Official World Series 2014 Thread

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WestCoastJoe
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First game I've watched. Kind of rooting for the Little Guys, the Kansas City Royals.

Yikes. Madison Bumgarner of he Giants is one of the best pitchers I have ever seen. Or anybody has ever seen. A treat to watch.

Bottom of the 8th. Giants up 2-0.

Bumgarner has amazing stuff. And he almost never walks anyone. Pinpoint control. Huge wingspan and windup. Very, very hard for the batters to pick up the flight of the ball.

So far ... 8 innings pitched. No runs. Four harmless hits. 8 strike outs. Zero walks. Zero.

Watching a bit of baseball in October suits me fine.

The Giants seem blessed. 4-0. 5-0.

Bumgarner going to pitch the ninth.

Last complete game shutout in WS was in 2003.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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Two outs. OMG. What pitches. Full count. Two pitches just missed. Three outs. Wow.

What a treat.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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notahomer
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Royals were one of the last teams I loved when I was a MLB fan (10ish, IIRC). George Brett was one of my favourite players at the time....

Caught bits/pieces during halftimes etc... of various football games this week. Will be interesting to see who wins but personally hope its the Royals simply because they aren't suppossed to be there.......
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WestCoastJoe
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Not really a Giants fan.

Caught the last part of Game 6. Surprise. The Royals win big, 10-0.

Game 7 in Kansas City. Might have to watch that one.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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notahomer
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I caught the score when it was in full blowout mode. Not sure if any game has been close. Kansas City really can't ask for much more. IIRC, they were NOT suppossed to get this far (in the playoffs). To be playing ONE GAME for the championship in your backyard.....sounds pretty good. And I heard some chatter that their three top bull pen pieces are available for the big game too, so IOW, there is no point saving them, because the next game is next year......
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WestCoastJoe
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notahomer wrote:I caught the score when it was in full blowout mode. Not sure if any game has been close. Kansas City really can't ask for much more. IIRC, they were NOT suppossed to get this far (in the playoffs). To be playing ONE GAME for the championship in your backyard.....sounds pretty good. And I heard some chatter that their three top bull pen pieces are available for the big game too, so IOW, there is no point saving them, because the next game is next year......
True. Best news for KC is that Madison Bumgarner will not get the start for the Giants.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
TheLionKing
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Anything can happen in game 7. Should be interesting.
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WestCoastJoe
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Bumgarner pitching on short rest. Comes on in the fifth.

First batter gets a hit.

Retires 12 in a row, as the 8th ends.

12 batters. He throws only one ball. One. The rest are strikes.

End of 8. Wow. As the announcers say.

Saw something. Might be ... Lowest ERA and batting average allowed in WS play ever.

0.26 ERA in his career WS play.

Never seen anything like it.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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Here comes the bottom of the ninth.

Bumgarner will have a 3-2 lead tp protect. Great drama.

First batter.

Ball one. Ball two. Yikes. Strike one. Strike two. Strike three. Up high.

Second batter.

Ball one. Strike one. Pop up. Two out.

Third batter.

Strike. Bloop hit. Goof ups in the outfield. Man on third. Yikes.

Batter four. Strike one. Ball one. Strike two. High. Ball two. High. 66 pitches. Foul. Pop up. Three outs.

Unbelievable.

Bumgarner wins three games.

A privilege to see this guy play. Even though I was rooting a bit for the little KC Royals
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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notahomer
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Missed this game, thanks for the update. Sounds like it was the closest one of the series based on hits/runs.....

Those Royals must be heartbroken. Cinderella story but when the clock strikes midnight the glass slipper slips through their fingers smashing into pieces. That is the beauty of the postseason in any sport, IMO. Do you really want to lose in the championship? You want to get there but you want to win. This series just seemed to be easily one teams game or the other. Fittingly the final game was VERY CLOSE and lowscoring. Highly doubt they'll meet again, next season but who knows?
TheLionKing
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I find it interesting watching the reactions of the fans. They're praying, biting their fingernails, all sorts of rally paraphernalia. You don't see those reactions at hockey or football games.
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sj-roc
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TheLionKing wrote:I find it interesting watching the reactions of the fans. They're praying, biting their fingernails, all sorts of rally paraphernalia. You don't see those reactions at hockey or football games.
Those might be there but I think the pace of the game doesn't allow it to be displayed as much in broadcasts of other sports. The slower pace of baseball allows a lot more of this to be conveyed to the TV viewer.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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274always
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they actually overturned a safe call on a royals player to an out. had denkinger had that luxury in 85 he wouldn't have received all those death threats from cards fans.
Grey Cup 103. Graduation day.
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Hambone
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Needless to say I'm a happy camper being a Giants fan since I was 7 or 8 and Willie "Say Hey Kid" Mays was patrolling center field for SF. Weird and wonderful how sports can go. I'd followed Gordie Howe and the Red Wings starting at that same time. The Wings had last won the Cup in 1955 and the Giants last World Series win came in 1954; both just before my time. Both clubs had made the final dance a few times along the way.

The Wings had the best record in hockey in 94-95 and 95-96. They finished 18 points ahead of Cup final NJ in the strike shortened 48 game 94-95 season and were swept in the final. The next year they won 62 games and just about lapped the field finishing 27 points ahead of Colorado who had the NHL's second best record. Detroit didn't even make it to the Cup final much less win it. That left me a bit depressed. I sat there thinking here I've been a fan for over 30 years and they can't even win a Cup coming off that type of season. Will they ever win one in my lifetime? As it was the following season they did take home Lord Stanley's goblet and would repeat the magic a year later and 4 times over the next 11 years. I can't help but think the tragic accident that cut Konstantinov's career short all too soon may have cost them another Cup or two in that era.

Thus it had been for the Giants up until recently. They played in the 1962 World Series and again in 1989 and 2002. Coming off the 2002 loss and with 30 teams in MLB I started wondering if I'd ever see them win one in my lifetime. Finally they did it in 2010 but never in my wildest dream did I think they'd pull off 3 in 5 years. Gotta enjoy it while I can! And hey for those Canuck and Leaf fans keep up the faith!
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
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sj-roc
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Hambone wrote:And hey for those Canuck and Leaf fans keep up the faith!
I predicted (elsewhere, not on here) about five years ago that the roster for the next Leafs SC win will have only players who weren't yet born to that point. With scarcely the slightest threat of having been proven wrong yet, I still stand by this prediction.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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