and Giants fan is NOT the same thing, not even close. Cookie Lavagetto lived not too far from us in Orinda, California when I was a kid and he was managing the Senators. |
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| May-28-09 | | YouRang: <Dennis Eckersley's reaction was nothing compared to Ralph Branca's:> Sure, okay. But you have to consider the long term effects as well. Have you seen Eckersley lately? http://soxanddawgs.com/2008/10/15/d... <A's fan and Giants fan is NOT the same thing, not even close.> Yeah I suppose. For example, it didn't take the A's fans as long to figure out that it's better to just stay home during the game. ;-) |
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| May-28-09 | | Jim Bartle: Of course Eckersley was a closer, exclusively, and was in the position of being the hero or goat every night. So he learned to deal with failure, as all good closers must. Look at Mariano Rivera. He doesn't celebrate too much when he succeeds, doesn't get too upset when he gets beat. Then again, Donnie Moore of the Angels couldn't get over giving up the big homer to Henderson of the Sox in 1986, and eventually killed himself. Branca was a starter who relieved occasionally. Different story. The most heartfelt reaction I can remember to a brutal loss was when the Braves scored two in the ninth in the 1992 (I think) playoffs, beating Pittsburth for the third straight year. Pirate centerfielder Andy van Slyke just sat on the grass at his position for ten minutes, or so it seemed. |
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| May-28-09 | | YouRang: ...And I'm sure Philadelphia baseball fans will never forget (or *forgive*) closer <Mitch Williams>. |
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| May-28-09 | | Jim Bartle: Williams giving up three in the ninth of the 6th game (1993) wasn't so bad, really. It was blowing a 14-9 lead in the ninth of game four. And that "Pittsburgh" above, not "Pittsburth." |
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| May-28-09 | | YouRang: <Jim Bartle: Williams giving up three in the ninth of the 6th game (1993) wasn't so bad, really. It was blowing a 14-9 lead in the ninth of game four.> Yes, the infamous Philadelphia-Toronto series.
I guess Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi's strategy was to keep putting Williams out there until he got it right... Interestingly, when Fregosi's career was over in Philadelphia, he landed a new managing job in..............Toronto! Coincidence? |
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May-28-09
| | Phony Benoni: Which naturally brings up Johnny Keane.
In 1964, the Phillies were cruising toward a pennant and The People Upstairs in St. Louis were not happy. Some of the management personnel were fired in mid-season, and manager Johnny Keane got the impression that he would not be welcomed back either. However, the Phillies pulled a Mitch WIlliams by blowing a 6.5 game lead with twelve games to go by the simple method of losing the first ten of them. The Cardinals sneaked into the World Series, where they bet the Yankees in seven games. Soon after the Series there was a press conference in St. Louis where Keane ... handed in his resignation! A few days later he got a new job--as manager of the Yankees, who had fired Yogi Berra. Alas, it didn't work out. The Yankees had had their last hurrah for a long time in '64, fell to sixth place, and Keane was fired early in the 1966 season. |
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May-29-09
| | Phony Benoni: So, whaddya think? If the Lakers and Cavs both lose, will the NBA quickly organize a third-place playoff series? |
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| May-29-09 | | Jim Bartle: They'll announce there is not enough interest in or financial backing for a Denver-Orlando series, so "sorry Alexei--oops, I mean, Carmelo--we're going to the next team. And no, you are not going to be paid for winning the conference finals." Or a two-on-two series, LeBron/Ilgauskas vs. Kobe/Gasol. I thought Cleveland won last night on pure willpower (no, not racedriver Will Power) from LeBron. His shooting and ballhandling wasn't that good, but he just kept getting after it. I loved the way he kept waving away his teammates who came to set screens. I see Howard likes to do the old Shaq attack, banging into the defender hard with his shoulder. It would be hilarious if, just once, Ilgauskas or whoever, jumps to the side and Howard goes tumbling forward out of control. |
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| May-29-09 | | playground player: <You Rang> That Gibson home run was one of the most fabulous things I ever saw in baseball. I jumped out of my seat and cheered anyhow, even though he hit it for the LA Goons. I mean, if you can't love that, you can't love baseball. There was an awful lot to like about that Dodger team: Mickey Hatcher, for instance. But Eckersley getting burned doesn't count against the Giants! Just like Mets' misfortunes don't count against the Yankees. Besides which, there was something about the Thomson homer, something indefinable, that put it in a class by itself--even above the Gibson homer. Maybe it's the difference between 1951 and 1988: a different time, a different world. |
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