The Silver Screen Oasis

In a game just concluded, the Padres lead 4-2 lead going to the bottom of the10th. They give up a two-run homer with two outs and the score is tied. They go ahead in the 11th and lead by one run. In the bottom half, the first batter doubled to score the freebie runner at second and the score is tied. With the winning run on third a ball hit to Machado and he throws him out. The play was challenged, did the catcher block the plate? If the call on the field is overturned then Cincinnati wins. But it is not overturned and now a man on first with two out with the score tied. The Pads breathe easier and can get out of the inning. But ... a hero lifts one out of the park and the Padres lose again. They were one out away from victory and one out away from extending the game. The Padres are in a pathetic state, a veritable f*ck up team.

laffite wrote: ↑June 30th, 2023, 7:55 pm In a game just concluded, the Padres lead 4-2 lead going to the bottom of the10th. They give up a two-run homer with two outs and the score is tied. They go ahead in the 11th and lead by one run. In the bottom half, the first batter doubled to score the freebie runner at second and the score is tied. With the winning run on third a ball hit to Machado and he throws him out. The play was challenged, did the catcher block the plate? If the call on the field is overturned then Cincinnati wins. But it is not overturned and now a man on first with two out with the score tied. The Pads breathe easier and can get out of the inning. But ... a hero lifts one out of the park and the Padres lose again. They were one out away from victory and one out away from extending the game. The Padres are in a pathetic state, a veritable f*ck up team.

I feel your pain. Before the season I was really worried the Padres had the better team and lineup and were going to win the NL West pennant. AZ and SF weren't even on my radar. Now I'm rooting for the Padres anytime they play AZ and SF. Just crazy.

In previous seasons fans of the Dodgers have complained about Roberts, especially how he manages the pitching staff. With the overall weaker staff, especially the bullpen, I'm now feeling that way.

laffite wrote: ↑June 30th, 2023, 7:55 pm In a game just concluded, the Padres lead 4-2 lead going to the bottom of the10th. They give up a two-run homer with two outs and the score is tied. They go ahead in the 11th and lead by one run. In the bottom half, the first batter doubled to score the freebie runner at second and the score is tied. With the winning run on third a ball hit to Machado and he throws him out. The play was challenged, did the catcher block the plate? If the call on the field is overturned then Cincinnati wins. But it is not overturned and now a man on first with two out with the score tied. The Pads breathe easier and can get out of the inning. But ... a hero lifts one out of the park and the Padres lose again. They were one out away from victory and one out away from extending the game. The Padres are in a pathetic state, a veritable f*ck up team.

Sometimes I think they instituted the replay in MLB just to mess with the fans' heads.

So, just last week or so I watched as they ruled after a replay in another game that the catcher had blocked the plate BUT when he was clearly behind the plate with his upper body hovering over home plate in a prone position and with his mitt and the ball in it still allowing a good 6 inches of the plate for the runner to reach his hand out and touch the plate.

And then just yesterday in that Reds/Padres game, the catcher's left leg was clearly blocking the runner's hand from touching home plate, and even after the play was reviewed, they somehow decided the catcher was NOT blocking the plate.

(...nope, there's just no consistency here at all)

Thompson wrote: ↑July 1st, 2023, 2:55 am Growing up a Cubs fan, Harry Caray and all, WGN with most of the games, all of the games on the radio. I’ve changed my allegiance. I’m now a Bruce Bochy and Mike Maddux man and I’m picking the Texas Rangers to go all the way.

It was huge when Bruce Bochy retired from the SF Giants. Dusty Baker too.
No sooner do they retire, they start managing again.
The pitch clock, and all the other BS rules, have turned me off to baseball.
I will watch the All-Star game. (Maybe)
Like everything else, it seems to be politically driven.
The fans get to vote? That's just nonsense. What do we know?
I credit the Cubs! They are possibly the only team in their original ball yard.

Dargo wrote: ↑July 1st, 2023, 8:36 pm

Sometimes I think they instituted the replay in MLB just to mess with the fans' heads.

So, just last week or so I watched as they ruled after a replay in another game that the catcher had blocked the plate BUT when he was clearly behind the plate with his upper body hovering over home plate in a prone position and with his mitt and the ball in it still allowing a good 6 inches of the plate for the runner to reach his hand out and touch the plate.

And then just yesterday in that Reds/Padres game, the catcher's left leg was clearly blocking the runner's hand from touching home plate, and even after the play was reviewed, they somehow decided the catcher was NOT blocking the plate.

(...nope, there's just no consistency here at all)

Messing with fan's heads is the lamentable situation regarding balls and strikes. That digital strike zone is abominable. Either that goes or the umpires go. I have always been a traditionalist and I am shocked that I now advocate getting rid of them. It's not their fault. They are human and they make mistakes and it is difficult to be consistent. Back in the day, going back to the 50s for me, has the balls and strikes always been that way and we didn't know it due to the the sparse coverage. Back then a baseball game was to take place and the media came to cover it. Now the media has taken over. The TV camera early on was placed behind the plate and elevated slightly so that the viewer could not see a whit where the pitched ball when the catcher caught it. It's a horrific thought that balls and strikes might have been as bad back then today but we never knew it because we never saw it. Why they don't do away with the digital strike zone on the TV screen I simply don't understand. It undermines the integrity and enjoyment of the game to be shown so transparently the bad calls (which in a way invalidates the game being played.) Balls and strikes are now just arbitrary. Bottom of the ninth, tie score, based loaded, two out, and the batter is called out on strikes with the ball way outside. I have nothing but contempt for this sort of thing, It's irritating like hell and if anyone still loves the game it hurts to see it, whether (in my case) or not my team wins or not. (unless i have money on it, of course).

Pete Rose used to run in to the catcher. Has that been outlawed? Can the runner today ram into the catcher as if it were a block in football? meaning not head on Rose style.The catcher must be where the ball is thrown on a play at the plate. If it's a perfect throw then no interference. I have no answer for this problem.

jimimac71 wrote: ↑July 1st, 2023, 9:33 pm

Thompson wrote: ↑July 1st, 2023, 2:55 am Growing up a Cubs fan, Harry Caray and all, WGN with most of the games, all of the games on the radio. I’ve changed my allegiance. I’m now a Bruce Bochy and Mike Maddux man and I’m picking the Texas Rangers to go all the way.

It was huge when Bruce Bochy retired from the SF Giants. Dusty Baker too.
No sooner do they retire, they start managing again.
The pitch clock, and all the other BS rules, have turned me off to baseball.
I will watch the All-Star game. (Maybe)
Like everything else, it seems to be politically driven.
The fans get to vote? That's just nonsense. What do we know?
I credit the Cubs! They are possibly the only team in their original ball yard.

Bruce Bochy is amazing. About from 2010 to 2015 around there, Bochy managed three World Series titles in five years with the Giants. That is hard to do given the elaborate playoff system. And add to this that, there were only three players on the third title that was on the team of the first title. IOW, he practically had a completely different team spanning the five years. Now that is truly amazing!

Fans casting votes for the AS Game has been, as you know, a tradition that goes back a long way. In the 60s I think Cincinnati fans stuffed the ballot box one year, which resulted in all eight position players being Cincinnati Reds!

I like the pitch clock. I say that for the record but it doesn't matter to me as a practical matter. Here is how I watch a game. I set the DVR recording in advance. If the games starts at 5 I will wait until 6 or 630 and them watch from the beginning. There is a button that allows a five minute fast forward, which I use liberally. I can always back it up if I see something happened I missed. I will never debase myself so profoundly as to watch some filthy fucking, stinking baseball game in real time. I won't put myself through that agony, ever.

There is another team that plays in their original ball yard. (think: Ted Williams)

//

jamesjazzguitar wrote: ↑June 30th, 2023, 1:05 pm

laffite wrote: ↑June 29th, 2023, 4:10 pm The Padres lose their fifth in a row and finish the first half of the season 37-44. Today's loss reveals that Tatis Jr. goes 0-5 and Machado 0-5. And isn't it about time we should start assessing the viability of retaining Bob Melvin as Manager. His team is clearly under performing, considering the roster. According to cbssportsline the odds for the Padres making the playoffs was 19% but that was five games ago. Now it's 7%. Zero chance of winning the Division, both weeks. There is still a half season to go, is to early to declare the Padres toast? CBS thinks so. So do I. As I have said before, the Padres are very conservative in making decisions like firing a manager while the season is still going on. Such a thing is simply too strident for small minded leaders of Padreville. Even if it's not Bob's fault, firing managers sometimes shake things up and weird things happen. Back in the day the Red Sox fired a manager and hired Joe Morgan (not sure of the first name) who took the team for an 18-1 run. The Padres could use that. Even if they did, they would still only be 55-45.

Do you want Melvin replaced because you believe it might salvage the season (get Padres at least a wild-card spot), or just to start the rebuilding\realignment process now looking towards next season?

It was sort of speculation, considering the Pads are so wretched. The thinking would probably be looking to next year. According the CBSsportsline, the Pads have one chance of 20 to make the playoffs and zero chance to win the Division. And a cursory glance at the standings easily bears that out. When I said that I was forgetting that Melvin has had a decent managing career that goes back 20 years and has some successful years. Over all he has about 100 more wins than losses and there some oldies cannot claim that. Just FYI. And remember to, Laffite, that Melvin managed last year and took them to the playoffs and managed that stupendous win over the Dodgers, the meanest feat since the Millennium for the Pads. Actually I don't give a s h i t either way, I really cant stand the Padres or the game either despite all the palaver I've been spewing these recent days.

I have cloud DVR and rarely use it. I can rewind live television. I think the buffer is good for an hour.
I watch everything in real-time. Our SF Giants are on a channel owned by Comcast/NBC Universal.
If they have a night game, then there is a condensed 2 hour playback the following afternoon.
Since games are pretty short, they don't really have to skip much.
I will sometimes watch a day game live.
Baseball is the only sport compatible with my sloppy eyesight.
Having bad eyesight all my life has prevented me from getting excited about sports.
Okay, ladies volleyball. That's different.
I had to look up Ted Williams. He played for the Bosocks, right?
I only learned in recent years that fans voted for players in the All-Star game.
I'm pretty sports stupid.

Just reading the Braves are on a 23-3 run and have a better record than Tampa Bay, as you know that got a such stupendous start. The Padres are 3-10 the last two weeks and are probably "cooked" for any chance at the playoffs. And the Phillies have won 19 out of 26 and are only 1 1/2 game out of the playoffs. The Padres need something like that and even more to maintain a glimmer of hope.

Thompson wrote: ↑July 3rd, 2023, 7:59 pm 23 and 3 — that is plenty impressive.

In 1984 the Detroit Tigers started the season 35-5 and never looked back. I believe that's the record for best start. Sometime in the 60s, the dodger started 22-2. The Tigers went on to be in the World Series, beating the Padres 4-1. This was the Padres first World Series appearance, one of only two to date. Franchises of San Diego have been in two World Series and one Super Bowl, losing all three. Woe to the to city of San Diego. Oh well, it's fun to go the beach and eat tacos.

The Padres had an 8-1 lead going into the ninth but the Angels started a rally. They got it to 8-5 with the bases loaded and two out but a man hit a chopper to the infield and was thrown out by a hair on his chinny-chin chin. The Pads having failed to blow another lead seemed shocked but were generally relieved. "Wow, we might have absorbed another disgusting loss but we rallied from a lead of seven in the ninth to pull it off." Tatis Jr went 0-5 for the second straight game and swung at about 20 bad pitches, Machado had three singles and a walk and preened about the field self-importantly. The look on his face was nauseating. It was learned that anyone on the team that draws a walk is labeled a pussy and gets fragged in the dugout. Strike outs involving swinging at bad pitches is okay. For the Padres batting practice consists of swinging at pitches out of the strike zone and doing so in a way that looks good on Television. It's part of the new direction in which the whole team is learning bit by bit to lose creatively. Winning this game was a setback and some voiced their concern that winning games was a blow to morale. Saddled with an seven run lead in the ninth and still winning is quite a feat for our boys of municipal ignominy.

The Padres won their fourth in a row (June 5) and a special accolade to Machado. He hit a monster home run but I don't mean that. Later in the game he was up with the score tied. He took a 3--2 pitch and walked to load the bases which set up the winning run. He looked poise and focused. I normally don't see that in him. The pitch he took for ball four was daring, so close to the strike zone, but it paid off. I call that a good. "at bat." This strain of comment that might have been initiated by Reggie Jackson when he an announcer, bur hardly hear any more. A good at bat is when you do something though perhaps an out still gave you a chance for something. Example, with runners in scoring position you hit a screaming line drive but right at the second basement, game over. But you gave your team a chance at winning with a well hit ball. Machado had a long at bat win a crucial part of the game and drew a walk. Drawing walks don't make headlines but they can win games. //

I get the L.A. Times. In the Sunday paper, the L.A. Times advised subscribers that they changed their sports section: no more box scores or "traditional sport game coverage". Instead, it will be more like a sport magazine: E.g., features about leading sport figures and teams but not about yesterday's sporting events.

Today I see that the N.Y. Times is shutting down their entire sports decks.

I pay over $500 a year for L.A. Time paper delivery. I just paid for 3 more months but will likely cancel the paper once this runs out. Both newspapers advised their users to seek daily information from the web. I'm going to take their advice!!!!!

PS: And I hope people can see how this is relevant to changes we are seeing with TCM and just how long TCM can remain viable.

Wow James!
My local newspaper is over $400/year delivered.
3 days a week, there are only 2 sections.
On those days, the sports occupies a lot of the pages.
Mom reads the print version and I deal with the eEdition.
The format for the eEdition changed and is more than annoying.
I think the printed newspaper and radio are often struggling to stay above water.

jamesjazzguitar wrote: ↑July 10th, 2023, 1:55 pm I get the L.A. Times. In the Sunday paper, the L.A. Times advised subscribers that they changed their sports section: no more box scores or "traditional sport game coverage". Instead, it will be more like a sport magazine: E.g., features about leading sport figures and teams but not about yesterday's sporting events.

Today I see that the N.Y. Times is shutting down their entire sports decks.

I pay over $500 a year for L.A. Time paper delivery. I just paid for 3 more months but will likely cancel the paper once this runs out. Both newspapers advised their users to seek daily information from the web. I'm going to take their advice!!!!!

PS: And I hope people can see how this is relevant to changes we are seeing with TCM and just how long TCM can remain viable.

In the case of the NYTimes, they recently bought The Athletic, and had already started shifting their sports resources over there before this announcement. Doesn't help the folks who read only the print version of the paper, though.

Sports stats and box scores and financial market data used to take up a lot column space. People have been able to get much more data in near-real-time online for decades, so it's no surprise papers are dropping this.

I was surprised the little paper where I grew up (town of now about 30,000) still publishes a TV supplement every Sunday. The major papers in DFW dropped them years ago.