I’m not sure Burns captured that love and joy for anyone but Red Sox fans in “Tenth Inning.”

Yeah, but only the fans of "his" team deserve it, because only they can appreciate it. Fans of other teams can't experience love and joy because, well, they don't root for the Red Sox.

I was just left wondering what happened to Albert Pujols. Guess I've hallucinated the last 10 years. Was there ANYTHING about him?

I really dug the Ichiro section, though. As an NL fan, I haven't seen him much, which I now regret. Did anyone catch the clip of him hitting a single in Japan on a pitch that BOUNCED?!!?? Astounding, never seen anyone do that before. And he seems like a fascinating character, too.

Also, did anyone have the problem I had with DirecTV? My local PBS affiliate broadcasts in HD, I have an HD TV, but DirecTV carries the station only in SD. Unfortunately, they converted the image to standard def 4:3 by simply chopping off the sides. You could easily tell it was happening, but it was especially obvious whenever the camera showed something printed, like someone holding a sign or a newspaper headline. Even more frustrating, the local PBS station has a Spanish channel that's not HD -- and that had the proper format. Too bad I don't speak Spanish.

Ironically, the solution would have been to disconnect the expensive satellite service and watch the free over-the-air broadcast. Unfortunately I didn't know that until I talked to the station rep this morning. I'm generally happy with DirecTV, but this was horrible.

The fact that Burns could do the "10th inning" and not really mention the 1993 NL West pennant race - the last great race in baseball history - is astounding.

I was just left wondering what happened to Albert Pujols. Guess I've hallucinated the last 10 years. Was there ANYTHING about him?

There was an image of Pujols. I think they were talking about steroids during it.

I enjoyed the film. It was deeply flawed though.

Red Sox go 86 years between championships. They get what felt like an hour on their 2004 run.

White Sox go 88 years between championships. They get a five second clip of the last out in 2005.

Did anyone catch the clip of him hitting a single in Japan on a pitch that BOUNCED?!!?? Astounding, never seen anyone do that before.

Didn't Vlad once homer on a pitch that bounced?

The most glaring omission to me was the 1999 NLCS. And that's coming from a Phillies fan.

Sam, you're going to have to really up your game if you want your hatred of the wild card compete with SBB's hatred of Burns' insincere Red Sox fandom.

Didn't Vlad once homer on a pitch that bounced?

Thank god. I thought I might have hallucinated this.

Didn't Vlad once homer on a pitch that bounced?

I think more than once, at the Big O & with the Angels.

I really dug the Ichiro section, though. As an NL fan, I haven't seen him much, which I now regret. Did anyone catch the clip of him hitting a single in Japan on a pitch that BOUNCED?!!?? Astounding, never seen anyone do that before. And he seems like a fascinating character, too.

For whatever reason, I remember Mookie Wilson doing this in the game that clinched the 1989 AL East for the Blue Jays.

Uh oh, maybe I'm conflating bad-ball hitters.

Too much Mike Barnicle and Gary Hoenig, nowhere near enough Pujols. Bill James didn't appear on the 1994 series because he was busy working on his HOF book -- what was his excuse not being on camera in 2010 (and why no mention of his working for the Sox starting in 2003)? And did we really need to see Johnny Damon's stealing 2nd and 3rd on the same pitch in Game 4 of the 2009 not just once, but twice in the final installment?

Nice montage of World Series endings from 2005-09 at the end, even if that was all we learned about the White Sox giving Chicago its first world title in 88 years.

I really dug the Ichiro section, though. As an NL fan, I haven't seen him much, which I now regret. Did anyone catch the clip of him hitting a single in Japan on a pitch that BOUNCED?!!?? Astounding, never seen anyone do that before. And he seems like a fascinating character, too.

That's unfortunate that you haven't seen him play that much. I know there are threads here that have hundreds of posts debating Ichiro's "true" worth, but I hope that no-one would disagree that he's an absolute joy to watch play baseball.

I'm biased, having lived in the Seattle area for all of Ichiro's US career, which has given me the opportunity to see 90% of his MLB games, either on TV or live, but he's by far my favorite active player.

He's so much fun to watch, in that there's an excellent chance that he'll do something special in almost any game you see, and he can do it in so many different ways. He might look over the defense, and then drop a hit into an area that's open, he might rob a batter of a home run with a well-timed leap, he might gun a runner down at third, he might steal third base standing up when the pitcher isn't paying close attention. I remember an Oakland front office person making the statement that Ichiro has a baseball IQ of 1000, and while that isn't possible, I know exactly what he means. He always seems to be a step ahead. And his work ethic and preparation is incredible.

@3

Buy yourself an indoor off-air antenna for $20. You can then auto-program your TV to watch all your local channels in HD.

I enjoyed everything about Part 1 aside from the Sosa/McGwire segment, but almost nothing appealed to me in Part 2. I was expecting another experience like the first night where I look at the clock and it's already 9:30. I was getting restless last night by 8:30.

I've been in agreement that this plays out more like a primer for the novice or non-fan of baseball. I suppose what it comes down to is that the main points of Part 2 are so recent and have been discussed so often that I don't have the patience to hear more about them, especially without any new insights. You absolutely need to include the Sox comeback and the steroids controversy. But I'm tired of hearing about them. So when you dedicate more than half of the program to those two subjects, it's difficult to not get restless.

With four hours, there's only so much you can elaborate on. One area I was surprised Burns glossed over so much was the 2003 NLCS. And I say this as a Cubs fan. I was expecting something a bit more drawn out, but ultimately, the segment got maybe four or five minutes. It seemed silly to show the infamous foul ball play and then not show how the floodgates opened immediately after. Don't TELL me the Marlins scored eight runs. Show me the Gonzalez error. Show me Lee doubling down the line to tie the game. Show me Farnsworth pouring gasoline over the team's chances for winning by giving up a parade of hits. Maybe I'm just a sadist.

And while it happened too recently to be included, I would've liked to have seen them mention the Jim Joyce/Armando Galarraga incident. That captivated Americans (even non-fans) like few other baseball-related stories of the last 15 years, and could have been tied in with a larger theme about instant replay being introduced in MLB (which changed one home run call in the '09 Series).

Yeah, but only the fans of "his" team deserve it, because only they can appreciate it. Fans of other teams can't experience love and joy because, well, they don't root for the Red Sox.

This is just paranoid. I am not a fan of the Red Sox and I did not see this at all. The Red Sox of '04 are a great story, especially in light of '03. You must be a White Sox fan.

Sunnyday2, before you walk into this you may want to check out the other Burns thread. I'm not sure SBB can keep it up for a complete second run, but consider yourself warned.

Nationally, were Selig's contraction threats of the early 2000s not that big a deal? Because I feel that's something probably worth five minutes in a four hour update. Then again, I may just be myopic; they were trying to take my team away.

Unfortunately, they converted the image to standard def 4:3 by simply chopping off the sides.

Of course, the majority of the game footage in the documentary was SD native 4:3 footage, with the top and bottom chopped off and then upconverted to HD res to fit 16:9 screens, so you were getting a double whammy.

No Pujols, little about expanded playoffs and wild card teams winning the World Series, next to nothing about owners extorting the public to build stadiums, no mention of contraction, barely a comment about the White Sox championship . . . . . I have to say he really missed the boat on this one.

I was surprised he didn't manage to include the Galarraga game, actually. Seemed like the kind of thing he'd use as a capper.

God, I hadn't even noticed the lack of Pujols. Burns is obviously time-constrained, but he could have easily cut one of the many segments of some old white guy whining about steroids for a few minutes on Pujols. I would also have put Pujols in over Ichiro if I only had time for one, but given Burns's approach I can see why he went for Ichiro.

I was also quite surprised he spent so long talking about 9/11 without mentioning the Piazza home run.