Open Thread: World Series Game One
By
Barry’s got this. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty)
The Giants and Tigers open the 108th World Series tonight with Game One in San Francisco. Both teams were the three-seed in their respective leagues — meaning they had arguably the most favorable schedule — but arrived at the Fall Classic in very different ways. Detroit beat the Athletics in five games in the ALDS before walloping the Yankees in the ALCS sweep while the Giants came back from a 2-0 deficit against the Reds in the NLDS before coming back from a 3-1 deficit against the Cardinals in the NLCS.
If there is such a thing as momentum, San Fran has it … or they don’t. The Tigers have had six days off while the Giants played just a day ago, but Justin Verlander will be on the mound for Detroit. They say momentum is only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher, and the Giants will be running Barry Zito out there. Whenever the Yankees were not in the World Series, I’ve always found myself rooting against the AL team and I’m not quite sure why. That’s just the way it’s been for me and I don’t expect that to change this year.
Anyway, here is your open thread for the evening. Game One starts at 8pm ET and can be seen on FOX, so talk about that or any other non-politics topic here throughout the night. Enjoy.
121 Comments»
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The Tyler Austin Watch
I’ll be watching. The wounds are gone.
And I need to get away from reality…
Go Giants!
Verlander and Zito, eh?
CY VERSUS CY
“Whenever the Yankees were not in the World Series, I’ve always found myself rooting against the AL team and I’m not quite sure why. That’s just the way it’s been for me and I don’t expect that to change this year.”
I feel the same way. Maybe it’s just because I won’t have to hear announcers say “The Yankees are coming up against the defending World Series champions” during the course of the next season. I mean yeah, there’s inter-league, but even if they do draw that time, it would only be once, not several times.
This is probably a terrible reason. But I don’t really care.
That said, I will not be watching the game. I love baseball, I really do. Maybe I just get burnt out after 162+ games, though. I never get to play xbox after work during the regular season, and frankly, I’d rather do that right now.
do draw that *team*. Gah. Long day. Maybe I just need to go to bed instead.
I think the Yankees do play the Giants in interleague next year. So the Yanks will be facing the World Champs sometime next season, no matter the victor.
Okay, but just once. Not like 3-4 times. I acknowledged it’s not a great reason, but fuck it. Go National League!
I might catch some ESPN 30 for 30 reruns at 9:00. I love the series, but missed that entire season so far.
I think NFL Network runs a few good shows at night as well. Football life might be on.
So I’ll switch from WS, 30 for 30, and Football Life.
I don’t get the NFL Network on my cable package. Ah, I miss having my parents pay the bills
I’m all caught up on The Walking Dead now too. I started a new character on Skyrim a couple weeks ago to till some time until Halo 4 comes out. So that’s my night haha.
Really? Direct T.V., fIOS, Optimum, and Time Warner all have it.
I have Comcast, and I am sure as shit not paying extra for the NFL Network.
Oh never mind!
Haha,
Immediately after the Yankees lost, I found myself in 2017 as the Pirates when Chris Stewart’s 2k10 version had an 89 overall and was platooning at catcher with Jeff Clement.
Hear me out, but what if we resigned Ichiro, signed Pagan, and put a package together for Justin Upton or CarGo around Granderson?
Just a thought. Also would like to see Yankees give Nate McClouth a look. He was pretty solid in the ALDS.
Pagan = too much $$$$$$$$, not really proven hitter
Ichiro = he’s old, and past 2 years he’s been far from consistent
I feel like at this point, we should not be sacrificing prospects, unless it’s Phelps, Nunez, or an Adam Warren type. We should be building for the future, and we can’t afford to give up Sanchez, Williams, Montgomery, Austin, etc., a few of which will be needed in Cargo deal
Why would the Rockies or Diamondbacks want Granderson?
Ummm
Forty three home runzzzzzz!!!1!1!1
Phillies?
Only option in my mind for a trade. If we can fool them into handing over Dom Brown, I’d be happy.
Don’t know about those two teams, but I could see a team try to fool their fanbase into thinking they’re competitive by taking Grandy on for a season. It’s not absolutely far-fetched.
D brown sucks .. I rather play almonte
I think they should consider Pagan, but I have a feeling he’s going to end up with too many $$$/years to interest the Yankees.
Look for the Giants to beat Verlander. They’ll chip away at him, manufacture a run here and there, Scutaro will get a clutch hit to clinch it. If Zito holds up his end of the bargain the Giants will beat the Tigers ace. Small ball will prevail.
“Small ball will prevail.”
This doesn’t actually happen in the playoffs, as much as idiots like Jon Kruk would like you to believe otherwise.
Pablo Sandoval would like you to go fuck yourself.
Thank you. I was just thinking this
That was one big panda shit right on Eddard’s head.
Was anyone else hoping that the Nationals would make it to and win the WS (if not against the Yankees) as much as I was? I listen to MLB Network radio almost exclusively in my truck and dread the off season of “they shouldn’t have shut down Strasburg” calls.
I was. I moved to DC in June, and I was really happy for the Nats fans I came into contact with. Everyone seemed so happy, so grateful for a good team. I was rooting for them. To be honest, it was kind of refreshing. The Yankees won the division and made it to the ALCS, and so many people want to blow the team up. Nats fans, even though they lost, were just thrilled to have a great season, finally win the division, and be in the playoffs. Nobody I’ve met is bitter. They are my official second team. As long as the Nats are not playing the Yankees, I’m pulling for them.
They are definitely my NL team. Though, I wouldn’t have minded if the Braves would have gone farther though, being Chipper’s last year and all.
stros are my nl team.
sorry, what?
really?
ssssssselig.
you have a truck. hot.
“Whenever the Yankees were not in the World Series, I’ve always found myself rooting against the AL team and I’m not quite sure why”
I know why. It’s because every AL team that made it (with the exception of 2008) is the team that eliminated the Yankees in the postseason.
And I’m guessing that in 2008, you actually did root for the AL team (Rays).
Unless you rooted against the White Sox too, I guess. That’s the only one they didn’t face that went on to the WS.
Yeah, I’m just an idiot. Tigers last year too.
Watching some Knicks preseason instead now.
My condolences.
Time off is maybe not such a good idea
I’ve mentioned this a lot, but does Seth Smith make way too much sense for the Yankees? He can platoon in right field with a speedy, .280ish right-handed hitter? Maybe Darnell McDonald, possibly Aaron Cunningham, both as reclamation projects?
Maybe David Adams would be a good fit for 2B/3B where the A’s are struggling right now, maybe CoJo and his high OBP would be a moneyball move?
Doesn’t a player have to have been good in the past to be considered a reclamation project?
McDonald are you kidding me .. You obviously don’t know much about baseball .. I rather have canseco come out of retirement and play than see McDonald out there
i’d rather get eli.
Isn’t Barry Zito amazing? From Cy Young to way overpaid to not on the post season roster to starting game one of the world series….
What a long strange trip it’s been….
guy, for real. “way overpaid” doesnt begin to approach it. ridiculous. pretend it’s august 2008 and carl pavano shows up. nuts.
Hunter Pence is a fucking hack… Like, Granderson level hack… He just looked like me taking swings against verlander
I wanna see the umps screw the tigers like they screwed the yanks in game 1. The yanks should have won game 1 and then who knows what happens in the series. Maybe the yank hitters loosen up and the tigers tighten up the whole series changes so let us see selig’s boys screw the tigers out of game 1 and see them still win the series
Not to worry. Verlander doesn’t have his usual wide strike zone
Why did Red Sox give up on scutaro?
$$$
gave up??
because he’s a league average, if that, midget nerd –
NEVER MIND!
a world in which marco scutaro mvp’s.
chaos.
I’m enjoying your not quite haiku posts Vick. Keep me comin.
Ugh. Em comin.
Verlander is getting shellacked!
When did Zito start pitching right handed?
Why couldn’t we do that.
Why couldn’t we do that.
Disregard.
Boo-urns!
Yankees get: Michael Morse, Wilson Ramos
Nats get: Curtis Granderson, Austin Romine
??????????????????????????????????
i’m listening.
Giants hitters incinerate Justin Verlander.
Verlander getting Cliff Lee’d by the Giants.
Hunter Pence looks like he just inhaled a massive amount of cocaine.
Lol
Always has!
Swings his bat like he’s on meth though…
McCarver shut up, please.
Someone forgot to tell Pablo Sandoval that you can’t hit homers off good pitchers in the playoffs.
Yup. He missed that memo
It only fits the narrative if it’s the Yankees not hitting home runs in the playoffs.
zito….best postseason player story in some time, imo
Alright this is getting annoying
Verlander is reminding all Tigers fans why they’re starting in San Francisco.
I kept hoping ASG Verlander would show up against us, and it never happened.
Pretty sure if I’m Verlander right now I would drop my glove, walk off the field, go home and nail Kate Upton.
I wonder if Zito can play third base …
BARRY MANILOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
So I waited long enough…
I had my post-mortem today. I had saved MLB Network’s “30 Clubs in 30 Days: NY Yankees” on my DVR from last March just to see predictions v. Outcome. Hosted by Matt Vasghersian, Larry Bowa & Harold Reynolds.
Key talking points from March on why they’d succeed: Gardner, Pineda & possible emergence of either Banuelos or Betances in August.
Also “A-Rod says he’s finally healthy for the first Spring in many years & looks great.”
“Russell Martin should take off offensively since he’s already familiar with the pitchers and has a year in NY under his belt.”
“Cano should surpass the 119 RBI from 2011 since he’s finally batting 3rd.”
Anyone have some specific questions for me before I delete it from my DVR once and for all?”
Interview with Girardi: “Nunez going to play huge role.”
They listed 10 potential bench players: including Branyan, Bill Hall & Cervelli.
Nix (although shown repeatedly in Camp during the show) not even mentioned.
Projected Standings:
Yanks 94-68
Sox 88-74
Rays 86-76
Jays 77-85
O’s 73-89
The Giants are going to score more runs in this game than we scored in the entire series.
Eesh. It’s interesting to think about. Yanks finish regular season hot, have a few days off, and are abysmal offensively in the ALDS and CS. Tigers had what, about a week off? Looks like they’ve lost some of their momentum too. We’ll have to see.
but if you said that small ball doesn’t work
NOt surprised,Verlander IMO has always been overrated and when not given a massive strikezone,can actually get lit up.
agree!
You only need to hit it 360 feet out there in left? Bandbox.
That was awesome, y’all.
Pablo Sandoval: Fuck you and your pitching too.
Yep, this is gonna play out like 2006 for the Tigers. Loving it.
But can the Giants actually take the series if they aren’t coming from behind?
The Dungeness Crab sandwich at AT&T Park is to die for. The garlic fries are amazing.
Oh Jesus, I just saw Ken Rosenthal’s outfit.
I’ve heard they have great food. I’ve never been one for crab or lobster, though.
I love that stadium.
I also love lobster, although it’s way overpriced in NYC. There’s one advantage New England has.
New England is racist though.
“Kiss this, Albuquerque!”
Yes, I would trade for Timmy.
In the last five games, the Giants’ pitching staff has recorded more clutch insurance RBIs than the entire Yankee team (sans Ibanez) in the entire playoffs. Granderson and Cano have something to learn from Zito’s RBI at-bat. Make contact! Hit the ball the other way! Runs! Funny how that works.
4 of the Giants 6 runs came on home runs. An Zito’s was just a completely lucky jam hit.
ssshhhhh.
I really want Sandoval to take Valverde deep here.
Valverde is definitely not pitching again in 2012, even if it’s a massive blowout deficit
Love watching Detroit get owned, Verlander was due to get rocked
I love the Gameday scout thing: “Tim Lincecum may prefer to go after Omar Infante rather than face Miguel Cabrera.”
Gee, ya think?
I finally figured out what ‘Orioles Magic’ really is.
It was the ability to make other teams play down to their level. It’s how they had such a good record with a crappy differential and a hodgepodge collection of players.
It’s why the Yankees bats disappeared in the ALDS. Then the infection spread to our bats in the ALCS. And now it will live in Detroit who’s only offense was having to play down to our Baltimore-crippled-asses for four games.
(only mostly sarcastic)
so – it was the Yanks’ lousy hitting after all!
We did know that, didn’t we?
Kind of interesting/remarkable that only 4 times has a player hit 3 home runs in 1 World Series game, and that it has happened in each of the last 2 years.
I hope Yankee brass is watching this. The Giants have given a blueprint for how to beat Verlander and how to win in the postseason. Some big ball is fine but you need small ball to compliment the HRs. Scutaro had the biggest hit in the ballgame with that clutch RBI single to give them a 2 run lead. Sometimes all you need is a single. And how sad is it that Barry Zito hit better with RISP than our big boppers? Small ball wins ballgames.
“The Giants have given a blueprint for how to beat Verlander”
By hitting his mistake pitches out of the ballpark.
Of course, there’s the “blueprint” the Yankees used every other time they beat Verlander.
Throw away your computer.
Blueprint for the Yankees: Small ball is more important than HR. Pinch hit our pitchers for Kurtis and AROID and canope.
And actually Pablo’s 2 run home run was the biggest play of the game.
The Reds and Cardinals say hi,as do the Nationals and A’s.
Final score was 8-3. The winning runs were driven in by a homerun, Sandoval’s 2-run shot.
In other news, you’re pretty much wrong about everything.
Yankees brass: “Guys, I know we’re one of the winningest franchises of all time and of the past couple years, but after watching Game 1 of the World Series, I’m pretty sure we’re doing it all wrong. We obviously need a giant, overweight guy who can hit home runs and we need a pitcher at bat every single time there’s a runner in scoring position.”
That’s what you get for bringing in a former Yankee pitcher to get Delmon Young out.
A little late, but I guess nobody told Sandoval you can’t win in the postseason or beat good pitching by hitting homeruns trolololo
#pissing all over the narrative on the biggest stage
Pick up the 2013 club options on Cano and Granderson and offer Soriano a year and $13.3M so he can reject it and the Yanks could get a draft pick from losing him.
Trade Granderson to the Giants for Zito, A-Rod and $80M to the Marlins or Dodgers for prospects.
Sign Jake Peavy for a year and $18M so he still makes $22M after the Chi-Sox buy him out for $4M.
Either sign Kevin Youkilis or re-sign Chavez for 2013 only.
Re-sign Melky Cabrera for a year and $14M or two years $12M a year if he doesn’t accept just a year, Swisher for a year and $13.3M I think he’ll take cuz he wants to stay a Yankee, Dioner Navarro for a year and $1M, Pettitte for a year and $5M, Nix, Dickerson, Rapada, and Eppley for 2013 only.
Pick up the 2013 club option on Aardsma.
Rotation: Sabathia/Peavy/Zito/Hughes/Pettitte (L/R/L/R/L)
Everyone after Sabathia is in their walk year.
Bullpen: Rivera/Robertson/Logan/Rapada/Aardsma/Chamberlain/Eppley
Bench: Stewart/Nix/Dickerson/Youkilis or Chavez
Starting Nine/Batting Order:
Jeter in a possible walk year
Nunez 3B through 2016
Cano in his walk year
Teixiera through 2016
Cabrera LF for 2013 only or through 2014
Ibanez DH for 2013 only
Swisher RF for 2013 only
Navarro C for 2013 only
Gardner CF through 2014
Sabathia and Teixiera are the only players under guaranteed contract beyond 2013 if Cabrera is re-signed for 2013 only, 2014 if Cabrera is re-signed through 2014.
Why in the world would the Yankees want Navarro .. Also why the heck would they pay Cabrera 14mil for a year are you kidding me .. Why would they sign peavy to that much money when he is almost never healthy.. Why would the marlins give the Yankees prospects for arod who sucks .. And finally why would the Yankees want zito who has sucked for years pitching in the NL and in a pitcher friendly park .. Good thing you are not running the yankees
This is typically what happens every year. One or two teams get hot in the post-season and every fan wants what they have, regardless of how ‘single data point’ it might be.
A guy with 12 HR’s, batting 3rd, hits 3 in one game. We had only one starter with less than 12. Imagine if Ichiro or Jeter hit 3 HR’s in one WS game. Amazing….