SB Nation User Blog: billywan

sammy sosa gets beaned...

billywan — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:46:05 -0000

sammy just took a pitch to the head. scary sight, and bizarrely familiar. not sure i've ever heard of anyone getting hit in the head twice in one career.

this one wasn't nearly as bad as the one in pittsburgh, but it was still scary. sammy was shaken up and left the game. hope he's ok. i may be in the minority here, but i'm happy he's playing decently this year, and am looking forward to him hitting #600.

(as i type this, kyle farnsworth slipped on the mound during his follow through. the yanks entire coaching staff jumped up thinking "please don't let him be hurt!" i just kept thinking "please don't let those tight pants rip!")

report from SF

billywan — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:44:36 -0000

went to a couple of games out here this week.

first, saw marco scutaro beat the yanks with a walk off dong.

then saw the giants beat the hated cardinals in extras last night. well, to be honest, i saw barry bonds tie up the game at 5. then i left, because it was freezing. in the 40's, windy. but more importantly, these two teams are horrible. just awful. pathetic at bat, followed by pathetic at bat. it's amazing that either of them ever win a game. i mean, the cubs are talented and find stupid ways to lose. these teams are just horrid.

basically, if bonds doesn't hit, the giants don't win. and if pujols doesn't hit, the cardinals are pretty bad. eckstein had two really nice, long, vintage eckstein at bats, one of which started a two out rally. and omar vizquel is still an amazing fielder. but other than that, it's pretty bleak.

as for the parks and the fans, well...both parks offer surprisingly good views. the oakland coliseum is kind of a dump. but it's dirt cheap ($28 for a box seat four rows off the field). AT&T is really nice, really well done...but pretty expensive.

and the fans of both teams are unbelievably quiet. they never really make any noise. 2 outs and your pitcher's got two strikes on him? no noise. men in scoring position? no noise. barry's not up? not a sound. kind of pathetic, really...

the farns

billywan — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:30:25 -0000

has anyone seen the farns, kyle farnsworth lately? he's pitching against the twins right now...he's shaved his head and is wearing some weird, super thin, metrosexual glasses. strange. and of course he's still wearing his nut huggers...

oh, and he just gave up two runs on hanging curveballs and terrible location on his fastball. after walking the leadoff hitter, of course.

joe torre looks like he's gonna go strangle him.

extra innings...help with today's game

billywan — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:44:07 -0000

looking for some help from Extra Inning's veterans...i've got comcast, and just signed up for EI. the little guide on the channels says today's game is on game 14, but my cable only goes up to game 10. any idea where channel 14 is? am i not gonna get this game because i have comcast? is that a directTV only thing? thanks for any help...

beer vendors are heroes, too

billywan — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:49:51 -0000

thought some people here might enjoy this link. it's a website featuring baseball cards for each of the wrigley beer vendors. at the very least, check it out just for the excellent logo they've designed. and while i rarely drink at baseball games, and hate the beer garden vibe wrigley sometimes has, this is still a great site...

http://www.beervendors.com/

strange couple of weeks

billywan — Sat, 20 Aug 2005 04:45:30 -0000

things are getting interesting. the white sox, red sox and cardinals are all stumbling a bit, and seem to be in some trouble. they all appear to have peaked a bit too early.

the red sox bullpen ranks dead last in the AL in ERA.

the white sox have lost 6 straight, and are looking mighty beatable.

scott rolen looks like he may be done for the year, and the cardinals are definitely beatable. the a's and astros have come back to earth, and are going to have to be firing on all cylinders to win their respective wild cards.

even the angels are just playing well, not great.

at the moment, the indians and marlins are the hot teams. the funny thing about the wild card, is that the team that wins the wild card is generally the hottest team at the end of the year. they play their best ball at the most important time, and are usually the most dangerous team come playoff time.

could either the cardinals or the white sox be reeled in? and will a sub .500 team win the NL west? could be a great finish to this year...

tori hunter

billywan — Sat, 30 Jul 2005 01:44:09 -0000

out for 4-6 weeks with a torn tendon in his ankle. the twins just can't seem to have a breakthrough year...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2119975

"Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter has a torn tendon in his left ankle and will be sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks, ESPN's Harold Reynolds learned Friday night.

Hunter, who was taken off the field on a stretcher, will remain with the Twins through the weekend, then fly back to Minnesota on Monday to have an MRI. The MRI should determine if the damage is more extensive."

rules of booing

billywan — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 22:12:51 -0000

what are they? surely all booing and heckling can't be off limits. let's talk about it.

here's a couple that should be a start.

when the player is on your home team:

it is ok to boo when a player is openly dogging it. however, just generally sucking is not ok to boo, if said player seems to be legitmately trying to achieve. (examples of boo-worthy behavior: not running out ground balls, not hitting cut off men, not hustling on defense)
it is ok to boo when a player has done something horrible off the field (for example, beaten his wife, run over a kid in his car, gotten a dui, etc.)

what else?

just booing a guy who's not playing real well shows a lack of understanding of baseball, and makes wrigley a more and more embarassing place to take in a game.

when a player is on an opposing team:

it's ok to boo a player who is great, just because you don't like the team he's on. it's not a big deal. just part of baseball.
same as #2 above.
in fact, it's probably ok to boo a guy who isn't great, but just hit a home run or somehow ruined the cubs day.
i'll even go so far as to say a little good natured chanting is all part of the home field advantage. but one must be at least somewhat creative. "over-rated" is a classic. the old school daryl strawberry-esque "da-ryl" is acceptable. "da-ryl-sucks" starts to get questionable. or as i once heard a guy say "victorino, i'm gonna follow you down to triple a, find you, and heckle you from the outfield because you suck!" also going too far.

getting drunk and saying semi-violent things that you think are funny makes wrigley a disgrace, as well.

what do others think?

manny demands a trade

billywan — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 21:59:12 -0000

and the front office is looking into it.
let's offer them the peoria chiefs and half the diamond jaxx.
seriously? how could this possibly be a bad idea? they can even have matt murton back. sure we may regret it later, but i'll cry myself to sleep on my sports illustrated commemorative "cubs win the world series" video.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2118911

completely immature moment

billywan — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 14:53:54 -0000

from last night's game, that i just had to share.

if anyone recorded the game, go watch the part where they're interviewing bruce sutter during the bottom of the seventh. he talks about how great rick reuschel is, then there's a brief lull in the conversation...until somebody in the booth just rips one. i've never heard anyone fart that loud on tv.

and all i could think about was how maddux would be watching this game with the grand kids one day, and there, preserved for eternity is bruce sutter dropping some ass.

hey, i warned you it was immature.