matt
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2007
- 1,564
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I'm currently trying to watch Baseball.
- Thread starter Stat Brother
- Start date
World Champion Cardinals 8-0 Nationals
And for those of you who think baseball is "shit boring", you do know you sound like those twats who describe football as "22 grown men kicking a bag of air around" don't you?
Maybe you should try watching the last 15 minutes of the game in Oakland that finished about 6.30 this morning, and then let me know how "boring" that was?
O yes.... the dream is still on.... Back to Back World Champions....
Went to a Marlins game on the last day of the season, enjoyable but wasnt quite the Cards.
- Thread starter
- #43
Being a 5 day cricket kind of guy, I'd be happy to sit through a 0-0 if the product had some nuance.
I'm just not getting it, at the moment.
9 players:-
1 Pitcher
1 catcher
3 base fielders
Leaving 4 fielders, 2 left side 2 right side, job done.
It's hardly bowling against a batsman who likes to hook, having a deep square leg and mid wicket, as well as 3 slips.
'Is he going to drop it in short or pitch it up'.
Granted the pitching can be pretty special.
But as there physically isn't enough time to react to the ball as it's pitched, hitting is a lottery anyway.
I think the test format is pretty strong at the moment, and 20-20 is taking chunks from the 40 over game, which is the one that baseball reminds me of.
In 20/20 there is a sense of urgency and every ball matters, that is what seems to be missing from baseball.
The only time the crowd (albeit beaten) got involved was on the couple of occasions when it was, bases loaded and 2 out.
There are all kinds of nuances being missed here though.
You get certain batters who can slog it out of the ground and run up to three other batters in.
You get pitchers who are strong but at striking out batters. But some batters will specialise in fouling off the 4th pitch over and over again to tire the pitcher (you can't be struck out on the 4th count by hitting the ball into the foul area, unless you're caught there)
There is the whole base stealing thing going on, so the ball is rarely truly dead
And the double and triple plays, while rare, look pretty spectacular when properly executed, and are often drawn out of the batter by the pitcher.
So you are right; It is said in attitional longer forms of cricket that the fielding team needs to think the batsman man. The same applies in baseball, except it's not done by field placement.
- Thread starter
- #45
I guess I thought the 3 mins highlights package was 'some' of the game highlights.
But judging by the live matches I've watched this year, they have been the only highlights.
I'll keep at it, as I said with Harper and Strauberg Kornhieser will be keeping me interested for years to come, and see what I can pick up.
But judging by the live matches I've watched this year, they have been the only highlights.
I'll keep at it, as I said with Harper and Strauberg Kornhieser will be keeping me interested for years to come, and see what I can pick up.
Personally I enjoy all the American sports. Baseball in particular is good to watch as once you learn all the nuances and what the stats mean it can be fascinating.
Love the American Football too. Like chess with 20 stone geezers as pieces. Superb sport.
The only football I actually watch is Brighton and I have no time for MOTD, the premiership or any other footy.
Am probably in the minority but find the US sports much more engaging than all footy other than Brighton.
Love the American Football too. Like chess with 20 stone geezers as pieces. Superb sport.
The only football I actually watch is Brighton and I have no time for MOTD, the premiership or any other footy.
Am probably in the minority but find the US sports much more engaging than all footy other than Brighton.
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
As a fan since the beginning, I have to say that the Marlins aren't quite the Marlins these days either. I wouldn't go back to crowds in the low thousands back at Dolphin/Sun Life/Joe Robbie stadium, but those hideous new uniforms and logo don't do it for me.
Considerably lower than that at times, despite the announced figures:
Actual crowd: 347.
- Thread starter
- #49
I'm surely with you.
I'm an Albion fan, cycling fan, a Packers fan, then start listing 'other' sports.
As said I do think the product is marketed through their media and websites really well, which helps with the engagement.
This isn't my first attempt at baseball, it won't be my last, I'm sure I'll get there eventually.
- Thread starter
- #52
Packers, new Nat'nal, it used to be Bucks cos of Green Bay, but that may well end up as Wizards just because of Tony Kornheiser's podcast, which I love listening too, every day.
Djmiles
Barndoor Holroyd
I didn't understand baseball before coming to America, but having seen a Yankees game in the flesh and watching a couple of games on TV I quite enjoy it. Half the problem was not knowing what the f*** was going on, but it's a lot more enjoyable now I sort of know the rules.
Seagull58
In the Algarve
The got to love the way they refer to it as the world series
Its called the World Series because it was originally sponsored by a newspaper called The World. Plenty of things about the US to take the piss out of but the World Series isn't one of them.
Just as you are on all politicial threads, you're wrong here too.
http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/name.htm
Barry Izbak
U.T.A.
He's right you know. there is so much to it. I've been watching for 25 years and am still learning.
Batting is no lottery. If it was all batters would have the same stats.
Imagine being a "switch" hitter who has stats from both sides of the plate, against right and left handed pitching
I love to watching running teams, base stealing and my favourite move the suicide squeeze. fantastic!
I would disagree with the absence of field placings though. You only had to see the field that Barry Bonds faced in his latter seasons. First, second AND short, all to the right of second base. Not that it often did them much good as the juiced one invariably went over them and in to the seats.
And I was at Busch Stadium one day when Tony La Russa called "time" and moved third baseman Jose Oquendo from his standard fielding position to just a yard from his bag with no runners on. The next pitch to the left hander was outside, he went for it and Oquendo never moved as it went straight in his glove. Lucky? or La Russa genius? Crowd thought the latter and went potty.
And that raises the whole subject of signals, semaphored out from the manager, to the base coach, to the catcher, to the pitcher.
Oh boy I love this game. Wish I had TV for tonight's games
AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
Actually, rather than "3 base fielders", there are 4 infielders: 1st base, 2nd base, short stop and 3rd base. That leaves 3 outfielders: left field, center field and right field.
And hitting isn't a lottery; there IS enough time to react, if you are good enough (which, ultimately, is why some players earn millions of dollars doing just that, and I'm in a desk job). Here is a fascinating article about it.
The battle between pitcher and batter is obviously DIFFERENT from that between bowler and batsman, but it is no less skillful or intriguing once you appreciate what is going on. Pitchers use power, accuracy, change of speed and pitch selection to try to gain an advantage; batters essentially are trying to hang around at the plate long enough to get a good pitch to hit. Good batters are able to take balls (pitches outside the strike zone) and work the count (the number of balls and strikes thrown) in their favour; a pitcher doesn't want to walk the batter so in such a situation he is forced to throw strikes that may give the batter something good to hit. But if the pitcher gets ahead in the count (say 0-2 or 1-2) then the batter becomes more defensive as a further strike will mean he is out; he may well swing at balls outside the strike zone that he feels are too close to take. And it is actually the catcher who "calls" the pitches by signalling to the pitcher what to pitch, although the pitcher may shake him off until he calls what the pitcher wants to throw. Just another little wrinkle to the game.
- Thread starter
- #58
I'm not disputing there aren't great plays.
Take The Nat'nals 2 man throw out thingy in game 1, superb.
My issue is where there's enough of that to justify a 4 or 5 hour game.
I was watching last night, through wiziwig.tv.
It's how I stream most of my US sport and cycling.
Take The Nat'nals 2 man throw out thingy in game 1, superb.
My issue is where there's enough of that to justify a 4 or 5 hour game.
I was watching last night, through wiziwig.tv.
It's how I stream most of my US sport and cycling.
AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
On average a game lasts between 2 & 1/2 and 3 hours.
Lyndhurst 14
Well-known member
- Jan 16, 2008
- 5,241
I like NFL and NHL best out of American sports – although the ice hockey is buggered at the minute due to the lock out.
Not that fussed about baseball but will watch it live at the stadium – I find it a very social spectator sport. My company has used games for team bonding events – one at the Mets (Go Mets!) and to even it up one at the Yankees (boo, hiss!). What is very noticeable is how little of the game some of the spectators actually watch in between going for a beer or hot dog, chatting with their neighbours and trying to get their ugly mugs on the ‘Kiss Cam’. You then realize that because the game goes on for nearly 3 hours you can do all that and not really miss anything. Yankees game last night was a bit of a marathon going to 12 innings.
Not that fussed about baseball but will watch it live at the stadium – I find it a very social spectator sport. My company has used games for team bonding events – one at the Mets (Go Mets!) and to even it up one at the Yankees (boo, hiss!). What is very noticeable is how little of the game some of the spectators actually watch in between going for a beer or hot dog, chatting with their neighbours and trying to get their ugly mugs on the ‘Kiss Cam’. You then realize that because the game goes on for nearly 3 hours you can do all that and not really miss anything. Yankees game last night was a bit of a marathon going to 12 innings.