LAA Road Tripper

Calhoun. Wow.

Why did Pujols give himself up so easily? Dude is not quick but could have held out for another few seconds to give Simmons a shot a second base. 

Agreed. The lack of awareness of the situation is stunning. 8th level of brain dead. 

Didn’t like Valbuena’s reaction there. Seems to me there should be a culture that whenever a third strike hits the ground, you’re running to 1st regardless. To just concede, especially with Trout at 2nd is lazy. You lose nothing by running.

Makes sense. The point I was trying to make is that Stanton really does hold all of the cards - or at least most of them - in this scenario.

So my father-in-law, big Dodger fan from when they first arrived from Brooklyn - saw them a bunch at the Coliseum, had season tickets in the 70s, etc. - passed away in late September. My wife told me I should root for them in the World Series to honor him. He was a great guy but.... I just can't. Seems to me, if the Dodgers really cared about him they would have won one of multiple LCSs they tanked in over the last 10 years. 
That's what I'm going with for my justification.
 

So my father-in-law, big Dodger fan from when they first arrived from Brooklyn - saw them a bunch at the Coliseum, had season tickets in the 70s, etc. - passed away in late September. My wife told me I should root for them in the World Series to honor him. He was a great guy but.... I just can't. Seems to me, if the Dodgers really cared about him they would have won one of multiple LCSs they tanked in over the last 10 years. 
That's what I'm going with for my justification.
 

So my father-in-law, big Dodger fan from when they first arrived from Brooklyn - saw them a bunch at the Coliseum, had season tickets in the 70s, etc. - passed away in late September. My wife told me I should root for them in the World Series to honor him. He was a great guy but.... I just can't. Seems to me, if the Dodgers really cared about him they would have won one of multiple LCSs they tanked in over the last 10 years. 
That's what I'm going with for my justification.
 

this doesn't feel healthy for any of us.  

Albert Pujols was a great player. I think it would be just great to watch his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in the summer of 2023 with Cardinal Nation.

It was Alberto, but he took the "o" out and put it into his box score.

I think what this article fails to acknowledge is that there are really very few "bad" ballparks left in baseball. Take Oakland and Tampa Bay out of the mix and every one of them are generally pretty good, some admittedly better than others, which far exceeds the multi-purpose world of the 70s and 80s. 
I could express my opinion in greater detail of why we as a society are so negative but I've gotta run. I have to finish my Top 10 Ugliest Miss America winners list.
 

This isn't really true, though, or at least beyond the first round pick. Yes, having a bad year gets a team a top 10 pick, but after that it comes down to savvy drafting. My point being, whether a team gets the #5 pick or the #25 pick doesn't decide whether the system is "flushed with talent." It might differentiate top prospects, but being flush has to do with intelligent drafting and scouting.

A little late to the game on this but Fred Lynn was the 1982 ALCS MVP in their loss to Milwaukee. Not that it really matters. I would have rather had Cecil Cooper win the award and the Angels win the series. Still hurts but it's only been 34 years. I need to give it some time.

A little late to the game on this but Fred Lynn was the 1982 ALCS MVP in their loss to Milwaukee. Not that it really matters. I would have rather had Cecil Cooper win the award and the Angels win the series. Still hurts but it's only been 34 years. I need to give it some time.

Very impressive attendance at the Cubs' parade on Friday. An amazing sea of humanity. Having said that, can local officials really estimate the crowd size at 5 million and do it with a straight face? That's some serious pom pom shaking by local officials.
Let's break this down. Chicago has a population of 2.7 million and the metro area has about 9.5 million people. Local schools were off but it was still a work day. Among that number, there are elderly, a high percentage of non-sports fans, White Sox fans and probably a ton of Cubs fans scared off by the hoard and content to watch the proceedings on TV. Sure, the number could be augmented by out-of-towners but I'm having a hard time buying that the parade had almost double the city's population and more than half the number of people that live in the metro area. 

Very impressive attendance at the Cubs' parade on Friday. An amazing sea of humanity. Having said that, can local officials really estimate the crowd size at 5 million and do it with a straight face? That's some serious pom pom shaking by local officials.
Let's break this down. Chicago has a population of 2.7 million and the metro area has about 9.5 million people. Local schools were off but it was still a work day. Among that number, there are elderly, a high percentage of non-sports fans, White Sox fans and probably a ton of Cubs fans scared off by the hoard and content to watch the proceedings on TV. Sure, the number could be augmented by out-of-towners but I'm having a hard time buying that the parade had almost double the city's population and more than half the number of people that live in the metro area. 

Wow, this is going to be good. I have no idea what to expect. Nothing would surprise me. The most that I can be sure of is that we'll see some unusual stuff tonight.

I either don't remember, or never knew that. I have been set straight.

I remember attending Game 2 of that series. That was only the 14th year of the league championship series and no team to that point had ever blown a 2-0 lead. Some folks in the crowd actually ran on to the field after the final out. Seemed to me a bad omen at the time and indeed it came back to bite us. 

I was at all four home games but I wish I could say I kept the faith halfway through Game 6. I did not. At 5-0, I walked the concourse and moped. Not proud of it.
But after Spezio did his magic my pulse re-emerged. And the events of the bottom of the eighth empowered me to achieve my peak vertical jump back out on the concourse a good 19 years after my last competitive basketball game. That was enjoyable.

I was at all four home games but I wish I could say I kept the faith halfway through Game 6. I did not. At 5-0, I walked the concourse and moped. Not proud of it.
But after Spezio did his magic my pulse re-emerged. And the events of the bottom of the eighth empowered me to achieve my peak vertical jump back out on the concourse a good 19 years after my last competitive basketball game. That was enjoyable.

At least the two teams that caused such heartache to us in 1982 and '86 ended up losing the World Series those years.
Oh, and Baltimore too in 1979. Pittsburgh had that great comeback against them.
 

A little late to the game on this but Fred Lynn was the 1982 ALCS MVP in their loss to Milwaukee. Not that it really matters. I would have rather had Cecil Cooper win the award and the Angels win the series. Still hurts but it's only been 34 years. I need to give it some time.