Author Topic: Baseball 2018 (Read 17017 times)

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #30 on:** March 31, 2018, 02:44:44 PM »

Quote from: newbridge on March 30, 2018, 11:53:39 PM

I don't need to go into all the reasons, and apologies to the Cardinals fan in this thread, but St. Louis players and fans are the sanctimonious puritans of MLB who everybody outside of St. Louis should rightfully despise. Do not be a Cardinals fan.

I think it partly stems from the previous manager (Tony LaRussa) being one of a tiny handful of famous people who willingly attended former Fox News lunatic Glenn Beck's "Rally To Restore America", and not being immediately fired out of a rocket into the sun. I do take issue with Cardinals fandom or ownership or players being uniquely unpleasant, though - Red Sox fans openly hurl racist abuse at black players on other teams; the Cubs owner, manager and a few star players are proud Trump supporters, and attending a game at Wrigley is to (apparently) witness many thousands of people who don't seem interested in baseball at all. And so on, and so on. This "best fans in baseball" no more reflects reality than "(Random Team X) has asshole fans".

Current Cardinals ownership is dull and conservative, and they market the team to wealthy white fans in the county rather than the more, er, "urban" population in the city. Also, success has made "us" want more success, and be annoyed at the rather workmanlike and unsuccessful last couple of years. Wanting success is okay though, right?

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #31 on:** March 31, 2018, 02:50:41 PM »

Quote from: BlodwynPig on March 30, 2018, 03:23:27 PM

What game are you looking at to break my baseball hymen? It should be a big club like Yankees or Mets. As a Seinfeld fan can it be Mets? Are they in the same division/league?

Maybe when the Cards come to Toronto and bring FamousMortimer with them?

Edit: Mets are in town 4th of July. I have that day off work with 0 plans, and no one in Toronto will give a shit about baseball by then so tickets will be cheap. The stars are aligning - Blodz, want to pencil that one in?

We can do a game earlier if you can’t wait til then. The Seattle games in May also piqued my interest - you’ll get to see Ichiro in person before he retires...

Porter Dimi · « **Reply #32 on:** March 31, 2018, 03:26:06 PM »

I figured I'd root for the Dodgers because their's is the only ballpark I've seen in person, and they have gorgeous uniforms.

(Unless somebody can tell me why they're awful, that is)

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #33 on:** March 31, 2018, 03:52:35 PM »

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on March 31, 2018, 02:50:41 PM

Maybe when the Cards come to Toronto and bring FamousMortimer with them?

Edit: Mets are in town 4th of July. I have that day off work with 0 plans, and no one in Toronto will give a shit about baseball by then so tickets will be cheap. The stars are aligning - Blodz, want to pencil that one in?

We can do a game earlier if you can’t wait til then. The Seattle games in May also piqued my interest - you’ll get to see Ichiro in person before he retires...

Sure to both. Getting excited about those hot dogs.

Porter Dimi · « **Reply #34 on:** April 01, 2018, 12:14:51 PM »

The Dodgers finally pick up a win over the Giants after two consecutive nights of pitchers' battles and solo home runs. Thank god for that!

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #35 on:** April 01, 2018, 01:30:42 PM »

The Cardinals have had two games so far, and in both games the manager has batted the pitcher in the top of the inning, only to pull them in the bottom of the same inning. Small, but annoying.

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #36 on:** April 01, 2018, 01:32:37 PM »

Quote from: Porter Dimi on March 31, 2018, 03:26:06 PM

I figured I'd root for the Dodgers because their's is the only ballpark I've seen in person, and they have gorgeous uniforms.

(Unless somebody can tell me why they're awful, that is)

If I had to pick a team, I'd go for them too, for largely the same reasons. I follow a Youtuber called "Dodgerfilms" who used to film at every game from his season ticket in the front row of the bleachers, and still does lots of fun videos.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #37 on:** April 01, 2018, 02:27:30 PM »

Ferris’ Play o’ the Day:

Blue Jays CF Kevin Pillar stealing 2nd, then 3rd, and then (inexplicably) stealing home and scoring. A baffling play that shouldn’t ever score (but did). Jays 2B Solarte did a dance (as well as jumping around on the basepaths after hitting a dinger), so he’s my new favourite.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #38 on:** April 01, 2018, 04:22:31 PM »

Bang! we're gonna win the league...we're going to win the league.

Some twit said that pitchers and the catcher also bat - blatantly untrue.

newbridge · « **Reply #39 on:** April 01, 2018, 09:49:14 PM »

Bumpy second inning in Ohtani's first start. Reportedly 5+ million people watching back home in Japan at 5 a.m. local time.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #40 on:** April 01, 2018, 10:00:08 PM »

Quote from: BlodwynPig on April 01, 2018, 04:22:31 PM

Bang! we're gonna win the league...we're going to win the league.

Some twit said that pitchers and the catcher also bat - blatantly untrue.

oh they do bat, I looked at one set of scores and it seemed the pitchers were not listed as batters

newbridge · « **Reply #41 on:** April 01, 2018, 10:55:51 PM »

Quote from: BlodwynPig on April 01, 2018, 10:00:08 PM

oh they do bat, I looked at one set of scores and it seemed the pitchers were not listed as batters

Pitchers bat in the National League, but do not bat (and there is instead a Designated Hitter) in the American League. For interleague games, the home team's league controls.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #42 on:** April 01, 2018, 11:36:22 PM »

Quote from: newbridge on April 01, 2018, 10:55:51 PM

Pitchers bat in the National League, but do not bat (and there is instead a Designated Hitter) in the American League. For interleague games, the home team's league controls.

what a bizarre country the US is. I'm speaking about divisions/leagues etc.

bgmnts · « **Reply #43 on:** April 02, 2018, 12:13:18 AM »

Who is the worst baseball team in the league I will support them.

newbridge · « **Reply #44 on:** April 02, 2018, 12:22:06 AM »

Quote from: bgmnts on April 02, 2018, 12:13:18 AM

Who is the worst baseball team in the league I will support them.

The Detroit Tigers are probably the worst team and also have one of the dimmest prospects of becoming good anytime soon.

bgmnts · « **Reply #45 on:** April 02, 2018, 12:23:21 AM »

I am now officially a Tiger. They'rrreeeee great!

Detroit just seems to be dogshit on any level. No wonder they needed Robocop.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #46 on:** April 02, 2018, 12:26:53 AM »

Quote from: bgmnts on April 02, 2018, 12:13:18 AM

Who is the worst baseball team in the league I will support them.

The Padres are awful, and always have been. Everything about them is bad - the name, the jerseys, the performances.

They’re the real deal. The tigers may improve in a decade or so

Edit: for the record, “the Dads” are lovable losers.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #47 on:** April 02, 2018, 01:07:45 AM »

Christ, just looked up the Padres wikipedia and it seems the terms "most winning" and "most losing" seasons are common parlance. At least its not most winningest.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #48 on:** April 04, 2018, 08:04:40 PM »

First game of the season, off to the Dome to watch the Jays sweep the White Sox.

Though I’m the ultimate jinx so it’ll be a disaster.

I’ll be in the 100s up the first base line - wave if you see me in the highlights

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #49 on:** April 04, 2018, 08:20:57 PM »

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on April 04, 2018, 08:04:40 PM

First game of the season, off to the Dome to watch the Jays sweep the White Sox.

Though I’m the ultimate jinx so it’ll be a disaster.

I’ll be in the 100s up the first base line - wave if you see me in the highlights

enjoy. Jays rampant yesterday

EOLAN · « **Reply #50 on:** April 04, 2018, 09:51:06 PM »

Well I am going to stick with the Orioles this season. Highlight of the season so far appears to be a bunt in a 7-0 hammering that the Minnesota Twins players and coaches felt was horrifically unfair. Very unfair not to let their pitcher earn his one hitter.

bgmnts · « **Reply #51 on:** April 04, 2018, 10:15:01 PM »

https://youtu.be/YE6hKlicTR0

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #52 on:** April 05, 2018, 04:28:50 AM »

Absolute crock of shit, though amazingly the family next to me was from my tiddly home town in the midlands and we had a few friends in common so the chat was actually quite nice.

Jays will bounce back tomorrow I reckon

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #53 on:** April 05, 2018, 08:01:13 PM »

It's the Cardinals home opener tonight but there's all sorts of building work going on for their extension to the entertainment complex right next to the stadium, so the streets are going to be an absolute nightmare.

In "giving more ammo to people who think Cardinals fans suck" news, the main fan-site, Viva El Birdos, had a change of management the other day (I applied, but they didn't think a completely untrained amateur movie-review blogger would be a good fit for their profit-generating site). The first new hire the new manager did was a guy who thinks homosexuality should still be listed as a mental illness in the DSM; his hiring lasted about 4 hours until most of the staff threatened to quit, multiple fans told the corporate owners of the site they'd boycott if he was brought on board, etc.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #54 on:** April 05, 2018, 10:36:02 PM »

on a side not, what's it like living in St. Louis?

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #55 on:** April 06, 2018, 02:45:49 PM »

Quote from: BlodwynPig on April 05, 2018, 10:36:02 PM

on a side not, what's it like living in St. Louis?

Good and bad. Good, I can get away with saying shit to people by just mumbling a bit and people assume I'm a normal polite Englishman. Bad, large swathes of the city are so knackered, slums would be upset to be compared to them.

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-17361995/crossing-a-st-louis-street-that-divides-communities & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmar_Divide

I live on that street. Look south down Union, and you can see private gated streets (the Mayor lives in one of them). Look north, and you can see derelict houses (Chuck Berry used to live about 500 yards north of where I'm sat now, but it's a really rough street these days). There's a lot of tough history here, too - the guy who made the documentary "Jandek On Corwood" is from St Louis, and he also made a documentary about the failed housing project Pruitt-Igoe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKgZM8y3hso . Being politically active, too, I've met a lot of the people who were involved in the Ferguson protests, and I was a little involved in the protests around the Jason Stockley acquittal last year - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41306935

House prices are similarly divided - I could get a 6 bedroom mansion for under $50,000, but it would be on the same street as three crack-houses; south of the city, crappy one-bedroom places are going for $150,000 and above.

Or were you on about baseball? Almost everyone loves it, so it's super-easy to start conversations wherever you go. Even the local alternative free weekly paper gets in on the act, but they talk about why the percentage of black players now is the same as it was in 1956. https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/the-disappearing-black-baseball-player/Content?oid=16660276

(It's an interesting discussion, but doesn't mention the extreme levels of conservatism at the top of the game, or stuff like how expensive it is to get to the upper echelons of the game now; like you need parents willing to bankroll travel leagues and expensive camps and all that stuff)

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #56 on:** April 06, 2018, 05:27:29 PM »

No, I think you've covered "all bases" in that reply, thanks. I'm fascinated by experiences of random towns/cities that are "off the beaten track". You're welcome to come and regale us up in the North, by which time I might even know what a line drive is.

Famous Mortimer · « **Reply #57 on:** April 07, 2018, 10:35:54 PM »

I'm looking forward to it. If I can find a decent-priced plane ticket / place to stay, then there's a weekend series with Tampa Bay in September that ought to be not too expensive.

Cardinals just got a solid win against Arizona, so had a nice lazy afternoon in front of that. I used to, as an Englishman that never really got exposed to them (outside of a few on Yorkshire TV in the 80s), love local adverts, but now I'm sick of them. What's weird is seeing some bar advertise on TV - how cheap is advertising space on regional Fox Sports these days?

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #58 on:** April 08, 2018, 05:55:24 AM »

Toronto is fairly reasonable if you are paid in USD thanks to our crappy exchange rate.

Anyone see the Phillies beat the Marlins 20-1? I told you they’d be good/bad respectively.

BlodwynPig · « **Reply #59 on:** April 08, 2018, 02:53:33 PM »

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on April 07, 2018, 10:35:54 PM

I'm looking forward to it. If I can find a decent-priced plane ticket / place to stay, then there's a weekend series with Tampa Bay in September that ought to be not too expensive.

Cardinals just got a solid win against Arizona, so had a nice lazy afternoon in front of that. I used to, as an Englishman that never really got exposed to them (outside of a few on Yorkshire TV in the 80s), love local adverts, but now I'm sick of them. What's weird is seeing some bar advertise on TV - how cheap is advertising space on regional Fox Sports these days?

you're welcome to kip here.

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Author Topic: Baseball 2018 (Read 17017 times)