MLB 2021 Season: It's Your Pitch, Jay Kirk

[NFLfan]

@Coltsman1788 I have not seen you in a while. How are you doing? How is your favorite baseball team looking? Stop by this thread every now and then.

[NFLfan]

@PuntersArePeopleTooWhen is your next live game? Are you still going to other ballparks? Have you been to the ball park in Kansas City?

 

I have to go to a game this year. I may do so when I return to my office. I work not too far from CitiField. Still working from home now.

 

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

3 hours ago, NFLfan said:

@PuntersArePeopleTooWhen is your next live game? Are you still going to other ballparks? Have you been to the ball park in Kansas City?

 

I have to go to a game this year. I may do so when I return to my office. I work not too far from CitiField. Still working from home now.

 

I was at Cards/Giants yesterday (Saturday), I will be at Cubs/Cards on Thursday, and Twins/Cards on the 30th. And yep, this year I have already made it to AZ and to Seattle, and will be in Denver in Sept. 
 

I have been to KC back in 2019, was my first chance to see Mike Trout actually, but that is about 4 hours from me now. Most of the games I go to though is at Busch since I am living here, so I do see a lot of games live, 6 at Busch this year (8 by end of month) and 2 other stadiums so far

[NFLfan]

1 hour ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

I was at Cards/Giants yesterday (Saturday), I will be at Cubs/Cards on Thursday, and Twins/Cards on the 30th. And yep, this year I have already made it to AZ and to Seattle, and will be in Denver in Sept. 
 

I have been to KC back in 2019, was my first chance to see Mike Trout actually, but that is about 4 hours from me now. Most of the games I go to though is at Busch since I am living here, so I do see a lot of games live, 6 at Busch this year (8 by end of month) and 2 other stadiums so far

 

That's fantastic. You can write a book on all the ballparks you have been to. 

 

When I was your age, I used  to attend a lot of games too. One year I attended 20 games. One of the most memorable games that I attended was the first game at Shea Stadium (former Mets ballpark) following Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks. Mike Piazza hit a home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to win it against the Braves who was our  biggest rival at the time. If you want to read about it, here is it:

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/piazza-s-post-9-11-homer-15-years-ago-today-c202490950

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

1 minute ago, NFLfan said:

 

That's fantastic. You can write a book on all the ballparks you have been to. 

 

When I was your age, I used  to attend a lot of games too. One year I attended 20 games. One of the most memorable games that I attended was the first game at Shea Stadium (former Mets ballpark) following Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks. Mike Piazza hit a home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to win it against the Braves who was our  biggest rival at the time. If you want to read about it, here is it:

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/piazza-s-post-9-11-homer-15-years-ago-today-c202490950

I have seen about that, mustve been fun game to be at. And yes, I mean for me living close enough to stadium makes it so I want to go as often as I can. I do not have any memories from 9/11 as I had just turned 4 at the time. 

 

I am also looking to transfer in the next couple years out of STL but not sure where yet. So gotta get in games while I can not knowing what team I will be near next

[NFLfan]

6 minutes ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

I have seen about that, mustve been fun game to be at. And yes, I mean for me living close enough to stadium makes it so I want to go as often as I can. I do not have any memories from 9/11 as I had just turned 4 at the time. 

 

I am also looking to transfer in the next couple years out of STL but not sure where yet. So gotta get in games while I can not knowing what team I will be near next

 

It was a great game. I think it would have been demoralizing if we had lost the game. We left the game on an emotional high. We needed that win.

 

Yeah, you should go to as many games as you can. As you get older, there is less time for these. Enjoy your youth!  

 

I have gone to more football games in the last 10 years than I did in my younger years. I enjoy them very much. This fall I'd like to go to a stadium that I have never been to. 

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

12 minutes ago, NFLfan said:

 

It was a great game. I think it would have been demoralizing if we had lost the game. We left the game on an emotional high. We needed that win.

 

Yeah, you should go to as many games as you can. As you get older, there is less time for these. Enjoy your youth!  

 

I have gone to more football games in the last 10 years than I did in my younger years. I enjoy them very much. This fall I'd like to go to a stadium that I have never been to. 

I will try, I hopefully can get many more games in..

 

I do see a lot of NFL games especially with Colts season ticket holder. But also went to one in stl and soldier field 

[Myles]

So far so good Cards.  5-0.

[2006Coltsbestever]

29 minutes ago, Myles said:

So far so good Cards.  5-0.

Yeah I am coming to the realization that the Cubs don't have it this year. They did take 2 of 3 from the D-Backs but lost yesterday to them and now this!

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

30 minutes ago, Myles said:

So far so good Cards.  5-0.

Y'all are smoking us. After the bottom of the fourth it was obvious we were not gonna win. When Eric Sogard is the only guy who didn't screw up in that inning from the infield, you know something is wrong. THat was just terrible defense

[2006Coltsbestever]

On 7/16/2021 at 9:36 PM, NFLfan said:

When I was following baseball 30+ years ago, all the stats I used to compare players were Wins, ERA, Hits Batting Average, On Base Percentage, RBIs, Runs,  steals, etc. Later I would see OPS.

 

Nowadays, the stats are so much more advanced and complicated.  FIP, wRC+, WAR, OPS+, DRS, wOBA, BABIP, xFIP, etc. Many Mets fans use WAR, wRC and wRC+. I cannot understand what they are saying. Lol.

 

Which stats do you use when evaluating/comparing players?

On Base % is a great one to use. I still do look at things like Batting avg and RBI's as well but I am old school. On Base % may be the best stat for a player because it shows how many times a player gets on base. Just getting on base helps the team in a big way.

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

On Base % is a great one to use. I still do look at things like Batting avg and RBI's as well but I am old school. On Base % may be the best stat for a player because it shows how many times a player gets on base. Just getting on base helps the team in a big way.

OBP is certainly still, i like OPS which shows how often you get on base but also power numbers when you hit it. Batting avg, you know my feelings on it. RBIs I am not a fan of as they are a product on the rest of the lineup not so much you. Look at the HRs that Wisdom have and his RBIs not too great. Basically unless you have guys that will get on in front of you, you can hit the snot out of the ball but still not get RBIs. Or you can be lucky and have a ton of guys on in front of you, and just get a small amount of them in, but it will still be a ton of RBIs

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

OBP is certainly still, i like OPS which shows how often you get on base but also power numbers when you hit it. Batting avg, you know my feelings on it. RBIs I am not a fan of as they are a product on the rest of the lineup not so much you. Look at the HRs that Wisdom have and his RBIs not too great. Basically unless you have guys that will get on in front of you, you can hit the snot out of the ball but still not get RBIs. Or you can be lucky and have a ton of guys on in front of you, and just get a small amount of them in, but it will still be a ton of RBIs

True about RBI's, I think for me it is more how a player does RBI wise when players are in scoring position. Nothing is worse than a player who comes up with bases loaded and gets an out. Yeah OPS and OBP are critical I agree.

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

Just now, 2006Coltsbestever said:

True about RBI's, I think for me it is more how a player does RBI wise when players are in scoring position. Nothing is worse than a player who comes up with bases loaded and gets an out. Yeah OPS and OBP are critical I agree.

For that, RISP batting line is a good one as it will show all three things. As OBP will go down when a Sac Fly is hit, but you still score. That is the one time I will agree with you that you want to see high batting average.

 

Also, holy Crap, Mills Line 5 Runs, 1 Earned, that is just so bad to have happened. He was just screwed so badly by his defense

[2006Coltsbestever]

4 minutes ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

For that, RISP batting line is a good one as it will show all three things. As OBP will go down when a Sac Fly is hit, but you still score. That is the one time I will agree with you that you want to see high batting average.

 

Also, holy Crap, Mills Line 5 Runs, 1 Earned, that is just so bad to have happened. He was just screwed so badly by his defense

Yeah I hate to say it but we look cooked 

[2006Coltsbestever]

I would've loved to seen us have the schedule the Brewers had and they had the one we had before the break. Things could've been much different. Reason why is, we would've been either in 1st place or only a game or 2 out at worse IMO and there would've been no talk of selling. Since the selling talk started KB has played poorly. The schedule makers screwed us bigtime. Brewers can play loose every night because they have a such a big lead in the division - their schedule allowed it this way. We can't, major pressure is on every game that makes a huge difference by itself.

[2006Coltsbestever]

This sums up the Cubs season 

[Barry Sears]

Cards over the Cubs...what a nightmare defensively for the Cubbies.  We take the first of the 4 game series.  This series could determine which of these two teams stay in contention or fade away, but there's still a lot of baseball left to be played.

 

Brewers 7.5 ahead of the Reds, 8.5 over the Cardinals and 9.5 over the Cubs.

 

Cardinals likely won't do anything before the trade deadline.  BUT, I expect them to be busy i the off-season.  They have some big contracts coming off the books, so they'll have $$$ to spend.

[2006Coltsbestever]

25 minutes ago, Barry Sears said:

Cards over the Cubs...what a nightmare defensively for the Cubbies.  We take the first of the 4 game series.  This series could determine which of these two teams stay in contention or fade away, but there's still a lot of baseball left to be played.

 

Brewers 7.5 ahead of the Reds, 8.5 over the Cardinals and 9.5 over the Cubs.

 

Cardinals likely won't do anything before the trade deadline.  BUT, I expect them to be busy i the off-season.  They have some big contracts coming off the books, so they'll have $$$ to spend.

IMO the division is a lost cause, Brewers had such an easy schedule before the all-star break that now they can coast. Their schedule gets tougher but if they play just .500 ball the rest of the season they will win the division. That basically gives them 90 wins. Still a lot of baseball left but the Reds, Cards, or Cubs would have to go on a major run to win the division and the Brewers would have to suck - it isn't happening. Brewers aren't even that good is what is funny, I can see them getting blasted in the NLDS if they play any of the West teams.

[Myles]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

IMO the division is a lost cause, Brewers had such an easy schedule before the all-star break that now they can coast. Their schedule gets tougher but if they play just .500 ball the rest of the season they will win the division. That basically gives them 90 wins. Still a lot of baseball left but the Reds, Cards, or Cubs would have to go on a major run to win the division and the Brewers would have to suck - it isn't happening. Brewers aren't even that good is what is funny, I can see them getting blasted in the NLDS if they play any of the West teams.

The Cubs do have the second easiest remaining schedule in all of MLB, so there is that.    I imagine (not hope) they finish around 4 games back of the Brewers in 2nd place.

[buccolts]

On 7/18/2021 at 5:11 PM, NFLfan said:

 

Yeah. I am a big fan of his. I want him to come back.

 

Btw, I think I jinxed the Pirates. They were beating the Mets by a score of 5 - 1, I believe. I posted the comment that the Mets can't beat the Pirates and wanted to prove me wrong. The Mets came back and won 7-6. Lol. They still lost two-thirds of their games against the Pirates this year, I believe. 

Yeah, it was only fair after what we pulled off the prior evening. 

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

9 hours ago, Myles said:

The Cubs do have the second easiest remaining schedule in all of MLB, so there is that.    I imagine (not hope) they finish around 4 games back of the Brewers in 2nd place.

In a different year, I can see. But the Cubs are trading players and will take a step back in talent for the rest of this season, as such the easy schedule won't be as helpful as we also won't be good ourselves

[NFLfan]

5 hours ago, buccolts said:

Yeah, it was only fair after what we pulled off the prior evening. 

 

I did not see it. What did you pull?

[buccolts]

24 minutes ago, NFLfan said:

 

I did not see it. What did you pull?

Pirates were down 6 - 0, and won it 9-7 IIRC

[NFLfan]

5 minutes ago, buccolts said:

Pirates were down 6 - 0, and won it 9-7 IIRC

 

Thanks. Good job.

 

Why don't you ever give us updates on the Pirates? Who are some of your best players? 

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

5 minutes ago, NFLfan said:

 

Thanks. Good job.

 

Why don't you ever give us updates on the Pirates? Who are some of your best players? 

It'd be Frazier, Reynolds, and Hayes, I would say, right @buccolts. I miss Craig

[2006Coltsbestever]

11 hours ago, Myles said:

The Cubs do have the second easiest remaining schedule in all of MLB, so there is that.    I imagine (not hope) they finish around 4 games back of the Brewers in 2nd place.

They do have an easy schedule but at this point I don't think it matters with the way the Cubs are playing. Ever since the talk about selling came up, this team has been in a funk. KB has even struggled.

[buccolts]

2 hours ago, NFLfan said:

 

Thanks. Good job.

 

Why don't you ever give us updates on the Pirates? Who are some of your best players? 

I haven't been following much this year as I typically do. I'm disinterested since their all-star game decision. 

[NFLfan]

15 minutes ago, buccolts said:

I haven't been following much this year as I typically do. I'm disinterested since their all-star game decision. 

 

Ok. Thanks. 

 

Do you remember the days of Doug Drabek, Zane Smith, John Smiley? You also had that knuckleballer.  Those were the days that I followed baseball most. I watched baseball nearly every day then. Not so much anymore. 

 

@Dunk I'm bringing you into the Baseball thread. Who were your dad's favorite players? I think Buccolts liked Stargell.  

 

I love the history of baseball. I used to love interviews with former players. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

24 minutes ago, NFLfan said:

 

Ok. Thanks. 

 

Do you remember the days of Doug Drabek, Zane Smith, John Smiley? You also had that knuckleballer.  Those were the days that I followed baseball most. I watched baseball nearly every day then. Not so much anymore. 

 

@Dunk I'm bringing you into the Baseball thread. Who were your dad's favorite players? I think Buccolts liked Stargell.  

 

I love the history of baseball. I used to love interviews with former players. 

Baseball was much different in the 80's and early 90's. I started getting into it bigtime during the 1984 season because the Cubs were so good. That 84 team had Rick Sutcliffe, Lee Smith, Ryno, Durham, Sarge, and Davis. They were fun to watch. They lost in the NLCS unfortunately. Baseball was different back then because only 2 teams from each league made the playoffs, they only had 2 divisions in each league and only the division winners got in the playoffs until 1994. That made watching the regular season a must the whole year because even games in April were super important. They only had a NLCS and ALCS.

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

@2006Coltsbestever im surprised no comment about the comebavm yet. 6 runs in 9th and Reyes first blown save of career. Back to being tied for 3rd place

[2006Coltsbestever]

3 minutes ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

@2006Coltsbestever im surprised no comment about the comebavm yet. 6 runs in 9th and Reyes first blown save of career. Back to being tied for 3rd place

Holy crap!! I quit following the game around the 7th inning. Thought it was a lost cause. I am at work and was busy earlier too. That is unbelievable. I will have to check the highlights out. Maybe that will spark something within this team. Thanks for the update brother. 

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

3 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Holy crap!! I quit following the game around the 7th inning. Thought it was a lost cause. I am at work and was busy earlier too. That is unbelievable. I will have to check the highlights out. Maybe that will spark something within this team. Thanks for the update brother. 

I stopped watching too in the 6th. But I get score/end game updates from MLB app, so I kept seeing them inch closer in the 9th. Maples got his first win too. Ill watch the 9th in a bit. KB did leave the game with right hamstring fatigue. Happ came in for him and was the guy with game winning hit 

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

I stopped watching too in the 6th. But I get score/end game updates from MLB app, so I kept seeing them inch closer in the 9th. Maples got his first win too. Ill watch the 9th in a bit. KB did leave the game with right hamstring fatigue. Happ came in for him and was the guy with game winning hit 

Yeah when I get more time I want to see that 9th. It will die down here in an about hour. That sounds like a wild 9th. I see Kimbrell got the save too. Any win over the Cards is nice. Both teams are 47-48 tied for 3rd.

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

26 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Yeah when I get more time I want to see that 9th. It will die down here in an about hour. That sounds like a wild 9th. I see Kimbrell got the save too. Any win over the Cards is nice. Both teams are 47-48 tied for 3rd.

Ya I gotta wait for it to appear on mlb.tv to watch. And kimbrel 2 Ks to finish it off. 

[Barry Sears]

Well, that stunk!!  6 runs to the Cubs in the 9th to lose it.  Came here expecting to see @HOZER and his flag flying this morning.  Thankfully, I didn't see it happen, but will check out the highlights to see how things went down.  Gotta bounce back today.

 

I'm going to see the Louisville Bats v. Memphis Redbirds this evening.  Haven't been to a Bats game since 2019, even though the ballpark is just about 3 miles from my house.  I've been going to our local USL Louisville City soccer games since I have season tickets.

 

Anyway, it's a chance for me to see some future STL Cardinals this evening.  The Memphis Redbirds were the Louisville Redbirds years ago.  The Louisville Redbirds were the Cardinals AAA affiliate from 1982 - 1997, then changed their affiliation to the Brewers for a couple of years before they became the Reds AAA farm team, which makes sense because Louisville is only 100 miles from Cincinnati.  In 1983 the Louisville Redbirds became the first minor league franchise to draw over 1 million fans in a single season.

 

Memphis picked up the Cardinals affiliation once Louisville's deal came to an end.

 

Lots of great former STL Cardinals came through Louisville and I went to many, many games with my Dad at the old Cardinal Stadium at the fairgrounds here in Louisville.  That's when I became a Cardinals fan.

 

Some well know Cardinals that played in Louisville - Andy Benes, Chris Carpenter, Alex Cole, Vince Coleman, Dan Driessen, Leon (Bull) Durham, Jeff Fassero, Terry Francona, Bernard Gilkey, Pedro Guerrero, Lance Johnson, Brian Jordan (also played for the Atlanta Falcons), Ray Lankford, Willie McGee, Jose Oquendo, Tony Pena, Terry Pendleton, Darrell Porter, John Tudor, Any Van Slyke, Todd Worrell and Todd Zeile to name a few.

[Myles]

10 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Baseball was much different in the 80's and early 90's. I started getting into it bigtime during the 1984 season because the Cubs were so good. That 84 team had Rick Sutcliffe, Lee Smith, Ryno, Durham, Sarge, and Davis. They were fun to watch. They lost in the NLCS unfortunately. Baseball was different back then because only 2 teams from each league made the playoffs, they only had 2 divisions in each league and only the division winners got in the playoffs until 1994. That made watching the regular season a must the whole year because even games in April were super important. They only had a NLCS and ALCS.

I became a baseball fan in the early 80's.   Helped that the Cardinals were very good and exciting.   I've always preferred the "small ball" game.  I like a 2-1 game more than a 7-6 game.  The art of stealing bases isn't really a thing anymore.    

[Myles]

10 hours ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Baseball was much different in the 80's and early 90's. I started getting into it bigtime during the 1984 season because the Cubs were so good. That 84 team had Rick Sutcliffe, Lee Smith, Ryno, Durham, Sarge, and Davis. They were fun to watch. They lost in the NLCS unfortunately. Baseball was different back then because only 2 teams from each league made the playoffs, they only had 2 divisions in each league and only the division winners got in the playoffs until 1994. That made watching the regular season a must the whole year because even games in April were super important. They only had a NLCS and ALCS.

Speaking of Lee Smith, it is interesting that his first start in a baseball game was a no hitter.   It was in high school.

 

“I said, ‘No way am I ever going to play baseball.’ Basketball was my game,” the Louisiana native said. It was Smith’s older brother, Willie, who got him to play baseball by betting Lee $10 that he couldn’t make the team as a catcher. “So, naturally, I won the bet and was the catcher for the first half of the season,”

 

Then the team’s star pitcher was shot and killed in a hunting accident, and Daniels asked Smith to step in and pitch. The kid who didn’t want to play baseball pitched a no-hitter his first time out. Relying mostly on a blistering fastball, Smith, went 8–0 with a 0.14 ERA during his time on the mound as a junior for the Castor Tigers. After a bit of prompting from Daniels, Lee Arthur came back to the mound his senior year and went 7–1 with a 0.95 ERA, while striking out 124 batters in 53 innings of work. For his efforts, Smith was named Louisiana’s Outstanding Class B baseball player for 1975.

[Dunk]

22 hours ago, NFLfan said:

 

Ok. Thanks. 

 

Do you remember the days of Doug Drabek, Zane Smith, John Smiley? You also had that knuckleballer.  Those were the days that I followed baseball most. I watched baseball nearly every day then. Not so much anymore. 

 

@Dunk I'm bringing you into the Baseball thread. Who were your dad's favorite players? I think Buccolts liked Stargell.  

 

I love the history of baseball. I used to love interviews with former players. 

Hey NFLFan, 

Dad started following the Pirates in the 50's because he liked Ralph KIner. 

As a young kid, I remember him always asking all his Cardinal fan friends if they were going to name their baby they were expecting, Roberto, after after Clemente.

He did like Stargell quite a bit, and went to see him speak at IU once after he had retired, and was doing engagements.

He and my Mom were at the game that Clemente hit the line drive that broke Bob Gibson's leg. 

[NFLfan]

46 minutes ago, Dunk said:

Hey NFLFan, 

Dad started following the Pirates in the 50's because he liked Ralph KIner. 

As a young kid, I remember him always asking all his Cardinal fan friends if they were going to name their baby they were expecting, Roberto, after after Clemente.

He did like Stargell quite a bit, and went to see him speak at IU once after he had retired, and was doing engagements.

He and my Mom were at the game that Clemente hit the line drive that broke Bob Gibson's leg. 

 

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing. Welcome to the Baseball thread!

 

I'm a Mets fan since my teens. I have found memories of Ralph Kiner as a Mets broadcaster.

 

I look forward to seeing you post on this thread, Dunk.