jad

Baseball involves two things that are increasingly difficult as you get older: names and narrative. My mother loved watching sports on tv, but couldn't listen on the radio. Baseball for her was like a series of disconnected snapshots, no sense of what inning it was, who was ahead etc And couldn't really come up with players' names except (this was 10-15 years ago), say, George Scott and Luis Tiant, maybe Ted Williams and Carleton Fisk on a good day.

I have had them both on Block for a long time. Keep me informed how their middle-school spat goes.

Had it all the way.

Why don't you like Youk? I mean don't you want to know that maybe a slider is coming unless it's a curve but if it's off the plate that's no good you know hitters like good pitches sometimes have trouble with bad ones but it's a little different when the count is 2-2 because another strike and you're out but a ball and you're 3-2 which is a good thing especially if you want to walk because one more outside and you're on unless it's just off because the ump might call it a strike so you better swing at least foul it off because it's better to get on base than to make an out on the other hand you don't want to hit into a double play because two outs are worse than none so you have to be thinking when the pitcher throws the pitch and don't forget the pitch clock you know back in the day they didn't have one ... [REPEAT]

Antlery dish?

"Hey, guy. Nice shirt. Whaddya do for a living?" " I'm like in the medical profession." "Oh that's cool. Kinda hot too. Whaddya do for fun, when you're not out saving lives?" "I go on sports boards and forums of opposing teams and, you know, 'talk smack' " "You ..." "Yeah, 'talking smack' is cool talk, you know, like on talk radio?, for saying negative things to the gerontians and 10-year-olds on the board ..." "You ... Oh crap. My phone. I think it's my boyfriend calling."

Wow. Getting booed off the field on opening day. I hope BLoom and Henry (if he bothered to attend) are enjoying their lattes.

You know sometimes when you get older you lose a little on your fastball so then you see you have to rely on other pitches because a fast ball that isn't fast might be hit but then if as a hitter you're not looking for it it might be easier to hit and then locaation is the key you need to keep in in a good spot because pitches down the middle are easier but if you're a hitter you might wan tto take that unless you get fooled which is important so as a pitcher you have to get other pitches to keep hitters from locking in and it's best to throw strikes because if you don't you might walk someone which is bad unless you want to do it intentionally so then you see you try to throw that breaking ball just off the plate but not in so far that the guy can hit it but if it's too far outside it might be a ball and with the pitch clock you can't afford to throw too many of them so it's best to work on a variety of pitches like not just the fastball because you know sometimes when you get older you lose a little on your fastball so then you see you have to rely on other pitches because a fast ball that isn't fast might be hit but then if as a hitter ... [repeat]

Someone please tell yook to STFU! It's not just that he has nothing to contribute, he uses up way too much air getting that aacross.

Please provide the definitive list on the "facts" or "legitimate reasons to critique Bloom" so that we know what we are permitted to say from here on.

Well, I was hopeful, but NYY just signed Franchie Cordero!

Please do not mention "issue on the hands" when speaking of McGuire.

Yeah. Same problem with Bogaerts and Betts. Vaz too. They were just hurt all the time.

Nah, the purpose of the Story deal was to get rid of Xander. Mission accomplished. Doesn't matter if Story ever gets back on the field.

Well come on! He looked great today.

I guess pitchers have to follow a strict pre-season regimen. But for veteran position players? Damn! ST has to be the most boring thing in the world. You're in shape. You've been working on your game all winter. And now?? you're supposed to sit in the dugout for a month in Arizona watching some non-roster player take second strikes? I would think most of them would jump at the chance to travel and play in real games. (Also, there is no way MLB is going to give up two weeks of July revenue.)

What a game. Esp. the final out!

Finally had a chance to watch Yoshida. Holy crap that guy takes a rip!

But then, who do you have less respect for? A greedy a-hole who makes a bad business decision? Or a shill who works for him paid to take credit for those decisions?

How about Joe Bellino? 1960 Heisman. Also 4 years in Navy, I think.

Not sure who the moronic color commentator is today, but after a two-minute peroration, we now have learned that hitters often handle pitches in the zone better than ones that are not in the areas they hit best. OMG. And now we learn that it might be better to put in the lineup players who have more skill than to keep them on the bench. WOW! And now that if you hit the ball off the end of the bat it might not go so far as when you hit it on the barrel!! Whoa, this is Kuhnian!

Thanks! Given the 'grey-market' feeds I get, not sure that will be possible. But I can always just listen to the radio and turn to the broadcast if anything interesting happens! (Certainly better than listening to the brain-numbing blather of Youk.)

Is there an easy way to do this? To get the radio feed over the web and sync it? (Meanwhile, anyone who agrees with this should let NESN know. As in life, if you allow for bad behavior/performance, you will get nothing else.)

Unlikely that anyone is watching, but it's a real joy getting the Tampa Bay feed. Announcers actually let the game proceed rather than filling it with Youkilis etc. saying "You know that pitch was a strike but you don't always swing if it's not your pitch like when it's 2-0 but when there are two strikes you might have to swing at that to foul it off on the other hand sometimes a pitch outside the zone is one you like and you swing but you have to make sure it's not too far off the edge because you might swing and miss so you're looking for something over the middle but you're not going to get that every time so if it's outside the zone you try not to swing because if you miss you've lost the chance for a walk which in some situations like say the bases are loaded might be good but then if you're down 6 runs then ..."

OMG is this now the standard announcing mode? Can't these guys STFU or if they're going to blather on, at LEAST talk about the game. NESN needs to know that this is making it impossible to watch.