Peyton Marino
Footballguy
Yea maybe they had a deal with the giants where Posey wouldn't catch on b2b nights.
On another note, do you know who would be a better option at 1B than Hosmer? Buster Posey.
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2017 World Baseball Classic Thread (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Eephus
- Start date
On another note, do you know who would be a better option at 1B than Hosmer? Buster Posey.
Capella
Footballguy
Yea I understand where they are coming from on the posey thing just fine. It's Goldschmidt that is amazing.
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Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
John Smoltz thinks Puerto Rico is a country. 
Limp Ditka
Footballguy
I bet you Gildo had an official Team Italy wife beater.
Peyton Marino
Footballguy
Not sure who it was, but on the pregame show yesterday they were talking about Baez, and one of the guys called him polarizing. Then, they start talking about Didi, and the other guy calls him polarizing too. The first guy goes silent, and the second guy says "wait what does polarizing mean?" First guy explains it, then the other dude says something along the lines of "oh OK, well he's the opposite of that"John Smoltz thinks Puerto Rico is a country.
Pretty great exchange
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Eephus
Footballguy
They did a feature on Clemente and one of the announcers called him the penultimate player in Puerto Rican baseball history.
Peyton Marino
Footballguy
rodg12
Footballguy
This was Millar on Intentional Talk. Admitted right after to Rose he didn't know what polarizing meant.
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
No murders in Puerto Rico since Friday because of the WBBC!
Peyton Marino
Footballguy
Kinsler!
The General
Footballguy
And boom goes the dynamite.
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Ian Kinsler is good at the beisbol
Capella
Footballguy
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
RnR
Footballguy
Capella
Footballguy
Peyton Marino
Footballguy
Can we try Goldschmidt at third
Capella
Footballguy
So what do these guys who don't play do? Do they have simulated games for them or do they go back to camps rusty?
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
My Dad lived there, said he'd run to his car and they'd be hitting the window for the next 90 seconds. thump, thump, thump, thump
Honestly I've been all over the world, was terrified to get bit in Africa; worst mosquitoes are in a Michigan summer. Brutal.
Peyton Marino
Footballguy
Good question. Your first round pick is probably going to suck for a month while he tries to get back in the swing of things.
Capella
Footballguy
The "no-see-ums" too. Big sign on my hotel door warning about them and saying out there's no way to avoid them. Uhhh....thanks?
The roads too, sweet Jesus. It's like mario kart without having a turtle shell to throw.
Capella
Footballguy
I can't believe they aren't playing him over Hosmer. It's amazing. Maybe not quite as severe as benching Trout for Lorenzo Cain because he's "experienced in big games" and swinging a hot bat, but it's close.
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Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Hosmer is raking though. Still I agree, Goldy is one of the ten best hitters in baseball and is on the pine. You'd think they'd play Stanton in the OF and put Goldy at DH at least. Leyland is a weird cat that way though.
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Eephus
Footballguy
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Crawford is generally underrated because he isn't a great fantasy player, but he's a really good baseball player. Lindor is good at everything, he probably knows how to play the Harp and is an amazing chef.
Eephus
Footballguy
Eephus
Footballguy
Crawford has always had the glove but he's shown constant development with the bat. AT&T doesn't do him any favors either. A GG SS with a positive OPS+ and a mullet is a valuable asset.
Eephus
Footballguy
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
LEYLAND FOR COOPERSTOWN!!!!! NOW!
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Arenado hit streak!
Limp Ditka
Footballguy
gump
Footballguy
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Yeah great tournament, it's grown on me now. Seeing how the US guys reacted after winning, this event actually means something. Maybe Olympic-level victory?
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Definitely means something to them. So happy for Stroman. Coming from a hockey perspective, can't compare it to Olympics which is truly best on best... and this is very much not, but these guys are clearly excited and going to celebrate the hell out of it.
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Limp Ditka
Footballguy
Being that it was for the entire country, I can only hope that Cubs fans appreciate this more than that World Series a couple of month ago
Last edited by a moderator:
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
PR team all class, love baseball.
Jim Leyland I
you!
Jim Leyland I
you!
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Bunch of millionaires playing a kids game and having fun doing it. That's what the WBBC is IMO. 
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Brandon Crawford's wife is a BIG GIRL. NTTATWWT.
World Baseball Classic title is a perfect end to Jim Leyland’s career
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-jim-leyland-pi.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
Ken Rosenthal @ken_rosenthal
Mar 23, 2017 at 4:36a ET
0
Shares
LOS ANGELES — His voice cracked. His voice always cracks at times like this, times of triumph and emotion and reflection. This would be the last time for any of that. And Jim Leyland got sentimental, because at his core, that’s who he is, always has been.
A few minutes earlier, he had held himself together saying almost the exact same words during the on-field ceremony at Dodger Stadium. But now, in the interview room, a reporter asked Leyland what it meant to cap off his career by winning the World Baseball Classic.
Leyland, 72. started off fine — “Well, I’ve been retired for three years, and I’m going to stay retired. That I can promise you.” Reporters around the room smiled; forever self-deprecating, that’s part of who Leyland is, too. But then he started to repeat what he said on the podium about managing Team USA, and his voice wavered.
“I had the honor of managing for our country. The coaches had the honor of coaching for our country. The players had the honor of playing for our country,” Leyland said. “But this is really about the men and women that serve our country. That’s who this is for.”
You might view his statement as hokey. You might view the WBC as contrived. But something happened with the U.S. team over the last 2 1/2 weeks, something that was quite special, even moving. Leyland told the players as much during his postgame address Wednesday night after their 8-0 victory over Puerto Rico in the championship game of the tournament.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler, who played for Leyland with the Tigers in 2014, said that the manager was emotional while addressing the club. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy said that Leyland told the players that he had never seen a group come together as quickly as they did.
In the end, Team USA won what Leyland called the equivalent of three Game 7s, beating defending champion Dominican Republic, unbeaten Japan and unbeaten Puerto Rico, all in elimination games. The finale was decidedly anticlimactic, but the scene after the last pitch was nothing short of lovely, a portrait of the sport at its diverse and respectful best.
The U.S. players ran to the mound and bounced in unison, the way major leaguers do at home plate at the end of walk-off wins. Reliever Pat Neshek carried the team’s trademark bald-eagle statue to the celebration, and the Puerto Rican players stood in front of their dugout, looking at the U.S. players wistfully.
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-leyland-kinsler.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
After a few moments, Leyland strolled to the other side of the field and embraced Puerto Rico manager Edwin Rodriguez, then several of his coaches; Rodriguez would relate later that Leyland told him what he had been telling him the whole tournament — that the Puerto Rican team was “fun to watch.”
In many ways, it was a shame that Puerto Rico had to lose. The commonwealth, struggling through a debt crisis, losing population to the mainland U.S., had drawn unusual strength from the team’s run in the WBC.
Stores ran out of blond hair dye as fans imitated the look of the players. Schools made videos of children singing and holding flags. Not a single murder was reported last weekend, a peaceful interlude reminiscent of how the island reacted after tennis player Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medal in 2016.
“If we’re going to live this quality of life for two weeks following a team, let’s keep doing it,” Puerto Rico general manager Alex Cora said before the game. “This is all cool. I love it. But our goal is not to give them joy for two weeks. Our goal is to change the feeling of the country.”
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-usa-wbc-title.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
A victory in the title game would have finished the job that Team Puerto Rico failed to complete four years ago, when it lost to the Dominican in the final, 3-0. This loss was much worse, but when it was over, the players gathered in a group prayer, then saluted their thousands of fans in the crowd of 51,565, applauding them, waving to them, tipping their caps.
Team USA’s Adam Jones and Christian Yelich, clutching two ends of an American flag, led a group of about eight U.S. players in a victory lap around the field. The Puerto Rican players, still standing behind the third-base line, tipped their caps toward the U.S. players scattered near the mound. Eventually, the U.S. players drifted toward them, shaking hands, sharing hugs.
Perhaps the reactions would have been different, more raw, if the game had been closer. But the only hint of drama, after Kinsler broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the third inning, came when Leyland sent right-hander Marcus Stroman back to the mound to start the seventh.
At the time, Stroman had a no-hitter. He had thrown only 69 pitches, faced the minimum 18 hitters through six innings. But the U.S. had scored three runs in a lengthy top half, and Leyland said later that sticking with Stroman, “was probably a mistake on my part, to be honest with you.”
Puerto Rico’s Angel Pagan ended the no-hit bid by leading off with a double, and Leyland popped out of the dugout immediately to make a pitching change. Not to worry: The U.S. starting pitchers — with no Clayton Kershaw, no Max Scherzer, no Madison Bumgarner — finished the WBC with a 1.25 ERA in 36 innings.
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-team-usa-celebrates.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
Stroman, the tournament MVP, was asked during his postgame news conference how he would have reacted if Leyland had removed him from a no-hitter.
“I’m sure I would have been upset initially, but I have so much respect for Mr. Leyland,” Stroman said. “He’s the man. I never played for such a down-to-earth, humble, confident manager. He is able to rile us up in perfect ways. I feel like every word he says is calculated and perfect and knows how to get us going.”
Stroman went further, adding “I’m kind of upset that he’s leaving the game and he won’t be managing again,” and musing, “We’ll bring him back in four years.” Leyland, though, had none of that, acknowledging, “There is a good chance this is the last time I’ll ever wear a uniform.”
Makes sense, given Leyland’s age. But it’s still a shame.
“I loved playing for him,” Lucroy said. “He was locked in the entire game. Every inning when we would come in and hit, he walked up and down the dugout getting on us, saying, ‘Let’s go. Let’s keep on it.’ I love that. That’s energy. And we fed off that energy.”
Leyland won a World Series with the Marlins in 1997, but he said the WBC title was different, refusing to compare the two. He had drawn laughter by stealing a line from President Trump before the game, cracking that Team USA was trying to make America great again. But competition is never something Leyland took lightly.
The final sentence of his final postgame speech, according to Kinsler, was, “You come to the ballpark every day to win, to beat the other team regardless of who it is.” Doesn’t sound like much, but the U.S. team, full of baseball rats, could relate. That’s how they approached the game.
Later, as Leyland concluded his postgame news conference, the moderator said, “Jim, World Series champion. World Baseball Classic champion. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, all. I hope you enjoyed it,” Leyland said.
Always did, Jim. Always did.
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-jim-leyland-pi.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
Ken Rosenthal @ken_rosenthal
Mar 23, 2017 at 4:36a ET
0
Shares
LOS ANGELES — His voice cracked. His voice always cracks at times like this, times of triumph and emotion and reflection. This would be the last time for any of that. And Jim Leyland got sentimental, because at his core, that’s who he is, always has been.
A few minutes earlier, he had held himself together saying almost the exact same words during the on-field ceremony at Dodger Stadium. But now, in the interview room, a reporter asked Leyland what it meant to cap off his career by winning the World Baseball Classic.
Leyland, 72. started off fine — “Well, I’ve been retired for three years, and I’m going to stay retired. That I can promise you.” Reporters around the room smiled; forever self-deprecating, that’s part of who Leyland is, too. But then he started to repeat what he said on the podium about managing Team USA, and his voice wavered.
“I had the honor of managing for our country. The coaches had the honor of coaching for our country. The players had the honor of playing for our country,” Leyland said. “But this is really about the men and women that serve our country. That’s who this is for.”
You might view his statement as hokey. You might view the WBC as contrived. But something happened with the U.S. team over the last 2 1/2 weeks, something that was quite special, even moving. Leyland told the players as much during his postgame address Wednesday night after their 8-0 victory over Puerto Rico in the championship game of the tournament.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler, who played for Leyland with the Tigers in 2014, said that the manager was emotional while addressing the club. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy said that Leyland told the players that he had never seen a group come together as quickly as they did.
In the end, Team USA won what Leyland called the equivalent of three Game 7s, beating defending champion Dominican Republic, unbeaten Japan and unbeaten Puerto Rico, all in elimination games. The finale was decidedly anticlimactic, but the scene after the last pitch was nothing short of lovely, a portrait of the sport at its diverse and respectful best.
The U.S. players ran to the mound and bounced in unison, the way major leaguers do at home plate at the end of walk-off wins. Reliever Pat Neshek carried the team’s trademark bald-eagle statue to the celebration, and the Puerto Rican players stood in front of their dugout, looking at the U.S. players wistfully.
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-leyland-kinsler.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
After a few moments, Leyland strolled to the other side of the field and embraced Puerto Rico manager Edwin Rodriguez, then several of his coaches; Rodriguez would relate later that Leyland told him what he had been telling him the whole tournament — that the Puerto Rican team was “fun to watch.”
In many ways, it was a shame that Puerto Rico had to lose. The commonwealth, struggling through a debt crisis, losing population to the mainland U.S., had drawn unusual strength from the team’s run in the WBC.
Stores ran out of blond hair dye as fans imitated the look of the players. Schools made videos of children singing and holding flags. Not a single murder was reported last weekend, a peaceful interlude reminiscent of how the island reacted after tennis player Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medal in 2016.
“If we’re going to live this quality of life for two weeks following a team, let’s keep doing it,” Puerto Rico general manager Alex Cora said before the game. “This is all cool. I love it. But our goal is not to give them joy for two weeks. Our goal is to change the feeling of the country.”
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-usa-wbc-title.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
A victory in the title game would have finished the job that Team Puerto Rico failed to complete four years ago, when it lost to the Dominican in the final, 3-0. This loss was much worse, but when it was over, the players gathered in a group prayer, then saluted their thousands of fans in the crowd of 51,565, applauding them, waving to them, tipping their caps.
Team USA’s Adam Jones and Christian Yelich, clutching two ends of an American flag, led a group of about eight U.S. players in a victory lap around the field. The Puerto Rican players, still standing behind the third-base line, tipped their caps toward the U.S. players scattered near the mound. Eventually, the U.S. players drifted toward them, shaking hands, sharing hugs.
Perhaps the reactions would have been different, more raw, if the game had been closer. But the only hint of drama, after Kinsler broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the third inning, came when Leyland sent right-hander Marcus Stroman back to the mound to start the seventh.
At the time, Stroman had a no-hitter. He had thrown only 69 pitches, faced the minimum 18 hitters through six innings. But the U.S. had scored three runs in a lengthy top half, and Leyland said later that sticking with Stroman, “was probably a mistake on my part, to be honest with you.”
Puerto Rico’s Angel Pagan ended the no-hit bid by leading off with a double, and Leyland popped out of the dugout immediately to make a pitching change. Not to worry: The U.S. starting pitchers — with no Clayton Kershaw, no Max Scherzer, no Madison Bumgarner — finished the WBC with a 1.25 ERA in 36 innings.
<img src="http://b.fssta.com/uploads/2017/03/032317-team-usa-celebrates.vresize.480.270.high.0.jpg" />
Stroman, the tournament MVP, was asked during his postgame news conference how he would have reacted if Leyland had removed him from a no-hitter.
“I’m sure I would have been upset initially, but I have so much respect for Mr. Leyland,” Stroman said. “He’s the man. I never played for such a down-to-earth, humble, confident manager. He is able to rile us up in perfect ways. I feel like every word he says is calculated and perfect and knows how to get us going.”
Stroman went further, adding “I’m kind of upset that he’s leaving the game and he won’t be managing again,” and musing, “We’ll bring him back in four years.” Leyland, though, had none of that, acknowledging, “There is a good chance this is the last time I’ll ever wear a uniform.”
Makes sense, given Leyland’s age. But it’s still a shame.
“I loved playing for him,” Lucroy said. “He was locked in the entire game. Every inning when we would come in and hit, he walked up and down the dugout getting on us, saying, ‘Let’s go. Let’s keep on it.’ I love that. That’s energy. And we fed off that energy.”
Leyland won a World Series with the Marlins in 1997, but he said the WBC title was different, refusing to compare the two. He had drawn laughter by stealing a line from President Trump before the game, cracking that Team USA was trying to make America great again. But competition is never something Leyland took lightly.
The final sentence of his final postgame speech, according to Kinsler, was, “You come to the ballpark every day to win, to beat the other team regardless of who it is.” Doesn’t sound like much, but the U.S. team, full of baseball rats, could relate. That’s how they approached the game.
Later, as Leyland concluded his postgame news conference, the moderator said, “Jim, World Series champion. World Baseball Classic champion. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, all. I hope you enjoyed it,” Leyland said.
Always did, Jim. Always did.
