The Briefing Room
General Category => Sports/Entertainment/MSM/Social Media => Topic started by: EasyAce on October 25, 2016, 10:57:46 pm
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The Chicago Cubs vs. the Cleveland Indians.
As was once said by (of all people) Sen. Joseph McCarthy, it's the most unheard of thing anyone ever heard of.
The curse of Lou Brockforbroglio (so help me there are times you'd think that is the Hall of Famer's surname)
vs. the curse of Rocky Colavito.
(If only the Indians were still in Municipal Stadium so I could make a wisecrack about the Friendly Confines vs.
the Mistake on the Lake . . . heh, heh, heh.)
Will it go from "the team with the most ex-Cubs loses" to "the team with the best ex-Red Sox wins?" (The Cubs'
ex-Red Sox: Theo Epstein, Jon Lester, John Lackey. The Indians: Terry Francona, Andrew Miller, Mike Napoli.
Remember: The Cubs won the pennant because they had the fewest ex-Cubs . . .)
(http://images.footballfanatics.com/FFImage/thumb.aspx?i=/productImages%2f_2612000%2fff_2612562_full.jpg&w=400) (http://images.footballfanatics.com/FFImage/thumb.aspx?i=/productImages%2f_2612000%2fff_2612520_full.jpg&w=400)
SERIES ON!!
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GO TRIBE!!
It's a nippy night in Cleveland, but our hearts are filled with warmth. :dx1:
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Let's go CUBBIES
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(http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/4/4b/Lets_Go_Mets_-_Take_me_out_to_the_ball_game_10_1_64.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120603144615)
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I was thinking about posting on this thread -- I LOVE baseball! -- but I was afraid that @Machiavelli might edit my post ...
:whistle:
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Let's go CUBBIES
Ooooo............... this means WAR, my friend. ^-^
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Ooooo............... this means WAR, my friend. ^-^
Aha....may the best team win...and it will be the Cubs!
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I was thinking about posting on this thread -- I LOVE baseball! -- but I was afraid that @Machiavelli might edit my post ...
:whistle:
888high58888
In his defense...the buttons are close together... (not)
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Aha....may the best team win...and it will be the Cubs!
We shall see!
(But I don't hold grudges, so even if they do, I'll forgive you! :beer:)
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Cubs in the World Series and
(http://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10501999_1572981246256257_378495026758995986_n.jpg?oh=61f8501cd5913ae986a4f7782f6761a7&oe=5896BEF0)
I can die happy now
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We shall see!
(But I don't hold grudges, so even if they do, I'll forgive you! :beer:)
888high58888
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Will the team with the best ex-Red Sox win the Series?
By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2016/10/25/will-the-team-with-the-best-ex-red-sox-win-the-series/
That was then: The team with the most ex-Cubs lost. This could be now: The team with the best ex-Red Sox wins.
The Cubs’ ex-Red Sox: Theo Epstein (president of baseball operations), Jon Lester (the Cubs’ World Series Game One starting pitcher),
and John Lackey. The Indians’ ex-Red Sox: Terry Francona (manager), Mike Napoli (first baseman/designated hitter), and Andrew
Miller (extraterrestrial relief pitcher).
Factors to consider:
* Epstein help finish the building of the 2004 Red Sox who smashed the actual or alleged Curse of the Bambino. Then he built
the Red Sox’s 2007 World Series winner, and had much of the hand in fortifying what became the Red Sox’s 2013 Series winner
—even though he bolted the Red Sox following the 2011 collapse to sign on with the Cubs.
* Francona managed the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox Series winners. It wasn’t entirely his fault the 2011 Red Sox collapsed, though
being addled by both painkillers (his knees) and divorce didn’t help him down that sad September stretch when his team, enough
of them, essentially quit on the best manager the Red Sox ever had. He quit before he could be executed, took a year off to
broadcast with ESPN, then signed up to manage the Indians . . . and began winning.
* Lester won two Series rings, with the 2007 and 2013 Red Sox. He was deadly in those two World Series, winning three games,
losing none, with a 0.43 ERA and a 0.76 walks.hits per inning pitched rate in the two classics. His overall postseason record is 8-6
but a 2.50 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP.
* Lackey joined the Red Sox for 2011, pitched with what proved a shredded elbow that season, spent the next season recovering
from Tommy John surgery, then recovered, rejuvenated, and won the clinching Game Six of the 2013 Series. By the way, Lackey
previously won the clinching Game Seven of the 2002 Series—as a rookie with the Angels.
* Miller was converted to relief pitching in 2012 with the Red Sox, one of the very few moves that season’s manager Bobby Valentine
made that made any sense with a team he’d lost in spring training. Future tours with the Orioles and the Yankees solidified his bullpen
strength. And he was probably one of the biggest reasons the Indians plowed their way to this Series.
* Napoli played in the 2011 World Series with the Rangers and won a ring with the 2013 Red Sox. He hasn’t hit terribly well in
postseason play overall but his hits manage to count big enough when they come, and he has eight home runs and 29 runs batted
in in postseason play overall.
In case you were wondering, the Indians have no ex-Cubs on their postseason roster, to the best of anyone’s knowledge. The Cubs,
of course, won the National League pennant this year because they had the fewest ex-Cubs on the roster.
The best book ever written about the Cubs? George F. Will, A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred. The
best book ever written about the Indians? What else? Terry Pluto, The Curse of Rocky Colavito.
The best song ever written about the Indians? “Go, Joe Charboneau.” (At the height of Rookie of the Year Super Joe Charboneau’s fame
—before his sophomore season produced the back injury that curtailed his career in its crib.) The best song ever written about the Cubs?
What else? Steve Goodman, “Go, Cubs, Go.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtyOq-SU0Ec)
The best joke ever told about the Cubs before 2016? “Q: What does a mama bear on birth control have in common with the
World Series? A: No Cubs.” The best joke ever told about the Cleveland Indians: “What do the Indians have in common with a
possum? They play dead at home and get killed on the road.”
So . . . will the team with the best ex-Red Sox win the Series?
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Cubs in the World Series and
I can die happy now
Get you some of those patches and we ALL can die happy. :silly:
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Anyone Take a Knee?
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They have shot off the pre-game fireworks after the National Anthem at Progressive Field . . .
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Off to a good start..no kneelers during the anthem.
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Will the team with the best ex-Red Sox win the Series?
By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2016/10/25/will-the-team-with-the-best-ex-red-sox-win-the-series/
That was then: The team with the most ex-Cubs lost. This could be now: The team with the best ex-Red Sox wins.
So . . . will the team with the best ex-Red Sox win the Series?
Who has Big Papi???
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Your starting lineups . . .
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cvo7UqzUsAA2K7E.jpg:large)
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Off to a good start..no kneelers during the anthem.
And no ridiculous runs and embellishments to the anthem ... just singing the song as written. Nicely done.
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Who has Big Papi???
Neither of them. ;) (He retired a Red Sox this year.)
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Let's go Cleveland, it's only been 11 years since Chicago last won a World Series.
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Neither of them. ;) (He retired a Red Sox this year.)
NO ONE has the best ex-Red Sox???
They should call it a draw right now and get ready for next year.
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Off to a good start..no kneelers during the anthem.
Agree!
And I'd like to say this.............. these two teams have the most AWESOME fans in all of baseball.
We should be proud of ourselves!
(GREAT ad featuring very old fans from both teams who have been waiting for this victory).
I hope Kluber has his stuff tonight. He's fantastic!
(So is Terry Francona, whose Dad was one of my childhood heroes).
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Let's go Cleveland, it's only been 11 years since Chicago last won a World Series.
What..it's been 108 years....
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What..it's been 108 years....
He meant those guys on the south side of Chicago ;)
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What..it's been 108 years....
Typical Cubs fan, forgetting about the White Sox winning in 2005.
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The World Series use to be the biggest thing around, it's not that as much anymore, just in my opinion, but still quite a bit to do. I mean, teachers use to let students watch the WS in school if it came on in the middle of the day.
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Typical Cubs fan, forgetting about the White Sox winning in 2005.
Who?..... :bolt:
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Dexter Fowler leading off for the Cubs looks at strike three called.
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The World Series use to be the biggest thing around, it's not that as much anymore, just in my opinion, but still quite a bit to do. I mean, teachers use to let students watch the WS in school if it came on in the middle of the day.
You had TV in school? The school I went to had a big radio. It had so many vacuum tubes in it they used it to heat the place in winter.
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Kris Bryant looked at strike three called on the low corner, delayed strikeout call.
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1 - 2 - 3 inning for Kluber.
Good start! I LIKE it!
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Anthony Rizzo jammed and popped up to third base for the side. No score, mid-first, the Indians coming up.
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Rajai Davis blown away on strikes . . .
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Jason Kipnis, first pitch, lines out to first base, two quick outs.
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Lindor, single, stolen bass!
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Francisco Lindor, grounder up the middle, base hit.
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Lindor, single, stolen bass!
You must be in the Midwest, the telecast is ahead of me!
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Lester walks Napoli
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You must be in the Midwest, the telecast is ahead of me!
I'm about an hour from Cleveland. ^-^
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Lester struggling. 3-0 Santana.
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Bases loaded! Hoo boy! Trying to stay calm here.....
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Lester having trouble spotting his pitches.
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Ducks on the pond for the Indians . . .
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No play. Indians score! Wahoo!!!
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No play. Indians score! Wahoo!!!
They aren't wasting any time, are they.
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Holy schmoley. We've had a little bit of everything already. Hits, steals, walks, HBP ... everything but yickety.
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HBP - Lester scores one for the Indians! 2-0
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Holy schmoley. We've had a little bit of everything already. Hits, steals, walks, HBP ... everything but yickety.
Methinks this is going to be a FUN series!
One way or 'tother.
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Lester is too nervous....he needs to come out...
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Helluva play by Grandpa Rossy to end it.
Lester needs to use his breaking ball a little more to set up the fastball. The breaking balls he did throw
in the inning were good pitches. I think he wasn't trusting his fastball yet, and the Indians took full
advantage of his troubles holding runners.
Early game yet . . . 2-0 Indians after one.
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Once you let your nerves take over it's hard to regain control
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Once you let your nerves take over it's hard to regain control
Nothing a lead can't cure.
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This guy doesn't get nervous. He's already won two World Series rings and has an 0.45 ERA
in the World Series lifetime. He's just got an off fastball tonight. So far.
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This Northeastern Ohio gal is a little bitter that Ricky Vaughn didn't throw out the first pitch 8888crybaby Wild thing, you make my heart sing!
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Off to a good start..no kneelers during the anthem.
I wonder if the Cuban players set any potential kneelers straight.
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Zobrist stranded on second, Kluber looking bloody good on the mound so far tonight. 2-0 Indians, mid-second
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Lester makes a nice kick save to throw out Davis
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Baez running over from second and twisting to catch Kipnis's pop fly blowing foul, side retired,
2-0 Indians after two, Lester looking a little more sharp in the second.
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Kluber's looking mighty good. Another strike out.
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HP Ump Larry Vanover appears to be having a good time out there.
(http://66.media.tumblr.com/31a43111d25699dd25c2419a48e5b3f6/tumblr_mzzdpmtbBl1rg0lgoo6_500.gif)
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And yet another!
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Corey Kluber! First pitcher to get 8 K's through 3 innings!!
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HP Ump Larry Vanover appears to be having a good time out there.
(http://66.media.tumblr.com/31a43111d25699dd25c2419a48e5b3f6/tumblr_mzzdpmtbBl1rg0lgoo6_500.gif)
You sure that ain't Ellen Degeneres?
That Indie pitcher is goood.
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Kluber's pitching his best baseball of the year tonight.
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This Northeastern Ohio gal is a little bitter that Ricky Vaughn didn't throw out the first pitch 8888crybaby Wild thing, you make my heart sing!
Harry Doyle should replace Buck.
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Another hit for Lindor! The kid is fearless.
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Kluber's the first ever to punch out eight in three innings in a World Series game.
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I was thinking about posting on this thread -- I LOVE baseball! -- but I was afraid that @Machiavelli might edit my post ...
:whistle:
@Polly Ticks
I deserve that. ^-^
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Out! Picked off!
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@Polly Ticks
I deserve that. ^-^
Nah, just ribbing you a little. You're all good.
034
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Waterboy!!!
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Out! Picked off!
Maybe not, but the call still stands. Replay looks like his glove never touched Lindor.
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Maybe not, but the call still stands. Replay looks like his glove never touched Lindor.
It looked like the laces on the glove got his arm. He wouldn't feel those, though. The edge of the glove,
he'd feel.
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Maybe not, but the call still stands. Replay looks like his glove never touched Lindor.
The laces hit his sleeve. He was Oh You Tee!
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It looked like the laces on the glove got his arm. He wouldn't feel those, though. The edge of the glove,
he'd feel.
That's obviously what they decided, and why Lindor didn't feel it, and no challenge.
Kluber continues pitching strong.
He just needs to keep it up for an inning more and Miller can take over.
Nice play at first, two outs.
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@mystery-ak Can I start a Major League line thread :chairbang: :beer: :chairbang:
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Whew! Got through that inning!
I detect that everyone else here is for the Cubs, so once more I stand alone!
I'm good with that. ^-^
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HOME RUN PEREZ!!! 3-0 Indians!!
(The weakest hitter in the lineup).
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I detect that everyone else here is for the Cubs, so once more I stand alone!
I don't really have a dog in this hunt. I just want to see some good baseball.
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Whew! Got through that inning!
I detect that everyone else here is for the Cubs, so once more I stand alone!
I'm good with that. ^-^
Oh gad you #nevercubbies if they don't win it is all because of you if you don't pull for the cubbies now baseball is over it is all over... :silly:
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I don't really have a dog in this hunt. I just want to see some good baseball.
We're seeing some GREAT pitching from Kluber, that's for sure! Another K!
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Oh gad you #nevercubbies if they don't win it is all because of you if you don't pull for the cubbies now baseball is over it is all over... :silly:
:beer: I LOVE it!!!
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We're seeing some GREAT pitching from Kluber, that's for sure! Another K!
I said it before---I saw him a few times during the season but this is the best pitching he's done
all year.
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We're seeing some GREAT pitching from Kluber, that's for sure! Another K!
Absolutely.
:beer:
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Inning over!
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I detect that everyone else here is for the Cubs, so once more I stand alone!
I'm good with that. ^-^
Couldbe worse. You could be a Schrill Trump Shrew and an Indian fan. So I'm cool with your one vice
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I said it before---I saw him a few times during the season but this is the best pitching he's done
all year.
Yep.
Good timing!
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Couldbe worse. You could be a Schrill Trump Shrew and an Indian fan. So I'm cool with your one vice
hehe........... I try to keep my vices to a minimum.
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Whew! Got through that inning!
I detect that everyone else here is for the Cubs, so once more I stand alone!
I'm good with that. ^-^
LOL...waiting for hometown advantage.... :whistle:
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Harry Doyle should replace Buck.
Back in the early 60s and before, it was common to select the lead sportscaster from each team to broadcast the Series. They worked alone and would alternate during the game.
Then some time along the line, the networks decided to use their own people.
They also decided to put two or three people in the booth. This might have been done to ensure that someone would always be talking. When a person works alone, he'll occasionally pause. To network bosses and sponsors, that's dead air. And dead air to them means that someone might change channels. Maybe I'm wrong, and if I am, I'll be corrected. But that's what I think.
Personally, I liked it when they worked alone because that meant they were talking to me and not to each other.
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#nevercubbie...Love it!
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LOL...waiting for hometown advantage.... :whistle:
What advantage is that? Do they play downtown?
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Right after I made Reply #90, I spotted this article:
The year Vin Scully was unhappy about his reduced role on network television coverage of the World Series (http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/the-year-vin-scully-was-unhappy-about-his-reduced-role-on-network-television-coverage-of-the-world-series.html)
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What advantage is that? Do they play downtown?
Wrigley Field
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Lead off double, bottom of the 6th.
Activity in the Cubs bull pen.
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Wrigley Field
I saw Willie Mays play at Wrigley field........... a LOOOOONG time ago!
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Lester out of the game, Pedro Strop in
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Right after I made Reply #90, I spotted this article:
The year Vin Scully was unhappy about his reduced role on network television coverage of the World Series (http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/the-year-vin-scully-was-unhappy-about-his-reduced-role-on-network-television-coverage-of-the-world-series.html)
I enjoyed reading that.
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I saw Willie Mays play at Wrigley field........... a LOOOOONG time ago!
The only time you would see him in Cleveland was in a World Series.
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Son a big Cubs fan wants to go to game 3
(http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/mystery-ak/1923476_1101274329266_4149_n_zpsjkluzb2r.jpg) (http://s24.photobucket.com/user/mystery-ak/media/1923476_1101274329266_4149_n_zpsjkluzb2r.jpg.html)
(http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/mystery-ak/14715499_10210575307716107_5637545772926629640_o_zpsp6wgteq4.jpg) (http://s24.photobucket.com/user/mystery-ak/media/14715499_10210575307716107_5637545772926629640_o_zpsp6wgteq4.jpg.html)
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The only time you would see him in Cleveland was in a World Series.
Making an over the shoulder catch in Center field.......
(http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/kgo/images/cms/1008666_1280x720.jpg)
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The only time you would see him in Cleveland was in a World Series.
I didn't see him play in Cleveland. I saw him in Chicago when he was playing for SF...... Center field, right where I was sitting. Can't remember what year.
Kluber goes out to thunderous applause. Andrew Miller pitching.
And he's GOOD.
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Zobrist leads off the seventh with a base hit, so . . .
(https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14883513_10154283095457912_678322294283166258_o.jpg)
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Yikes. I don't like what's happening right now.......
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Bases loaded. No One Out. 888high58888
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Easy go open your post with the Miller gif and see how I reduced it
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oh my!
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Two down! ONE MORE ANDREW!!!! Get us out of this!
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Oh YEAH, ANDREW!!!
(Whew!!!!)
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More good pitching.
(http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/baseball/pitching-smiley-emoticon-1.gif) (http://www.sherv.net/)
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More good pitching.
(http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/baseball/pitching-smiley-emoticon-1.gif) (http://www.sherv.net/)
LOVE that gif!!
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Son a big Cubs fan wants to go to game 3
$3300? Iiiiiii...don't think so...
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Lindor 3 for 4 with a double!
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Miller strikes Schwarber out!
Breathing again!!!
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PEREZ hits 3 run homer!! 6-0!!!!
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Hello??????
Anybody still here?????
Allen pitching. One away. Two more and game one is in the books!
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Deep to left, this is gonnnnnnnnnnnnnne, goodbye! Roberto Perez, three-run bomb, left field seats, 6-0 Indians
batting in the eighth!
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Two down......... one more to go!
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On to Game Two!
6-0, Indians, your final, see you tomorrow night!
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Downtown Cleveland was pretty nuts tonight with the Indians/Cavs combination.
During the Cavs game, they were putting the World Series feed on the jumbotron during time outs, and Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was just standing there watching.
Really cool how the Cavs and Indians players have been backing each others' teams.
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Downtown Cleveland was pretty nuts tonight with the Indians/Cavs combination.
During the Cavs game, they were putting the World Series feed on the jumbotron during time outs, and Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was just standing there watching.
Really cool how the Cavs and Indians players have been backing each others' teams.
Oh, I wondered if you might have been there @Maj. Bill Martin ! Exciting times!
Tonight's game is an hour earlier because of the prediction of rain. I hope they get it in before anything nasty gets going!
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Oh, I wondered if you might have been there @Maj. Bill Martin ! Exciting times!
Tonight's game is an hour earlier because of the prediction of rain. I hope they get it in before anything nasty gets going!
I wasn't nuts enough to be downtown last night, but there was a ton of local coverage and I had some friends who were downtown. It's a different vibe from the Cavs' playoffs. During that run, there was this undercurrent of anticipatory dread that kind of kept a cap on joy during the Finals -- though obviously not at the end. But the Cavs win seems to have lifted a cloud from fans, and that "we're just waiting for the inevitable failure" aura is gone. People are just plain happy, and enjoying the whole experience. Obviously, we want to win, but the prospect of losing won't be the ultimate black hole it's been in the past.
That's reserved for Cubs fans right now -- the monkey is on their back now.
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All Kluber, all Miller, all Perez, all Indians, all the Game One time
By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2016/10/26/all-kluber-all-miller-all-perez-all-indians-all-the-game-one-time/
As Yosemite Sam would have said, maybe that’ll learn me to keep my big mouth shut. Because if Game One of this World
Series was any passable example, it looks like the Indians have the best ex-Red Sox so far.
Two such creatures appeared in the game. Jon Lester, who was deadly in two Series with the Olde Towne Team, started for
the Cubs Tuesday night. Andrew Miller, who was converted to relief pitching in the first place while he was a teammate of
Lester’s in Boston, showed up while the game was still manageable enough for the Cubs to think about coming back.
Fat chance of that happening. Not only did Indians starter Corey Kluber pin the Cubs’ ears back and shake off a couple of
deadly threats while he was at it, Miller toyed with them almost from the moment he relieved Kluber after Ben Zobrist’s
leadoff single in the top of the seventh.
The Cubs, for whom it seems the entire world is rooting in this Series, got a Game One fanning from a pitcher who picked
a fine night to become the first ever to strike out eight in the first three innings of a World Series game, including five on
called third strikes, and a catcher who’d hit only three homers in the regular season but dialed nine on them twice Tuesday
night.
And Lester, who looked like he didn’t have his fastball under command or a reliable breaking ball despite getting two outs
on five pitches in the bottom of the first, would open the proceedings surrendering a bizarre bases loaded single to Jose
Ramirez, whose squibber up the third base line died before any Cub could get a hand on it, and delivering a still bases-
loaded plunk to Brandon Guyer.
“The first inning was tonight’s game,” Lester said, ruefully but honestly, after the Indians finished the 6-0 conquest. “Didn’t
have the best command coming out to start the game. Playoff games, that’s all they need. Two walks can’t happen. Put the
ball in play. Make them earn it. Didn’t do it.”
The World Series wasn’t even 25 minutes old and Lester put the Cubs into a 2-0 hole. It didn’t help when Francisco Lindor,
the Indians’ swift shortstop, smacked a two-out single in the first and took prompt enough advantage of Lester’s distaste for
throwing over to first base, taking a bigger lead than the law allows and stealing second at the first chance he had to gun
it, setting up the hole.
Kluber’s six sharp shutout innings and the Cubs inability to cash in when they did put runners in scoring position on him—
Zobrist was left stranded after ripping a leadoff double off the right center field fence in the top of the second; Kyle Schwarber,
freshly re-minted after losing a season to a knee injury but showing a hefty swing in the Arizona Fall League, was left hung
out to dry after he hung a hefty two-out double off the fence in the top of the fourth—stung.
Almost as bad as Roberto Perez, the Indians’ heretofore reputed good catch/good frame/no hit backstop, stung Lester in the
bottom of the fourth when he hit a hanging 0-1 slider into the left field seats with one out. Or, the way Perez really stung
former Cubs closer Hector Rondon, relieving Justin Grimm in the bottom of the eighth, when he squared up and hit a three-
run homer a few rows further back in the left center field seats.
What else but being toyed with would you call the Cubs loading the bases on Miller with nobody out, only to see Willson
Contreras—batting for surprise right field starter Chris Coghlan—fly out to center, then Addison Russell and David Ross
strike out swinging?
The one positive the Cubs could take into Game Two was that they managed, somehow, and who’s to say other teams
won’t be ringing them up to ask how, to wring Miller for 46 pitches in his two innings’ work. They may not see the tall
lefthander in Game Two. May. But it’s no consolation puncturing Miller’s perceived super-humanness when they had no
runs to show for it, either.
Because Miller knows how to patch the puncture. He showed it in that top of the seventh. When he threw that poisonous
slider on 3-2, starting over the outside to a righthanded hitter and diving down and in after crossing the zone. When Ross
couldn’t check his swing if you held his upper arms back for him. Strike three, side retired, ducks stranded on the pond.
The plate approach the Cubs used in overthrowing the Dodgers in their League Championship Series disappeared early
enough and often enough.
It was child’s play to catch on early to Kluber’s tack of working backward, showing the Cubs breaking balls to open counts
instead of fastballs. But the Cubs—who got here in the first place by waiting Dodger pitching out, laying off breaking balls
unless they hung, and forcing fastballs—were caught asleep at the switch by a pitcher who knows how to catch teams that
way. And even if the first inning was a little on the freakish side, Lester won’t buy that as an excuse.
“When you give a guy like Kluber, locked in from pitch one, two runs in the first,” Lester mused, “it makes his job a lot
easier.”
When you give the Indians a clean shot at opening a World Series with a win like that, it makes their job a lot easier, too.
Don’t look now, but over the past three decades, the team that wins Game One goes on to win the Series, with two exceptions
—the 2002 Angels (whose clinching game winner, John Lackey, is now a Cub) and the 2009 Yankees.
“I have no concerns. It’s the first game,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who’d been Mike Scioscia’s bench coach during
the Angels’ staggering run to the 2002 Series conquest. “I’m fine. We’re fine.” Even if they might face Kluber in Game Four
and, if needed, Game Seven?
Ross knows only too well what Kluber’s Game One performance meant. “That,” said Grandpa Rossy, “is what Cy Youngs do.
That’s what aces do.” Translation: They put their teams in better positions than they were supposed to have had. And the
one the Indians sent to the mound to start isn’t even an ex-Red Sox.
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I wasn't nuts enough to be downtown last night, but there was a ton of local coverage and I had some friends who were downtown. It's a different vibe from the Cavs' playoffs. During that run, there was this undercurrent of anticipatory dread that kind of kept a cap on joy during the Finals -- though obviously not at the end. But the Cavs win seems to have lifted a cloud from fans, and that "we're just waiting for the inevitable failure" aura is gone. People are just plain happy, and enjoying the whole experience. Obviously, we want to win, but the prospect of losing won't be the ultimate black hole it's been in the past.
That's reserved for Cubs fans right now -- the monkey is on their back now.
I SO much agree with that, Maj. Bill! There's a whole different feel to things now..... an optimism that just wasn't there before. We aren't doomed to lose. We now know we don't ALWAYS lose.
I'll bet it's had a positive effect on the team, too. And it can't hurt to have the Cavs players cheering at the games either! (If it would only light a fire under the Browns!)
These are great days for us. You said it best....... the cloud is gone.
Put on a happy face! :laugh:
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When the Cleveland starting pitcher was removed after six innings, despite allowing no runs, only four hits, and no walks, it reminded me of how the management of pitchers has changed over the years.
Back in 1962 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1962.shtml), relief pitchers even then were a major factor in games, however the average standard pitching rotation was four men, and starting pitchers tried to pitch a complete game. In 1962 there were 844 complete games pitched.
In 2016 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2016.shtml), we have five or six man pitching rotations, and only 83 complete games were pitched. Four teams had zero complete games pitched.
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All Kluber, all Miller, all Perez, all Indians, all the Game One time
By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2016/10/26/all-kluber-all-miller-all-perez-all-indians-all-the-game-one-time/
Very nice write-up, @EasyAce
I enjoyed reading it.
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When the Cleveland starting pitcher was removed after six innings, despite allowing no runs, only four hits, and no walks, it reminded me of how the management of pitchers has changed over the years.
Back in 1962 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1962.shtml), relief pitchers even then were a major factor in games, however the average standard pitching rotation was four men, and starting pitchers tried to pitch a complete game. In 1962 there were 844 complete games pitched.
In 2016 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2016.shtml), we have five or six man pitching rotations, and only 83 complete games were pitched. Four teams had zero complete games pitched.
Terry Francona is on the cutting edge of changing pitching rotation. I think because he wants to use Kluber two more times (if needed) and because the Indians' bullpen is so stinkin' AWESOME, he can do things that didn't used to happen.
What he did clearly worked! ^-^
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Very nice write-up, @EasyAce
I enjoyed reading it.
So did I! ^-^
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Did anyone post the story about this guy who made this prediction in his high school yearbook in 1993?
(http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/580f9bab1800002d00dc415d.jpeg)
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Link to Game 2 thread?
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Link to Game 2 thread?
The title of this one says, "Live . . . From Game One to (if necessary) Game Seven." ;)
Stick around, Game Two coming up . . .
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Lester’s no-thanks-throwing-over a danger? Yip.
By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2016/10/26/lesters-no-thanks-throwing-over-a-danger-yip/
At the end of his first spring training as a Cub, in April 2015, Jon Lester thought his issue about throwing over to first base—
which he doesn’t, if he can help it, which is most of the time—was no big deal. He still didn’t think so when the Cardinals took big
leads off him and used them to help themselves toward an early-season 3-0 win televised nationally.
(http://throneberryfields.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-10-25-JonLesterFranciscoLindor.jpg)
“I don’t know why,” he told the Chicago Tribune at the time. “I guess it must have been a slow news day, and they wanted to talk
about it. Like I said, it’s something that’s being blown out of proportion right now. There’s really nothing to talk about at the
beginning of the year. So you need to talk about the negative stuff and now we’re just continuing to work on the things we need
to work on and get out and pitch.”
Lester has long since insisted he really does trust his defense and thus has less reason to worry about throwing to first. In World
Series Game One, his trust enabled catcher David Ross to throw Indians road runner Francisco Lindor out stealing in the bottom
of the third, in a close play on which Cub second baseman Javier Baez’s glove laces brushed Lindor’s left arm, getting the call.
It was what happened a pitch or two earlier that raised alarms about Lester’s issue. Lindor had a lead off first big enough for an
Amtrak train to clear. The Cubs had him picked off dead to right if Lester would have thrown. Even a bad throw would have
bagged the Cleveland shortstop with a lead that fat.
Lester merely looked at first and then delivered home to Carlos Santana, who ultimately walked. The Indians went on to win, 6-0.
That shutdown Indians pitching—starter Corey Kluber, relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen—had a lot to do with it. But who
knows how the tenor of the game might have changed if Lester could have picked Lindor off?
Lester’s issue isn’t going away any time soon. He tried working on it in 2012, when he was still with the Red Sox, then stopped
throwing to first in 2013. Some now wonder how he managed to be as shutdown as he was in that year’s World Series, which
the Red Sox won.
Trusting his defense may carry Lester only so far if the Indians figure out more ways to exploit it, should they see him again in
the Series. And it isn’t as simple as just suggesting the Cubs work him to the bone in spring training to overcome it.
Apparently, Lester won’t even think about whether he has what sports people call the yips. “It’s out of Boston,” he once said, a
little annoyed, referencing a story from Boston that suggested just that making itself manifest. But they’re no joke. No illusion,
either.
It’s happened to baseball players in the past and wrecked games, not to mention careers. Especially when they obstruct what
seem to Joe and Jane Fan to be things they could do in their sleep. And players themselves would rather challenge barracuda
than talk about it.
“We really don’t talk about it as baseball players,” said long-since retired Jason Giambi in 2013, without ever having suffered a
case of it himself. (Giambi finished his career with the Indians; he was a member of their 2013 second-wild card winner.) “It’s
just this unwritten rule.”
Former major leaguer Jason Tyner once remembered seeing pitcher Matt Garza, when they were Tampa Bay teammates, at war
with himself trying to make simple throws to first.
“If you bunted on him, he’s throwing it down the right-field line,” Tyner told MLB.com. “It wasn’t even close. You’d see him over
on a back field working on it and it’d look like a 6-year-old trying to throw to first base. He could throw 95 mph wherever he
wants to the batter, but he could not throw the ball to first base.”
Mackey Sasser’s promising career as a Mets catcher was ruined by the syndrome (http://throneberryfields.com/2014/10/11/more-to-the-yips-than-met-the-eye-for-mackey-sasser/). As he was blasted at the plate by Atlanta’s Jim
Presley, who bowled him back over his ankles, Sasser held the ball in a kind of death grip. After that, he couldn’t return a ball
to his pitchers without double, triple, and even quadruple clutching. (Brett Butler once stole third during a Sasser triple clutch.)
When his playing career ended, at age 32, Sasser became a college baseball coach—and was finally steered to a psychologist
who got him to the root of his issue: he’d suffered several childhood traumas but suppressed them until the Presley collision.
The analysis and therapy finally did what nobody including Sasser could do while he played. And he uses it to help his own
players overcome the syndrome if it arises.
Sasser is one of the more fortunate such men. So is Tigers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He once found it impossible to throw
back to the mound, too. Whether or not he knew of Sasser’s issue, Saltalamacchia consulted a sports psychologist after a
demotion to the minors and got himself fixed.
Two decades before Sasser, Pirates pitcher Steve Blass went within two years from the last man standing on the mound to
beat the Orioles clinching the 1971 World Series to a man who suddenly couldn’t get a ball over the plate. It inspired the
nickname “Steve Blass Disease” for pitchers who lost their control. Now a longtime Pirates broadcaster, Blass never figured out
just what caused his inexplicable control loss.
It ended Rick Ankiel’s pitching career, driving him to remake himself as a power hitting outfielder. Ankiel’s splendid rookie season
was ruined in a National League Division Series start, when he walked eleven and threw nine wild pitches. When he made it back
as an outfielder, injuries, not the yips, ended his career at last.
Chuck Knoblauch suddenly found himself unable to throw to first base on routine plays—if he had even an extra second to think
about the play as it was happening. If he had no time to think, he was fine. But he still converted himself into an outfielder in a
bid to overcome the issue.
Remember Daniel Bard? Great looking relief pitcher for the 2009-11 Red Sox. 9.7 strikeouts per nine, 2.88 ERA. Started showing
the yips in the second half of 2011, during the Red Sox’s infamous collapse. Converted to starting by 2012 manager Bobby Valentine.
A mess. His ERA swelled to 9.00; he was back in the minors in 2013.
Now in the Rangers organisation, Bard still doesn’t seem to know what went wrong. “The one thing that I could do really well was
taken away from me,” he has said. “There were some tough times, tough moments. You’re out there and you think you’re throwing
the ball well but it’s not doing what you want it to do. It’s so frustrating.”
That’s a polite way to phrase it.
The phrase “the yips” was invented not in baseball but by a golfer. Tommy Armour coined it to describe his sudden inability to make
short putts during the 1927 Shawnee Open, causing a surreal 23 score on the par five 17th hole. It didn’t keep him from winning
the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA between 1927 and 1931, but it did keep him from becoming one of golf’s all time
greats.
Even an all-time great whose trademark was deep, often isolating concentration and otherworldly courage can be wrecked by it. Ben
Hogan was. A stoic to a fault champion, Hogan survived a near-fatal 1949 automobile accident to win three majors and, finally, the
hearts of golf fans, in 1953. Then he, too, found himself unable to sink the simplest putts. He’d never win another major again; he’d
win only one more PGA event (the 1959 Colonial National Invitation) before he retired in 1970.
Sam Snead had the same problem as he got older; it kept him from adding even a single U.S. Open win to his impressive majors
resume. He even tried the since-banned croquet mallet style of putting and a kind of side-saddle style where he’d crouch facing the
hole and swing the putter from his side. ”You get to the point where your mind can’t figure out how hard to hit the ball,” Snead once
said of his pain in the putt.
It would be simple to ask how Lester won a World Series ring with the Red Sox without throwing over to first base but lost Game One
Tuesday night. The answer might not prove to be that simple. The Indians are more likely to exploit it, and less likely to let it smother
themselves, as happened to the Dodgers against Lester in the National League Championship Series.
The Cubs’s route to a World Series title could have a land mine or three in it because of it, too.
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The title of this one says, "Live . . . From Game One to (if necessary) Game Seven." ;)
Stick around, Game Two coming up . . .
We should have a new one for every game. Start fresh. Uncluttered.
Just sayin
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It's tough to harmonize the National Anthem. Not bad.....
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Game Two live thread (http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,231640.0.html)
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Let's go CUBBIES
As a Nationals fan it pains me to say it, but GO CUBS!!! End the Billy Goat Curse! The Indians can win another year.
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@mystery-ak Can I start a Major League line thread :chairbang: :beer: :chairbang:
Of course