MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

[jason voorhees]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Don't worry Cubbies, you only need two three-run homers to take the lead.

HAW HAW.

ALLLLLLLaaaaAABBOOAARDD...

The DODGER BANDWAGON !!!!

Go Joe !!! Stickitto Steinbrenner !!!

[jason voorhees]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Edit - Make that two three-run homers to tie it...

HAW HAW !!!

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

It's 1984 all over again . . .

[Incandenza]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Fun fact: the Cubs have never won a postseason game west of Chicago.

I watched all of the Dodgers' half of the second inning last night, and you knew that was the game, and the series. All those errors that were perfectly field-able plays.

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Leon Durham;

Moises Alou;

been there, done that, have the T-shirt.

It will be an even 100 very soon; time to start a new count.

[Incandenza]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

You never know--this is really new territory for the Dodgers. They've gone from an average team to a good team heavily reliant on one player to a team where everyone is clicking together. Who knows if they can keep this up.

There's more buzz around this Dodgers team than any I can remember since 1988. Looked around on Craigslist, and loge level tickets for the game are going for around $175 each, field level for $400 and up. That's pretty unheard of for Dodger games.

[XXXXXX]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Inca - the Beantown airwaves are all about Red Sox - Dodgers series..and how it has to happen. Remember that the Dodgers are owned by a Bostonian, (McCourt) who was screwed over by Selig when he tried to buy the Red Sox... as well as the whole Manny thing - and we still love Derek Lowe but hate Garciaparra and other stuff besides.

However, let's take it one game at a time - those Rays look good. We are all banking on Beckett shutting dowen the 'Halos' tomorrow night.

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

I feel sorry for Angels fans. If anyone knows how they feel, it's Red Sox fans.

[Incandenza]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

To Ursus--I'm really sorry.

I've never seen Dodger Stadium like that. I never thought the Dodgers would beat the Cubs. I don't think they have a chance against the Phillies, and there's definitely no way they would beat the Red Sox.

I don't know about that, FF--it's only really one team that has the Angels' number. It makes everyone think of the tragic story of Donnie Moore (who is nowhere near as infamous as Bill Buckner), even if the Game 5 of the ALCS did not directly lead to him shooting his wife and killing himself.

[Incandenza]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

And you know it's been a loooong time since the Dodgers won a postseason series when they play "I Love LA" unironically.

Tonight was the perfect storm of LA traffic--the Dodgers at the Stadium, UCLA at the Rose Bowl, USC at the Coliseum, a concert at Staples Center, and a big music festival at City Hall...all going on at the same time, and all within 10 miles of each other, requiring people to use pretty much the same freeways. On top of that, there was some drizzle, which sends traffic to a halt to begin with.

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

The Donnie Moore story is really sad--especially that it all took place in front of his kids.

Don't quote me on this, but I have a feeling the Dodgers won't have to play the Phillies. But they may have just as hard a time against the Brewers.

BTW, is there a record for the batter who received the most intentional walks in a championship series?

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Thanks, Inca; I'm fine.

I've thought that the Cubbies' record was deceiving all season long, but am genuinely surprised about the Angels going three and out.

We've got our Century of Futility and no one can take that away from us now.

Goldstone, any chance of us getting a fifth star on the city flag to commemorate it?

[Incandenza]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

The Angels haven't been swept yet, but it's coming.

[jason voorhees]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

I have a very deep, in-depth, and hardball question to ask that others are afraid to:
The Cubs really are a bunch of losers, aren't they ?

I mean DAMN.

I'm hoping for Phils-Dodgers, and am hoping that it will be an old-school NLCS 20-pinchhitter 19-relief pitcher 15-inning meatgrinder of a series.

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Wouldn't it be kinda funny if the Dodgers won the world series?

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

I'm so glad the spinning towels thing hasn't caught on at Fenway. I pray it never does.

[jason voorhees]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Bums-Phils.

Bums in 7.

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

You know what else I don't like, that I'm happy isn't done at Fenway? You know that trumpet noise da-da-da-de-de-deeee...CHARGE!!

I hate that.

[Reed John]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

FYI, my cousin played against LA Dodgers' Chad Billingsley in high school in Ohio.

[Guest]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Woo-hoo Dodgers!! #2

Quick question for those who know the rules - twice the Cubs deliberately walked two Dodgers the other night (Ramirez + one other). How often is that allowed? Once per inning? I know why they did it but is there any sort of ethics that would prevent, for example, one team always walking someone like Ramirez?

Whilst I know fuck all about the game, the Dodgers do seem to me to have a spirit and momentum. The atmosphere at Dodger Stadium the other night looked and sounded great.

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

You can do it (an intentional walk) as much as you like, Paxton.

When Barry Bonds was terrorizing the National League, he was walked intentionally a) with the bases loaded (thus automaically conceding a run); b) four times in the same game; and c) more than 70 times in one season.

Bonds holds every major record when he comes to walks, as he combined a great batter's eye (as to whether the pitch was a strike or ball) with awesome power that was considerably greater than that of any of his teammates. The top three seasons for walks in major league history are all his, and his total of 232 in 2004 is more than 36% higher than Babe Ruth's 170 in 1923 (the highest total by someone not named Bonds).

[Guest]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Thanks Ursos. Seems a bit strange to me in a 'spectacle for the crowd' context. I can see the attraction from a pitchers point of view given that home run Ramirez clobbered off a very low pitch in the first game

The Cubs must have broken some sort of record for leaving two men on bases at the end of an inning?

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

Yeah, a home crowd will generally boo an intentional walk lustily, particularly when it is the star slugger getting the free pass.

But it is essentially impossible to legislate against, as a ban on intentional walks would just see the number of "unintentional" ones increase. It is essentially impossible to judge intent. There are periodic campaigns to get rid of the pitcher actually having to throw four pitches to execute the move, but the chance that doing so will result in a wild pitch or passed ball (the ball eluding the catcher and allowing the runners to advance), or much more rarely, a situation in which the batter actually hits the ball, has so far resulted in the advocates of that "time saving" move being disappointed.

The Cubbies only left 9 guys on base in Game 3, which isn't really that many. The maximum theoretically possible in 9-inning game is 27, the record is 20 and I've seen quite a few games where teams managed more than a dozen.

What the Cubs did manage to do was to waste a large number of scoring opportunites. Of the nine innings, there were five in which the Cubs had at least one man "in scoring position" (i.e., on 2d or 3rd and therefore expected to score on any hit) with two out, and they failed to score a run every time.

[Femme Folle]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

You won't have heard booing properly done until if and when the Dodgers play Boston at Fenway.

[ursus arctos]

MLB 2008: The Year of Anti-Boston

They won't stop at booing, will they?

I would expect ritual burnings of dreadlock wigs, the resurrection of the "Daryl" chant (using "Maahhh-neee", of course) and other assorted hijinks.

I wonder if he will wear a helmet in the field.

Come to think of it, he might need a poncho.