- 06:16 AM
- 04/25/19
| Location: | Canada |
|---|---|
| Member since: | February 21, 2002 |
| Last visit: | April 25, 2019 |
grum@work has posted 225 links and 9,236 comments to SportsFilter and 15 links and 920 comments to the Locker Room and 1 column.
First of all, a trivia question. What are the 11 different ways for a baseball player to reach 1st base safely? Answer at bottom of page. I'm the saddest fan of them all: Toronto Maple Leafs Buffalo Bills (but not so much since the Holy Trinity retired...Kelly, Thomas, Reed) It could be worse...I could be a Boston or Chicago baseball fan. The most memorable sporting event was a hockey game back in the late 80's (not sure exactly when). A friend of the family got me really nice Leaf tickets during the Xmas holidays. They were playing the Bruins, so I took my friend Joe who was a big Boston fan. After two periods, the Leafs were getting killed, 5-1. My friend was really laying on the taunting thick, and I was contemplating how I could kill him on the way home. Then, to start the 3rd period, Wendel Clark scored a quick goal. Hey, at least they'll make it respectable, is what I figured. And then another goal is scored. And another. Well, lo and behold, the Leafs tie it up and send the game into overtime (the last goal was scored with an extra attacker, by Wendel again). Then, with about a minute left in the overtime, Wendel Clark blows one past the goalie and the place EXPLODES with noise. I must have gone hoarse from the shouting. The stunned/saddened look on Joe's face the entire ride home was like icing on the cake. ... Trivia Answer: 1. Hit 2. Base on balls 3. Hit by pitch 4. Catcher interference 5. Dropped third strike 6. Error 7. Fielder's choice 8. Hitting a baserunner with the batted ball 9. A ball, pitched to the batter or thrown by the pitcher from his position on the pitcher's plate to a base to catch a runner, goes into a stand, or player's bench, or over or through a field fence or backstop, or is touched by a spectator. (Obscure rule 7.05(h)) 10. The third strike becomes lodged in the umpires equipment (not touched by the catcher). (Obscure rule 7.05(i)) 11. Pinch Runner
Mom, don't read this! - Seth Jones:
"Oh man, she’s gonna read this. She’s going to be all over this. Players’ Tribune, you should talk to her about all this, because she’s going to say I’m lying."
Editor’s’ Note from The Players’ Tribune:
No problem, Seth. Please welcome your special guest editor, Amy Jones.
posted by grum@work to hockey at 12:40 PM on February 27, 2019 - 7 comments
Ryan Reeves visits the barbershop to talk about hockey in the black community.:
"If you ever see a playoff hockey game, it's better than any other sport."
posted by grum@work to hockey at 12:15 PM on February 11, 2019 - 2 comments
"My Dad's Friendship with Charles Barkley":
posted by grum@work to basketball at 10:45 PM on December 26, 2018 - 3 comments
Plays of The Year?:
So what is everyone's play of the year?
posted by grum@work to other at 07:10 PM on December 26, 2018 - 10 comments
Baseball players are famous for cliches. Here are their most popular ones.:
This article does a heck of job. It's a breath of fresh air that finds a way to get it done. Time after time, it grabs the bull by the horns and brings something to the table. Up and down the lineup, this article was looking forward to the challenge and stepped up it's game.
posted by grum@work to baseball at 07:08 PM on August 29, 2018 - 6 comments
NoMich: A VERY strong rumour says that he joins the team this Tuesday. There is no chance he's still in Buffalo by mid-May, never mind June or July.
posted by grum@work at 08:04 AM on April 20, 2019
Also, for the first time ever, both #1 seeds in the NHL playoffs have been eliminated in the first round (Tampa, Calgary).
posted by grum@work at 01:09 AM on April 20, 2019
A perfect night for Toronto:
- Maple Leafs win!
- Raptors win!
- Blue Jays win!
- Toronto FC win!
- Marlies win!
- Wolfpack win!
The only other two professional teams in Toronto did not play. The Argonauts (CFL) season has not started, and the Rock (lacrosse) had a bye week.
posted by grum@work at 12:59 AM on April 20, 2019
In other hockey news, young Russian boy gets beat up by old Russian man.
posted by grum@work at 10:11 PM on April 15, 2019
Then Papa Muzzin gives his little boy a big hug...
posted by grum@work at 10:09 PM on April 15, 2019
My picks:
76ers in 4
Raptors in 6
Warriors in 5
Spurs in 7
Celtics in 7
Thunder in 5
Bucks in 4
Rockets in 4
Top point scorer: J.Harden (HOU)
Top rebounder: A.Drummond (DET)
Top scoring team: Warriors
Team scoring 130: Warriors
posted by grum@work at 12:40 PM on April 12, 2019
My picks:
Predators in 5
Jets in 7
Flames in 5
Golden Knights in 7
Lightning in 4
Maple Leafs in 7
Capitals in 5
Penguins in 6
Top goal scorer: Kucherov
Top goalie (save %): Andrei Vasilevskiy
Team scoring 6: Maple Leafs
Team with shutout: Lightning
I definitely like this format for making the picks.
posted by grum@work at 06:39 AM on April 10, 2019
So, have we had a 21st century player yet?
Not in baseball...yet.
Wander Franco is probably the most likely to make it to the majors as he is a HIGHLY touted prospect (top 10), and he was born on March 1, 2001. He's still got another year or two before Tampa might even consider bringing him up yet.
As for other sports, some kid picked in the first round of the NHL draft in June will probably make his teams opening night roster. This guy seems like a likely choice.
posted by grum@work at 01:23 AM on March 30, 2019
The first player born in 1901 to play in MLB was...Jerry Conway.
Here is everyone born in 1901 that played between 1916 and 1920 (in case there were any crazy Joe Nuxhall type appearances:
Rk Player Year Born Age Tm Lg G
1 Fred Heimach 1920 1901 19 PHA AL 1
2 Virgil Cheeves 1920 1901 19 CHC NL 5
3 Jerry Conway 1920 1901 19 WSH AL 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/30/2019.
Fred Heimach debuted on October 1, 1920. He played for 13 seasons.
Virgil Cheeves debuted on September 7, 1920. He played for 6 seasons.
Jerry Conway debuted on August 31, 1920. It was the only MLB game of his career.
As for a player born in 1901 to make an opening day roster, that probably goes to Johnny Cooney. He pitched in the 1921 Boston Braves' 6th game of the season (April 19), so he was probably on the opening day roster (April 13). As well, the previously mentioned Virgil Cheeves looks like he was on the opening day roster for the 1921 Chicago Cubs, but he didn't pitch until April 20th (6th game of the season).
posted by grum@work at 01:13 AM on March 30, 2019
The problem with 2-game aggregate score in baseball (without doubling runs for visitors) is that the home team in the first game gets a significant advantage (by not being the home team in the second game), or it leads to some real messed up competitive situations.
Let's take this example:
Team A is the home team in game 1, and wins by 3 runs. In the second game, if they have the lead in the game, their strategy is no longer to play to win, but play to lose by 2 runs or less. If they have the lead or are tied going into the bottom of the ninth, then they want the game to end in a way that can't allow Team B to score and win by 3+ runs (walk-off grand slam when trailing by one or tied). So if Team B were to ever get in that position, they'd simply intentionally walk the "winning" run in (thus losing by only 1 run).
Another scenario could be Team A LOSES at home (by X runs) in the first game. Now their only chance is to win the second game by X+1 runs. If they are leading after the top of the 9th inning by less than X runs, then things go really haywire.
Team A (leading by < X runs) needs to allow Team B to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th so they can potentially score X+1 runs in the top of the 10th (and allow zero runs in the bottom of the 10th), but at the same time not allow Team B to win. Team B, however, wants the game to end in the 9th, even if they lose the game (because they'll win on aggregate score).
So now Team B is trying to score no runs, and Team A is trying to get them to score runs...but not too many. So Team A induces Team B to get two easy outs (strikeouts, contact without running, whatever), and then proceeds to intentionally walk (new version, no pitches thrown) one batter at at time, and then intentionally balk that base runner around the bases to score each time (because you don't want multiple runners on base when the score is tied). When the score is finally tied, now they need to get that final out, so Team B has to start trying again.
It's basically a baseball version of The Barbados Football Incident.
posted by grum@work at 04:14 PM on March 13, 2019
The Rielly thing is a prime example of people leaping to conclusions.
Less than an hour after the game ended, someone had acquired the Tampa Bay broadcast, the Leafs broadcast, and conclusively proved that:
1) That while Rielly says "Fucking..", he definitely isn't the one that says the next word.
2) That the next word wasn't "faggot", but "rag it".
"Rag it" is the term in hockey for wasting time/controlling the puck, which is what the Tampa Bay bench yelled at the player going into the corner to get the puck. They wanted him to wait for the other players to get into the zone because the Leafs took an ill-time line change and stranded Rielly by himself to defend.
Video #1 (listen with ear phones)
Video #2 : where you can hear the bench follow up with "Rag! Rag! Rag!"
It's also ridiculous because if a player actually yelled that at a ref/linesman during a game, he would have immediately gotten (at least) a misconduct penalty. In this case, the official that it was supposedly directed towards didn't even flinch or look at Rielly when the yelling occurred.
Rielly's press conference after the NHL ruled that no slur, by anyone, was said on the ice.
posted by grum@work at 06:20 PM on March 12, 2019
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle
The first round of the NHL playoffs in one short video.