CHECK THIS OUT, what an idiot!!

[coot149]

this is a message written by someone on another forum:

As you guys are aware :

Davey Lopes threatened Rickey Henderson with a bean ball for Henderson's stealing of second , in Sunday's San Diego win.

Lopes is full of it on this one.If he comes out of the dugout after the sixth inning and says , "oh please let up on us , we're such losers and so beat down , please take it easy.Well maybe then O.K. Or if he tells his hitters not to swing and to strike out , well O.K. - I wonder if Lopes heard that the Pirates scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth Saturday to beat the Astros 9-8.In baseball basically no lead is 100% safe.We realise that in certain situations , mainly in football and basketball , the dogs should be called off as a matter of sportsmanship.But not in the top of the seventh , and probably never vs. Lopes.
Frank @ VegasSportsPics.com

I'm sorry, but this guy does not know a thing about baseball. You simply do not steal bases in the late innings when up by 7. I know the pirates came back on Houston, but there are some games u just DO NOT steal bases in the late innings. If you dont know the game, dont post!!!

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

I dunno...that's a tough one to answer...

I mean, how far ahead of the other team do you have to be for a "lead to be safe"???

i think this is a very good question that should be addressed.

personally, if i had confidence in my team's ability to win games, hell, yeah, i'd run up the score on the other team...let them enjoy the victory in the MOMENT and maybe (MAYBE) let up after being ahead by 10-11 runs...
Because we ALL know that baseball is unpredictable and that good pitching is unreliable and hard to come by.

I don't like these "unwritten rules" because people tend to skewer the interpretations about them. The game over the decades has changed and so should some of these unwritten rules...

I know i am guilty of running up scores when i was a soccer coach for high schol games, but i let up after we were ahead by about 6-7 goals...

I don't believe that you should let up during the game...the intensity should be for the full nine innings. if your team is playing like shit, then they play like shit, A loss is a loss no matter how bad the score is. I don't like this, oooohhh, you're up by 8-9 runs, let's all take a break and ride the rest of the game out. I don't think it's fair to the fans, and i don't think that's what the ballplayers are paid to do.

A game is nine innings, and the intensity should be for nine innings.

Now, in defense of Ricky Henderson, he said that he was ordered to steal the base.

now let the bashing start.

 

[EricG]

all I want to know is were I can buy this so called "unwritten rules of baseball" book. a win is a win no matter how you do it. These managers getting all upset about opponent teams doing things they shouldn't be doing in certain situations are full of it. This Davey Lopes thing was more frustration over how his team has been playing over the past month more than anything.

 

[coot149]

Its called baseball! It has a past and you dont mess with it.

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

Its called baseball! It has a past and you dont mess with it.

I'm sorry, but i'm what you would call a youngin' (age 26).
History of the sport really has no meaning to me having grown up with the overpaid spoiled ballplayers that have NO loyalties...
from the late 80's to present.

How does your above quote relate to your argument?

what part of the history should not be messed with...?

A loss is a loss no matter what the score is and the game should be played for nine innings, not until the other team is "comfortably" ( whatever that is..???) ahead....

 

[Randercity]

I'm sorry... I agree with RICKEY and San Diego. Davey Lopes made it all about the records and all, but the main issue here is his team plays TERRIBLE fundamental baseball! I've bet on MILW a few more times than I wish to remember and they mentally SCREW themselves more times than any other team. Is it the MANAGER's fault??? Partly, but basically it comes down to the players and their mental preparation. They are probably the WORST fundamental team in the league, and LOPES was a GREAT FUNDAMENTALIST AS A PLAYER, but for whatever reason, it's not getting across. Against LA a couple of weeks ago, they blew like 3 DP's in one game, and struck out and ran into two or three of their own to blow a close game.

LOPES is pissed because his team sucks!!! PEROIOD! When you have a guy on first, no matter what the score, you still need to check him. RICKEY practically walked to second because the pitcher "assumed" he wouldn't be going and never gave the catcher a chance.

THAT'S his fault???? THE pitcher is to blame here for assuming the game was over and not checking the runner, I would have done the same thing, run on his ass!!! Show him HOW STUPID he was for being careless... if that gets me beaned, oh well, I'll deal with that when the time comes.

No lead is safe in baseball, and until the other team brings in an outfielder or the batboy to pitch, I'm playing the GAME!!!!

 

[yyz]

ESPN did a little thing on this last night. It was interesting.

I'm sure a lot of it was Lopes being pissed at his teams performance, and this show may have got the team to start thinking a little more about what their being paid to do.

You want to know what "unwritten rules" are, EricG?

Hitting the other teams batters when yours get plunked.

Taking a knee when you can't lose, but could still score.

Not taking treys with a 10 point lead in the last 30 seconds of a game.

Now, you can argue all you want that those other sports have time limits, and that makes a win locked up after a certain point, and that in bases, you can score forever, as long as you have an at bat left.

As fate would have it, that Pittsburgh come back was good fodder for the people who would say, "No lead is safe!"

But, I argue that a comeback of that magnitude is the rarest of feats.

If you keep getting hits, that is one thing. But lopes was right, and almost all managers would agree. You don't steel second with a 7 run cushion.

 

[EricG]

yyz, I was being sarcastic when I posed that question but I still have to disagree, if you don't want the runner to steal second base than keep your first baseman at the bag not 20 feet away. I'm sure it was Lopes who had him play behind the runner. If he thinks the game is over and the other team shouldn't be trying to score any more runs, than give up or quit (NOT!).

 

[TexasBC6]

Everyone seems to have gotten so sensitive in baseball these days. I have as much respect as anyone for the game and I wish it was played more like it was in past years. HOWEVER, the game has changed to more of a slugfest attitude with prima donnas that get upset if a pitch is on the inside corner and head high. It seems like pitchers fear batters these days whereas it was vice versa in the past. You always hear stories about how Bob Gibson would throw a 95mph fastball at someone's head just because they were too close to the plate. These days, if a curveball goes up and in on someone, (even with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs or some similar situation) the crowd starts making noise, the batter stares at the pitcher, and the announcers make a big deal out of it. It's pathetic.

My point in all of this is that people need to realize that no lead is safe anymore with the decline in bullpen quality and hitters need to stop thinking they are untouchables. A 7 run lead is NOT safe in the 7th inning.

I will end with this:

1)Ben Davis was 100% justified in bunting against Curt Schilling in a 2-0 perfect game.

2)Rickey Henderson was 100% justified in stealing second base against the Brewers.

3)I wish pitchers would throw up and in more often.

4)Davey Lopes needs to realize that it is not 1970 anymore and a lead is almost always unsafe.

Just my opinion.

------------------
-Tex

 

[coot149]

Totonto- guess ya dont know the game then!!
If you have played it or been apart of it, you know whats right or wrong. What happened to Curt Shilling was completely acceptable bc they were trying to WIN the game. only down 2-0. being up 12-5 and rubbing it in(so they call it) it not the way baseball is played. I think you will se rickey come out and apologize sometime soon. But those who disagree need to expand their knowledge of the game!!!

 

[Pigskin Scott]

As a major league baseball player you know the supposed "unwritten rules". As a player you know what will happen to you if you break those rules. There was no reason for Davey to come out and make a scene of the whole thing. This is where old school baseball has been lost. When you get the third out you then direct your pitcher to put one in his earhole the next time or you drill the guy at the plate. That is how you voice you displeasure with what just happened. I agree being a player myself on the college level there are rules that are understood between managers and players that are not written. It should be handeled just like it is handeled in hockey. Do what you got to do and get it over with and all will be forgotten. Davey Lopes made it about him and no one else. He is frustrated with his team right now and was looking for a reason to blow. Let the playeres police themselves and everything will be fine.

That raises the whole giving the umpire the right to toss at anytime. Not needed. Let it be done on the field. If there is a fight then let there be fines. If there is no fight then so be lets play ball.

Just my thoughts on this hot topic.

------------------
If your not betting your not living!!!

 

[coot149]

thanks u scott, some people just dont understand

 

[redsfann]

Texas almost took the words right out of my mouth in his reply here.
These so-called men who play the game of baseball today outta be ashamed to call themselves big-leaguers.
Not old enough to really remember Bob Gibson, et al... but I certainly remember Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose, etc.. guys who played the game like it should be played.
Anyone else remember when Nolan Ryan buzzed Robin Ventura when he was with the White Sox?
Ventura took offense at the pitch, and charged the mound. Ryan waited for him to get there, grabbed him in a head-lock(because Ventura came in with his head down) and must of hit him on his dome about 15 times before anyone got there to pull him off Ventura.
At the time Ryan was past 40 years old, and everybody made a big deal about how an old guy kicked a younger guy's ass.
Well, Ryan is past 50 now-- and I know I wouldn't piss the guy off.
I'm with TexasBC6-- todays players are pansies..

 

[hyperion]

How is any of this banter going to help us make any money this evening?

 

[Investment Executive]

Major League Baseball -- Suspended Pittsburgh Pirates catcher
Jason Kendall two games and fined him an undisclosed amount for
excessive arguing and making contact with umpire Jim Wolf in a
game against the Chicago Cubs on July 24; suspended Milwaukee
Brewers manager Davey Lopes two games and fined him an
undisclosed amount for comments made toward San Diego Padres
outfielder Rickey Henderson in a July 29 game.

 

[ferdville]

If Schilling wasn't such a sourpuss, he would have known that no one could blame someone for bunting in that situation. For God's sake he only had a 2 run lead. The guy bunts his way on and a homerun ties the game. Schilling was the only one you heard complaining about this incident and since he complains about everything, take it for what it's worth.

 

[neverteaseit]

whitey herzog said it best.

when the other manager tells me they are going to stop scoring then i'll have my team stop scoring. until then fair game.