timwakefield

Tim McCarver explains the obstruction rule: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izxPeDiCs_U&feature=youtu.be

Yeah she did last episode, crying like a baby and messing up their ingredients and everything. But I still like her, I'm betting she just had a bad day.

Yeah, Betty Boop. I like her, and she seems like a killer chef. I'm with you on both the New Orleans guys.

Pretty good season so far. It was funny when they kicked off the super cocky guy in like the 2nd episode. Kinda glad we don't have to see him anymore, because he obviously was a lot more talented than some of the other chefs and could have made a pretty deep run if he hadn't been an idiot with that sushi, but he was also a huge douche. Is chick from the island the black lady? If so then yeah, she's for real. I also like the retro girl, she's pretty badass.

Gomes/Nava is a non-issue again tonight, with Victorino still hurt. Would have been interesting to see who Farrell went with. Probably Gomes after last night, which I wouldn't have hated, but Nava really hits righties way better than Gomes, and Gomes in turn hits lefties way better than Nava. . Jonny Gomes career splits: .225/.310/.423 vs righties .277/.377/.502 vs lefties Daniel Nava career splits: .292/.390/.443 vs righties .223/.307/.328 vs lefties

Well yeah, he had the biggest hit of the night and his biggest hit as a Red Sox. I think we all know from poker though that results-based thinking is stupid, and if Victorino is back tomorrow I hope Nava gets the start over Gomes again. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but love for Gomes. But I hated seeing Nava out of the lineup indefinitely in favor of Gomes (especially since Gomes was ice cold), and I'd still rather have Nava in there unless a lefty is pitching, and the Cardinals have no lefty starters. Nava is also a better fielder. There was one fairly routine fly tonight that

The bottom line is, when Salty threw that ball into leftfield the game was obviously over. If the runner hadn't tripped over Middlebrooks there wouldn't have even been a play at the plate. Such a shame because it wasted an outstanding play by Pedroia to get the out at home. It's also a goddam shame that Farrell used Doubront for 2 innings last night cuz we've got Glassarm Buchholz going tonight, but I'm not that mad at him for that - gotta try to win every game and Doubront gave us an opportunity last night. I am kind of mad at him for continuing to start Stephen Drew. I do

Pretty obvious interference call. Nothing Middlebrooks could do to get out of the way either. Awful decision by Salty to throw that ball. Also some strange moves from Farrell, like letting Workman bat, not getting Napoli an at bat, and not walking Jay in the 9th. Not getting Napoli in there is probably the most questionable (instead we got Gomes and goddam Carp).

It would have been really interesting to see who won the AL MVP had the Angels made the playoffs, but unfortunately awards voters seem to think MVP means something other than Best Player, and that if your team didn't win then you must not have been very valuable, so it's Cabrera's almost without question. It used to be really bad - the MVP almost always came from whoever won the pennant, in spite of other players having far superior seasons. MVP awards from the early decades are basically a useless measure. It's a bit better now, but still not great. Anyway, Trout deserves it, and won

Sports Illustrated overwhelmingly predicted him to be the worst free agent signing of the season. Turns out he had the best season of his life (best WAR at least). http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20130325/mlb-preview-staff-predictions/

That catch by Iglesias was incredible. Just incredible. The Detroit radio call is worth hearing: http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?content_id=31155161&topic_id=vtp_must_c&player_id=578428

... Not sure what point you're trying to make. He had a great at bat the other night. In the context of his very young career and inexperience it was impressive, and I hope he impresses again tonight.

Well it turns out I was wrong, the Sox were tied 2-2 in the '03 ALCS, which I overlooked because fuck everything about the 2003 ALCS. Anyway, Xander Bogaerts is starting at 3b tonight. He only has 54 ML plate appearances, and just turned 21, but he had a killer at-bat in game 4 vs TB, pinch-hitting in the 7th and drawing a walk after falling behind 1-2, and then scoring the tying run a few minutes later.

After Papi's grand slam game I said something like 'Ok now we've got a series' and Nick said something like 'Fuck everything, Sox in 5,' and I don't blame him after a loss like that. So I was sort of referencing that. Anyway, I'm fucking pumped for tonight's game. The Sox have been in the ALCS 5 times since 1999, not counting this year, and we've been down 3 games to 1 every single time. Having 2 wins at this point almost feels like a bonus.

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's never made explicit at all, but what BigD said is how it seemed to be. She left Walt for Skinny Schwartz, while the three of them were working together.

Ok then, now we've got a series, assuming the Red Sox don't mount another ridiculous comeback in the last 2 innings again tonight. I think at this point the rest of the series is a coinflip. Game 6 and potentially game 7 being at Fenway makes me happy, but the fact that we'll be facing Scherzer and Verlander in those 2 games makes me sad. Great series so far, even though tonight's game is pretty dull.

I held off on reading the comics until last month, and I'm really glad that I finally read them. The show is only sort of following what happens in the comics (it follows it very closely at the beginning but much less so as it goes on), so I wouldn't worry too much about the comics spoiling what's gonna happen on the show. There are characters in the comic that aren't in the show and vice versa, and at this point it's really not gonna spoil things like who's gonna die when because they're not following the comic that closely anymore.

So I finally read the comic, and am now up to date on it. It's goddam brilliant, and makes me way more annoyed at the show than I already was.

Holy shit. Just holy shit. We've got a series.

God bless Daniel Nava. And how about the brass balls on Quintin Berry? Rough loss, but it was almost really fucking rough if not for Nava.

It's definitely a worthwhile analogy, but the problem is that now people are gonna want New York Jews and SF Chinamen hats because they're awesome.

thatswhatimtalkinabout

Pedro Martinez is writing a memoir, which I totally can't wait to read. http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Baseball+great+Pedro+Martinez+working+memoir+2014/8989256/story.html

How is this totally on the President? "It's Obama's fault" tells us nothing if you can't explain why or how it's totally on him. In related news, Michele Bachmann's response to the shutdown is: "We're very excited. It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it." No seriously, she said that. http://www.washingto...b77e_story.html John Culberson of Texas called it "wonderful," with no apparent sarcasm. Definitely 100% Obama's fault though, in spite of his political enemies now celebrating the shutdown and saying it's what they wanted.

The Wire Breaking Bad The West Wing Twin Peaks Deadwood The Sopranos probably takes 6th place for me. Star Trek TNG would also rate pretty damn high but it's not really a drama. The West Wing might actually deserve the #2 spot, even despite it overstaying its welcome.