ALDS Game Thread

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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E5 Yaz said:
three points
 
1) Rich Eisen (angry, middle aged white guy, i guess) made the point today that when the NFL put the clamps on excessive celebration, part of the reason was that the league had received what Eisen called "thousands" of letters from youth league coaches asking for help because the kids emulated the antics they saw on the field in the NFL and the youth coaches were having trouble controlling the actions of their teams. Buy that if you want, but Eisen went onto say whether the bat-flip craze finds its way to youth leagues -- where the lack of coordination of younger players could lead to a bat flip that could hit or injure someone.
 
2) The instant exuberance of the Bautista flip, I thought, was in the heat of the moment, and I liked it. Yet somehow, Dyson's comments are being treated as whining because his team lost. This was an immediate reaction from Dyson -- not, like Bud Norris, a response to an interview question away from the heat of an emotional defeat. Dyson was also in the heat of the moment, even in the locker room afterwards. But his team lost, so it's okay to pile on?
 
3) Fans in Toronto threw things onto the field AFTER the home run -- as if to be a punctuation mark to what had just happened. Cause and effect. Should batters start turning bat flips and home run trots into orchestrated events, what's to stop fans from littering the field whenever something exciting happens?
 
To repeat, I had no problem with the bat flip ... in and of that particular moment. But what it might lead to is something to consider. 
 
Dyson made those comments after the game. Plenty of time to think about them. If he doesn't like seeing Bautista flip the bat, he should not be throwing him fastballs right down the middle of the plate. He can stuff it.
 
As for point number 1: that's what parents are for. If a kid flips a bat in a youth game then the coaches and parents have to team them why that's not appropriate for that level of play. We teach sportsmanship in youth sports because they are not professionals, because their careers are not on the line between winning and losing, and the overwhelming majority of kids playing sports will never receive a dime as a professional sports player so it's important to teach them good sportsmanship as a life lesson. Professionals are none of those things. These men are fired or cut if they don't hit home runs or perform well enough or get hurt. Asking professional players to curb their emotions in situations like that yesterday is foolish and ultimately hurts the sport, IMO, because it makes baseball less fun to watch and follow.
 
As for orchestrated events, what's wrong with that? I see that happen in football and hockey and soccer and the world goes on.
 
Lighten up and have fun.
 

Remagellan

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I am not a defender of Harold Reynolds, but to his credit, he got the call on the Odor play correct right from the moment the ball went off of Choo's bat.   
 
The irony of the situation was that the game was subjected to a long delay as the umps decided what to do about the ball going off of Choo's bat while he was going through his routine in the batter's box, which is a place he wouldn't have been had the league not instituted rules to speed up the game.  
 

Jettisoned

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E5 Yaz said:
three points
 
1) Rich Eisen (angry, middle aged white guy, i guess) made the point today that when the NFL put the clamps on excessive celebration, part of the reason was that the league had received what Eisen called "thousands" of letters from youth league coaches asking for help because the kids emulated the antics they saw on the field in the NFL and the youth coaches were having trouble controlling the actions of their teams. Buy that if you want, but Eisen went onto say whether the bat-flip craze finds its way to youth leagues -- where the lack of coordination of younger players could lead to a bat flip that could hit or injure someone.
 
I don't buy it.  The real reason is that most of their focus group participants didn't like them. 
 

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Remagellan said:
 
I haven't seen a performance by an infielder like Andrus' in the bottom of the seventh since the last time I watched Eight Men Out
Dan Uggla? 2008 All Star Game? Two consecutive errors, three total.
 

scotian1

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I think Dyson lost credibility when he first got on Encarnacion after he was trying to calm the fans down almost causing a fracas and then in the same 7th inning after getting Tulo to pop up came in and touched him on the ass almost causing another incident. Dyson should just shut the ef up. He is ar from being an example to follow.
 

E5 Yaz

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scotian1 said:
I think Dyson lost credibility when he first got on Encarnacion after he was trying to calm the fans down almost causing a fracas and then in the same 7th inning after getting Tulo to pop up came in and touched him on the ass almost causing another incident. Dyson should just shut the ef up. He is ar from being an example to follow.
 
Who said he was an example to follow?
 

E5 Yaz

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Jerry Crasnick
ESPN.com MLB Sr. Writer 
Royals Game 1 starter Edinson Volquez was very entertaining in the ALCS media room today. When asked how he's going to pitch to Josh Donaldson after their regular season run-in, Volquez replied, "He's a great hitter. I'm going to stick with the plan. I don't know what the plan is right now."
 

scotian1

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I believe Dyson claiming that Bautista should reform his behavior because he was a role model was speaking from the point of view that he knew how a role model should behave when clearly if he does he doesn't behave that way himself.
 

AB in DC

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fineyoungarm said:
 
Totally didn't realize that the runner on first (Revere) turned his back on the ball during that dinky little blooper behind the second baseman.  I guess Odor's klutzy attempt at backpedaling somehow managed to fool him into thinking it'd be a routine pop fly (or Infield Fly Rule call).
 

rembrat

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Yea, Dyson, and all the other butthurt pitchers should stop hiding behind protecting the game and be completely straight up. Just tell the media you don't like getting shown up, it's like adding salt to a wound. No one wants to be posterized.
 

E5 Yaz

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scotian1 said:
I believe Dyson claiming that Bautista should reform his behavior because he was a role model was speaking from the point of view that he knew how a role model should behave when clearly if he does he doesn't behave that way himself.
My mistake. I thought you were saying that others were calling him that
 

fineyoungarm

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glennhoffmania said:
 
I'm disappointed that he referred to the Joba game as the "bug swarm" game instead of the "midge game."
Good point.  Pretty much ruins entire article dictated/written/edited within 24 hours of game. The devil is always in the details.  Like calling 1967 the year of "The Unlikely Dream".
 

glennhoffmania

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fineyoungarm said:
Good point.  Pretty much ruins entire article dictated/written/edited within 24 hours of game. The devil is always in the details.  Like calling 1967 the year of "The Unlikely Dream".
 
I'll cut KT a little slack since he was still describing a Joba meltdown. 
 
The lines about Reynolds in that article were extremely funny.
 

fineyoungarm

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glennhoffmania said:
 
I'll cut KT a little slack since he was still describing a Joba meltdown. 
 
The lines about Reynolds in that article were extremely funny.
"whom I dearly love as a person" - it makes me happy every time I think about it.
 

soxhop411

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John Shannon ‏@JSportsnet  1h1 hour ago
Jays win.  Ratings are spectacular!
For the 3 Jays' wins.  4.1 million. 4.4 million. 4.8 million. Wow!
 

soxhop411

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Jordan Bastian ‏@MLBastian  33m33 minutes ago
Royals reliever Ryan Madson, asked if bat flipping/celebrating is simply a part of baseball now: pic.twitter.com/t1bJZ5b5pd
 
 
 
paging Smiling Joe Hesketh, 
 

soxhop411

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Jeff Blair ‏@SNJeffBlair  14m14 minutes ago
Damn: overall, 11.5 million Canadians watched some part of ALDS Game 5. Audience levels peaked at 8.1 million viewers at 7:44 p.m. ET.
 
 
Jonah Keri ‏@jonahkeri  2m2 minutes ago
Jonah Keri Retweeted Jeff Blair
Just shy of 1/3 total population
 

Al Zarilla

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fineyoungarm said:
So much of it is priceless - but the Harold Reynolds lines. I am still laughing.
I wonder if the "I love Harold Reynolds" statement he uses every time he makes Harold sound like the moron that he is, is just patronizing. Pos is great, have to read more of his stuff.
 

fineyoungarm

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Al Zarilla said:
I wonder if the "I love Harold Reynolds" statement he uses every time he makes Harold sound like the moron that he is, is just patronizing. Pos is great, have to read more of his stuff.
Neil Armstrong thinking "act like you've been on the moon before, Neil".