Sunday, June 16, 2013
Ballou: Another Drew attracts anxiety for Red Sox
(www.telegram.com)
Scat Ballou: Is this the way to make a shiity column…? You bet it is!
Read More...Now, the Sox have taken it to a new level with the Brothers Drew.
Neither is very good, but there’s something about a Drew that whoever Boston’s general manager is can’t resist, be it Theo Epstein or Ben Cherington.
OK, J.D. Drew had a couple of respectable seasons with the Red Sox. And, OK, Stephen Drew is a good defensive shortstop. Still, starting with Opening Day of 2010, Boston has committed $37.5 million ...
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< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 > Last ›Please. The jerk0ff was like 63 years old or whatever.
Riggs did, however, appear in one of the most awesome "Odd Couple" ep's ever.
Felix: "Oscar Madisoy?"
Unlike the last generation's worth of Republican candidates, I presume. Your standards for face evaluation are so historically high.
------------------------------------------------
For the record, losing in 1996, off of Belliard's goofed double play followed by J*m F*ck*ng L*yr*tz was far worse than losing in 1999.
I will say this: If the Yanks ever lost a World Series to a bunch of tomahawk chopping zombies, that'd go right to the top of the list of Misery.
Andy? It looks like its time for your nap.
No, the content is pretty wonderful, too.
Dropping the nightcap in Washington on May 30, 1966 to drop to 18-22, or losing Game 7 at home to the Red Sox to choke away a series you had won a few short days ago and with it a trip to the World Series?
I see no real difference between the two.
We need baseball on now, before another thread gets started/derailed by PED, Schilling, or some completely OT example of how NOT to have discussion...
(To be fair, at least this one is strictly baseball content for now, petty as it is)
A topic being diverted to the 2004 ALCS is always alright by me...
seconded.
and this denial about 2004 is funny. doesn't pass my smell test either.
Me three. Offhand, I can't imagine any circumstances under which I'd root for the Yankees, unless they were playing ... I dunno ... the House Republicans Nine or something.
I was yelling out my East 5th St. tenement window "Champs no more! Champs no more! Hahahahahaha! My 3 year nightmare is over!"
i'm sorry, but this is one of the most ridiculous things i've read on what has got to be one of the most ridiculous threads we've generated in a long time.
I see no real difference between the two.
Sorry, but when you're 22 years old, seeing your team finish last for the first time in 54 years is worse than losing a championship series that you didn't deserve to win**, when in the interim your team has won 10 more pennants and 6 more World Series. Just because some Red Sox fans seem to believe that the 2004 ALCS was the the defining event in American history doesn't mean that others necessarily see things from that perspective.
**As a strong believer in the theory that teams deserve whatever fate they get in the postseason, I've got no problem with stating that the Red Sox were definitely the best team in baseball in 2004, regular season be damned. 11 wins vs 3 losses makes it pretty tough to argue otherwise. I just calls em as I sees em.
None of these compare to the Czech hockey team beating the Soviets 1-0 in the '68 Olympics.
Hell, I'd almost root for the foam tomahawk brigade if it meant that Georgia would rejoin civilization and vote Democratic.
What I love about this statement is the delicious narcissism it takes to make it, that only a Yankee fan could hope to possess.
Like the planes that flew that flew out of Boston and Washington and that flew into the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania never happened, or are an incidental afterthought. It was all about NY and its BASEBALL team. But not just any team. No, Bin Laden was after the NY YANKEES! By attacking the Yankees, you're attacking America itself!!
None of these compare to the Czech hockey team beating the Soviets 1-0 in the '68 Olympics.
You know, you're probably right about that, especially considering the timing. Definitely the greatest moment in Olympics history from a patriotic POV, although V?ra ?áslavská's turning the other way during the playing of the Soviet national anthem on two separate occasions was pretty damn memorable in itself.
What I love about this statement is the delicious narcissism it takes to make it, that only a Yankee fan could hope to possess.
What I love about BTF is that so many people actually take YR's tongue in cheek comments literally.
Second this. '96 was the absolute worst and there were a lot to pick from. The team just rolling over and dying after Game 3 is right up there with the most pathetic things ever.
C'mon, Andy. Man up. That series was the only time in baseball history where a team came back from 0-3. Considering the two teams involved, the history, especially the recent history, leaving it off your list is cognitive dissonance at its finest.
I was going to post the same thing.
Strangely, by pure coincidence, this doesn't apply much to 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 or 2007....
Aren't you thinking about the 1969 World Championships? The 1968 Olympics were in February, several months before the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs did beat the Soviets in that Olympics, 5-4, but the political climate wasn't as hot. But in 1969 the World Championships were supposed to be hosted by the Czechs, but because of the invasion, the games were shifted to Sweden. The Czechs were determined to beat the Soviets - and did, both times they met.
i apologize, somehow i got andy and YR confused. but i'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to do in this instance.
Post #81 is the BTF equivalent of Mrs. Featherbottom from Arrested Development. The fact that it was written with a straight face, in the belief that anyone could possibly take it seriously, hasn't stopped entertaining me all day.
But one thing younger fans maybe don't get is for a long, long time, NY v Boston was a one-way rivalry.
The proper Yankee fan stance toward the Sox was a mixture of boredom and contempt. All that rich New England literary tradition prose about Fenway, winter, etc? just so much manure.
Making too big a deal about 2004 is acknowledging the rivalry, is giving up your sports fan autonomy to a creation of the last decade of ESPN windbaggery.
(Of course, it was an epic choke; but it would be just as bad if the adversary had been, say, the hated Jays--and as a young Don Mattingly fan, it was those blue-pajamed-############# for whom I reserved my bile....)
C'mon, Andy. Man up. That series was the only time in baseball history where a team came back from 0-3. Considering the two teams involved, the history, especially the recent history, leaving it off your list is cognitive dissonance at its finest.
What's also amusing about so many of these comments is the assumption that all Yankee fans of all ages have identical reactions to events, regardless of context.
As I've said, I was disappointed and disgusted with that 2004 tank job, but for many reasons it wasn't as bad for me as the ones I listed above. I suppose I should be either flattered or insulted to be confused with Mike Franscessa, but my reaction to sporting events doesn't always fall into preconceived categories. Sorry if that seems to confuse you, but maybe Red Sox fans all think in lockstep and they can't understand any other type of reaction.
Now if the Yankees hadn't won a ####### thing in 86 years and then blew a 3-0 lead in games, that'd be different. But in many ways I was almost happy just to see the many Matts and tfbg's of the world temporarily put out of their misery, out of pity for their beaten souls. It just makes my schadenfreude surrounding the Great Choke of 2011 and the Valentine Follies of 2012 all the more satisfying.
It was a "rivalry" much like that of the Christians and the lions.
The proper Yankee fan stance toward the Sox was a mixture of boredom and contempt. All that rich New England literary tradition prose about Fenway, winter, etc? just so much manure.
You might add amusement to the mix, but as for the literary BS, what else did they have to console them? A pretty ballpark, a bunch of batting championships and a string of blown World Series game 7's. You can't deny them their NPR fan base on top of all that.
I suppose you are correct. I imagine the concurrence of the year 1968, the Czech gold medal and the invasion, I probably conflated the events into a cause and effect relationship. The mind works in mysterious ways. Probably explains where all these weird conspiracy theories come from.
I'm sincerely flattered. YR is Paul Krassner in a sea of Gene Weingartens.
But that's what made it so unique. The whole thing turned on its head. It was the Yankees who then were held in contempt, blowing the only 3-0 lead in MLB history. To the Red Sox, no less. The choke job was epic, a once in a lifetime event.
And they lost so wimpily, getting crushed at home like that. And A-Rod with his pathetic slapping incident, then standing on first base with his hands on his head, with that idiotic "Who? Me?" look on his face. And the fans booing the call and throwing debris on the field, like the umps were tanking the game for the Red Sox or something.
The whole episode just made the whole Yankee organization, team and fans, look so pathetic and infantile.
2011 was very tough, while it was going on, but since the NYY did NOT win the WS, its not a too big deal now, to me.
It was a brutal September. What really really hurt about 1978 was the Yanks took the WS.
After 2004, baseball can't hurt me like that anymore. It's really nice.
I think what we see here is a fine illustration of why Yankee fans have so much more character than the rest. A Yankee fan roots for the Yankees. The rest of you cockroaches get to root for the field, and it's considered poor manners to point out what a shameless cadre of gutless bandwagon-hopping jockriders you all are.
It did for me. It cheered me up a bit. I'm totally OK with it now, 2003. That was a fun team.
"After 2004, baseball can't hurt me like that anymore. It's really nice."
Yes. Thats why 2004 was so wonderful. It washed away all the horrible losses.
Yes the Yankees have 27 rings. But to me its like 27 Mercury's next to our Jupiter-sized 2004.
I still wake up some mornings not quite believeing it really happened the way it did.
And YR, only little d0uchebags root for Goliath. Do the math.
What size d0uchebag roots for the entire Israelite army against one man?
At least that is my memory... still too raw to check BR to see if I'm right.
anyway, the Red Sox 2011 is equally hilarious...
Pedro Martinez: 141 Hit By Pitches Allowed in Career-2009
1 leading off game, 0 game-ending, 0 walk-off
vs. RHB 79 vs. LHB 62 Away 75 Home 66 29 Opp NYY 17 PHI 11 TOR 11 TBD 10 SFG 8 HOU 8 BAL 7 DET 6 ATL 6 SDP 5 SEA 5 WSN 5 FLA 5 STL 4 PIT 4 MIN 3 OAK 3 CHC 3 CIN 3 NYM 3 TEX 2 ANA 2 LAD 2 CLE 2 CHW 2 ARI 1 KCR 1 BOS 1 MIL 1 117 Batters Jose Guillen 5 Jeff Blauser 3 Jason Giambi 3 Carlos Delgado 3 John Patterson 3 Ben Grieve 2 Kirt Manwaring 2 Shannon Stewart 2 Chuck Knoblauch 2 Shane Spencer 2 Luis Gonzalez 2 Robin Ventura 2 Aaron Rowand 2 Jeff Bagwell 2 Benito Santiago 2 Melvin Mora 2 Gregg Jefferies 2 ... Pitches 2 33 3 32 1 25 5 22 4 14 6 10 ? 2 7 2 9 1 GameTot 3·HB gms 1 2·HB gms 14 1·HB gms 110 OrderPos 1st 21 3rd 18 2nd 18 5th 17 6th 15 7th 15 4th 13 9th 12 8th 12 Outs 0 56 1 47 2 38 <2 103 Bases --- 88 1-- 19 -2- 8 12- 8 -23 7 1-3 5 --3 4 123 2 RISP 34 1 on 31 1st occ 34 3rd occ 18 2 on 20 Any on 53 Leverage .7-1.5 66 <0.7 48 ?1.5 27 Count 0-0 25 0-1 22 0-2 19 2-2 18 1-2 17 1-1 15 1-0 11 3-2 5 2-1 4 ??? 2 3-1 2 2-0 1 Ahd 58 Evn 58 Beh 23 Inning 1 28 2 20 3 27 4 11 5 20 6 15 7 9 8 7 9 3 10+ 1 1-3 75 4-6 46 7-end 20 RelScore +4.. 14 +3 9 +2 17 +1 15 Tied 44 -1 20 -2 9 -3 7 -4.. 6 Ahd. 55 Beh. 42It must be hard growing up with daddy's money cushioning your fall like that.
RE: 2001, as told anyone who would listen at the time, 9/11 can be an "America" thing or it can be a "New York" thing. If you want it to be a New York thing, don't expect me to give a #### about it. If you tie your tragedy to your local sporting team, I will mock your tragedy. That's the price of making the mistake of conflating your sports team with the nation.
Also, Andy, somehow we'll manage to survive in Braves Country without you hanging around, shitting your Depends.
324 leading off game, 23 game-ending, 22 walk-off
30 Tms BOS 1152 COL 1053 WSN 1052 PHI 1015 TEX 1010 STL 1007 SEA 1003 MIL 1002 PIT 996 HOU 970 TOR 966 ANA 958 DET 953 CIN 940 KCR 936 CHC 930 OAK 929 FLA 929 NYY 925 BAL 909 NYM 909 CHW 895 CLE 888 LAD 872 TBD 865 SFG 857 SDP 848 MIN 753 ARI 697 ATL 614 Away 13942 Home 13891 30 Opp HOU 1176 TOR 1146 PIT 1134 MIL 1082 BOS 1063 NYY 1056 FLA 1018 CLE 1011 KCR 991 WSN 980 PHI 979 BAL 971 OAK 949 MIN 942 STL 937 CIN 928 SEA 910 COL 901 SFG 896 DET 870 TEX 856 CHW 853 NYM 848 ANA 837 ATL 823 LAD 802 SDP 797 CHC 793 TBD 661 ARI 623 2028 Pitchers Tim Wakefield 173 Randy Johnson 170 Pedro Martinez 141 Chan Ho Park 135 Jamey Wright 134 Jeff Weaver 123 Jamie Moyer 119 Kevin Brown 118 Kenny Rogers 116 Roger Clemens 115 Aaron Sele 112 Pedro Astacio 111 Darryl Kile 111 Al Leiter 110 Greg Maddux 107 Vicente Padilla 99 Julian Tavarez 96 Matt Clement 94 Scott Erickson 92 Jeff Suppan 92 Kerry Wood 91 Darren Oliver 87 David Cone 86 Carlos Zambrano 81 Barry Zito 81 Orel Hershiser 80 Byung-Hyun Kim 80 Javier Vazquez 79 David Wells 77 Bronson Arroyo 76 Tim Hudson 75 Esteban Loaiza 75 John Burkett 75 Matt Morris 74 Omar Olivares 73 Randy Wolf 73 John Lackey 73 Dave Bush 73 Woody Williams 72 Kevin Appier 71 1762 Batters Craig Biggio 274 Jason Kendall 248 Carlos Delgado 172 Jason Giambi 164 Fernando Vina 157 Alex Rodriguez 149 Derek Jeter 143 Brady Anderson 137 Andres Galarraga 135 Chuck Knoblauch 135 David Eckstein 134 Damion Easley 132 Jose Guillen 131 Larry Walker 127 Gary Sheffield 125 Jeff Kent 125 Jeff Bagwell 115 Scott Rolen 112 Melvin Mora 110 Aaron Rowand 109 Miguel Tejada 107 Chase Utley 107 Jason LaRue 106 Mo Vaughn 106 Mark Grudzielanek 104 Manny Ramirez 103 Luis Gonzalez 103 Reed Johnson 98 Geoff Jenkins 96 Matt Lawton 94 Cliff Floyd 91 Barry Bonds 91 Craig Wilson 90 Mike Lieberthal 89 Eric Young 89 Ed Sprague 88 Rondell White 88 Carl Everett 87 Vladimir Guerrero 87 Andruw Jones 86 Pitches 2 6185 3 5826 1 5491 4 4600 5 2975 6 1473 7 566 ? 395 8 207 9 76 10+ 39 GameTot 7·HB gms 2 6·HB gms 7 5·HB gms 42 4·HB gms 280 3·HB gms 1174 2·HB gms 4790 1·HB gms 13345 OrderPos 1st 3517 3rd 3404 4th 3351 2nd 3245 6th 3096 7th 3025 5th 3024 8th 3016 9th 2155 Outs 1 9476 0 9296 2 9061 <2 18772 Bases --- 13826 1-- 4880 -2- 2757 12- 2268 1-3 1187 --3 1172 123 883 -23 860 RISP 9127 1 on 8809 1st occ 9218 3rd occ 4102 2 on 4315 Any on 14007 Leverage <0.7 11582 .7-1.5 10202 ?1.5 6049 Count 0-0 5466 0-1 4387 1-2 4251 0-2 3000 1-1 2924 2-2 2775 1-0 1788 3-2 1034 2-1 965 2-0 457 ??? 395 3-1 273 3-0 118 Ahd 11638 Evn 11165 Beh 4635 Inning 1 3324 2 3016 3 3005 4 2984 5 2982 6 3177 7 3348 8 3333 9 2125 10+ 539 1-3 9345 4-6 9143 7-end 9345 RelScore +4.. 2721 +3 1441 +2 2226 +1 3279 Tied 7098 -1 3368 -2 2444 -3 1662 -4.. 3594 Ahd. 9667 Beh. 11068i'm sorry, but this is one of the most ridiculous things i've read on what has got to be one of the most ridiculous threads we've generated in a long time.
Maybe not "greatest aporting event", but it has to rank with the greatest upsets ever, or at least one of the most unexpected. In that category, I'd put it at the top, well ahead of things like SB3, Giants' comeback in 1951 (and sweep of 111-43 Cleveland 3 yr later), Pirates over Yankees 1960, Bills comeback against Houston, or Sox comeback in 2004.
More unexpected than Buster Douglas's beating Mike Tyson? More unexpected than 41 point underdog Stanford beating Southern Cal in 2007?
Come on man, that game wasn't even the biggest upset of the 2007 college football season.
That one came to mind for me, too. I haven't followed boxing at all since roughly the time Ken Norton broke Ali's jaw, but my impression was that the Douglas victory was an utter shock.
At any rate, we all know the greatest upset of all time was Arkansas riding roughshod over Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl even though Lou Holtz had suspended our two starting running backs & (IIRC) our best receiver.
Come on man, that game wasn't even the biggest upset of the 2007 college football season.
If you're referring to Appalachian State vs Michigan, Michigan was a 22 to 23 point favorite in that game.
Yes and yes. The Soviet Olympic hockey team won a three-game series in the spring of 1979 in Madison Square Garden against an NHL All-Star team. They won Game 3 6-0. They weren't just better than the NHL's best team, they were better than a team of the NHL's best players.
The US was a bunch of 21 year old college players and some 25 year old guys (like Eruzione) who weren't close to NHL caliber, who had been put together on the fly. It was like the East team in the East-West Shrine Game training for a few months and going out and beating the Ravens, only probably even more dramatic.
Naturally, Sports Illustrated in 1999 called it the greatest sports moment of the 20th century -- which it plainly was.
Yeah, that one's up there, too. It's a bit of an apples and oranges thing, though, since betting odds and "shock" aren't necessarily identical. In terms of baseball "shock", two regular season games come to mind:
18 game winning streak (the last 14 on the road) meets 14 game losing streak (all at home), in the first game of the winning streak team's home stand. Home team's pitcher had a career W-L total of 16 and 0 in starting roles his first six months in the Majors, with his sole loss in a relief appearance.
Roger Clemens (14-1) of the first place Red Sox, pitching in Fenway against Dave Stewart (0-0, making his first start of the year after kicking around the Majors for the past two years) of the last place Athletics.
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