Tag: St. Louis

Former Red Sox Third Baseman Will Middlebrooks Retires. Lets Revisit His Career

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Though in a much, much smaller sample size and not nearly as popular a player as No. 5 ever was, I could never shake the parallel between the two guy’s careers. Just like Nomar Garciaparra, Will Middlebrooks was a young, homegrown talent that raked when he got to Fenway as a rookie in 2012. Hit for power, hit for average, looked like a staple in your lineup for years to come. Until a fastball caught them both in the wrist, vastly altering the projection of their careers. Nomar rebounded and made a few more All-Star teams, but was never again the same player as the one who flirted with hitting .400 before the injury.

Middlebrooks effectively fell off a cliff after the broken wrist. Before the injury Middlebrooks was hitting .288 his rookie year with 15 home runs and 54 RBI in just 286 Plate Appearance. His emergence at third base was part of the reason the Red Sox traded fan favorite Kevin Youkilis just two months before.

Thankfully Middlebrooks locked down a ride or die woman in Jenny Dell because he was never the same player. In 2013 he hit 17 home runs, just 2 more than he had in his breakout rookie campaign with nearly 100 more Plate Appearances, and his average dropped 61 points. Unfortunately he never hit double digit home runs in a season again, plagued by injuries, as his Batting Average hovered around the Mendoza Line for the rest of his career.

It’s a damn shame because I remember watching him and seeing huge potential.

Either way, Will Middlebrooks will always be remembered as a key cog in the 2013 World Series winning team as well as party to one of the weirdest plays in World Series history.

Can’t take away that championship ring though. Congrats Will, enjoy retirement.

Are the Astros Stealing the Red Sox Signs? Probably. Do I Care? Not Really.

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Yahoo – The Boston Red Sox were warned that a man credentialed by the Houston Astros might try to steal signs or information from their dugout after the Cleveland Indians caught him taking pictures of their dugout with a cellphone camera during Game 3 of the American League Division Series, sources with knowledge of the situation told Yahoo Sports.

A photograph obtained by Yahoo Sports showed a man named Kyle McLaughlin aiming a cell phone into Cleveland’s dugout during the Indians’ 11-3 loss that ended their season. McLaughlin was the same man caught taking pictures near the Red Sox’s dugout during Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, which was first reported by the Metro Times. McLaughlin was removed by security in Cleveland and Boston, sources said.

It would be the height of hypocrisy for a guy from Boston to fire up the outrage machine over alleged sign stealing from an opponent. It would go against the line I’ve *always* preached that it’s really not that big of a deal. I’m not going to go as far as the old trope that “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying to win,” but particularly in baseball it is a part of the culture. If a guy on second base relays a stolen signal to his teammate at the plate then it’s generally accepted, if not applauded.

I suppose the influx of technology makes people more uncomfortable as it becomes a bit more sophisticated.

“Teams around the league are perhaps more wary of the Astros than any team, fearful that their employment of cameras – they use high-speed models made by Edgertronic to help evaluate players, according to sources – allows them to steal signs. MLB has not punished the Astros for any illegal behavior, sources told Yahoo Sports.”

If you happen to notice a catchers sign and relay that to a teammate you’re just competing, but if you have a whole system of deceit people regard it as more seedy.

I don’t really care and that may be because I am just entirely jaded by overblown cheating accusations (and stories about Apple Watches). If the Astros are indeed cheating then punish them, but I’m not going to sit here and tell you we need to take draft picks, and suspend players, and resurrect the ghost of Senator Arlen Specter to investigate the whole thing.

With that being said, at least PRETEND to be stealthy about it my dude.

But all this really does is raise the question I’ve always had as to why some of these stories blow up and others don’t? I mean anything the Patriots and Bill Belichick are accused of will always take on a life of its own because Bill is a glorious dickhead and people will take any chance they can get to try and bury the guy.

I guess the ‘Stros don’t play grabass with the media like some of the players/teams who have had similar stories swept under the rug.

Remember when Peyton Manning was (allegedly) taking PEDs? That shit was like a midnight news scroll on ESPN and was really never mentioned again. Ohhhh it was his wife taking the HGH guys, not Peyton the 40-year-old QB with a surgically fused spine, it was his wife!

Remember when the St. Louis Cardinals were caught hacking into the Astros entire scouting database? This got absolutely ZERO burn by the national media and this may have been the most outlandish scheme I’ve ever heard. The fall guy did end up going to prison and the team did get docked a couple of draft picks, but hey the Cardinals are the classiest team with the best fans in the world.

Time to Make the Donuts: Red Sox Get a Walk Off Win Over the Cardinals

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Mookie Betts doing Mookie Betts things last night in a walkoff win over the Cardinals. Just battling and grinding with 2 outs in the 9th before smoking a 3-2 pitch off the wall to knock in 2 runs and get the walk off win.

What made this all the sweeter was witnessing the Cardinals have an absolute meltdown in the 9th inning over some pretty minor shit. Just wilting under the pressure of the Sox mounting a comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

Molina snapped in the 9th when the home plate umpire called time after reliever John Brebbia held onto the ball for what felt like 10 seconds. Literally yelling in the ump’s face, all while the Cardinals are still up by 1 in the 9th inning. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny comes out to argue and ends up getting ejected. Less than 5 minutes later the Sox complete the comeback and walk off with the win. Thanks St. Louis!

PS – Nothing beats a walk off win, but don’t think I didn’t notice Jackie Bradley Jr. getting gunned down at the plate. Except Yadier Molina couldn’t handle the throw and JBJ was safe. If Molina handles that cleanly then JBJ is out by a MILE and we’re all yet again roasting the Red Sox for their abysmal base running. Just something to keep an eye on and remember when a gigantic base running error totally fucks them in the playoffs.

Time to Make the Donuts: Red Sox Turned a Triple Play Last Night

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So the Red Sox turned a triple play against the Cardinals last night, their first one in 6 years. Sure having Yadier Molina running in his snowshoes helped, but hey a triple play is a triple play.

The first triple play I can remember watching live was back in like 2006 when Hanley Ramirez turned an unassisted triple play in spring training. It was glorious. He leaped high to snag a line drive, ran over to second and threw to first to grab all 3 outs himself. Then the Sox traded him shortly after and I didn’t get to see him play at Fenway for another 10 years. I’d show you guys, but this one doesn’t seem to be in the interwebs catalogues so you’ll have to take my word for it. This was before Hanley became the defensive liability we know him as today and had to move to third base, then left field and now first base (read: DH). I’ll never forget reading the scouting report on Double-A prospect Hanley Ramirez’s defense at SS: “He’ll make a competent outfielder one day.” Kind of!

I Am Offended at the Lack of Patriots Fans That Want to Go for 19-0

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It seems like the topic du jour around the local sports media is whether the Patriots can realistically (or should even attempt it) go a perfect 19-0. Except there seems to be less people talking about if they can do it and more people just straight up refusing to talk about it and saying its stupid to do so. USA Today thinks its doable. But basically every other media personality wants no part of it.

As a Patriots fan, the lack of people that want to go for 19-0 personally offends me.

Guys, I know it brings up bad memories. We almost had it in 2007. It was in the palms of our hands, less than 2 minutes to go and the 07 Patriots would be crowned the greatest team of all time.

If Asante Samuel makes that interception. If David Tyree plays like the insurance salesman he really is, if Rodney Harrison somehow jars that ball lose from his fucking helmet, if the refs actually called holding on the Giants offensive line on that play. The list goes on and on.

That shit used to kill me. Used to. But I noticed something recently. The 07 Super Bowl highlights come on….and I watch them. It doesn’t make me physically ill anymore. I can watch those clips and say ah man that sucked, without smashing a pint glass off my wall like I would have done a few years ago. Winning two Super Bowls since then goes a looong way in healing that pain. Brady’s 5-2 in the SB for christ’s sake. That will always be the most painful loss of my life. I was a freshman in college and my direct roommate was a Giants fan, not to mention half my hallway. So losing in that fashion, surrounded by that many Giants fans in neutral territory as a young, inebriated boyish man, that was a tough pill to swallow.

But like I said, one of the greatest Super Bowls EVER against Seattle with the Malcolm Butler pick to seal the W was cathartic; the greatest comeback of all time against the Falcons in 2016 gave us all our swagger back. You can’t say shit to us. You can’t hurt us.

The Patriots have 5 Super Bowl rings, Tom Brady is a 2x MVP, a 4x Super Bowl MVP, he had one of his greatest seasons ever during the Deflategate saga, and then was suspended the following year only to come back, tear it up and win another fucking Super Bowl. Belichick and Brady are the. Greatest. Of. All. Time. So…what do you get the men who have everything? The only thing left. Perfection

Its the ultimate. Its the only thing left that the Patriots don’t have. And there will always be the Felgers of the world saying we as Patriots fans all have a persecution complex (is it paranoid if its true though?) and theres nothing left to prove. But, tell someone they can’t do something or don’t need something and what do they want? Exactly. We’ve conquered the AFC East, we’ve conquered fan bases in St. Louis, Carolina, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Atlanta, we’ve taken on the league and the commissioner himself and come out with one for the thumb. TB12 is 40 years old and playing better than anyone has ever played the position. Minneaposix™ is the goal, but 19-0 will always be the ultimate.

PS – Plus if the Pats do go 19-0 I can get my fucking t-shirts back stateside.

Once Dominant Red Sox Reliever Daniel Bard is On the Comeback Tour

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Yahoo! Sports – For a time, Daniel Bard was one of baseball’s most effective and feared relievers. Now the 31-year-old right-hander is scratching and clawing for one more opportunity in the big leagues, which he hopes will come this season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I admit I had completely forgotten about Daniel Bard. The once heir apparent to the best closer in Red Sox history, Jonathan Papelbon. Guy was absolutely lights out as a setup man and then the Red Sox fucked everything up. Seriously, don’t mess with success.

Remember when the Yankees had the same EXACT situation on their hands with Joba Chamberlain? Guy was an absolutely dominant reliever who was in line to take over as closer for Mariano Rivera. Nope, Yankees tried to move him into the starting rotation and the guy folded. Admittedly he had some sparks of dominance as a starter. I was at a game at Fenway he started and the guy went 7-8 innings and struck out 10. But for whatever reason, his build, his control, his endurance the guy unraveled and was ruined as a pitcher. They had a specific set of rules called the Joba Rules to keep this guy in tact for christ’s sake. Probably not the ideal guy to be messing with his whole workload and mindset. But I digress…

This is the latest team in a long list of teams kicking the tires on Bard. Theo was the first to try and resurrect Bard’s career unsurprisingly, picking him off the scrap heap in 2013 after the Sox placed him on waivers. He signed with the Rangers next season before actually re-signing with the Cubs organization in 2015, signed with the Pirates organization in January 2016 and didn’t even make it to April before getting released. Bard ultimately signed with the Cardinals last year and that’s where the comeback tour rolls on.

Reports say Bard seems to have his control back and is still throwing 96 mph. And this isn’t from some scrub St. Louis reporter, by “reports” I mean that this is coming from Peter Gammons, the human Britannica of baseball himself. So that’s gotta count for something.

With guys like Bard who were absolutely filthy for a short stint and then flamed out just as fast, it always reminds me of the Stellan Skarsgard quote from Good Will Hunting.

goodwillhunting_wishinevermetyou

Best of luck, Dan.

Breaking: Los Angeles Doesn’t Care About Football or the Rams

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usa-today-9145210-0

St. Louis Post Dispatch – For the season, Rams games have been seen in an average of 9.4 percent of homes in the LA market…In contrast, the worst rating the Rams ever drew during their St. Louis days was 10.9, and that came in 2013 when the Cardinals were playing a World Series game at the same time. The Rams, who have lost six of their last seven games, haven’t drawn a rating above 10.6 in LA this year since Week 2.

People in LA aren’t interested in the terrible Rams team that just moved to town? Color me shocked. The fans lack empathy and don’t tune in to the games? No shit. You don’t say. Let me spend 4 hours every Sunday watching the Rams get their doors blown off. Or because its, ya know, Los Angels and 80 degrees outside, maybe I’ll go to the beach or play volleyball in overly short shorts. I also *love* how the source of the story pointing out the terrible ratings is of all places, the St. Louis Dispatch. Yo, throw that shade. If you’ve got hate in your heart St. Louis, let it out.

It’s like that tourism for California commercial where all the celebrities are downplaying all the stereotypes of LA, while doing those exact things. Yea thats exactly how I picture LA Rams fans. “People think we’re just a bunch of dreamers, with our heads in the clouds,” says the asshole riding the 15 foot tall bicycle. So yea, thats LA for you.

Or how about this one? “People think we’re all celebrities, or surfers. That we’re all into yoga. Or that everyone owns a winery.” Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All assholes. Godspeed Rams, its gonna be a bumpy one.

Betty White does save that commercial from being totally insufferable so.

Los Angeles doesn’t put up with 7-9 bullshit, as Jeff Fisher would say. The only way to get attention in that town is to basically be the Showtime Lakers or the 2003-2005 USC Trojans. Some glitz, some glamour and of course MASSIVE amounts of winning. When you’re a boring team that is also terrible, not a great combo. Todd Gurley’s entertaining commercials aside, him slamming into the back of his O Linemen 30 times a game for no gain does not put asses in the seats.

You know who does put up with terrible football year after year and embraces the 7-9 bullshit?

St. Louis.

jefffisher

Sam Bradford Demands Trade, Underachievers Everywhere Sigh in Disgust

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SamBradford

ESPN – The Philadelphia Eagles have been informed that quarterback Sam Bradford wants to be traded and will not be showing up for their offseason program any longer, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Bradford is upset at the Eagles’ trade last week for the No. 2 overall pick to draft a quarterback.

What an absolute slap in the face to underachievers everywhere. First Sam Bradford snakes $78 million out of the (former) St. Louis Rams for a grand total of 59 TD passes. Now obviously he was hurt most of the time he was in STL, but those are the stats he got PAID for. Then after a highly mediocre year in Philadelphia he somehow parlays that into ANOTHER big pay day with a 2 year $35 million deal. And the Eagles had the gall to trade up in the draft to likely take a QB after Bradford gave them 3,700 yards, 19 TDs and 14 INTs. Unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame him for wanting to go somewhere where he’ll be the unquestioned starter, but Bradford has played terribly (and sunk my fantasy team in the process) so if it were me I’d tell Sam to have a coke and a smile and shut up.