baseball 2012
 

Naive ?
 

I may seem naive for a Brit., but can someone put me clear one one thing - which came first - Baseball or Rounders ?

Or should this be in a different thread ?

Thanks

Rounders. Now, let's concentrate on baseball. :yes:

I know I'm not Jen, but I will give my 2 cents worth.

I think they overpaid for him. He is still pretty good(but had periods of "meh-ness) last season, especially during the final game of the season!), but I think a shorter-term contract would have been better.

He would have looked good in a Jays uniform, but the price was too high. They would have lost their first round pick if they signed him due to his being a Type A free agent(and their pick was 17th overall!)

Of course, I am just thankful that the damned Yankees didn't scoop him up. I think that would have pissed both of us off! Am I right?;)

They over paid and should have put that effort and money towards getting big Al from the Cardinals
:yes: To early to think about Baseball Jen

While i'm still a Phillies fan and i have high hopes for them next/this season
Part of me wants to see the CUBS win it all, after all they have been the loveable losers like for ever
:yes: Still Philliefan Jen

How about throwing some love towards the Blue Jays?;)

I only have one thing to say 1993 :(
:eek: Philliefan Jen

The late great Curt Flood was absolutely right. However, 40 years later free agency has murdered the game. Why was Adam Dunn in the lineup every day after the first half of the season? His salary. The White Sox were forced to play a guy that hurt the team rather than give somebody else a shot. Why do the words "stuck with" accurately apply to the lollygagging useless Alfonso Soriano?
Hell look at the way the current movie star players congratulate themselves after they get a hit - pointing to the sky and all that crap. Every member of the Milwaukee Brewers practically celebrate just for putting their mitt on.
Free agency spawned the putrid pitch count. In 1971 Fergie Jenkins started 38 games and threw 30 complete games. Didn't wreck his arm.
You could go on all day. A guy reaches first base and spends the next few minutes exchanging hand jobs with the opposing team's first baseman. You think Bob Gibson tolerate that? He'd fire the ball at his own first baseman's head.
Screw buying players. You can win without "stars." Run everything out, advance runners, and leave your damn starter in if he's pitching good.

That was a good year, but it was a long time ago.:hug:

Are the Marlins trying to buy a Worlds Series?
 

The Marlins spendind spree continues as they snaged another top teir free agent in Mark Buehrle
I need to go back and watch some hockey
:yes: Philliefan Jen

The Marlins forgot about chemistry. The new players may not even gel! I honestly feel that they overpaid for Reyes, as he is far too injury prone for the money he received.

Albert Pujos and C.J. Wilson have both signed with the LA Angels.

To paraphrase a line from "It's A Wonderful Life," a film that is played often around this time of year in the United States:

"Teacher says every time a bell rings an Angel gets $254 million."

They seem to like overpaying. I cannot believe they actually took the albatross...er, Vernon Wells contract from around the Jays' neck!

Well i guess we can call the LA Angels the West Coast Yankees

:lol: Philliefan Jen

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that Ryan Braun(the 2011 NL MVP) has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for a PED. While the baseball writers of America have said that they will not give his award to the runner-up, I feel that if his appeal is not successful and his ban is upheld, then he should be stripped of the award. Why should he be rewarded, especially since it sounds like he knew about the positive test a MONTH before the MVP awards were announced.

Call it excellent timing

It happend now while most sport fans are caught up in the NFL and didn't happen during spring training when it would have caused a much bigger reaction, The baseball news everyone was paying attention to was where Big Al was going to sign with and so now most baseball fan have now going back to sleep awaiting spring training
:yes: Philliefan Jen

Let's get our facts straight, my friend. Braun's positive test results were leaked while he is appealing the finding. MLB has not yet suspended him and did not want the results made public pending the appeal. He claims there is an explanation (sounds dicey to me, at best).

My only wish is that he had received the American League MVP award so that stripping it from him would result in Jacoby Ellsbury being named MVP.

Not this sports fan, Jen. I hate American football. I'm caught up in the NHL. :yes:

I quite agree. American football is the most boring game on the planet. Unfortunately too many US players and coaches infiltrated the Canadian Football League and ruined our game.

Hockey is far more interesting that any other sport going on at this time.

That's because Ice Hockey is the worlds greatest sport period
:yes: Santa's naughty elf Jen

That's true, but I still think he should be stripped of it if (when?) it's determined that he did use PEDs.

And I agree with you about hockey being far superior to football.

Just to clarify: I didn't write that hockey was "far superior" to football. I wouldn't make a comparison like that.

Hockey is a great sport.

Football is a mock war among mostly meatheaded men with overactive pituitary glands. It is not a sport.

I thought that was basketball
:lol: Santa's naughty elf Jen

Baseball's Barry Bonds spared jail for misleading jury.
 

Baseball's Barry Bonds spared jail for misleading jury.

from bbc.co.uk/news/

Quote:

Former US baseball star Barry Bonds has been spared jail after he misled a jury investigating whether he took performance-enhancing drugs. A federal judge in San Francisco sentenced the 47-year-old to 30 days' house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service. The sentence, which includes a $4,000 (?2,580) fine, has been delayed while he appeals against his conviction. In April, Bonds was convicted of obstructing justice. Rambling responses The former San Francisco Giants slugger was the last defendant in a government investigation of a steroids-distribution ring in San Francisco. He was convicted of giving evasive answers to a grand jury in December 2003. Bonds gave rambling responses to prosecutors' questions in which he spoke of being "a celebrity child" among other irrelevant statements. The trial jury failed to reach a verdict on other charges that Bond lied when he denied taking steroids, or that he had received injections from someone other than his doctor. Prosecutors had wanted a 15-month prison sentence, arguing house arrest was not adequate punishment since Bonds lives in a large estate in Beverly Hills, California. He had sought probation. ...

30 days house arrest and $4,000 fine -- a joke!
+
250 hours of community service -- I suppose that's the main reason he is bothering to appeal the conviction.

Not HOUSE arrest. MANSION arrest.

Peter Keane, emeritus dean of the Golden Gate University Law School, has been tracking the Bonds case, and other steroid investigations and trials, for years. ?Well, the punishment was particularly light,? he says. ?He was convicted of a federal felony, a serious offense. Bonds intentionally threw a monkey wrench into the gears of the justice system. That?s not jaywalking.?

Keane thinks the federal steroid investigations, which critics have called a waste of government time and money, were worth it. Younger athletes are certainly more aware of steroid dangers. But to Keane, the length and hassle of the Bonds trial ? charges were filed in November of 2007 - has drowned out that message. Outrage over Bonds? sentence will only overshadow it further. ?He?s going to do 30 days in a 10-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills?? says Keane. ?If he needs someone to do the time for him, he can give me a call.?

who cares about Barry Bonds
 

So Barry beat the rap in the legal system
But his baseball achivements are now worthless
He hit more homeruns then Hank Aaron but in 07 when he did it almost no one cared
Had he not done the riods he would have been a hall of famer for his outfielding and solid hitting but that wasn't good enought for Barry he did the riods so his HR count would explode
Making him a member of the hall of shame instead of the hall of fame
FYI i still consider Hank Aaron the home run king cause he did it the hard and right way :respect:
:yes: Santas naughty elf Jen

I'm with you, Jen, but I have a question. You say Hammerin' Hank "did it the hard ... way." I always thought he did it the difficult way. Do you have some inside knowledge that hitting home runs made Hank Aaron hard? :lol:

Fraid not as he played way before my time

The only memory i have of him playing was at the end of his career wearing the softball looking uniform of the Brewers back around 76 when i was very young
:yes: Santas naughty elf Jen

I'm not sure whether to apologize for my awful pun or congratulate you for simply not taking the bait. :kiss:

What you think this is a porn forum?

Oh wait it is
:lol: Santas naughty elf Jen

The worst part of all this is all the taxpayers dollars that went down the tubes while this whole fiasco was going on. Everyone knows that he IS guilty(your head doesn't swell up to that size for no reason), but if you're a celebrity(even one as douchey as Bonds) you are given a different standard than an average citizen.

Spring training is around the corner and this year i'll be going to FL and take in a few Phillies game plus hit the beach
:cool: Phillie fan Jen

Am i the only one to notice the change taking place in the AL and NL?
have you noticed that just about all of the NL biggest hitters are jumping ship and going over to tha AL Prince Fielder being the latest signing with the Tigers for nine years
While the AL best pitchers are jumping ship and going over to the NL
making the AL the place to be to watch balls fly out of the park and the NL will be the place to watch a pitchers duel
I blame the stupid DH rule for this
:confused: Phillie fan Jenl

Absolutely! I hate the DH rule.

I don't. I prefer it over watching a pitcher hit.:)

With regards to the Prince Fielder signing, I don't think that Detroit would have signed him had Victor Martinez not had a long-term injury. I think it's telling that it took so long to sign him, and that many teams did not want to sign him for the long term like he wanted(plus, his Agent is Scott Boras, one who is widely despised in the MLB).

I think that Detroit overpaid him. While he will more than likely have a few good seasons, I don't think he'll be good for them long-term.

"Watching a pitcher hit" is only one of many, many aspects of NOT having the DH rule that makes baseball more interesting. There are so many more strategic considerations that a manager must make at every juncture of the game as the pitcher's spot in the lineup gets closer and closer to an at-bat. That's what I miss in the American League. Watching the pitcher hit in earlier innings is a small price to pay to get that back.

Very well said and i couldn't agree more, plus here's another great thing about the NL


http://youtu.be/W8jdVwvZVjM
:yes: Philliefan Jen

Thanks so much for the compliment, Jen. I wish I could agree with you on the Philly Phanatic, but I just don't get it. To be fair, I don't get Wally the Green Monster either. :)

You don't need to get it, all you need to know is the Phillie Phaanactic is cute and adorable
;) Philliefan Jen

I know it's just one aspect of it(there's double switching, etc.). Tony LaRussa was tailor-made for the NL as his mind was like a well oiled machine when it came to matchups and so on. I still prefer the AL, though.:)

You, Jen, are "cute and adorable." The Phillie Phanatic, well ...

AHH come on he's so huggable you just what to get and give him a hug

:yes: Philliefan Jen

A bigger post-season
 

So, baseball fans, what think ye of the proposal -- currently being pushed hard by MLB with the Player's Union -- to change the format for the baseball post-season?

Under the proposal, each league's three division winners would earn a first-round bye, while the teams with the fourth- and fifth-best records in each league would play a game to determine who gets the wild-card berth. Then the wild-card winner would play the top-seeded division winner in the first round.

Personally, I think this is idiocy.

Jemele Hill, writing on ESPN.com today, explains one of the reasons I think it's idiocy. It involves my beloved Boston Red Sox.

"Do you remember where you were on Sept. 28, 2011? It was only the greatest regular-season finale in baseball history. The Boston Red Sox needed one more out against the Baltimore Orioles to make the playoffs. Trailing the New York Yankees 7-0 in the eighth inning, the Tampa Bay Rays needed a win and a Boston loss to secure a spot in the postseason.

"Then the most unreal, unpredictable, unbelievable thing happened. The Orioles and Rays both won in dramatic fashion. And the Red Sox claimed the notoriety of the most epic late-season collapse of all time.

"If the expanded postseason formula had been in place last year, those two dramatic games would have only affected home field for a one-game playoff between the Rays and Red Sox. Of course, Terry Francona might still be the Red Sox's manager and, most importantly, beer and chicken wouldn't be frowned upon in Boston's clubhouse."

I would rather keep things as they are than have had my Red Sox make the playoffs last year under the circumstances just described!

Jemele Hill continues:

"This proposed postseason expansion nonsense is undeserved charity. (Just ask the 2010-11 Indiana Pacers, who made the playoffs at 37-45, or the 2002-03 New York Islanders, who limped in at 35-34-11-2.)

"Congratulations, mediocre teams! You have even more incentive to remain average!"

Any thoughts, friends?

If the Jays make it in, I'll be happy.;)

I really don't like this new play-in game at the end but if it means my Phillies aviod elimination then i'll be all for it

On a side note i arrived in Clearwater FL late last night looking forward to getting my first look at my Phillies this season

:yes: Philliefan Jen

What does everyone think of Yu Darvish? Do you think he'll live up to the hype, or do you think he'll end up being like DiceK(who never did end up living up to that huge contract)?

Only time will tell, so many of the super hyped players fizzle out

Remember back in the 90s and the Yankees paid over a million for a highschool can't miss pitcher named Brain Taylor
:eek: Philliefan Jen

always been a big fan of the greatest baseball team of all time the NY Yankees. its been a while for them, bout time they add another to the trophy cabinet.

graeme lloyd was the first aussie to play in a world series, when he played for the yankees in 1998.

You won't find many Yankees fans in this thread. At best I'm ambivalent about them, but mostly I just don't like them at all. The Blue Jays are the only Toronto team (for any sport) that I do like.

"Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax." - Mike Royko, Chicago Tribune columnist

But I'm not American.

although the missus tried her hardest to convert me to the cubs...

Is that your missus in the pic? She is hot! :)

Cubs fan here.. I'm cautiously optimistic. I like our back office but have a bunch of unknowns.. Starlin is gonna be a star.

Yep that's her.

The Cubs already used there luck this year Ron Santo finaly got in to the hall of fame

:yes: Philliefan Jen

Yes, about time too! I think the Hall of Fame committee was waiting for him to pass before they would induct him. Apparently there was some bad blood from his playing days..

Not expecting too much out of the Cubs this year. I expect to see your team, the Phillies in the playoffs again. Shane Victorino has always impressed me, that guy is a gamer. :)

The 2012 season starts in one more day and i found this one youtube and i think it's a goodway to get everyone excited about opening day reguardless of which team you are rooting for

http://youtu.be/uLUuxVX4Z10

:yes: Philliefan Jen

Let's get Don Mattingly in to the Hall of Fame
 

OK now that Ron Santo got in it's no time to right another injustice and put Don Mattingly in the hall

http://youtu.be/S391mQBjSMA

:yes: Yankeesfan Jen

I never thought I would say this in response to one of your posts, Jen, but after reading your signature....

eeeeewwwwwwwww!!!!! (said with a scrunched up face)


Go back to the Phillies.....please!

smc you do not yet realize the power of the darkside

;) Yankeesfan Jen

Sounds like Boston fans are returning to the doom and gloom outlook they had before 2004
the season is only still in the first week of play all is not lost
my Phillies are 1-2 :frown:
and my Yankees are 0-3 being swept by Tampa [oh the pain] :eek:
but things will get better all is not lost for either team
:innocent: Yankeesfan Jen

What the hell is this "my Yankees" crap, Jen?

Please, please, please tell us it's nothing more than a provocation in jest!

It's just time to come out of the closet and admit that i'm a Yankees fan

:innocent: Yankeesfan Jen

Jen, I have to say no one has ever looked sexier in Yankee pinstripes! :kiss:

oops my bad :( ... though it is a sexy pic ... can only imagine how much more prettier a pic of Jen would be (in or out of pinstripes ;) )

Yeah whether or not Jen is truly a Yankees fan ... you gotta love her for being the beautiful woman that she is :heart: and wonderful contributor on this site :respect: ... even if she's shaken your world up a bit! :eek:

I could not agree more. The Yankees suck and I will never root for them as a team.

Individual Yankees are another matter. Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter from the current team, for example. Class acts. And I also agree that Don Mattingly should go to the Hall, but I won't change my baseball allegiances because of it.

Born and bred Astros fan here and I don't give a flying fuck about all the fair weather fans in that city, I love em and when they win it's a party and when they lose, meh it's a tough loss.

Unfortunately, all teams seem to have their fair share of fair weather fans.

Although by all accounts Derek Jeter is a class act ... I can definitely attest that Mariano Rivera is a tremendous class act! I was very sorry to see that he got hurt this week and wish him a speedy recovery!

I worked with a cancer foundation for a number of years and with many baseball players (primarily from the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets) helping to raise money for the foundation to help cancer patients. Mariano Rivera was a pleasure to work with ... polite and caring ... he worked tirelessly to help out the foundation. Just a wonderful human being! I know his baseball pitching stats speak volumes for how excellent he is on the field, but off of it he is just as great a person!

Mariano Rivera and former Boston Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski were the best to work with in the years I worked with this cancer foundation. Most were good ... they were GREAT! (Then you had some ... who although they agreed to help out ... couldn't wait for it to be over with like Roger Clemens and David Wells to name a couple).

I agree with you 100% about Rivera. I wouldn't wish that injury on him no matter what team he played for(and what a fluke injury it was!). I'm glad to hear that he'll not be retiring after this(it would be a crappy way to end your career), but I'm not sure what he'll be like after having a year on the sidelines.

And I'm not surprised at all about your comments about Roger Clemens and David Wells. Clemens is a douchebag, and Wells had a poor attitude(I still recall the hissy fit he threw towards Cito Gaston when he pulled Wells out of a game...I think that he's lucky Gaston didn't pop his head off like a cork!)

You are absolutely correct. I sincerely apologize to all douchebags out there for associating you with Roger Clemens.;):lol:

a question for SMC and all of REDSOX nation
 

With sundays heart breaker has the cries of Bucky F:censored:n Dent been replaced with Chris F:censored:N Davis :eek:
:confused: Yankeesfan Jen

:censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: mother f:censored:n tampabay
not only should they be kicked out of the NHL but they should be kicked out of MLB and they shouldn't be allowed to vote for president either
:no: Yankee fan Jen

It's hard to get upset about anything that happens when position players are pitching, no matter which side wins.

this should bring a smile to SMC
 

found this on youtube and it made me think of SMC

http://youtu.be/eA2mIW32aus
;) Yankeesfan Jen

Thanks, Jen. Very sweet of you. I was especially pleased to see Dwight Evans included. He's my all-time favorite (and he should be in the Hall of Fame).

Your welcome and i agree Dwight Evans should be in the hall :yes:
but i'm surpised that Roger Clemens and Mike Greenwell were not mentioned
:confused: Yankeesfan Jen

Someone commented on the Clemens in the Comments section. I didn't even think about Greenwell, but you're right -- that's a strange omission.

I remember in the late 80s watching Yankees play the Red Sox on WPIX and Mike Greenwell was always a tough out and always managed a big hit at a key moment in the game so i guess i remembered him because he was Mike F:censored:N Greenwell
I didn't read the comment section but i'm guessin the reason Roger wasn't mentioned was because of his usage of riods and it left a bad taste in the Red Soxs fans mouths as it did everyone elses
;) Yankeesfan Jen

Yeah, that and the fact that he's an arrogant asswipe.