jung

Saunders obviously cannot live all night on breaking balls and he knows it but every FB he throws is dying to leave the yard. Of course ARoid can't leave the yard any longer apparently. Staggering an O's Hr....solo of course....this game should be about 5-3 with both starters on the ropes at this point....Oh the drama! And Bubblegum Jones fails again.

And either will be blown out of the ALCS the way they are playing. The fact is the AL East is not what it was....not by a long shot...tried to warn people of that before the year even got started.

As critical as I have been of the division series play so far this year...this series is the worst of them...probably because it is featuring the two teams that least deserve to be here. Tonight we have two pitchers going that so far just pretty awful....neither guy has his best stuff and are rarely making any pitches worth a damn and neither team's hitters can do a thing about it.....have already seen more indifferent play and mental mistakes in almost three innings than you would expect from a whole game. Ibanez has been entirely of the baseball worth watching in two at bats and even then, you have to question what the hell Showalter and his pitching coach were doing both times. Saunder's pitch to Tex...best pitch he has made all night.

Like I said...not impressed with Showalter. And here goes the hapless O's hitters again. Unbelievable....Goodnight Irene... ...more badly badly played baseball. If Baltimore was a real baseball town Jones would be run out of town on a rail by the time he got back.

Moving ahead so soon!!! While LL has been on his Roman Holiday, two managers have already been hired. It is clear that once again, nothing will happen unless LL says it will. Not even convinced at this point that BC will run the process.

I do think Hughes is likely to out-pitch Saunders tonight the way Saunders is going. O's had their shot last night.....maybe they will learn something as ballplayers from this experience....maybe not. Thought if the O's lost last night they would come back tonight and force it to 5. Not even sure that is going to happen the way the middle of the O's order is going and the way Saunders is pitching.

Weiters is 4/5, 3-0 with 1 HR this year. Not the way Hughes was pitching that inning.

Aesthetically, tonight's A's Tigers game is probably the one to watch at least for baseball excellence. I suspect Verlander is going to go out there and dominate the A's. I don't even think it will be close. Verlander to A's will be Guardians 2,000 against Custer's 200 with about the same results....won't be very dramatic but we might be in for the kind of pitching performance that is rare....something like Kenny Rogers in Detroit a few years ago.

I was a little impressed with Showaster during the regular season....he has not impressed me at all in this series. Gives Weiters the green light 3-0 against Hughes????? Not to bright.

Finally two well played ballgames this afternoon and early evening. Hopefully the next two will also be well played, tight ballgames as opposed to mistake-fests.

The O's are lucky that they at least get to face Hughes tonight. Although facing Hughes is no guarantee that they will do anything with him. The O's offensive output was only slightly less feeble than the Yankee output during regulation play. While the Yankee batters just seemed their usual feeble selves, the O's simply made horrid plate appearances...stupid. They basically walked up to the plate and put themselves out without even putting up a battle of any sort....pitiful efforts all around. Media efforts post game seem as dimwitted and misguided as player, coach and manager efforts during the game. Who gives a s*** how Showalter felt after the 9th inning and extra inning debacle. "Were you shocked....devastated"? Gimme' a break. How about "in retrospect Buck, given the change from a struggling RH hitter, ARoid to a LH hitter that also happened to be the hottest pinch hitter in baseball for the last month, do you think it would have made sense to have the pitching coach visit the mound and make sure Johnson and Weiter were on the same page and knew how they needed to attack Ibanez? Seemed to me that was the last place Johnson wanted to leave that pitch to Ibanez." or how about "after Ibanez had hit the 9th inning homer and was obviously jacked to the moon, do you think it would have made sense next time he arrived at the plate to make sure that the first pitch he saw was not a challenge FB right down main street?" While this post season does not lack for drama, well played post seasons do not lack for drama either. This one has so far been a joke both in the numbers of mental and physical errors by players and tactical errors by coaches and managers all across the various division series. In truth the number of mental and physical errors and sloppy, indifferent plays by players far outstrips the number of tactical errors by managers and coaches. Lets see how many players trip over their shoelaces or their bubblegum today. I have to say the division series play is to some extent consistent with the regular season play we were treated to this year. Worst year for silly, stupid, indifferent play across MLB that I can remember in a long long time.

Another older ballplayer....what a shock

Agreed.....most of what I admire about baseball now involves one of the older players that has maintained a link to the past. I just don't know what we will be watching when the crew of older guys that are really on their last legs finally give up the ghost. Maybe the money is corrupting the sport to a degree that is just out there or maybe as I suggested earlier maybe there are just to many teams and not enough good players to go around.

You will surely see more 8-0 games with the quality of baseball we are getting these days than you will see 3-2 games. This is a joke. I will take drama if it is an output from good baseball. I could care less about drama when it is an output from goofy baseball.

I just switched over to the A's Tigers game and before the remote even cools off, Coco is blowing another easy fly ball in the outfield and as soon as the A's come up Drew is stumbling into an out on the base paths...the whole thing is just a comedy or mental and physical errors, not much different from the season we have seen.

I did give Ibanez credit...didn't you read the post? My point really has nothing to do with Ibanez per-sey. The quality of the baseball we are seeing sucks. There is drama to some extent....Thrilling to think about who is going to drop the next pop up...have the next thoughtless at bat or make the next thoughtless pitch or stumble over his bubble gum in the outfield. Did you ever think you would see this many errors in as few post season games as we have had so far? Sure we would get a few errors in a division series or post season but the number or scored errors and mental errors is just out of control...really has been all season...all over baseball. Even the quality of the managing and coaching is for s***. Like I said earlier there is no way Joe Torre's pitching coach would not have been on the way to the mound the instant Ibanez was announced for ARoid...no way in hell. Instead the O's pitching coach is planted on the bench where you find most pitching coaches these days. And of course if Aceves was the guy on the mound and the pitching coach did come out, Aceves would likely have chased him back to the dugout. My comments are completely and all about the quality of the play. I don't give a s*** about the quality of the drama...not when it comes to baseball.

Oh my God...the contemporary ballplayer...can't catch flys in the outfield, can't catch pop ups in the infield, can't throw and for the most part can't hit his way out of a paper bag. Frankly I even think the quality of the pitching is suspect because the quality of everything else is just so s***** to begin with. Maybe there are just to many teams for the number of quality players that there are to go around...but the buffoonery is so widespread I think there is something more fundamental than that going on. Great performance by Ibanez but seriously that was all adrenaline. Sometimes adrenaline is enough but frankly most of these guys sleep walk through these games. Tough to call on adrenaline when you are barely awake in the first place. Here comes a guy to the plate that is sky high and I am going to challenge him with a FB right down main street.

Every time I see one of these turkey's grimace as they drag their sorry asses back to the dugout after recording yet another K I wanna' be sick. "Gosh darn....I did not get that one." Of course you didn't you blithering idiot, you didn't even take the bat off your shoulders with the exception of the first ball thrown to you. You had no idea what was coming, no idea where you should look for the ball...no idea what you should be swinging at.

Sure you could make the case the the pitching has been great in this series but in reality the hitting has been totally putrid on both sides. MLB really needs to take a look at the product I think. Something is sorely missing in how these guys are coming out of the minor leagues and their process at the plate. You don't have to be Teddy Baseball but my God he is turning in his freezer I am sure.

To be honest, I am getting so frustrated with MLB's brand of baseball lately....it has become a stupid thoughtless game.....the best game in the world for my money is being butchered by these idiot millionaires, their half baked managers and coaches and oblivious FO's. But they can all thank God that all these TV deals are on the table right now cause the money just keeps rollin' in.

Very easy to conjure the Yanks hitting one out of Matchbox Stadium to win this thing. How does that taste Showaster? Your team dicks around for the last 7 innings of the game, your pitchers pitch their asses off and mainly because your pitching coach sits his dead ass on your bench when the best clutch PH in baseball the last month comes in, you may very easily blow this game and blow the series.

Would have made more sense to bring in a LH pitcher just for Ibanez regardless of who the closer is. Honestly that really does not make sense either....just do not understand why O's pitching coach was not right on top of that situation. Hate to credit the guy but when Torre was managing the yanks...their pitching coach would have been out there so fast you would have thought he was Ichiro on the base paths. Stupid stupid stupid and may cost the O's the game.

Aroid sat for Ibanez....terrible pitch to him. Don't know when pitchers are gonna' stop putting that pitch right there on his bat. Ibanez has been so good coming in like this that the pitching coach needed to come out there and tell them where to pitch Ibanez. Simply cannot put the ball there to him.

Detroit particularly must be licking its chops. The AL East is turning into a bad joke. Maybe Orioles pitching is better than I think it is but I know Yankee hitting sucks so I don't think the Orioles would do this to Detroit...heck they would not be doing this to the A's!

Told you guys the Yankee offense that you "might" be able to depend on is two pop guns and a legit hitter in Cano...that is it. I light candles every night that the Spanks bring back drama queen and MrK season after season. Would love to see aging Jeter and Ichiro plus Mr K, Drama Queen and Aroid. Poor Cano would be suicidal in about two months.