MLB 2014 season thread

[User 11148]

Take as many photos as you can, shoot a few videos of your boy during the game, and put together a little multimedia package for your dad and send him the link. (If he's at all a computer guy.)

Nah. Take one photo, when you get there. Then put the damn phone away and remember every pitch.

When the Rangers made it in 2010 I sold my soul (kidding! barely!) and got tickets for the whole crew (I think I was out $1,700 or so when all was said done) for a game. My youngest then was 9, and she was accustomed to our usual Rangers forays, which involve backpacks full of snacks, reading material and (at the time) handheld video games. Excited as she was, she announced that she'd be taking her Gameboy "Just in case I get bored." For one of the very few times in our child-rearing career, Mom and I were unanimous: "The hell you say!"

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Another dumb piece by a guy who has a national platform.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/52750/welcome-to-the-worst-world-series-ever

Did you think? He transitioned well into, "Yeah, but it'll be fun."

Guy has done this before. He doesn't appear to like baseball.
For the life of me I can't figure out why a commentator with this kind of platform would project the game in anything other than a good light.
I don't give a **** about these teams either, but to call it the worst Series before a pitch has been thrown is stupidity.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I wonder if the writer has been similarly dismissive of the 10-6 and 9-7 teams that pollute the Super Bowl on an annual basis.

The W-L comparison is kind of dumb. If the format made teams win 90 or more games, they'd do that. The Giants went 6-9 down the stretch while getting everybody rested up. There was no serious threat to their wild-card spot. If there had been, I'm guessing they could have played their frontliners and won a few more games, which would make them look like any old 91-71 team.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I wonder if the writer has been similarly dismissive of the 10-6 and 9-7 teams that pollute the Super Bowl on an annual basis.

The W-L comparison is kind of dumb. If the format made teams win 90 or more games, they'd do that. The Giants went 6-9 down the stretch while getting everybody rested up. There was no serious threat to their wild-card spot. If there had been, I'm guessing they could have played their frontliners and won a few more games, which would make them look like any old 91-71 team.

I don't think there's any doubt this was a slightly down year in the AL. I read somewhere (I think it was Sheehan) that this was the first year since 1996 that there wasn't at least one 90-win AL team that did not make the playoffs.

 

[RickStain]

I can't wait to find out which of these two teams are Winners who Knew How To Win thanks to all their emotional traits and natural winningness, and which ones are gutless choking losers who lose and couldn't have ever won.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I know, right?

The Giants in particular continue to ride positive variance. Eight postseason series wins in a row and a 30-11 overall record. Of all the damn luck.

 

[RickStain]

I know, right?

The Giants in particular continue to ride positive variance. Eight postseason series wins in a row and a 30-11 overall record. Of all the damn luck.

Better bet your life savings on them to win this time, too. Sounds like the are pretty good at baseball.

 

[JC]

Only clutch in even years

 

[LongTimeListener]

One of the Giants' best advance scouts, the man who will sift through the info and write the reports on how to exploit the Royals, is none other than Steve Balboni.

http://blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014/10/18/steve-bye-bye-balboni-the-link-to-2014-sf-giants-and-1985-royals/

 

[old_tony]

Does it make sense that baseball can't start the World Series two days after the last LCS is over? Why wait five days between the Giants winning and Game 1?

 

[RickStain]

Does it make sense that baseball can't start the World Series two days after the last LCS is over? Why wait five days between the Giants winning and Game 1?

MLB has always insisted that a set start date to the World Series is necessary to accomodate all the hotels for media and such.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Yeah that isn't a new thing at all, but those needs have grown. I think it's about 10,000 tickets per game that are reserved for MLB use (corporate sponsors etc.).

It's a real thing. Plus, add in considerations for TV, which isn't exactly in the habit of throwing in prime-time programming at the last minute.

 

[YankeeFan]

One of the Giants' best advance scouts, the man who will sift through the info and write the reports on how to exploit the Royals, is none other than Steve Balboni.

http://blog.sfgate.com/johnshea/2014/10/18/steve-bye-bye-balboni-the-link-to-2014-sf-giants-and-1985-royals/

Phil Rizzuto hyped minor leaguer Steve Balboni for a number of years on the radio before he made his major league debut. The guy was a heck of minor leaguer.

I remember him as going prematurely bald, and scrambling to grab his cap after it flew off chasing a foul pop as a Royal.

I have almost no recollection of him as a member of the 1989-1990 Yankees.

 

[exmediahack]

An update on Game 2 of the World Series...

My father will be joining us.

Found a flight from the Florida Panhandle, one connection and we will be picking him up at KCI at 1 pm on Wednesday. Enough time to eat, let him see the new downtown before we head to stadium.

We found him a single ticket in the same section, two rows from us. Pretty good seats - 200 level, behind the Royals dugout.

He's pretty thrilled.

I'm not letting the irony of this slip past me.

In 1980, he took me to the ALCS against the Yankees. Game 1. Hot day at Royals Stadium.

My dad and I never really had any chemistry (and still really don't) but Kauffman Stadium was the one place where, as a child, I actually liked being around him. By 1985, our family had been destroyed, with us all living in different time zones and Kansas City was just a memory.

Now I get to take HIM to a Royals game -- a World Series game.

 

[YankeeFan]

Very cool story.

Baseball really is about fathers and sons, isn't it?

 

[amraeder]

Agreed, Ex. Don't have a dog in the fight, but I'll be rooting hard for the Royals in game 2.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Remember every last second of it.

A three-generation World Series trip. That's incredible. My dad didn't make it until my son was old enough to start going to games. But his presence is so heavy every time my little guy, all of 5, lovingly scores a White Sox home run on his scorecard that there have been times I have to take a deep breath to collect myself.

Fathers and sons is right. We played in the yard tonight until it was too dark to see the damned ball. And then we read about Babe Ruth before bed.

You're going to have a great night.

 

[old_tony]

A great story gets even better. Take some pictures, and even though the history isn't great, don't be afraid to give Dad a hug. It's never too late to work on a relationship.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Have fun, Ex. It will be a night you all will remember forever.

 

[Songbird]

Idea: arrange to have peanuts and Cracker Jack sent to your dad's seat in the first or second inning. Little things.