2017 baseball thread

[Hot Pepsi]

No matter who won or lost, I think one thing we can agree on is that it's nice to have the NLCS over because it means we won't have to listen to Ron Darling anymore.

Does he still drop that he went to Yale at least once a game? He did when he was the Nats color guy.

[danielmak]

Gerardi is about to cost the Yankees this game. Sevarino is shit in the 5th inning and yet Joe is letting him go. Two walks and a double. He needed to be pulled right then. But after another walk, Rothchild comes out. Three fu**ing walks in an inning is not a sign that this inning is going to go well. 1-0 down is something that the Yankees can overcome but bases loaded with 1 out probably means more runs given what's happening with walks. That was circular but you get the gist.

[danielmak]

And there you go. 3-0 now. Dave Roberts would not have made that same move. He would have been out with the hook after two walks. The Yankees have a rested pen and excellent arms. No reason to let the starter continue. Major screwup that has given Astros momentum and new life.

[danielmak]

And while I'm replying to my own posts, I am getting so tired of the announcers constantly talking about Altuve's size. Look, the guy has been one of the best players in baseball during the past 3 years. He's a clear MVP candidate during that time and should win it this year. Enough with the size talk.

[San Bernardhinault]

Hell of a catch by Springer there.

[Gerontophile]

No matter what happens, the Yankees have made me proud.

[danielmak]

Both pitchers looking good so far. A little traffic but pitching to contact. The Astros have to be happy. I wouldn't be too excited to have Morton has my starter, yet he's pitching well so far.

[San Bernardhinault]

Another fantastic catch - this time from the Yankees.

Apologies to Yankee fans, though. I'm backing the Astros here, no matter how tough it is to support a team from Texas.

[ursus arctos]

Boom

[danielmak]

The Yankees are in trouble now. I can't believe they got nothing against Morton. The big hope is that Mculler's (Sp?) screws up because he's not used to coming out of the pen and then some other relievers melt down.

[danielmak]

Joe is too slow when his pitchers are in trouble. I know the balance is hard to strike; he can't get a reliever up just to have a reliever up but Kahnle is not pitching at a pace that one would call quick. Every pitch seem to take 45 seconds. Given that length of time, the next guy has to be ready.

[danielmak]

Fox is showing replay of play at the plate. Good throw but Bird's slide was bad. He slid right into the part of the plate that was blocked. He beat the throw by a second or so but he needed to slide to the outside of the plate, not the inside.

[Gerontophile]

Oh well. Yankees will only get better next year. (For fuck sake sign some pitching!)

[danielmak]

Best two teams in the WS but Yanks blew it having 3-2 lead and all the momentum.

[jason voorhees]

Best two teams in the WS but Yanks blew it having 3-2 lead and all the momentum.

[jason voorhees]

Honestly happy for Houston, who have been one of the better teams over the decades to not win a World Series.

Dallas Keuchel is so brilliant that his lighting a match under the organization to add someone like Verlander was the difference. The team was able to pick him up this time instead of vice versa.

A bit of the shades of '95 with the Mariners winning, only without the existentially brilliant final game or play. The Yanks certainly seem like they had a ton of experience with the 5 elimination games they played.

But onto the series.

Huge pressure for both teams to win. Which should make for a brilliant series.

[jason voorhees]

The other memory of playoff torture with a young, up and coming team.

[Incandenza]

Sorry, JV. But now I can have some peace of mind knowing that if the Dodgers don't win, it will be the Astros and not the Yankees.

Who's ready for some 95 degree temperatures for the start of the Fall classic? Whoo!

[San Bernardhinault]

I really don't know who I'm supporting here. A National League team who therefore play real baseball rather than silly T20 stuff, from Southern California, who've been probably the best team of the year. But who appear to have just bought their spot by spending insane amounts on their roster.

Or a team from Texas (ugh), in the American League (ugh). Who are the clear underdogs, who've never won, who have Altuve playing for them, from a city that could probably use a boost from winning this year.

It would have been easier if it was the Yankees. That would've been a no-brainer.

[Hot Pepsi]

I'm going for the Dodgers. It's been so long that Kirk Gibson's son is now a professional ballplayer. And they're one of the teams that has won the WS less recently than the Reds.

Yeah, they spent a lot of money on their roster, but then they went years with bad ownership trying to leverage the "brand" for their own profit and not for the ballclub. When they were bought by Murdoch et al and everyone was saying "in the future, the big clubs will be owned by big corporations" was a black day for baseball and, as I recall, one of the events that led me to stop watching baseball for about ten years.

I'd be more sympathetic to the Astros if they wore the tequila sunrise jerseys.

[Incandenza]

Keep in mind that a lot of the money spent on the roster has been for deals that don't look very good now and for guys who haven't been contributing. Gonzalez, Ethier, Granderson, Scott Kazmir, and Brandon McCarthy are taking up a lot of money. Not to mention the $21 million Carl Crawford is getting this year. Kershaw and Jansen have been with the team their whole careers, not to mention the young guys like Seager and Bellinger. Then you have guys like Turner and Chris Taylor who have been resurrected.

Which I know is something that most every team could not do--hand out a big contract and have it blow up and still keep on winning. But there has been some smart decision making and shrewd deals that Friedman has made.

[Incandenza]

Corey Seager is back on the roster for the World Series, Curtis Granderson has been left out.

[caja-dglh]

It is so obviously going to be the Dodgers it isn't even funny.

</crosses jinx fingers, borrows a goat to take to a game>

[Incandenza]

SB Nation on the rise of the immaculate inning:

https://twitter.com/SBNation/status/922917515335839744

[Ray de Galles]

So I’m in for Game Two tomorrow night, a contact came through with a couple of relatively expensive but face value tickets. Very excited and dashing in to the city from the airport to watch Game One now.