66 new of 109 responses total.
Kim beating the Yankees in game 7 sure would be a sight to see. But if the Yankees beat him instead, I don't know if I could take it - I nearly threw something at the television the last two times.
Well, just with those two losses, there's a chance that he'll never recover. Some pitchers just don't make it back from bad blown saves, and he's young enough that this could really affect his future. I don't think i tmatters if he loses another game or not as far as that goes.
There have been 5 games played so far, and so far, each one has been won by the home team. I don't think Arizona is in despair just yet.
Game 6: So when did Fox decide to start televising batting practice?
Arizona absolutely killed the Yankees today. I didn't see any of the game, tied up with "other obligations," but it was impressive to see. Tomorrow, the Yankees could become the second team to be totally outnumbered in major statistical categories in a World Series and win, along with the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat... the Yankees. Actually, their stats (specifically, they trail in runs scored by a decided amount) probably aren't as lopsided. As of 1990, the Pirates had the highest ERA in World Series history, and won.
Did I just hear that we have a World Series Champion? And it's not the Yankees? Somewhere up there, somone said something about the home team always winning. Is that what happened this series? Did neither team win on the road?
That is indeed what happened. The Diamondbacks won game 7 as Mariano Rivera finally came unravelled in the ninth inning. Former Tiger Luis Gonzales batted in the winning run. The Yankees looked really bummed on the bench - seems they can dish it out but they can't take it. I say, Sayonara!
This was the best World Series I've ever seen.
It really was something. It was only the second time in 25 chances that Rivera has blown a save. I didn't think Arizona had a chance after the fifth game.
The breaking news is that the baseball owners have voted to fold two teams before the start of the 2002 season. The teams are to be named later. Speculation centers on Montreal, the Florida Marlins and the Minnesota Twins -- the Twins owner is practically begging to be paid off and put out of business.
Wow. "Before the start of the 2002 season." I didn't think it could happen that quickly. Here's an interesting quote from Selig: "There were a lot of people in the game who were in favor of four-team contraction." The previous latest news on this topic, by the way, is that Selig had the votes to disband both the Expos and the Minnesota Twins. Either Arizona or Tampa Bay can, by contract, be moved from one league to the other without their consent, and the speculation is Arizona will move to the AL West, and Texas will move to the AL Central.
No solid word on the teams involved, though Montreal is obviously one of them. Removing the Twins from Minnesota will be a travesty--with all the discussion of owner switching, why not just remove Pohldad and move an owner to Minnesota? Despicable, awful, and evil are words I would use to describe Major League Baseball if the Twins are not playing baseball next year. Careless, obnoxious, and close-minded are ones I enjoy now as it is, but if there are no Minnesota Twins next season (either by contraction or strike or, worse, both), I'm going to have a hard time watching a sport which cares about its fans in a fashion resembling OJ Simpson's "love" for Nicole Brown. No sport disrespects, ignores, and abuses its fans like Major League Baseball. No sport is further out of touch from what makes it great than Major League Baseball.
I really don't get why contraction makes sense, when there are cities like Washington that have been desperate for a team for years and years. (Heck, the Twins used to be the Washington Senators. Why not just move them back?)
It has been accepted as fact for some years now that talent in baseball is dilutted, particularly pitching. This is held partially responsible for the explosion of offensive numbers in recent seasons. After all, put good lineups against good pitchers (Red Sox against Clemens, Yankees against pedro, the entire World Series), and games are lower scoring.
Well, then raise the mound, or enlarge the strike zone. Why take away teams?
resp:56 :: The Baltimore Orioles are dead-set against moving another team back to DC. The arrival of the Orioles (the former St. Louis Browns, I think) in Baltimore led pretty directly to the departure of the first Senators team to Minnesota a few years later, and the second Senators team to Texas a decade after that. If somehow another team would move to Washington, one would want it to be a National League team so that each team would have a different set of visiting stars. Washington has been fantasizing about getting the Expos for years. What I don't understand is why the Minnesota owner is practically begging to be bought out and shut down.
Is he serious about it or is it a stadium negotiation ploy?
It could be a negotiating ploy on the stadium; it could also be that MLB is willing to make an example of the Twins to increase its leverage on other cities where they are demanding new stadiums. To steal from the Toronto Globe and Mail: unfortunately this is about the worst time for MLB to be trying to twist the arms of cities over new stadiums. City and state governments are caught in a huge revenue crunch. When necessities like school budgets are going to be cut, there is going to be little political willingness for taxpayers to buy stadiums for privately owned sports teams.
The baseball owners are willing to pay off a couple of teams for maybe $250 million each because that way they will avoid about $75 million per year in revenue sharing costs. (I think that's per team as well.) Also, it will reduce the demand for players a little, and so reduce labor costs a little. Also, at present, when the commissioner tells a city to build a new stadium or risk losing their ball club, the cities sometimes don't listen enough. You can be sure, if there is contraction, then when the commissioner threatens a 3rd city with losing it's ball club, that city will get very concerned. Senna has some great comments in #55, regarding baseball and it's relationship with baseball fans. re #59: The Minnesota Twins are worth maybe $100 million. The Expos are worth much less than that. Baseball is offering the owners maybe $250 million, so their motivation is obvious. The owners of both teams will likely use their new stash to purchase other teams which are for sale, so the origin of support from teams who want to sell becomes more clear. It's trickle down economics on a really grand scale.
I wish that Ilitch would use this opportunity to sell the Tigers, but I don't think that's going to happen.
The Twins and Expos have been struggling for a long time. Even more troubling is the fact that two of the other teams on the potential eliminiation list are the Marlins and the Devil Rays. Both are recent expansion teams in cities where the fans waited years, decades, to get major league baseball. It would be cruel to take their teams away so soon after they got them. But the Devil Rays are locked into a thirty year lease at Tropicana field (formerly the Florida Suncoast Dome). This dome was built before Tampa got a team, and against the advice of the league. They were told that a big cold domed stadium just doesnt work aesthetically anymore for baseball, not with all the fancy new stadiums out there. Particularly in a place like Tampa where the weather is usually beautiful. The fans just dont want to leave the gorgeous tampa afternoon sunshine to go inside an air conditioned dome, particularly to watch a losing team. Now Tampa's ownership realizes the dome was a huge mistake, but since they cant get out of the lease, they want out period. The owners in Tampa have expressed interest in giving up that franchise and buying the Anaheim Angels, who may be for sale. Valid reasons but none of that have anything to do with Tampa's baseball fans, who would be victimized. The Marlins in Miami is another situation. Miami is a great town for baseball. They won a world title a few years ago. But the year after the Marlins won the title, the roster was all but disbanded, as ownership decided they couldnt afford to keep the stars together without a new stadium. Without top players, the Marlins have languished in the cellar the last few years and crowds have dwindled. who wants to pay to see a loser? Major League Baseball cant take the pr damage they'd get from eliminating both teams in Florida so soon after they started. They need to keep at least one of those teams. Maybe they could shut down Tampa and keep the Marlins, and make the Marlins play a handful of games each year up at the dome in Tampa. After all they are the "Florida" Marlins, not just the Miami Marlins.
How are either of these great towns for baseball? They don't draw. Colorado has been midtable since it was founded, and draws. Florida and Tampa don't draw fans, except when one of them buys a title--but only Atlanta fans don't show up when their team is winning, in any sport. The Twins have far better fans and far more history than either of those franchises.
I never thought that Florida was such a great baseball state, either. It's football down there, baby. If contraction makes it easier to achieve parity, then I'm all for it. I'm afraid, however, that without a salary cap of some kind, contraction isn't going to do much.
There are also rumors that the players are unhappy with a contraction. If they strike again it's probably all over for baseball. It took juicing the ball and creating a string of home-run records to get fans back after the last strike.
There are more than "rumors" that the players aren't happy. The player's union is very open about that. There would be 48 major league positions removed, and about 250 minor league players would lose their jobs. Of course the player's association is talking about the street vendors and ushers who would lose their jobs, and the bars, restaurants and memorabilia shops which would close, and the local kids who would be heartbroken. The commissioner has pledged that the owners will not have a lockout in response to negotiations over the next contract. (The strike which cancelled the World Series in 1994 was really a lockout. Not that it matters; it was a pre-emptive attack. There would have been a strike anyway.) If this is true, it's mildly good news; it reduces the chance of games being cancelled next spring by some slight amount. Optimistically speaking. Another strike which cancels the World Series would possibly kill baseball. (It would end it for me. I didn't watch baseball for a few years after the 1994 strike.) A strike which cancels a whole season -- which is possible -- would probably do it in altogether. But a "normal" strike which postpones the start of the season for a month, or splits the season in the middle, would probably be survivable. It would be damaging... It's necessary for baseball analysts to discuss these types of scenarios because all sides in baseball -- owners, players, umpires -- are self-destructive and intent on seeing just how close to the edge of obliteration they can take the sport.
I notice that very little hoopla is being made over Montreal. Perhaps the best course would be to drop the number of teams to close to 1 and just dump the Expos. Jeb Bush displayed his wonderful skill at math, by the way, when he said that MLB was telling "two teams they could live, and two teams they would die," when there are five teams on the "short list" being bandied about as likely to die. Or maybe he's just forgotten about Montreal, with the rest of the world. ;} Either way, if he had a hand in the election counting, it's no wonder the numbers didn't add up right.
If teams are eliminated, the league will attempt to calm the union down by expanding the rosters of the other teams. If the union's big concern is lost jobs, adding two or three player spots to each roster will solve that. There are legitimate reasons for contraction. If these markets arent supporting baseball, the owners there cant afford to field competitive teams. The competitive balance in the league just isnt there. Interestingly, if they do eliminate two teams, they say that there will have to be re-alignment. At least one team will have to switch from the national to the american league. And the team talked about as being by far the most likely to be ordered by ownership to switch leagues? Yep, the Arizona Diamondbacks. It is not out of the question that the national league (and world) champions will be defending their title in the american league next year. Supposedly this is because the DBacks expansion contract with the league, allows for the league to move it without its permission until the end of 2002. Naturally, Arizona ownership is steaming mad about the possibility. Their natural rivalries are the Dodgers, the Rockies, the Astros, the Padres. All NL teams.
there is a stadium contract problem for minnesota, as i have read it. if there is another (assholes) strike, baseball dies, period.
Arizona has no rivalries, they're only four years old.
Arizona and Tampa Bay can be moved by MLB without their permission, as part of their contract for entry into major league baseball. They need to keep an even number of teams in each league so they don't have to have an inter-league game every day in order to keep all the teams playing almost every day. Baseball teams get a lot of their attendance on Sundays; it would be bad to have a team not play on a couple of Sundays during the year. So, if one team is removed from each league (Montreal Expos from the NL, Minnesota from the AL), there would be 13 teams in the AL and 15 in the NL. It makes more sense to move Arizona (from the NL) rather than Tampa Bay (from the AL). It balances the two leagues with 14 teams, it avoids having 2 NL teams in the state of Florida, it works out better in almost every way. Arizona is concerned about a lot of things if it has to change leagues. Another concern is that it would be in the same division as the Mariners and Oakland A's (who are highly competitive), as well as the weak-drawing Angels. It would be in a 4 team division instead of a 5 team division, which with the current unbalanced schedule means more games against less teams, decreasing the variety seen by it's fans. Arizona is a National League team. Note they didn't win any games against the Yankees when playing under American League rules, with a DH. From their point of view, they have a good thing going and don't want to change it.
I wonder, when Montreal is canned, will the Pittsburg Pirates be moved to the NL East? It's a little weird to have a team in a state which borders on the Atlantic Ocean not be in the eastern division of their league. But maybe it'd be too weird to have two teams in the same state in the same division.
Aren't there at least two Cali teams in the same division?
if they dont move arizona to the american league, they could in theory move the Tigers to the NL Central, and move Pittsburgh to the NL east. The Tigers could be revitalized by being in the national league. And they'd have natural rivalries in the NL Central with the Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, and Brewers. They could be promised as incentive that they'd get their interleague games each year against the White Sox and Indians.
re #75: California is a bigger state than Pennsylvania. The Anaheim Angels and Oakland A's are in the AL West; the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Los Angelos Dodgers are all in the NL West. re #76: You'd have 12 teams in the AL and 16 in the NL. Also, as a founding member of the American League, there's no chance that Detroit is going into the National League. None. Zilch. Not ever.
(But then the Washington Senators were a founding member, too. And they're now the Twins.)
#77> I thought your relevant point was proximity, though. The five Cali teams aren't spread out evenly, they're clumped together.
2 clumps, about 300 plus miles apart, LA & SF.
that's what I thought, but I didn't want to specify the number of clumps because my Cali geography is so crappy ;}
(And speaking of geography... to correct jep in resp:74 :: Pennsylvania does not border on the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern border of Pennsylvania is the Delaware River, and there's a whole state of New Jersey between there and the ocean. So, having the Pirates in the Central division makes perfect sense! :) )
Its being widely reported that the two teams to be eliminated are supposed to be the Twins and the Expos. But to make matters worse for Minnesota sports fans, there was a report on Sportscenter that the Vikings ownership-- also fed up with lack of progress on a new stadium-- may entertain offers to sell the team to new owners who want to move the team to L.A. The LA Vikings? Well, I guess if you can have the St. Louis Rams, you can have anything. It would have precedent though, as Minneapolis was the original home of the Lakers. And the NFL badly wants to get a team in the LA market before the current tv deals expire. I think its completely understandable that the Minnesota taxpayers dont want to pay for new stadiums in the current economic climate, but it is also perfectly understandable that the owners want to do whats best for their business interests. The Twins owners, the Pohlads, cant be blamed if they want to take the $250 million buyout and get out, rather than go forward continuing to lose money every year.
Did you watch that entire report? The reporter was skeptical that anything would happen with that, with good reason.
Mark McGwire has announced his retirement. He said he couldn't contribute as much as his salary any more. McGwire made some pretty bitter sounding remarks during Barry Bonds' home run chase, but appeared to realize it and corrected himself eventually, cheering Bonds on at the end. I think he's a classy guy, at least most of the time.
Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle was the AL rookie of the year, getting all but 1 votes. Last year's rookie of the year was also a Japanese-born player who's with the Mariners; Kazuhiro Sasaki. Albert Pujols of St. Louis was the unanimous choice for NL rookie of the year. He's the 9th guy to be a unanimous rookie of the year choice in the National League.
The Ichiro-worship here in the Seattle area this summer was remarkable. I don't care to speculate what might have happened if "Rookie of the Year" was awarded to someone else..
re #85: Despite the bitter comments, you gotta feel for McGwire. Imagine how it must have felt to see Bonds taking a run at him and not being physically able to do anything about it.
Which bitter comments are you talking about? I know he was skeptical of the media blitz early in the season when Bonds was on a great pace but hadn't reached halfway, but I think that was more a criticism of the media (and a defense for Bonds!) than an attack on Barry. Did he say other things that I don't remember?
I recall him making some pretty bitter sounding comments, about how it took 40 years to break Maris's record and only 3 to break McGwire's, and how breaking it this year wasn't as much of an accomplishment. But then he turned around and changed his tune.
They both owe breaking it to the characteristics of the ball being changed, I suspect.
It's hard to dispute that. Maris also owed his record to changing characteristics at the time, you know; in 1961 there were expansion teams, and also an expanded schedule, from 154 to 162 games. Maris' record had an asterisk in official statistics for quite a number of years. Babe Ruth *was* the changing characteristic which allowed his record of 60 homers. He fundamentally changed the game of baseball by hitting so many home runs in his career. Before Ruth, homers were an unremarked- upon oddity; considered as more or less a flashy personal display and not an accomplishment which contributed much to the team's wins and losses. I'd say the record of Mark McGwire was an individual one -- his team didn't make the playoffs or get anywhere close to it. McGwire hit homers and drew fans, but did nothing else for his team on the field. Barry Bonds had the greatest offensive year in baseball history. He set the record for walks and slugging percentage (bases achieved per time at bat) as well as homers. It's hard to think of someone with his ability, having the extraordinary year he had, as not being recognized for having a dazzling year in any era in baseball history. If he doesn't get the MVP award, it would be one of the most extreme injustices I've ever seen in baseball.
Homers *don't* contribute much to a team's record of wins or losses. They're impressive, but overall consistancy is more important.
That's not true, though. The purpose of the offensive side of baseball is to score runs. Every home run is at least 1 run (and brings in an average of something like 1.6 runs). The home run is the greatest basic weapon available to a baseball team. No team can win in modern baseball without being able to hit homers.
Perhaps, but the best teams still rely on good baseball. The New York Yankees got most of their offense from this World Series and lost. They got most of their offense from past world series from solid baseball, moving runners over, etc, and the record speaks for itself.
I think McGwire did a classy thing. He had a previously negotiated two year extension at $15 million per, which he had kept at home and not signed. He didnt think he could hack it physically anymore. The team had negotiated that deal when he was physically healthier. He wanted to let the team off the hook so they could use the money to sign another free agent or two. He walked away from $30 million because it was the best thing for the team. That's integrity. That said, is McGwire a hall of famer? He'll be up in the same voting class as Ripken and Gwynn and possibly Rickey Henderson.
If the Cardinals were smart, unlike the Tigers, they'd try to keep McGwire involved with the club in some way.
Of course he's a hall of famer. Whether or not all of the available candidates make it on the first ballot is another question.
If McGwire, Gwynn, Ripken and Henderson are all on the same ballot and they don't all make it as 1st time selections, then the selection process is inexcusably flawed. Their accomplishments all obviously stand on their own and place all of them well within the ranks of players qualified for the Hall of Fame. They should all be unanimous selections. But there *is* a good chance they wouldn't all make it on the 1st ballot. And none of them would be unanimous selections. The process is pretty specious. They'll win entry, and be given votes, in this order: Ripken, Gwynn, Henderson, McGwire
You know, even if McGwire's motives were as altruistic as richard is painting, it is possible that he might still be worth that salary even if he isnt as good of a ball player these days. The name recognition alone is worth quite a lot. If he brings fans to the games, he is worth the salary. I mean, I dont watch major league baseball and of the four people jep just mentioned I only know who two of them are: McGwire and Ripken. The only reason I know who Ripken is though is because NPR ran a story about him when he retired. I had never heard of him before that. But I have heard of Mark McGwire and even know what he looks like. He is famous. That kind of name recognition is worth something.
Wow. Sports fans sometimes lose track of the perspective of those who aren't as interested. Don't know who Rickey Henderson, Tony Gwynn or even Cal Ripken *are*? We need a rundown: Mark McGwire -- first man to hit 70 home runs. #6 on all-time home run list with 583. Won World Series with Oakland. Tony Gwynn -- eight batting titles with San Diego. Hit .300 in 18 consecutive years. Hit .368 between 1994-1997, the third highest average in major league history over a 4 year span. He never struck out 4 times in a game; only struck out 3 times in 1 game. 15 All-Star games. Two World Series appearances (1984, 1998) Cal Ripken, Jr. -- Played in 2632 consecutive games, a major league record. One of 7 players with 3000 hits and 400 homers. Most home runs by a shortstop (345). Highest season fielding percentage for a shortstop (.996, 1990). Fewest errors for a shortstop over a season. (3, 1990) 19 All-Star appearances. Rickey Henderson -- All-time leader in stolen bases (1395; only man to ever get 1000), runs scored (2246), leadoff homers (not sure). It's harder to get career information for Rickey Henderson than for other great players. But what he does (get on base, advance to another base, score runs), he is the best there ever was.
Re: Ripkin. You say he hit more than 400 homers, but then say he hit the most HRs for the position of SS (345). Was there a typo, or is this because his homers as a SS only get counted in games where he played as SS? Re: Henderson. "Only man to ever...": I wasn't aware there were females in MLB. >=}
Right, Ripken spent the last few years as a third baseman, so his homers while playing at that position don't count as homers hit by a shortstop. I might have said Henderson was the only "athlete", or "player", or "man", or any of a number of other words, to describe Rickey Henderson. "Man" was the shortest.
Barry Bonds won his record 4th MVP award. He got 30 of 32 1st place votes. (Sammy Sosa got the other two.) I am quite relieved. Bonds had the best offensive year in history. If he hadn't won the MVP award, it would have been a terrible injustice.
#103: But if you'd said "player," you wouldn't have opened yourself up to a Weisenheimer like me making a comment, thus leading you to all taht extra typing you did to explain yourself... ;} OOC, if a player starts a season at SS, spends a third of the season as the DH, then goes back and finishes the season of SS (maybe they have an injury in the middle part of the season), would what they did as DH count as "stuff by a SS"? How about that weird sh-- when a player plays multiple positions in the same game? I'm just nosey. =}
I don't know, if I'd said "player" you might have asked me how many non- players have hit homers in major league baseball history. (That answer would be "none", just as the previous answer was "none.) It was a silly comment, but I'm the idiot for answering it, I guess. If a player plays DH for the middle third of the season, the at-bats for those games would not count as at-bats by a shortstop. I once saw Kirby Puckett, the Hall of Fame Minnesota Twins outfielder, play 2B for a couple of innings. If he'd had an at-bat after changing position from OF to 2B, then that at-bat should not have counted as an at-bat by an outfielder. But probably the official statistics for major league baseball show all of Puckett's at-bats as being those of an outfielder. His at-bats as a DH or 2B or any other positions he played would probably not be considered significant enough to bother with. Players who often play multiple positions in a game are not stars, and their stats are not interesting when discussing the greats of the game. If you can play one position well, then that's your position. No team would mess with your ability by moving you around to different positions. Only scrubs have to play a lot of positions in a single game.
#106, para 1> Best be safe, use "entity" in the future. ;}
Re: #104 re: "travesty" - That's an old debate: MVP is *not* synonymous with "player of the year". Even with all of Barry's homers, the Giants didn't make the playoffs. An excellent case could be made for the key players on Arizona: Johnson, Schilling, Gonzales. I'm sure the sentiment was all for Barry, but his "value" didn't help his team to the playoffs.
re #108: The precedent was set in, I believe, 1987, when Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs won the award. His team finished in last place. Just what was valuable about Dawson's performance? They couldn't have finished in last without him? The Giants almost made it to the playoffs. I don't have much doubt they wouldn't have been as close without him. And for individual seasons, he had the best there ever was offensively, by my definition. He didn't just lead in two of the three Triple Crown stats (homers, RBIs, the 3rd is batting average). He set all time records in those stats, and set the record in walks as well. It's fitting he also set the record for MVP awards; he's the only guy to have 4 of them. It was a season to remember.
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