Mlb 2012!

Lantz · 2012-10-05T18:49:33.000Z

triggercut:

Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS

Ump holbrook said of other umps: “every man to a t agreed with the call.”

The umps always stand together.

ineffablebob · 2012-10-05T18:51:41.000Z

triggercut:

The sharpest mind in baseball weighs in:

“Not that I expect a soul to agree with me, but the infield fly call was not only correct, it’s routine. Rule specifically says ignore that the fielder is back on the grass; if he CAN make an ordinary catch, IFR applies.”

If it was an ordinary catch, he wouldn’t have let it drop. But as I said before, no matter how bad the call was, the Braves can blame themselves for awful defense and lack of clutch hitting more than the umps.

I’m getting worried about the Os. Darvish looks like he has command tonight, and that’s never good.

charmtrap · 2012-10-05T19:10:50.000Z

Yu Darvish looks like a JRPG character come to life.

sluggo · 2012-10-05T19:37:56.000Z

Final Fantasy Baseball?

Rangers better get their hitting shoes on fast here. I’m curious to see what the Texas crowd response will be to Hamilton’s next AB if he doesn’t deliver.

ineffablebob · 2012-10-05T19:55:21.000Z

9 outs to go, and a 2 run lead for the birds! Of course, in this ballpark, two runs can go in a hurry.

After losing the division to the As, if the Rangers lose this game, there’s going to be some soul-searching in Texas.

triggercut · 2012-10-05T20:01:46.000Z

Hunker down you hairy O’s!

charmtrap · 2012-10-05T20:04:19.000Z

Picture I found on the web of Darren O’Day:

It’s not all that uncanny.

(I don’t watch much AL, so some of these people are new to me)

Alan_Dunkin · 2012-10-05T20:04:56.000Z

Fuck this shit. We owned the Orioles this year and we can’t even score more than a run against fuckin Saunders? Hamilton looks out of sorts again, and then Washington inexplicably puts in goddamn Derek Holland to replace Yu Darvish? What is that giant load of bullshit? Goddamn it.

— Alan

ineffablebob · 2012-10-05T20:25:02.000Z

sluggo:

I’m curious to see what the Texas crowd response will be to Hamilton’s next AB if he doesn’t deliver.

Good chunk of boos coming from the stands after that strikeout!

ineffablebob · 2012-10-05T21:01:57.000Z

And the Os have done it, moving on to face the Yankees. That’s got the potential to be one heck of a series, after the way those two teams battled out the AL East this year.

As for the Rangers, well…they may not quite be the Buffalo Bills, but that’s some pretty serious fail in the playoffs for three years in a row.

triggercut · 2012-10-05T21:06:53.000Z

At least some of the last two weeks of the Rangers has to be on Washington, right? I’m thinking Nolan Ryan may be less than enamored of his manager…

sluggo · 2012-10-05T21:08:29.000Z

Wow, what a shocking end for the Rangers.

I have to admit, I have a healthy respect for the O’s and think they’ll give the Yankees a huge fight, but I’m thrilled they don’t have to play the Rangers. That was the team that scared me the most all year.

So what happens to Hamilton now? I can’t say I’ve followed his free agent talk that much, what are the chances he stays in Texas?

rowe33 · 2012-10-05T21:25:13.000Z

sluggo:

Wow, what a shocking end for the Rangers.

I have to admit, I have a healthy respect for the O’s and think they’ll give the Yankees a huge fight, but I’m thrilled they don’t have to play the Rangers. That was the team that scared me the most all year.

So what happens to Hamilton now? I can’t say I’ve followed his free agent talk that much, what are the chances he stays in Texas?

I hope the chances are close to zero…I’m worried they’re going to be stuck with a horrible high dollar, low value deal. His epic failures the past two days should put an end to any possible resigning though. At least I hope!

Alstein · 2012-10-05T21:46:03.000Z

ineffablebob:

If it was an ordinary catch, he wouldn’t have let it drop. But as I said before, no matter how bad the call was, the Braves can blame themselves for awful defense and lack of clutch hitting more than the umps.

I’m getting worried about the Os. Darvish looks like he has command tonight, and that’s never good.

BRaves deserved to lose, Chipper’s error killed them.

That call was absolute crap though, and the WC format is crap.

charmtrap · 2012-10-05T21:56:48.000Z

Alstein:

the WC format is crap.

I was skeptical at first, but I like it. It certainly added a little drama down the stretch and all they’ve done is take away the gimme entrance into the post-season from the 1st place loser. What’s the problem with that?

nKoan · 2012-10-05T22:35:00.000Z

I like the renewed importance of winning the division now, but the one game playoff seems like a mighty hard pill to swallow.

Alstein · 2012-10-05T22:44:18.000Z

charmtrap:

I was skeptical at first, but I like it. It certainly added a little drama down the stretch and all they’ve done is take away the gimme entrance into the post-season from the 1st place loser. What’s the problem with that?

Cheapens the regular season, allows crap like tonight to happen where a blown call allows a team with about 7-8 fewer wins into the postseason.

I’d suggest two changes:

a) Make it the two worst records
b) Spot the better team a number of runs equal to the difference in the standings to start

triggercut · 2012-10-05T23:03:25.000Z

triggercut:

The sharpest mind in baseball weighs in:

“Not that I expect a soul to agree with me, but the infield fly call was not only correct, it’s routine. Rule specifically says ignore that the fielder is back on the grass; if he CAN make an ordinary catch, IFR applies.”

Full disclosure: said sharpest mind is my older brother, who happens to have about 40 years of covering baseball in various markets for various newspapers (currently in the Bay Area) under his belt.

Sarkus · 2012-10-06T00:08:12.000Z

Alstein:

and the WC format is crap.

What are the alternatives? That’s the real problem here. There is no way to jam another round into the baseball playoffs without extending them, and they already run (potentially) into Novemeber as it is. The only solution would be to end the regular season earlier, and the only way to do that is to either start it sooner (March) or shorten it. I’d have no problem if they’d shorten it back to 154 games, but thats a no sale to the owners because it means lost game revenue.

So a one game playoff it is if you want the excitement of keeping more teams in the playoff hunt longer. Which did actually work this year.

Alstein · 2012-10-06T01:22:14.000Z

The alternative is not to have done it in the first place.

As for keeping more teams in the hunt, in the NL it was a bunch of mediocre teams, and in the AL, it didn’t.

Usually the 1st WC is better than at least 1 of the division champs, so they deserve to be in.