Enjoy it while you have it -There is nothing like good baseball...
...Its was really odd watching the Sox-Yanks last night. Granted it was misting but the seats behind homeplate at the Bronx were empty except for about 3 people and by the 7th the entire place looked empty. For a Red Sox/Yankee Game???. they are always sold out... I thought I was watching a 17 inning game from the 60's. You know the ones Im talking about, where the pace is so empty you can hear individual hecklers on TV
I found out this morning that Yankee personnel were telling ticket holders inside the stadium before the game that the game had been cancelled.
When people tried to get back in after leaving they were refused re entrance , resulting in a near riot outside the stadium.
Thats bad.
Some people had driven hundreds of miles and spent huge money to go...
I would have been furious had it been me.
It looks like a nice place but they still have quite a few kinks to work out at their new place, it doesnt look like the new place is making many friends right off the bat..
o yea--the good part was the Sox won and are now 5-0 against our neighbors to the south
If the Sox could figure out how to beat the Rays, they'd be in a cake walk.
Somehow, it usually balances out in the end.
The Dodgers can't go 81-0 at home this year can they ? Right now, who says they can't ? It's interesting that this streak coincides with the longest home stand I've ever seen. Timing is everything.
I dont know exactly what it is about the Rays....Sox are 5-0 vs Yanks, 2-5 vs the Rays...OK I do --they have great pitching--still I'd like to see a few shakeups--Rays batters get much too comfortable at the plate..The Sox pitching staff can be a little too "nice" at times when they need to be a little more aggressive.
Haven't the sox always had trouble with the rays? It just didn't matter until after last season. I'm glad they're finally competitive. It does seem the sox have trouble with the rays and the west coast.
Maybe i should move to florida, the rays stadium always looks half empty. You'd think it would be packed after last season.
The weather is nice--I lived in Tampa for 7 years and loved it, the damnable thing was that they got a team AFTER I left--and yes there has always been trouble with the Rays..even the years when national TV was fomenting over Yankee games, it was Rays games that were fought just as hard
Im a little worried something is up with Sox announcer Jerry Remy who has had two leaves of absences so far this year..Hes the guy that takes over my livingroom near everyday during baseball season..I feel like someone in the family is sick. I hope its nothing serious but my gut tells me otherwise.....
I hope Remy is ok. Good guy, and good announcer when I've heard him. The relationship with the local announcer can be powerful. It was disturbing to not have Phil Rizzuto when I first moved out of state.Id been listening to him for hundreds of hours every summer since childhood, and I didn't enjoy leaving Phil behind.
I'm dreading the inevitable with Vin Scully. He sounds immortal, but the reality is he's in his 80's. What's amazing to me is he talks and sounds just like he did 50 years ago-only better. I listen to each game as if it's the last time I'll hear him. There's no one waiting in the wings.
Manny-suspended 50 games for steroids-I suppose I shouldn't be surprised
Just when things were never looking better for the Dodgers-they were just starting to promote 'MannyWorld" a ticket package where you can pay more for lousy seats in the outfield for the privilege of being near Manny
Once I can get to the point of not giving a cr*p about any of these multi millionaires , I'll be better off.
Think I'll walk down to the local Little League field tonight.
I was out all day and just got the news--Besides being disappointed and shocked Im going to suspend my judgment until I hear more--FWIW the substance was NOT "steroids" or a "performance enhancing drug" but a "banned substance'.
What that really means I have no idea.
THIS ARTICLE says that it was prescribed to him for erectile dysfunction, and Manny claims to have taken it not knowing that it was a banned substance
What a gd mess.
Nothing is going to clear him now, or reinstate him, but hopefully some details will come out over the next few months. At this point I hope that it is really honestly just a stupid Manny mistake. The chances of that may be small but Manny isnt exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer and it is a possibility that he did take something prescribed to him without sending it to the MLB labs first
This is a shame.. Its bad for Manny, Its really bad for the Dodger fans, and its horrible for baseball
I know everyone is going to have their take on it....HERE is Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe
Be careful, Manny could be telling the truth.
If any baseball superstar is capable of taking a medication in all innocence, and then finding out that something in it is included on Major League Baseball's banned list of substances, it is Manny Ramírez. It certainly fits the profile. After all, who should know better than us?...
...I must admit, when I first heard the news that Ramírez had tested positive for use of a banned substance, I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I was filled with a lot of I-told-ya'-so anger directed at the people in Los Angeles, most notably the fawning media that had bought into the whole Manny act and that had apparently decided that we Big Meanies in Boston had made it all up.
We tried to tell them that in time the true Manny would surface, that he is incapable of 162-game serenity. We tried to tell them that history has clearly taught us that Manny is many things. Manny is a great hitter. Manny is a student of batting. Manny is a free spirit. Manny is kind to the clubhouse guy. Manny is a great hitter. Manny is an indifferent fielder. Manny is not always inclined to run out ground balls, even in situations where he might be breaking up a no-hitter. Manny is a great hitter. Manny cares about Manny. Manny is a great hitter. Manny plays when Manny wants to play. Manny is a great hitter.
But having seen the Absolute Best of Manny last August and September, our journalistic friends out West chose to ignore our advice not to buy completely into the act. After all, said one, the problem with those East Coast writers and fans is that they take this baseball thing way too seriously. After all, it's only a game...
...If there's a profile of a banned substance abuser -- and I'm not sure there is -- Manny does not fit it. Sudden change in body configuration? Nope. Big surge in power output? Nope. Manny never even hit 50. He did have a homer jump from 26 in 1997 to 45 in 1998, but that was after hitting 31 in 1995 and 33 in 1996. He was a maturing young slugger; that's all. I think.
But Manny has otherwise been a consistent power hitter for the last dozen years. There have been no red flags.
It's very easy, and logical, to accept the idea that Manny has just messed up. Consider that the reason pitcher J.C. Romero is currently serving his 50-game suspension for use of a banned substance is that he swears he had absolutely no reason to think there was anything sinister in what he was given. J.C. sure wasn't getting by on his heat. I'm inclined to believe him.
If Manny is telling the truth, shouldn't it be easy to prove? There would be some kind of doctor's record, correct? We really should be able to get to the bottom of it, correct? This doesn't mean that if Manny has indeed innocently ingested a no-no product he shouldn't do the time. Players are ultimately responsible for what goes in to their bodies, and they all have to know the rules. But if that really is what happened, at least we can breathe the big sigh of relief and go back to focusing our wrath on real cheaters, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Anyway, we tried to tell you folks in LA that you didn't just get yourself a great slugger. You got yourself a 24/7/365 reality production entitled ‘‘The Manny Ramírez Show,'' produced, directed, written by, and starring Manny Ramírez. This is a man around whom things just seem to, well, happen.
As for the baseball itself, the Dodgers will still be in the race when he returns and it seems to me that a two-month Mannywood season worked out well for everyone concerned last year.
P.S. Hey, A-Rod: don't think this means we won't be keeping an eye on you.
Bob Ryan doesn't have a clue as to what we poor, delusional, hicks in LA were thinking concerning Manny. Everyone knew the honeymoon wouldn't last forever-we just didn't see this coming.
It's hard to call the media 'fawning', when the 2 biggest sportswriters in town are Bill Plashke, and TJ Simers. Plashke has been on an anti-Manny crusade since he got here, and is tripping over himself with glee, now that he's being 'proved right'. Now I have Plashke and Ryan telling me they 'told me so'
Not that I'm a genius (that's for sure), but I smelled trouble brewing as soon as the Dodgers rolled out this 'Mannywood' campaign. It reminded me of the Eric Gagne 'game over' mania of a few years ago, and we know how that turned out.
I'll be at the Ravine tomorrow. When I got the tickets, Manny was stroking, the Dodgers were unbeaten at home, and things couldn't be better, and there you are.
As always, I go to the wisdom of Yogi-'In baseball, you don't know NUTTIN'.
True enough--the eternal wisdom of Yogi rings true once again....BUT I still want to see how this plays out.
It could be an "innocent mistake" or it could be the reason he was so aggressive last year (A swing in the Sox dugout at Youkilis, and knocking down the traveling secretary-------(roid rage??)) and the reason that the Sox desperately wanted to get rid of him and also why no one was going after him this past winter.
Did he pump up for the contract year? was he always doing this? did he do anything? Could it just be ED meds?
At this point I just dont know.
Its gotta really suck being aDodger fan and having placed some faith in him to have this happen..One thing that will be interesting after this all plays out is that he will still rejoin the Dodgers earlier than he was there last year and may still be able to lead them on for the second half..Whether he will ever be able to win over the Dodger fans again is....who knows....tainted at best...
......I told you he took a vacation every year--I just never ever expected it to be this way....
welcome to the Manny show ---one things for sure Its never boring
sorry to be away for so long... just busy with stuff
I think a lot of folks around here are 'waiting' to see what's up with these guys this year... there's been so much invested emotionally over the years only to be let down again, but things (and by that I mean 'pitching') are looking up this year... so far... hoping to see if el Presidente's off season plan and approach to the game pay off...
we're on a good streak right now... the new kid at SS, Andrus, has been very nice but we miss Josh's bat... they are a TEAM though and they act and play like it.
As for the NYY and their salaried group... well, if they've got the money go for it... but personally, from what I saw here, with A-Rod and Tex in 'the room' I don't think they'll ever be a TEAM... I could be wrong and it sounds like right field at the new yankee stadium was made for Tex.
As for this place sounding like 'the nation's' home page... nah... not to me anyway, I've always seen this as a place where we can all talk BB and it just happens that starman and Bol are pretty active... (although I hardly think that the Jays being on top, when they were, is upside down!)
Anyway, for now they can answer the phone in Arlington with "first place Texas Rangers" (and they do!) ...gotta enjoy it while you can!
As for Manny... heard Canseco on the radio last night and he said Manny was taking it because his balls were shrinking from roids... of course, you wonder "how would he know?" ...but then I ask you "has Canseco been wrong yet?" ...sadly, not often.
I'll try to check in more often... take care... go see a game, any game...
Did I miss something ? Who's saying this place sounds like the Nation's home page ?
I never thought of it before, but I suppose most of the posters here (all 3 or 4 of them ), tend to lean left politically. Not that anything political gets discussed , that I can recall.
So how come the righties aren't into baseball ? What's more American than baseball?
Dom DiMaggio, who despite having to share an outfield with Ted Williams and a name with his older brother Joe became a diamond standout in his own right, earning All-Star status seven times during 11 seasons with the Red Sox, died today. He was 92.
DiMaggio died at his home in Marion of complications after a recent bout with pneumonia, the Red Sox said in a statement. "He was a great teammate and an even better human being," said Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry. "His loss saddens us all but his contributions to the glory and tradition of our ballclub will forever be etched in the annals of Red Sox history."
The author David Halberstam described Mr. DiMaggio as “probably the most underrated player of his day.” Playing in the shadow of the era’s two biggest superstars made that inevitable, perhaps. But neither of his great contemporaries failed to appreciate Mr. DiMaggio’s talents. Williams considered him “the best leadoff man in the American League,” and his older brother called him “the best defensive outfielder I’ve ever seen.”
Elected to the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995, Mr. DiMaggio spent his major league career in Boston, playing for the Sox from 1940 to 1942, then from 1946 to 1953. He lost three seasons to wartime service in the Navy.
Mr. DiMaggio, who stood 5-feet-9-inches tall and wore eyeglasses, was nicknamed “the Little Professor,” a tribute to his intelligence on the field as well as his scholarly mien and slight stature. Along with canniness, Mr. DiMaggio brought quickness and speed to the Red Sox lineup. He led the American League in stolen bases in 1950, with 15 (the lowest figure ever to lead either major league in that category). He also led the league that year in triples, with 11.
Mr. DiMaggio had a lifetime batting average of .298. He scored more than 100 runs seven times, twice leading the American League in that category. He hit safely in 34 consecutive games, a Red Sox record, in 1949. Two years later, he hit safely in 27 consecutive games.
Mr. DiMaggio’s skill as a hitter inadvertently helped create one of the darkest moments in Red Sox history, their defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh and deciding game of the 1946 World Series. In the top of the eight inning, he doubled home two runs to tie the game at 3-3 — but pulled a hamstring on the way to second base.
Leon Culberson replaced him in center field. In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, the Cardinals’ Enos Slaughter tried to score from first on a single. Culberson was slow to field the ball, then made a mediocre throw to shortstop Johnny Pesky, whose throw home was too little, too late. Slaughter was safe, giving the Cardinals the lead and, half an inning later, the championship.
“If they hadn’t taken DiMaggio out of the game,” Slaughter later said of his daring sprint, “I wouldn’t have tried it.”
Mr. DiMaggio, who had started in baseball as a shortstop, played the outfield like an infielder. He specialized in charging balls hit through the infield and using his powerful throwing arm to cut down advancing runners. (Slaughter had good reason to be leery of Mr. DiMaggio: He threw out three runners in the ’46 Series.) He was also celebrated for his range, using his quickness to get a good jump on the ball and positioning his body to face left field rather than home plate, which he felt saved him a step on balls hit in front of him.
“He was the easiest outfielder I ever played with,” Williams said. “When he yelled ‘Mine!’ you didn’t have to worry about the rest of that play.” Williams was uniquely qualified to comment on Mr. DiMaggio’s fielding ability. It was often said that because of his teammate’s slowness afoot Mr. DiMaggio had responsibility for both his own center-field position and Williams’ in left.
According to Halberstam, many of Mr. DiMaggio’s teammates felt that batting leadoff for the Sox was “the hardest job in baseball” because that meant he had to face a barrage of questions back in the dugout from Williams, who batted third. “What was he throwing Dommy, was he fast, was he tricky, was he getting the corners? Come on, Dommy, you saw him.” The highly analytical and driven Williams found his match in the highly analytical and composed Mr. DiMaggio.
One of Williams’ closest friends, Mr. DiMaggio begrudged the Splendid Splinter neither his interrogations nor his preeminence with the Red Sox. Relations with his brother were more charged. Mr. DiMaggio never suggested he was the superior ballplayer. “I can do two things better than he can,” he would say when asked to compare himself to Joe, “play pinochle and speak Italian.” He did, however, resent those who saw him only in terms of Joltin’ Joe.
“Yes, he’s my brother — and I’m his brother,” Mr. DiMaggio liked to say. “It’s been a struggle all my life.... It followed me all through my major league career. I was always Joe’s kid brother.... I never encouraged my two sons to get into baseball. I knew it would be twice as hard on them as it was on me. The Joe DiMaggio legend was just too strong.”
The two DiMaggios played the same position (as did an older brother, Vince, who spent 10 seasons playing in the National League). They played for teams that were each other’s fiercest rival. Joe’s most famous achievement was hitting safely in 56 consecutive games. Having hit safely in 34 straight games, Dom found his own streak ended when Joe made the put-out on his final at-bat of what would have been the 35th game.
“Oh, Joe DiMaggio was a great player, but Dominic’s got all the brains in the family,” Emily (Frederick) DiMaggio, his wife, said in a 1971 interview.
Born in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 1917, Dominic Paul DiMaggio was the son of Giuseppe Paola DiMaggio, a fisherman, and Rosalie (Mercurio) DiMaggio. He was the youngest of nine children. “I think Pop’s pride and joy was Dom,” Joe DiMaggio once said. “When Dominic was in short pants, Pop wanted him to become a lawyer because ‘he wears glasses.’”
Instead, Mr. DiMaggio wanted to be a chemical engineer. His athletic talents soon made him alter that ambition, though, and he followed in the footsteps of Joe and Vince.
Mr. DiMaggio started out as a shortstop (which would shape his distinctive fielding style in the outfield), but managers feared a bad hop might break his glasses so he was switched to the outfield.
Mr. DiMaggio’s exploits with the minor league San Francisco Seals drew the attention of major league scouts, and the Red Sox signed him in 1939. Starting out in right field, he demonstrated such prowess with his glove the team traded its All-Star center fielder, Doc Cramer, to open up that position for him. He finished the season with a .301 batting average.
Mr. DiMaggio enlisted in the Navy in 1942. Gathering no rust while in the service, he batted .316 in his first season back. He did, though, suffer an eye injury in 1943 while stationed on the West Coast that would develop into chorio-retinitis and force his retirement in 1953. The eye trouble led Sox manager Lou Boudreau to bench Mr. DiMaggio. He retired two months into the season. “I didn’t want to hang around if I couldn’t play regularly,” he said in a 1987 interview of his decision to end his career.
In 1940, Hall of Famer Ty Cobb had said, “Dom’s a throwback to the kind of players we used to have.” In many ways, though, Mr. DiMaggio was more a forerunner than throwback: the athlete as business professional. Toward the end of his playing career, he served as American League player representative in negotiations between players and owners. After retiring, he founded two highly successful manufacturing firms. One made carpeting for automobile interiors; the other made foam padding for automobile seats.
An example of Mr. DiMaggio’s business success was his membership in the Boston Patriots’ original ownership group. He purchased 10 percent of the team in 1960 for $25,000 — and sold it six years later for $300,000.
If you guys haven't read it, I highly recommend David Halberstam's book "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship". The book is about Dimaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Ted Williams and the close friendship they kept very tightly for over 60 years
A loyal Red Soxer, Dom passed away while watching the Sox game on TV two nights ago.
Oh yeah Red Sox Nation-and I was the one who brought it up-duh
I liked Dom Dimaggio. I could relate to him more than Joe.Maybe it was the glasses-or being the 'underdog' in the family. I know next to nothing about him as a person, but he couldn't have been as surly as Joe.
Vin Scully said 'he lived 92 good years, so no tears for a life well lived'-not an exact quote, but as close as I can recall.
I'll have to read Halberstam's book-there's someone who left too soon.
I know next to nothing about him as a person, but he couldn't have been as surly as Joe.
Ive read several times today from those that knew him that "he was a better person than he was a ballplayer" or something close to that. I know that he was a damn good ballplayer, he must have been an amazing person
Good day at Dodger Stadium, even without Manny. Giants shutout, great pitching, timely hitting. I do wonder about Ethier. Hitting around Manny he hits everything hard. On his own, not so much. Struck out twice swinging, hit into dp. Not the first time I've noticed the difference.
Local homer announcers irk me.after the game they found 15 different ways to say that the Dodgers 'excorcized their demons', by winning today, and that this is the turnaround game of the season. I know they're paid by the team to promote them, but there's something about patting oneself on the back too hard that gets me. Of course, I'm not talking about Vin, the best baseball announcer of all time, in my biased opinion.
Anyway-beautiful day , sunshine, Dodger Dog, good game-I do like living near the Ravine.
Sounds at times like a taste of paradise out there to me.
We'll see how Ethier turns out. I know Ortiz is having a really rough go right now, whether its because Manny is gone, a bad wrist or if his timing is just starting to fall of with age, or all three combined its hard to say but he is not the same guy he was during the startling amazing period of his career.. Hopefully he'll shake that off...
Sounds nice out there----Im off to Atlanta this week, If things work out maybe I'll be able to take in a Braves game.
Isnt it a little early to call any game "the turnaround game of the season"? :unsure:
I usually figure that one out about a month or two after the fact when Ive had sometime to see it from a distance and what happens afterward.
Saying something like that sounds like the kiss of death. I hope they dont go on a losing streak now
Thanks it definitely sounds like a special experience....--I cant say when or if I'll be in LA anytime soon --BUT if Im out that way I'll definitely take you up on that..Thats a keeper--much appreciations---
I'd love to promise you the same at Fenway if you make the trek I'll get the tix......or .A vintage game at Wahconah Park in my neck of the woods perhaps? eh-that doesnt quite have the same ring as Dodger Stadium does it? It still can be pretty cool though
Wahconah Park looks good to me. I never met a ballpark I didn't like (well, there's Shea-which is thankfully history )
Odds are I'll be your way before you're this way. I'd enjoy going to a game. I'd love Fenway, but NOT during a Yankees series. I'm trying to lessen stress in my life.
Wahconah is actual pretty cool, Its a throwback with wooden grandsatnds and is very small with a nice view of the mountains in the background. They claim its the oldest existing park going back sometime in the 1890's and its just a mile or so from where baseball was first mentioned in America in 1792 (Im too lazy to look it up but I think thats the right date).
One unique feature is that the sun sets in centerfield , instead of behind the plate, so a "sun break" is often taken to allow the sun to get out of the hitters field of vision...
Small town americana and wooden grandstand baseball parks are a slice of heaven to me. (Of course I live near Los Angeles and sit in Dodger Stadium- though I have to say that somehow, Dodger Stadium manages to feel comfier than any major league park I've been to).
Dodgers are now 1-3 Manny-less, headed east for a tough road trip. We'll see what they're made of soon enough.
I thought that they just played the 'turnaround game of the season" and had "exorcised their demons"... ----hmmm maybe not--I thought that judgment was allittle quick or in the words of Bob Dylan
"dont speak too soon for the wheels still in spin."
I'm in Atlanta and the durn Braves are in NY---- what the heck is the matter with them, didnt they hear me comin?
Wahconah is still the type of place where you might see a dog run across the outfield once in a while which I find endearing
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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
Enjoy it while you have it -There is nothing like good baseball...
...Its was really odd watching the Sox-Yanks last night. Granted it was misting but the seats behind homeplate at the Bronx were empty except for about 3 people and by the 7th the entire place looked empty. For a Red Sox/Yankee Game???. they are always sold out... I thought I was watching a 17 inning game from the 60's. You know the ones Im talking about, where the pace is so empty you can hear individual hecklers on TV
I found out this morning that Yankee personnel were telling ticket holders inside the stadium before the game that the game had been cancelled.
LINK HERE
When people tried to get back in after leaving they were refused re entrance , resulting in a near riot outside the stadium.
Thats bad.
Some people had driven hundreds of miles and spent huge money to go...
I would have been furious had it been me.
It looks like a nice place but they still have quite a few kinks to work out at their new place, it doesnt look like the new place is making many friends right off the bat..
o yea--the good part was the Sox won and are now 5-0 against our neighbors to the south
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hiway29
If the Sox could figure out how to beat the Rays, they'd be in a cake walk.
Somehow, it usually balances out in the end.
The Dodgers can't go 81-0 at home this year can they ? Right now, who says they can't ? It's interesting that this streak coincides with the longest home stand I've ever seen. Timing is everything.
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mstar1
I dont know exactly what it is about the Rays....Sox are 5-0 vs Yanks, 2-5 vs the Rays...OK I do --they have great pitching--still I'd like to see a few shakeups--Rays batters get much too comfortable at the plate..The Sox pitching staff can be a little too "nice" at times when they need to be a little more aggressive.
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Bolshevik
Haven't the sox always had trouble with the rays? It just didn't matter until after last season. I'm glad they're finally competitive. It does seem the sox have trouble with the rays and the west coast.
Maybe i should move to florida, the rays stadium always looks half empty. You'd think it would be packed after last season.
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mstar1
The weather is nice--I lived in Tampa for 7 years and loved it, the damnable thing was that they got a team AFTER I left--and yes there has always been trouble with the Rays..even the years when national TV was fomenting over Yankee games, it was Rays games that were fought just as hard
Im a little worried something is up with Sox announcer Jerry Remy who has had two leaves of absences so far this year..Hes the guy that takes over my livingroom near everyday during baseball season..I feel like someone in the family is sick. I hope its nothing serious but my gut tells me otherwise.....
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hiway29
I hope Remy is ok. Good guy, and good announcer when I've heard him. The relationship with the local announcer can be powerful. It was disturbing to not have Phil Rizzuto when I first moved out of state.Id been listening to him for hundreds of hours every summer since childhood, and I didn't enjoy leaving Phil behind.
I'm dreading the inevitable with Vin Scully. He sounds immortal, but the reality is he's in his 80's. What's amazing to me is he talks and sounds just like he did 50 years ago-only better. I listen to each game as if it's the last time I'll hear him. There's no one waiting in the wings.
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hiway29
Manny-suspended 50 games for steroids-I suppose I shouldn't be surprised
Just when things were never looking better for the Dodgers-they were just starting to promote 'MannyWorld" a ticket package where you can pay more for lousy seats in the outfield for the privilege of being near Manny
Once I can get to the point of not giving a cr*p about any of these multi millionaires , I'll be better off.
Think I'll walk down to the local Little League field tonight.
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Bolshevik
sorry to hear the excitement is over, for now.
I got a quick phone call just now "Hey, Manny got suspended 50 game for steroids. Just wanted to let you know. Gotta go bye"
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mstar1
I was out all day and just got the news--Besides being disappointed and shocked Im going to suspend my judgment until I hear more--FWIW the substance was NOT "steroids" or a "performance enhancing drug" but a "banned substance'.
What that really means I have no idea.
THIS ARTICLE says that it was prescribed to him for erectile dysfunction, and Manny claims to have taken it not knowing that it was a banned substance
What a gd mess.
Nothing is going to clear him now, or reinstate him, but hopefully some details will come out over the next few months. At this point I hope that it is really honestly just a stupid Manny mistake. The chances of that may be small but Manny isnt exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer and it is a possibility that he did take something prescribed to him without sending it to the MLB labs first
This is a shame.. Its bad for Manny, Its really bad for the Dodger fans, and its horrible for baseball
I know everyone is going to have their take on it....HERE is Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe
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hiway29
Bob Ryan doesn't have a clue as to what we poor, delusional, hicks in LA were thinking concerning Manny. Everyone knew the honeymoon wouldn't last forever-we just didn't see this coming.
It's hard to call the media 'fawning', when the 2 biggest sportswriters in town are Bill Plashke, and TJ Simers. Plashke has been on an anti-Manny crusade since he got here, and is tripping over himself with glee, now that he's being 'proved right'. Now I have Plashke and Ryan telling me they 'told me so'
Not that I'm a genius (that's for sure), but I smelled trouble brewing as soon as the Dodgers rolled out this 'Mannywood' campaign. It reminded me of the Eric Gagne 'game over' mania of a few years ago, and we know how that turned out.
I'll be at the Ravine tomorrow. When I got the tickets, Manny was stroking, the Dodgers were unbeaten at home, and things couldn't be better, and there you are.
As always, I go to the wisdom of Yogi-'In baseball, you don't know NUTTIN'.
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mstar1
True enough--the eternal wisdom of Yogi rings true once again....BUT I still want to see how this plays out.
It could be an "innocent mistake" or it could be the reason he was so aggressive last year (A swing in the Sox dugout at Youkilis, and knocking down the traveling secretary-------(roid rage??)) and the reason that the Sox desperately wanted to get rid of him and also why no one was going after him this past winter.
Did he pump up for the contract year? was he always doing this? did he do anything? Could it just be ED meds?
At this point I just dont know.
Its gotta really suck being aDodger fan and having placed some faith in him to have this happen..One thing that will be interesting after this all plays out is that he will still rejoin the Dodgers earlier than he was there last year and may still be able to lead them on for the second half..Whether he will ever be able to win over the Dodger fans again is....who knows....tainted at best...
......I told you he took a vacation every year--I just never ever expected it to be this way....
welcome to the Manny show ---one things for sure Its never boring
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Tom Strange
breaking news: the kids are alright (for now)
sorry to be away for so long... just busy with stuff
I think a lot of folks around here are 'waiting' to see what's up with these guys this year... there's been so much invested emotionally over the years only to be let down again, but things (and by that I mean 'pitching') are looking up this year... so far... hoping to see if el Presidente's off season plan and approach to the game pay off...
we're on a good streak right now... the new kid at SS, Andrus, has been very nice but we miss Josh's bat... they are a TEAM though and they act and play like it.
As for the NYY and their salaried group... well, if they've got the money go for it... but personally, from what I saw here, with A-Rod and Tex in 'the room' I don't think they'll ever be a TEAM... I could be wrong and it sounds like right field at the new yankee stadium was made for Tex.
As for this place sounding like 'the nation's' home page... nah... not to me anyway, I've always seen this as a place where we can all talk BB and it just happens that starman and Bol are pretty active... (although I hardly think that the Jays being on top, when they were, is upside down!)
Anyway, for now they can answer the phone in Arlington with "first place Texas Rangers" (and they do!) ...gotta enjoy it while you can!
As for Manny... heard Canseco on the radio last night and he said Manny was taking it because his balls were shrinking from roids... of course, you wonder "how would he know?" ...but then I ask you "has Canseco been wrong yet?" ...sadly, not often.
I'll try to check in more often... take care... go see a game, any game...
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hiway29
Did I miss something ? Who's saying this place sounds like the Nation's home page ?
I never thought of it before, but I suppose most of the posters here (all 3 or 4 of them ), tend to lean left politically. Not that anything political gets discussed , that I can recall.
So how come the righties aren't into baseball ? What's more American than baseball?
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mstar1
yea where are they? maybe they are out trying to ban something .
FWIW-- I think our Strange friend was referring to "(Red Sox ) Nation"
(which to me started to get old once the national media grabbed a hold of it), not "The Nation".
It was fun years ago now its a marketing ploy
Saddened to hear this morning of the passing of Dom Dimaggio
ARTICLE HERE
If you guys haven't read it, I highly recommend David Halberstam's book "The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship". The book is about Dimaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Ted Williams and the close friendship they kept very tightly for over 60 years
A loyal Red Soxer, Dom passed away while watching the Sox game on TV two nights ago.
Thanks and Rest In Peace.
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hiway29
Oh yeah Red Sox Nation-and I was the one who brought it up-duh
I liked Dom Dimaggio. I could relate to him more than Joe.Maybe it was the glasses-or being the 'underdog' in the family. I know next to nothing about him as a person, but he couldn't have been as surly as Joe.
Vin Scully said 'he lived 92 good years, so no tears for a life well lived'-not an exact quote, but as close as I can recall.
I'll have to read Halberstam's book-there's someone who left too soon.
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mstar1
Ive read several times today from those that knew him that "he was a better person than he was a ballplayer" or something close to that. I know that he was a damn good ballplayer, he must have been an amazing person
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hiway29
Good day at Dodger Stadium, even without Manny. Giants shutout, great pitching, timely hitting. I do wonder about Ethier. Hitting around Manny he hits everything hard. On his own, not so much. Struck out twice swinging, hit into dp. Not the first time I've noticed the difference.
Local homer announcers irk me.after the game they found 15 different ways to say that the Dodgers 'excorcized their demons', by winning today, and that this is the turnaround game of the season. I know they're paid by the team to promote them, but there's something about patting oneself on the back too hard that gets me. Of course, I'm not talking about Vin, the best baseball announcer of all time, in my biased opinion.
Anyway-beautiful day , sunshine, Dodger Dog, good game-I do like living near the Ravine.
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mstar1
Sounds at times like a taste of paradise out there to me.
We'll see how Ethier turns out. I know Ortiz is having a really rough go right now, whether its because Manny is gone, a bad wrist or if his timing is just starting to fall of with age, or all three combined its hard to say but he is not the same guy he was during the startling amazing period of his career.. Hopefully he'll shake that off...
Sounds nice out there----Im off to Atlanta this week, If things work out maybe I'll be able to take in a Braves game.
Isnt it a little early to call any game "the turnaround game of the season"? :unsure:
I usually figure that one out about a month or two after the fact when Ive had sometime to see it from a distance and what happens afterward.
Saying something like that sounds like the kiss of death. I hope they dont go on a losing streak now
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hiway29
Mstar-if you ever get out this way, I'll treat you to a game in the loge, 3rd base side-my favorite spot in the Ravine. It really is pretty special.
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mstar1
Thanks it definitely sounds like a special experience....--I cant say when or if I'll be in LA anytime soon --BUT if Im out that way I'll definitely take you up on that..Thats a keeper--much appreciations---
I'd love to promise you the same at Fenway if you make the trek I'll get the tix......or .A vintage game at Wahconah Park in my neck of the woods perhaps? eh-that doesnt quite have the same ring as Dodger Stadium does it? It still can be pretty cool though
Thanks :)
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hiway29
Wahconah Park looks good to me. I never met a ballpark I didn't like (well, there's Shea-which is thankfully history )
Odds are I'll be your way before you're this way. I'd enjoy going to a game. I'd love Fenway, but NOT during a Yankees series. I'm trying to lessen stress in my life.
One of these days, we'll make it happen.
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mstar1
Thats a deal
Wahconah is actual pretty cool, Its a throwback with wooden grandsatnds and is very small with a nice view of the mountains in the background. They claim its the oldest existing park going back sometime in the 1890's and its just a mile or so from where baseball was first mentioned in America in 1792 (Im too lazy to look it up but I think thats the right date).
One unique feature is that the sun sets in centerfield , instead of behind the plate, so a "sun break" is often taken to allow the sun to get out of the hitters field of vision...
Its a small town americana type of experience
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hiway29
Small town americana and wooden grandstand baseball parks are a slice of heaven to me. (Of course I live near Los Angeles and sit in Dodger Stadium- though I have to say that somehow, Dodger Stadium manages to feel comfier than any major league park I've been to).
Dodgers are now 1-3 Manny-less, headed east for a tough road trip. We'll see what they're made of soon enough.
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mstar1
1-3??
I thought that they just played the 'turnaround game of the season"
and had "exorcised their demons"... 
----hmmm maybe not--I thought that judgment was allittle quick or in the words of Bob Dylan
"dont speak too soon for the wheels still in spin."
I'm in Atlanta and the durn Braves are in NY---- what the heck is the matter with them, didnt they hear me comin?
Wahconah is still the type of place where you might see a dog run across the outfield once in a while which I find endearing
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