It's baseball season

“Ummmm.... I was born near Boston and I've been a Sox fan since. How could I possibly be MORE cursed?”

“Jeter is 0 for 2 tonight, bringing the poor little Yank-Mee's slump to 0 for his last 30.”

“Now at 0 for 32.”

“Time for Steiny to go shopping for a new team! Don't worry, he'll have the checkbook out soon.


Hey, I'm going to be in Boston the 10th through the 14th, and my daughter and I want to go to Fenway and pick up some scalped tickets. I've tried via phone and e-mail to nail down some tickets, but no luck. How easy is it to get scalped tickets there? How much money should I expect to pay for decent tickets? I promise, I'll write a trip report. Thanks for the help, guys. I think the Sox are playing the Indians then.”

“Artex,

Dude!
It shows how great we Yankee fans are.... Jeter came up to the plate Tuesday night in the 7th inning behind the A's 8-4.... The fans stood up and cheer him and for the entire at bat, chanting "lets go Jeeetah, Lets Go Jeeetah" !!! We are the great fans on earth, with the greatest team on earth! Kenny Singleton (YES Announcer) Said "I've seen the fans cheer a guy who is 0 for 30" Jim Kaat (other YES announcer) Said "Derek Jeter has alot in the bank with these fans"
They have done each and every at bat since......
Jeter, came up in 1995 at end of season roster expansion went to playoff with Donnie baseball, started season in 1996 and the rest is history, 8 playoff apperances, 6 penants, 4 rings and still counting. Plus he has a .350+ World series BA

Jeter is a great player he WILL come out of it and”

“I hate like hell to step into a Yankmes-Deadsox feud, because my American League team is the Oreos.

But snafu is right on this one. Jeter will come out of it, and even if he doesn't do it this season, he will still be in the Hall, and very near Nomar's plaque.

Pat Burrell went through a season-long slump last year, and he's doing just fine, thanks, this year.

BTW snafu, the Philly fans cheered Pat the Bat last year and stood behind him. We love his work ethic.

On the other hand, when a guy on the opposing team is in a slump, make the most of it. It won't last forever, so whatever games you pick up could just come in handy later on.

I see Schil got his third win last night.

Tito must think he died and went to heaven, not that he has a lot to do with it. Give him time. He'll make his mark eventually. Something will happen during a game, and they'll put the camera on him. And he will have this stupid look on his face, that, when you study it, will clearly say, "Geobeet was right, Artex, Geobeet was right!"”

“Ryan Madsen striking out Scott Rolen:

Oh yes!”

“He's bound to snap out of the funk at some point, but still, it's great to make fun of him until then. Interesting how the Yankee fans changed their attitudes, it was less than a week ago they were booing him. Can't you guys make up your minds? :-)”

“The White Sox did it again last night! 5 runs in the ninth to win.

The wife is picking me up tonight and we are heading out to the ballpark. I cannot remember ever going to a game this early in the season. Cannot wait!”

“Speaking of booing, those of use who grew up in Philadelphia have gained quite a reputation over the years, and deservedly so, I must say. But we 'fess up to it, indeed wear it as a badge of honor.

But out in St. Louis, where the fans stick with their team through thick and thin and are the best fans in the game of baseball that were ever in the game of baseball, to paraphrase the late perfesser, Casey Stengel, they started booing in the second inning and left the stadium still booing.

I could not figure out whether they were booing the umps, the Phillies, or the Cruds, or just to hear themselves boo. Maybe they were booing each other. Maybe they were trying to take the rep away from Philly (never happen, but nice try nevertheless!).

But, can they honestly boo Santa Claus? I don't think so!”

“You gotta crack sometime, Geo. LOL! Kinda like that one Ned Flanders episode in "The Simpsons", where he just loses it entirely.

Cool deal, Wounded Knee! Give a trip report.”

“Los Gigantes beat up on their old 'mate last night, shellacking (I think that's my favorite word now) Russ Ortiz for 9 runs in an inning (7 off of Ortiz I think). But Durham went on the DL for 3-4 weeks, and Nen on for 60 days - his career is over....”

“Sorry to hear about Nen. I hate him. But I hate to see them go that way.”

“Everybody from the opposition I ever hated who retired at least five years ago is in Cooperstown.”

“I always hated Anal Hershiser's guts... until he came to pitch for us - then I loved him!”

“Cameron and I are going over to the Little League field tonight to scout our next 2 opponents, who will be playing each other. We'll catch the last few innings, and we will be watching their pitchers and catchers. Can we hit them? Can we run on them? Should be a fun game to watch - both managers are fun guys and good coaches.”

“"it was less than a week ago they were booing him. Can't you guys make up your minds? :-)"
Artex

there where almost as many SAWX fans as yankees fans in the stadium.... They where the ones boing.... The sawx fans hate jeter with a passion! must those 4 rings ???

PS
Geo, The phils and the yanks basically have the same record, so where in the same boat for now at least....”

“It felt like I was back in Kentucky (see Mammoth Flood...I mean Cave Trip Report). The skies were cloudy and scattered rain drops were falling at what I still call Comisky Park on Thursday, April 29. The Blue Jays flew in to town to take on the Sox and we had tickets for game one of a four game set (I think).

We arrived ahead or our friends who actually procured the tickets for this evening match-up. We made our way our to check the seats and to our surprise, we were 5 rows back of the White Sox dugout. We were so close, you could tell what color Frank Thomas’s eyes were. We sat in the rain for a bit, then decided to take cover under the concourse near one of the many concession stands that offer patrons everything from beer to bottled water. We had arrived about 2 hours early with hopes the rain would not cancel batting practice. The large slip-in-slide better know as a tarp was covering the infield, so batting practice was not happening at tonight’s game.

While wait for the rain to halt, I noticed that this evening was 1 dollar hot dog night at the ballpark. GREAT! You cannot beat a dog and a beer at the ballpark. 2 for myself, 1 for the wife. We take our refreshments back to our seats just as the rain stops.

Finally, as we near game time, the grounds crew surround the tarp covering the infield. With careful precision, neat folds are made to return the large blue plastic sheet to it original home. Just then our friends show with a bounty of cold Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft. Tickets for free and now we are served what will be one of many cold adult beverages for the evening. What could be better?

As for the game, well, we got to see a good one. Esteban Loaiza, the White Sox hurler who was 3-0 so far on the young season was the pitcher for this evenings game. He won 20 or so games last year for the Sox and I believe even pitched in the All-Star Game. OK, here we go!

No problem for the Sox in the first inning. Big Frank scored in the first to put the good guys up early 1 zip. In the second, Carlos Delgado hit a bullet of a home run to straight away center. The ball had no arc on it whatsoever! It made a horrific sound as it crashed off of the center field wall beyond the fence. This guy would make a fine addition to the White Sox line-up.

As the beer flowed, the Blue Jays put up 3 runs between innings 3 and 6. The rain came down several times during these innings, but not hard enough to wash out the game or chase some die-hards from their seats We took cover a few times to dry off or use it as an excuse to utilize the restroom.

The rain seemed to slow up for the Sox to bat in the sixth. Magglio Ordonez started off the inning with a monster shot that sent fireworks exploding into the night sky. Thomas singled, Carlos Lee received a base on balls and Paul Konerko singled to load the bases. This all and no outs have been registered yet. Kelly Dransfeldt next singled Thomas home to make it a one run game. Next, a ground ball it hit to short, force out at second, however 1 run scores tying the game. Willie Harris next singled to bring in the go ahead run. The Sox scored again to make the score 6-4, which is what it ended at.

Billy Koch came in, in the ninth to finish off the Jays giving the Sox their second win in a row.

All in all, we had a great evening. 4 hot dogs and 6 frosty beers consumed by yours truly. Nothing can beat hitting that game after a rough day at work…well, except for hittin the trail.

Pictures soon to come!”

“Cool deal! Sounds like a great time! Man, you had awesome seats.”

“Thanks for the trip report, WK. The White Sox were my dad's favorite team, so they have a place in my heart, also.”

“Sure did! Best seats I have ever had.

I forgot to add a moment from the 6th inning. One of my friends, who was double fisting it all night, just came back from a trip to the bathroom and visit to the beer man. He set both cups full of the good stuff down and sat. 2 or 3 pitches later a foul ball is clocked over our heads up towards the upper deck. We stood up hoping it would bounce off the face and make its way back in our direction. It ended up clearing the front, ending up somewhere above in someone’s hands. As we turned around to sit back down, Mike made a sound as if he had lost a limb. There below, at his feet were two overturned cups, which seconds before were filled with his precious beer. We all sat and observed a moment of silence and came pretty close to tears. 5 minutes later a smile was observed on Mike’s face as he was able to flag down a passing vendor.

You just had to be there.”

“No problem Dunadan.

My father has always been a die hard Cubs fan. My grandfather a Sox fan. He got his hands on me before my father could so I have always been a fan of the Sox. I have to admit, in years past, I have been a fair weather fan, only caring when the team showed promise or made it to the playoffs, but I will be following them more closely.”

“PS
Geo, The phils and the yanks basically have the same record, so where in the same boat for now at least...."
snafu29

Get me a life jacket ... NOW!”

“Anyone think the Yankees batting slump could have anything to do with the crackdown on performance enhancing drugs?”

“I can only guess that the performance enhancing contracts will bring the Yankmees out of their slump, soon.
Royals are stinking up the joint.”

“Has Jeter gotten a hit yet? As of a couple days ago, he was in like a 0 for 36 slump.”

“He led of with a dinger last night.”

“I figured it couldn't last much longer. The guy will probably go on a tear now.”

“WK,actually after the homer, (is when I jumped up and yelled my a$$ off) his now Oh! fer three....
he will end up by the end of the season batting his .300 & 100 rbi's 20+ Stolen bases...etc... and playing in the world series again...:-) I though his slump was cool because of the way the fans stuck behind him..... NYC can be a tuff town”

“snafu, which, in your opinion, is more remarkable:

Yankees fans sticking with veteran Derek Jeter during a season opening slump, or,

Phillies fans sticking with sophomore Pat Burrell during a season long slump?

Ya got nuttin!”

“Scuse me, that should be, "Youse got nuttin!"”

“Bring back the I-70 series!!!”

“Practice tonight for the Li'l Tigers! Went over to watch a few innings of the game between the 3rd & 4th place teams last night - not much of a contest, with the 3rd place Twins thumping the A's pretty good. We're now tied for 4th, and play the A's tomorrow. They have a couple of good players, but that's about it. Looking forward to seeing the kids play some good baseball like this past Monday!”

“OMG, the Li'l Tigers have forgotten how to play baseball!! Here are some of the main problems: they can't pick up grounders, can't throw straight, can't pitch, and don't seem interested in swinging the bat. Ten - count 'em - TEN called third strikes in the past two games!

They lost Saturday to the other 4th place team, the A's. In that one, our pitchers walked way too many. Eight of their runs were scored by kids who had walked. We lost by 6. (For reference, the previous game, our pitchers walked a total of 3 batters.)

The one that hurt was last night, against the third place team, the Twins, who have only one loss this year. The first 4 innings, the Twins used three of the easiest pitchers we've seen all season: relatively low speeds and mostly right over the plate. So it shoulda been batting practice, right? Wrong. Our kids just stood there and watched strike after strike go by. Six called third strikes in those 4 innings. Unbelievable. I've told the kids over and over that I don't care if they strike out 100 times this season, as long as they are trying. The amazing thing is that they are really good batters, at least against medium to slow speed pitching; i.e., this was a game they could have scored 15 runs or more by hammering the ball all over the yard. Arrrgh!”

“Ah, well.. you win some, you lose some. Watch, they'll probably get 20 hits in their next game.”

“Are they having fun, Bowlder?”

“Yeah, they are, geo. In most of the games they lost, they seemed to get over their disappointment in, oh, about 45 seconds. I've been telling them since Day 1 that, IMO, the most fun part of baseball is running the bases. With this recent spate of called third strikes, I've been trying to remind them that in order to do more of that part of the game, they need to swing the bat. I think they'll get through this difficult run eventually.”

“Yeah, there's a fine line between teaching them how to play the game and pushing too hard. Seems like you're walking it. Show them the way and let them make up their minds whether they will go there or not.”

“The Phillies lost last night, but Pat Burrell threw Scott Rolen out by a mile at second base. Hey Scottie, how do you like our new stud so far?

Last week he robbed Rolen of a homer. I think it's personal with Burrell!

And Burrell hit a mammoth home run into the upper deck in left field last night.

Just a shame Bret Myers wasn't up to the job.”

“My 5 year old niece's T-Ball stats after 1 game:

Julia Stat's

AB H R RBI HR AVG E
5 5 5 11 2 1.000 8

It looks like we are going to have to work on her fielding, lol.”

“Woo-hoo for BB's niece! When do the endorsement contracts kick in? Have they got her on 'roids yet?

At the Li'l Tigers' practice last night, I took the kids one by one into the batting cage - we made a lot of progress. I probably threw about 250 pitches - ouch!”

“You score tickets behind home plate, take you cell phone to the game, call your friends and wave to them. Hey, ... look at me!

Okay, I'm looking at you. What's your batting average? How many wins do you have? Is the hit and run on?”

“Tigers suck!”

“Ok with Bonds rolling along with the Homers and he will pass Babe and Hammering Hank, there has been alot of talk on who is the greatest baseball player ever....
I say Babe Ruth!
Here are a few stats...

Barry Babe Hank
At Bats 8779 8339 12364
HR's 668 714 755
AB's/hr 13.1 11.6 16.4
Batting .298 .342 .305
Slugging .605 .690 .555
On Basee .436 .474 .374

also the Babe was a hell of a pitcher!

Roger Clemens 316 wins 160 losses .664 winning %

Babe Ruth 96 wins 46 losses .676 winning %”

“Barry won't pass Hank. He won't pass Babe either if the Gigantes don't get someone batting behind him who hits higher than his weight....

He shouted at the press the other day about the steroids issue, challenging them to "prove it or shut up." Apparently, at one point he lifted up his shirt and said, "Does this look like 'ripped' abs?!" There was no description of his gut in the newspaper article....”

“I have my doubts as to whether Barry can pass Hank as well. I do think he'll pass Babe though.

Like a sportswriter wrote the other day, no pitcher in their right mind actually pitches to Barry, so he must be the best junk-ball hitter in the history of the league. I've read quotes to the same effect about Hank, essentially that his stroke zone should have been from the tops of his shoes to the peak of his cap, lol...

Hey, did ya know that Hank holds the bat wrong?”

“We have to get Bowlderman on a pitch count.”

“Man, I was bringin' the heat!”

“Didn't hit any of the kids, either - a new record!”

“An 8-year-old who lives down the street saw me and started heckling me, saying even he could throw harder than that! I said, "I certainly hope so!"”