Baseball

[GoCubsGo]

Not to mention Ross' experience on Dancing With the Stars, on which he finished second. Dancing around can be a helpful skill when Cubbie fans want to know why (again) they're out of the playoffs.

That was mean.

[GoCubsGo]

And all good things come to an end.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/ ... joe-maddon

He's gonna be a legend in Chicago down the road. Probably wasn't the best X's & O's guy, his handling of the pitching staff and constant lineup shuffling didn't sit well with some. But a great guy and a great interview nonetheless.

Bring on David Ross.

Report: Cubs to hire David Ross as their new manager

Congrats.

... Ross, who ended his career playing for the 2016 World Series champion Cubs, has no managerial or coaching experience. He has served as a special assistant in the Cubs front office since his retirement while also serving as a TV analyst and played under seasoned managers such as his predecessor, Joe Maddon, Terry Francona, and Bobby Cox. But really, this is a hire based in the perception that Ross can serve as a motivational and unifying force in the clubhouse in ways that Maddon was considered lacking in his last couple of years at the helm.

In handing Ross the job the Cubs are just the latest team to join the trend of turning to an inexperienced, recently-retired player to be their new skipper. The track record for such hires has been mixed at best, with the technical aspects of managing — particularly bullpen management — standing out as weaknesses for such candidates. Heck, if you go back to the 1960s you’ll find examples of managerial inexperience being a problem. Yogi Berra, famously, won a pennant managing the 1964 Yankees yet struggled all season, in part, because he said he had a hard time serving as an authority figure over his former teammates who were his contemporaries and near-contemporaries. He was fired after the season.

I feel like Ross will do OK with that part of things, but given that the Cubs will enter 2020 with pretty big expectations given their payroll and their talent level, he certainly has his work cut out for him....

Interesting, good luck.

Not a big surprise, he pretty much was the favorite. Don't know how he'll be on the x's and o's, but he is loved in the clubhouse and the team will want to
play for him.

[Vrede too]

Risking a jinx after 7.

Wow, 2-0! In StL! Only 1 run allowed in the 2 games.

Wow, 2-0! In Houston! Sweep?

Edit after 8 1/2: Reverse jinx. Save some for DC, guys.

Verlander, Verlander! is 0-5 in the WS.
Nats: 8 runs with 2 outs in this game, 54% of all postseason runs with 2 outs.

Simone Biles adds special twist to her first pitch at Game 2 of the World Series

Team USA
‏Verified account @TeamUSA

Dear Gymnastics Code of Points,

When does this become the 'Biles' on the pitcher's mound?

@Simone_Biles x #WorldSeries

https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1187166884510068736

GOAT

Comments:

A standing flip with a twist, and a beautiful smile. What a great start to the game.

She's incredible! If I tried that, I'd be watching the World Series from a hospital bed!

He should have got HER autograph.

[Vrede too]

Now I want:

Yankees > Astros
Nationals all the way, an Amtrak Series.

Nice, visitors are 3-0 .

Visitors are 3-0 in the WS, too.

The Astros needed that one. There has been at least one comeback from 0-3 at the LCS level, but in 24 times in the WS no one has ever come back from 0-3 and 21 of those ended in a sweep.

45SHOLE says that he won't throw out a first pitch because the ballistic vest will make him look fat. Ummm:
He already looks fat.
He already looks fatter at events where he wears the vest.
Anyone stupid enough to believe him now thinks that he's insufferably vain.
The real reason is that the coward knows that he would be greeted with a deafening roar of booing, and his delicate ego can't handle that.

[billy.pilgrim]

I've never understood baseball during football season

[Vrede too]

Ut-oh.

C'mon, gotta win one in DC - it's been since October 5, 1933 - even if the WS is lost in Houston. It's been since 1924 that DC won a WS by beating the New York Giants in seven games.

[Vrede too]

Crap.

... 45SHOLE says that he won't throw out a first pitch because the ballistic vest will make him look fat. Ummm:
He already looks fat.
He already looks fatter at events where he wears the vest.
Anyone stupid enough to believe him now thinks that he's insufferably vain.
The real reason is that the coward knows that he would be greeted with a deafening roar of booing, and his delicate ego can't handle that.

Probably not as bad in the stands as it would have been on the field.

Trump draws boos when introduced to crowd at World Series

At the end of the third inning, ballpark video screens carried a salute to U.S. service members that drew cheers throughout the stadium. When the video cut to Trump and his entourage and the loudspeakers announced the Trumps, cheers abruptly turned into a torrent of boos and heckling. Chants of "Lock him up!" broke out in some sections.

Trump appeared unfazed and continued waving. Later, some fans behind home plate held a sign reading "VETERANS FOR IMPEACHMENT". Another banner appeared during the game: "IMPEACH TRUMP!"

... Trump's staff has long tried to shield him from events where he might be loudly booed or heckled, and he has rarely ventured into the neighborhoods of the heavily Democratic city. He won just over 4% of the vote in the District of Columbia in 2016....

Jose Andrés, a prominent local restaurant owner and humanitarian, threw out the first pitch to a roaring, sustained ovation. He has a history with Trump, too, both in business and in politics.

Andrés has repeatedly opposed Trump's immigration policies and his administration's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Four years ago, he withdrew from plans to open a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in Washington following Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants during the presidential campaign. Legal action ensued and the dispute was settled in 2017.

'Lock him up': World Series crowd boos Trump

...When he was announced on the public address system after the third innings as part of a tribute to veterans, the crowd roared into sustained booing - hitting almost 100 decibels....

Trump has virtually never been seen in Washington outside the White House, his own hotel and a handful of other highly controlled settings....

The trip to the ballpark marked the first time Trump attended a Washington sporting event since becoming President.

He has not eaten at a Washington restaurant beyond those in his own hotel and has skipped traditional social events such as the Kennedy Centre Honours and the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

The Nationals had sought to keep politics out of their first trip to the World Series and did not invite Trump, who decided to come and then arranged the logistics with Major League Baseball, officials said....

During the fifth innings, Alan Pitts and Naveed Shah held up signs that read, "Veterans for Impeachment" at their seats behind the home plate. The men said they were Iraq veterans who were with Common Defence, an organisation for veterans who are against the Trump administration.

"Our oath didn't end when we left active duty," Pitts said. "We still defend it today, and Congress needs to do the same. They need to step up and hold the President accountable for his illegal and unconstitutional acts."

Alex McCoy, a Marine Corps veteran with the group said that, because signs of a certain size are permitted in the stadium, "We're not breaking any rules that we're aware of.

"We would hope that they're not kicked out for that. We're just trying to assert our First Amendment rights."

Other veterans from the group planned to attend too, but not in the visible section directly behind home plate.

"We could only afford the two tickets [there]," McCoy said. The group declined to say how much it paid for the seats, but World Series tickets in prime sections cost thousands of dollars.

After Pitts and Shah showed their signs, Pitts said security told them to take the signs down, and fans around them reacted angrily, including a man in a Make America Great Again hat who told the pair they would "have a big problem" if they got close to him and his friends. They were able to remain at the game.

[GoCubsGo]

Damn Yankees.

11 innings, 1-1 , off to NY.

Flaherty-Strasburg on the bump tonight in D.C. That should be a good one. Strasburg has been an awesome playoff pitcher.

Strasburg is a playoff animal!

Tomorrow, game 7 is Scherzer (if his arm doesn't fall off) and Greinke.

Good stuff!!

[Vrede too]

Strasburg is a playoff animal!

Tomorrow, game 7 is Scherzer (if his arm doesn't fall off) and Greinke.

Good stuff!!

Barring the very unlikely event that Strasburg pitches tomorrow and gets the loss, he's the first ever to go 5-0 in a single postseason.

Verlander, Verlander! is 0-5 in the WS.

0-6.

I'm glad the controversial 7th inning interference call did not decide the game, and I have no opinion on whether it was the right call or not.

The Nats have scored 27 runs, the Astros 28.

The announcers said that the road team has never gone 6-0 in any of the 3 major sports ever. Then they mentioned football, which makes no sense since even the Wild Cards only play 4 games. I think we can assume baseball and basketball . . . then maybe hockey? Idk.

So, this year who has the advantage in Game 7?
"... Visiting teams have won three straight Game 7s in the Series since the Cardinals defeated Texas at home in 2011."
Whatever happens, not bad for the Wild Card Nats.

[Vrede too]

The announcers said that the road team has never gone 6-0 in any of the 3 major sports ever. Then they mentioned football, which makes no sense since even the Wild Cards only play 4 games. I think we can assume baseball and basketball . . . then maybe hockey? Idk.

Yep, MLB, NBA/ABA, NHL. Go Nats, 7-0 will never be bested.

This is the Nats 5th elimination game of the postseason! They have trailed in the prior 4.

5 minutes later: And now they're trailing in this one. They have the Astros right where they want them.

[GoCubsGo]

5 minutes later: And now they're trailing in this one. They have the Astros right where they want them.

Rub roh, 2-0. Nail biter.

[Vrede too]

5 minutes later: And now they're trailing in this one. They have the Astros right where they want them.

Rub roh, 2-0. Nail biter.

As I said .



Trivia: In DC's only other WS win in 1924, inaugural (along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson) Hall of Fame member Walter Johnson, a starting pitcher, came on in relief in the 9th inning of the 7th game and was the winning pitcher after 12, having tossed four scoreless innings.

I attended Walter Johnson High School in suburban MD. Maybe the era of naming schools after baseball players is past, but who knows. Perhaps there will one day be a school named for Game 7 winner Patrick Corbin or World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg.

[GoCubsGo]

5 minutes later: And now they're trailing in this one. They have the Astros right where they want them.

Rub roh, 2-0. Nail biter.

Congrats to the GNats!! Well done!

Mvp Strasburg!

[Vrede too]

Congrats to the GNats!! Well done!

Mvp Strasburg!

History in more ways than one.

2 Days After Being Booed at World Series, Trump Surrounds Himself with GOP Supporters and Blasts Pelosi

We should mark the demise of the POSPOTUS presidency * by: "____ Days After Being Booed at World Series"

[1 CAT FAN]

Astros Fans Blame Matthew McConaughey for Their World Series Loss
https://popculture.com/sports/2019/10/3 ... ySChCnrwKc

[1 CAT FAN]

Nah, there won't be a decline in ticket sales.

[1 CAT FAN]

Nah, there won't be a decline in ticket sales.

Paul Finebaum - “Baseball dangerously trending toward extinction.”

[Vrede too]

Should the Astros lose their World Series title?

... The fallout from the cheating scandal has been significant. Houston was fined $5 million and lost draft picks. The team’s general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were fired.

Carlos Beltran lost his job as new manager for the New York Mets because of his role in the scheme when he was a player. The Boston Red Sox fired their manager Alex Cora, who was the Astros’ bench coach in 2017.

Cora led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018. The MLB is currently investigating allegations that Boston used a similar system of cheating during their championship run....

Unscientific poll:

Should the Astros lose their World Series title?

Yes 80%
No 20%
1,230 votes

I'm not making any predictions, but the Los Angeles Dodgers COULD win the 2017 and 2018 World Series titles.

[O Really]

If they took away the title, would they not just vacate it? I don't think they ought to give it to the losing team.

[Vrede too]

If they took away the title, would they not just vacate it? I don't think they ought to give it to the losing team.

Idk. What's happened to Bowl records when colleges have gotten the death penalty, and does it matter if the cheating contributed to the losses?

If I was an LAD fan I would claim that title, regardless .