Baseball

[hibsboy90]

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You can never tell how you will be treated. I've never seen any trouble with rival fans but I also stay out of certain areas e.g. Times Square when it's really late. I'm guessing since this incident took place outside a bar that alcohol was involved and who knows what was said. Still scary though. Just exercise caution and you should be OK. Most of the fans are fine.

Yes, i'm not going to go all 'Old Firm' style whilst there and flaunt the fact we're in the WS. I am staying in Times Square though......

Should be an intersting matchup now though. If you asked for an opinion on the winner a week ago, i'd have said Rockies all the way. BUT, they will have cooled now with an 8 day layoff, and the sox seem to be hitting form. Lowell is getting the RBIs, Youkilis is batting .500 ish. And taking Coco the clown out and replacing him with Ellsbury seemed a good move. Though i was pleased for crisp to get that catch to win the series.

Now the Mile high Coors field, been to a game there, very nice facilities, will hopefully produce many HRs with the less air density (something like that)

LETS GO RED SOX!!!

[duncs]

First game 13-1 Red Sox, Beckett was on FIRE!

Managed to stay up until the top of the 5th before falling asleep on the sofa, must try harder to Game 2 tonight.

Great game though!

[Dashing Bob S]

In Boston at the moment. Great atmosphere at 'Southie' in the bars. Boston pitched a great defensive game to win 2-1. Can't wait for Saturday.Rockies strong at home cause of the altitude issue but can't see Sox losing the WS now.


'Let's all laugh at Yankees...'

[Shrekko]

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There were a fair few Red Sox hats, t-shirts etc on show today in Florida, one problem, i'm going up to New York tomorrow for a few days, nervous about the world series up there, if this is anything to go by

C'mon mate -you're not seriously worried about being attacked in New York simply because Boston are playing a World Series are you?

Unless you're going out your way to let everyone know your a Red Sox fan or chanting 'Yankees Suck' in a pub (and I'm sure you're more sensible than that) to wind folk up then I cant quite see the danger.

New York is not baseball obsessed in the way Boston is-and theres not the same obsession with the Red Sox as there is with the Yankees in Boston. I was there 2 weeks ago and saw quite a few Boston caps on the streets. People in NY dont care. It would take a much braver man to walk around Boston with a Yankees cap on I'd say! In fact it took a brave man to leave a car with a NY number plate out on the streets of Boston the last time the Red Sox won the WS

[hibsboy90]

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C'mon mate -you're not seriously worried about being attacked in New York simply because Boston are playing a World Series are you?

Unless you're going out your way to let everyone know your a Red Sox fan or chanting 'Yankees Suck' in a pub (and I'm sure you're more sensible than that) to wind folk up then I cant quite see the danger.

New York is not baseball obsessed in the way Boston is-and theres not the same obsession with the Red Sox as there is with the Yankees in Boston. I was there 2 weeks ago and saw quite a few Boston caps on the streets. People in NY dont care. It would take a much braver man to walk around Boston with a Yankees cap on I'd say! In fact it took a brave man to leave a car with a NY number plate out on the streets of Boston the last time the Red Sox won the WS

It was a joking tongue in cheek comment don't worry. Just flew back from NY today, (in time to get to ER). As you mentioned, plenty of people were wearing BRS hats.

[HibsMax]

tick, tock, tick, tock. :)

[duncs]

How Sweep It Is!

4-0, I'll take that - Lowell MVP, very much deserved in my opinion!

[hibsboy90]

It was between Lowell and Ellisbury for MVP i feel.

I was trying to avoid the score desperately and get home from school and watch it on tape. BUT, my mate said "You'll be happy about Boston winning" so i've checked the match report online.

Now i'm looking forward to getting home and watching Lowell pop one away.

Part of me wanted them to win it at Fenway, but it would have meant at best 3-2 up, too riky so i'll accept a sweep.

Now can we hold on to Lowell, will A-Rod come to the sox having exercised his free-agent option?

No longer are we the unlucky team, people can now jump on someone else's bandwagon

Let's go RE.......ROYALS!!!!

[Dashing Bob S]

Baseball's a pitcher's game and it was the pitching that won it for the Red Sox.


I don't hold with the Red Sox fans being obnoxious. They're one of the few baseball supports as passionate about their team as football fans are. I'd rather they won it than some soul-less new franchise like Colorado, did you see that psuedo-jambo obnoxious scarf-twirling?

The Red Sox are stuck in the same Division as the biggest sporting corporation in the world, and they've got to either beat them every time or come a good enough second in the American League to get the wild card that sees them into post season and a crack at the World Series. In other words they have to really work, every time, just to get there - there's never an easy route for them. So you can't grudge them their excitment when they make it.

[HibsMax]

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Baseball's a pitcher's game and it was the pitching that won it for the Red Sox.


I don't hold with the Red Sox fans being obnoxious. They're one of the few baseball supports as passionate about their team as football fans are. I'd rather they won it than some soul-less new franchise like Colorado, did you see that psuedo-jambo obnoxious scarf-twirling?

The Red Sox are stuck in the same Division as the biggest sporting corporation in the world, and they've got to either beat them every time or come a good enough second in the American League to get the wild card that sees them into post season and a crack at the World Series. In other words they have to really work, every time, just to get there - there's never an easy route for them. So you can't grudge them their excitment when they make it.

for sure, but are the wheels coming off? I know the Yankees have money but even with money and talent they couldn't do it. Now some of that talent is leaving. Next year will be interesting.

[ancienthibby]

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Baseball's a pitcher's game and it was the pitching that won it for the Red Sox.


I don't hold with the Red Sox fans being obnoxious. They're one of the few baseball supports as passionate about their team as football fans are. I'd rather they won it than some soul-less new franchise like Colorado, did you see that psuedo-jambo obnoxious scarf-twirling?

The Red Sox are stuck in the same Division as the biggest sporting corporation in the world, and they've got to either beat them every time or come a good enough second in the American League to get the wild card that sees them into post season and a crack at the World Series. In other words they have to really work, every time, just to get there - there's never an easy route for them. So you can't grudge them their excitment when they make it.

##

Agreed, the BoSox fans are some of the greatest in the history of the game, the most arrogant are the Yankee fans!

The Boston fans waited an awful long time for that WS victory in 2004 and are well entitled to celebrate again now, especially in the light of their post-season performances.

If any of you are long in the tooth, my first memories of the BoSox go back to the great Carl Yastremski and Carlton Fisk - if you can connect to that then all celebrations for this win are justified!!

Now if only we can get the Argonauts to win the Grey Cup, my sporting year will be made!!

[Fat Stu]

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It was between Lowell and Ellisbury for MVP i feel.

I was trying to avoid the score desperately and get home from school and watch it on tape. BUT, my mate said "You'll be happy about Boston winning" so i've checked the match report online.

Now i'm looking forward to getting home and watching Lowell pop one away.

Part of me wanted them to win it at Fenway, but it would have meant at best 3-2 up, too riky so i'll accept a sweep.

Now can we hold on to Lowell, will A-Rod come to the sox having exercised his free-agent option?

No longer are we the unlucky team, people can now jump on someone else's bandwagon

Let's go RE.......ROYALS!!!!

to answer simply, no ****ing chance.

[Falkirk Hibby]

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to answer simply, no ****ing chance.

Why not...Does he not want to win something?

[Fat Stu]

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Why not...Does he not want to win something?

Just cannae see it.

[Shrekko]

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Why not...Does he not want to win something?

Red Sox wont win with A-Rod on their roster- nobody will. The RS had the luckiest escape ever when the deal to take A-Rod to Fenway collapsed in '04. Remember they were going to be giving up Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra to make that one happen- Red Sox fans must shudder to even think about that! They must also thank God that they were practically FORCED to take Mike Lowell from the Marlins in order to get Josh Beckett.

I take my hat of to the Sox for their play-off performance. Excellent in every facet of the game. They do not actually have great pitchers- Beckett has been great this season but has been poor before (2006), Schilling is not what he was, Dice-K is average and Wakefield is too. However they pitched to the best of their ability when it mattered most. The hitters were superb, and the fielding was good too.

Two other points- stop the myth that the Red Sox are still under-dogs. The current school of thought is that they are possibly the biggest team in baseball. The Yankees currently have the biggest pay-roll but the FACT is that the Sox can compete with them for ANY player.

Lastly Red Sox AND Yankee fans are both superb, passionate sets of fans. Arrogance comes with winning, and believe me it's the Bostonians being arrogant right now and I've no problem with that-they were hardly going to be arrrogant before 2004 were they? Yankees fans are bound to have arrogant fans having had such great success in the past, but in general they are well aware of where they are at the moment!

[hibsboy90]

Girardi just announced as manager of Yankees with a 3 year deal.

Watching the celebrations in Boston looked fun.

Papelbon's dancing was once again on show, the crowd chanting to re-sign lowell, with Varitek holding up signs with the message.

[HibsMax]

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I take my hat of to the Sox for their play-off performance. Excellent in every facet of the game. They do not actually have great pitchers- Beckett has been great this season but has been poor before (2006), Schilling is not what he was, Dice-K is average and Wakefield is too. However they pitched to the best of their ability when it mattered most. The hitters were superb, and the fielding was good too.

I disagree about Beckett. He didn't have a great year last year but we always knew he had potential. He's now living up to that potential. To suggest that Beckett is not a great pitcher is lunacy IMO. But let's make it best out of three and see how he does next year. :)

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Two other points- stop the myth that the Red Sox are still under-dogs. The current school of thought is that they are possibly the biggest team in baseball. The Yankees currently have the biggest pay-roll but the FACT is that the Sox can compete with them for ANY player.

I personally have never thought the Sox were the underdogs, they were just unlucky. We've had great players, great teams and great results....we just never managed to get the job done. Money has not been an issue for as long as I can remember.

[Shrekko]

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I disagree about Beckett. He didn't have a great year last year but we always knew he had potential. He's now living up to that potential. To suggest that Beckett is not a great pitcher is lunacy IMO. But let's make it best out of three and see how he does next year. :)

Suggesting I'm a lunatic for saying Beckett was poor in 2006 is a bit much is it not???

I didnt actually say he wasnt a great pitcher- I said he WAS in 2007. I think overall that he has to sustain it for a few more years in the AL to confirm that he's 'great'. I suppose it all depends how you define 'great'. In my baseball watching time I've only seen 2 that I consider great- Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana. The golden oldies like Maddux, Clemens and Johnston were past their peak when I started watching although I do know they are great too!

I'll stick by my opinion though- the Red Sox were the best team in baseball this season but I would not consider a starting rotation of Beckett, Schilling, Matsuzaka, Wakefield and Lester as anything special. Only one of them had an ERA of under 3.8. They were good enough to get wins behind a good team though so fair dues.

[rossevenil]

Yep,and Musina and co have proved what in the last few years other than they are over paid or is it the rest of the team??

And the fact that Beckett dominated post season says it all,BIG TIME PLAYER I THINK SO!!
Maybe the Yankees pitchers will get the chance to prove that one day!

I was never over confident going into postseason with Dice K and Schilling pitching but Beckett was the one pitcher I knew would get the business done,and funnilly enough everyone in every bar in Colorado while I was there during the WS seemed to agree!


Tell you what keep your over paid veteran at the Yankees thanks very much!

[Shrekko]

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Yep,and Musina and co have proved what in the last few years other than they are over paid or is it the rest of the team??

And the fact that Beckett dominated post season says it all,BIG TIME PLAYER I THINK SO!!
Maybe the Yankees pitchers will get the chance to prove that one day!

I was never over confident going into postseason with Dice K and Schilling pitching but Beckett was the one pitcher I knew would get the business done,and funnilly enough everyone in every bar in Colorado while I was there during the WS seemed to agree!


Tell you what keep your over paid veteran at the Yankees thanks very much!

Why dont you actually read the post before your latest attempt at an opinion on baseball?

You've just actually confirmed what I said by saying that you werent sure about Dice K and Schilling before the post-season started i.e. that the Red Sox starting rotation overall looked nothing special. A blind man knew that Beckett was red hot so it didnt take a genius to work out how he would perform in the post-season. If you think he's already an all time 'great' at 27 thats your opinion.

As I said before, people like you arent really worth responding to in these discussions. The fact that you somehow managed to mention the Yankees payroll and a pitcher who had nothing to do with the argument just sums it up- absolutely pathetic.

[Ash Vale Hibee]

I'm an Angels fan and we've just traded Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland, which leads me to believe we're going to trade one of our pitchers & Reggie Willits in a deal with Marlins for Miguel Cabrera (I hope!).

[Part/Time Supporter]

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All Tribe fans must be disconsolate after being so close. If they keep that team together, add another bat and a starter they'll be back next year.
I hope they give Kenny Lofton another year. He's still lightning fast.
Fair play to the Sox. They are a dynamic outfit and should win the WS pretty quick.

You're not kidding. At least it wasn't the usual ****-up in the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead malarkey.

[NYHibby]

You can download the Mitchell report:
http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf

[hibsboy90]

Read through quite a bit of it on Friday, no suprises with a lot of the players, frankly i would have been shocked if Giambi hadn't been named.

Ortiz was expected in the back of my mind, but i'm slightly glad that ALL the clubs have been involved, so that Baseball takes a look at itself, rather than having one team taking the moral high ground all the time. (Some would say Red Sox fans do all the time )

[Part/Time Supporter]

What a shocker that no major Red Sox players were named.

[Shrekko]

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What a shocker that no major Red Sox players were named.

Absolute joke to have a (paid) Red Sox director do a report like this.

They tell me they spent 60 million bucks on this report-what a waste of money.

A lot of the players who have supposedly been exposed (mainly on the basis of uncorroborated 3rd parties) were doing HGH before it was even banned by MLB- so why make a fuss of it?

The fact that the report wasnt all encompassing and done without the co-operation of the players union makes it totally pointless.

The vast majority of the well known names on the 'shame list' were already subject to previous speculation. However, other names such as Kapler, Nixon, Varitek, Damon and even Ortiz were conspicious by their absence.

[hibsboy90]

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Absolute joke to have a (paid) Red Sox director do a report like this.
They tell me they spent 60 million bucks on this report-what a waste of money.

A lot of the players who have supposedly been exposed (mainly on the basis of uncorroborated 3rd parties) were doing HGH before it was even banned by MLB- so why make a fuss of it?
The fact that the report wasnt all encompassing and done without the co-operation of the players union makes it totally pointless.

The vast majority of the well known names on the 'shame list' were already subject to previous speculation. However, other names such as Kapler, Nixon, Varitek, Damon and even Ortiz were conspicious by their absence.

Absolute joke to have a (paid) Red Sox director do a report like this.

I agree completely with what you are saying, it should have been a report written by an independant viewpoint, having a director do it was ludicrous. However he did name a couple of former red sox players so he wasn't claiming that they were white as white.

doing HGH before it was even banned by MLB- so why make a fuss of it?

But it has demonstrated that the players were using performance enhancing drugs, This leads to the possibility that something not yet on a 'banned' list could be getting taken regularly by curent players.

done without the co-operation of the players union makes it totally pointless.

They have just been protecting their own, possibly they were giving advice on what to take, and how to not get caught.....

Kapler, Nixon, Varitek, Damon and even Ortiz were conspicious by their absence.

I'm not terribly well read up on this subject, but is there reason to believe these guys other than yourself being a Yankees fan? And that one of your current players has been 'shamed'?? I was worried about big papi, but he's just a big boy, who obviouly does some working out... i see loads of guys with his sort of dimensions in the gym (extremely strong, but a bit round )

Don't want to start another BRS v NYY debate

I suppose that the Boston locals could maybe enlighten us with people that they suspected on the Yankees Roster....

HB

[Shrekko]

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Absolute joke to have a (paid) Red Sox director do a report like this.

I agree completely with what you are saying, it should have been a report written by an independant viewpoint, having a director do it was ludicrous. However he did name a couple of former red sox players so he wasn't claiming that they were white as white.

doing HGH before it was even banned by MLB- so why make a fuss of it?

But it has demonstrated that the players were using performance enhancing drugs, This leads to the possibility that something not yet on a 'banned' list could be getting taken regularly by curent players.

done without the co-operation of the players union makes it totally pointless.

They have just been protecting their own, possibly they were giving advice on what to take, and how to not get caught.....

Kapler, Nixon, Varitek, Damon and even Ortiz were conspicious by their absence.

I'm not terribly well read up on this subject, but is there reason to believe these guys other than yourself being a Yankees fan? And that one of your current players has been 'shamed'?? I was worried about big papi, but he's just a big boy, who obviouly does some working out... i see loads of guys with his sort of dimensions in the gym (extremely strong, but a bit round )

Don't want to start another BRS v NYY debate

I suppose that the Boston locals could maybe enlighten us with people that they suspected on the Yankees Roster....

HB

The names I mentioned have come up in despatches in the same way that Pettite and Clemens had previously. There was an article in a New York newspaper (can remember which one) on the day the report was to be released that named Nixon, Damon and Varitek as being in the report- obviously they werent but I dont see any of the 3 named getting their lawyers on the case! Kapler's name has come up constantly as being a steroid freak and big Papi has been none too convincing in the past when asked if he'd taken anything- his rapid rise from Minnesota reject to Boston king-pin unfortunately (I do like him) makes me suspicious in the current climate. Nothing to do with me being a Yankee fan at all- just the type of observation you'd make under the circumstances.

The long and short of it is that they managed to find a couple of loose tongues in New York- an ex-trainer who was threatened with prison if he didnt change his original story and then told to speak to MLB and... a New York Mets clubhouse attendant.

Another thing I found interesting re Red Sox involvement is that 2 of the ex-players Mo Vaughn and Eric Gagne are hated by the Sox fans. I was also intrigued to read the e-mails by Theo Epstein relating to the prospective signings of Gagne and Donnelly- he was advised that both were under suspicion of steroid abuse and more likely to break down... but it didnt seem to matter, as Epstein signed both players.

It's not a Red Sox/Yankees thing, really just a few points to emphasis the flaws in the reporting process.

[hibsboy90]

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The names I mentioned have come up in despatches in the same way that Pettite and Clemens had previously. There was an article in a New York newspaper (can remember which one) on the day the report was to be released that named Nixon, Damon and Varitek as being in the report- obviously they werent but I dont see any of the 3 named getting their lawyers on the case! Kapler's name has come up constantly as being a steroid freak and big Papi has been none too convincing in the past when asked if he'd taken anything- his rapid rise from Minnesota reject to Boston king-pin unfortunately (I do like him) makes me suspicious in the current climate. Nothing to do with me being a Yankee fan at all- just the type of observation you'd make under the circumstances.

The long and short of it is that they managed to find a couple of loose tongues in New York- an ex-trainer who was threatened with prison if he didnt change his original story and then told to speak to MLB and... a New York Mets clubhouse attendant.

Another thing I found interesting re Red Sox involvement is that 2 of the ex-players Mo Vaughn and Eric Gagne are hated by the Sox fans. I was also intrigued to read the e-mails by Theo Epstein relating to the prospective signings of Gagne and Donnelly- he was advised that both were under suspicion of steroid abuse and more likely to break down... but it didnt seem to matter, as Epstein signed both players.

It's not a Red Sox/Yankees thing, really just a few points to emphasis the flaws in the reporting process.

Cool.

I hoped it wasn't a rivalry thing, i knew about the report being made, but hadn't done too much reading up around the subject.

[Sylar]

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I'm an Angels fan and we've just traded Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland, which leads me to believe we're going to trade one of our pitchers & Reggie Willits in a deal with Marlins for Miguel Cabrera (I hope!).

Miguel Cabrera ended up signing for us (Tigers) but I cannot see where we're going to use him! He's traditionally a 3rd baseman, but we have one of the hottest 3rd baseman in the MLB just now in Brandon Inge!

We've made a few odd acquisitions in the close season and i'm beginning to wonder how seriously the franchise are taking the opportunity we have to win the World Series for a change! We were not too dissimilar to Hibs last season! Inconsistency killed us!

I don't think the players we've brought on board can help us either.