Warning!! It's Baaaaaack!! Off-topic Baseball Thread '08 !!
 

PLAY BALL!!

Red Sox kicked off the 2008 regular season by playing against the Oakland A's this morning in Tokyo. Dice-K got the start (as Beckett is on the DL already :( ) and looked pretty shaky at the start. He gave up 2 runs in the 1st inning and struggled in the 2nd. He settled down and pitched very well into the 5th. Sox took a brief 3-2 lead, but then gave it back. Okajima came in and held down the fort long enough for Brandon Moss to tie it at 4-4 with a homer in the top of the ninth. Manny drove in 2 (and performed his first stand-and-stare routine) with a deep drive in the 10th. Papelbon did NOT look good in the bottom of the 10th, giving up a run. The only reason the A's didn't tie it in the 10th was that one of their rookies made a bonehead baserunning play, getting into a rundown between 2nd and 3rd instead of just staying at 2nd.

It sure doesn't feel like the regular season, since the game started at 6:05 on the east coast of the US. Plus, the Sox are going to come back to the States and then play some more exhibition games. But this one really does count, so I'm glad they pulled it out.

I also didn't like seeing all the sponsor logos on the hats and uniforms. I wonder if everybody is going to do this all season or if it's just part of the deal to play in Japan.

It's about time!

Where have you been? I've been looking out my window for the white smoke signalling a changing of thread curator, but I'm glad you're still on the job. (Besides, it's really hard driving and sticking my head out the window at the same time; people stare.)

My Sox are white..........Go Chicago!

I have this argument with my dog all the time... you don't actually need to stick your head out the window to see what's happening on the road.

http://www.danheller.com/images/Topi...car-window.jpg

Fixed it for you.

Go Cubs! :)

:rolleyes: We'll see...
CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Fri. 20 at Chicago Cubs 2:20 PM Wrigley Field
Sat. 21 at Chicago Cubs TBD Wrigley Field
Sun. 22 at Chicago Cubs 2:20 PM Wrigley Field

AND NOW I'LL FIX IT FOR BOTH OF YOU.

GO CARDINALS!

:D

The next time you're arguing with your dog, ask him this: why is it they get mad when you blow in their face, but they love sticking their head out the car window while it's moving? <font size=1>(Apologies to whatever comedian said this first.)</font size>

It didn't take long for this off-topic thread to go off-topic, did it?

I didn't know you were a Stanford fan.

I'm not. I am a fan of the 10 time World Champion STL LOUIS CARDINALS!

The Cardinals or the Cardinal
 

I believe that the nickname for Stanford is the Cardinal (singular) not the Cardinals (plural).

At least you can count, if you can't spell. :)

But 90% of those were sooooooo last century.

I knew that. I was surprised a St. Louis fan would know that, however. Maybe you're not a real St. Louis fan? :eek:

:D

As a N VA resident and long time Oriole's fan (i.e. titles last century).....and now, by default, a DC Nationals follower, the only thing we have to cheer for is to see which team will get to 90 or 100 losses quicker. Y'all can be thankful your even discussing, albeit in jest sometime, who will win a title! :p

Only excitement we really have during the year is when the Mets/Phillies or Redsox/Yankees come to town and kick our A$$es!

Let's hear it for the start of another lonnnng year! :rolleyes:

I thought it was the Stanford Trees. You really can learn a lot on this site unless you are an oracle of some kind.

I was originally against this whole starting-in-Japan thing, but I'm a fan of being a half-game ahead of the rest of the AL East already!

When I was a kid (a few centuries ago), I used to go to a lot of White Sox games at Comiskey Park. In the men's rooms, they had urinal troughs that were the right height for kids. There was a sign above them that read "Future Shortstops". Just another memory of childhood.

I also remember one time at a night game when Norm Cash was with the Tigers and he went over by the 1st base dugout to catch a foul fly and some Sox fan threw his beer is Cash's face to prevent the play. The entire stadium cheered.

Here's a baseball trivia question for you guys. What MLB player was Luis Aparicio's father-in-law and what was the guy's nickname? BTW - Luis was my idol back then since I played shortstop in Little League. I had his autographed glove, too.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/play..._autograph.jpg

Manny just admired the hell out of that one, didn't he? :D

He showed great hustle getting to second on a stand-up double.

He came <b>this</b> close........

Stand-up double?? He musta tripped coming in, because I saw him on the ground at second.

Actually, you gotta give him credit for his speed. He didn't leave the batter's box until the ball hit the wall, and still made it to second.

I can't wait for the REAL baseball to start playing...you know the league where the pitchers hit and everyone who bats has to play in the field...

Sonia's dad

I predict Manny has learned his lesson and won't stand at the plate and admire anymore of his hits the rest of his career! :D

That makes you about as good at prognostication as that damn rodent in Pennsylvania.

Those Tigers look dangerous. Glad we won't have to face them until October. :)

Don't get me started!

Like a horse and carriage, coffee and cream, Martin and Lewis, Hope and Crosby, Lone ranger and Tonto......... the other half of arguably one the best double play combos in the history of baseball.

Hall of famer......... Jacob Nelson "Nellie" Fox

You got me stumped on Looie's father-in-law



http://i22.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/de/b0/c2bc_1.JPG

Go YANKEES!!

MTD, Sr.

Well, my team no longer exists.
 

what about these guys?

http://www.iamjacksdesign.com/images/tmh.png

"Jungle" Jim.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/play..._autograph.jpg

Help me understand.
Rivera born in 1922
Sonja Llorente married Aparicio in 1956.
Does that work?

So I take it you're not cheering for the Nats? ;)

In Marks imagination................:p

I'm pretty well versed in White Sox history and I've never heard anything about Looie's father-in-law.

You think that's bad......you should see my bracket! :eek:

The Tree???
 

You're correct about the name. If I remember it correctly, it is "The Tree". It may also be the mascot.

1908!!!
 

Your right about the fact that 90% of the Cardinals World Series wins being last century. It makes sense that a Cubbies fan would being living in the last century. After all 100 years since the Cubs last win is as good a reason as any.

Actually, it's Cardinal fans that constantly bring up what happened last century. Cubbie fans have a tendancy to forget what did and didn't happen last century.

So, tell us how the Cardinals improved from their non-playoff roster of last season? :)

Since 1960. I've had the pleasure to attend ballgames in Sportsman's Park, and both of the Busch Stadiums. From Stan to Albert - Go Redbirds!

Not by much unfortunately!

Yeh, right and this guy is Little Looie's Uncle.

http://4.forumer.com/uploads/bestofs...1168017335.jpg

I guess the White Sox announcers from that era were wrong, then. But ya' gotta admit, it's a great nickname.

Methinks the years have clouded your recollection. I can't imagine any sox announcer saying Louie was playing on the same team as his father-in-law;)

Would Chita be Looie's Mother-in-law?

http://www.footlightsgallery.com/imagelg/chita.jpg

I wonder if Llorente's mother taught school.

I remember both radio announcers, Bob Elson and Don Wells, mentioning it.

And Hillary remembers sniper fire.......:D


That was a 'Whiteowl wallop'........ if you remember those guys, you'll recall the commercial.

I do remember the Whiteowl wallop! And....I called my cousin who still lives in Chicago and he said Rivera was Looie's uncle, not his father-in-law and their age difference wasn't that great. That's makes more sense.

As we speak, I'm e-mailing a published author and Sox historian for back up.

I may cry Uncle.

Name me the spokesman for the HFC ads "Call friendly ------ -------

Aw, geez Padgett !
You still didn't answer your quiz.

Who was/is "Luis Aparicio's father-in-law and what was the guy's nickname?"

:cool:

From detnew$.com - Cabrera.
 

Cabrera deal excites Tigers

With seven-year extension, team avoids free-agent battle for superstar.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...51/1004/SPORTS

I think it was this guy, Hugo something. And his nickname was "The Human Rights Violation Kid".

http://www.rightblueeye.com/blog/wp-...chavez-apt.jpg

I now golf. And I follow the EPL. I have gone to an occasional spring training game in Ft Myers, but I no longer even look at the standings. An anagram for former Expos owner Jeffrey LORIA is OLIAR.

Red Sox lost this morning and Lester didn't look particularly good. Now they come back to California to play a 3-game exhibition series with the Dodgers, I think, including one game in the Colosseum. That should be fun to watch.

I didn't know they were doing that. Are they setting up a temporary fence, or will one of the outfields be a mile-and-a-half long?

The wallyness of Wally Moon

Brings back old memories of the 'unibrow' who led the league in homers very early in the season.

You could use a weed whacker on those eyebrows

http://www.vintagecardtraders.com/vi...0topps-005.jpg

"And his best stretch, 1959-61, saw him put up a .310/.405/.485 batting line. That this was his best stretch is both a reason for acclaim and a factor that makes some revisionists undervalue his performance. The Dodgers during those years played in the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, an Olympic track facility that worked for football but was beyond funkadelic for baseball. Look. The right field fence was near Tijuana, so it killed most lefties. The left field fence had to be squashed into the rectangle so it was only 251 feet from home plate. To try to balance that zaniness, the team put up a 40 to 42 foot screen, about 10% taller than Fenway's Green Monster. Wally Moon was able to launch occasional homers by looping to the opposite field with an inside-out swing, and people in L.A. took to calling those kinds of lazy high-arcing big flies "Moon Shots". To look at Moon historically, should we diminish our appreciation because it was such a ridiculous park configuration, or should we grant him a bit of reverence for figuring out how to overcome an equally ridiculous punishment for left-handed batters?"

Wally Moon might have had the worst unibrow, but White Sox pitcher Verle Tiefenthaler had the most mispronounced name.

Best sports name ever: NFL player Fair Hooker.

Bad segue...........

Here's how you do it.

Another guy with bushy eyebrows and perhaps the goofiest looking guy in baseball until Wille 'ET' McGee came along.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/ChadFinn/6e_1.jpg

Oh my!! Chris Russo on WFAN must be beside himself!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=280326294

Giants lose to their AAA affiliate. :eek:

Wow! Zito gave up all 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Time for them to accept their role as spoilers this year in what will be the tightest race in baseball.

The Giants farm team must be on the juice.

According to MLB.com, they'll put in the outfield fence so that it reflects the dimensions that the Dodgers had when they first called the Colosseum home:

Hey, it was too dangerous for the President, so he sent Hillary and Sinbad. Sounds reasonable to me.

C'mon, they had Chelsea there to protect them. Who would shoot at Chelsea fergawdsake

One is bad enough. I couldn't imagine TWO on the air.

Fun game last night in L.A. "The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 7-4 Saturday night before an announced crowd of 115,300 -- largest ever to watch a baseball game."

Pretty cool to see the place that packed for a baseball game. The field was ridiculous, only 201 feet to the left field fair pole. Neither team put anybody in the traditional left field position. The Dodgers basically used a 5-man infield for most of the game and moved their left-fielder to center. The Sox kept three outfielders, but moved Manny almost to center for most of the game. Anything that got through the infield on the left side was chased down by the shortstop most of the time.

Wallie Moon threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Duke Snyder was there. Very cool to see the old-timers.

The bad news of the night is that Papelbon gave up a homer in the ninth. :mad:

The Nationals kick off the season tonight in their new ballpark. But the real start of the season -- Opening Day -- is tomorrow!!

Opening Day ???
 

ChuckElias: I guess that you weren't in Japan last week? Wait a minute. Japan is on the other side of the International Date Line. Maybe Opening Day hasn't happened yet?

When I was a kid, it seemed that Opening Day always had the Cincinnati Redlegs playing at home, I believe a tribute to the fact that they were the oldest major league team. Now, I guess, any team can be the in the first game, based on projected cable television ratings?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_Day

Quod erat demonstrandum.
It is what it is.

I get it now... your goal is to wreck the baseball season for me with your tedious, irritating, inane and just plain down right annoying posts.

Your evil plan will not work!

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/2341/drevilnf6.jpg

You're just figuring this out?!?! Have you never read the off-topic baseball thread before now?

I'll make it up to you. Let me tell you about my annual ballpark trips with my college roommate. . .


Off-topic question in the off-topic thread: how come you're not in the tournament chat room with us cool kids?

Chat room?

http://tinyurl.com/2jbppt

If you're interested, Mick.

Probably for the same reason that I'm not.....

Thanks, but I can't think fast enough, I t h i n k .

Wanna buy a vowel?

http://www.indi-x.com/albums/album12/wheel_stfu.jpg

Why don't you buy me a diet coke & bourbon instead?

btw, I hope you don't mind if I tell this story... Chuck & I had dinner at Hooters during a camp a few years ago and he kept his eyes shut the entire time. Except for when the check came and he pushed it to my side of the table.Geeze, I was changing the air in my tires. Sorry I missed it but hey, you know as well as I do how important it is keep up with this type of thing.

Opening Day, Part III, perhaps?

Zimmerman had a heluva christening for the new park. Wish I could have been there for the game.

Mark - I was at the Nats game last night. Great ending (after the stupid passed ball fiasco). Gorgeous park! Beautiful sight lines. You have to see the huge HD Video screen/scoreboard in person to believe it - amazing!! (yes, size matters :rolleyes:)

Now, let's hope their level of play continues to hold out......wishful thinking?! Sure!

Opening Day in Detroit.
No bull pen.

The park did look great. I'm hoping to get down there in August. And it looked pretty big in the outfield. Some of the newer ballparks (Philly and Houston, for example) seem to be intentionally small for more home runs. Lots of foul territory, too, which is good for pitchers.

I saw -- on Sportscenter, I think -- the Washington players coming on to the field for the first time before the game and they were "oooooing" and "aaaahhhhing" like little kids. It was kind of fun to see that kind of reaction from multi-millionaires.

Too early to tell if it's a pitcher's/hitter's park yet. As you note, lots of room to roam in the outfield though, so the Nats may go for a speed/slap hitting team vs long ballers. Time will tell.

Hope you make a game. As someone who's been to a great many parks myself, this is very impressive and worth a trip.

PS - Don't drive! Park at the ole RFK, tail gate, and take the free bus!

How appropriate. Weren't the Kennedys famous for a type of "tail gating", or was that "tail chasing"? And you might consider "not driving" also as good advice for them, at least for the one who still hangs around Washington. :rolleyes:

Cabrera just went downtown. :)

OK..............got the real poop. You and your cousin are oh fer two.

Looie married Jungle Jim's cousin.

Source: an author of several white sox history books.

Definitely, he should be wearing stripes.

Word for today: googely

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blog...s/4256812.html

The Cubs started off the season in grand style. Both starting pitchers are outstanding and the game is scoreless heading into the ninth. The Cubs then send in Kerry Wood who surrenders three in the top of the inning, but miraculously get a three-run homer off Gagne in the bottom half to tie it up and force an extra inning.
Of course, the Cubs immediately give up another run in the 10th and lose 4-3.
The Cubs are off to their usual start. :p

Well, I had hoped to get tickets and drive in for the game, but I couldn't get through on tickets.com before they sold out. As a poor grad student, I wasn't about to pay $150/seat.

Probably. I've been saying that Opening Day will be the only time you'll see the Nats two games above .500 and the <s>Devil</s> Rays at the top of the AL East.

Hey - Jim was his uncle, his cousin, his father-in-law and his brother. They were from South Venezuela. :p

More par for the course for the Cubs
 

Cubs' Zambrano leaves opener with cramp in right forearm

Associated Press


<!-- promo plug -->
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<!-- end story header --><!-- begin left column --> <!-- begin page tools --> Updated: March 31, 2008, 7:14 PM ET


CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano left Monday's opener against the Milwaukee Brewers in the seventh inning with a cramp in his right forearm, right after making a pickoff throw to second base.Milwaukee's Bill Hall hit a one-out double in the seventh, right after Zambrano made a catch of Ryan Braun's popup near the mound and had his feet cut out from under him by sliding Cubs' first baseman Derrek Lee.
Zambrano was not injured on that play. But minutes later, he picked Hall off second base and then grabbed at his right hand. A trainer came to the mound and minutes later, Carlos Marmol replaced Zambrano.
The Cubs lost 4-3 in 10 innings.

Don't try and chuckle your way out of it, you were the guy who remembered Elson and Wells saying Jimbo was his F.I.L.:p

"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
 

The song is 100 years-old this year. :)

So the Mariners win their first game this season...at least we have a winning record for a while!!:o

As always, .... this Tiger fan is hoping to reach .500.

Tigers go ahead of Red Sox.
 

Thanks to a day-one rainout that wiped out what would have been the first three innings of the season (Including a Pujols homerun) in which they trailed 5-1, the Rockies got a do-over and on day two and won their first game 2-1.

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Sox win, Yanks lose. Here's to many more such evenings in the next 6 months. :)

Royals easily sweep Tigers in 3 games in Detroit.
Ooh, boy! And now the White Sox....

Go Heels!

Geeze Mick. 0-3 and they haven't played a Major League team yet....:p