Baseball 2012 (1 Viewer)

[jazzeum]

As much as this must have been crushing for Al and Sammy, Raul Ibanez' homers are probably a classic moment in playoff history. We here in New York now have to hear John Sterling's calls of "Raul, so cool." One is bad enough, but two times. Here is the second one, for your listening pleasure.

Had Ibanez not delivered, how much heat do you think Girardi would be taking for removing Arod. This week Arod has been the prime focus for debate, with some advocating that he be dropped in the order and some that he be benched. Girardi took a gamble last night and it worked.

However, it is hard to say, which loss was the more crushing loss, this game or the Oakland game. I'd say the Oakland game. You have one of the best closers, with a two run lead and he can't get it done. As I said earlier this morning, I thought the As were toast.

The perfomances we've seen out of the Orioles closer and Valverde show you how great Rivera is, although he's had his moments as well, 2001 World Series and 2004 ALCS against the Sox.

It's entirely possible that all the playoffs series could end today if Yanks and Cards win. I think Yanks will lose but Cards will win. If the latter happens I wonder if Washington management will rue their Strasburg decision. Probably not, because they're building for the future and the playoff experience can only help.

 

[lancer]

He was only in there because A-Rod has sucked so bad in the first three games, Giradi pulls a miracle out of his rear end and throws Freddie Krueger out there and he hits not one, but two home runs.

MLB should commission the Smithsonian to do a study as to how the Yankees manage to get so much production out of fossils like Ibanez, Chavez, Jones, Martin, Garcia, Colon, Pettitte, Jeter, on and on it goes, players on the back nine go to New York and are reborn.

As an Orioles player, not sure how you bounce back from that one and as Al said, your closer is melting down at the wrong time, if he is in another spot like that last night, do the yips set in again for him?

Meltdown is right, George. Really bad timing. I hope the O's can gather themselves after that gut-wrenching loss. Saunders is pitching his second elimination game in a week for the O's. If anyone can do it for the O's, he will. As for the NYY's fountain-of-youth movement, how do you explain the resurgeance of such players? Ibanez hits 19 Hr's with 62 RBI's; Chavez gets 16 & 37; Jones 14 & 34; and Martin 21 & 53. That's a total of 70 Hr's and 186 RBI's out of 4 players who should be laying on a beach somewhere. I might accept one player finding his second wind in any given year, but four of them at once? Just incredible, and yet the NYY's seem to have this kind of thing year after year and it is a big reason they are in the playoffs year after year. Go figure. -- Al

 

[lancer]

As much as this must have been crushing for Al and Sammy, Raul Ibanez' homers are probably a classic moment in playoff history. We here in New York now have to hear John Sterling's calls of "Raul, so call." One is bad enough, but two times. Here is the second one, for your listening pleasure.

Had Ibanez not delivered, how much heat do you think Girardi would be taking for removing Arod. This week Arod has been the prime focus for debate, with some advocating that he be dropped in the order and some that he be benched. Girardi took a gamble last night and it worked.

However, it is hard to say, which loss was the more crushing loss, this game or the Oakland game. I'd say the Oakland game. You have one of the best closers, with a two run lead and he can't get it done. As I said earlier this morning, I thought the As were toast.

The perfomances we've seen out of the Orioles closer and Valverde show you how great Rivera is, although he's had his moments as well, 2001 World Series and 2004 ALCS against the Sox.

It's entirely possible that all the playoffs series could end today if Yanks and Cards win. I think Yanks will lose but Cards will win. If the latter happens I wonder if Washington management will rue their Strasburg decision. Probably not, because they're building for the future and the playoff experience can only help.

Brad, you are right. That loss was crushing to the extreme. It is being touted as the worst loss in O's baseball history. Well, I guess that fits if the O's do lose the series. I just hope the boys hang in there today because i think they can win behind Saunders. We'll see soon enough. As to the Strasburg shutdown, that should have been a non-factor if the Nats starting staff had continued it's excellence into the playoffs. They haven't, and now the questions about the shutdown are flying thick and fast. The Nats GM, Rizzo, is unapologetic about the decision because it was made in spring training and was always going to happen, playoffs or not. All done for the future. On retrospect, maybe another route could have been taken to keep the inning count down during the season so that Starsburg could have been used post-season, but that's immaterial now and Rizzo and the rest of Nats Nation will have to deal with it. We will, but it sure would have been nice to have Strasburg available. -- Al

 

[sammy719]

Well all I can hope for is the old line "just one game at a time"...if the O's can pull out a win tonite then game 5 is for all the marbles, I have a stange comfortable feeling about tonites game for some reason?? even though were down 2-1, I guess the way the orioles have played for most of the year I don't think it will end tonite, we'll see, I'm off today and have my lucky rock and special drawers on!! a winning combination every time...Sammy

 

[jazzeum]

Al,

I hear you about being one of their worst losses. It reminded me of the fourth game of the 1988 NLCS between the Mets and Dodgers. Mets were about to go up 3-1 in games and had a two run lead in the ninth and Dodgers get a runner on and Scioscia hits a HR to tie the game and Mets lose in extra innings. The Mets promptly lose game 5 and eventually lost the series. Had they won game 4, they probably would have closed it out the next day but it was not to be. That is is probably the worse loss in Mets history (hey, we haven't had too many moments) and one no Mets fan who saw the game will probably ever forget: game 4 -- a terrible memory.

I hope game 3 doesn't become that for Os fans.

Brad

 

[lancer]

Al,

I hear you about being one of their worst losses. It reminded me of the fourth game of the 1988 NLCS between the Mets and Dodgers. Mets were about to go up 3-1 in games and had a two run lead in the ninth and Dodgers get a runner on and Scioscia hits a HR to tie the game and Mets lose in extra innings. The Mets promptly lose game 5 and eventually lost the series. Had they won game 4, they probably would have closed it out the next day but it was not to be. That is is probably the worse loss in Mets history (hey, we haven't had too many moments) and one no Mets fan who saw the game will probably ever forget: game 4 -- a terrible memory.

I hope game 3 doesn't become that for Os fans.

Brad

Thanks, Brad. Regardless of how the series turns out, I think it safe to say that the Jeffrey Maier game is now second on the list of the O's worst losses to NY. Boy, last night hurt. --Al

 

[lancer]

Well all I can hope for is the old line "just one game at a time"...if the O's can pull out a win tonite then game 5 is for all the marbles, I have a stange comfortable feeling about tonites game for some reason?? even though were down 2-1, I guess the way the orioles have played for most of the year I don't think it will end tonite, we'll see, I'm off today and have my lucky rock and special drawers on!! a winning combination every time...Sammy

Sammy, to paraphrase Oddball, "With all these positive vibes, how can we lose?". -- Al

 

[sammy719]

Thanks, Brad. Regardless of how the series turns out, I think it safe to say that the Jeffrey Maier game is now second on the list of the O's worst losses to NY. Boy, last night hurt. --Al

To me at least the worst loss wasn't so much a single play or a game but blowing the World Series to the Pirates in '79, up 3-1 and we let 'em off the hook as the great Dennis Green would say to this day I think that is part of the reason why I dislike Pittsburgh in all sports!! as far as Jeffery Maier that game was stolen from the O's partly thanks to him, but at least the Yanks won fair and square last nite, so Maier still is my most painful loss to the evil Yanks...Sammy

 

[DMNamiot]

What a great post season so far! I am really wishing I was back in the states so I could watch the games live.

Dave

 

[jazzeum]

What a great post season so far! I am really wishing I was back in the states so I could watch the games live.

Dave

Dave,

If you subscribe to MLB, you can watch the games on the computer. My son was playing a video game last night so I watched the games on the iPad. After he went to bed I listened to Sterling and Susyn on the radio through the iPad and watched the game on TV so I got to hear Sterling's crazy calls.

Brad

 

[lancer]

To me at least the worst loss wasn't so much a single play or a game but blowing the World Series to the Pirates in '79, up 3-1 and we let 'em off the hook as the great Dennis Green would say to this day I think that is part of the reason why I dislike Pittsburgh in all sports!! as far as Jeffery Maier that game was stolen from the O's partly thanks to him, but at least the Yanks won fair and square last nite, so Maier still is my most painful loss to the evil Yanks...Sammy

I well remember that series loss, Sammy. It was awful to watch. IMO, nothing ranks worse in the annals of Baltimore sports than the loss in Super Bowl III. I know we're talkiing baseball, but NOTHING is ever going to replace that Colts loss to the Jets in my memory, EVER. But the O's losses to the Mets and Pirates in the WS are a close second. :redface2: -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Did someone say Dennis Green? ^&grin One of the great rants of all time!

 

[jazzeum]

These are pretty good too ^&grin

 

[Warrior]

So many good points raised here in the last few posts.

Al; it is mind boggling to me how year after year the Yankees dig up corpses like Ibanez, Martin, Garcia, Colon, etc, etc, who are well past their prime, they come to New York and are money in the playoffs.

Incredible is all I can say; last nights hero prior to age 30 had hit 28 home runs; since then, he's hit 243 home runs.

As far as Sterlings call; is there a bigger hack in sports than that boob? They played his call on the game tying home run today here on Boston sports radio; "It is high, it is deep, it is........."; no you overstuffed gas bag, there was nothing high or deep about it so put the script down, by the time you got to "It is high", it was gone, it was a missile to right.

This is the part about sports I hate; as a fan, the losses are WAY more painful than the happiness from wins. The happiness lasts a few days, maybe a week, the losses leave a mark forever.

Al brings up Super Bowl III; that game was played 43 years ago, yet it still bothers him to this day, which I can totally relate to as both Super Bowl losses to the 10-6 and 9-7 Super Bowl Champion Giants will haunt me till the day they drop me in the ground.

Imagine Belichick outcoached by Coughlin not once, but twice.

Unreal.

Anyway, before I hang myself, back to baseball; LET'S GO O'S!!!!! Here's hoping Phil "tomato can" Hughes soils himself tonight and you take it to a game 5.....................

 

[jazzeum]

Sterling has a good shtick going and his gaffes are legend. On the Boomer & Carton show about a month ago they dissected for about 30 minutes a call that he made that was just riotous. If he ever retires radio will be boring without him.

He's got all sorts of HR calls, as follows:

Jeter - "El Capitan!"

Ibanez - "Raul, so cool."

Andrew Jones - "Keeping up with the Joneses."

Arod - "It's an A-bomb, from A-rod."

Texeira - "Texeira sends a tex-t message. You're on the mark, Texeira."

Granderson - "The Grandy man can, the Grandy man can."

Russell Martin - "Russell show muscle. Monsieur Martin. Voila." This is one is my personal favorite.

The guy is an institution all to himself. If you go on Youtube, you'll find quite a bit.

Here's a clip from 2009 where Mike Francesa on WFAN played some of his calls. Just a riot.

 

[lancer]

I fear that San Fran, going on the road, is in even deeper trouble. -- Al

SF leading 6-0 in the bottom of the 5th of deciding game #5. In the finest tradition of US politicians, I will now state that my above assessment was misunderstood and will disavow that I made it. I meant to say SF had Cinncy right where they wanted them. :rolleyes2::wink2::tongue: -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

SF leading 6-0 in the bottom of the 5th of deciding game #5. In the finest tradition of US politicians, I will now state that my above assessment was misunderstood and will disavow that I made it. I meant to say SF had Cinncy right where they wanted them. :rolleyes2::wink2::tongue: -- Al

If I'm Cincinnatti I should apologize to my fans. Let's hope the As do it in reverse tonight.

 

[Warrior]

If I'm Cincinnatti I should apologize to my fans. Let's hope the As do it in reverse tonight.

Not so fast, it's now 6-3...............

They also announced Joe Girardi's Dad passed away, he's going to manage the game tonight.

If that stadium isn't rocking and the emotion sky high, Yankee fans should be ashamed of themselves, the guy takes mountains of grief in New York, they need to show the man they are behind him tonight.

Louis, maybe you should shoehorn yourself into your Lou Gehrig shirt and go to the game, the huge MFY fan that you are.............

 

[Warrior]

Not so fast, it's now 6-3...............

They also announced Joe Girardi's Dad passed away, he's going to manage the game tonight.

If that stadium isn't rocking and the emotion sky high, Yankee fans should be ashamed of themselves, the guy takes mountains of grief in New York, they need to show the man they are behind him tonight.

Louis, maybe you should shoehorn yourself into your Lou Gehrig shirt and go to the game, the huge MFY fan that you are.............

Now the report is he died on Saturday, so forget it Yankee fans, sit on your hands all night like you did last night and you can stay on your couch tonight Louis, watching the game with your lucky pinestriped underwear on with the trap door in the back for emergencies, like oh, say when the corpse of Raul Ibanez hits the game winning/series winning home run tonight....................

 

[lancer]

Great comeback win in the series for SF. Going to be a long off-season for the Reds as the Dusty Baker curse is alive and well.-- Al