Gullycanyon's musings on baseball

[David Hall]

This deserves its own thread.

[gullycanyon]

Well thanks, David H; I am not being facetious, when I say that I am honored by your remark, and-- to use a favorite expression of Jim Leyland's-- "tickled" by your gesture of initiating this thread.
Having been thrown a brand-spanky-new football, damn sure I'm going to run with it, but anyone who is distressed by coarse language should take a hike.

Something you will not see coming from me: game recaps. One of the things which attracted me to the HFD Sports Forum is the fact that you folks don't do that. If I don't know what happened in the game, I have several resources to use, just like everybody else. I don't need some dipshit on an internet forum to break down the goddam thing for me.

I love playing with stats. Some people say that stats are over-rated. I understand that opinion, and I acknowledge that lots of things don't show in the stat-sheets. Still, stats are quite revealing. The key to using them effectively is to know how to combine them. Someone on *ahem* another forum once hit me with a smug sniff of disapproval when I commented that a guy's Batting Average is, well, not one of the first things I look at.

Ahhmmm... Tellya what, gang: While I could ramble on, all night, about baseball, this is a bad time for it, because the actual game is becoming pretty exciting.

[David Hall]

60 minutes had another story about the Red Sox numbers guy who came up with today's fashionable statistics like OBP and K/BB. Wasn't the first time to see this guy, but it was interesting to see how old timers reacted to his views on baseball numbers.

[gullycanyon]

Speaking of baseball & numbers, I have a bone to pick with a common frame of reference.
Our record is 17-13. Everybody will say that we are "four games over .500."
But wait. 17-13 means that we have played 30 games. ".500" would be 15-15, right? So, are we not two games over that?

But anyway. I am pleased as hell with the way these guys are playing. I am particularly delighted by seeing our ERA at 3.8something. Still, now comes the hard part. Ever since our stunning dash to the 2006 World Series, the pain-in-the-ass thing about the Tigers is the way we get on a roll, raise our record to 3-4 more wins than losses, get everybody all excited, and then go flatter than the top of Howie Long's head. Just like that, we go 2-8, or 3-7, and lose all of the ground we gained.
Our current rave-up will not mean a damned thing if these guys do that shit again, now. The rest of the division is fucked up. Each of the other AL Central teams has its strong points (well, maybe not, actually, but let's just say so, for the time being,) but not one of them is good enough to give us any reason to think we can't overtake them, slap them around in head-to-head competition, and leave them in our goddam dust.

But right now is the time to floor it. If we become complacent, owing to our recent surge, and slide over into the slow lane so we can pick our noses for a while, the shit is not going to work out.

Now is the time to start beating the shit out of every team we see, every time we see them, to whatever extent we can do so.

The Granderson heroics reminded me of a moment from the 2006 season. It was probably a few weeks further in than we are, now, but it was a game against Cleveland. Fausto Carmona, I think, was pitching. Late in the game, Ivan Rodriguez hit a HR that just fucked up Carmona & the Indians. When he crossed the plate, some of the guys were milling around, waiting for him, and he stopped, exultant in front of them, and let out a roar of triumph. It was a pretty heady moment, and that was the moment when I said to myself, "Oh my God; these guys are actually for real, and they can do this."

I really am getting ahead of myself, I know, and I probably shouldn't be allowing myself to roll this much hope around in my grubby little fingertips, but goddamit, maybe baseball is about to be fun again, around here.

[merchantgander]

Not sure if anyone saw highlights of the Angels-Royals game last night but the Hunter catch to steal a game winning HR in the 9th might have been better than Granderson’s because of the distance he had to travel just to get to the ball. Kind of reminded me of the Granderson’s catch last year, the catch was amazing but what made it even more special was he looked like he had no chance to get to it.

[chad sexington]

It would have been game tying....but yes....a great catch indeed.

[The Beav]

The Granderson heroics reminded me of a moment from the 2006 season. It was probably a few weeks further in than we are, now, but it was a game against Cleveland. Fausto Carmona, I think, was pitching. Late in the game, Ivan Rodriguez hit a HR that just fucked up Carmona & the Indians. When he crossed the plate, some of the guys were milling around, waiting for him, and he stopped, exultant in front of them, and let out a roar of triumph. It was a pretty heady moment, and that was the moment when I said to myself, "Oh my God; these guys are actually for real, and they can do this."

Am I remembering incorrectly, or was that a walk-off?

[Andy]

The Granderson heroics reminded me of a moment from the 2006 season. It was probably a few weeks further in than we are, now, but it was a game against Cleveland. Fausto Carmona, I think, was pitching. Late in the game, Ivan Rodriguez hit a HR that just fucked up Carmona & the Indians. When he crossed the plate, some of the guys were milling around, waiting for him, and he stopped, exultant in front of them, and let out a roar of triumph. It was a pretty heady moment, and that was the moment when I said to myself, "Oh my God; these guys are actually for real, and they can do this."

Am I remembering incorrectly, or was that a walk-off?

For some reason I remember a game like that being played on Easter of that year. At the very least I remember watching a big come from behind victory that afternoon where a game winning Pudge HR was involved. I could be wrong.

[Heywood McCrakin]

Well thanks, David H; I am not being facetious, when I say that I am honored by your remark, and-- to use a favorite expression of Jim Leyland's-- "tickled" by your gesture of initiating this thread.
Having been thrown a brand-spanky-new football, damn sure I'm going to run with it, but anyone who is distressed by coarse language should take a hike.

Something you will not see coming from me: game recaps. One of the things which attracted me to the HFD Sports Forum is the fact that you folks don't do that. If I don't know what happened in the game, I have several resources to use, just like everybody else. I don't need some dipshit on an internet forum to break down the goddam thing for me.

I love playing with stats. Some people say that stats are over-rated. I understand that opinion, and I acknowledge that lots of things don't show in the stat-sheets. Still, stats are quite revealing. The key to using them effectively is to know how to combine them. Someone on *ahem* another forum once hit me with a smug sniff of disapproval when I commented that a guy's Batting Average is, well, not one of the first things I look at.

Ahhmmm... Tellya what, gang: While I could ramble on, all night, about baseball, this is a bad time for it, because the actual game is becoming pretty exciting.

um....who are you?

[chad sexington]

For some reason I remember a game like that being played on Easter of that year. At the very least I remember watching a big come from behind victory that afternoon where a game winning Pudge HR was involved. I could be wrong.

The home run against Carmona and the Indians was on a Saturday night.

[gullycanyon]

I am not sure about it, but I think Chad has that right. I don't know if it was a walk-off, but it sure as hell felt like one, and that would explain the brief crowd scene which greeted the exultant Rodriguez.
Heywood, that is an odd question.
I'm Gullyfuckingcanyon.

[The Beav]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Dickerson

On August 5, 2006 Dickerson called Ivan Rodriguez's walkoff home run against the Cleveland Indians with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Many Detroit sports commentators declared it as Dickerson's best call as a Tigers broadcaster. It was replayed numerous times on Tigers commercials on WXYT.

"First pitch to Pudge, fly ball, deep to left, into the night... GOODBYE! Two run shot, Tigers win! Oh man! Pudge Rodriguez with two outs delivers. Into a mob scene at home. 4-3 Tigers win!"

[gullycanyon]

Dang, Beav, great work with the research. That's gotta be the one.

Much later in the season than I realized, but the lateness would explain why I might feel that the momentum could be sufficient to blast us all the way through the rest of the season.

Just saw the Hunter catch. It's true; that one is even better.
But, everybody already thinks of Torii as a great outfielder. Curtis can use the exposure. Plus, the other part of that story-- the fact that he created our one run out of almost nothing, in a way-- makes the catch even more thrilling.
And he's our homey, Chicago-bred or not.

[Taquito (redux)]

I am not sure about it, but I think Chad has that right. I don't know if it was a walk-off, but it sure as hell felt like one, and that would explain the brief crowd scene which greeted the exultant Rodriguez.
Heywood, that is an odd question.
I'm Gullyfuckingcanyon.

well i guess that should suffice, right HM?

[gullycanyon]

Why would it not suffice? The Beav is The Beav. Chad Sexington is Chad Sexington. You are Taquito (redux).
I still think it's a weird question to ask in this setting.
But, fuck that. Let's talk baseball.