The Bitter Rivals Thread

[SDL]

What do you mean by this year's Italy? Joltin' Joe DiMaggio? Scooter (or his famous cannolis)? Yogi (and his Yogi-isms)?

I am referring to the European Olympic Qualfiers which are going on in Barcelona. Italy was supposed to be one of the two teams that had a better than 85% chance to win and get an automatic berth in Beijing..or at least qualify for the Final Eight Tourney, where they they'd have a great chance to win a slot there. They finished 4th in the firrt round (only top three from each group advance to next round; they will finish 5th overall). In other words, they were supposed to fight The Netherlands for a trip to Beijing, but they'll be watching from home.

Kind of like what I'm hoping for King George and his not-so-merry crew.

(sorry for going OT, but I cover International baseball as part of my day job)

I know Jeter lives down here...hope he contacted that miniature golf course on US 19 in Clearwater about his October 1 tee-off date...

[Mattingly]

I am referring to the European Olympic Qualfiers which are going on in Barcelona. Italy was supposed to be one of the two teams that had a better than 85% chance to win and get an automatic berth in Beijing..or at least qualify for the Final Eight Tourney, where they they'd have a great chance to win a slot there. They finished 4th in the firrt round (only top three from each group advance to next round; they will finish 5th overall). In other words, they were supposed to fight The Netherlands for a trip to Beijing, but they'll be watching from home.

Kind of like what I'm hoping for King George and his not-so-merry crew.

(sorry for going OT, but I cover International baseball as part of my day job)

I know Jeter lives down here...hope he contacted that miniature golf course on US 19 in Clearwater about his October 1 tee-off date...

To tell you the truth, the playoffs are extremely funny. When the 83-win Cards won the last WS, I couldn't help but wonder how that could be. The Yanks won about 85 in 2000, had the most September losses (around 20) of any WS winner in MLB history. Weird, huh?

The Yanks have on paper a great team, but they need to play well down the stretch. Between Anaheim and a few other teams, we haven't gotten that done the last few years.

I figure that "Top 3" thing can be sorta like how the HR Derby Contest is: you'll need just enough jacks to get you past the 1st round, then just enough to get you past the 2nd, etc. Same with the playoffs. You'll need just enough runs to win the LDS, then the LCS. You'll need just enough runs to win 4 games. Get too many runs in one game, you may not have enough for the 2nd. Perhaps Italy may have not gotten enough runs to get to the next level.

Hopefully, the Yanks can win 2 of 3 this weekend. I wouldn't expect a sweep in either direction.

Oh well, so long as the WC is available, I can deal with it if we happen to not win the division. Of course, if we do win this, that'll be extra gravy on the meat & mashed taters , and a little extra dressing on the salad!

Gotta run, see ya around this weekend.

[KenFougere]

Who knows, come next season we might have [email protected] & [email protected]!

I'm curious, when are you going to answer things other than those parts of a question which favor you? Such as the ones I'd asked?

I'm not the least bit concerned here about any Pats, Bruins or Celtics players. This is a baseball forum, not some NE fan section.

You'd mentioned Mike Lowell going 4-for-4. That's fine. I'd mentioned Alex Rodriguez. Did you read that part? Do you wish to compare Lowell to Rodriguez? Yes or no? Who's looking like the runaway AL MVP candidate? Can you even admit who this is w/o changing the topic? Let me start it off.

Lowell has 18 jacks and 103 RBI. Compare that to Alex' 52 and 140 RBI, then an OPS that's almost 1.100. That's about .220 higher. One is a very good hitting third bagger most teams would enjoy having. Another is an elite athlete.

BTW, Don Zimmer was your manager. Who was the GM in 1978? Did Zim have a role in Reggie Cleveland's trade? If so, please specify.

So a RS fan is calling the Yanks cursed? This despite nothing from 1919 through 2003? That's quite a few years. So a 32-yr-old player is cursed? You sure you haven't been believing too much of the anti-A-Rod stuff the Yankee-hating media pours out? How would you describe Ted Williams, Carl **Yasztremski and Barry Bonds then? I really can't stand bringing up their names, but none of them have any rings either. Nothing can ever change that.

I really think you need to put this anti-Yankee thing in perspective, since it's just a game.

Let me put it this way.
Mike Lowell, in my opinion, is ,without question, the MVP of the Red Sox.
Alex Rodriguez, in my opinion, is ,without question, the MVP of BOTH Leagues.

With that said, guess which one I'd rather have . . .


** (Spelled): Yastrzemski

[Williamsburg2599]

[KenFougere]

Let's pray his shoulder and knee can hold up long enough to power the Sox to win the final game in this years' playoffs . . .

[KenFougere]

Isn't a win against Toronto sort-of important at this point in the season?

Big Hurt's walk-off single drops Yankees 5 1/2 games behind BoSox.



Question: Why didn't Torre use Mariano in the 9th? :disbelief:

[SDL]

The Magic Number is now 11

I salute such #11s as Frank Malzone..who the Sox signed under the Yankees noses, Bill Mueller of the 2004 team, HOFer Luis Aparicio, Dave Stapleton, who had McNamara had a working brain cell the night of Game 6 in '86 would have been at 1B instead of SOMEBODY ELSE and the IMMORTAL Dick "Ducky" Schofield Sr!

[Mattingly]

Let me put it this way.
Mike Lowell, in my opinion, is ,without question, the MVP of the Red Sox.
Alex Rodriguez, in my opinion, is ,without question, the MVP of BOTH Leagues.

With that said, guess which one I'd rather have . . .


** (Spelled): Yastrzemski

I haven't followed Lowell in quite awhile. I'll admit that when he was coming up, I was hoping for him, but Scott Brosius, who'd been expected to just keep Lowell's spot warm until he was ready, was considered the Yankee 3Bman. Unlike pitchers, you can only have one guy at each position.

To me, Boston lucked out that Florida made both himself and Beckett available.

I'll agree that Lowell's numbers are very good, as I've pointed out earlier, but hadn't realized that he was the team's MVP. Please describe why you feel he's the BoSox 2007 MVP. SDL, W2599 and others can do the same.

Sounds like a good thread idea for CE about each team's MVP.

BTW, it's spelled "Yaz" (aka, "Carl Michael Yastrzemski"), so please get it right!

http://www.yaz8.com/

Anyway, my point to SDL was that those are 3 legendary ballplayers, none of whom have a ring. Teddy sadly passed before 2004, so how's that for injustice?

[Mattingly]

Big Hurt's walk-off single drops Yankees 5 1/2 games behind BoSox.



Question: Why didn't Torre use Mariano in the 9th? :disbelief:

Thomas killed us twice, getting a 2-out RBI double in the 1st inning. It was a tied game.

Debatable, but here's my thoughts:

With a 1B runner, 2 outs, Sept callup Ian Kennedy was allowed to pitch to Frank Thomas, who had fewer HRs (21, I think) than 2006 with Oakland. Torre could've IBB'd Thomas, but he seems to be against pitching around players. That IBB which never occurred may have affected Kennedy's confidence the rest of the game if it had been done, but 7.0 IP, 1 ER doesn't seem like a bad line against a 3rd place team. I'll deal with 1 loss if he can do more for us the rest of the way.

Had Torre IBB'd Thomas, and presuming all things else being the same, it would've been 1-0 for the 9th. Then we would've used Mo. In a tied game, and with the Boston series upcoming, I guess that Mo wasn't to be used. The little-used Britton was used instead, and the rest is now known.

The silver lining is that Kennedy did well in a loss, and hopefully, Britton doesn't go back on Torre's "Charmin List", as I like to call it.

Oh, and will yourself and SDL be talking lots of football on Monday? And cursing them Damned Yankees?

[SDL]

Thomas killed us twice, getting a 2-out RBI double in the 1st inning. It was a tied game.

Debatable, but here's my thoughts:

With a 1B runner, 2 outs, Sept callup Ian Kennedy was allowed to pitch to Frank Thomas, who had fewer HRs (21, I think) than 2006 with Oakland. Torre could've IBB'd Thomas, but he seems to be against pitching around players. That IBB which never occurred may have affected Kennedy's confidence the rest of the game if it had been done, but 7.0 IP, 1 ER doesn't seem like a bad line against a 3rd place team. I'll deal with 1 loss if he can do more for us the rest of the way.

Had Torre IBB'd Thomas, and presuming all things else being the same, it would've been 1-0 for the 9th. Then we would've used Mo. In a tied game, and with the Boston series upcoming, I guess that Mo wasn't to be used. The little-used Britton was used instead, and the rest is now known.

The silver lining is that Kennedy did well in a loss, and hopefully, Britton doesn't go back on Torre's "Charmin List", as I like to call it.

Oh, and will yourself and SDL be talking lots of football on Monday? And cursing them Damned Yankees?

Yeah, we'll be talking about the Sox taking the series from you guys and about the THREE TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS shutting the yaps of Tomlinson and Merriman..and about the new contract The Genius got that just happens to have a $500,000 raise in it

To me, Damn Yankees is also the name of a band I like despite the fact it had Turd Nugent in it..

I hope I can see the AL East clinched at The Trop...

[KenFougere]

I haven't followed Lowell in quite awhile. I'll admit that when he was coming up, I was hoping for him, but Scott Brosius, who'd been expected to just keep Lowell's spot warm until he was ready, was considered the Yankee 3Bman. Unlike pitchers, you can only have one guy at each position.

To me, Boston lucked out that Florida made both himself and Beckett available.

I'll agree that Lowell's numbers are very good, as I've pointed out earlier, but hadn't realized that he was the team's MVP. Please describe why you feel he's the BoSox 2007 MVP. SDL, W2599 and others can do the same.

Lowell's statistics speak for themselves . . .

With both Manny & Ortiz having off years, I don't want to think where we'd be in the standings without Lowell having the year he's had so far.

[Mattingly]

Yeah, we'll be talking about the Sox taking the series from you guys and about the THREE TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS shutting the yaps of Tomlinson and Merriman..and about the new contract The Genius got that just happens to have a $500,000 raise in it

To me, Damn Yankees is also the name of a band I like despite the fact it had Turd Nugent in it..

I hope I can see the AL East clinched at The Trop...

You sure it won't be cussin' the Yanks for taking 2 of 3 this weekend? Then off to the "I hate the Damned Yankees" Pats game?

Seriously, crazy weekend coming up. Any predictions of the outcome? Anyone saying that Boston will lose is fine by me. :hyper:

[Mattingly]

Lowell's statistics speak for themselves . . .

With both Manny & Ortiz having off years, I don't want to think where we'd be in the standings without Lowell having the year he's had so far.

Go into CE. I just posted this new thread about each team's MVP. Let's hear your writeup on why Lowell is the MVP, as opposed to Varitek, Okajima, Papelbon.

[SDL]

You sure it won't be cussin' the Yanks for taking 2 of 3 this weekend? Then off to the "I hate the Damned Yankees" Pats game?

Seriously, crazy weekend coming up. Any predictions of the outcome? Anyone saying that Boston will lose is fine by me. :hyper:

Sunday's games are opposite each other..I'll be having two TVs going simultaneously.

Well, down here, Boston IS a loser..David Boston, that is

[Mattingly]

Sunday's games are opposite each other..I'll be having two TVs going simultaneously.

Well, down here, Boston IS a loser..David Boston, that is

Oh, they are? I guess that's why there are those DVR things and multiple TV sets. I've tried watching two games at once, but unless they're the same sport, I wouldn't bother. If I'm casual on football, I'll look, but I haven't been into the Giants since LT & Harry Carson (who then switched to Gang Green) were there.

I've tried watching NCAA football on Saturdays or NFL football on Sundays, both along with a baseball game, but paid little attention to the gridiron game outside of seeing nice plays, interceptions, long rushes, etc. Nice, but after Phil Simms defeated John Elway around '86, I haven't had as much interest. Those "X's" & "O's" haven't kept my attention either.

Hey, one more reason to not like the Damned Yankee fans!

Anyway, enjoy your weekend. At least the pre-game portion, anyway!