If you had asked me at in April, which was the least likely to occur - an American triple crown, a British triple crown, or a big league triple crown - it would have been the baseball version, hands down.
Well, here we are, and Cabrera is 2 for 3 tonight, hitting .331 (up six on Trout), and Hamilton needs either two home runs or 13 RBIs to beat him out in one of the power categories. I don\'t want to jinx the guy but - damn! - it looks like he is gonna win it in a canter.
And baseball really pulled a straight flush this year with the new wild card format. Winning the division has real meaning once again. And, while a four-way race for three spots would have been OK, the chance for two division titles being decided on the last day of the season (go, A\'s!), with the two losers playing a single game playoff to get into a divisional series, that\'s - as Johnny Miller would say - good stuff.
A\'s look a little sloppy so far, something I was afraid of after last night\'s celebration. Went last night, great game. Hopefully they give me a reason to play hooky again for tomorrow afternoon. Time for them to wake up.
Paul, you don\'t sound well. You may have a bit of a fever.
Jut got a call, offered 2 tickets 10 rows behind the dugout for $50. Geezus, I hope that doesn\'t anger the baseball Gods. 3-1 8th and I can\'t sit still.
$50? Is that below face value?
The Raiders sell out and you need to pay people to go see these guys?
Buddy has 4 tickets, he\'s using 2. Yes, below face. $56 face value each.
2 weeks ago he told me he had 4 tickets for me. Tonight its 2 for fiddy. No complaints, need 3 more outs.
I promise I won\'t bitch about a photo or a DQ if we can get thru this inning......or \"Wide Mike\" references.
Good friend you got there! Hope its a great game. Enjoy!
And with the afternoon game, Cabrera will know if he needs to hit any homers by the time they start playing in KC.
And the AL East gets settled - or not - starting at 705.
One hell of a day for the junior circuit!
He plays poker in my room, real good dude. He knows I LOVE the A\'s, and would appreciate the tickets. He did say that having Pocket Aces hold up would be part of the payment.
Yes, attendance is a sore point with me. These last 2 nights have been awesome though. When you have an owner that does everything he can to alienate the fans, its hard to get casual fans to show up. ATT park sells out, with half busy eating food and texting friends. Its a yuppy crowd - nothing wrong with that, it fills the seats - that likes to be seen there. They have their share of great fans, no doubt. Oakland and the East Bay is blue collar, and while smaller crowds the fans that do go are extremely passionate about the team.
I\'ve followed this team since 1970, and have seen over 1,000 games at the Coliseum. My father had ticket hookup when I was a kid and we went often (he knew the equipment manager). I would be pulled out of school to watch playoff games....Palmer vs Hunter, Cuellar vs Blue, etc... Saw Campy fire a bat at Legrow, all of it. What memories.
Sorry for the ramble...and JB.....sorry I hijacked the board for this. I am just really excited about this team right now, and can\'t wait to sit in the sunshine and have a cold one tomorrow afternoon.
\"How About that!!!\"
\"How About that!!!\"
....Allen the greatest??
For this Yankee fan for sure. But would be hard not to give that distincton to Vin Scully now. Great times listening to both of them in the 50\'s. It\'s brutal that we have to listen to the self promoting calls of Sterling, Kay and Cohen. i think it was Phil Mushnick in the post who described them as \"smarmy\"
Ed,
Allen my fav, Scully great. My sports buds would argue that Jack Buck had the best pure voice and delivery ever.
Mike
Only heard him do a couple of games (6 & 7 from the \'52 Series at the Museum of Broadcasting), but what about the old redhead?
Those guys are all fantastic.
Bill King one of the greatest ever at any sport. How he isn\'t in the HOF is criminal.
Jack Buck and Mike Shannon, spring training game, early 1970s:
Shannon: Two balls, two strikes, two men on here in the bottom of the second inning..
Buck: I guess we\'ll be betting the two dog at the track tonight
Buck outstanding voice and play by play. Harry Caray was hilarious, but may have
thought he was bigger than the game he was calling, a transgression that many
purists could not forgive.
Sterling (now blind enough to be a NYRA steward) and Suzyn (the \"Yankee Yenta\")
Waldman absolutely embarrassing.
As for my Mets, another year, another $1.9 million payment to Bobby Bonilla, who
hasn\'t worn a Met uniform since 1999...
Couldnt agree more, teams are playing for their lives just to win their division.
The way it used to be.
\"Red Barber hea in the catbird seat\" There was nothing better than Mel Allen calling a homer by Mickey a \"Ballantine Blast\". The Giants Russ Hodges pitched \"My beer is Rheingold the dry beer\" with hot girls pics in the subway. Vin Sculley had to push Shaeffer. Three teams in NY. Rivalries that forged lifetime friendships or enemies.
Good Hit P Dub. Enjoy the playoffs!!!
I was born too late to have enjoyed those years, but - with all due respect to our California friends - I\'ve always believed that the \'50s had to have been baseball\'s apex. After Jackie Robinson and before expansion. Three of the top teams playing within a few miles of each other - one in a charming bandbox (that nearly every new stadium is spiritually modeled after), one in a Manhattan oval with a center field destined to be roamed by Willie Mays, and a place that used to be our version of the coliseum in Rome. The baseball may not be quite the same, and Schaeffer, Rheingold, and Ballantine may be long gone, but at least we have some good beers being brewed here (Brooklyn, Sixpoint, Kelso). Cheers!
Edgorman Wrote:
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> Good Hit P Dub. Enjoy the playoffs!!!
Thanks Edgorman!
A great time at the ballpark, great weather, cold beer, awesome seats. And another fantastic win. Being in a packed ballpark can\'t be replicated thru the television. Glad I was there today. Looking forward to the playoffs, maybe now people will take these guys seriously. Took them long enough.
Jack Buck is the only Cardinal autograph I regret not having. And it wasn\'t just for the baseball...anytime STL needed an emcee for anything, Jack was there for them. A class act if there ever was one.
Now for the horse racing link...remember his son Joe calling the SA Derby? Indian Charlie.