If it doesn't offend anyone I'm going to treat this as a general baseball thread.

Everyone feel free to rate just how bad of a call this was last night and why the fuck are none of the talking heads on ESPN talking about it. (My theory is because it clearly shows their fucking golden boy Mike Trout getting thrown out while trying to steal second only to have umdouchenozzlepire Marty Foster call him safe) Only ended up costing the Royals three runs and the game last night.

ESPN loves their stars. I thought several of them were going to join al Queda after triple-crown winner Cabrera "stole" the MVP from Trout.

You win a triple crown, you lead you team to the playoffs and you didn't deserve the MVP?

I don't get their logic.

This is the same network that was still slurping up Bonds after it was CLEAR he was a juicer. I'm surprised they don't have a reporter on Favre's lawn. Or on Tebow's.

This fucking douchefuck Marty Foster needs to get superkicked in the cunt. In addition to costing the Royals the game Friday night he threw out Chris Getz for arguing over a call at first yesterday and he just threw out Billy Butler from the dugout for arguing balls and strikes.

You fucking arrogant twat string. No one is coming to the ball park to watch you blow calls and throw people out of the game.

I do so HATE when umps think they are part of the game.

Country Joe West was one of the worst.

There were several who used to follow unhappy players to the dugout, all but taunting them to say something, just to toss the guy.

A pox on all their houses!!!

Sadly my team is ump unaffected. Their own incompetence - players, management, ownership - has driven my Mets into hate-able laughing stocks.

I'm close to being totally sick of baseball.

Considering how big a baseball fan I was, that is quite an inversion.

Foster's crew managed to make one more atrocious call and one highly questionable decision. With two out Royals batter hit a ground ball to Trumbo who was playing about ten feet or so off first. Trumbo jogs over to the bag and then goes on to the dug out. Umpire rules that Trumbo never stepped on the bag and calls the Royals batter safe. Replay clearly shows Trumbo stepped on the bag. Sciosia comes out and blows a gasket. Immediately after a Fox Sports Kansas City mic picks up Sciosia say fuck you to Foster from the dugout but Foster doesn't run him. (Royals, being managed by Yost, end up with men on first and third with two outs and the tying run at the plate. Yost uses some scrub just called up from Omaha who was hitting .194 in AAA as a pinch hitter which results in a predictable ground out to the shortstop.)

Ninth inning same score two runners on and one out Jeff Francouer(who was put in to replace Butler) at the plate. Swings and misses at strike three and is called out by Foster who was behind home plate today . Francouer then argues after the call that he foul tipped the pitch and asks Foster to check for pine tar on the baseball. Foster gets the ball, looks at it and changes the call to a foul tip. Sciosia goes even more ballistic at Foster and gets tossed. Francouer, with his extraordinary ability to swing at any pitch located on the outside corner of the western hemisphere then flies out to the center fielder. Angels get the next batter to end game and hopefully Marty Foster's umpiring career. I am absolutely 1000% percent certain that Sciosia's head would have exploded Scanners style in the club house had Francouer homered on the next pitch.

Stat of the day home runs hit since May 15.

Chicago Cubs pitchers-3
entire Kansas City Royals roster-2 (both by Miguel Tejada of all people)

If you read the post above me you might notice that Ned Yost replaced Billy Butler with Jeff Francouer at the DH spot when Butler was thrown out of the game yesterday. You might also notice that Yost used a backup catcher who was just called up from Omaha last night to replace Salvador Perez (whose grandmother died yesterday ) and who was hitting .194 in AAA ball to pinch hit with two men on while down 5-2 in the 8th inning yesterday. I know you are wondering exactly what LaRussaian manuever Yost used to put Tejada in since he did not use him in either of those situations. The answer is none. Tejada was still on the bench when the game was over. The loud crack you heard late Sunday afternoon (about 4:50pm CDT) was me ramming my head through the dry wall in my apartment.

My stat of the day for the Mets:

Dillon Gee became the first pitcher in Mets history to allow a homer to the opposing pitcher in back-to-back appearances.



Last night, Shaun Marcum became the third pitcher to have a 12-strikeout, no-walk game in which he got a no-decision this season, joining Matt Harvey of the Mets, King Felix.

The last team to have a pair of pitchers get no-decisions, despite a 12-strikeout, no-walk effort, in the same season was the 1967 Cincinnati Reds.

At least you have Matt Harvey. Add in the catching prospect and Wheeler and there could be a lil excitement in July and August.

EDIT: sorry. I posted this before I read your 12k/no decision post.

I'm hopeful on d'Arnaud, the catching prospect. But, he's injured. Again. Seems that's his M.O. So, I'm pessimistic but hopeful.

If that makes any sense ...

The game of baseball is 9 innings again in the Bronx.



http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=30965689

3 Biggest Losses for the Yankees in my life time:

George dying

Mariano retiring

Munson dying

Munson, yes, and I remember that well.

George? Fuck George. I'll see your Steinbrenners and raise you both the new house and the disgraceful way they treated Torre over his demise.

not hating because he could be the best we'll ever see but save a few tears for jeter next year or the one after that.

The era's gone. He should bow out now before A-Roid and those half-human Steingrabber offspring destroy what's left.

I love Jeter, but he is way easier to replace than Mo. Or Jorge for that matter. Jeter was the face of the franchise, but never should have been captain. O'Neil was the vocal leader of the team, then it was Posada. If Jeter was such a great captain, then the team would not have had to bring in "clubhouse guys" such as Swisher and Sabathia.

re New House: It is going on in all sports. The long time, "real fan" season ticket holders are priced out to make way for corporate tools. In turn, you get dead crowds who spend more time at the Hard Rock Cafe than watching the game. New Giant Stadium is the same way. You can't tell at Barclays, because when the Nets played in NJ, 9 outta 10 times they were lucky to fill the lower bowl.

Don't you Yankee bastards even think about trying to pry Greg Holland away from the Royals.

Nah, I think they are set to go with David Robertson next year.

Paper today is saying Cano wants 10 years $305. Him and Jay Z must be huffing each other's farts to come up with that. Says the Dodgers are not even going to make an offer. I would tell him 5/$125 and if he walks out the door w/o signing it is going to be 5/$120 when he comes back. Yankees are going to be bad for a couple years. They can be bad with him or without.

P.S. I bet a dollar to a donut Jay Z sent Riahanna to Cano's hotel room as an incentive to sign w/ his new agency. That drug addled mess would do anything Jay Z tells her to.

Someone needs to explain three things to Cano.

1. Only two players in history have got that kind of contract.
2. Rodriguez and Pujols were both way better at the time they got that money than Cano is today.
3. Those contracts torpedoed the teams that signed them.

Jay Z gotta prove he's a balla. You see what happened to Master P after that Ricky Williams contract?

#'s 3,4,&5 on the all time wins list for managers, all 3 are deserving. Big ups to Brooklyn!, for Mr. Torre.

Of the players, Maddux will challenge Seavers mark for Highest percentage of votes. Glavine, Thomas and Biggio should get in, I don't know if they all will this year, but I listed them in order of likelihood.

This is Jack Morris' final year on the ballot. He will go in within the first couple years he is on the Veteran's Committee ballot. He is borderline, but the most dominant pitcher of his era and that 10inning shutout in the World series is legendary.

I know it's dumb, but I still think of Joe Torre in a Cardinal uniform, listening to him play with Jack Buck and Mike Shannon doing the play-by-play. Maybe no less silly than remembering Yogi Berra grew up with Joe Garagiola on The Hill in St. Louis.

Biggio and Piazza have a decent chance, but I remain wary after that little hissy fit the BBWA writers threw last year. I would doubt any other second-year players make the cut. I wish CrimeDog McGriff would get in, if for no other reason than his passionate endorsement of the Tom Emansky instructional videos.

Glavine's 300 wins should put him in.

Yes Glavine should be in, but there is a section of the BWAA who thinks first year votes are for the elite of the elite. That may hold Glavine back. Also, I wonder if him and Maddux are sick of each other.

McGriff is the guy I think most effected by steroid #s. When he started out, Chili Davis and Jeffery Leonard hitting 22HR was a slugger. Crime Dog hit that 30+ a year consistently, and didn't spike up when everyone else started juicing. I think he is more of a Hall of Famer than Jim Rice.

I remember when Stienbrenner was ridiculed for hiring Joe. Best move the man ever made.

I recall an old Dennis Leary comedy bit: "I think Billy Martin summed it up best when he said, 'It's OK, I'll drive.'" Recall when Seinfeld did a spoof of Steinbrenner and he threatened to fire Buck Showalter, then retraced, "Wait, you didn't hear that from me." Than the real George canned him just the same.

Some of these guys will be off the ballot soon. But Jerkules is right, the veteran's committee will find a place for them soon enough.

I had an argument on another internet forum about a week ago who thought that Tim Raines should be a lock. I pointed out to him that it pretty much took him over 20 years to accomplish what Ichiro did in ten (minus the MVP, Rookie of the Year, and 10 Gold Gloves that Raines never did accomplish). Guy's only counter argument is career OBP. That's the drawback of all these Sabermetric geeks these days. All they look at are the numbers. They never actually watch the players play.

Raines was a very good but not great player who seemed to spend half his career on the disabled list. Ichiro should be a first ballot HoFer who put up ridiculous numbers for a decade considering he was 27 when he first played in the majors. Raines was basically a more often injured Willie Wilson with more power.

I like Raines. It seemed like every time the Yankees had a late inning rally to win a game in 1996 it was Raines starting it, followed by Jeter advancing him and Bernie brining them home. Dude isn't a HOFer.

Maddux, Glavine and Thomas elected to the HOF.

No word on % yet, though one Dodgers writer for MLB.com said he left Maddux off because he won't vote for any Steroid Era players.

Ugh. Biggio missed by a vote or 2, coming in at 74.8%. Piazza was #5 at 62%.

EDIT: Maddux got 97%

Next year will be first time for Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz.

Comcast Sportsnet shows cock and balls on gay new Cubs Mascot. like 15 seconds in.

Deadspin is claiming credit for getting that image out there. The anchors start laughing like they cannot believe their eyes.

Randy, Pedro, Biggio.

To start the argument before someone mentions him, Smoltz is not a Hall of Famer. Dude only had 1 20win season, and 2 others with more than 15 wins, on a team that was perennially one of the best in baseball.

That's ridiculous. He only had one 20 win season because he spent five years in his prime as a closer. If he is starting those years his overall stats become better than Glavine's. Your argument makes a better case against Cox being in the Hall of Fame than it does against Smoltz

He spent that time as a closer because he was brittle, and it was only 3 full seasons. There was a 1/2 season before that, when he came back from Tommy John surgery.

So what, if he would have started those years, and some how remained healthy, he would have gotten to 250wins, and still been way outside the qualifications for a HOFer.

His only HOF qualification is being the #3 pitcher on TBS. There are a bunch of pitchers of his era that were much better than him, as displayed that he was only top 3 in Cy Young voting 2x.

He's not quite Mike Mussina, then add a few years as an elite closer. Close, but doesn't quite make the cut.

Yep. Mussina had a better career, and he falls short on the HOF.

Loved the Moose when he pitched for Baltimore and didn't suck too bad as a Yankee...but I could not vote for him for the HoF.

Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez
John Smoltz
Craig Biggio

All got elected.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-base...-biggio-elected

Biggio i have the only real issue, and he never played a meaningful game in October, and when he did he shit the bed.

RIP Yogi. Welcome to the real Hall of Fame.

Come on, bro. When Yogi gets to heaven, you think he's asking for a Mets cap? This picture says it all about Yogi's career. I can't tell which one has the "5" on it to commemorate the 5 in a row they won.




Here is an article about his time in the Navy. He was a gunner's mate on a "rocket boat" during the D-Day Invasion.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2013/10/yogi_berras_d-day_service_reme.html

Traditionally, ballplayers sell beer and shaving gear. What's with all the beards?

^ MLB's finally shaking off the effect of George Steinbrenner.

http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/08/mattingly-hair-20-years-ago.html

Blowback from Lincecum winning Cy Youngs looking like a 14y/o girl.

That's not a beard. That is Chris Archer's hair. Your television is upside down.

Again? Damnit!!!

Fucking Pirates. Can't even shit the bed properly.