I have nothing to add to Mr. Lennon’s comments.
75 Comments
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I have nothing to add to Mr. Lennon’s comments.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
First post :p
Going to the game tonight. Though with a bad pitcher from the Cubs, we’re going to get shut out if the trend from the Mets continues
1914 Update:
Boston Braves 69-53 (–)
NY Giants 68-54 (1 GB)
Chicago Cubs 69-59 (3)
St. Louis Cardinals 67-62 (5.5)
Philadelphia Phillies 57-65 (12)
Pittsburgh Pirates 57-66 (12.5)
Cincinnati Reds 56-70 (15)
Brooklyn Robins 55-69 (15)
Today’s Game:
Giants 100 010 010 – 3 3 1 LP- Marquard
Braves 110 411 00x- 8 15 1 WP- James
Seattle Bill James wins his 20th game of the season (against 8 losses), and the Braves have a full game’s lead in the standings. They have now equaled their 1913 win total, itself the Braves’ best in 11 years, and the Braves haven’t been in the lead this late in the season since 1898.
Another piece of nostalgia: the New York Yankees were mathematically eliminated today, with a loss at home to the Red Sox.
Should we still care at this point?
Hudson struggles to keep his record above .500 & his ERA below 5.00—not so thrilling.
All I’m thinking about begins at 7:45 tomorrow night. Dawgs-Cocks.
I am going to the Vandy-Alabama game tomorrow afternoon.
Over/Under on how long I wait in line to get in: 45 minutes.
Over/Under on coeds in front of me in line fainting and/or throwing up: 2 1/2.
Over/Under on Shula play calls getting booed: NO LINE.
I’m going to the Orioles-Yankees game tonight. Flying back to school tomorrow. Nice way to spend the last night of summer vacation, huh?
I’ll pay attention to the game on Gamecast because I’ll be here at the sports desk all night. Rooting for .500 is better than rooting for nothing at all. I’m not going to pay attention to what’s on college football on the TV anyway.
And yes, Smitty, I do care about the Braves right now, even if it’s just for the sake of reaching .500 and the sake of placement in my project that I’ll do during the fall and winter.
Hell, who knows? Maybe Frenchy will boost his average to .270 and be a 30-100 guy. 🙂
Hey it could be worse for all of us. We could be Cubs fans. At least the Braves have won a championship in the last century.
@8
Damn straight.
In two years, they’ll have been waiting for 100 years.
And the Yankees, like the Braves, haven’t won a World series this century at all.
For that I am quite happy. I’m just hoping that will still be the case in November.
@11
LOL, yeah, maybe these past few seasons will teach George Steinbrenner a lesson about wasting money! … Or is that even possible? Hm.
Don’t worry, ‘Rissa–if I’ve learned anything this century, it’s that the Marlins are going to win again.
Well, if they win the wild card, yes they will. That is their ticket to the NL pennant at the very least.
With his attendance & TV channel, Steinbrenner is making money hand-over-fist. He may not have won a title in 5-6 years, but he’s not wasting money—he’s investing & earning like nobody else.
Steinbrenner is creating huge revenue channels, but he’s also blowing tens of millions of dollars on un- or underproductive ballplayers. Is he making money? Probably. Is he lying about how much? Probably.
Just to set you all straight….the Yankees are losing money. Yes, you read that correctly. There was a big article in the NY papers recently. If I can find it, I’ll link it for you.
Good luck this evening.
Here it is…..
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2557770
Just because the Yankees say they’re losing money doesn’t mean that they are. They’re not.
Sorry, ububba, I wasn’t aware that you were privy to the Yankees books. You must know.
All baseball teams lie about their losses. Back in the leadup to The Strike, the owners opened their books, saying, “Poor us, look how much money we’re losing!” The players’ accountants looked at those books and it was all paper losses. “The Yankees” may be losing money, but the corporation is making it hand over fist on the YES Network, just like Turner used to make huge amounts on the Braves and then claimed paper losses.
Allow me to correct you on one point, Mac. The owners definitely did NOT open their books. While they made endless claims, refuted by Zimbalist et al, that they were losing money, they never opened their books to any outside authority to verify their statements. Forbes and other interested parties cannot go by the books to determine net worth or profitability- they have to estimate by piecing together incomplete data (average ticket prices, attendance, deriving what a TV contract should be worth, etc.)
I’m pretty sure that they did open their books (at least partially) in the period before the long strike, but I can’t find my copy of Lords of the Realm right now to verify it. Said Lords were greatly offended that mere accountants would disagree with their claims of poverty.
bravenewworld,
What Mac said.
Also, you don’t see the Yankees opening their books either, do you? Why’s that? Because they don’t want you to see what’s in there.
How do I know they’re making money? For one, I’ve been a Yankee season ticket holder since 1997 & I see what goes on. In the post-2000 world, the Yankees couldn’t lose money if they tried. They’re gonna draw nearly 4.5 million this year at ridiculous prices for everything (50,000+ per night @ ticket prices from $17 to $150; beers cost $8; a bottle of water is $4.50!; parking rates range from $13 to $40).
And when you add the TV revenues, it’s off the charts. One more time: THEY OWN THEIR OWN CHANNEL IN NEW YORK CITY! They get money from everyone–subscribers, cable outlets AND THEIR ADVERTISERS! IT’S ALL THEIR MONEY! ALL OF IT! Their rates are based on the the NYC A.D.I., the largest sports TV market anywhere.
Let’s put it this way: If they’re losing money, they’ll someday teach a class on how it was done.
Partially open isn’t open. There are any number of places they could have hidden revenue, and many ways to inflate liabilities. It was a PR exercise, nothing more.
And now, tonight’s lineup:
How to Succeed in Making Money (and Fail in Baseball) Without Really Trying:
Pierre CF
Theriot 2B
Ramirez 3B
Lee 1B
Jones RF
Murton LF
Cedeno SS
Soto C
Guzman P
How to Write Books About Winning While Losing:
Giles 2B
Renteria SS
LaRoche 1B
AJones CF
McCann C
Francoeur RF
Aybar 3B
Thorman “LF”
Hudson P
Sorry, it was in 1985. Ueberroth had the owners open the books, Fehr hired Roger Noll, who showed that the owners were lying. This was before the short strike, the two-day strike Ueberroth broke.
Here:
Hi, why have I been benched while Francoeur is in the lineup everyday? Is it my breath?
Matt, you hit .340 with power. You stand out too much.
Seriously, Matt Diaz appears to have fallen into Not Invented Here Syndrome- since he didn’t come up through the Braves’ system and was brought in as a temp 4th outfielder, the Braves don’t want to make room for him in their long-term plans even when he hits the tar out of the ball.
Revenue streams not related to gate receipts can be hidden in any number of ways. This is nothing new — the Yankees aren’t losing money.
Marcus. 😀
How hurt is Andruw? He has looked BAD for some time now, even longer than his drought of last year. I can’t even remember the last time he went opposite field – everything is rolled over, unless the pitcher makes a mistake. Shouldn’t he just shut it down at this point?
Probably, but you know he isn’t going to. Chipper shut down to get better, Andruw should too. Stick Frenchy there and put Diaz in right. For crying out loud, Francouer’s now hitting better than Andruw!!!
Actually it was the union that was cooking the books.
They claimed “The Owners” *other* assests should count as their baseball assests.
I seriously doubt the money made off Cinderella should be considered a part of the total revenue for Disney’s sports holdings. TBS boradcasted far more than Braves games. George YES Network amongst his other adventures has little to nothing to do with the Yankees.
The “owners” weren’t lying. But a corrupt judiciary and a corrupt STEROID loving union can get away with anything.
The large majority of baseball players are no longer treated like other employees. They are now pampered “protected” jackasses who play essentially when they want too. Look at other sports, Tom Coughlin “worked” the Giants in their first training camp and the sissies started whining.
i.e.
Carl Pavano is an ass. Dion Branch is an ass(He’s never caught for a 1,000 yards).
That’s quite a laundry list of boogeymen you’ve got there.
@29
If you could become a left-handed batter, Matt, that would be super. 🙂
Diaz has hit 302/ 344/ 483 against lefties; that’s plenty good enough to start.
But Guzman is a righty. And I suppose that the lefty-righty matchup has pictures. 😛
372/ 407/ 496 against righties belongs in the lineup, too, instead of that Frenchy fella.
Yes it does. Unfortunately, the few Braves fans left watching the games would riot if hometown boy was benched.
all we have to do is win 20 of our next 23 and we have a chance.
Yikes, a .900 OPS against righties too?!
Good lord, something really is wrong here.
@42
I just want 15-8. Forget the wild card.
Diaz clearly doesn’t have a copy of the pictures. Reitsma must not be sharing!!!
Reitsma? Forget Reitsma, Francoeur must have them! He needs to share!
Correction “George’s Yes Network combined with his other holdings, drastically shrinks his Yankees investment”
Network, merchandising, payroll, stadium workers, taxes, mores taxes etc. It costs 400-500 million dollars or even more (?) to run the Yankees….
George has a boatload of money in other places. I think he still owns part of the NY docks.
I would guess that too.
Anyone have any requests for Whatifsports.com sims? 😀
Could this be a rally?
Don’t jinx it!
I didn’t!
Yay!
Bases loaded, no outs. Who here thinks, after all we’ve seen this season, we’ll score?
The Mighty Thor tones down the thunder but still delivers a run.
We did. Am I hallucinating?
At least that’s progress. 🙂
Any chance that Cox retires this off season?
@58
Nope, he’ll probably manage until he has an IV hooked up to him at all times.
So next off season then.
Yep.
ADAM!
YES 😀
i bet Frenchy really wants to swing at one of those
lol, its funny to watch them intentionally walk him
But why would they? Aybar’s more likely to get a hit.
I mean only a little more likely, but still more likely, of course.
Frenchy has now walked 7 times in his last 18 games. He might actually be learning.
Maybe. I’d love to see his OBP get up to .300 before the season is done.
Did someone get hurt?
Does anyone know if Aybar can play short?
Why did you bring that up? So we can get rid of Renteria?
Just kind of banging arounf some ideas in my halfempty skull.
More of a long term thing, if he can play short and leadoff, keep Giles at second, lose Edgar, who I have no complaints about, but it would be a younger lineup with a lead-off type of guy in it.
just a random thought.
Hey, we found someone we can beat. Let’s make a weekend out of it.
Oldtimer, I don’t think Renteria’s earned a ticket out of town (unless we find someone just panting for a shortstop). I’d move Chipper to left, except I’d really like to see Diaz out there, so he’d stay at third. That leaves Giles and Aybar as 2B contenders, with the status quo probably maintained. (Actually, Chipper to left, Diaz to right, and Frenchy to Richmond would be better, but that will never happen.)