Baseball update...

The New York Yankees vs. the Minnesota Twins, game 4 of the ALDS.

Some fartknocker threw a wild pitch in the top of the 11th to advance A-Rod from 3rd to home, so the Yankees beat the Twins 5-4 I think.
A-Rod stole 3rd earlier in the inning. That steal was rather important, as you now see.

The Yankees will now play the Red Sox, just like they did last year.
The game will be this coming Tuesday; I don't know what time though...probably 5:00pm PDT.

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in game 3 of the NLDS at the current time. I don't yet have a score to pass along, as I cannot see a boob tube from here.

Top of the 4th...STL 0....LA 2

Top of the 5th...Cardinals 0, Dodgers 3.

I'll edit this post as necessary, so I don't have to keep adding posts to this thread.

(Edit)
Top of the 7th. Dodgers 4, Cardinals 0.

(Edit again)
Final. Dodgers 4, Cardinals 0.

And it is Written:
It is well known in many circles that Stl Redbirds are spawns of the Devil, while The LA Dodgers are Gods team. from the Book of Dodgers 3:15
DIE Cards DIE DIE DIE!!! you gravy sucking red clothed parasites!!!!!.....oops, for a religious post I kinda lost it there,sorry(no not really sorry,just being PC).Men in Blue.Go Daaaaaawgers!!!!!!!

i dont watch baeballl but im a big football fan but since im so close to atlanta i do kinda wanna see braves win are they still in it?

It's another showdown in the Bronx between my Red Sox and Yankees. If history repeats itself then of course the Yankees will win but I'll still keep my fingers crossed. I love football but would trade both of the Patriot's superbowls for a Red Sox World Series win. It would be nice to see them win it before my Dad dies. My grandfather was only a little kid, the last time the Red Sox won in 1918. My worst sports moment was 1986 when the ball went between Buckner's legs but I didn't blame him, I always blamed John McNamara the manager, for allowing him to play in the first place. It's funny but good to see how passionate some people are about their teams such as Special Agent's obvious love for the Dodgers and hate for St. Louis. St. Louis is a great baseball town though. Wish I was old enough to see Stan the Man play.

Since my team is knocked out (didn't even make the playoffs), I'll support the Cardinals in the NL, and the Red Sox in the AL.


I absolutely hate the Yankees, and if the Red Sox beat them I'll be happy. On paper, the Red Sox have the better team IMO (better starting pitching--solid 1-2 punch, and more balanced offense).....but....the Yankees are winners and usually step it up in the post season, so I suspect the Yankees will end up beating the Red Sox. This year's Yankees team is loaded with sluggers, but doesn't have great balance (a true leadoff hitter or #2 hitter) IMO.

If the Sox pitching does its job, it should be a good series.


In the National league, the Cardinals have in insanely good offense (loaded with players that hit well over .300 AND have considerable power). They also have some pretty good guys at the top of the lineup that can get on base, and even their lower part of the lineup is without a glaring hole (Reggie Sanders is streaky though, when he's cold he can be a hole). I do NOT like their starting pitching (its NOT bad, its just they don't have a legit #1), but I suspect on average their offense and bullpen will keep them in games.

I think its going to come down to this:

Astros vs Cardinals

Sox vs Yankees (this is already for sure)

Go ASTROS! Its so their turn guys. They have never gotten to a World Series, this year they have it made. I am going to their game tommorow to watch Clemens beat the crap out of the Braves, and I dont mean that as in hit batsman(sorry raggie). Then, they have been really bruising up the Cardinals, so I see this a good year for them in the postseason. They have a terrific team. I say, overall, one of the best, specially considering they dont buy their team like the Yankees do. So from H-Town,

<font color="red"> GO ASTROS! </font>

Cameron

lol dont worry cam i didnt even watch game i guess braves are out of it? only time id watch em if they made it to world series . now football on the other hand cant wait for falcons tomorow and i still love my dolphins but they stink this year

No raggie, they are not out of it...yet. They will be by the end of the day Sunday. Thats the game I am going to. Astros lead the series 2-1.

Cameron

Listening to the broadcast and the strategies talked about, I was curious about the pitchers-
They talk about starters and closers as if they were different breeds; it seems a big deal when they put closers in there for more than 2 innings, apparently because there's an endurance factor involved. How is it that the starting pitchers are able to go 6 innings or more, without as much concern over it? What differentiates the use of a pitcher in a starting or closing role?

Relief pitchers often have to pitch several days in a row--which has a cumulative effect.

Starting pitchers pitch 1 day, usually 5 or more innings, and then have 4 days rest before the next start.

Additionally, each type of pitcher is conditioned differently once they have a role. A reliever is generally conditioned for short bursts (he can go 100% on every pitch since he will only be throwing 10-30 pitches in a game), while a starter is conditioned to pace himself in a game (can't necessary go 100% on every pitch, so that he can be effective in the late innings)--since a starter has to throw often over 100 pitches in a game.

Its a combination of conditioning, how often used (consecutive days), and other factors that lead to the endurance of short relievers being generally effective for 1-2 innings.

There are also some pitchers, called "long relievers" that can generally go 3-5 innings if needed, or "spot start" if a starting pitcher is injured on his turn, but they are somewhat rare.

Thanks for the explanation; figured it would be something like that. I guess it's just that there doesn't seem to be an obvious difference in velocity and effectiveness between the starters and closers. I would expect all the scoring to be done on the starting pitchers, and hardly any on the closers, since they're coming in fresh, and the batters have gone around a few times already. Didn't see much of that pattern in the few games I've seen though, where it seemed like the starters shut down all the fun, and the relievers opened the gates.

^The quality of the pitchers also makes a difference. There are a lot of bad bullpens in baseball.....

The role of the reliever certainly has changed. I remember when the "closer" would come in the middle of the 7th inning with runners on base and expected to finish the game. The better ones would sometimes throw more then 150 innings a season and sometimes would be in double digits in wins and losses. Nowadays the roles are more defined with as mentioned, a middleman, a setup guy and a closer. Sometimes these defined roles get thrown down the drain during the playoffs when it comes to do or die time. I don't know if today's system is better but am still puzzled when a starter who is still going strong, is regardless pulled after a set number of pitches. I'm sure the players must like it though because it will prolong their careers.

THEY DID IT!!! ASTROS WIN!!! THEY ARE ADVANCING FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

<font color="red"> LETS GO ASTROS! </font>

I was amazed!

I watched a while, and the situation seemed to be deteriorating at 3-2 Astros.

I come back later and can't believe my eyes! 10-3 Astros! I see them add two more and by golly they won!

All I can say is, WOW!

Welp, so much for the Astros. Played a good half end of season, and all for nothing it seems like. Next year, I suspect our team will be crap, because their is no way we are keeping Beltran and probably not Clemens either. Tonight I went and mingled with the crowd in Downtown Houston just to have some fun, but also I got a few interesting pictures. Well, not INTERESTING, but kewl. Check out our TV we watched it on...Oh I would say around a 600 inch display /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Quite a few people were there just to get mad, but at least they closed off Main street. lol, when we did lose, the smaller tv that you can see through the trees in the bottom picture that Budweiser had there(still about 10 feet tall), had crap thrown at it such as beer, beer bottles, batteries, whatever else drunk people can find...etc... That was kinda humerous.

Downtown Houston, Astros Game

Cameron

This shapes up to be a good world series.

My prediction: Sox in 7. I think this is the year the "curse" ends. Not that I believe in curses, but that is the word some people call it.

In game 6 the Astros problem was pitching mostly.

In game 7 the bats never woke up.

An effort is being made to keep Beltran... we can only hope it is successfull!