Baseball

[dauls]

Originally Posted by smc

The wonderful Hockey thread has had a lot of baseball discussion of late. I suspect there are some members who want to find the excellent updates about matches without having to scroll through me, transjen, and shadows talking about the Red Sox and the Phillies. So, I'm starting this thread for baseball discussion.

I am a baseball fanatic. What I love about baseball the most is what those who "hate" baseball hate the most: its slowness. There's a reason baseball is called "America's pastime." It's not just because of how widely it was played in the 19th century, when it earned that name. It's also because you can pass a lot of time. Unlike clock sports, baseball unfolds at whatever pace a given game has. In between the action of a pitcher throwing the next pitch, for example, a real lover of baseball has the opportunity to speculate/imagine a nearly unlimited number of possibilities. What kind of pitch will he throw? is the batter swinging or taking? Is there a steal on? Should the batter bunt? Should he go for the fences? Is an opposite-field hit in order? Why is the left fielder shading to the right? Should the second baseman or shortstop take a throw to second? Etc. Etc. Etc.

My team is the Red Sox. I've been a rabid Sox fan all of my life. I go to as many games as possible at Fenway, and I rarely miss a game on the radio or TV if I'm not at the ballpark. I travel to other cities to see Sox games, and last season went to Sox games in Baltimore, New York, Cleveland, Toronto, Kansas City, and Oakland.

Let's have a fun and spirited discussion, just like we've been having about hockey.

Go Red Sox!!

smc, you started a baseball thread and in little over 4 hours it's already up to 26 posts.

As a fan of another game of slowness, cricket, it's clear I was always going to be an instant convert to baseball. I just had to learn the rules and jargon of the game. And then try to pick up the various strategies and oddities... why/when attempt to steal, why would a batter intentionally get out (the sac fly), that a pitcher can only enter the game for one batter and possibly only one pitch, when to bunt, etc.

But if you think baseball has a nice slow pace, try Test Match Cricket (the five day version of the game). You play roughly 6 hours per day, and after five days you can still have a drawn match. Sometimes, for one team, holding on for the draw actually feels like a win.

England clung on for the draw in the 1st Test Match against South Africa just before Xmas, and today they are aiming to do it again in the 3rd Test. Fortunately we thrashed the South Africans in the 2nd Test.

In recent years to speed cricket up a bit, a new version of the game was invented, called Twenty20, when batting each team faces a maximum of 120 deliveries. The game should only last approx 3 to 3.5 hours, suitable for fans to watch on a summer evening after work.


Note: Less than 100 days until the start of the 2010 regular season.

[smc]

Originally Posted by dauls

But if you think baseball has a nice slow pace, try Test Match Cricket (the five day version of the game). You play roughly 6 hours per day, and after five days you can still have a drawn match. Sometimes, for one team, holding on for the draw actually feels like a win.

Hey, dauls, thanks for your post. I've actually played cricket. I went to college at a very, very small liberal arts school that happens to be just across the street from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. A high school acquaintance was at the Academy concurrently, so we kept in touch. There was a group of "exchange students" there who were junior officers in the Royal Navy, and they were looking to organize some cricket matches. They were having a very hard time getting U.S. Navy guys interested, so my friend came by and asked me -- he knew I am a big fan of baseball -- whether I wanted to learn and play. I said yes, enthusiastically, and helped find others until we were able to organize a first match over a weekend about a month later. We played Test and determined that we'd start on Saturday, play on Sunday as well, and at the end we'd decide whether to continue if the match "technically" wasn't yet over.

It was a great time. And we did it a few more times over the year.

An important point about "slowness": a large part of cricket's slowness is actually "duration." Breaks for lunch, tea, drinks ... those all make the game take longer. No one was slowing the match while waiting for some TV ad to be completed.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by smc

Hey, dauls, thanks for your post. I've actually played cricket...

An important point about "slowness": a large part of cricket's slowness is actually "duration." Breaks for lunch, tea, drinks ... those all make the game take longer. No one was slowing the match while waiting for some TV ad to be completed.

Funny to hear you've played cricket, that's not something I hear too many Americans saying they've done.

TV imposing on the game is one thing that appears to be different in England compared with North America. Over here TV doesn't dictate the play of the game and in cricket the TV company has to sneak advert breaks in at the change of ends between the overs bowled or during mid-session drinks breaks.

In North America play seems to stop when TV needs it to and won't restart until the ad break has finished.

Quite often a hurried return to the cricket happens just after the ball has been bowled, but then there is plenty of time before the next ball to show a replay of the delivery you just missed.


The 3rd Test Match has just finished and England have clung on for the draw again. We were down to our last wicket for the final 17 balls.

This draw happened in almost an identical manner to the 1st Test where England's last wicket survived for the final 19 balls.

The South Africans must be gutted that they have drawn two matches that they were only one wicket (out) away from winning the game.

So that leaves England 1-0 up in the Series with only one Test Match to go. So England can't lose the Series now, but a Series win away in South Africa will be a fantastic achievement for England.

[smc]

Major League Baseball has announced that Commissioner Bud Selig is going to in a week or so with the Special Committee for On-Field Matters, which has some veteran managers (Tony La Russa, Jim Leyland, Mike Scioscia, and Joe Torre), GMs, club owners, and team presidents. Among the topics are schedules, playoff formats, umpiring, game pace, and instant replay.

I'm hoping they address -- and fix -- the ridiculous postseason schedule, with all the wasted open dates.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by smc

Major League Baseball has announced that Commissioner Bud Selig is going to in a week or so with the Special Committee for On-Field Matters, which has some veteran managers (Tony La Russa, Jim Leyland, Mike Scioscia, and Joe Torre), GMs, club owners, and team presidents. Among the topics are schedules, playoff formats, umpiring, game pace, and instant replay.

I'm hoping they address -- and fix -- the ridiculous postseason schedule, with all the wasted open dates.

Those wasted open dates are surely down to the TV schedules. So I doubt your wish will come true.

The last three years has seen Game 1 of the World Series moved back to Wednesdays to boost sagging ratings. This avoids having a game on poorly watched Friday nights, and means play on both days of the weekend. I suppose the only TV schedule nightmare for comes on Monday when a Game 5 goes head-to-head with Monday Night Football.

In the earlier postseason rounds the teams wanted the extra days off for travel. But surely playing baseball in November can't be right.

[smc]

Originally Posted by dauls

Those wasted open dates are surely down to the TV schedules. So I doubt your wish will come true.

The last three years has seen Game 1 of the World Series moved back to Wednesdays to boost sagging ratings. This avoids having a game on poorly watched Friday nights, and means play on both days of the weekend. I suppose the only TV schedule nightmare for comes on Monday when a Game 5 goes head-to-head with Monday Night Football.

In the earlier postseason rounds the teams wanted the extra days off for travel. But surely playing baseball in November can't be right.

You are wise to doubt that the postseason schedules will be fixed, but I think the reason for some optimism is that players and managers -- without exception -- have complained. Usually, there are a few players and managers who "make a stink" about something, and everyone else has "no comment." But not on this issue. So maybe change will come, TV sponsors be damned!

[shadows]

Originally Posted by smc

You are wise to doubt that the postseason schedules will be fixed, but I think the reason for some optimism is that players and managers -- without exception -- have complained. Usually, there are a few players and managers who "make a stink" about something, and everyone else has "no comment." But not on this issue. So maybe change will come, TV sponsors be damned!

I hope that will be the case. Playing baseball into November(the last game the previous season was on November 4th to be exact) is ridiculous.

[ila]

Originally Posted by dauls

.....England clung on for the draw in the 1st Test Match against South Africa just before Xmas, and today they are aiming to do it again in the 3rd Test. Fortunately we thrashed the South Africans in the 2nd Test.

I rarely follow cricket, but am I right to think that it was only a few years ago that India was a dominant force in international cricket play?

[dauls]

Originally Posted by ila

I rarely follow cricket, but am I right to think that it was only a few years ago that India was a dominant force in international cricket play?

Currently India are the #1 team in Test Cricket, they made it to #1 for the first time in December 2009. Before that South Africa were briefly #1 from Aug '09 to Dec '09.

This ranking system only started in June 2003 and for the first 6 years 2 months Australia were #1.

England are only #5, and it will take a couple of years before they have a chance of challenging for the #1 spot. However their Ashes Series win last summer and current 1-0 series lead after the 3rd of a 4 Test Match Series in South Africa will help improve England's ranking.

As for One Day International Cricket I those damn Aussies are still #1 in the World. India are #2 and again England are #5.

One cricket fact to surprise you is that before England played Australia in the first official Test Match in 1877, the first international cricket match took place 25th-27th Sept. 1844 in Bloomingdale Park, Manhattan, New York between the USA and Canada.

The Canadians won the game. 10,000+ people watched it and an estimated $100,000 was bet on the match. Canada also won both a home and an away game against the USA in 1845.

Before the American Civil War cricket was by far the biggest sport in the USA. Cricket effectively became a victim of that war.
Without the Civil War, would baseball be where it is today?

[Hedonistman]

I really have no clue if cricket was ever played much in the US,, but I seriously hope it wasn't, lol. Some sports should be all nationalistic.. Cricket sure fits for Brits,,,, and Baseball is as Yankee as it gets.... I just can't see any stiff upper lip Brit chewing and spittin' tobaceee....and what a mess it'd make on those fine white uniforms.....

[smc]

I see that the Texas Rangers have hired former Red Sox catcher Bill Hasselman to be a manager in the minor leagues. It cannot be overstated: catchers make excellent managers!

[transjen]

Perhaps this is a little off topic, but i rember a tv show that Stared Johnny Beach and a bunch of young little league players and a guy dressed like a chicken the show aired back in the early 80s and i rember watching it when i was 5 or 6 but i can't rember what it was called anyone else rember this show and no it was not THIS WEEK IN BASEBALL that was a whole differnt show
Jerseygirl Jen

[smc]

Originally Posted by transjen

Perhaps this is a little off topic, but i rember a tv show that Stared Johnny Beach and a bunch of young little league players and a guy dressed like a chicken the show aired back in the early 80s and i rember watching it when i was 5 or 6 but i can't rember what it was called anyone else rember this show and no it was not THIS WEEK IN BASEBALL that was a whole differnt show
Jerseygirl Jen

Hey, Jen -- It was "The Baseball Bunch" and it was the San Diego Chicken along with Johnny Bench. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page to help you take a more focused trip down memory lane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baseball_Bunch