32 posts tagged “baseball”

I have tried my hardest to bring MLTU up right. Up until today I thought I'd done a fairly good job. After all, she appreciates good food and good music, she has a vivid imagination and she roots for the Yankees. 

So you can imagine that my heart broke in two after this transaction:

FAU: [Pausing MLTU's TV show] I have to check the weather to see when it might rain.

MLTU: But I want to watch Max and Ruby.

FAU: Just one second. [Seeing sports is on and realizing that weather is next] Look, we can watch baseball while we wait.

MLTU: Nooooo!  I hate baseball.

FAU: *Takes knife through the chest*

I actually could have lived with "I hate the Yankees" or "I love the Red Sox". It would have been sacrilege, but at least that's just team specific. But "I hate baseball"???? The whole sport??? And hate?? Not "I don't want to watch baseball, I want to watch Max and Ruby"???

No, "I hate baseball. The rebellion begins.

It really stinks when your baseball team loses a game by 20 18 runs (Indians: 22, Yanks: 4).

And it really, really stinks when they do something they have NEVER done before (first time they have given up 14 runs in one inning).

And it really, really, really stinks when your #2 pitcher has a ERA that resembles a speed limit sign sign (34.5 for those keeping score at home).

But it really, really, really, really stinks to realize that your team's new ballpark does not play to their traditional strengths and has the potential to average 5 home runs a game (when is A-Rod coming back?).

Sigh. I miss the old house more than ever.

Oh,.and the really kick in the teeth? Your crosstown rivals built a new stadium too and didn't f**k it up.

Ahhhhhhh Spring. Ahhhhhh baseball.

Opening Day, when everyone is 0-0 (except the Braves and Phillies). The Yanks are in Baltimore to face the O's (preview here) provided the rain moves out.

I am not loving the Yanks chances this year (a lot of players are one year older, again) and the reviews of the new Stadium have been a little unsettling.

But, for the next six months (hopefully seven) I get to have baseball, and that is a good thing.

There's news that long time Yankee announcer Bob Sheppard is retiring (almost everyone is reporting it)...unless he's not.

If Bob is hanging it up (and who can blame him, the man is 98) then he will be missed by the Yankee faithful. And I regret that MLTU and DMTU will never hear him announce a game (or see at game at the "old" Stadium).

However, at least Jeter had the forethought to have Sheppard prerecord his introduction, so no matter when my kids see a game at Yankee Stadium III they will hear:

Na-how...ba-hatting...nu-humber two...De-herek...Jee-taa...sa-hortstop...nu-humber two.

I was already lamenting the new stadium and now I won't even have Bob Sheppard's voice to sooth me during the transition. I'll miss you Bob, you were there at my first game in the house that Ruth Built and almost everyone since. All the best.

Okay, so for the first time since I was in college (holy crap) the Yankees are not in the Post Season. This is sad, but not unexpected. What IS unexpected is the f***ing Rays winning the AL East. That is embarrassing on so many levels  (but mostly for the Red Sox).  

• My teams (Yankees and Broncos) first
• "Home team" second (that's New York or Denver, depending on the sport)
• My league third (AL for baseball, AFC for football)
• ANYONE but Boston

Well, this year I do not have my team or a home team. Logic would dictate that I pull for the AL underdog White Sox because they are A) not the Red Sox, B) not the Rays and C) not the Angles (I don't cheer for teams who can't decide what city they play in).

But I am not feeling the White Sox this year so I am going a totally different route: in 2008 I am a LA Dodgers fan. Why? Three simple reasons:

1. Restoring a once great franchise to their former glory (note: I am NOT pulling for the Cubs because SOMEONE has to be "long suffering" or it is not baseball)
2. Sweet revenge-- Joe Torre is in the playoffs but the Yankees are not. Plus there is Nomar, Manny, Lowe. So many guys who have be shipped off my their former teams. They would all have the last laugh. 
3. It will mean LOTS and LOTS of Alyssa Milano doing playoff commentary. Think about it, if my team can't win, at least I get her on TV pulling for her team. I think it is a win-win.

Go Dodgers.

Alyssa Milano

I have been holding back on the nostalgia this week, partly because I've realized that Yankee Stadium is a building, not a person and partly because the Yanks are all but out of the post-season race. 

Man, this was wrong in April, it was REALLY wrong in May, but in August, it is unforgivable.

The Tampa Bay Rays have the BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL

(Note that I included the top 11 teams in MLB so that I could get the terrible Yankees in there at #11)

Worse still is that fact that the Rays do not have a losing record against any team in the AL (they are 6-6 vs. Boston) and are 5-2 against the Angles (a team that had been considered the "best in MLB" until they went to Tampa this week). Even worse still, it is August and there are less than 40 games left to play. With a FIVE GAME LEAD over Boston, the Rays have a very good shot at wining the AL East.

This is so wrong. I would take Baltimore winning the division for ten years in a row before seeing the Rays win it once. Oy.

On another baseball note, when Joe Torre went West I looked up the roster for his new team and realized something: the Dodgers were packed with players who had been key members of rival teams through the years that Torre managed the Yankees. Take a look:

Juan Pierre -- played on the 2003 Marlins who beat the Yanks in the World Series
Andruw Jones -- played for the NL rival Braves from '96 - '07
Nomar -- no comment needed
Jeff Kent -- played for crosstown rival Mets in the early days of interleague play
Mark Sweeney -- was on the 1998 Padres who faced the Yanks in the World Series
Casey Blake -- played on the 2007 Indians who beat the Yanks in the ALDS which lead to Torre's "firing"
Derek Lowe -- Helped break "the Curse" in 2004 with the Sox
Brad Penny -- One of the other young stars of the 2003 Marlins

Then they go out and get Manny and Greg Maddux in mid-season moves. It is almost freaky that this team is packed with guys who Torre use to have to worry about. Now they have his back. I mentioned to StillDocked_Too that it was as if Torre had entered a bazarro universe and was forced to manage guys who had beat him in the past. At the time,  StillDocked commented that it souunded like a good premise for a short story.

I guess there is no point here, I just find this interesting.

Thankfully I have the olympics and the conventions to distract me from how bad baseball is these days. Bring on the VP speculations, it is all that is keeping me going this summer.

Updated: Please note that I wrote this post while several games were still in progress last night. As this morning's standing reflect, the Rays are tied for the best record in baseball with the Cubs. Also, the Red Sox are 4.5 games back, not 5. Still, it's August and the Rays are 77-48...seriously WTF?

It was wrong last month, it is even more wrong this month.

AL East Standing on May 16, 2008:

Really, I am fine with the Yankees being in last place. They are playing .500 ball and in this divisions that puts you at 4th or 5th place (this is not the NL Central after all).

But Tampa Bay is in first place???? Come on Boston, cowboy up and win a few. This is just wrong.

Ummmm...isn't this, like backwards or something?

American League East Standing -- 4.6.08:

I mean, I know it's April and you should NEVER look at th standings in April, but WTF? The O's have lost ONE game and Boston is in LAST place (and just got swept by the Jays)? What year is this? Did I not get the memo, is this 1997 or something?

Well, at least Dan is happy. I suppose that is an upside.

Oh, yeah, I realize I have not talked politics in forever so...ummm....vote Obama!! That is all.