22 Inning Baseball Game

I was just talking to my brother last night about lengthy baseball games after hearing it on Mike and the Mad Dog. They were talking about the long Yankee/Red Sox games that seem to take away from the rivalry now with the pitchers just unable to hand the two explosive offensive sides. This happens the very same day that the Padres and Rockies duke out a 2-1 game that lasted 22 Innings – MLB Wrap Up.

I’ve heard arguments that rosters should be expanded to more than 25 so teams can be allowed to carry an extra pitcher or two incase they get burned out the day before but I am totally against that. If a team is able to hit around your starter where you are forced to go to your bullpen rather early in the game or are unable to score runs in extra innings where you are forced to use multiple relievers, that is your fault and not your opponents. Your opponent should be rewarded for putting you in such a situation the next day where they face a tired team.

Yea we constantly hear that baseball has just become a hitters game with no respect being shown to the pitchers but I think most of these pitchers are just babied way too much. “Oh, we must put an innings limit on him” or “He’s on a pitch limit today”. Let these guys go out and pitch as long as they can. Let them get out of trouble and don’t bail them out and go to someone in your pen. None of the young guys ever learn that way and if they don’t get the experience now, you’re bound to pay for it later.

Let me know what you guys think… should the MLB expand rosters to say 27-28 where 2-3 guys are on reserve and a team is able to rotate players in and out on a given night to rest some players? So you always have 25 guys suited up for a game but in between games, a team can switch players and not have to option a guy or put him on a list. It’s an interesting idea to toss around.

Creativity At Its Finest?

This is why NHL is the coolest sport on Earth. Where else can you find a player standing in front of a goalie trying to set a screen like this? I’m still not sure where I stand on the issue though. On one hand, it is trying to distract the goalie by obstructing his point of view but you can also argue that since he isn’t even looking at the puck, there should be some sort of rule against that. Basically, Sean Avery gets in front on Marty Brodeur and starts waving his stick and does everything he could to distract him and obstruct his view. This goes on for a little bit and you can clearly see a frustrated Brodeur. I’m not sure why any of the Devils’ players just didn’t deck him to the ground.

The NHL wasted little time however following the incident to enact the following unsportsmanlike conduct rule.

“An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty (Rule 75) will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender’s face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play.”

I don’t blame them for doing this right now and certainly you know the GMs and Owners will talk about this during the off season but this looks like a decent enough patch up for this playoff season. Even though Brodeur allows the goal the following play, you have to wonder if the antics of Sean Avery paid off from the play before.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_2oKWe2Gw

Soccer MixTape

I had mentioned almost a month ago to the day about Nick ‘Niko’ Gkionis who has been playing professional soccer over in Cyrpus and showed a teaser of his soccer mixtape that was due for release. It finally got released today and it is some pretty good stuff. I have the video below and if you want a direct link, click here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvaMi1phvpE

Weekend Forecast

I’m gonna head down to Washington DC for the weekend with a couple of roommates and a friend, hopefully the weather cooperates (like the 70 degrees today for the entire weekend would be nice). We’ll see how that goes. Anyways, so much going on in the world of sports. NHL Playoffs started yesterday, Masters Tournament started today and Yankees/Red Sox weekend series starts tomorrow night. Another hurdle towards the consecutive games streak comes into play tomorrow as I may be on the road during the game but I can always resort that radio although I would like the use that a little as possible.

NHL Playoffs started yesterday and from what I remember correctly my friend Rusty from High School was at the Devils/Rangers game handing out towels and whatnot to the fans in attendance. I haven’t talked to him since the game but I probably will tonight to ask him how it went. I’m sure he would have preferred a Devils victory but it’s only game 1. The Pens on the other hand looked pretty good, albeit it was against the shorthanded Senators who have really been short handed with a string of injuries and especially after their 15-2 start to the season this year. There have been rumors about the Penguins tanking their last game of the season so they secured a series with Ottawa instead of the Flyers and who knows to the truth about that statement but the Senators are really over-matched in this series.

I know some games have already been played but here are my predictions anyways. Continue reading “Weekend Forecast”

Streak in Jeopardy?

So I am currently sitting in my apartment looking at a boxed up television that is packed and ready to be shipped to the Sullivan residence. The MLB.tv package puts a local blackout in effect for any Yankee, Mets and possibly Phillies games so this afternoon’s Yankee game in Kansas City is not looking too promising. So far I am 7 for 7 in the games played this season with the Yankees going 4-3 in that stretch. Royals starting the season well with a 3 game sweet of the Tigers… hopefully they can pull off the same stuff against the Yanks.

I have several scenarios lying on the table right now. I could transport the new TV that is coming into the apartment but that requires carrying an 80 pound set down a block from CPA and then up 5 flights of stairs. Another option is finding some broadcast somewhere to catch an inning or so and the rest on the radio. The last option is to go out somewhere to catch the game and keep my streak alive.

I wonder, does listening to the entire game on the radio qualify as keeping the streak intact? What do you think?

Any other suggestions?

Edit:
So far it has been an even split on people suggesting listening to the game on the radio counts just as much as watching it on TV while others saying either its just not the same to my initial goal was to “watch” the games.