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 Post subject: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:02 pm 
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Because the way they are playing right now, the Yankees have an excellent chance.<p>This is not an outcome I want to see, mind you. And I know it's very early in the season. But the last time the Yanks started this poorly was 1997, and that season ended when the Indians defeated the Yankees in the A.L. Division Series. (What a stellar World Series we had that year, with the soon-to-be-dismantled Florida Marlins and Indians battling to let the other team win.)<p>In a way, Steinbrenner deserves it for always going for the quick free-agent fix rather than hiring and listening to good scouts and developing his farm system and prospects.<p>How ironic would a last-place finish be, though, for A-Rod, who thought he was going from the cellar to the penthouse when he left Texas for New York?<p>[ April 24, 2004: Message edited by: wordygurdy ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:32 pm 
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The Yankees will finish no worse than third. Toronto and Tampa Bay are simply too weak. But the Bombers need to shape up or third place will stop seeming like an absurd result. For all the names the Yankees have, Boston's offense last year proved that it has the numbers.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 1:48 pm 
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What does it say about the Yankees' play this season that I am actually taking consolation from your post, Matthew? You're right, of course. And I refuse to believe the Yankees will continue to be this bad in all aspects of the game--pitching, hitting, defense.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 2:41 pm 
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The Red Sox fans have their whiny nihilism; we Yankees fans have early-season panic.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:13 pm 
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Went up to the Stadium today. Sat through 9 cold, rainy, scoreless innings. They look even worse in person right now. Ugly.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 7:14 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
Went up to the Stadium today. Sat through 9 cold, rainy, scoreless innings. .<hr></blockquote>
Now you know why baseball hasn't taken off here. (Cricket cognesceti note that Zimbabwe was out for 35 against Sri Lanka in an ODI on the weekend. )<p>[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 8:15 pm 
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Could you translate the parenthetical for me?


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:07 pm 
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Oh, never mind. "35 innings."


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:22 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
Could you translate the parenthetical for me?<hr></blockquote>
Full scoreboard here. What it all means explained .here. Jargon interpretation available here and by private message.
This was the lowest score in the history of one-day internationals.<p>[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]<p>[ April 26, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:02 pm 
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This paragraph is very perceptive and persuasive:<p>For US Cricket, the breakthrough came with the realization that cricketers had been barking up the wrong tree in trying to get ALL Americans to understand cricket. Only a minority of Americans really understand baseball ...most think they do, but few can fully understand baseball's strategic nuances, and finer points. How could they be expected to comprehend the more arcane rites of cricket? If, on the other hand, cricket was understood by baseballers, there is a far greater likelihood of their being able to communicate their understanding to other Americans. And, given the esteem in which baseball is held in North America, a "seal of approval" from baseball would help to achieve at least a grudging acceptance of cricket among the non-baseball-playing majority of Americans.<p>That strikes me as exactly right. The esoteric joy of thinking you understand baseball better than everyone around you is one of the enduring pleasures of American life, and by trying to appeal to that same sentiment, the cricketers may be on to something.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:11 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:

Full scoreboard here. What it all means explained .here. Jargon interpretation available here and by private message.
This was the lowest score in the history of one-day internationals.
<hr></blockquote><p>I appreciate it, Paul. The Zimbabwe story made my head spin, but I gather that "35 all out" is something really embarrassing. And I would add that the expression "staying away in droves" was coined by baseball's malapropist Yogi Berra, if I'm not mistaken.<p>I don't think I'm going to get cricket until it's explained to me in person. I taught a Frenchman the rules of baseball once -- I'm sure this can be done.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:23 pm 
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The writer probably knows the quote's source. In a cable tv global village, most cricket journos I know understand baseball and follow it with a modicum of interest.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 11:18 am 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
I taught a Frenchman the rules of baseball once -- I'm sure this can be done.<hr></blockquote>The basics of baseball are pretty simple. It's the nuances -- untold numbers of them -- that make one a lifetime student of the game.<p>They're also why we love it so.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 4:01 pm 
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One man's rule is another man's nuance. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to explain to the aforementioned Gaul that "stealing bases" was legal?


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 1:01 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to explain to the aforementioned Gaul that "stealing bases" was legal?<hr></blockquote>Lord help you if the infield fly rule would've come up.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:40 pm 
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That's one that even I only recently got straight.<p>I still haven't figured out how National League double-switches work. I just know that Joe Torre blew the doors off, managerially speaking, Bobby Cox in the '96 Series when he pulled Wade Boggs out of his dugout to pinch-hit late in Game 3 in Atlanta that year.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:17 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by wordygurdy:
That's one that even I only recently got straight.<p>I still haven't figured out how National League double-switches work. I just know that Joe Torre blew the doors off, managerially speaking, Bobby Cox in the '96 Series when he pulled Wade Boggs out of his dugout to pinch-hit late in Game 3 in Atlanta that year.<hr></blockquote><p>Many columns have been written theorizing that the big reason for the 1996-2000 Yankee dynasty was that Joe Torre unleashed a National League style of play on the poor, unsuspecting American League. Load of hogwash, if you ask me (and I'm a Yankees fan).


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2004 1:24 am 
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I wish Bill Veeck was still around...


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2004 11:07 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
Boston's offense last year proved that it has the numbers.<hr></blockquote><p>Heh, not this year. It seems the one number that's going up is "left on base."


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2004 3:35 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Kewpie:
<p>Heh, not this year. It seems the one number that's going up is "left on base."<hr></blockquote><p>Hmm, I don't know, Kewpie. The Red Sox have sure put a hurtin' on the Yankees in six out of seven games so far, though admittedly not many of the games were blowouts. I'm kind of surprised that Mueller and Ortiz are still hitting the way they did last year. (Though Mueller is at .235 now, he has torn it up against the Yankees this year at .435, 10-for-23.) Varitek is always a threat to hit .300 and 20 to 25 jacks, and Ramirez's average always seems to be hovering around .330 if not above. And this is all without Garciaparra or Nixon. The Red Sox can score some runs.<p>I'm not saying the Yankees can't or won't score a lot of runs, especially given that lately their offense has been more productive. <p>But I wouldn't write the Red Sox off by any stretch.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:16 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Tim Lawson:
The Red Sox fans have their whiny nihilism; we Yankees fans have early-season panic.<hr></blockquote><p>Yeah, what I said.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:46 pm 
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Oh the joy that will be mine if the Devil Rays manage to pass the Red Sox in the standings.<p>Right now Boston is 7.5 games behind New York and only 4.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:34 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Matthew Grieco:
Right now Boston is 7.5 games behind New York and only 4.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay.<hr></blockquote><p>As a card-carrying asshole, I gleefully pointed this out to a Sox fan at a bar after Ortiz's Buckner moment last night. He didn't believe me at first but became suitably mortified.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:26 pm 
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From ESPN.com Page 2's Eric Neel:<p> <blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr> ... hold onto these numbers: The Yankees have scored 415 runs through Wednesday, the Red Sox have scored 409; The Yankees have given up 357 runs, the Red Sox have allowed 358. Yes, there's a 7.5-game gap in the standings, but the gap rests on only seven runs difference in terms of performance. This thing is tight. The difference now is a little luck, and a little better job by the Red Sox of driving in runners in scoring position. Luck could decide to take a dance with Boston any time, and the gap in the standings could close right back up. <hr></blockquote><p>Things like this make all of us Yankee haters feel better, even if it's all just speculation.


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 Post subject: Re: Has a $184 million team ever finished last?
PostPosted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:57 pm 
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With all due respect to Mr. Neel, I have come to the conclusion that the only luck the Red Sox will ever have when playing the Yankees is, ultimately, of the bad variety.<p>I was at Thursday night's game and wholeheartedly agree with broadcaster Michael Kay's screamed assessment of it afterward: "That is one of the greatest baseball games you will ever see!" Even allowing for the fact that he is technically a Steinbrenner employee, that is not overstatement. I would have felt that way if the Yankees had lost.<p>There are only so many Red Sox implosions while they play the Yankees that one can witness before surmising that there are otherworldly forces at work that will inevitably bring victory to the team in pinstripes, no matter how dire the circumstances may seem.<p>Mystique and Aura, appearing nightly, indeed.


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