2010 FOT BASEBALL THREAD.

[Hugman 3.0]

I still love LaRussa though.  Only a monster could hate LaRussa.

Guess I'm a monster.

I don't like his hair or the fact that he hasn't aged in 30 years.

Must be the vegan diet (and the alcohol).

jbissell, you'll be amused to know that my sportsbook account is at zero. I've been knocked out after a month and a half.

[Gilly]

Holy crap that's totally true about LaRussa. He's been 55 for 30 years.

[jbissell]

I still love LaRussa though.  Only a monster could hate LaRussa.

Guess I'm a monster.

I don't like his hair or the fact that he hasn't aged in 30 years.

Must be the vegan diet (and the alcohol).

jbissell, you'll be amused to know that my sportsbook account is at zero. I've been knocked out after a month and a half.

Should've been betting on the Pirates over the Cubs.

[scratchbomb]

Yeah, I cringe when I hear people say that McGwire is one of the greatest hitters ever and belongs in the HOF. I get the argument that everyone juiced at that time and I'm totally willing to say that Bonds is still one of the greatest of all time. But, McGwire wasn't that good of a hitter, he just hit a ton of home runs and that directly lies on the fact that he cheated. I can look at Bonds stats and say even without the inflated home run numbers he still would have been HOF worthy. You can't do the same for McGwire and the same goes for Sosa.

totally agree. McGwire was basically a juiced Dave Kingman: hit home runs, that's it. I wouldn't not vote for him because of steroids; I'd not vote for him because all he did was hit homers, in an era where homers were completely devalued.

[ben]

He did win a gold glove - which I suppose only further proves that the gold glove is a popularity contest.

I really detest him as well, his response to the allegations was ridiculous.  Then again that baseball hearings in congress are ridiculous too.

Yeah, I cringe when I hear people say that McGwire is one of the greatest hitters ever and belongs in the HOF. I get the argument that everyone juiced at that time and I'm totally willing to say that Bonds is still one of the greatest of all time. But, McGwire wasn't that good of a hitter, he just hit a ton of home runs and that directly lies on the fact that he cheated. I can look at Bonds stats and say even without the inflated home run numbers he still would have been HOF worthy. You can't do the same for McGwire and the same goes for Sosa.

totally agree. McGwire was basically a juiced Dave Kingman: hit home runs, that's it. I wouldn't not vote for him because of steroids; I'd not vote for him because all he did was hit homers, in an era where homers were completely devalued.

[Barry Egan]

I still love LaRussa though.  Only a monster could hate LaRussa.

Guess I'm a monster.

I don't like his hair or the fact that he hasn't aged in 30 years.

The man saves a lot of cats and dogs.  I agree his hair is terrifying, but on the Cal Ripken scale of Baseball Players Not Embarassing Fans, I give him an 8.8.

[scratchbomb]

He did win a gold glove - which I suppose only further proves that the gold glove is a popularity contest.

I really detest him as well, his response to the allegations was ridiculous.  Then again that baseball hearings in congress are ridiculous too.

I really hate the sanctimonious, hand-wringing response to steroids, which only exists in baseball. The NFL's about to get some names named, thanks to the indictment of Dr. Galea, but nobody is talking about that at all, and I seriously doubt they will when those names do come out. Because everyone pretty much expects football players to be huge, but when you take HGH to hit homers, angels weep and puppies die.

[nec13]

You bring up an interesting point, scratch. Why is there so much indignation over the prevalence of PED's in baseball, when there is probably just as much (if not more) abuse of PED's in the NFL? Case in point, the Steelers wouldn't have won those four Super Bowls in the 70's without the aid of steroids. But nobody seems to care. Clearly, there's a double standard.

Why? It has everything to do with records. Baseball records are far more cherished than football records. Does anyone really care about who has the record for most touchdowns in a season? Can you even name the holder of that record without looking it up? Probably not. Baseball records are an entirely different matter. The average sports fan can probably name the single season HR record holder without even thinking about it. When the authenticity of baseball records is invalidated, there is going to be a great deal of discontentment, because we care more about those records.

Is it hypocritical? Sure. But that's just how it is.

[jbissell]

I still love LaRussa though.  Only a monster could hate LaRussa.

Guess I'm a monster.

I don't like his hair or the fact that he hasn't aged in 30 years.

The man saves a lot of cats and dogs.  I agree his hair is terrifying, but on the Cal Ripken scale of Baseball Players Not Embarassing Fans, I give him an 8.8.

So drunk driving is a 1.2 deduction?

[Hugman 3.0]

Quite a day for pitching yesterday. You mets fans had to have enjoyed that. I know I enjoyed watching the recap.

[scratchbomb]

i always enjoy when my favorite team inexplicably doesn't shit the bed

[nec13]

i always enjoy when my favorite team inexplicably doesn't shit the bed

I'm glad that the Mets have begun to pick up their play.

Still, I wish the Mets would do the following:
1. Send Jenrry Mejia down to Binghamton where he can get a chance to start every fifth day.
2. Fire HoJo and bring in a competent hitting coach.
3. Hire Logan White as G.M. (This is probably a pipe dream)

[Hugman 3.0]

Feast on this, LaRussa haters
 http://es.pn/dcqEhN
So, it's pretty obvious that Tony doesn't really think too hard about these issues from his uniformed quotes on the subject. Just as obvious, though, from the ridiculously out-of-context, one and two-word quotes at the end, are the author's motives for writing pieces like this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  If you polled your favorite sports team on their political opinions and got honest answers, there'd be nobody left to root for.

[mahgeetah]

Feast on this, LaRussa haters
 http://es.pn/dcqEhN
So, it's pretty obvious that Tony doesn't really think too hard about these issues from his uniformed quotes on the subject. Just as obvious, though, from the ridiculously out-of-context, one and two-word quotes at the end, are the author's motives for writing pieces like this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  If you polled your favorite sports team on their political opinions and got honest answers, there'd be nobody left to root for.

Dozens of St. Louis Tea Party members were at Busch Stadium to show their support of the Arizona immigration law, prompting La Russa to touch on the subject.

La Russa told reporters he encouraged the presence of different points of view, and said he believed the Tea Party's stances were "correct" on "a lot of things."
That seems like the ideal place for dozens of Tea Party protesters to make their thoughts clear about the Arizona immigration law. And Tony LaRussa's opinion on the matter is the one I've been dying to hear.

No wonder George Will liked him so much.

[Trotskie]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/29/magazine/rivera-pitches.html


Well, I guess that explains it.