The MLB Thread

[Guest ShoePiss]

Looks great, I'm going up to Seattle this weekend to watch the Giants, can't wait. I just read an article about stubhub and the yankees, they're having trouble moving tickets in their new stadium. Pretty funny that the official tout for the mlb is now dumping yankees tickets for cheaper than face value...the yankees aren't happy with that apparently.

[Pony Princess]

Looks great, I'm going up to Seattle this weekend to watch the Giants, can't wait. I just read an article about stubhub and the yankees, they're having trouble moving tickets in their new stadium. Pretty funny that the official tout for the mlb is now dumping yankees tickets for cheaper than face value...the yankees aren't happy with that apparently.

 

I got both nights tickets on stubhub. The sports bar ticket was like $50 and the 2nd night was $5 plus stubhub fees. There were quite a few free seats when I was there so on the first night I just left the sports bar, grabbed some drinks and was allowed to sit where I like but there had been thunderstorms and rain all day so I don't know if some folks had thought it would have been a rain out.

 

It was awesome though, having that much entertainment starting at like $7 to get in.

[Guest ShoePiss]

Matt Cain just got a perfect game, only the 22nd in MLB.

[Pony Princess]

Yankees setting the pace in the Eastern at the moment.

 

Couple of baseball questions: Can someone explain to me why the Yankees are playing the Mets when they are in different leagues? and how the result affects the league standings?

 

Since the World Series is the winner of the AL vs winner of NL - and both have three conferences - who wins 'outright' and how is that decided who competes in the world series?

 

Can't find a straight answer online.

 

And finally, any recommended streams for watching MLB in general? I'll be trying to find one to watch the Yankees tomorrow.

 

Cheers in advance.

[RedKnight]

Inter league play occurs a few times a year where teams who considered "rivals" in different leagues play each other. For instance the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees or the Marlins versus the Rays. The result affects the standings in exactly the same way as a game against an American league team would.

 

Teams get to the World Series via the playoffs, made up of each conference winner and wildcards.

[Pony Princess]

Inter league play occurs a few times a year where teams who considered "rivals" in different leagues play each other. For instance the Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees or the Marlins versus the Rays. The result affects the standings in exactly the same way as a game against an American league team would.

 

Teams get to the World Series via the playoffs, made up of each conference winner and wildcards.

 

Cheers buddy. Makes sense.

[The Midnight Rambler]

I'm hoping to catch my first baseball game in september, was hoping for a bit advice?

 

I'm traveling around San Francisco so have the chance of either watching the Giants or the A's.

 

Leaning towards the Giants as we're staying closer to the AT&T and the stadium looks sweet. Could do with a little help with the seating chart and where to sit? Tickets seem to range from $20 - $140

 

Ballpark Seating Chart | SFGiants.com: Ballpark

 

Any recommendations?

 

Also, how long is a game likely to go on for?

[RedKnight]

Go to see the Giants, no debate there. Games last between 2 and a half to 3 and a half hours depending on numerous factors.

[Scott_M]

I went to see the Houston Astros v Kansas City Faggots the other week. Fucking shite, the most boring game ever. KCF won 2-1 but both teams only hit it like 3 times all game.

 

Might try & see the Rangers if I'm up in Dallas.

[Guest ShoePiss]

I'm hoping to catch my first baseball game in september, was hoping for a bit advice?

 

I'm traveling around San Francisco so have the chance of either watching the Giants or the A's.

 

Leaning towards the Giants as we're staying closer to the AT&T and the stadium looks sweet. Could do with a little help with the seating chart and where to sit? Tickets seem to range from $20 - $140

 

Ballpark Seating Chart | SFGiants.com: Ballpark

 

Any recommendations?

 

Also, how long is a game likely to go on for?

 

You're on the right track, I'm biased but for a neutral watching the Giants will be a much better spectacle. The A's play in the Coliseum which is horrible for both American Football and Baseball, plus well it's in Oakland.

 

There isn't a bad seat in the house, generally closer is better and more expensive. Pick a midweek early game as they won't be as busy and you'll be able to move around and sit in different seats. It's pretty much an accepted thing to do apart from the club level seats that will come with food etc.

[Scott_M]

Get a cheap ticket. I only paid $9 for my Astros ticket. If it's not sold out, after about the 5th innings just move seats to somewhere closer to the bases.

[Trumo]

Red Sox getting bummed at Fenway yet again. As if it wasn't bad enough to lose 7-3 to Toronto yesterday after going 3-0 up early on, they are currently 9-3 down to the same opposition after only 2 innings. Seems like they need their hitters to be hitting and scoring because their pitchers are highly likely to fuck it up.

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Have you seen my baseball?

[Trumo]

Red Sox getting bummed at Fenway yet again. As if it wasn't bad enough to lose 7-3 to Toronto yesterday after going 3-0 up early on, they are currently 9-3 down to the same opposition after only 2 innings. Seems like they need their hitters to be hitting and scoring because their pitchers are highly likely to fuck it up.

 

11-7 to Toronto after the 6th. It is saying something when even NESN's homepage says the Red Sox starting pitcher John Lester 'melted' in this game.

[Trumo]

Finished 15-7 to Toronto. And now Fenway will undergo a temporary refit in time for that other sport on Wednesday.

[Nunavut Patrick]

Finished 15-7 to Toronto. And now Fenway will undergo a temporary refit in time for that other sport on Wednesday.

 

Whatever hope Toronto had of wild card probably went out the window when the Yankees swept them but then they roll into Fenway and clobber Boston so they're probably 2-3 games out.

 

Toronto has no pitching, they've got like 6 pitchers either shut down or on the DL.

 

Wouldn't it be great if they just painted a goal on the Green Monster and used that as one of the goals?

[Trumo]

There was a lot of talk about the Red Sox trading pitcher Josh Beckett, possibly to the Texas Rangers. All sorts of rumours about him being quite central to the problems in the clubhouse last year, along with his very inconsistent pitching, added to a massive contract, meant that he's not exactly popular with the Red Sox fans. The window has closed so Beckett is staying, and was on to pitch tonight against the Detroit Tigers.

 

Tonight against Detroit he started very well, closing out the first 2 innings in double-quick time with no hits. In the 3rd inning he reverted to type, walking one batsman and hitting another to load the bases, before walking yet another batsman to give up one run. He then claimed to be injured before being replaced. After the 3rd inning, Detroit lead 1-0.

 

I don't have live footage of the game so have an mlb.com game feed running instead. Whether the injury is genuine or not I don't know, but the suspicion is that Beckett has bottled it and cried off. I bet both he and the fans now wish a trade had happened.

[RedKnight]

Most Sox fans hate Beckett anyway. After missing a start with a back injury and then going to play golf most had had it with him by then. He gets booed often these days. Not the guy of five years ago.

[Chairman Meow]

Jules what's your view on Breslow?

[RedKnight]

Average reliever traded for an average reliever. Better than Albers but I don't expect much out of him. He's had a better year in Arizona than he had in Oakland.

[Trumo]

Shit hitting the fan in the clubhouse again? Never!

 

Red Sox stars blast manager Bobby Valentine in heated July meeting with ownership - Yahoo! Sports

 

Red Sox stars blast manager Bobby Valentine in heated July meeting with ownership

 

Boston Red Sox players blasted manager Bobby Valentine to owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino during a heated meeting called after a text message was sent by a group of frustrated players to the team and ownership in late July, three sources familiar with the meeting told Yahoo! Sports.

 

The owners called the meeting for Boston's off-day in New York on July 26 after first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, texting on behalf of himself and some teammates, aired their dissatisfaction with Valentine for embarrassing starting pitcher Jon Lester by leaving him in to allow 11 runs during a July 22 start. It was the latest incident in a season's worth of bad relations bubbling between Red Sox players and Valentine.

 

Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were among the most vocal in the meeting, in which some players stated flatly they no longer wanted to play for Valentine, the sources said. The tenor of the 2 p.m. meeting at The Palace hotel in New York turned ugly almost immediately, according to the sources, whom Yahoo! Sports granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about internal matters.

 

Not all of the Red Sox players attended the meeting, the sources said, highlighting the chasm that exists not only between some players and Valentine but among players in the clubhouse. The perception that Valentine is being scapegoated unfairly to divert attention from mediocre performances by star players exists among some players, according to sources.

 

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington confirmed the meeting. Although he declined to provide specifics about what was said, he told Yahoo! Sports: "The intent of the meeting was to provide a forum for people to express whatever frustration needed to be expressed at a time during the season when things were not going exactly the way we wanted to on the field in hopes that we could put whatever issues were there aside and focus on playing games the rest of the season. That was the intent of the meeting. That was the focus of ownership. It was a productive meeting.

 

"Since then, we have not gone on the run we were supposed to."

 

Ownership has not wavered in its support of Valentine since the meeting, and the sources said players have accepted that Valentine will remain manager for at least the rest of the season. The Red Sox doubled down on Valentine over the last week despite the perception that his first year as Boston manager has been an abject failure. Boston, with an opening day payroll of $173.2 million, is 57-59 and sits 11 games back of the first-place Yankees and 5½ behind the second wild card. The Red Sox's last sub-.500 season was in 1997.

 

Through a spokesman, the team and Valentine declined comment.

 

Eight days ago, besieged by questions about Valentine's present and future, Red Sox general manager Cherington told reporters: "Bobby is our manager, and we're not considering anyone else. He's as committed to managing the team as he ever has been, and we're committed to him and trying to do everything we can to support him and make this work."

 

Henry emailed a statement to Boston media members that echoed the sentiment.

"To blame Bobby Valentine for the Red Sox being .500 at this point in the season," he wrote, "is simply wrong."

 

Some of the Red Sox's biggest names disagree.

 

Issues that have inflamed players range far and wide. Leaving in Lester, a well-respected figure in the clubhouse, to get blasted for 11 runs and four home runs against Toronto soured players already beaten down by Valentine's managerial style. Valentine uttering "Nice inning, kid" to rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks after he made a defensive blunder – an episode to which Valentine admitted on WEEI radio – only furthered the animus toward the 62-year-old, who is managing in the major leagues for the first time since 2002. Since spring training, players have chafed at Valentine's careless – and occasionally self-serving – interactions with the Boston media, which his predecessor, Terry Francona, handled adroitly.

 

"I don't think it's that uncommon for complaints to be made during the season," Cherington told Yahoo! Sports. "I'm not going to comment specifically on those complaints. Our owners felt, given where we were at that time in the season, given the collective frustration, we had not accomplished what we wanted to. It was time to get together and hash things out. There were no ultimatums issued. There were concerns expressed. Some very positive things expressed, too. We felt that it was an opportunity to get things off people's chests and move forward."

 

From the beginning of the Red Sox's courtship of Valentine this offseason to the double-barreled votes of confidence last week, the match of the hard-nosed Bobby V with the laissez-faire Boston clubhouse seemed tenuous at best. It has proven far worse, personified best perhaps by a picture circulating around via text message, according to a fourth source.

 

Pedroia, notorious among teammates for his wit and humor, is in the foreground with a giddy smile, his tongue wagging and both thumbs up. Next to him is allegedly Valentine, face down on a table, apparently asleep. A caption accompanies the picture: "Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m."

 

A general lack of respect for Valentine has pervaded the clubhouse throughout the season. It may have peaked two days after the meeting, on July 28, when Francona entered the Red Sox's clubhouse as an ESPN analyst. He started talking with Pedroia, his most strident loyalist. Other players soon joined the conversation, which lingered for 45 minutes. Francona apologized the next day.

 

The Red Sox's tumultuous year started with their collapse last September, followed by the team declining to re-sign Francona. After general manager Theo Epstein left to run the Chicago Cubs, Cherington, one of his assistants, took control of the team – until Lucchino wrested the managerial hire from him. Ownership picked Valentine and Cherington rubber-stamped it, hopeful the organization could grow cohesive over the two-year span of Valentine's contract.

 

Instead, the Red Sox have splintered, not a shock considering Valentine's history of divide-and-conquer management. For all of his supposed strategic genius, Valentine wore out his welcome managing the Texas Rangers and New York Mets because of his willingness to napalm personal relationships. It led to a decade-long exile from the major leagues, most of which he spent in Japan.

 

Valentine returned no different a manager. He barely talks with some of the coaches on his staff, several of whom remain Francona supporters. The trade of Kevin Youkilis, the World Series fixture who first exposed fractures between the players and Valentine, devolved into a public-relations mess.

 

Then there are the oddities, like Valentine devising a plan to never play outfielder Carl Crawford more than four days in a row because of an elbow that may need surgery, only to abandon the idea less than a week later.

 

Certainly the concoction of losing and an unfamiliar style has hurt Valentine's standing with players. Ownership remains in Valentine's corner, with Henry saying in his statement eight days ago: "We have been nothing but supportive of him inside and outside the clubhouse."

 

The support, according to the sources, baffles those against Valentine, who wonder why the meeting was called if it wasn't going to change anything. During the meeting, the players told Henry and Lucchino that part of the disconnect comes from Valentine spending excessive time in his office.

 

He'll retreat there again Tuesday, when Boston takes on Baltimore at Camden Yards, still wearing a Red Sox uniform, still running one of baseball's great teams, survivor of a mutiny.

 

For now.

 

I've said it before but there are so many parallels between the current Red Sox and our own f******l club at the back end of the tumours' reign. What is odd is how FSG went and hired a Yank version of the owl to bring a semblance of stability to a fractured clubhouse. From their experiences with the owl over here - albeit for only 3 months - surely they should have realised that stability is the last thing that sort of character will bring.

[Cliff T. Beast]

They got stuffed again by the Orioles. Proper shit display

[Allan]

Felix Hernandez has just pitched the 1st perfect game in Seattle Mariners history, and just the 23rd perfect game in MLB history.

 

He becomes the second pitcher to throw a perfect game at Safeco Field this season, following Philip Humber's perfect outing for the White Sox back in April.

[Scott_M]

Went to see Rangers v Tigers on Saturday night. Despite it being between 2 of the best sides in the MLB, it was only 2-1 again. Few more hits this time but fuck me, Baseball is one boring sport.

[A.V.B.]

Perfect game for King Felix but the 3rd this year. Seems it's getting to be slightly less of an amazing accomplishment thesedays.

 

Mets remembering how shit we really are and reverting to type.