$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 28, 2006 23:29:29 GMT -5
So here's an LOL. Watching the Phils/Nationals tilt right now...started at 11:30 after a 4 hour rain delay. Should keep me busy till close to 2 this morning. Anyway, they are doing this giant President race, sort of like the infamous sausage race. These guys are in these large President costumes, and race from the outfield fence to the 1B dugout in the middle of the 4th.
Well, it rained all night and the field was reportedly slick. No mishaps in the game so far, cept President Jefferson took a header and went down hard, face first. Funny stuff.
Its also funny to hear the Phillie fans, the only people in the ballpark at this point there in old Washington, hooting and hollering at everything.
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Post by 9 on Sept 29, 2006 7:27:01 GMT -5
President Jefferson was never a mudder. I left him out of my exacta box.
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Post by Chris on Sept 29, 2006 11:38:00 GMT -5
At one point the Angels had Edmonds, Salmon and Anderson in the outfield. That's pretty good.
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Post by Chris on Sept 29, 2006 12:08:29 GMT -5
Some of the tentative 2007 schedules are already posted. How solid are those tentative schedules?
I've posted here and section39 about being excited for a potential Yankees/Dodgers series in the Bronx next year, considering that the AL East is scheduled to play the NL West for interleague play.
I was just checking out the Dodgers tentative 2007 schedule, and aside from the usual Anaheim series, they are only scheduled to play two AL teams - Toronto and Tampa Bay. From the tentative schedule, it looks like they're changing up the way they do interleague play - this time they play those teams in two separate series - one at home and one away. I see no games against the Yankees, Boston, or Baltimore - but a home and away series against each of Toronto and TB. This kinda bums me out. I'm wondering if it will change at all.
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Post by 9 on Sept 29, 2006 12:12:32 GMT -5
That's really strange. If anything, I'd think they'd play two series against a "natural rival," which, obviously, wouldn't count Toronto or Tampa.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 12:15:43 GMT -5
Well, the Padres pussied out against the Yankees. Why play one of the better teams in the AL if you don't have to? They're competing for a division AND a wildcard.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 29, 2006 12:19:50 GMT -5
MLB made the choice to change a Yankee/Padre series to a Yankee/Colorado series to boost attendance for that series in Denver. The Padres balked about it. This was a big hoo-ha a few weeks ago. Not surprised you missed it, Balls, as it would not have been mentioned on Yankees.com and you dont check out any other baseball related sites.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 12:22:32 GMT -5
I read the article and saw no indication that the Padres balked about it. Please provide a link.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 29, 2006 12:33:29 GMT -5
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 12:38:16 GMT -5
That link doesn't work for me.
Boston is a tough team? Since when?
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Post by 9 on Sept 29, 2006 13:13:58 GMT -5
I know this is going to come across as "Yankee mark" material, but there's not a team in the National League that DOESN'T want the Yankees coming into their ballpark for three guaranteed sellouts.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 13:24:02 GMT -5
Except the Padres, who are pussies.
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Post by 9 on Sept 29, 2006 13:31:31 GMT -5
I guess they're exempt because they're still in the honeymoon period with their new ballpark, but I doubt they wouldn't want the Yanks in for three games.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 13:35:00 GMT -5
They fear the Yankees. That's why they pressured MLB to change the schedule.
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Post by 9 on Sept 29, 2006 14:04:14 GMT -5
Methinks you be reaching on this one.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 14:15:00 GMT -5
And methinks the Padres art pussieths.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 29, 2006 14:21:40 GMT -5
Here's that article for those too lazy to quick or those afraid to be proven wrong.
Yankees to visit Denver instead of San Diego, to Padres' chagrin By Tim Sullivan UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER September 22, 2006
The Yankees were coming. And then they were gone.
When the Padres announced their tentative 2007 home schedule on Sept. 7, it featured a three-game visit by the Bronx Bombers. But when the plans were firmed up a few days later, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and associates had been detoured to Denver. Baseball is a business, after all, and the Colorado Rockies have more seats to fill than do the Padres. When in doubt, follow the dollars.
“Everyone wants the money,” said Katy Feeney, baseball's senior vice president for scheduling and club relations. “If they get the money, they can pay more players and be more competitive. . . .
“You can pretty much assume the Yankees are going to be sellouts on the road. The Yankees are a competitive team. They're a historical team. They've got everything that everyone wants.”
When the Yankees last visited San Diego, in 2002, their three-game series attracted a record 165,929 spectators to Qualcomm Stadium. Earlier that same week, the Rockies crammed 146,575 people into Coors Field to bear witness to the Bronx Bombers.
Six games. Average attendance: 52,084. Small wonder, then, that when the Rockies announced their home schedule this week, Troy Renck of the Denver Post compared the Yankees to the Rolling Stones, “the show everybody wants to see.”
When baseball's owners abandoned more than 90 years of horsehide apartheid and embraced interleague play in 1997, the novelty of having the Yankees play in National League parks was a key selling point. As the process has evolved, and divisional matchups began to be rotated, a home series against the Yankees become synonymous with the joyous clang of cash registers and the soft blue glow of credit card confirmations.
Four times in the past five years, the Yankees have led baseball in road attendance. This year, they have played to 85 percent of capacity away from home, averaging 38,506 per game. The Red Sox rank a relatively distant second, averaging 35,889 away from Fenway Park.
Because the Yankees play an annual home-and-home series with the New York Mets, their interleague schedule is limited to two other trips per year. In addition to their trip to Denver, the Yankees will be making their first interleague visit to San Francisco in 2007.
“This is the third time the National League West and American League East have played, so we're trying to get everybody to play who they have not seen,” Feeney explained. “And in the first schedule – that the Padres didn't release – the Yankees were not coming to San Diego. In that schedule, Boston was coming to San Diego.
“The second version was created because Boston had not been to Arizona, so we made the switch to get Boston to Arizona. In that switch, the Yankees came to San Diego. And then we made another switch, basically at the commissioner's request (to accommodate Denver), and that's when the Padres lost the Yankees and got Boston.”
When Feeney made that change to the Padres' home schedule, she also switched the series from midweek (June 19-21) – when attendance traditionally lags – to a weekend (June 22-24). Thus the Padres felt compromised to varying degrees on three different counts – the opponent, the dates and the embarrassment of having to explain the switch to their fans.
“Not that the Red Sox are a bad draw,” General Manager Kevin Towers said, “but the Yankees, I have to think they have a pretty good chance of getting deep into the postseason this year.”
Some Padres players, notably pitcher Jake Peavy and outfielder Dave Roberts, admitted being slightly relieved to miss a series against baseball's biggest payroll. Upper management, meanwhile, was a mite miffed.
“They (the Padres) were upset, and understandably,” Feeney said. “I expect them to be upset, but no matter how many times you say, 'Subject to change,' people believe that the change will be one they don't want.
“They handled it as well as can be expected. Nobody yelled at me.”
Publicly, at least, Padres CEO Sandy Alderson said his only objection was that the Padres had already received permission to release their schedule and had not anticipated a “material” change.
“From our standpoint, we're very happy the Red Sox are coming,” Alderson said. “They'll be a great draw. You always like to have a great draw on a weekday rather than a weekend, but this is not an unhappy development.
“Our only concern was that we had put out a schedule and this was such a fundamental change. We were concerned about the reaction.”
Feeney said Commissioner Bud Selig did not order the change but that he had asked her to see what adjustments might be made. Baseball's scheduling guidelines are based on what Selig calls his “Fairness Doctrine.” Since Colorado ranks 23rd in home attendance this season and the Padres No. 12, the Rockies essentially received need-based priority.
Rockies Vice President Jay Alves declined to discuss his club's lobbying efforts, referring questions to the commissioner's office.
“The only thing I can say to you, and I know things change, is making out a schedule for 30 teams with interleague play is just impossible,” Selig said. “Whatever you do, somebody's going to be mad. It's sort of like being commissioner.”
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 14:25:45 GMT -5
And your article proves MY point. The Padres only objection was that they released their schedule. They couldn't get the Yankees out of there fast enough.
And way for Selig to admit that interleague play sucks.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Sept 29, 2006 14:27:20 GMT -5
The Padres upper management was aggravated. They also have Boston coming in to replace the Yankees, who are on the Yankees level, no matter what you claim, the insane disparity in payroll aside.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Sept 29, 2006 14:53:25 GMT -5
Not based on this year. They are more on the Blue Jays' level, despite the fact that the Red Sox payroll dwarfs the Jays'.
The Padres wormed their way into an easier opponent. Pussies.
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Post by globix on Oct 1, 2006 22:13:51 GMT -5
I have an ex post facto baseball question. Had the Astros won today, the Cardinals would have been 1/2 game up, with a make up game to be played Monday. had the Cards lost that game, they would be tied with the Astros. With the playoffs starting Tuesday, how would they have decided the winner of the NL Central? Would they do a potential doubleheader: Cards/whoever their makeup game was against 1st, followed by cards/Astros if, and only if, the Cards lost the 1st? Would they have a Cards/Stros game Tuesday, pushing back the playoffs? I wanted the Astros to win today, just to see what would happen...
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 2, 2006 12:17:35 GMT -5
Tim Salmon wrapped up his 15 year career yesterday, catching the ceremonial first pitch....thrown by his wife, of all people, before the A/s - Angels battle.
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Post by Chris on Oct 2, 2006 12:46:58 GMT -5
Local Sports radio is reporting that Artie Moreno is promising Angels' fans "something BIG this offseason, such as signing Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, or Gary Matthews Jr."
If that's BIG, looks like there'll be slim pickins this offseason.
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Post by Chris on Oct 2, 2006 12:55:07 GMT -5
I was actually rooting for a meaningless Yankee loss yesterday. I think it's an absolutely BEAUTIFUL thing that the Red Sox finished 3rd in the division!
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 2, 2006 15:21:03 GMT -5
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The San Francisco Giants cut ties with manager Felipe Alou on Monday, a day after the team finished its second straight losing season.
The change had been expected for some time, with the 71-year-old Alou's contract expiring. He said he would like to stay in baseball in 2007, possibly with the Giants, the franchise that signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 1955.
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Post by 9 on Oct 2, 2006 15:54:10 GMT -5
I like Alou and always have, but at 71, it may be time for him to think about being a bench coach instead of a manager.
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Post by elliejay21 on Oct 2, 2006 23:18:04 GMT -5
Globix, this took about 2.5 seconds to locate... would not have been much of a big deal having a tie-breaker game on Tuesday in the NL, as they don't start the NLDS until Wednesday. The only year in the past 10 that the division series dates have been different was 2001, for obvious reasons. NL Central The Cardinals host the Brewers at 2:15 ET and can clinch the division title and No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs with a win OR an Astros loss (at the Braves, 1:05 ET). The NL Central champion will visit the NL West champion in a division series starting Tuesday.
If the Astros win AND Cardinals lose, the Cardinals host the Giants on Monday at 3:05 ET (ESPN2). If the Cardinals win, they win the NL Central.
If the Cardinals lose on Monday, the Astros and Cardinals will be tied at 83-79, forcing a one-game playoff at Houston (Tuesday 4:05 ET, TBS). The winner is the NL Central champion and visits the NL West champion Wednesday.
Courtesy of sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-scenarios093006&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 3, 2006 7:27:58 GMT -5
Globix, this took about 2.5 seconds to locate...
Sounds like fightin' words!
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Post by 9 on Oct 3, 2006 7:46:04 GMT -5
That's a scrap in my hood, yo. We don't play on Hoboken's Wesiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 3, 2006 9:27:23 GMT -5
So Girardi has officially been booted.
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