WARNING!! Annual Off-Topic Baseball Thread. Esteemed Members BEWARE!!

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

Heck of a day for the Yankees. Matsui comes back (which I honestly didn't think he'd do this year) and Abreau (kind of sounds like the character from "The Neverending Story") puts the game away in the first inning.

I love the AL Central. I'm betting on the Sox (of both colors) being left out of the playoffs.

Like I told Rut earlier...Hailley's Comet comes again BEFORE a Chicago team wins it all again.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by mick

Yankees are best.
Johan smiles.
Liriano had rest.
Tigers on trial.

Liriano's gonna get some more rest, by the look of it. He got taken out in his first game back with the same elbow pain. If the Twins are smart, they'll shut the kid down completely until he heals. He's got too much potential at 22 to screw around with.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Liriano's gonna get some more rest, by the look of it. He got taken out in his first game back with the same elbow pain. If the Twins are smart, they'll shut the kid down completely until he heals. He's got too much potential at 22 to screw around with.

Hmmm....will the Twins be smart about handling a player? ...well, maybe. Afterall, they did let Ortiz get away.

Now if Liriano played for the Cubs his career would be over!

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Now if Liriano played for the Cubs his career would be over!

If Liriano played for the Cubs, they already woulda traded him for some broken-down 36-year old.

[Jurassic Referee]

Twins just announced that Liriano is done for the season. And maybe next year too if he needs Tommy John surgery.

Too bad.

[mick]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Twins just announced that Liriano is done for the season. And maybe next year too if he needs Tommy John surgery.

Too bad.

Indeed, Liriano's injury is too bad.


from

In '76, Bird was the word
By Nick Acocella
Special to ESPN.com


It was over almost before it began. The phenomenon that was Mark Fidrych lasted only one year. But what a season 1976 was for the charismatic Detroit Tigers pitcher known as "The Bird."

...

At the end of the season, Fidrych had a 19-9 record, league-leading figures in ERA (2.34) and complete games (24), a Rookie of the Year award, and the uncommon distinction of having started the All-Star Game as a rookie.

....

http://espn.go.com/classic/biography...rych_Mark.html

[Dan_ref]

Originally Posted by mick

Indeed, Liriano's injury is too bad.


from

In '76, Bird was the word
By Nick Acocella
Special to ESPN.com


It was over almost before it began. The phenomenon that was Mark Fidrych lasted only one year. But what a season 1976 was for the charismatic Detroit Tigers pitcher known as "The Bird."

...

At the end of the season, Fidrych had a 19-9 record, league-leading figures in ERA (2.34) and complete games (24), a Rookie of the Year award, and the uncommon distinction of having started the All-Star Game as a rookie.

....

http://espn.go.com/classic/biography...rych_Mark.html

Geeze, this reminded me of the bird too.

Hope he can come back next year, hate to see the young ones burn out so soon.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Now if Liriano played for the Cubs his career would be over!

Sure, kick a guy when he's down.

(Just because I'd do the same to you is irrelevent.)

How many young pitchers have been having these types of problems recently? I just don't remember all these issues "back in the good 'ol days". Maybe there's something to be said for pitch counts, and pitchers that don't have all the innings under their belt, might be more suceptable to injury because arms aren't strong enough.

Or, perhaps, maybe they're too strong, and the internal tendons, etc. just haven't caught up to the outside muscles.

Or, maybe kids today are just wimps.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

How many young pitchers have been having these types of problems recently? I just don't remember all these issues "back in the good 'ol days".

Oh, off the top off my head.......
Kerry Woods, Mark Prior....

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Oh, off the top off my head.......
Kerry Woods, Mark Prior....

That's my point - I consider them part of the crop of young pitchers.

When I'm talking about back in the day, I'm talking about Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Fergie Jenkins, and then even farther back. They didn't have pitch counts, but they also didn't seem to blow out their arms every year. Someone like Fidrych comes along, and it's news when his arm goes out. Now it seems to be news when a pitcher goes through a season without any arm problems.

[Nevadaref]

I really believe that it has to do with the proper teaching of pitching mechanics. Back in the day those guys got solid coaching in the fundamentals. This is why Roger Clemens has never had arm trouble. Look at his mechanics. They are perfect.

Compare that to some of the young pitchers of today: Wood, D. Willis, and now Liriano. They were talking about it on ESPN last night. The arm angle is way out wide and it causes a major strain on the elbow ligaments.

I am too young to have seen or recall "the Bird", but I would guess that he had a funky, long, sweeping delivery.

I would even use Randy Johnson as an example. As big as he is and as hard as he throws, he really has to watch his mechanics.

[ChuckElias]

Red Sox vs. Yankees this weekend and, sadly, it barely registers on the radar. For the first time in about 3 or 4 years, a September match-up with the Yankees really doesn't mean that much. The Yankees magic number is 6, I think, and the chances of overtaking the White Sox and the red-hot Twins for the wild card are pretty slim.

Since I don't really feel like talking about that, how about I update my annual ballpark rankings? The rankings and comments as of last year can be found here: http://forum.officiating.com/showpos...&postcount=288

The list looked like this:

1. Camden Yard
2. PNC (Pittsburgh)
3. Citizens' Bank Park (Philly)
4. Yankee Stadium
5. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
6. Jacobs' Field (Cleveland)
7. Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
8. Shea Stadium

This year we visited Comerica Park in Detroit and Rogers' Centre (formerly SkyDome) in Toronto. Ranking these two was kind of difficult. If you rated them mostly on the ballpark itself, you get a very different result than if you considered the surrounding area and the city.

Comerica is a beautiful park with lots of the "old fashioned" feel that has become popular. We had very good seats, about 20 rows back and even with the first base bag, which were about average price. There's a very cool fountain in center field (although there's a big SUV displayed with it, since it's sponsored by GM). There are tigers sculpted all over the park and the main entrance to the ballpark is framed with giant baseball bats and is guarded by a huge tiger. The food in the park was above average, I thought (my buddy John wasn't as impressed). There was also reasonably priced merchandise, so I could get something for my daughter. We didn't try to move to better seats, b/c ours were already really good. It was also "Negro League" weekend, so the teams wore old uniforms from the era. The Tigers wore the uniforms from the Detroit Stars. I forget which team the Royals wore (maybe the KC Monarchs?) That was pretty cool.

The drawback was that the city of Detroit was -- how shall I put it? -- less than appealing. The hotels in the area were priced very high and the one we were in was horrible. The surrounding area (except for Greektown, which was pretty cool) is 5 square miles of deserted buildings and empty lots. There was very little to do that we could find (except the casinos) and we simply didn't like the city itself.

SkyDome, on the other hand, is a pretty average park in the middle of an amazing city. I'm not a big-city kind of guy, but I could live in Toronto. Museums, castles, amazing history, clean city and friendly people (except the attendant at our parking garage). The most remarkable thing about SkyDome is the retractable roof. We got to the park about 40 minutes before the game and the roof was closed, despite the fact that it was a gorgeous day. Why? Because it was "Bring Your Dog to the Park" Day. They had a parade of dogs along the warning track in the outfield and they were interviewing the dog owners in the parade. I kid you not.

Anyway, when the parade was over, they opened the roof and we got to see it in action. It was VERY cool. The other cool thing about the park is that if you sit on the third base side, the CN Tower rises right behind the ballpark. It was truly an amazing sight. Otherwise, I felt the ballpark was about average. The seats down the lines are not angled toward home plate b/c the stadium is used for multiple events. So we had to crane our necks for the whole game to see the infield action. It was very tough to move to a better seat, as every section is guarded and they take it seriously. The merchandise was pretty good, but the food was average at best. We took the ballpark tour the next morning before we left for home, and it was very good. They let us out into the field and we got to walk around the outfield.

If we were just ranking the ballparks, Comerica would be way ahead of SkyDome. However, taking the town and surrounding areas into account, our updated rankings are:

1. Camden Yard
2. PNC (Pittsburgh)
3. Citizens' Bank Park (Philly)
4. Yankee Stadium
5. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
6. SkyDome
7. Jacobs' Field (Cleveland)
8. Comerica Park
9. Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
10. Shea Stadium

Hope that's interesting to somebody.

[Dan_ref]

Frankly I'm surprised Shea stadium shows up on the top 10. Oh well. In a couple of years neither the stadium nor the name will remain.

In any event, and since you don't want to talk about it...the games this weekend will mean something. It will give Joe Torre & staff a chance to get his playoff rotation & bullpen set, and of course get Matsui back up to speed.

[ChuckElias]

Originally Posted by Dan_ref

Frankly I'm surprised Shea stadium shows up on the top 10.

Well, we've only been to 10. So they're all in the top 10 so far.

In any event, the games this weekend will mean something. It will give Joe Torre & staff a chance to get his playoff rotation & bullpen set

Still a little early for that, isn't it? Next weekend, maybe. As to Matsui, I'm amazed he's back at all; let alone getting up to speed.

[Jimgolf]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

Well, we've only been to 10. So they're all in the top 10 so far.

That reminds me of an old Manny Sanguillen story. One of his Pirates teammates (might have been Stargell or Clemente) said to him, "You know, Manny, you're the second best looking player on the team."

"Who's the first?" Manny asked.

"The other 24 guys."