Don't give them any ideas :slap:
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I'm sorry to say this, but the Dominic Republic and Puerto Rico look like the teams to beat in the WBC.
Puerto Rico beat the Dominican Republic. Wow.
Japan and the Netherlands are in the Semifinals. Waiting on Pool F to finish. They still have a few days of games to go so Japan and the Netherlands are sitting around waiting.
Venezuela vs USA tonight.
USA beats Venezuela 4 - 2. :usa: :cheerlead:
:shock:
USA beat Japan 2 - 1 to get to the WBC Finals. They'll face Puerto Rico.
We won! :cheers: :usa:
By Chris Mack - CBS Pittsburgh
http://i.imgur.com/Hg7YAgK.jpg
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – There’s not a kid in the United States that woke up this morning wanting to be Ian Kinsler.
What’s that say about the guy who hit the game-winning home run in the Championship game of the World Baseball Classic? What does it say about the state of baseball fandom in America? And what does it say about the World Baseball Classic and its ability to connect to both the average sports fan as well as the hardcore baseball fan?
Let’s start with Kinsler, who less than 24 hours before the Championship against Puerto Rico, and just four days after defeating the Dominican Republic in an elimination game, told Billy Witz of the New York Times, “I hope kids watching the WBC can watch the way we play the game and appreciate the way we play the game as opposed to the way Puerto Rico plays or the Dominican plays. That’s not taking anything away from them. That just wasn’t the way we were raised. They were raised differently and to show emotion and passion when you play. We do show emotion; we do show passion. But we just do it in a different way.”
Kinsler followed up those comments with a 2-run homer in the Top of the 3rd inning and one of the most modest, staid home run trots in the history of the game. Joylessly circling the bags as if he were lightly jogging to a puppy’s funeral, Kinsler was straight out of the National Football League’s forthcoming “How To Celebrate” video that will undoubtedly consider chest-thumping a terroristic threat, twerking a lewd and lascivious act, and if given the opportunity to regulate baseball, would equivocate bat-flipping with assault with a deadly weapon.
In a tournament that’s been fun to watch – as long as one of your favorite ballclub’s players isn’t pitching or getting hurt – it’s gone from “cute little international exhibition tournament” to “battle for the reputation and pride of entire nations” because of the energy and enthusiasm nearly every team has played with throughout.
If you have any doubt, go back and watch the first couple of innings of the semifinal between Puerto Rico and The Netherlands. Or any part of the aforementioned Round 2 game between the U.S. and Dominican Republic. Or, even more exemplary of my point, the Round 1 match-up between those same two teams that turned Marlins Park in Miami into a hybrid of a postseason ballpark and a Punta Cana dance floor.
That wasn’t just fun for the people there, it was fun to watch.
And that’s what brings us around to the state of baseball fandom in America. Like most sports other than football, once a person’s favorite team is eliminated, that person stops paying attention to that sport.
Don’t think so? Quick, name the last five Stanley Cup champs before the Penguins. Or the last five World Series champions.
Did the WBC change the way most average, everyday sports fans are going to watch baseball this summer? Maybe. The bet here is that more than a few kids who saw players from the Dominican and Puerto Rico having fun while they played baseball, will be drawn to either keep an eye on certain players or certain teams as long as those guys with the gall to have fun while playing baseball are still around.
As for hardcore baseball fans, how can you argue with the down to the wire games and thrilling outcomes in some of the biggest games of the tournament? Complain if you will about the ridiculous extra inning rules – I’ll be happy to join you in praying they never come to MLB – but the baseball itself, despite the pitch counts, the lack of major leaguers on some squads, and the inexperienced managers who in some cases strategized themselves into losses (Yes, I’m looking at you, Hensley Muelens, for your atrocious 11th inning work against Japan in the 2nd Round.), the quality of ball being played was excellent.
So we had really good baseball – especially in comparison to what’s usually available in March – being played in electric environs, with a postseason feel to it, and we’re supposed to either dislike it because there’s a slim chance it may negatively affect the players on our favorite major league team, and/or because people are having fun?
Huh?
For every Didi Gregorious shoulder strain, give me Gregory Polanco bouncing back from a hideous 2nd half to hit .579 in the WBC. For every soulless, grimaced gallop around the bases on a long ball, give me a 15-foot high bat flip, double point to the stands, blonde-haired Victor Cruz-style salsa saunter around the bases.
And for every complaint about baseball being fun, give me guys playing for their country, going all out in a month when Spring Training games are highlighted by faux announcer skirmishes and battles for a 5th outfield spot, and give me the World Baseball Classic.
Whether Ian Kinsler likes it or not.
Indeed. This was fun baseball.
Opening day! :cheers:
:woot:
Bumgarner has 2 homers in the Giants' game against the Diamondbacks. Bumgarner. The pitcher. He smacked one of them against Greinke.
... and the Giants lose in the 9th after being on top by 1. Their brand new, highly paid closer blows his first save of the season. :lol:
Crazy. Maybe a harbinger of the season to come?
Mmmm... harbinger :homer:
The Cubs lost their first to the Cardinals.
Cubs 0 - 1
BoSox and Rockies are both undefeated! :cheers:
The Associated Press
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Of course he did. Tim Tebow hit a home run in his first official at-bat as a New York Mets minor leaguer, a charmed start Thursday night for a popular yet polarizing athlete who seems to have a knack for these remarkable moments.
Playing a sport where many thought he didn't even belong in the batter's box, the former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner launched a two-run drive for the Columbia Fireflies in a Class A South Atlantic League game against Augusta. It was his only hit in five plate appearances.
"All of my sports experiences helped me for moments like that," Tebow said. With a 15 mph wind blowing out, Tebow hit a shot just over the 372-foot sign in left-center field. He stopped at second base, thinking it was a double — but the ball hit a railing above the fence at the Bojangles Berm, and an umpire twirled his hand to indicate it was a homer.
Tebow spent an hour in the batting cage before batting practice Thursday with the hitting coach hitting fastballs away to the opposite field. Then on the fourth pitch, he got one. "It definitely felt good because that is something we worked on so much today," Tebow said laughing.
Tebow clapped and pumped his fist in the air as he rounded the rest of the bases in the second inning as the crowd, already going wild, went into a frenzy. His teammates rushed the dugout railing, waiting for him. He laughed when he talked about one of his teammates saying it was the best thing he had ever experienced.
"Special things happen to special people. And that was a special moment," Columbia manager Jose Leger said. The 29-year-old Tebow played three seasons in the NFL, highlighted by a playoff touchdown pass in overtime that lifted the Denver Broncos over Pittsburgh. A two-time national champion at the University of Florida, he left football for broadcasting after the 2012 season.
Tebow later tried out with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, but got cut in training camp. He then decided to pursue a career in a sport he last played as a junior in high school, signing a minor league deal with the Mets.
Last fall, in the Instructional League, he also homered his first time up. But in spring training for the Mets, Tebow batted .148 in 27 appearances. He struck out eight times and didn't have an extra base hit or an RBI.
The lefty-hitting Tebow homered off Augusta lefty Domenic Mazza, a 22-year-old who had an 11-3 career record in the minors after playing at UC Santa Barbara. Mazza was the 666th pick in the 2015 draft.
In Tebow's second at-bat, he couldn't beat out a slow roller to the shortstop. He struck out the next three times up — two of them looking. "There will be a lot of highs and lows in this game. That's why you can't make too much of anything," Tebow said.
Columbia beat Augusta 14-7, with the Fireflies hitting three home runs. Tebow was batting seventh for the Fireflies and starting in left field in a league that typically uses 21- or 22-year-olds early in their pro careers.
Tebow sort of fits that mold. He hasn't played organized baseball since his junior year of high school. He concentrated on football, winning the Heisman as a sophomore for Florida in 2007. He then went to the NFL. In 2011, Tebow lifted the Broncos over the Steelers with an 80-yard TD pass on the first play of overtime. Tebow was traded to the New York Jets the next season, throwing only eight passes.
But maybe it's Columbia that suits Tebow well. With the Gators, he accounted for seven touchdowns, threw for 304 yards and ran for 120 more as Florida beat South Carolina about 3 miles away at Williams-Brice Stadium 51-31 in the 2007 game that cemented his Heisman Trophy campaign.
Columbia is embracing the man it once rooted against. Noelle Colligan stood in a line at least a dozen people deep to buy a new No. 15 Tebow Fireflies jersey. She became a Tebow fan watching his march to the 2007 Heisman Trophy. The University of South Carolina student put on the jersey before the game started.
Then, as Tebow came to the plate, she leaned over and told a friend with the wind blowing out and Tebow's amazing career so far, she just knew he would hit one out. "It's just not who he is as an athlete. It's his whole character. It's what he believes. It's the good work he does," said Colligan, who volunteered in February with a local special needs prom put on by the Tim Tebow Foundation.
In the Fireflies merchandise shop called The Mason Jar, employees were restocking the racks with the Tebow jerseys well into the night.
:hand:
Let me know when he hits for the cycle against a Major League pitcher on a rehab assignment.
:hater:
You'll be singing a different tune when the Phillies trade for him [-(
:hand:
The Phillies' brass isn't that stupid.
In the 24 hours after the Chicago Cubs' nail-biting, drought-ending 2016 World Series victory, euphoric fans dropped an eye-popping $75 million on team gear.
:faint:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...407-story.html
:shock:
:facepalm:
Keep it classy, first time Cub fans...
NSFW
no one even cared :lol:
Dudeman is on fire. Wow. Too bad he isn't getting any run support.
In his first four games, Chris Sale has been objectively stellar — allowing just three total runs and striking out 42 batters in nearly 30 innings of work. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 20 innings so far this season, Sale has the third lowest WHIP (0.71) and the fourth lowest ERA (0.91).
http://i.imgur.com/UVVK5MY.png?1
And he's 1-1. :|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Red Sox are averaging 1.8 runs per game in Chris Sale's four starts, 4.9 runs per game when any other pitcher starts</p>— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/855138058584416256">April 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The Reds had a little fun at the expense of Cubs fans during Friday’s game at Cincinnati’s Great American Park.
Now that the Chicago team has erased its underdog status by winning its first World Series in 108 years, the Reds took advantage of the throngs of newly minted Cubs fans that have come out of the woodwork with this trolling “Bandwagon Cam.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's this. <a href="https://t.co/iyfcv9B3eB">pic.twitter.com/iyfcv9B3eB</a></p>— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reds/status/855649410214109184">April 22, 2017</a></blockquote>
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http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/c...gon-cam-042217
Awesome and true... :lol:
:lol:
:bwaha:
I know it's only April, but the Rockies have the 2nd best record in the majors and they have the #1 bullpen :shock:
Red Sox win the series, 2-1. The Cubbies collapsed at the end of game 3.
The Yankees and Cubs broke a major league record for combined strikeouts in a game with 48 on Sunday night in New York's 5-4 victory in 18 innings at Wrigley Field.
The record fell when Yankees catcher Austin Romine became the game's 44th strikeout in the 17th inning, while facing Cubs reliever Pedro Strop.
Four more K's pushed the total to 48 as the game stretched into the 18th inning, making it MLB's longest of the season by innings and duration. It also was the first interleague game to go 18 innings and the longest in game time, at 6 hours, 5 minutes, in the history of Sunday Night Baseball, since the series began in 1990.
The previous record of 43 strikeouts was set in a 20-inning game between the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics in 1971.
Lose 2 out of 3 to the BoSox, swept by the Yankees.... :-k
They're gonna go back to losing for another 108 years.
:haha: