Wheelssps

I was at the Seadogs game today and was just explaining to my wife about Iglesies and his defense at shortstop. He made a great pickup at short that started a double play that inning. At his turn at bat, he had a check swing that hit his bat and fouled into his hand somehow. It looked pretty weird in realtime. He kind of half swung and then fell down to the ground clutching his wrist. He was taken out of the game, but I saw him in the dugout after that, and i'm not sure if he went to the hospital or not, but I don't actually think so. Anyway, scary moment while he was in a heap on the ground. As an aside, after about the 5th inning, the Seadogs opened up the bats. Kalish in particular was driving the ball all over the yard all day. 5 for 5 with a homer I think. Other players played well, too, but he really stood out.

I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until last night. I know that he's been having a hard time, a really hard time, but I had been ignoring the extent of his struggles. While listening last night, he came up with bases loaded and 0 out, eighth inning I think? I remember just saying to myself "just strikeout, don't hit into a double play." Then I realized, seriously??? I was hoping for an outcome that I could easily achieve myself up there at the plate instead of holding out much hope of Papi doing something positive with the AB. The double play home to 1st. It took Hermida to make a positive of the inning with two outs, but it easily could have still been a 1-1 tie after bases loaded and 0 outs. Sad, because we all love the guy for what he's done, but he just doesn't have it anymore.

Hmmm. Positive thinking................. Still thinking............ Thinking............ We don't have to play the powerhouse Orioles again for a little while??????

We may be some of the last few TV holdouts. We don't know many people that just don't have it. And I totally agree about bar trivia night. We try to do it with a group of four or five and always have to make sure that our group doesn't have any major deficiencies like that because like you, my pop culture knowledge is pitiful.

Haha. Not really. My wife and I just found that TV isn't really necessary. We go to a bar or to a friend's house for Superbowl, playoff games, stuff like that, but other than sports I really don't miss it at all. We still watch movies, but I made a bike trainer that generates power, so to watch movies you have to pedal to make it work. We find that for the kids it self regulates the amount of time they watch when they have to provide the power. The most depressing thing about no TV is that it's sometimes hard for me to finish crossword puzzles. My knowledge of Greek mythology or world history or literature isn't what's holding me back, it's Pop TV culture. Kind of sad, but whatever. I enjoy the extra time that would have gone to TV.

wow. bombed that thing. Only 5/20 right. I guess that's about right, though, for not owning a tv for the past 7 years and listening to everything on the radio instead.

Yeah, I got that with the RBI's bit. I know what you and others here think of RBI's as a metric. I was just commenting on how many factors came together to enable the Rays run in 08 was and how many of the same things would need to go right again this year to have another run.

Pretty much every post of yours is your public display of spending your days thinking of ways to be dramatically UNsatisfied with the Sox. Just saying.

I agree about not being quite sure if adjusting the strike zone is the right fix, as ideally a decision like that would have a bit more of a league wide debate about it, but at least it would fall within the ump's control. I also don't think that making it so wide that you force Youkilis and JD Drew into free swingers is right, either, but a little nudge to expanding the strike zone might help.

Hello all! I've just joined the board after lurking for a couple of months and have liked the environment here. Much more healthy than the espn drivel. I'm in Portland, ME with my wife and have been a baseball player/fan for life. I ended up choosing a different college sport than baseball to pursue after high school, but if I had gone for baseball, my future would have been as a pitcher. I had a good heater (86) and a good change and was working on a slider and curve at the end of high school. I had also played first and third with good defense, but I was having a hard time hitting the breaking stuff, so I think pitcher would have been my future. I grew up in NH and am excited to be in Portland. I live in walking distance to the Seadogs, so I'll be trying to watch as many games as is possible this summer. I'll try to post some firsthand perspective in the minor league forum here when I get something worth posting about here. Anyway, glad to be a part of the forum!

Thanks for the welcome! I'll tell you something about myself in that thread above, but I'm happy to be here. I've been lurking for a couple of months and then decided to join. I'd been trying to read the espn boards for a while but I was losing too many brain cells in that environment. This board seems much, much better.

Some of these games are a bit long, but that's the way both of these teams are constructed. Neither teams do much bunting men along (which creates quick outs), and other things which make a game quick. They also value value patience at the plate and drawing walks. For the time between pitches and calling time in the batter's box, I can kind of understand, but for guys of this caliber, having a routine is very important, and the timing of that routine is also important. Remember Nomar would go through the whole glove velcro routine, and then step in and take his practice swings. If the pitcher didn't deliver within a certain amount of time, he got uncomfortable, would step out, and do the whole thing again. That's what made him feel comfortable in the batter's box and made him the best hitter he could be. Does golf dictate how quickly players have to hit the ball once getting to it? No. The game of golf allows each player to go through their particular routine to play to the best of their abilities. I look at pitcher's rountines and batter's routines in the same light. As for speeding the game up, the ump should control what they should control and leave whining to the media out of it. Limiting catcher/pitcher meetings and players meetings at the mound would help. Also throughout the series but especially in the third game, there were several instances of a tiny, tiny strike zone at the plate for both teams. I'm a huge Red Sox fan, but I'll admit that Pettite came out on the short end of at least 4 or 5 WFT was wrong with that pitch calls? If the umps and MLB want to speed up the game a bit, calling a more generous strike zone (like an inch or two wider and taller) would do a lot to change the aggressiveness of hitters and the pace of the game. But the Joe West rant is simply a terrible, terrible way to go about it.