PHILLY (Loosely Related to The Philadelphia Phillies)

Ledbetterman10 said:

I don't mind any of the changes. Not the biggest fan of the shift ban (where as THAT during Ryan Howard's career?) but I'm not against it, but the expanded playoffs, universal DH, pitch clock, limited throws to first....I can live with all that. 

The thing about baseball is I always tend to dislike changes when they're proposed, until I see them in action. As a teenager I remember disliking the idea of interleague play. But once it was installed, I liked seeing the Phillies take on the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox. I've always been anti-DH, often calling for the AL to abolish it, but now I actually like it in both leagues. Not just because Harper has benefited from it, but seeing rallies die due to the pitcher batting, or a pitcher being pulled for a pinch hitter in that situation, wasn't as fun it is now with nine actual hitters in the line-up. Less strategy involved, but given how dumb some of these managers are, that might be for the best. 

YES!  This is all I am asking for.  The Harper/Phillies situation is just a perfect example of why the DH is better. FUN! Sports are supposed to be fun.

Okay,

No, I don't like the DH - I think everyone should field and bat. And the crazy management of games with double switches and utilizing pinch hitters, all that, is missed.

But it's here, and it's baseball, I like baseball, and the franchise clearly altered their strategy as soon as the DH was put in, and yeah Bryce Harper would've missed the whole season with Tommy John surgery and it's been amazing to watch his iconic postseason. And it was a major disadvantage for the NL to play World Series games at AL teams that had an expensive DH (John Olerud, Hideku Matsui) while they were using their backup 1B or whatever. The marginally better hitting NL pitchers in the home games, in general, did not seem to offset this advantage.

Jearlpam0925 said:

The Juggler said:

eeriepadave said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Jearlpam0925 said:

Boom - check your email if you registered for WS tix. Now going to every game at home fuck yes.

Just checked and I did not get a notification of anything...assuming your post means they already let everyone know?
World Series games are a blast - can't imagine how much fun I will have if the damn Reds ever get back there.  (I'm going, for sure, if they do.)
Have a blast!

I registered I haven't received anything, so i guess I didn't win

I think you can register until midnight tonight. My wife and I did but I never even got a confirmation email about registering.

JP---what email are you talking about?

This was last week at some point, I believe, I received an email saying you can register for an opportunity to buy World Series tickets (I think it's one game and up to 4 tickets).

Buddy of mine texted me yesterday morning he picked up another game. When I saw that text I went and checked my Inbox, at which point there was an email saying I had an opportunity buy. Email had a link to buy, along with a code to enter. That's why I posted an FYI in here yesterday if anyone did the same.

Maybe they're doing it in waves? No idea....but alls I know is it's cheaper to go to Houston to go see the Birds and Phils play than catch the games here.

Yeah I did register last week based on an email received.  Also went back yesterday using that link and was able to register again, lol, so no idea.
I'm not a Phils fan so it doesn't bother me, but wife loved it and as much as she roots baseball (not much, she is NFL and NHL) she is a Phillies supporter.  I like to see great events, live, and the World Series for sure fits.

One year in CA I watched ticketmaster throughout the day and got tickets to Anaheim/SF world Series game.  (When Bonds hit the ball through the tunnel out to the concession stands in right)  Angels came back and won and it was a blast.  
Face value tickets will generally drop, day-of, for sporting events and even concerts
..fucked up partially obstructed views or nosebleeds, mostly. But they do drop, if people want to check.

With the throwing over to first two times per batter....does that mean the runner gets an auto-steal the next pitch,

Will be interesting to see how these rules play out.

Someone's comment from The Athletic:

For all the comments from people who are saying Harper is a "punk" and "unlikable", I'd like to share some stories from my interactions with him, once when he was 21 years old, and one about 3 years ago.
My son's best friend and baseball teammate developed a brain tumor at age 10, just a month or two after their little league team (I coached) made it to the state finals here in VA. The young man fought the cancer and it's terrible effects for about 18 months. At one point, someone contacted the Nationals and asked to set up a meeting with Bryce. The meeting was set up and the Nats people told the family that Bryce would only be able to spend 10 minutes with the boy. We all went to the stadium several hours before a game (the family invited me and my son along) and Bryce talked to all of us for ten minutes. Nats people kept trying to pull him away, but he pushed back (maybe he is a "punk", eh?) and said he'd like the young man to come with him. So he and the boy walked into the dugout and were gone for two hours! When the boy came back we all asked what they talked about, and the boy said "A lot of things, baseball, family, God, life and death...stuff like that". Bryce came out again and pulled the boy's parents aside and gave them his cell phone number and his parents numbers. He said if there was anything he could do, he would try his best to help.
The boy died about a month later and the Nats were in Milwaukee, but the parents got a text from Bryce and his parents, expressing their sorrow.
The parents held a memorial golf tournament to raise money for cancer research (pediatric cancer) and Bryce donated all kinds of signed items for them to auction off and Bryce's dad delivered the items personally.
Amazingly, 9 years later, the father tells me he will get the occasional text from Bryce, telling him he still thinks about his son and he hopes the family is doing alright and always asks "Is there anything you need?".

Second story- A co-worker's 13 year old son has leukemia and is in treatment, and the hospital says Bryce and his family are always willing to do anything the kids want, so one day about six kids who have cancer were invited to visit Bryce at the stadium. He immediately tells the parents that he is the babysitter for the next couple of hours and they can go relax in a suite and he has food and drinks up there waiting for them. The kids said he took them around the clubhouse and anywhere they wanted to see, then just sat and talked with them and told them they could ask any questions they wanted to. My friend's son is a hockey kid, not much into baseball, but he LOVES Bryce Harper.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I just wanted you to know there is a difference between being confident and brash, and being a punk. Bryce Harper is far from being a punk, he is a young man with his priorities in order....who happens to also be able to demolish a baseball.
I'm not a Phillies fan, but I'm forever a Bryce Harper fan....I hope he hits a walk off HR in the World Series!

Jearlpam0925 said:

Harper being a Phillie - and most likely will be more known as a Phillie than a Nat - is still so incomprehensible to me. I thought Hamels drilling him in the back was dumb, but if you told me 10 years ago this is how this would all play out I wouldn't believe a goddamn word of it.

We need Hamels throwing out the first pitch for game 3.

Looks like Topper is leaning towards Nola for game 1

Jearlpam0925 said:

Cliffy6745 said:

lol...I think I miiiiight be going next Tuesday. Go Phils!

Ohhhh NNNNNOPE. Nope nope nope. Out. Get out.

Lolololol. Walk by my house and look at the front window 

And for the record, going was not my idea and tickets are not 100% in place, but a reliable source. Had Monday tickets in place, but not missing Halloween with the daughter, so trying to switch to Tuesday