So, game three. In keeping with this week’s tradition, this post is a 100% neutral open thread regarding the baseball event. ⚾️ May the best team win!
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So, game three. In keeping with this week’s tradition, this post is a 100% neutral open thread regarding the baseball event. ⚾️ May the best team win!
Comments are closed.
SiubhanDuinne
Tonight, I’d like to be at Wrigley.
Bigly.
SFAW
Let’s Go Mets!!
JPL
As the crow flies, the high school is close enough to listen to the gun/cannon, when they score a touchdown. The game started at 7:30 and there has been five loud booms. The mutt has retired to his crate.
redshirt
You did reverse your jinx with this technique, Betty, so maybe it will work again.
hovercraft
Can I keep bitching about the SCANDAL coverage here, or are you going to give us a separate open thread?
Mary G
I’ve been pretty blah about the whole thing, but the distraction is welcome, except for all the damn commercials about California propositions. Shut up I already voted.
Cacti
Useless fact of the night:
With the series at 1-1, and the World Series venues set at 2-3-2, the only way the Cubs celebrate a WS win at Wrigley is to win out.
Related opinion: Letting the all-star game decide World Series home field advantage is moronic.
NotMax
Baseball still going on? Jeeze, I can see November from my house.
;)
the Conster, la Citoyenne
As a Red Sox fan I keep changing allegiances between wanting Theo to break two curses in his young life, and a deep fondness for Terry Francona and his managerial skills handling all these weird superstitious manbabies who only know baseball. Tonight, I’m on team Terry, and on Wednesday I was on team Theo. Both fan bases are worthy and I’m glad I’m not invested, because I know what it feels like to live and die with every pitch.
Betty Cracker
@hovercraft: Knock yerself out here. ?
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Beautifully said.
Cacti
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
As a Cardinals fan, it frigging kills me that we could have hired Francona after La Russa stepped down, but went with Mike Matheny instead. (facepalm)
redshirt
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I feel the same. So I go to secondary reasons. Cubs ownership is Trump supporting wingnuts. Cleveland has one of the worst mascots/team names in all sports. Chicago has a history of winning in other sports, Cleveland just won something for the first time in a long, long time.
Chicago is the favorite, Cleveland the underdog.
Given all that, I’m “rooting” for Cleveland.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cacti:
I agree.
Darkrose
@Cacti: Yes, I agree. It should either alternate, or be based on which team has the best record.
rikyrah
Go Cubs ???
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Cacti:
Terry Francona is a true mensch. His mentorship of Jon Lester through his cancer diagnosis was a thing of beauty. It must be odd for Terry to see how his influence on these players evolve over time.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah: ⚾️⚾️⚾️
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Mingobat trivia: upon finding my biological parents when I was 24, I learned that I have tons of relatives/ancestors from northern Illinois. In honor of the version of me living in the parallel universe where I wasn’t adopted by Brooklyn Italians, go Cubs!
raven
Anyone else’s audio breaking up?
Cacti
Since it’s a sports open thread:
11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater says 2017 will be his final year on the pro circuit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
Cool story, and as good a reason as any I’ve heard to determine one’s allegiance to a team. Go Cubs!!
humboldtblue
My sister is about six blocks away from Wrigleyville hanging out at Big Joe’s 2 and 6. The turtle races start at 9 CMT.
piratedan
@efgoldman: was just over at LGF and someone posted a tweet where the DOJ has now recived a complaint against Comey for professional misconduct in regards to interfering with a Presidential election… story over at politicsususa.com. Possible violation of the Hatch Act. Now this isn’t the DOJ itself, just that someone on the Dem side is acting on it.
Cacti
Both teams look nervous so far (to me).
By game 3, most of the nerves should be gone. But a lot of psychological baggage carried by both franchises.
raven
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: I was born in Urbana, my dad and his dad in Chicago. All my life it was Illinois. The I find out I have a confederate ancestor who fought with the 11th Tennessee all the way down from Chattanooga and was killed at the Battle of Atlanta at I-20 and Boulevard. My wife is going to a Halloween event at Oakland Cemetery tomorrow and, from the best I can tell, my ancestor is buried there.
Betty Cracker
When did the extended chin protection batting helmet thingies become a thing? I don’t remember it last year.
Peale
@Darkrose: or be played in a neutral field. They could play the series in Miller park. Conveniently it’s unused and available every year about this time.
raven
@Betty Cracker: When Heyward came back from taking the pitch to the face.
Cacti
@raven:
Until last year, I had thought that all of my civil war ancestors fought for the bad side (Texas and North Carolina). Then I discovered a gr-gr-gr grandfather this past year who served in the 19th Missouri Union Infantry…and was also at the Battle of Atlanta, on Sherman’s side.
raven
Mike J
@hovercraft: I thought it was on hiatus until January. At least that’s what I thought Josh Malina said on his podcast. I don’t watch it.
raven
@Cacti: Did he survive?
Cacti
@raven:
He did.
Survived the war and lived to be an old man. Fortunate for his family, because he had a wife and 3 kids when he volunteered.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@raven: My ancestors on my biological mother’s side are the Midwesterners. They worked they way from the East Coast starting in the 1600s — I’m a direct descendant of a Revolutionary War veteran.
I don’t know if you ever heard of the Moews Seed Company near Rockford — I’m related to them somehow. I think I’m descended from the founder.
Joel
I’m fairly ambivalent. If it weren’t for the racist mascot and the knuckle draggers that embrace it, I’d pull for Cleveland. Terry Francona was unfairly run out of town in Boston. Epstein left on his own accord.
raven
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: Nice
raven
@Cacti: I wonder if he ended up in another regiment, it happened quite a bit.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Thanks! I figured it was something traumatic.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Oh it was awful, almost as bad as “The HawK”. When they found out it didn’t hurt his hitting more people adopted it.
Cacti
@raven:
I got the number wrong. It was the 18th Missouri. He joined at the beginning of 1864, so he saw action in Georgia, but missed Shiloh.
raven
@Cacti: Ah, got it. He was in the entire Atlanta Campaign.
jk
@Cacti:
Agreed. Tying the winner of the All-Star game to home field advantage for the World Series is indefensible and Rob Manfred is an asshole if he does not rectify this insane bullshit.
My proposal for determining home field advantage for the World Series:
1. Give home field advantage to the team that wins the most games during the regular season.
2. If both teams finish the season with the same number of wins, give home field advantage to the team that has won the most games on the road.
3. If both teams finish the season with the same number of total wins and road wins, give home field advantage to the team that spent the most days of the season occupying 1st place in their division.
4. If both teams spent the same number of days occupying 1st place, give home field advantage to the team that finished the season the greater number of games ahead of their 2nd place rival.
5. In the unlikely event, both teams finish the regular season tied with respect to the 4 previously mentioned metrics, flip a coin to determine home field advantage.
Another issue, Manfred should address is the DH rule. It’s time for the National League to adopt it. Having 2 leagues play the game under 2 separate set of rules is just as crazy as tying WS home field advantage to the winner of the All Star game.
Darkrose
Is anyone here watching “Pitch”? I did a mini-binge on the first four episodes last night and have mixed feelings. I love the concept, and I think the casting was well-done. I’m just terrified that they’re going to try to force a romance between the pitcher and her catcher, which would be awful on many levels. I do think it’s interesting that MLB has clearly put their stamp of approval on the concept; I wonder if this means that at some point, we may indeed see a woman in MLB.
raven
@Cacti: Have you seen And Lee’s “Ride With the Devil” about the Missouri Bushwhackers, a Confederate irregular outfit? I thought it was really good but it didn’t get great reviews.
divF
@Betty Cracker: Those go back a ways. Terry Steinbach (A’s catcher around 1990) wore one, for the same reason Heyward does.
patroclus
Scoreless into the 4th. Go Cubbies!
Ride with the Devil is one of my all-time favorite movies. Pitt Mackeson is a great villain. Dem Yankees had no sense of propriety or station.
Betty Cracker
@Darkrose: Haven’t seen it yet, but I thought the premise was interesting.
Peale
@jk: 4 should be fewest games over 2nd place rival. That’s a team in a tougher division.
Anoniminous
52 comments in and no one has mentioned Hamilton?
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: Correction — not a direct descendant of the Moews Seed founder. He’s in the family tree somewhere, though.
Just in case anyone needed that info.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Giancarlo Stanton’s mask not a first
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Anoniminous: I’m seeing it twice in New York next summer, and I just signed up to be notified when London tickets go on sale because why not? Also too: Lin-Manuel Miranda is what happens when you cross Shakespeare with a puppy.
(Couldn’t resist.)
raven
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: “Illini Super corn” later calle Illini Super Sweet!
Kathleen
Because I live in Ohio and have family roots in Cleveland (my grandfather and his 2 brothers ended up there after arriving from Ireland via Baltimore), I’m rooting for Cleveland, though I wouldn’t mind seeing Cubs win either. It’s nice to have an all midwest series. I think it drives the national sportscasters/media bonkers when one of the teams aren’t from either coast. I’ll probably be dead before the Reds go over 500 much less play in a World Series again (thank you, St. Louis Cardinals secret Reds saboteur Walt Jocketty. Brian Price? Really?)
different-church-lady
@Cacti:
WORD. The rotting corpse of Bud Selig completely over-reacted and now the All-Star Game is a grim, joyless exercise.
jk
@Peale:
That’s an interesting idea. The sad thing about this WS home field advantage being tied to the All Star game winner is that it was done as a gimmick to boost the Nielsen ratings for the All Star game.
different-church-lady
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Has a general manager ever made the Hall of Fame?
Dog Dawg Damn
God baseball is boring
different-church-lady
I’m listening, not watching, and the radio guys are making it sound like the home plate ump is having a very rough night.
raven
@Dog Dawg Damn: It so is! Tomorrow night will be better because FSU Clemson will be on at the same time and watching them both will be just right,
Betty Cracker
@different-church-lady: Bud Selig! What a piece of shit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dog Dawg Damn: Don’t watch it then. I’m not.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@different-church-lady:
Branch Rickey is the only one off the top of my head.
Betty Cracker
@raven: I’m going to a fancy party in Miami tomorrow, so I doubt I’ll see anything more than clips of the WS and FSU-Clemson. But I told them I was watching Fl-Ga if hell freezes over!
raven
@Betty Cracker: We don’t stand a chance.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: Thank goodness it was Gasper — I was very worried there for a moment that Shaughnessy might have said something sensible.
Betty Cracker
@raven: I think you do! Gators have been inconsistent. I’m nervous about it.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Cacti: I’m an Expos fan, so I am pretty near the front of the line for “Who hates Bud Selig more”.
That said, this WS home field advantage is another one of his brilliant ideas, right?
The obvious stakes for the All Star game should be, Winner’s league hosts it four years from now.
Kropadope
I just read some of the most backhanded ref working I’ve ever seen, courtesy of McArgleBargle,
My takeaway from the article is that since “conservative” media personalities can’t argue their own it’s the job of the rest of the media to do it for them. Simple undue credulity from the “liberal” media isn’t enough I guess.
raven
Area tag at second!
different-church-lady
On the radio broadcast, Wells Fargo is repeating a “We’re going to atone, we’re going to do better, please forgive us” commercial over and over and over again.
Kropadope
So why should we believe that the new Hillary e-mails found on Anthony Weiner’s computer will be any more incriminating than the thousands of others they already found? Are they afraid he used classified information as a backdrop for his dick?
Comey’s probably just pissed he didn’t find anything to pin on Hillary so he made a political play.
different-church-lady
Jeez… a double switch in a scoreless game in the 5th?
PaulWartenberg2016
Am watching the Bulls/Navy game instead.
USF’s offense is beating Navy at its own game of running the damn ball like madmen, close to 400 yards plus on the ground. Still a close game though with Bulls up 52-33 with 7 minutes to go.
raven
@PaulWartenberg2016: That’s a close game? Gimme a break.
different-church-lady
@raven: College football games average 93 points per side nowadays.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
So glad I don’t have a rooting interest in the outcome, because this game is NERVEWRACKING.
jk
Fuck the Cleveland Indians.
Darkrose
@efgoldman: God Bless America is played during the 7th inning on Sunday games. I hate it. #NoGBAinMLB
jk
@efgoldman:
Take me out to the Ballgame at Wrigley is easily the least offensive of the three.
Steve in the ATL
@jk:
You were doing so well up until this point…
jk
@efgoldman:
I heard some sportswriters on WFAN say that sinking tv ratings for the All Star game was a factor in the decision to tie the outcome of this game to home field advantage for the WS.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@efgoldman: Mike Francesa, New York’s idiot brother-in-law. Ugh.
jk
Fuck the Cleveland Indians, James Comey, and Anthony Weiner.
jk
@efgoldman: @Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
There’s more to WFAN than Francesa and he’s retiring in a little over a year.
jk
The Cubs have lost a World Series game 1-0 once before- in 1918 when they lost to the Red Sox. The winning pitcher that day: Babe Ruth.
h/t ESPN
burnspbesq
@jk:
You got that exactly backwards, my friend. The only thing worse than the DH is Original Sin.
burnspbesq
@jk: ”
Nuke the Fan and WOR. it is profoundly offensive for the Mets’ flagship station to also carry Limbaugh and Hannity. The Fan has never not sucked, even for one day.
frosty
@efgoldman:
Well, in Baltimore we get “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”. Dunno why, maybe all the WWI workers from WV still here? On Fridays, Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (so I’ve read), since the owners kind of dislike the faux patriotism.
Cacti
@raven:
I have not, but I’ve heard about it. Will have to check it out sometime. The Bushwacker-Jayhawker wars get surprisingly little attention in the popular culture, considering Bleeding Kansas was the prelude to Ft. Sumter.
janelle
@jk: I would make Tiebreaker #3 whichever team had the best interleague record for the season, and then go to “most days in first place” as the next tiebreaker.
FWIW, had Selig never created the idiotic All-Star Game rule and the World Series home field advantage was still on the previous system, the Cubs still wouldn’t have HFA in this series. The NL had it in odd years and the AL had it in even years from 1995-2002 (the year of the tied All-Star Game). Prior to the 1994 strike and World Series cancellation, the years were flipped, with NL having HFA in even years and AL in odd years.
EriktheRed
Well, that sucked.