Curt Schilling started the Game Thread again (he's 2-0 so far) over on Sons of Sam Horn. After some praise for Pedro and Varitek, he says:

Focus on us, the Yanks are winners, with classy players and a pedigree, the Twins can stinking play, the Angels play the game hard and right, but we focus on us and how WE execute and play, no one else. This can be done, Friday is going to be a legit struggle, got a team fighting for it's life against a kid making his first ever post season start, FWIW I take the kid Friday night, he's got nuts the size of Saturn.

As you can imagine, this has inspired a great many pictures of planetary orbs...

Kelvim worked out of a bit of a jam in the first. Game cant go to well for him if he keeps this up.

It's about time Mr. Anderson and his classy moustache started getting on base.

Ouch....looks like the ump struck out Glaus there, not the kid.

JoBu, if he keeps it up he'll have 27 K's. :P

Well, not now that you said that. Way to jinx it ;)

At work, but following online...

Is GameCase deceiving me, or did Bengie Molina record a swinging strike on a 3-0 count, en route to a K?

Green light for Bengie?

That would be mlb.com's Gameday, not GameCast (or the misspelled "GameCase").

Green light for Bengie?

For those of you wish to make a note of the time and place of this never-before-seen phenomena, it was 4:41 PM on Friday 8 October, 2004. In Boston Massachusetts.

We have seen some strange things in our time, but few stranger than that...

Question for those of you who have seen him more than me:

Did Bengie Molina deserve those Gold Gloves?

Did Bengie Molina deserve those Gold Gloves?

I have no idea. He is terrific though. Good arm, good receiver. His throwing fell off this year though. But in 02-03, he was phenomenal.

Like I implied, I haven't watched him much, but it seems to me that while he has a great arm, he's not very good at other responsibilities (blocking balls, etc.)

I could be way off though.

And now Kelvim is officialy in trouble....

And now Kelvim is official done for the day, if not the year.

Hey guys,

Does some one want to start a Cory Patton signing thread ?

Jeff

Maybe if I knew who that was....

So long Angles, it was a nice eff....uhhh.... you had good funda... erm..... I like your uniforms.

Hey Jobu,

I was waiting for a witty comment from you on the olympian signing thread re: Battersbox cheer club. ;-)

I was trying to think of a nickname for him, but nothing struck me and I didn't want to force it. He does look a little like Frank Grimes....

We gotta get the roster to pimp Da Box a bit more. It would be so cool to find a Schilling equivalent Blog-Enthusiast on the Jays. Frank the Cat I'm looking in your direction....

Red Sox looking good... just brushing the Angels out of their way.

Step aside, we got some bizness ahead...

What's more depressing? Finishing the season in last after a hopeful start, or completly embarassing yourself in the first round of the playoffs?

Hey Jobu,

You should think about writing to Russ Adams " Thrillhouse " and see how he likes the nickname.

Thrillhouse is starting to grow on me.

Just think how fitting it would be once he starts making thrilling plays on the field or hitting monster shots.... THRILLHOUSE!!

I don't have any contact address to write him, nor do I know how to write a ballplayer without sounding like Bobby Deniro from the Fan, hence I haven't contact my hero Sparky yet.

If I knew he was on with Wilner on Tuesday I might have called, maybe Mr.W will run into him again and get an opinion from the thriller himself.

What's more depressing? Finishing the season in last after a hopeful start, or completly embarassing yourself in the first round of the playoffs?

Losing the division in the last weekend of the season, and then having to witness the team who beat you get swept in the first round.

"We could have done better than that!"

Did Bengie Molina deserve those Gold Gloves?

If he played the way he did this year, then heck no. He's always so lazy back there. He never slides over to block balls, he just stabs at them with his glove. Today was a perfect example. The Red Sox had bases loaded and Shields unleashes one in the dirt. Molina just threw his glove at a seemingly easily blockable ball and it went to the backstop (Mueller and his bad knees didn't score however due to a nice hop off the backstop). If down 2-0 in an 5 game series with the bases loaded and already down 4 runs isn't a good time to put some effort in, I'm not sure when is. He has a solid arm though.

So have we reached a concensus? This years Oakland A's are an example of the most depressing end to a season?

This years Oakland A's are an example of the most depressing end to a season?

Ladies and gentlemen... your 2004 Chicago Cubs.

oh....the debate rages on. The most depressing season template.

1987 Blue Jays.

Im heading to a bar to hopefuly watch a Twinkie victory tonight. Enjoy your debate nobel Bauxites.

1964 Phillies... wait

1986 Red Sox

He never slides over to block balls, he just stabs at them with his glove.

His lazyness is one of the main reasons why they lost game 2.

1987 Blue Jays.

The final kick in the butt that year was Sports Illustrated arriving the next week, with Lloyd Moseby on the cover... "TORONTO TAKES OFF"... AARGH!

On an unrelated note, it always seems a tad odd to see how much earlier it gets dark in Boston than it does even here in Ottawa...

Wow...

VLAD! Amazing.

VLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDD!

Holy Historic Games Batman! I was just about to step out but now Vladdy has slapped me back into my seat....with authority.

I've got it on the radio and I was thinking "that would be pretty cool if Vlad hit a grandslam"

http://www.geocities.com/s_borisov/jb2004/index.html
For CraigB and whoever else is interested.

If you remember we talked a little bit about major league/Russian league hitting approaches in the "Slumping Carlos: Jackal and Hyde?" thread, now I've got something from Japan - a few graphs reflecting the ongoing playoff series between Seibu and Daiei (COMN, a little piece entitled "Lions righty batters need to adjust before it's too late", currently second article from the top).

your 2004 Chicago Cubs

It's been rather amusing listening to the media rip Sammy Sosa for skipping the Cubs' last game, then filing a grievance for his fine. I love that Prior stepped up and said, "that's not right, he owes us an apology." My hatred for Sosa only grows.

I have been busy, so maybe I missed it, but has this been discussed on Da Box? I guess it's a bigger story here in Chicago, but it goes along with today's topic of most disapointing season. That seems like the most frustrating end, much to my delight. I can't imagine a worse teammate than Sosa, and it's very refreshing to root for a team like the Jays who seems to really get along in the clubhouse.

Sweet granny by Vladdy. I was on the phone with my brother and he downright called the shot. Awesome. Down with the Sox.

Poor twins are coming apart. Great attempt by Torii.... you gotta feel for the guy.

So, an inning after 2 bad baserunning moves by the twins to get thrown out, Torii gets robbed by the wall, and Guzman throws the ball away.

Here's hoping Santana is his usual self tomorrow.

Don't look now but the Twins are fighting back.

A little late, but still...

Here's hoping for the impossible...

Is it just me, or does Jarrod Washburn look almost exactly like Roy Halladay?

Can I throw out a request for our baseball researchers. Can somebody tell me, in recent history, how many winners of 7-game series were the first to get 3 wins in the series?

Basically, I want to know how much of a difference a 5-game series makes over a 7-game series. Because I like the 5-game series in the first round. NHL playoffs are a disaster: way too long. I love the swift pace of the baseball post-season - and I'm really enjoying these do-or-die moments in Game 2 of a Division Series. I hope they don't expand to 7-game series. And God, it would be awful if they added more teams to the post-season. They would kill the best post-season in sports.

Here's the post-strike results:

2003:
Marlins are first to three in WS, win series.
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series.
Cubs are first to three in NLCS, lose series (ahead 3-1)

2002:
Giants are first to three in WS, lose series (ahead 3-2)
Giants are first to three in NLCS, win series
Angels are first to three in ALCS, win series

2001:
Yankees are first to three in WS, lose series (ahead 3-2)
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series
Diamondbacks are first to three in NLCS, win series

2000:
Yankees are first to three in WS, win series
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series
Mets are first to three in NLCS, win series

1999:
Yankees are first to three in WS, sweep series
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series
Braves are first to three in NLCS, win series

1998:
Yankees are first to three in WS, sweep series
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series
Padres are first to three in NLCS, win series

1997:
Marlins are first to three in WS, win series
Indians are first to three in ALCS, win series
Marlins are first to three in NLCS, win series

1996:
Yankees are first to three in WS, win series
Yankees are first to three in ALCS, win series
Cardinals are first to three in NLCS, lose series (led 3-1)

1995:
Braves are first to three in WS, win series
Indians are first to three in ALCS, win series
Braves are first to three in NLCS, sweep series

27 series, 4 times a team has come back from a 3-x deficit. Twice it was 3-2, twice it was 3-1.

Is it just me, or does Jarrod Washburn look almost exactly like Roy Halladay?

I had this discussion once on the Jays website, a couple of years ago, after thinking the exact same thing. Other notable comparisons included John Olerud to Bob the Builder, Gord Ash with Dr. Evil, and Billy Koch with a billygoat.

John Olerud to Bob the Builder

THAT'S good!

Thanks for turning that out 6-4-3. That's solid evidence to throw someone's way when they whine a 5-game series isn't a true test of which is the best team after a 162-game schedule. You have to earn the right to get into those 7-game gruelling matches.

to throw someone's way when they whine a 5-game series isn't a true test of which is the best team after a 162-game schedule

Namely: the Atlanta Braves. Those TBS commentators are always complaining about that.

Is it just me, or does Jarrod Washburn look almost exactly like Roy Halladay?

I always thought he was Kiefer Sutherland mixed with Doc.