Baseball - At Last ! (2 Viewers)

[Combat]

I am going to say this once, and leave the issue. Back in the '70's, if two guys in each league hit 30+ homeruns it was a lot. Now it seems like every team has two guys with 30+ homers. It seems blatently obvious to me that the whole league is on steroids. I would be willing to bet if they tested every guy that hits 30+ homers 90% of them would be juicing. So now that they are testing, A-Rod is caught, Giambi is caught, Manny is caught, Ortiz suddenly comes back to earth and hits 1 homer this year when a couple of seasons ago he hit 50. They ought to purge all the numbers from 1990 to the present from the record books. For me Hank Aaron is still the home run king, and Roger Maris still holds the single season record. Just my two cents.

I agree 100%. To top it off many of these guys have lied or taken cover to protect themselves even before Congress. Shameful. How anyone believes Bonds, McGwuire and others should be in the HOF is beyond me. They are a disgrace. MLB turned a blind eye because all the homers and home run records were good for attendance at a time when the sport was struggling with the fallout from player strikes.

 

[eborris]

So far this season 75 home runs have been hit in the new stadium, heard it on the news this morning.

 

[tdubel]

I agree 100%. To top it off many of these guys have lied or taken cover to protect themselves even before Congress. Shameful. How anyone believes Bonds, McGwuire and others should be in the HOF is beyond me. They are a disgrace. MLB turned a blind eye because all the homers and home run records were good for attendance at a time when the sport was struggling with the fallout from player strikes.

I agree too. However, I still will come to Bond's defense and say, go back before his home run year(s) and he still makes the hall with his abilities and stats. The man is a pure hitter, what the steroids did in his case is take his incredibly gifted eyes and bat speed and turn doubles into home runs.

My opinion is to just move on past the steroids, hopefully for role model and health sakes, players are too and baseball's eyes are open. The sooner this debacle is behind the better baseball is again.

This ship has sailed and the more it is rehashed, the worse it gets IMO!

TD

 

[lancer]

Just alerting baseball fans to the titanic clash tonight -- the Orioles vs. the Nationals. We shall now see who is really the worst team in the D.C. - Baltimore corridor. I can hardly wait. -- lancer

 

[sammy719]

To bad the Orioles don't play the Nationals all year maybe we would have a winning season!!! is truly gonna be a long, long summer with my Orioles but hopefully these young pitchers I have heard so much about in the farm system will make a impact this year at some point, if not FOOTBALL in a couple months, let's go Ravens...Sammy

 

[lancer]

Just alerting baseball fans to the titanic clash tonight -- the Orioles vs. the Nationals. We shall now see who is really the worst team in the D.C. - Baltimore corridor. I can hardly wait. -- lancer

Well, it looks like my question of who is worst has been answered. Both teams have displayed the characteristics of good teams this weekend, ie., good pitching and defense. I have no doubt that things will revert to normal when they are no longer playing each other. Still like the looks of the young Nats pitchers. -- lancer

 

[Currahee Chris]

I went to my first game at the new Yankee Stadium last night. The new place is magnificent, and looks huge, but the ball does fly out to right.

Hey Louis

My wife took her employees to the new stadium on Saturday to see the Phils play- I got stuck playing Mr Dad. The girls all pretty much said the same thing you did. They were pretty jazzed till the Yanks pulled that 9th inning rally- how about that huh???

Trivia question for you baseball fans out there- is it possible for a pitcher to throw more than three KO's in an inning???

The answer is yes- if a batter swings on the third strike and it is called, but the pitcher drops the ball and the batter makes it to base then another batter is allowed to hit- I guess it has happened a couple times in MLB history- pitchers getting 4 strikeouts an inning- go figure.

Cheers
CC

 

[Louis Badolato]

Hey Chris,

Sorry you got stuck at home, but if you ever want to come to the stadium for a game, just drop me a PM. As a veteran, your ticket is on me.

As far as the 9th inning comeback, the Yanks have done that a lot this year. They are starting to get a reputation for walk off wins.

Your point about 4 strikouts in an inning can also be applied to sacrifice flys. There can be 3 or more sac flys in an inning if one or more of the outfielders in position to catch the sacrifice fly commits an error and drops the ball. I saw it happen once in either 1998 or 1999.

 

[Currahee Chris]

Hey Chris,

Sorry you got stuck at home, but if you ever want to come to the stadium for a game, just drop me a PM. As a veteran, your ticket is on me.

Hey Louis-

thanks for your kind offer, though "veteran" isn't a term I have ever used to describe myself- always felt my old Currahee Sergeant Major summed it up best one day when he saw me coming off the rifle range-

"God D--n Sunshine- Uncle Sam ever sends you into combat, we might as well write back home and tell mom and pop to start kneeling to Mecca!"

Everyone in the Army is a comedian- the senior Noncoms are legends- kind of like John Candy or Richard Pryor.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Chris,

The way I heard it was you were a steely eyed killer with ice water in your veins... At least thats what the SMG had to say and as a smart ROTC man I always listened to the SMG and of course my motor sergeant. Thats a different story.

As for the Inter league play that I really wish didnt take up so many games I am glad the Yankees managed to beat the Phillies sorry but I am a deeply rooted Yankee Fan from the age of 2 when dad would listen to the games on the Radio and tell me about seeing Dimagio etc in THE STADIUM.

Hope all is well with you my friend look forward to another chat soon

Hell On Wheels!
Dave

 

[jazzeum]

Dave,

Did you see that Dom DiMaggio recently died. Very nice article in the NY Times about him. I can dig it up for you if you like.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Brad,

I did indeed see that Dom had passed away. Sad day indeed.

DAve

 

[sammy719]

Oh my!! here it is May 28th and the Orioles are only out of first by 6 games!!, we have actually had some good pitching in the last week or so, I think we can hit with most teams but gotta have some pitching once in awhile, also the Orioles are bringing up thier number 1 prospect in Weiters this week, I heard alot of good stuff about the guy, so keep it up O'S bring on the Tigers!!!!!...Sammy

 

[Louis Badolato]

As a lifelong Yankee fan, it pains me to say this, but the Yankees are dead to me. The team as it is presently constituted has no heart whatsoever. It completely lacks mental toughness and leadership. I will not watch another Yankee game this year, or until the cancer that is Brian Cashman is no longer affiliated with the organization. He has built a team of gutless prima donnas. To lose eight games in a row to the hated Redsox, while blowing leads, failing to get clutch hits, failing to score again and again with runners on 2nd and no out, 1st and third and one out, or even the bases loaded and no out, is just unacceptable for a team with by far the highest payroll in baseball. When he resigned A-Rod I wanted to scream. When he kept Matsui despite the fact that he is physically shot I wanted to scream. When he pulled the deal off the table and left Johann Santana to go to the Mets for a bag of balls, and put all of his faith in Ian Kennedy (who will never be even a 5th starter in the major leagues) I wanted to kill him. When he converted JOba Chamberlain, the most dominant bridge to Mariano we had since the Championship years, into a number 5 starter, I did scream. But this is too much. Baseball season is over in this household. To you guys with well run teams on which there are players with heart, best of luck. Well, football season is only three months away . . .

 

[Warrior]

As a lifelong Yankee fan, it pains me to say this, but the Yankees are dead to me. The team as it is presently constituted has no heart whatsoever. It completely lacks mental toughness and leadership. I will not watch another Yankee game this year, or until the cancer that is Brian Cashman is no longer affiliated with the organization. He has built a team of gutless prima donnas. To lose eight games in a row to the hated Redsox, while blowing leads, failing to get clutch hits, failing to score again and again with runners on 2nd and no out, 1st and third and one out, or even the bases loaded and no out, is just unacceptable for a team with by far the highest payroll in baseball. When he resigned A-Rod I wanted to scream. When he kept Matsui despite the fact that he is physically shot I wanted to scream. When he pulled the deal off the table and left Johann Santana to go to the Mets for a bag of balls, and put all of his faith in Ian Kennedy (who will never be even a 5th starter in the major leagues) I wanted to kill him. When he converted JOba Chamberlain, the most dominant bridge to Mariano we had since the Championship years, into a number 5 starter, I did scream. But this is too much. Baseball season is over in this household. To you guys with well run teams on which there are players with heart, best of luck. Well, football season is only three months away . . .

Hey Louis, you sound just like I used to.......................prior to 2004.

The Yankees will be in the playoffs, they are way too talented not to be; they will make a deal at the deadline and grab some bullpen help (that pen is brutal and you are 100% correct; Chamberlain needs to be in the pen instead of in the rotation). That lineup will pummel most of the AL teams night in and night out. Two of every ten pitchers on teams rosters are not big league talent, the game is way to watered down nowadays.

Your announcers are beyond comical, I'll give them that, Kay (we've lost 8 games to the Red Sox and are only two games out) and Waldman (we could have won two of these games, there are 102 games left, we'll be ok) sound like Red Sox color men..................................prior to 2004.

 

[Combat]

Watched a few minutes of the Nats and Marlins tonight. Mostly because it was in HD. Once again I can't believe how empty the stands were. The entire upper deck looked empty as in zero people. Depressing. On an up note there is a great company in Philly that sells some unique retro items from the good old days. Great looking MLB T-shirts.

Pricey but worth a look: http://www.mitchellandness.com/Departments/New-Releases.aspx?sortorder=1&page=1

 

[Combat]

Another sad day for MLB in the neverending steroids scandal. Mark McGwuire goes on a publicity tour to admit - shocking - that he took them. This after clamming up before Congress like a gangster. Remember his quote "steroids is bad." BUT they did not affect his performance in his opinion. He would still have hit all those HRs. Cue film of his early years when he was a slim guy and later years when he looked like Popeye. Of course the whole coming clean thing is designed to improve his chances of reaching the HOF and also his coaching position with the Cards. It's even coordinated by a damage control team headed by Ari Fleischer formerly of the White House.

 

[gk5717]

Another sad day for MLB in the neverending steroids scandal. Mark McGwuire goes on a publicity tour to admit - shocking - that he took them. This after clamming up before Congress like a gangster. Remember his quote "steroids is bad." BUT they did not affect his performance in his opinion. He would still have hit all those HRs. Cue film of his early years when he was a slim guy and later years when he looked like Popeye. Of course the whole coming clean thing is designed to improve his chances of reaching the HOF and also his coaching position with the Cards. It's even coordinated by a damage control team headed by Ari Fleischer formerly of the White House.

I,m sure you are referring to the Bob Costas interview.
Having watched it, it brought tears to my eyes!!! Yea, he only used steroids for health and healing reasons, not for performance enhancement! Watching those eyes tear up was pathetic.
I give Costas credit, he did not play softball with his questions.
The only thing I agree with McGwire on, was that since he did not get immunity at those hearings, he did not deny nor admit steroid use.
Years ago baseball was my favorite sport now only basketball and soccer are lower on the totum pole.
Gary

 

[Phantom Warrior]

As far as I'm concerned, Roger Maris still has the most home runs in a season and Hank Aaron still has the most career home runs. Counting steroid and HGH aided home runs is no different then letting major league players use aluminium bats.

Terry

 

[Louis Badolato]

As far as I'm concerned, Roger Maris still has the most home runs in a season and Hank Aaron still has the most career home runs. Counting steroid and HGH aided home runs is no different then letting major league players use aluminium bats.

Terry

I'm with you. Could you imagine if the commissioner had the guts to come out and say that the individual records and statistics of anyone caught cheating with performance enhancing drugs, or other performance enhancing items (like loading the ball, or corked bats) do not count for baseball statistics and cannot be considered for the hall of fame? That would eliminate McGuire, Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Sosa, Palmiero, Pettitte and everyone else on the infamous "list" from the record books and hall of fame consideration, and make fans like me a lot happier with the game.