Friday, August 7, 2009

Now, Real Baseball Begins

I expect a vociferous outpouring of emotion from Yankee callers today and rightly so. Mike will be sure to warn against burying the Boston Youks but Yankee fans will be unyielding in their praise and arrogance. Good for them. Boston is fielding a subpar team and pitching corpses and the Yanks are fielding a team that's clicking right now. From where I sit, this race could turn very ugly, very fast if Beckett can't hold down that offense tonight.

What I want to know is, if Youk had taken a HR away last night with a dazzling defensive play, would Mike proclaim him to be the best player ever? Would he have been fanning himself with a hot dog wrapper because it made him hot?

I heard Tim McCarver on M & M this AM. In "analyzing" the NL playoff teams he mentioned that the best thing the 2009 Phillies have going for them is that they won the World Series in 2008. Not Cliff Lee, not Hamels, not the 4 monsters in the middle of the line-up. No, none of that. Best thing is that the 2008 Phillies are the reigning world champs. Better analysis could be gotten from Tim Russo.

Happy Friday boys. Weather is perfect for good baseball. Enjoy.

28 comments:

Whatdoyouhave? said...

He was fawning over Youk just actually playing in left, so I have to agree - if he made a great play last night we never would've heard the end of it.

Big win last night but I don't know if a 13-6 win could have been any more frustrating. 12 walks? 7 by Joba in 5 innings and 100+ pitches when they're trying to limit his throws? Very annoying to watch. But good job by the lineup against that senior citizen they threw out there

KBilly said...

I thought "Real Baseball" began in April...

KBilly said...

What the hell have I been watching for the past 4 months???

Oh, it was the Mets. My bad.

Whatdoyouhave? said...

OMG I can't stand this guy and his Red Sox love affair

He literally sounds like a whining Red Sox fan now. Bringing up salary now in his whiney voice

Anonymous said...

Whatdoyouhave...He did have a point though. Steve from Bayside was calling like a misinformed NYY fan. Comparing the NYY payroll with any other MLB team is stupid.

BTW, the Pope has spoken. Drugs are ruining the country and all of our sports. Some of his horses are in rehab. I bet if I did drugs I'd be pissed about all this.

Whatdoyouhave? said...

TO quote Mike, "I understand that." - Mike has always in years past said that salary amongst Yanks, Red Sox, Mets, etc shouldn't be a discussion though, b/c they are all so much higher than rest of the league. Now that that argument doesn't work because he's been extolling the virtues of the Red Sox and Theo all year long, he simply flips it. That's what bothers me about his argument. He seriously has been all over the Sox all year - it made him feel smart to not agree with other Yankee fans who had blind faith in the Yanks - and now that he might be wrong he uses the argument he has dismissed for years. Mike is what bothers me - not the salary argument. "I understand" the Yanks spend way more than all other teams, including the Sawx

Anonymous said...

I see...I always just think of his love for the Sawx as his way to jinx them. Like, if I keep saying nice things about them and act like I like them, they'll perform poorly. I don't know. I will tell you that the next time someone says Pedroia is a little guy with a big swing I'm gonna go Paul O'Neill all over my beer fridge. Jeez, we get it. He's small and he swings hard.

Whatdoyouhave? said...

Haha - yeah I hear you. Youkilis and Pedroia are now like the working-men heroes of the Sox which is almost more annoying than the group of Pedro, Millar, Trot Nixon, etc. But I heard Pedroia on Joe and Evan this morning and I actually liked him. Sounded like a good guy, not a jackass, etc. But yeah, enough about his size. He was touting a book he wrote called "Born to Play" - ridiculous title and writing a book after being in the league for 3 years? Blah

Do we need all this racing talk?

Loki said...

Burnett will dominate tonight. I hope Beckett throws at Jeter tonight so Burnett can plunk Pedroia's head off. Good shit.

Beautiful beach weather as well. I'm down in Wildwood.

AwesomeSean said...

Loki...your are only 19 bro. No adult bevvies bro. Make sure you wear your fancy Bon Jovi shirt when cruising the arcades on the boardwalk.

Loki said...

Saving the Bon Jovi shirt for Saturday night. But no adult beverages is alright, the citric acid in orange juice tends to do the trick for me.

Loki said...

This game needs to end.

Loki said...

and ttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees WIN!

bigjf said...

Have a great time Loki, I was just thinking the other day about when my family used to take me on vacations to Wildwood. I'd like to go back there someday soon. As much fun as I had as a kid, I'm sure it's better as an adult...

As for Tim McCarver, I think he does the best he can to make the ESPN crew look like geniuses. If it isn't about Bob Gibson, McCarver is clueless. In fact, I will argue that being the 2008 World Champs could be a detriment to the Phils. I don't think it's a factor anymore, but early on in the season they were definitely a complacent bunch, playing a blah brand of baseball. Now, the other teams have basically handed them the division, and it never hurts to add Cliff Lee to that rotation in the playoffs. I would not be surprised to see them back there, but it will have very little to do with what they did last year.

As for last night's ballgame, wow! It actually started while I was at work, so I got home by the 7th. I'm thrilled the Yanks won, but that was one of the greatest games I've seen. YES finally has a real Yankees Classic on their hands. Unfortunately, they will ruin it by playing it 2 weeks from now, rather than waiting a year or so. I guess they're dying to pile on classic wins from the new stadium, as though I'm going to forget the old girl.

Anonymous said...

You give the YES network too much credit bigjf! I'm sure they will re-play last nights game as a Yankee classic before this weekend is out.

It was a great game though and deserving of "classic" status. Opposite of you I saw the first 7 innings before moving on to other TV. I'm actually somewhat happy for Arod. I have mixed feelings towards him as a player and human being but a lot of that can be put to rest if he puts his post season demons to rest and it looks like this may be the year he does that.

I basically spent my childhood summers down in Wildwood and the memories were so good that I spent most of my vacation time in my 20's there as well. I have'nt been there in 10 years but am going in another week. I know it was starting to change drastically(for both better and worse)and those who still go yearly tell me I won't recognize it anymore but that it is still great.

I'm semi retired and would love to find a place to fully retire near the boardwalk.

If I don't recover some of my stock market losses you may find me living under the boardwalk. LOL

JD

Loki said...

JD, there is a massive condo complex next door to my hotel. Prices start at $2 million and go up to $5 million.

Anonymous said...

Loki,

I heard Wildwood is now mostly condos. It sucks that they are tearing down so many of the old hotels.

I guess it would'nt be so bad if they built some within my price range.

Unless you have a hot stock tip for me I doubt the market will be kind enough for me to get into one of those 2-5 million dollar beauties.

JD

Loki said...

JD, WildWood seems to have soldout for the most part. The hotel we stayed at in the early 2000s has turned into condos. The one I was referring to is brand new and probably the best you can find here, so just put the prices into perspective. Either way, one of the most popular attractions down here is Shipwreck Island (mini golf). We found out when we got here that they were bought out by Walgreens. Now there is a walgreens with a CVS right next door with an ACME right next to that. It's unbelievable.

bigjf said...

YES ran that game from last night like 4 times today. They even pre-empted the new episode of Centerstage with Bill Russell. Yeah, I guess it will be on as a Classic by the next off day.

How's the old boardwalk scene looking these days?

gman26 said...

Fucking Jersey lovefest on this site today. What's next? Soprano quotes and forgetaboutits? Will there be some sort of discussion on Kevin Smith as an auteur director? The Jersey Devil - myth or fact?

Hey Awesome. Isn't Playland great? Hey, I went to high school with Matt Dillon at Mamaroneck.

Loki said...

There ain't no scene till I walk onto the scene.

bigjf said...

I'm not even supposed to be here today!

Loki said...

Well where you supposed to be at?

Continuing with the Jersey love fest, anybody a fan of Cape May?

Anonymous said...

Cape May is ok. I've chartered many fishing boats out of there thru the years and gotten drunk at the Lobster House and other bars.

How do you think I feel Loki-- My favorite memories of Wildwood are from the 60's/70's so Wildwood was already changing and selling out by the 90's and 2000's.

Some people call it progress?

As long as there is still a beach and boardwalk it's all good in my book.

JD

Sam said...

i didn't listen to Mike much on Thurs & Fri - did he talk ata all about his buddy, Omar, and what a disgrace he was recently? Or did he downplay it like he usually does when his 'friends' screw up?

bigjf said...

I got a hockey game this afternoon.

Whatdoyouhave? said...

Is Loki too young to recognize Clerks quotes?

Wow lot of weekend action here. Little too much Jersey lovefest for a born Long Islander, but I appreciate good times down the Jersey shore

bigjf said...

I'm 24, so if Loki is too young, then I feel very old.

I'm from LI myself, but yeah Jersey got some love this weekend.