10/5 playoff discussion thread

Conor · October 5, 2008 at 9:27 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Something nutty going on over at ESPN…

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22 Responses to “10/5 playoff discussion thread”

  1. eternal on October 5th, 2008 9:38 am

    I stopped going to ESPN then they decided that every page should have a video player on autoplay with no obvious way to disable…

  2. Sports on a Schtick on October 5th, 2008 9:57 am

    Yea, those new blotchy red circles don’t do anything for me……….

  3. pumpkinhead on October 5th, 2008 9:59 am

    Haha I noticed that this morning since I missed most of last night’s action due to College Foosball. I couldn’t figure out how the Brewers stole a game from Phillies.

  4. pumpkinhead on October 5th, 2008 10:01 am

    Schtick, the series recap is backwards for each…

  5. Conor on October 5th, 2008 10:07 am

    Pretty sure he was just joking around, pumpkinhead

  6. Steve T on October 5th, 2008 10:07 am

    Eternal, get Flashblock. You can turn the Flash you want on and leave all the others off. Absolutely essential for any big-time webpage like ESPN.

  7. msb on October 5th, 2008 4:50 pm

    as the top of inning no. 1 enters the 20th minute or so, Dave Campbell says “this is why the casual viewer says they hate baseball…”

  8. jlc on October 5th, 2008 5:39 pm

    Angels and Red Sox have been my two favorite AL teams except for the Mariners since the Mariners existed, so this is a tough series for me. The Sox have two Oregon kids, and I especially love watching Ellsbury’s speed.

    On the other hand, I love Scioscia’s management style (and my NL team is the Dodgers, so I’m a long time fan of his.) I guess I don’t care who wins, but I hate to see the Angels embarrass themselves the way they’re doing. I’m also wondering why Vlad can’t hit this way against the Mariners, instead of the way he actually hits Mariner pitching.

  9. msb on October 5th, 2008 6:38 pm

    this been one ugly game.

  10. jlc on October 5th, 2008 7:05 pm

    Oh, yeah. The one bright spot for me has been watching first basemen who can actually field their position. What a concept! (Though I would not endorse the Youk slide move. Can’t believe no one got hurt on that.)

  11. WardP on October 5th, 2008 7:40 pm

    Disabling the ESPN video player:

    Turn your pop-up blocker off. Under the video player is a Customize link. This will open a pop-up customization window which includes a checkbox to automatically play videos. Deselect and save.

  12. jlc on October 5th, 2008 7:51 pm

    As for Ellsbury, speed may not slump, but it can bring other troubles.

  13. msb on October 5th, 2008 8:56 pm

    I don’t think Kerwin Danley is an F-Rod fan.

  14. jlc on October 5th, 2008 9:03 pm

    Dear God, let this game end and let the announcers shut the hell up. Not necessarily in that order.

  15. jlc on October 5th, 2008 9:13 pm

    Of course. This game could not possibly be complete without a Weaver.

  16. MedicineHat on October 5th, 2008 9:18 pm

    Another great story to show how important team chemistry is (not).

    LOS ANGELES — Of all the numbers floating atop the sudsy Dodger Stadium joy Saturday night — 20 years, three-game sweep, eight more wins — the most important one was never mentioned.

    In a sport that celebrates perseverance, it’s a number that doesn’t make sense.

    In an organization that built its tradition on continuity, it’s a number that is actively shunned.

    Yet here it was, the most compelling number of one of the Dodgers’ most compelling playoff series in history.

    Zero.

    That is the number of times the Dodgers had used their division-series winning lineup before the division series.

    The eight position players who took the field for the opening game against the Chicago Cubs had never before started a game together.

    Never.

  17. jlc on October 5th, 2008 9:31 pm

    Speaking of the Dodgers, Dodger Thoughts talked about the unwillingness to use youth (this was from July 28, quoted in today’s entry):

    “Yes, the Dodger lineup is infused with youth. Young players are everywhere – in the lineup, in the rotation, in the bullpen. It’s not that Colletti and Torre don’t want the youth to do well. It’s that at the sign of trouble, they don’t believe. They’re on a roller coaster that they want no part of. In their perfect world, there is no youth.

    They’re addicts, and they can’t stay on the wagon. Veteran talent is the drug and it feels so good, even if they wake up emptier than before. The Dodger leadership doesn’t have the backbone to stand on its own two feet. …”

    But it worked.

    So today’s entry went on to say that Torre learned:

    “I don’t think Torre and Colletti will panic. I think they’ve turned the corner. It might have taken them longer than it should have, but I think they know who their team is now. That doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Juan Pierre ever. That doesn’t mean the young players should be cocky. (Andre Ethier to Dylan Hernandez of the Times: “I have to compete for a starting job again next year.”)”

    A Dodger-Tampa Series would be a nice reminder that veteraness does not triumph by and of itself.

  18. jlc on October 5th, 2008 9:39 pm

    Yay, a lead! Someone has a lead! And it’s not even six hours into the game yet.

  19. Colm on October 5th, 2008 9:53 pm

    msb – I caught that frustrated aside from Dave Campbell too. That’s one of the smarter things I can remember him saying.

  20. Colm on October 5th, 2008 9:58 pm

    Darned Angels. They’ve been walking all over us since 2002 – so I never get tired of watching them lose. Even if it has to be the Red Sox beeating them.

    My other bugbear is the plethora of lazy press stories they seem to inspire about how “they always play the game the right way” – cue unenlighting column inches about srappiness and hustle. I want them to sign a bunch of 250lb, iron-gloved sluggers and start playing for the three-run homer (kinda like the 2000 A’s) just to quosh these stories once and for all.

  21. Axtell on October 6th, 2008 2:44 am

    Another annoying thing about the Angels is the non-stop praise Scioscia seems to get, as if he’s somehow responsible for the rest of the division stinking.

  22. jlc on October 6th, 2008 3:14 pm

    The Angels win percentage against the rest of the league was about what it was against the west. And Scioscia took a really bad organization and turned it into one that produces well-rounded players and winning teams. I’d take him in Seattle in a heartbeat.

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