WARNING!! Annual OT Baseball Thread 2011!! Open at Your Own Risk!

[grunewar]

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.......

[ChuckElias]

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.

[26 Year Gap]

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

[ChuckElias]

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.

[26 Year Gap]

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

[grunewar]

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.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by grunewar

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.

...who should be in the HOF.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by grunewar

and the game is won in the bottom of the 10th by the Nats on a bases loaded walk-off, hit batter!

*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.......

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.

[grunewar]

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.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by grunewar

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?

[ChuckElias]

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.

[grunewar]

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?

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

Good day at the ball park!

[26 Year Gap]

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.

[ChuckElias]

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.

[ChuckElias]

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.