erik316wttn

That one pitch broke Lidge. He still hasn't fully recovered.

I don't understand how anyone could still be against replay after this postseason so far. My only concern with replay is what happens if a call is reversed. For example, what if a ball if fair that they called foul? Where do you put the batter? The play didn't continue, so nobody has any idea if the batter was going to get a single or a triple. What about a play at the plate? Let's say a guy gets called out at the plate (as the other runners are also attempting to advance). That's the third out that ends the inning. Replay reverses the call-where do you put the other runners who were advancing? The defense never got a chance to throw them out. The same thing happens with a catch or a trap. If it's a trap, where does the batter go and where do the runners on base go? What if it was on the infield where the fielder would have had a chance to throw runners or the batter out if it hadn't been ruled a catch to begin with? Expanded replay in baseball is really tricky because of that. I'm not concerned with the amount of time replay would take or the human element of the game, but I'm not sure how there can be a fair system of replay put into place. Any system that is first put in place will be flawed for sure. But I'm sure it will evolve into something respectable that can ensure the correct outcome is reached. But baseball cannot have the black eye of all these bad calls made during the postseason. It really makes them look bad.

I don't understand how anyone could still be against replay after this postseason so far.

And you do that quite well, my friend.

If there's no World Series Championship, I'll just look on it as "same old, same old." shocked, I tells ya Ultimately it will be looked at that way by history, no matter what your opinion of me is. Don't hate me, hate the fact that I'm right. We all know that the ultimate goal of any franchise is a World Series championship. Regular seasons tend to be forgotten without one. It's not my personal opinion, it tends to be a societal fact. Do we remember the 2001 Mariners incredible regular season? Not nearly as much as we should, because they got punked out in the ALCS. The Cubs in the late 20's and early 30's had some pretty damn good teams. Anyone remember those? Nope, because there was no championship. I could keep listing, but I"m sure you get the point. Some of the most storied teams of all time: the 1927 Yankees, 1976 Reds, 1998 Yankees, (and again, I could continue) are remembered fondly by history because they had great regular seasons AND they won a championship. Don't let your personal bias against me get in the way of logic.

If there's no World Series Championship, I'll just look on it as "same old, same old."

At least for regular season games, this. That was the absolute craziest game I've ever seen from start to finish.

Maybe cause his pitchers are golfing? since June I meant Charlie.

Why isn't Jerry Manuel insisting on sleeves for his pitchers on the mound tonight?

Everybody blows a call now and then. But there are some that botch a good deal of the close plays that they have to call. And that have a very inconsistent strike zone within the game.

Oh, and here's a fun fact: Phil Cuzzi, who botched that Mauer fly ball call in ALDS Game 2, was fired from his Minor-league umpiring job back in 1993 because he sucked. He was working as a bartender back in 1996 when he had a chance encounter with an MLB official and talked his way into an MLB umpiring job. http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/phil-cuzzi-was-once-fired-as-minor-league-ump-26423 Anyone who is against instant replay should watch those games again and then say that it doesn't need to be expanded. It's a joke that such lousy officiating is ruining what is supposed to be the highlight of the MLB season.

Or, in a dream scenario, get the Twins to rally and take the series. Then, with the Cards and Yanks gone, I don't care what happens, as I'd have no rooting interest. I'd get to watch some carefree (to me) baseball.

Selig needs to grow a pair and stand up to the umpire's union. There are some absolutely terrible umpires who blatantly favor or are biased against certain players or teams, or umpires who are just terrible in general, and very little if anything is done about it. I've noticed a decline in officiating across the board in basketball and football in recent years as well.

Let me be the first to say that the Cardinals clearly need to get more lefthanded this offseason. Have you not been watching? It's obvious even to a blind man that they need guys who can catch the ball!

Did I just hear you comparing a small market GM with a big market GM? Yeah, that's fair. Let's see how a guy who has a decreasing payroll each year compares to another guy who is given an open wallet every year. Do you really think Jim Hendry could have generateed a better record for the Oakland A's during that time? Because he's just barely over .500 as a GM while playing in one of the weakest divisions in baseball. I'm not a Beane apologist, but it's absolutely silly to try to paint Hendry as a much better GM considering the tremendous amount of resources at his fingertips in comparison to a small market club. He was comparing GM to GM. Is your position that it is okay for a GM to go well below .500 consistently as long as they can use the small market card? I thought Beane's allure was the fact that through stats he could spend much less than other teams and still field a consistent winner? If not, besides the fact that his teams aren't winning what makes him a good GM? This team would be a dynasty with Beane at the helm.

I'm still holding out faint hope for a Rockies/Twins series. Haha, that would be so awesome.

Well, they HAVE looked very Cub-like the last 2 games. It's a fair comparison.

B....b....but we might find someone worse!!! Every time I see your posts I think, "Well, he's really topped himself this time. He can't possibly get more useless from here." And you continually surprise me with your next post. There isn't a person on this board saying Hendry deserves to keep his job. Those of us who stress caution are simply more concerned with who our GM is rather than who it isn't. Hell, we aren't even saying don't fire him. We're saying get a line on somebody better first... But that's too logical, I suppose. Oh, how much better our team would be if we all made arbitrary decisions based on emotion like you seem to prefer. Glad I have fans. May I direct you to the "ignore" feature to block out "useless" posters such as myself? If you've been paying attention, there are several posters on here who advocate keeping Hendry because the next guy might be worse. I don't really think that's possible. Hendry is a bottom-5 GM in this league. While I do advise caution in hiring the next GM, keeping him employed simply because "the next guy might be worse" is terrible logic. Fire him now, promote someone to interim in the meantime, and work it out in the offseason.

Aren't only the best officials in each sport permitted to call playoff contests? On what planet is CB Bucknor considered one of the "best" umpires? I've seen some Little League umps who are on his level.

I've always been fascinated by the very brief career of one Herb Washington for the 1974 and 1975 Oakland A's. 31 career steals, 33 career runs, not one single plate appearance, nor one single appearance in the field. He was an accomplished collegiate sprinter that Charley Finley signed exclusively as a pinch-runner. Pretty bad baserunner considering he was caught stealing 17 times in his career, and was picked off of first base in the 9th inning of Game 2 of the 1974 World Series. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/washihe01.shtml His baseball card was the only one Topps ever issued with "pinch runner" listed as the position. http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m100/fishmaster17/b__herbwashington75.jpg edit: And if you're ever bored, read the wikipedia article on Charley Finley to find out how big of a d-bag the man really was.

B....b....but we might find someone worse!!!

Exactly. It's like someone else on here posted on another thread: We have 3 solid #2 guys in Demp, Lilly, and Z, but not an ace. When he's on, he's one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball. Unless we can find a better option in Free Agency, we need to offer him arb.

Oh my God, A-Rod got a postseason hit and an RBI.

Of course not. That move makes sense, which is precisely why Hendry won't do it.

They were very Cub-like the last month of the season.