Shields with another CG win. And Dempsey didn't miss a wide open net this time.

Catcher Wilson Ramos WHACKS a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, as the NATS beat the Mariners in improbable fashion. This is their largest comeback in the ninth in club history and the closest they've been to .500 ball this late in the season since 2005.

The town is a buzzzzzz! :)

Argh!
 

So, after all these years of futility and embarrassment, we finally appear to have our NATS pointing in the right direction.....and the manager quits in mid-season with the team playing its best ball in years.......go figure! :mad:

Wow, I hadn't even heard that until just now. That's a stunner. How cheap is that team if they won't pick up a $600,000 option for next year?!? Riggleman has done a darn good job there and has been working on a year-to-year basis since he took over 2 years ago -- he's never had a multi-year deal in DC. So he wants a little (and very little, to be honest) security in the form of one more guaranteed year at $600k and the team says no. Wow.

And here I was upset that the Sox lost 2 of 3 to San Diego! :eek:

600K? But hell, that's like 20% of their payroll!

Speaking as one small market fan to another, grune. ;)

As an Expos fan, I have absolutely no sympathy at all. So, there!:p

Who?

Rookie Ump Emasculated Live on TV
 

Nats/Sox game Friday nite. Close, decisive OUT!!! call by 1B ump, PU rushes out and conferences w/ all umps. After a few minutes of browbeating, calling ump sheepishly changes call to SAFE.
Is this an accepted practice in MLB?

Video is here:
Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | 6/24/11: Nationals win in extras for ejected McLaren - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

The accepted practice is to get it right.

Your characterization is misleading: PU runs down the line to the 45' mark as part of his normal mechanic, precisely to be in position to help on the swipe tag, as in this play. He didn't "rush out" to "browbeat" anyone.

U1 made his call, got PU's info, and decided (correctly) to change his call. All in a day's work.

Oh, one more thing: Estabrook has been an MLB fill-in for about 5 seasons now, and has been in Triple A for 7 seasons: hardly a rookie. ;)

Did the 1B Ump ask for help? :D

Red Sox manage to steal one game from the mighty Pirates. Sheesh. :( I'll be out of town for a while, so keep this thing going.

Rays got both extra points after the TDs, and managed to hold Houston to a FG, TD & PAT. Damon with 4 hits to get within 3 of Teddy Ballgame. (The 5 1/2 years in Teddy's prime would likely have meant that Aaron would have broken HIS record). And Longoria hit two homers and looks to be getting untracked.

I visited Rangers Ballpark at Alrington and Minute Maid Park over the weekend as I continue my journey to watch a game in every MLB stadium. With those two, I have now been to 21 stadiums.

The game Saturday at Alrington was a beating (Mets over Rangers, big).

Sunday in Houston (vs. Rays) was fun... it was a complete slug fest. The 5th inning was the only inning where either team didn't score. Due to this we had to take off in the 9th inning to catch our flight back home. All-in-all, it was another great baseball weekend!

Next on the schedule in September: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington. Certainly looking forward to it!!

Had you gone to Safeco over the weekend instead, you could have seen one of the only (modern) games ever played without a DH in an AL stadium. The series was odd in a host of other ways, too.

Mariners Vs. Marlins: A Weird Series With A Bizarre Ending That Few Saw - Baseball Nation

Wait! They let you check PODS at the ticket counter?

Uber cool! I've been to a lot of parks myself, but am not on a quest like this. Nice!

I enjoy both Camden Yards and Nats Park. Fortunately for you, unfortunately for them, those are three stadiums you don't have to worry about getting tickets for - there are plenty available!

I've got several games lined up later in the year too, and am hoping my Phils vs Nats game in Aug (with my relatives from Phila) is actually competitive and means something in the standings this yr!

Enjoy your travels TJ!

Longoria with the walk-off HR tonight. Too bad Price didn't get the W.

Anyone else notice that the scoreboard operator cost the Mariners the game last night? A home game, too.

There's no video of it, but the game highlights have the announcers saying "2-2 pitch... is a ball, 3-2 pitch, he walked him," so I'm guessing that's the confusion. You sure it was the scoreboard that was wrong?

The news reports are saying that the scoreboard had the count wrong. That the board went from 1-2 to 3-2 on one pitch. But the plate umpire is supposed to be keeping his own count, so he can't really blame it on the scoreboard.

But WE can! :D

Disputed run gives San Diego 1-0 win over Seattle
 

It's Easy As 1 2 3, As Simple As Do Re Mi, A B C, 1 2 3 ...
 

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WqIeso6SBm0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This incident reminds me of this:

Fifth Down Game (1990) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's why basketball officials say, "When the ball is dead, we must be alive".

The Nats won today on a wild pitch in the 10th inning.

What I found interesting about their latest improbable win (they can't hit), is this is the second time in recent weeks the opponents closer became injured in mid-inning. Both times, a reliever came in from the bullpen and might not have taken as many warmup throws as he should/could (in the case of an injury they can take as many as they like - brovado maybe?) and they didn't. Both times it might have lead to their victory (the other time the pitcher seemed to have no velocity and gave up several hits).

Regardless, we're still not in the basement and playing .500 ball -a good season for us! :)

Jeter gets a hit and it doesn't matter. Rays win.

4-0 in the bottom of the ninth? No problem: the Indians will just load the bases, single in a run, and then have Hafner dump one over the right field wall for a walk-off slam. :)

My Sox are enjoying playing against the O's. Up big early tonight, with another homer from Papi!

That's funny, b/c when I visited Washington, the Nats won on a walk-off walk.

Weird year, but not a bad one so far......
 

1 - We're still around .500 this late in the year - a rarity for us.

2 - Our last 10 victories have been by one run - the longest such streak in MLB since 1942 (Chuck either you or Mark Sr will remember that, right? ;))

3 - Our coach quit in mid-season - and the team had a winning record at the time!

4 - Last night, a batted ball hit our pitcher in the nose......and the ball STILL went into center field (I mean almost right over second base and into mid-center)! Totally bizarre that the ball had that much zip on it after hitting a player in the face and bloodying his nose!

5 - We continue to wait patiently on Strassburg and Harper. We have some good young talent and the future doesn't look too bad.

6 - If anyone would like to make us an offer on Jason Werth, I'm sure the Nats will listen - making ~$15M/ yr and hitting .219? C'mon man!

Amazing that Jeter goes 5 for 5, but is not able to make it to the All-Star Game.

As a matter of fact.......
 

Sixteen All-Stars won’t appear in the game, including 13 of the 68 originally chosen.

Apparently, the NHL suspends players who play immediately prior to the All-Star game, but then decline their selection. I believe it's a 2-game suspension. Maybe baseball could look into something like this?

According to Colin Cowherd (ESPN), this is a sign that baseball is clean. He reasons that the fact that these players are banged up indicates a lack of drugs that would promote faster healing. It should also be noted, some of the players cannot participate because of recent starts (like Sabathia).

Would these Barry Bonds' stats indicate juicing to you?

AVG HR SLG
.328 73 .863
.334 62 .702
.341 45 .749

These answers may be interesting.

Where's the chat room for the All-Star Game???

When is the game?

You Call These All Stars ???
 

This year's game featured the best players who weren't injured, weren't afraid of potentially getting injured, weren't too tired, were free the night of July 12, didn't pitch recently, weren't scheduled to pitch the next week, didn't mind making the trip to Arizona, and were actually willing to play a couple of innings of baseball.

I can't find the reference, but it was reported that about 23% of all the players who had enough at bats, or innings pitched, to qualify for various awards at mid season, were, at one time, or another, or in one way, or another, selected to play in this year's all star game. If they picked a few more, they would eventually have selected Lackey, from my Red Sox. What a travesty that would have been?

And the game counted for home field advantage. Selig should of had the home run derby count for home field advantage. What other sport has it's all star game count? Especially when all the best players aren't even there. Jeter was healthy enough to get five hits in a game, including his 3000th, a home run, but not healthy enough to play in the all star game? Or just show up to tip his cap to the fans?

Sox win 1-0 in 16 innings. I was NOT up to see the end. Pedroia drives in the winning run, going 3-for-7. The rest of the Red Sox went 2-for-40 or something ridiculous like that.

How 'bout them Pirates???? So glad for them, finally having something to be excited about.

Not a bucco fan, just happen to live here.

However, it's hard not to get caught up in the moment.



Go Tribe!

A no-no today for the Angels! Los Angeles Angels vs. Cleveland Indians - Recap - July 27, 2011 - ESPN

Lackey gives up 3 in the first (what else is new?) but the Sox are up 10-3 in the 4th.

The Indians have wasted good pitching their last three games. Monday night they lose 4-2, giving up 3 unearned run on 3 errors. The Curse of Colavito is rearing its ugly head.

MTD, Sr.

I think they were excited at the end of their last game prior to tonight.

Sox take 2 out of 3 from White Sox after losing the previous 7 in a row to them. Adam Dunn has struck out 3+ times in a game 17 times already this season. His average is under .170. Ouch.

Red Sox gave up on the Harden trade after they didn't like the results of his physical. That's too bad. I saw him a few years ago in his third consecutive complete game shutout. I feel bad if he's hurt that bad. I liked him a lot.

Pirates are 4.5 back after being in first place just a few days ago. I guess the NL East will do that to you.

And the Indians land Ubaldo Jimenez! I'm really surprised that that (1) Colorado was so willing to let him go, considering his performance and VERY favorable contract (maybe they know something we don't know. . .) and (2) that Cleveland was the team to make such a push to get him. But they're only 2.5 back in the division so I guess it makes sense to bring in a front-line pitcher for the stretch run.

Harden fared better against the Rays than Bedard just did. Go figure.

The second place team in the AL Central will not make the playoffs, so it's an old-fashioned pennant race. The Indians think (correctly) that they need another good starter to win in August and September.

They did not get a good start this weekend, dropping the series to KC at home. Let's see how they do in bean town! :p

Strange......
 

This struck me as being a bit bizarre.

Dan Uggla (Braves) is hitting .212 with 20+ homers, and 40+ RBI.

Last night against the Nats he went 3-4.

The part I find weird is that he's on a 23 game hitting streak! Really? Man, what was he hitting before that?

(Must have had an "Adam Dunn" like avg).:rolleyes:

One down, three to go. :)

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...qZvX8ZyxTTMvuw

Sox win on Ellsbury's first ever walk-off hit. Beckett pitched really well, but didn't get the win. Yankees keep pace in the rain.

On an unrelated note, I hereby formally request that any future squirrel references be accompanied by the "flying squirrel", instead of the picture that has been customary in the past:

&#x202a;Greco-Roman wrestler's insane 'flying squirrel' takedown&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to embed it.

Chuck: click the "Share" button, then the "Embed" button, and cut-and-paste the resulting code: voilà!

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oW8Mf3IL4zA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gee, An Unhappy Ending ...
 

So? You want to be a flying squirrel? Here are some choices for your new "image":

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...853d294abadb26

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...1b8802d7dd257f

Never saw this coming.:rolleyes:

He was hitting something like .173 at the break. Streak is up to 25 games now.
During that streak he is at about .350.

Oh, so he was hitting more than Dunn?!!

Bwahahahaha! :)

a simple explanation
 

Lets not forget another HOT hitter....
 

Jayson Werth is 9 for his last 23 and his average UP to .226 now! :rolleyes:

Werth the money so far? NOT!!

PS- He does play a mean right field though.....if you discount the errors. But, he's got a strong arm!

Jacoby Ellsbury never had a walk-off hit before last night. And now, he's got 2 in 24 hours!! Bottom of the 9th HR to straight-away center field last night. Not an easy spot to get one out in Fenway!

And Joe Smith (his real name) hadn't given up a home run all season. Go figure.:mad:

Two Hits, Two Wins ...
 

He was two for ten in those two games (0.200). He certainly knew how to make those two hits count.

Justin Masterson (former Red Sox pitcher) just struck out 4 Red Sox in one inning (bottom of the 2nd). It's technically not that hard to do, you just don't hear about it very often.

Cliff Lee looked outstanding last night (7-hit shutout). And Hunter Pence (a moonshot HR and an RBI single in the top of the ninth) drove in 2 of the Phillies' three runs. I've got a man crush on Hunter Pence.

72-39, first place by 8.5 games. Is it October yet?

There's no blarging in baseball!
 

Well, in the Rays-Athletics game, BJ Upton was picked off (again, but that is another story) and caught in the rundown and called out at 2nd base. Then, another member of the crew announces that he had a balk call, and advances both Rays runners, which prompted Melvin to emerge from the Oakland dugout for an explanation. I wouldn't know a balk from a political truth, so I cannot say whether or not the balk call was legit. The Rays announcers saw nothing wrong.

Here's the video. F1 might have made a move toward home, but I think Reynolds called the balk because the pitcher separated his hands before he had completed his step toward 2B. If you watch the video, he kind of hangs that foot before stepping toward the runner.

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | OAK@TB: Moscoso is called for a balk in the second - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

There wasn't a huge crowd and he didn't make much noise in making the call. So, his partner wasn't even aware a call was made. I probably will never fully understand the balk rule when it doesn't involve a move toward 1B. But it seemed to create a situation where both teams had a beef (rightly or wrongly) because nobody knew about the call till well after the play at 2B.

I agree that Reynolds's mechanics could have been better. The ball was dead immediately on this balk, so there was no reason to allow the rundown to continue. Given the situation (quiet stadium), I don't know why he didn't come in hard with that call and kill it.

The balk rule ain't that hard! Once the pitcher has come set, he can legally do just 3 things: pitch to the batter, step and throw/feint to a base, or step off. There's a little more to it than that, but that's the basis for many balks.

I think that the rule has a bad reputation because at the MLB level many little movements are called, and for some balks the usual camera angles don't show them well. So it can seem mysterious why it was a balk.

If I remember correctly from my playing days back in the Doubleday era, a pitcher can't feint to 1st base. That's a balk. Correct?

Yes, 1B is special that way. It's actually legal to throw the ball to the base if the fielder is not covering it, but you must throw the ball.

We may be sub .500, but.....
 

Livan Hernandez (P, Nats) extended a remarkable streak yesterday. By grounding out in each of his two trips to the plate, Hernandez now has not struck out in his last 42 plate appearances, which is actually the second-longest current streak by any player in the majors (Atlanta's Martin Prado has not struck out in his last 45 trips to the plate). Forty-one of the trips to the plate during Hernandez's streak have come in games in which he was pitching, the longest single-season streak of plate appearances without a strikeout by a big-league pitcher since Orel Hershiser failed to strike out in his last 46 plate appearances of the 1993 season.

So, we got that going for us.......which is nice! ;)

Pyrrhic victory? :p

Gotta Love The National League ...
 

I love it when pitchers in the National League do well, relatively speaking, at the plate. I also love it when they are occasionally asked to pinch hit, or pinch run, or are even asked to play a field position for a few innings. In my opinion, this is a lot more exciting than the American League with their pitching-only pitchers, and hitting-only designated hitters.

Hall of Famer Walter "Big Train" Johnson won over 400 games, had over 100 shutouts, and also hit 24 career home runs, had 255 career RBI's and had a career batting average of .235. Middle infielders today, with those hitting statistics, would be making millions of dollars a year. In 1968, Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, another good hitting pitcher, hit for almost as high an average (.170) as opposing batters hit off him (.184). Don Newcombe, and Don Drysdale, were also pretty good hitting pitchers.

And Sonny Siebert.

Yankee/Red Sox
 

Why can't the Yankees beat the Red Sox this year? I hope they break this trend when the face each other in the post season. Or better yet. Some onter team will beat Boston in the 1st round of the playoffs.:D

Or better still: The AL Central & AL West winners will play in the ALCS.:D:D:D

Good Hitting Pitcher ...
 

Career hitting statistics (12 years): 12 home runs, 57 RBI's, .173 batting average. He threw a no-hitter on June 10, 1966 against the Washington Senators. He was originally drafted simultaneously by the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Hawks of the NBA. Siebert is the last American League pitcher to hit two home runs in one game, accomplishing the feat as a member of the Boston Red Sox on September 2, 1971 against the Baltimore Orioles.

http://redsoxcards.baseballcarddatab..._1_250x250.jpg

Rivera gives up more runs for the Yanks last night, taking the loss (but technically not a blown save). Sox rally late, thanks to the Angels reliever tripping over his own feet. Rays turn in the quickest game in the majors this season, and get the win as a bonus.

Counting down the days to Dodger Stadium. . .

There was a story on the local news last night about a guy who went into a local Goodwill store and saw a softball with some autographs on it. He paid a couple of bucks and took it home. It just so happens the autographs are by Stan Musial and Brooks Robinson! Apparently, they originally gave the ball to some army veteran at an exhibition game honoring veterans a long time ago.

The guy thinks the ball is worth about $400 on the open market now.

It would be cool if he could find the guy who first received the ball and gave it to him. Cool, but unlikely.:(

Up to 31.....and still batting only .224!
 

Dan Uggla said, "This is an awesome organization and to have some kind of record with this organization is really special."

Uggla went 3-for-5. It was his ninth multihit game during the longest hitting streak in the majors this season. He is batting .224 overall this year.

Earlier in the week I saw the Yankees beat the Angles 6-5 with all runs scoring on homeruns. I thought it was odd for a relatively high-scoring game to have that characteristic. Today I saw this scoring summary!

Aren't they calling this the year of the pitcher? :D

Scoring Summary


<TABLE class=mod-data><THEAD><TR><TH colSpan=3><TH style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">SD<TH style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">CIN</TR></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1st</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">J Votto homered to right (379 feet).</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">0</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1st</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">M Cairo homered to left center (412 feet), J Bruce scored.</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">0</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">3</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">2nd</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">T Frazier homered to left (422 feet).</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">0</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">4</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">3rd</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">J Bruce homered to right (365 feet), J Votto scored.</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">0</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">6</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">3rd</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">R Hanigan homered to left (360 feet), D Stubbs and T Frazier scored.</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">0</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">9</TD></TR><TR class=odd><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/sdg.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">4th</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">K Blanks homered to left (393 feet).</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">9</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">5th</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">M Cairo homered to left (405 feet), J Bruce scored.</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">11</TD></TR><TR class=even><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/cin.gif</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">8th</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">R Hanigan homered to left (397 feet), D Stubbs scored.</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">1</TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">13</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

On this date in 1971, Cardinal great Bob Gibson throws his only no-hitter.

He Broke My Heart ...
 

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...41a0bfd009cbc2

1967 World Series against the "Impossible Dream" Red Sox team: 3 starts; 27 innings pitched; 3 wins; 0 losses; 1 shutout; ERA 1.000; 26 strikeouts.

"Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn't score any runs." (Former Cardinal Catcher Tim McCarver)

+1

You'd've thunk* that the year he had the 1.12 ERA would have yielded such a gem. (1968)
*-tribute to former Cardinal great, Dizzy Dean.

2 CGs from the Rays today in a split with Boston.

Attended the Phils vs Nats game today in our Nation's Capital. 41K+ in attendance (many of them Philly Phans who came down I-95 for the day). Many a long ball, a one-hr rain delay, a homer in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings, and the game is won in the bottom of the 10th by the Nats on a bases loaded walk-off, hit batter! Amazing* and good fun!

*A few years ago we were at the Brewers vs Nats game and the Nats won on a game ending walk-off, wild pitch! Guess it's me....... :rolleyes:

I'm finally poking my head back in here b/c the Sox are back in first place by themselves. For a little while, anyway. I can only say this b/c I know that JR isn't peeking at this thread: but I am really impressed with the Yankees. I can't believe they are putting so much pressure on the Sox, and actually in first place for a while, with all the question marks in their lineup and the shaky (at best) starting pitching after Sabathia.

Anyway, I will be away for the weekend on my annual ballpark pilgrimage. This year, I'm hitting Phoenix and Dodger Stadium. My only worry is flying out of Hartford tonight in the middle of a hurricane. :eek:

Surprised and saddened to hear of Mike Flanagan's passing. Not tons of Northern New Englanders make the bigs.

When I was a little kid on the South Side of Chicago, I was at a White Sox game with my dad (I think on a Saturday afternoon) and the Sox won on a walk-off balk! My dad had to explain it to me. I don't remember who they were playing, but it might have been the Tigers. Not sure. This was in the 50s.

Top of the ninth, Nats at Reds, Nick Masset pitching for Reds against Rick Ankiel with Jason Werth on first.

Masset is in his stretch and as he is bringing the ball from behind his back to his glove, he drops the ball and it rolls off the mound! BALK!

His forth balk of the yr...... Weird.

Which is it?

Just got home from Arizona and LA, just in time for a Sox/Yanks series!! Woo-hoo! Too bad Lackey's pitching tonight, tho :(

Hey, Nevada, if you see this, drop me a line. Your PM box is full.

Nice job by Jeremy Hellickson last night with a 97 pitch complete game. ERA under 3.00. He should be ROY in the AL.

He's Back Baby!
 

Tonight, our phenom Stephen Strasburg returned to the mound after missing just over a yr after Tommy John Surgery. He was on a pitch count. Tale of the tape:

5 complete innings
56 pitches, 40 strikes
2 hits, 4 K's, 0 BB's

The announcers, fans, and mgt are just giddy!!

PS - Last yr the Nats averaged 13,000 more fans/game when Strasburg Pitched.

PSS - All of his foreseeable starts for the yr are scheduled to be at home.

PSSS - I have tix for Sunday, his next scheduled start.....weather permitting. :cool:

...who should be in the HOF.

So in Spring Training, the Red Sox were touted as the best AL team since the Yankees won 120 games in '98. They were going to win 100 games and roll to (and most likely win) the World Series.

Then the season started. They went 2-8.

Then they got to Fenway. They won roughly 73 in a row and made the Spring Training prognosticators look like geniuses.

Now they get hammered by Toronto and get swept by Tampa Bay. They're only 3.5 ahead of Tampa now for the wild card.

Crazy.

Just back from the Astro's vs Nats game.

Beautiful, sunny 9/11 day. Disappointing crowd (read, first week of NFL season).

Strasburg on the mound - not sharp. Davey Johnson only lets him go three innings. Said he didn't have his best stuff and didn't want to have to get him in the middle of an inning? Really? :mad:

Nats win 8-2 as they hit back, to back, to back HR's! NICE!

Good day at the ball park!

Rays have the SPs to finish well. Price has learned the change-up from Shields and has been more effective in the past few starts. Davis & Hellickson have been able to go deep lately. And they have 4 more in Boston right around the corner while the Sox pitching staff is a mess. They have a much more difficult schedule down the stretch than Boston, but if they win, they're in.

Wakefield finally gets his 200th win (thanks to amazing run support for once), but is overshadowed by Mariano's 600th save. Rays finally lose a game, giving the Sox some wild card breathing room.

Phillies stumble a little (against the worst team in the league), but I still think they're the favorite to make the World Series. Tigers, and Verlander, are en fuego -- and would have had Mick smiling big right about now.

Ellsbury becomes the first 30/30 player in Red Sox history by hitting a 14th inning homer to lift the Sox a full game over TB for the wild card. Wow! One full game? Yeesh.

Now they go to finish up in Baltimore (who just beat them up at Fenway) while the Rays host the Yankees, who have nothing to play for. Although, if I were the Yankees, I think I'd rather play hard and hope to get the Sox in the first round of the playoffs, than rest up and possibly face Tampa Bay's pitching in a 5-game series.

Did they change the rule that prevented teams from the same division from meeting in the first round of the playoffs? I didn't think the Yankees could see either Boston or TB in the first round.

You are apparently correct. I thought they had changed the rule, but have been corrected by a couple esteemed members.

Kidding ??? Right ???
 

mbyron? An esteemed member?