By DjackWhat a way to start off the 2016 playoffs, this is what October baseball is all about, the Toronto Blue Jays will have their rematch with the Texas Rangers. Marcus Stroman took the mound against Charles Tillman in a battle of AL East team's that are built very similarly. These are two team's that have deadly lineups with a ton of power, both have mediocre starting pitching, and they both have lock down closers. Jose Bautista got the scoring started in the second inning with a solo homerun, reminding everyone of what a beast he is in the postseason, how could you forget that bat flip though so we didn't really need reminding. The Orioles came back with a little home run shot of their own in the 4th when Trumbo hit a 2 run shot to give the Orioles the lead. That lead wouldn't last long as the Blue Jays would tie the game back up in the 5th on a Ezequiel Carrera single. After that, Showalter took Tillman out of the game to turn it over to the Orioles bullpen. Tillman only went 4 1/3 innings so it definitley wasn't the quality start they needed, but in a game like this they knew all of their bullpen was available so he didn't need to go deep into this game. Stroman on the other hand went 6 strong, he showed that he strives in the big moment really coming up with a huge start in the biggest game of the season. The hot discussion of the night was when were these two teams going to turn it over to their amazing closers, well the Blue Jays would bring their closer in the 9th inning to hold the tie to give the Blue Jays a chance at the walk off. He would complete that inning and went into the next inning before leaving due to feeling some pain in his arm. Buck Showalter on the other hand kept waiting to put Zach Britton in the game, I guess he wanted to wait until the Orioles had the lead so he could close it out, but he really should've put him in during the 11th inning. With the game still tied at 2, Ezequiel Carrera, Devon Travis, Josh Donaldson, and Edwin Encarnacion were due up, Buck decided to put in Ubaldo Jimenez instead of Britton. This would ultimately be the fatal mistake, Travis got a base hit that was followed up by another base hit from Donaldson, putting runners on the corner with one out. Edwin Encarnacion came to the plate, he was the AL RBI leader for a reason, he put a ball in the left field upper deck as the Blue Jays walk off right into a series with the Texas Rangers. What a series that is going to be, secretly every baseball fan knows they would've much rather seen Blue Jays play the Rangers instead of the Orioles playing the Rangers. This is a win for baseball fans, nothing like a rivalry being renewed, I can't get enough of these two teams going at it. That'll be the best divisional series in the playoffs by far, Roughen Odor vs Jose Bautista round 2 will hopefully happen, and maybe we will get to see a couple more bat flips. Thank you October baseball for giving this pointless month meaning.
By UppyAccording to a report from Jon Heyman, the Marlins plan to let Barry Bonds go as their hitting coach. Bonds, who was signed at the beginning of the season, holds the career home run record at 762, in case you live under a rock. Hmmm, Barry Bonds can't teach people how to hit? I wonder just HOW did he hit so many home runs?! Oh YEAH! What's weird is the Marlins didn't actually do that bad this year. They ended the year with the fourth-best batting average in MLB despite losing Dee Gordon for half of the season—but their OPS was the fourth-worst in baseball. Wait why did they lose Dee Gordon? HAHAHA. Way to go Barry. Bringing the roids back to South Florida. Full circle. I know you were good before steroids but you cheated so go kick rocks.
By DjackIt was a very sad day for baseball fans as the voice of baseball for the last 60+ years is calling it a career. Vin Scully, who has been broadcasting professional sports for the last 67 years, has finally hung up the microphone. 1950 was when he first started broadcasting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, yes the Brooklyn Dodgers it was that long ago. It's really one of the most fascinating things in all of sports, Scully has seen more baseball than probably anyone on this planet, and now he'll never step into his booth again to call a Dodgers game. I've only heard Scully call a handful of games over my lifetime because the Yankees don't play the Dodgers often and I was never staying up to watch those late west coast game. The few times I had the blessing of getting to listen to Scully call a game it was purely magic, his voice is so velvety, and the way his sentences flow are so smooth it's almost like it's prerecorded, but it's not he's just that great at what he does. His story telling ability was everyone's favorite part, he always had some story about some player that made the experience of the game that much more enjoyable. He didn't just call Dodgers baseball games though, he also called football games for CBS for 7 years including making the call for 'The Catch' from the 1982 NFC Championship game. He also worked for NBC so he called a lot of big baseball playoff moments as well. Scully is 88 years old and has finally decided he's had enough, he's the highest functioning 88 year old I've ever seen, no one in baseball could call a game better than him and he is older than most people live to be, that's truly an anomaly. He decided to call it quits so he could spend more time with his 16 grandchildren, what a sweet old man Vin Scully is, he's got a very lucky family. Most legends when they retire you can look at their resume and say it's the best ever, but someone will eventually surpass them. No one will ever be able to surpass Vin Scully. If someone can broadcast sports at the highest level for the next 67 years than just maybe we can make a comparison, but that's just the longevity factor, no one will ever have a voice for baseball like Vin. He just set the mood for watching the game and made the whole experience that much better, which almost no other broadcaster can do. Some broadcasters their good, but you'd probably enjoy the game just as much with someone else doing the play by play, Dodgers fans I'm sure will tell you differently, listening to Vin Scully was half the reason they watched the games. I could sit here and talk about how great this broadcasting legend is but I'd be doing you all a disservice, so I'm just going to leave you with these videos and let you enjoy the voice of baseball, Vin Scully. This is Vin Scully's signature introduction to ever Dodger baseball game he's ever called, it has become part of the culture at Dodger games over these last 67 years. Now here's just a sequence of some of the legendary moments that Vin Scully was able to give the perfect call that'll stick with these moments forever. This next one is a story from Vin Scully, one of his best traits was his story telling ability, and this particular story came very recently in response to the death of Jose Fernandez. This last one is Vin Scully's final call at Dodger stadium, thank you Vin for all you've done for the game of baseball. By UppyYesterday, October 2, 2016, was Ryan Howard's last day as a Philadelphia Phillie, and he deserves no less than a hero's exit. September 1, 2004, the day The Big Piece made his debut in Citizens Bank Park, changed the face of this franchise forever. For 12 years, number six anchored down the right side of the infield with his large nose, big bat, and full smile. He has been a staple of Philadelphia, hitting moonshots, snapping necks, and cashing checks (and boy has he been cashing BIG fucking checks for the last few years). A big check much better than the one Dukes received for hitting the most improbable shot in sports history: God my references are killer. He shoots, he fucking scores!! Now back to the man of the hour. From 2006 to 2011, Ryan Howard put up absolute bonkers numbers. 4 straight seasons with 40+ homeruns and 130+ RBI!!! Won the 2006 NL MVP with FIFTY EIGHT (58) HOME RUNS AND 149 RBI. Just silly. Silly to think that after the man tore his achilles in the 2011 NLDS, we essentially turned on him, like it was his fault he could no longer hit the ball 450 feet on one leg. Ryan Howard led the core of the 2008 World Series team, bringing Philly our first championship since 1980, and eliciting the greatest call in the history of sports:
In case you missed it, here is Ryan Howard's pre game farewell speech from Sunday's game: Oh man is someone cutting onions in here?
Thank you, Big Piece, for everything. Love, Uppy By DjackSomehow, someway, the New York Mets clinched the top wildcard spot in the NL. A season that was plagued by injuries, and when I say injuries, I mean basically every player on their team was hurt at some point this season. Cespedes, deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Walker, Harvey, Duda, d'Arnaud, Lugo, Niese, Matz, Ruggiano, Flores, Wright, Reyes, Cabrera, Lagares, Henderson, and Wheeler have all been on the injury report at some point this season. Mets had World Series aspirations coming into this season, but with all the injuries they had, it would've been hard to imagine they could even make the playoffs this season. Despite all the critics ruling them out when they were two games under .500 on August 19th, the Mets never quit, and they found a rhythm that they're now carrying into the playoffs. Sandy Alderson did a terrific job of piecing together a solid roster while having to deal with so many players going down. Lucas Duda went down and the fans were in a panic because the Mets had nobody to play first base. What does Sandy Alderson do? He gets James Loney who has been a big part of the Mets making the playoffs this year, he actually hit the go ahead home run in the Mets playoff clinching win over the Phillies. Sandy Alderson also signed Jose Reyes when no one else would. Everyone was so concerned about Reyes's off the field problems that they dismissed him, well the Mets picked him up, and he restored energy into a very dead locker room. The Mets don't make the playoffs this year if Reyes doesn't get signed, that's just facts. Alderson also traded for Jay Bruce, he got him for virtually nothing, and although he was off to a rough start, he has really been getting hot down the stretch. If that carries into the playoffs the Mets could make a similar run to last year. At some point this season every Mets fan wanted Terry Collins head on a stake, actually many still do, but I have always loved Terry Collins. Not for his coaching ability, but his press conferences are hilarious , and I feel like he's actually respected by the players even though he does do some really stupid shit sometimes. Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo have been a huge Band Aid for the Mets pitching rotation, they both have ERA's under 3, and without them the Mets aren't making the playoffs. Mets are 87-45 they'll probably finish up 88-45, so that's just two less wins from last season, after missing a lot of key players from last years team that's pretty impressive. I'm excited to see if the Mets can have a magical playoff run like they did last season, if they win the wildcard game they get to play the Cubs, we all know that the Mets seem to be the Cubs Achilles heel so it'll make for a real interesting series. LGM
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AuthorDjack- Chief editor Archives
April 2018
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