OT: Blue Jay/MLB regular season thread

[shoop]

So is Stanton going to get a lot of hype down the stretch? If he hits 62 is he the new homerun king?

He has a real chance to get to 62.

Baseball has pretty much conceded that Bonds, McGwire and Sosa all juiced.

Stanton getting to 62 would be an incredible accomplishment.

 

[lakai17]

Never mind Stanton.

Rhys Hoskins making history with the Phillies. No one's ever hit 10 home runs in their first 20 games. Hoskins has 11 homers in 18 games.

He actually started out 1 for 13 so he's been absolute fire lately.

The run will end eventually but it's an astonishing feat none the less.

 

[Stoneman89]

Never mind Stanton.

Rhys Hoskins making history with the Phillies. No one's ever hit 10 home runs in their first 20 games. Hoskins has 11 homers in 18 games.

He actually started out 1 for 13 so he's been absolute fire lately.

The run will end eventually but it's an astonishing feat none the less.

Hoskins is a story, no doubt, but Stanton is THE story, based on the entire season's body of work. Really, based on what he's done the past few years, he was bound to have a monster season at some point. I like his chances of breaking the "true" record and am cheering for him.

 

[rboomercat90]

Hoskins is a story, no doubt, but Stanton is THE story, based on the entire season's body of work. Really, based on what he's done the past few years, he was bound to have a monster season at some point. I like his chances of breaking the "true" record and am cheering for him.

I forget what the "true" record is. Is it the one held by Bonds, McGwire, Maris or Ruth?

 

[shoop]

I forget what the "true" record is. Is it the one held by Bonds, McGwire, Maris or Ruth?

That's why all this talk of "true" records gets a little tedious. I tend to lean to Maris. No steroids. The extra games Maris played balances out with Ruth playing against inferior competition before the big leagues were integrated.

But Bonds is the name in the record books now so that's the official record.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Posting a little late, but now that I see this thread bumped... It was party at Wrigley when the Jays were in town. Great atmosphere by both fanbases, an airshow going on at the same time (the pilots always make a point to buzz Wrigley), and some close games (despite the Cubs sweeping the series). I plan on being there when it happens again in another decade.

 

[rboomercat90]

Posting a little late, but now that I see this thread bumped... It was party at Wrigley when the Jays were in town. Great atmosphere by both fanbases, an airshow going on at the same time (the pilots always make a point to buzz Wrigley), and some close games (despite the Cubs sweeping the series). I plan on being there when it happens again in another decade.

Watched all those games on tv. I wa shocked at the volume of Jays fans there. I know Jays fans show up around the league but still surprised. I didn't think Cubbies fans would let their ball park be invaded,

 

[Frank the Tank]

Watched all those games on tv. I wa shocked at the volume of Jays fans there. I know Jays fans show up around the league but still surprised. I didn't think Cubbies fans would let their ball park be invaded,

The Blue Jays fans paid for their presence and treated it like the once in a decade experience it was. Cubs season ticket holders were probably glad to make lots of money for the weekend when a non-rival team was in town. Wrigley doesn't have a home field vibe most times in the regular season. It's usually a massive outdoor bar on summer weekends with a lot of casual fans.

I'd say it was 1/3rd Jays fans in the bleachers and 1/4th in the building. The Jays fans strong presence did elicit a larger than average response from Cubs fans when they pulled out the wins. All the Jays fans I talked with said Wrigley had the best atmosphere they've seen in the regular season. They even joined us in "Go Cubs, Go" after the wins.

 

[Stoneman89]

I forget what the "true" record is. Is it the one held by Bonds, McGwire, Maris or Ruth?

In my opinion, it's the one prior to the steroid era, which would clearly be Maris. Not his fault they played more games than in Ruth's era. Last I looked they didn't dismiss Gretzky's records because he played more games than Howie Morenz, and everyone seems okay with that.

 

[ekcut]

In my opinion, it's the one prior to the steroid era, which would clearly be Maris. Not his fault they played more games than in Ruth's era. Last I looked they didn't dismiss Gretzky's records because he played more games than Howie Morenz, and everyone seems okay with that.

Comparing Maris/Ruth to Morenz/Gretzky is like comparing apples to volkswagons.

Maris NEEDED the extra games to beat Ruth. Gretz needed 15 games to beat Morenz.

 

[rboomercat90]

In my opinion, it's the one prior to the steroid era, which would clearly be Maris. Not his fault they played more games than in Ruth's era. Last I looked they didn't dismiss Gretzky's records because he played more games than Howie Morenz, and everyone seems okay with that.

I watched "61*" again recently so it's fresh in my mind all the crap Maris went through, especially from Yankee fans, when he was chasing Ruth's record. It took a long time for his record to be seen as legitimate.

 

[Stoneman89]

I watched "61*" again recently so it's fresh in my mind all the crap Maris went through, especially from Yankee fans, when he was chasing Ruth's record. It took a long time for his record to be seen as legitimate.

That's because Ruth was a legend and an icon, and if the record was to fall, they wanted another icon to do it. Mickey Mantle was the chosen one to do that, but it didn't turn out that way.

 

[rboomercat90]

That's because Ruth was a legend and an icon, and if the record was to fall, they wanted another icon to do it. Mickey Mantle was the chosen one to do that, but it didn't turn out that way.

Gotta love those Yankee fans. They pick their guy, stick with him, and to hell with everyone else. Even if he's a Yankee too. Same way with Jeter and A Rod even before the steroid revelations. Laughed my ass off watching the movie "The Other Guys" when Wahlberg gets demoted for accidentally shooting Derek Jeter at Yankee Stadium. Another cop asks him why he couldn't have shot A Rod instead. Thought that summed up Yankees fans pretty good.

 

[shoop]

Comparing Maris/Ruth to Morenz/Gretzky is like comparing apples to volkswagons.

Maris NEEDED the extra games to beat Ruth. Gretz needed 15 games to beat Morenz.

Morenz's record was pretty impressive. 40 goals in a 44 game season.

The real question is comparing Gretzky to Esposito. The record for goals in a season was Esposito's 76 (in a 78 game season) before Gretzky got 92 (in an 80 game season).

Gretzky said in his book that he definitely wanted to beat the record in 78 games because he didn't want a Roger Maris asterisk hanging over his head. Gretzy was well within that 78 game objective, but it's interesting to hear that the Maris record was party of his thinking.

 

[shoop]

Astros trading for Verlander is a huge deal. He is having a monster second half. Ends all questions about the top of the Astros order. Keuchel can slot down to the second or third starter role. They don't have to rush McCullers back.

An Astros - Dodgers world series would be very interesting.

 

[rboomercat90]

Astros trading for Verlander is a huge deal. He is having a monster second half. Ends all questions about the top of the Astros order. Keuchel can slot down to the second or third starter role. They don't have to rush McCullers back.

An Astros - Dodgers world series would be very interesting.

Unfortunately, real life has gotten in the way of the Astro's season. It's hard to predict how they'll play the rest of the year with so many distractions.

 

[BarDownBobo]

Unfortunately, real life has gotten in the way of the Astro's season. It's hard to predict how they'll play the rest of the year with so many distractions.

Could very well be an inspiration for the players, like it was for the Saints back when they won the Super Bowl.

 

[shoop]

Could very well be an inspiration for the players, like it was for the Saints back when they won the Super Bowl.

That's what I'm thinking/hoping will happen. It's amazing how much winning a championship can lift up the spirits of a city. The people of Houston need that.

 

[rboomercat90]

Could very well be an inspiration for the players, like it was for the Saints back when they won the Super Bowl.

Hard to know what will happen. In the Saints case, the Super Bowl was played 5 months or so after Katrina hit. By then everything had more or less calmed down and the city was in a recovery stage. With the Astros, the devastation is still going on. It has to be a huge distraction for the players. I hope they can use it as an inspiration, I'd kind of adopted them anyway once the Jays season went down the toilet.

 

[lakai17]

Indians will be hard for the Astros, Angels too Upton a nice pickup.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Gregg Zaun was punted from Sportsnet today as their MLB game analyst due to innapropriate behaviour towards employees.

I always thought he was the mayor of Douchetown, this kind of proves it.

 

[oilers'72]

As an aside, this was bad timing for a charitable event Zaun tweeted today. It's for a husband, with a 4 week old child, who has terminal cancer and has decided to forego chemo as it wouldn't give him much more time to live.

 

[joestevens29]

Found it a bit bush league that on the TSN app this was such a big story. Almost like they were just shaming the guy because he worked for the competition. So much other crap going on was this really even that big of a story?