players Page 32 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Of course it’s going back to Atlanta
I’m going to get out ahead of this and just condemn the Braves. I know what happens now, because my motherfuck skills have risen to a level I can no longer control or understand. I just speculated on what the baseball world would think of Dave Roberts. I tried to make it clear that I didn’t think th...
Joey Gallo is this generation’s Adam Dunn
Nothing against him, but New York Yankees outfielder Joey Gallo is irrelevant in Major League Baseball right this second. His team isn’t in the playoffs. He’s never played for any of the teams involved in either Championship Series. He’s at home watching the games from his couch, the same as you and...
Carlton Fisk kept it fair, but Keith Olbermann’s attempt to sell historic ball is foul
This is not about ripping Keith Olbermann. If you want to do that, you can start with “Why I Think Trump Is Finished (And My Work Is Done),” from November 28, 2017, a time at which Trump was far from finished. You can go forward or backward from there, it doesn’t really matter, and he’d admit himsel...
What will Dave Roberts’ legacy be?
I know better than to write the Dodgers’ eulogy now. We’re just where we’ve been before. The series should be over, and if it wasn’t for Cody Bellinger guessing right on a high fastball on Tuesday, it would be. The Braves’ 9-2 win in Game 4 only makes it 3-1, which is exactly where they were against...
You always want a Laz Diaz show in a League Championship Series, amirite?
I’ll put it right here at the top when discussing the Astros 9-2 win in Game 4 over the Red Sox, because I’ve spent the latter half of my life having Red Sox fans yell at me in some sort of fashion anyway. The non-strike call Laz Diaz came up with on Jason Castro from Nathan Eovaldi’s curve in the n...
‘Grow, evolve and improve?' George Steinbrenner would never have uttered such kumbaya bunk
Hal Steinbrenner made things very clear on Tuesday morning....
The NLCS has actual action
I always fear that when fans of a sport complain about a lack of “offense” they never really understand what the real problem is. The problem, usually, is action. Hockey went through this, and is still kind of going through this, by always trying to pump up goals with power plays. Though the main ai...
Dave Roberts can’t help himself
The MLB playoffs can get pretty muddled between decisions and results. Rarely do they line up because... y’know, baseball. It doesn’t cooperate. Right decisions, wrong results, vice versa, the throughline is rarely consistent. But Dave Roberts has been at this for years now, so he certainly makes fo...
Good not being good enough is the Cardinal Way, apparently
Is the Cardinals’ “philosophy” hiring underwhelming coaching staffs?...
Just like that, Bellinger earns redemption for his .165 average
During the recent Major League Baseball regular season, many fans praised the Dodgers for putting together a lineup with zero holes. In reality, 2019's National League MVP Cody Bellinger was a giant, dinosaur-killing crater in the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup....
We were so close
You couldn’t really have asked for much more from the Dodgers and Giants, series or Game 5. What you want is it to be close and dramatic, and those boxes were checked. The stats for these teams are staggeringly close. 109 wins each going in, a season series that is now tied at 12, the run-differenti...
The Dodgers are pulling a page out of Tampa Bay’s playbook — opting for an opener in Game 5
With both the Giants and Dodgers facing elimination tonight, both teams need to put their best foot forward. The Giants are throwing Logan Webb, who also started Game 1 of this series, going 7.2 innings allowing just five hits, walking none, and striking out 10 (tied for his season high). Webb is 7-...
Dominique Wilkins is owed an apology and the only asterisk I’ll accept in sports
Dominique Wilkins is owed apologies from a lot of you people. ...
Remember Ray Fosse for the good man, catcher and broadcaster he was
A word on the passing of A’s broadcaster Ray Fosse, who died from cancer last night....
So is Christian Yelich dead?
The Milwaukee Brewers, probably the playoff team that everyone thought about the least, bit the dust yesterday in a fashion befitting a team that most didn’t realize were even there. They scored six runs across four games, got shutout twice, and while maybe not quite a whimper thanks to the dramatic...
I’ve had it with relievers
Maybe I’ve rebelled against getting older as long as I can, and I’m coming to accept the hair growing out of my ears combined with the opinions that something in a modern sport isn’t as good as I remember. It’s weird, because I don’t remember having any attachment to relief pitchers of my youth. The...
There is no escape from the Astros
The longer the Astros stick around, the more baseball fans complain and bring out the tired jokes about their cheating. Maybe more opponents get suspicious, as Chisox pitcher Ryan Tepera did after Game 3. This is obviously the price the Astros have to pay for 2017’s scandal, and the only price they...
100-win Rays come up short again, which is where this is all heading
The Red Sox kneecapped the Rays, 6-5, in the bottom of the ninth last night — another walkoff — and the ending of a series usually launches a 1,000 ships carrying annoying narratives. The big one from this one is that the Rays’ way of doing things, with their positionless pitching staff, essentially...
White Sox-Astros just got interesting
It was a weird one on the Southside. The story of Dusty Baker being a goofus when the postseason comes has faded over the years, even if some still reach for it. He’s learned how the game has changed in the past decade. He just can’t seem to catch a break....