BASEBALL 2017---Bring it On!!!

[EasyAce]

DAMN!   I am so JINXING myself here, but has anybody been watching the Baltimore Orioles' run at the Wildcard in the AL?

Last night, a 1-0 Walk-off.....in the 13th inning vs. Toronto.

@DCPatriot
That wraps an August in which they went 17-12 including winning their last seven out of eight.
And we all thought they should have been selling, not buying, at the non-waiver trade deadline.
But who'd have thought Tim Beckham would tie Cal Ripken's franchise record for shortstops
with (count 'em!) fifty hits in August and out-hit everyone else in baseball for the month
at .394 for the month? Or Manny Machado shaking off his first half disasters by putting up a
.345/.374/.599 slash since the All-Star break? Who foresaw the kind of breakout Jonathan
Schoop would have this season---he's already sent 30 into the seats and driven home 101?

The bad news---Even if they reach this year's postseason, the Orioles might still have some
splainin' to do: they're going to have a small pile of free agents-to-be next season including
Machado. Their farm system is good but still needing a small stockpile. They really rolled
the dice buying twice at the non-waiver deadline and standing pat otherwise, unless they
have a trick or two up their sleeves come the offseason. But right now it's fun to watch
them again.

[Cyber Liberty]

Dbacks got fun to watch again.  We've been struggling a bit since before All Stars, but they're 9-1 in the last 10 with a W8 streak going.  We're playing the Rockies now, and we're pulling away from them in the Wild Card race.

BTW @EasyAce , Mrs Liberty is getting more stuff.  There's a 5-signature baseball on the way, with Micky Mantle and Billy Martin among them.  Our Game Room is becoming an embarrassment of goodies.  She wants to tell you about it but she's been offline a few days.  Apparently her guy is moving his warehouse, so he's clearing stuff out.  She's sending him a slew of Football cards because they aren't our thing.

[DCPatriot]

@DCPatriot
That wraps an August in which they went 17-12 including winning their last seven out of eight.
And we all thought they should have been selling, not buying, at the non-waiver trade deadline.
But who'd have thought Tim Beckham would tie Cal Ripken's franchise record for shortstops
with (count 'em!) fifty hits in August and out-hit everyone else in baseball for the month
at .394 for the month? Or Manny Machado shaking off his first half disasters by putting up a
.345/.374/.599 slash since the All-Star break? Who foresaw the kind of breakout Jonathan
Schoop would have this season---he's already sent 30 into the seats and driven home 101?

The bad news---Even if they reach this year's postseason, the Orioles might still have some
splainin' to do: they're going to have a small pile of free agents-to-be next season including
Machado. Their farm system is good but still needing a small stockpile. They really rolled
the dice buying twice at the non-waiver deadline and standing pat otherwise, unless they
have a trick or two up their sleeves come the offseason. But right now it's fun to watch
them again.

At the risk of speaking sacrilege , I'm of the 'school' that great pitching will be great hitting anytime.   ESPECIALLY in a 5-7 game series.

The Orioles have a disastrous pitching rotation.  Jimenez is like Gump's box of chocolates.  You have NO idea what you're going to get every five days with that SOB.   And Tillman is another disaster this season.   Gausman is suddenly human too.

It's why I'm favoring the NATS in the postseason.   With Scherzer, Strasburg, Gio Gonzales and Tanner Roark, you might never see Edwin Jackson, except in relief.

[EasyAce]

At the risk of speaking sacrilege , I'm of the 'school' that great pitching will be great hitting anytime.   ESPECIALLY in a 5-7 game series.

The Orioles have a disastrous pitching rotation.  Jimenez is like Gump's box of chocolates.  You have NO idea what you're going to get every five days with that SOB.   And Tillman is another disaster this season.   Gausman is suddenly human too.

That's one thing they need to address bad.

The only problem with great pitching beating great hitting is that there's a flip side to the coin: great hitting
will beat great pitching, too. Assuming the Orioles make it to the postseason, they'd better hope they have
the hitting to beat some of the pitching that's liable to come at them from Boston and Cleveland and
maybe even Houston, whose pitching isn't looking as good as it once did but can still surprise you.

It's why I'm favoring the NATS in the postseason.   With Scherzer, Strasburg, Gio Gonzales and Tanner Roark, you might never see Edwin Jackson, except in relief.

The real key for the Nats, other than how well that rotation pitches: whether their bullpen, which has gone
from horror to lights out since the All-Star Game (1.88 ERA between their top five bulls since the Game),
reverts to the horror film it was earlier in the season. If that bullpen falls apart come postseason time,
it'll be yet another shoulda-coulda-woulda-if for the Nats, who've had a few too many the past few years.

[DCPatriot]

That's one thing they need to address bad.

The only problem with great pitching beating great hitting is that there's a flip side to the coin: great hitting
will beat great pitching, too. Assuming the Orioles make it to the postseason, they'd better hope they have
the hitting to beat some of the pitching that's liable to come at them from Boston and Cleveland and
maybe even Houston, whose pitching isn't looking as good as it once did but can still surprise you.
The real key for the Nats, other than how well that rotation pitches: whether their bullpen, which has gone
from horror to lights out since the All-Star Game (1.88 ERA between their top five bulls since the Game),
reverts to the horror film it was earlier in the season. If that bullpen falls apart come postseason time,
it'll be yet another shoulda-coulda-woulda-if for the Nats, who've had a few too many the past few years.

Love talkin' baseball with ya, @EasyAce   

[EasyAce]

Love talkin' baseball with ya, @EasyAce   

@DCPatriot
 
And why not? Baseball is the thinking person's sport, and you're clearly a thinking person.

[Slip18]

@EasyAce and every baseball fan/fanatic in this section. 

Easy, I loved Tommy LaSorda!  Don't you be talking bad about him!  He wasn't the best, but he got the crowds to Dodgers' Stadium even when they were ar the Collosium, and that was a piece of crud.

I think I found a way to get images in on my cell phone.  @Cyber Liberty showed me, but I had been doing that for years.  It is only set up on this device.  But I can show you an image of the Sandy Koufax ball!  It is not in its case, I just got that yesterday.

So are you ready, and will this work?

[Slip18]

@Cyber Liberty Just trying another way!

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[Slip18]

@EasyAce After purchasing all my new stuff for us, my go-to guy asked me if I wanted to donate $ to Rizzo's plaque.  Heck, yes!  It is for cancer.  I think right now so much money is going to the hurricane relief, thank goodness!

I hope this goes through to everyone on this thread.  I am using my Baby Kindle because all of the cat/kittens delete everything from my Lenovo.  Just walking over the keyboard, Mommy.  Arrrggghhh!

@Polly Ticks @ Bigun @ DCPatriot @ Cyber Liberty

So again I purchased more memorabilia from my go-to guy at MLB/Fanatics.  Warehouse cleaning time in Florida.  Got another ball with five signatures -- one is Mickey Mantle, another is Billie Martin, you know, the manager who was fired from the Yankees about a thousand times!

Got a signed Sandy Koufax card with all of his HOF stuff written on it.

Foot a signed catcher's mitt of Posey's from the Giants.  Always like him, still do.

Then I got a Mike Trout signed ball.  That one was 90% off, or so I was told.  They are expensive!

I hope this post goes through.  This is about my tenth post.  Between the cats and my computer illetracy, I am surprised anything gets through!

[Slip18]

@Cyber Liberty Sheesh! I forgot to hit the "post" button.  I feel like an IDIOT!

[Slip18]

@DCPatriot Talked to my friend at MLB.  Judge is just fine.  My friend knows him personally.

[DCPatriot]

@Slip18

You can ....and should resize your pics when you see they're too large...especially for somebody on a cell phone screen.

If you hit "quote"....as if you were going to reply to me, you'll see the code with a space after the 1st bracketed "img".

You can use any number you wish, but usually something between 300 and 600 are more than sufficient.

Hope you don't think I'm being a jerk here.   

[DCPatriot]

@DCPatriot Talked to my friend at MLB.  Judge is just fine.  My friend knows him personally.

Damn!   

Oh well....thanks for the news.

(just kidding...GO O's!!!)

[Cyber Liberty]

We're lucky just getting pics on here..lol. I just showed her how to find "mentions."

[Slip18]

@Cyber Liberty @Polly Ticks  @Bigun  @EasyAce  @VCRepublic

Did I do this?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Slip18]

@DCPatriot  Oh, my gosh, you are not a jerk!  I will practice minimizing the images.  I feel like a dunce! 

I hope everyone forgives me for messing up this area.  Honestly!

[Slip18]

@DCPatriot Those images came from my Baby Kindle as opposed to the Droid.  I just took the baseball image. 

Perhaps, just perhaps, I can send them to myself on one of four devices that I have with no idea of how to use, then minimize the images, then send them to myself, then send them here.  That way I am not taking up OMG so much space! 

[Bigun]

@Slip18

Not necessary at all.  When you post them here just resize them inside the first set of brackets.  Like this.  [img width=500]

[Slip18]

@DCPatriot  I just took a photo of your post telling me how to minimize.  Thank you!

[Slip18]

@Bigun  Huh?

I think I will hire a techie to show me how to do all of these things!!!

[Bigun]

@Bigun  Huh?

I think I will hire a techie to show me how to do all of these things!!!

Nah!  It's easy and you will catch on in no time!

[Cyber Liberty]

@Slip18

Not necessary at all.  When you post them here just resize them inside the first set of brackets.  Like this.  [img width=500]

That doesn't work when you directly upload the pics via "Attachments."  Meanwhile we all get to see the Sandy Koufax ball.

[Bigun]

That doesn't work when you directly upload the pics via "Attachments."  Meanwhile we all get to see the Sandy Koufax ball.

Ok.  Didn't realize she wasn't posting them from a host site.

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce and every baseball fan/fanatic in this section. 

Easy, I loved Tommy LaSorda!  Don't you be talking bad about him!  He wasn't the best, but he got the crowds to Dodgers' Stadium even when they were ar the Collosium, and that was a piece of crud.

@Slip18
I, uh, hate to break this to you, but Tommy Lasorda had nothing to do with the crowds at the
hideous old Los Angeles Coliseum. Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager and won the pennant
in 1959, their second year in that big old tub, while Lasorda was still pitching in the Dodgers'
minor league system, becoming a scout starting in 1961, the Dodgers' last year in the Coliseum.
And what I've written about his inability to manage his bullpens a) stands, and b) was first shown
me when I read Whitey Herzog's You're Missin' a Great Game, which confirmed what I'd
formerly only suspected.

By the way, the Koufax ball looks great!

[Slip18]

@EasyAce  My family moved to Orange County, California, in 1962.  I was 12 years old.  My memories are incorrect, obviously!  I should have looked done more research than what I remembeed.  Totally my fault.

But tell me something if you are able, why did Sandy stay with the Dodgers if they were so hard on their pitchers.?  I do know he retired at the top of his game by looking at his stats.

Truly not arguing, just curious.

@Cyber Liberty I think I am in love with my Koufax ball! LOL!