I was supposed to have a Cub Scout outing Friday night whereby my son and I watched a game with the rest of the pack in the $7 nosebleeds and then we go get our air matresses and sleeping bags and camp out under the stars on the field at Great American Ballpark…of course the Reds cancelled that shit due to worry over the grass at the park for the playoffs…I understand but am pissed too.
It was a great opportunity.
I spent so many months of this season claiming to anyone who would listen that the Padres were going to come back to earth. They have won too many one run games, I said. There is no way they can keep that lead. Again and again, I said that. And, I really believed it. Finally. Their play had been so good that I was convinced that they were for real and that the division was theirs for the taking. So, I was awfully scared when the Phillies went out to San Diego for a series. Well, again, the Padres decided to make me look like a fool and they proceeded to lose 10 in a row. So, I took back all the good things that I said. So, then they started playing well again. That’s when I decided that I had no idea what was happening in the west. Although, I really was hoping for the three way tie. How neat would that have been? And, I wasn’t just hoping for it in the way that it might help the Phils play against beat up teams. Anyway. This was a great last weekend of the season. Much better than I expected a few months ago, when I thought it would be the Phillies losing their first division in a few years. And, what I am trying to say is that I have no idea what I am talking about.
Does anyone know where that prediction thread from before the season started is? I got a lot of stuff wrong. But, I am happy that I got the Cliff Lee trade correct.
As a Phillies fan I am nervous about the playoffs. I am not used to rooting for the team that most people are rating as the favorites. Last year, most statistically inclined baseball people probably thought more highly of the Cardinals with their pitching staff. This year the Phils probably have the best all around team in the NL. The Reds offense might be better, but the pitching doesn’t compare. The Giants pitching might be better, but the hitting doesn’t compare. It’s a new world in the playoffs, though. I’m keeping my hopes up. But, you never know - and that makes me nervous! In spite of the nerves I still think the Phillies are going to make it three NL flags in a row. (Please see the first paragraph.)
FoieGrasIsEvil, that really sucks. They have known they had good playoff hopes for a long time. They could have atleast given you a few week prior notice about it. It sucks to get so close to a really cool event and then have to be disappointed. Oh well, at least you will see your guys in the postseason.
silenus, are you really that kind of fan? Your teams are gone so there is nothing to watch? I guess I just don’t understand it. When the Phillies were bad I would still follow and either pick a team to root for, or against and I still enjoyed the baseball games. There are all kinds of fun stories in these playoffs that any baseball fan can enjoy.
Well he is a Dodgers fan. 
MLB 2010 Prediction Competition.
Shh… quietly, quietly, now.
Except that most media research concludes that the biggest determinant of the post-season viewing audience is whether or not the Yankees and/or the Red Sox are involved. Those teams both have large national followings, and in years when they’re not involved, audiences drop sharply, suggesting that Boston and New York fans are at least as likely as other fans, and perhaps more likely, to switch off as soon as their team is eliminated.
We might criticize this behavior, but the fact is that there are plenty of fans, in many sports, who have no interest in watching teams other than their own. I’m willing to bet that the typical World Series TV audience is made up of 5-10 million supporters of one team, 5-10 million supporters of the other team, and a few hundred thousand or so hardcore baseball fans who will watch no matter who’s playing.
And this trend is exacerbated, in my opinion, by the truly fucking awful experience of watching the games on FOX and having to cope with all the concessions that MLB makes to the network, such as ridiculously late start times (thus late finish times) for those on the east coast, and allowing even longer-than-usual breaks between half-innings to permit more ads to be crammed down our throats. And that’s not even taking into account the commentary of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.
For reasons having almost nothing to do with baseball itself, i’d be quite happy if the World Series this year is between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cincinatti Reds (small markets, small fanbases). Even better, if one teams sweeps the series in 4 games, because that would be the biggest financial kick in the balls to the FOX network.
Yeah, but he’s a *Dodgers *fan…
Well… despite a Mets-like season end, we did it. Again. Now, will the Yanks take out Tampa, or will Tampa take out the Yanks? Much as I love my team, Tampa’s been crushing them.
What a shock! The Yankees get the prime time game during the American League Divisional series.
This is why I hate the Yankees. Yes, I know Derek Jeter wiping his ass will get better ratings than the Rangers/Rays, but I don’t have to like it.
I hope the Yankees and Phillies don’t make it to the World Series and FOX gets stuck with the worst ratings of any World Series.
I wish I’d participated in that thread. My, so many picked the Cardinals for the NL Central!
Why, that would be an excellent World Series!
I didn’t!
Go Brewers!
Dude, it was just a joke. **Silenus **and I rib each other all year long for several years now.
That aside though, good rant.
Hallelujah
Amen, brother. All the various FOX and ESPN announcing teams range from blah to absolute torture, and baseball games do not start at 8:40 PM or whenever it is that FOX deigns to allow the opening pitch to sneak in among the competing computer graphics and talking heads. I would suffer through it for my own team, of course, but with my own rooting interests so weak (would watch the Rays in the WS with moderate enthusiasm, would check in here and there on Reds or Texas, indifferent to the others I am not vaguely hostile to) that it’s hard to sit through one of their games all the way through. One of these days they’ll hit upon the idea of putting both teams’ regular-season play-by-play guys in the both. That would actually be interesting.
Having Oliver Perez walk in the go-ahead run on the last game of the season (in extra innings!) might be a sign that Jerry Manuel is a theatrical genius of not a managerial one.
I don’t know why they don’t do this. It would be interesting as hell to see how much of the bias creeps through, as well as the fact that theses guys would know the team in and out much better than some national guy.
They use to do that decades ago. For the World Series you would get one man from each team and one national announcer. I remember the Dodger vs Yankees with Vin Scully and Phil Rizutto and some national broadcaster that did not suck.
They would need to put a catchphrase limit on those guys. One “He gone!,” or “A-Bomb from A-Rod!” and you’ve got to go home.
Well, the Orioles actually had a pretty decent last third of the season, going 33-23 (.589) under new manager Buck Showalter. While i wasn’t at all opposed to giving Showalter the job, i really didn’t think that it was going to make much difference, but things really turned around for them over the last couple of months. They’re still a team with lots of problems, but it does seem that the new manager was able to redirect the team’s energies a bit and get more out of them.
It’s not clear to me whether the first 4 months of the season were really unlucky, the last two months were lucky, or whether Showalter actually did something that explains the sustained improvement, but the numbers themselves tell quite a story, especially on the pitching side.
Before Showalter:
Runs scored: 3.61 runs per game
Runs conceded: 5.46 runs per game
Under Showalter:
Runs scored: 4.07 runs per game
Runs conceded: 3.73 runs per game
Combining offense and defense, that’s a 2.19 runs-per-game positive turnaround over the last third of the season. Pretty impressive.
Clearly the biggest impact was on the pitching staff, with over three-quarters of the overall improvement coming in the runs conceded category. When your team ERA drops by more than one and a half runs, you’re going to win more ballgames.
Showalter’s had that kind of effect wherever he’s gone. Maybe you should give him some credit.
Yeah, i guess i wasn’t doing that when i said: