In this, the 10th season of the Dbacks' franchise, it was the FIRST season that we've not had to listen to news reports of the woeful financial performance of the business end of the team.
This while attendance at home games was lackluster at best (during the regular season). Heck, they even started making a big deal out of setting aside, for charities, $5.00 of every ticket purchased as a walk up (to the box office) I think it was for the month of September.
Of course, the ticket prices are STILL much more than double what they were in season one (when I had upper deck season tickets that cost $6.50/seat/game).
And there was plenty of grumbling in the community when the team declined to exercise its option to bring (2001 WS game 7 hero) Luis Gonzales (who drove in the winning run with his bloop single off of Mariano Riviera) back to play LF this year (for $10M)... even though Gonzo publicly declared he would be willing to take far less to play here in 2007. And, as Hiway29 knows quite well, Gonzo signed with the Dodgers... and my understanding is that he played well this season.
The Dbacks raised a hearty crop of young talent from its farm system coming into this season! And those KIDS have played admirably.
Yea and I get your backhanded crack about the good and pure red sox, while missing most of the points of the post.
Let it go, its a game
Enoughs enough
Beckett pitched one of the great games of post season history two days ago and tonight Matsuzaka is pitching the game that they got him for.....do you really think that I care about any of this other BS?
The Dbacks raised a hearty crop of young talent from its farm system coming into this season! And those KIDS have played admirably.
Yes they have!
do you think they have the maturity to go deep into the plaoffs?
or is that whole 'playoff experience' thing overrated?
the Red Sox have agood mix of veterans who have been there before and youngsters,
Im hoping everyone gets achance to see Jacoby Ellsbury on the national stage, who made agreat catch as a defensive replacement on Wednesday. He is one very exciting ballplayer. Pedroia at 2nd should be Rookie Of The Year imo. John Lester came back from cancer at 23, and Papelbon in his 2nd year is one of the most intimidating closers I have ever seen up close.....
6 hours til game time...I hope the TBS production crew has worked out the glitches which were numerous last time around
As a genaral baseball fan,I've been a little resentful myself about the New York dominance in b-ball...In fact,I was often glad that I wasn't old enough to experience 50's baseball,when the Brookyn Dodgers would have a playoff with the NY Giants to see who got to play the NY Yankees in the World Series....I mean geez,wasn't New York represented by one team or another about 14 teams out of the 20 possible teams in the WS in the '50's?...With the Yankees winning about 1/4 of the champinships over a century,and being in the WS about 40% of the time,I'd say expect the flack---it goes with the territory of winning....It could be worse,Hiway,you could have been a Cub fan and had the rest of the baseball world feeling sorry for you your whole life....The Cubs motto really should be "don't expect anything and,hey,you'll never be disappointed"....
The D-backs are more than likely not embraced by too many people outside of Arizona because they're a relatively new expansion team...They're not the team of anybody's youth...Plus,they have also been in the playoffs 40% of their years in existance,so they don't draw much sympathy...On the other hand,they've proven this year that you can somehow compete with the big boys in spite of a low payroll...In fact,if they were an older,more storied franchise,like Kansas City,Pittsburgh or maybe Cincinatti,I think they would be a much more popular sentimental favorite by virtue of the young low-payroll David taking on the highly-paid Goliaths...The wierd thing is,I don't see the D-backs losing a lot to free agency any time soon,since they really don't have a 'star' in their every day lineup that would command huge dollars on the free agent market...
The Cubbies are playing thus far like they have a curse---Not from a billy goat or a Steve Bartman or some other crazy baseball gods---their own self imposed curse...Ted Lilly afraid to pitch to 22-year-old-kids...DLee,Soriano and Aramis Ramirez swinging at balls in the dirt and taking fat pitches down the middle...The old guys on the field seem like the nervous ones---The D-Backs are playing like they have nothing to lose...
I was extremely impressed yesterday bu C. C. Sabbathia...It looked like his "stuff",as Luis Tiant would have put it, was "boolcheet"...Walked six guys,...nervous as a pig with an invitation to a luau in his hoof,...but somehow he reached back, and against some of the best clutch playoff hitters in baseball,preserved a one-run lead with the bases loaded and one out...
Not that I'm looking for 'sympathy', or that anyone cares-but the years when baseball REALLY mattered-when I was 12, the Yankees were the WORST team in baseball, and I lived year in and year out with Horace Clarke, Jake Gibbs, and Gene Michael as the 'stars'. I NEVER had that feeling of 'entitlement' Yankee fans are accused of. The Red Sox , Orioles, and Tigers were the dominant AL teams back then, and the Yankee dynasty was a thing of the distant past.
I'm still here... just been laid up a bit... right now I'm watching Pettite do his usual for the evil empire (that's for you hiway!)... the Rocks are on an amazing run, huh? ...looks like we'll get to see baseball in parkas after all cuz the Phils sure have dug themselves a hole... speaking of which, Simon's Cubs of his youth are gonna go down to the Dbacks of his age... and sweet Lou will take another hit for his 'calculated move'... but dang! they have the best bullpen don't they?
I kind of like this young Dback team... seems to be a lot of great chemistry with them... they look like they're having fun... and Beckett! dangit! what could've been... I just love watching all of the stRangers play in the playoffs... I hope tonight's game with DiceK and the Angels is just as good as this one, I love a pitcher's duel...
...and I've got HD on all of the channels Rock... get with the right satellite company!
reminds me of a sand volleyball final in new orleans near the (old wood) quarter ... hot night
coed doubles ... the termites come out in swarms and we play with them sticking all over us, spitting them out as need be ... only much worse than they show there in Cleveland ...
top of the order coming up for the tribe ... this should do it ...
speaking of which, Simon's Cubs of his youth are gonna go down to the Dbacks of his age... and sweet Lou will take another hit for his 'calculated move'... but dang! they have the best bullpen don't they?
I kind of like this young Dback team... seems to be a lot of great chemistry with them... they look like they're having fun...
If you're referring to Lou pulling Zambrano after six,Rocky and I were at a game this year where Randy Johnson was throwing a one-hitter through six in a 1-0 game...Johnson hit the leadoff hitter in the seventh on the first pitch,struck out the next guy,and about five pitches later the base were loaded against him....The normally reliable D-back bullpen couldn't hold the lead, and of course,all the D-back fans wanted to crucify Manager Bob Melvin for keeping Johnson in too long...As a manager you're kinda damned either way if the move doesn't work...You're very right,the young D-backs are having fun...
You ain't just whistlin' dixie! The Dbacks DO look like they're having fun.
Will they have the maturity to see it through?
Well, they're not mature enough to "know" they should be scared... and their "chemistry" IS key. A couple of veterans... Tony Clark has been absolutely phenomenal as a platoon first baseman, switch hitting pinch-hitter AND (but not least) as a calming influence as he oozes confidence that the youngsters soak up in barrelfuls. A recent article in the AZ Republic highlighted how he's like a father figure (at age 35) to the kids, many of whom are between 20 and 25. And gold glover Orlando Hudson is like a player coach (though not playing now because of the hand injury). The other key veteran, Eric Byrnes just demonstrates all out hustle all the time.
And manager Bob Melvin's supporting cast of coaches help him maintain a stoic appearance because he really doesn't have to fret the details. Bryan Price, the pitching coach, knew most of the pitchers as they were coming up in the team's farm system, as Price also worked in the Dback farm system before making it to Phoenix... and all of you should know what Kirk Gibson can mean to the team. Melvin doesn't have to play the heavy with the kids, as Gibson does. And Gibson TIMES everything, especially the pitchers' deliveries... which gives the team an edge in their baserunning.
re: Tony Clark (the old man of the Dbacks)... I'd heard he was extremely valuable in "the room"... worth more for that than his under-powering numbers at 1B.
...maybe someone to replace Tex?
...and there's Hafner (another ex-stRanger) delivering the hit...
re: Tony Clark (the old man of the Dbacks)... I'd heard he was extremely valuable in "the room"... worth more for that than his under-powering numbers at 1B.
...maybe someone to replace Tex?
...and there's Hafner (another ex-stRanger) delivering the hit...
I have no idea what you mean by that... please explain. Thanks.
Rocky, I am guessing you are referring to the first part of his message. The second part about Hafner no doubt refers to his game winning hit for the Indians against the Yankees last night.
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kimberly
I missed the LLWS. The boy had baseball practice 4-7. Playing in a USSSA tournament this coming weekend. The new season has just started. Can ya'll believe we are in September of the ML baseball s
mstar1
Dont scare me like that Bolsh--the way you posted I wasnt sure if it was a done deal--I had to go check....Im on the fence whether to go for Halliday or not---I'd love to have him but I'd hate to give
hiway29
I love those fan trades where players you don't care about, plus a 'prospect', are offered up for a major player. Yeah, the Jays will jump at that deal.
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mstar1
Id be all for that, I have joked about it for years---even though there already a lot of performance bonuses...
I doubt that you would ever get it by the Players Union though....
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hiway29
On one hand, "all businesses need to spend money to be successful"-always acceptable unless it's the Yankees.
Teams have been showing for years the Yankees can be defeated at a lower price.
I get the 'deathstar' crack. Evil empire, vs Good and Pure Sox Nation. It's getting tiresome.
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Rocky
Go DBACKS!!!!!!!!
In this, the 10th season of the Dbacks' franchise, it was the FIRST season that we've not had to listen to news reports of the woeful financial performance of the business end of the team.
This while attendance at home games was lackluster at best (during the regular season). Heck, they even started making a big deal out of setting aside, for charities, $5.00 of every ticket purchased as a walk up (to the box office) I think it was for the month of September.
Of course, the ticket prices are STILL much more than double what they were in season one (when I had upper deck season tickets that cost $6.50/seat/game).
And there was plenty of grumbling in the community when the team declined to exercise its option to bring (2001 WS game 7 hero) Luis Gonzales (who drove in the winning run with his bloop single off of Mariano Riviera) back to play LF this year (for $10M)... even though Gonzo publicly declared he would be willing to take far less to play here in 2007. And, as Hiway29 knows quite well, Gonzo signed with the Dodgers... and my understanding is that he played well this season.
The Dbacks raised a hearty crop of young talent from its farm system coming into this season! And those KIDS have played admirably.
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mstar1
Yea and I get your backhanded crack about the good and pure red sox, while missing most of the points of the post.
Let it go, its a game
Enoughs enough
Beckett pitched one of the great games of post season history two days ago and tonight Matsuzaka is pitching the game that they got him for.....do you really think that I care about any of this other BS?
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mstar1
Yes they have!
do you think they have the maturity to go deep into the plaoffs?
or is that whole 'playoff experience' thing overrated?
the Red Sox have agood mix of veterans who have been there before and youngsters,
Im hoping everyone gets achance to see Jacoby Ellsbury on the national stage, who made agreat catch as a defensive replacement on Wednesday. He is one very exciting ballplayer. Pedroia at 2nd should be Rookie Of The Year imo. John Lester came back from cancer at 23, and Papelbon in his 2nd year is one of the most intimidating closers I have ever seen up close.....
6 hours til game time...I hope the TBS production crew has worked out the glitches which were numerous last time around
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simonzelotes
Ok just some general baseball musings.....
As a genaral baseball fan,I've been a little resentful myself about the New York dominance in b-ball...In fact,I was often glad that I wasn't old enough to experience 50's baseball,when the Brookyn Dodgers would have a playoff with the NY Giants to see who got to play the NY Yankees in the World Series....I mean geez,wasn't New York represented by one team or another about 14 teams out of the 20 possible teams in the WS in the '50's?...With the Yankees winning about 1/4 of the champinships over a century,and being in the WS about 40% of the time,I'd say expect the flack---it goes with the territory of winning....It could be worse,Hiway,you could have been a Cub fan and had the rest of the baseball world feeling sorry for you your whole life....The Cubs motto really should be "don't expect anything and,hey,you'll never be disappointed"....
The D-backs are more than likely not embraced by too many people outside of Arizona because they're a relatively new expansion team...They're not the team of anybody's youth...Plus,they have also been in the playoffs 40% of their years in existance,so they don't draw much sympathy...On the other hand,they've proven this year that you can somehow compete with the big boys in spite of a low payroll...In fact,if they were an older,more storied franchise,like Kansas City,Pittsburgh or maybe Cincinatti,I think they would be a much more popular sentimental favorite by virtue of the young low-payroll David taking on the highly-paid Goliaths...The wierd thing is,I don't see the D-backs losing a lot to free agency any time soon,since they really don't have a 'star' in their every day lineup that would command huge dollars on the free agent market...
The Cubbies are playing thus far like they have a curse---Not from a billy goat or a Steve Bartman or some other crazy baseball gods---their own self imposed curse...Ted Lilly afraid to pitch to 22-year-old-kids...DLee,Soriano and Aramis Ramirez swinging at balls in the dirt and taking fat pitches down the middle...The old guys on the field seem like the nervous ones---The D-Backs are playing like they have nothing to lose...
I was extremely impressed yesterday bu C. C. Sabbathia...It looked like his "stuff",as Luis Tiant would have put it, was "boolcheet"...Walked six guys,...nervous as a pig with an invitation to a luau in his hoof,...but somehow he reached back, and against some of the best clutch playoff hitters in baseball,preserved a one-run lead with the bases loaded and one out...
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hiway29
Not that I'm looking for 'sympathy', or that anyone cares-but the years when baseball REALLY mattered-when I was 12, the Yankees were the WORST team in baseball, and I lived year in and year out with Horace Clarke, Jake Gibbs, and Gene Michael as the 'stars'. I NEVER had that feeling of 'entitlement' Yankee fans are accused of. The Red Sox , Orioles, and Tigers were the dominant AL teams back then, and the Yankee dynasty was a thing of the distant past.
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Lifted Up
I am so sure that was just well planned!
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Tom Strange
I'm still here... just been laid up a bit... right now I'm watching Pettite do his usual for the evil empire (that's for you hiway!)... the Rocks are on an amazing run, huh? ...looks like we'll get to see baseball in parkas after all cuz the Phils sure have dug themselves a hole... speaking of which, Simon's Cubs of his youth are gonna go down to the Dbacks of his age... and sweet Lou will take another hit for his 'calculated move'... but dang! they have the best bullpen don't they?
I kind of like this young Dback team... seems to be a lot of great chemistry with them... they look like they're having fun... and Beckett! dangit! what could've been... I just love watching all of the stRangers play in the playoffs... I hope tonight's game with DiceK and the Angels is just as good as this one, I love a pitcher's duel...
...and I've got HD on all of the channels Rock... get with the right satellite company!
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rhino
Man guy on third again, line shot right at first base ... Indians just can't plate em ...
the yankees really are evil, God has plagued them with bugs ...
another wild pitch yahooooo Go tribe ...
one wild pitch whole season, 2 in this inning . ..
God has sent his bugs ...
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simonzelotes
When did Cleveland start getting plagued with those tse-tse flies?...
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rhino
they seem to have come out about the 7th ... but since it helped cleveland (maybe) ... figured Gawd sent them against the yankees ...
plus I'm just following up on the "evil yankees" theme
struck ARod out ... bottom nine ...
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simonzelotes
I don't think Jojaba Chamberlain will forget his first playoff appearance...
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rhino
reminds me of a sand volleyball final in new orleans near the (old wood) quarter ... hot night
coed doubles ... the termites come out in swarms and we play with them sticking all over us, spitting them out as need be ... only much worse than they show there in Cleveland ...
top of the order coming up for the tribe ... this should do it ...
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Linda Z
Top of the 11th, 1 to 1. I don't think I can take much more of this!!
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simonzelotes
If you're referring to Lou pulling Zambrano after six,Rocky and I were at a game this year where Randy Johnson was throwing a one-hitter through six in a 1-0 game...Johnson hit the leadoff hitter in the seventh on the first pitch,struck out the next guy,and about five pitches later the base were loaded against him....The normally reliable D-back bullpen couldn't hold the lead, and of course,all the D-back fans wanted to crucify Manager Bob Melvin for keeping Johnson in too long...As a manager you're kinda damned either way if the move doesn't work...You're very right,the young D-backs are having fun...
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Rocky
You ain't just whistlin' dixie! The Dbacks DO look like they're having fun.
Will they have the maturity to see it through?
Well, they're not mature enough to "know" they should be scared... and their "chemistry" IS key. A couple of veterans... Tony Clark has been absolutely phenomenal as a platoon first baseman, switch hitting pinch-hitter AND (but not least) as a calming influence as he oozes confidence that the youngsters soak up in barrelfuls. A recent article in the AZ Republic highlighted how he's like a father figure (at age 35) to the kids, many of whom are between 20 and 25. And gold glover Orlando Hudson is like a player coach (though not playing now because of the hand injury). The other key veteran, Eric Byrnes just demonstrates all out hustle all the time.
And manager Bob Melvin's supporting cast of coaches help him maintain a stoic appearance because he really doesn't have to fret the details. Bryan Price, the pitching coach, knew most of the pitchers as they were coming up in the team's farm system, as Price also worked in the Dback farm system before making it to Phoenix... and all of you should know what Kirk Gibson can mean to the team. Melvin doesn't have to play the heavy with the kids, as Gibson does. And Gibson TIMES everything, especially the pitchers' deliveries... which gives the team an edge in their baserunning.
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Linda Z
Wow, what a game! One more to go!!!!!!
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CWF
Not the blow-out as with game One.
One more to go.
No Yankee hats in my house.
Go Tribe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Tom Strange
re: Tony Clark (the old man of the Dbacks)... I'd heard he was extremely valuable in "the room"... worth more for that than his under-powering numbers at 1B.
...maybe someone to replace Tex?
...and there's Hafner (another ex-stRanger) delivering the hit...
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Lifted Up
No doubt he is ex-ranger like we are ex-Way...and would surely disavow any loyalty to his old group!
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Rocky
I have no idea what you mean by that... please explain. Thanks.
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Lifted Up
Rocky, I am guessing you are referring to the first part of his message. The second part about Hafner no doubt refers to his game winning hit for the Indians against the Yankees last night.
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rhino
if that means for his presence in the locker room ... why not just pay him to be in "the room" and get a player to do the playing?
So this round could be all wrapped up by tomorrow .. but that would be kinda boring ...
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