some baseball questions????

[kickserv]

anybody know the "real" answer to these questions? I've heard a couple different answers....but what one is correct :shrug:


1) Why is the National League called the "senior circuit"

2) Why when the pitcher picks off somebody at second it is called the "daylight play"?

3) In terms of innings what is the longest game ever played?



and now for an "opinion" question...........


4) Are major league pitchers just "that bad" (seems like nobody can put a fricken ball over the plate anymore....how many blown saves or big comebacks...sheesh!! Or are the hitters just too good?

**for example in hockey there's a big debate on why nobody can score anymore.....just wondering what you baseball experts (as you can see I know little about baseball) think about the hitting versus pitching thing :shrug:

FWIW......I think there are tons of horrific pitchers....but hey I could be wrong....but there's something wrong when a guy gets millions of dollars to pitch like one fricken inning and walks in 2 or 3 runs.....I mean should that happen at the top of your sport??

 

[E-Z MONEY$$$]

Hope this helps

1)Not sure why its called the senior circuit.

2) It's called the daylight play because when the pitcher checks the runner and he can see a decent amount of "space" (daylight) between his fielder racing to cover the bag, and the baserunner, he then throws for the pick off.

3)Not 100 percent sure, but it is either 26 or 27 and it happened way before either of our parents were born if I remember correctly.

4) Pitchers are much worse now, and you can blame it fourfold. a)The majority of the blame goes to expansion. Too many teams out there have to have 12 pitchers and the talent pool is just diluted. b) The use of creatine and steroids and plain just working out by the sluggers has made them much tougher outs c) The new ballparks for the most part are made to suit hitters rather than pitchers. i.e. cinncinnati, enron field, coors field, etc. d) the brass upstairs in baseball decided a few years ago that they were losing the younger fan base with pitching duels while youngsters couldn't understand these type of games. They wanted to see home runs and scoring. Hence, umpires narrowed the strike zone and for the most part made it more difficult on pitchers allowing for more over the plate pitches which good hitters can whack.

Hope this helps

 

[countinguy]

I personally think Pitching is bad on purpose now just to spark more interest in the game so it does not seem so boring to people. So the attendance is higher. Just my opinion!

 

[ndnfan]

3) In terms of innings what is the longest game ever played?

1981--Pawtucket and Rochester (International League) met in the longest professional baseball game ever played, 33 innings. It began on Apr. 18 and into the wee hours on Apr. 19 before it was suspended and finally completed on June 23.

This was a minor league game.....I believe Cal Ripken played for Rochester in that game....one of those "guaranteed foul ball day" games if you hung around long enough

 

[E-Z MONEY$$$]

As per longest major league games:

National League:
May 1st, 1920 26 innings with the game ending in a tie. Brooklyn played Boston to a 1-1 time before the game was called. I remember laying heavy chalk on brookly in this game. Lucky for me, my book gave me a push.

American League:
May 9th, 1984, 25 innings. The White Sox defeated the then American League Brewers 7 to 6.

 

[Escrow_Tum]

Senior Circuit. Plain and Simple, the National League came into existence before the AL.

When guys like Juan Assholevader, Jeff Fuhkserro, among a host of others I would rather not waste my breath on can make more money than the president and keep having teams clamor over them, you know the locusts are coming. Hitters are also much stronger these days and Vitamin S sure isn't helping matters any. Fundamentals are about shot anymore.

 

[The Big Tease]

kick....the national league is just simply the older of the two leagues thats why it is called the senior circuit or senior loop. the american league is also called the junior loop or junior circuit

 

[ALWAYS PRAYEN]

pitchers are worse??????

clements would be a god in the 50 s and 60 s

hell the fukin strike zone is a postage stamp!!!!!!!!!!

runs produce excitement , exctiment pays the revenues ,

and the revenues pay the umps!!!!

 

[loophole]

just going to post when i saw the big tease's post; he's right, the national league dates back to 1876 and the american league dates to the turn of the century i believe.

 

[Big Daddy]

A couple of things that I believe has contributed to the bad pitching situation. There are just more teams and the talent has been diluted. There are guys in the majors that just aren't ready to be there, but because of money and free agency, they get rushed to the majors when they should still be in AA or AAA. Another factor is that back quite a few years, as they were growing up, your best athletes wanted to pitch, and they generally did. Now, the best athletes want to play an everyday position where they can play and bat every game. They don't want to be in a rotation and then still not bat because of the DH. But probably the biggest reason why the pitching seems bad is because you don't dare pitch inside anymore. With the rules the way they are now, the batters can dig in and know they won't be brushed back. Back when pitching was good, when someone would hit one out, the next guy up knew he might take the next pitch in the ribs. That's just the way it was. And if you hit one of our guys, we would hit one of yours. Not any more, now you get a warning, and then you and the manager are ejected. If a team strings together a few hits in an inning, the next batters can still feel comfortable at the plate, knowing that they don't have to worry much about getting pitched inside. All these factors, along with the pitching mound that was lowered some years ago, all contribute to the lower quality of pitching that we see now.

 

[Stewy]

Pitching

Pitching

Personally , I think the pitching has gotten stronger the past two years. Alot of young pitchers on the horizon. Ballparks in Cincinatti, Colorado, Texas, Milwaukee, are nightmares for pitchers therefore those teams are forced to field a pitching staff throught the draft and it's not exactly an ideal situation for a youngster trying to gain confidence.