2020 Baseball Cheaters vs the World Thread of Hate

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

16 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

This is just stupid. They get tested every day and are living in a bubble. 

 

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Interested to see how the Astros do with no Correa or Springer.

[pops 6972]

Well. 

 

 

Bye. 

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

[David Dennison 18646]

53 minutes ago, Loch Ness Monster said:

Interested to see how the Astros do with no Correa or Springer.

Correa will be in Houston next year.

[Slacks 6791]

I had been saying, "Don't pitch over the plate to Rice-A-Roni," for 5 f'n games.

I guess I should have been more literal.


Arozarena rakes yards. Walk him on outsider pitches and hope he swings anyway.

[Gourmand 7774]

3 minutes ago, Snacks said:

I had been saying, "Don't pitch over the plate to Rice-A-Roni," for 5 f'n games.

I guess I should have been more literal.


Arozarena rakes yards. Walk him on outsider pitches and hope he swings anyway.

Should have just thrown him nothing but breaking pitches, that is what they had most success with against him and all the Rays hitters. 

Little OT for this thread but there was an interesting breakdown of that at bat between Rollins and Pedro on the post game show where they showed how Arrozarena con pollo was tracking those earlier pitches. He was going down into his legs and watching the ball travel through the zone paying attention to one specific spot and trying to see it there. LMJ threw him consecutive sinkers in the same spot and he watched one go by, fouled one off, and then cranked the last one. A curveball would have got him.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

 

[wild_turkey 3150]

Thanks a lot, Tampa Bay. Baseball fans everywhere outside of Houston appreciate you closing this one out.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

3 hours ago, youdunnf'dup said:

 

“Remember Jared Weaver?...said nobody.”

[David Dennison 18646]

Rent free.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

7 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

Thanks a lot, Tampa Bay. Baseball fans everywhere outside of Houston appreciate you closing this one out.

They clearly have heart. The A’s and Twins roll over and die at the first sign of adversity in the playoffs. The walls were closing in on Tampa. That might’ve permanently crushed the A’s or the twins. But tampa held strong and did what they had to do. 

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

4 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

“Remember Jared Weaver?...said nobody.”

I want to make a “well see, Jared weaver was really good while the Astros were rebuilding and didn’t have any bandwagon fans yet, so you might not remember him” joke but I’m not helobious. I’ll let him handle that one.

[Guadaloopy 10917]

11 minutes ago, youdunnf'dup said:

I want to make a “well see, Jared weaver was really good while the Astros were rebuilding and didn’t have any bandwagon fans yet, so you might not remember him” joke but I’m not helobious. I’ll let him handle that one.

*Jered

I remember him well enough to spell his name correctly. 

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

6 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

*Jered

I remember him well enough to spell his name correctly. 

Thank you for that correction. That was an important correction and I’m glad you caught it because there’s no way we would’ve been able to continue without it.

Jered doesn’t even look right, but whatever. Who knew Weaver’s mom was one of those moms that had to make their sons common name a little bit different.
 

“It’s not Drew, it’s Jrue.” 

[WBT 20411]

54 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

“Remember Jared Weaver?...said nobody.”

I remember that outside of a couple of good years they both mostly sucked but I can't remember if him or his brother was shittier.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

1 hour ago, WBT said:

I remember that outside of a couple of good years they both mostly sucked but I can't remember if him or his brother was shittier.

I forgot that they were two different people. 

[wild_turkey 3150]

https://sports.yahoo.com/the-astros-past-finally-catches-up-to-them-one-game-shy-of-a-return-to-the-world-series-075736089.html

Quote

The Astros' past finally catches up to them, one game shy of a return to the World Series

Left standing by Major League Baseball, by karma, by a sub-.500 regular season and a three-games-to-none deficit in the American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros had but two remaining obstacles en route to an unlikely — and mostly unpopular — World Series appearance.

Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Their past.

Those arrived together Saturday night in San Diego.

Only then were the Astros — disgraced by a cheating scandal last winter and 11 months later defiant in their refusal to succumb (or atone) — undone.

Charlie Morton, one of their own at a time when they won a World Series and lost their reputations, started for the Rays in this Game 7, pitched 5 ⅔ scoreless innings, celebrated a 4-2 win with his new teammates and prepared for a trip to Dallas to play the survivor of Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 7.

Rookie Randy Arozarena hit his seventh home run of the postseason and his fourth of the series, Pete Fairbanks recorded the final four outs — the last two with the tying run in the batter’s box — and Mike Zunino homered and drove in two runs for the Rays, who will play in their second World Series. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008, when they were still getting used to not being the Devil Rays.

This was, first, their victory, four games and four days after they had taken that three-games-to-none lead against the Astros. This was their time to recognize in themselves the depth, cleverness and talent of an organization that operates confidently and efficiently in areas where others are sloppy. About their only significant free agent signing in recent memory is Morton, who left the Astros for a two-year, $30 million contract, won 16 games in 2019 and three — one against the New York Yankees and two against the Astros — in the 2020 postseason. His ERA in five playoff starts for the Rays is 0.70. On Saturday he allowed two singles, no runs, and handed the ball to the Rays’ bullpen vision of the final 10 outs with a three-run lead.

Morton had awakened Saturday morning with a Game 7 on his mind and the good part of the day to siphon away. His mind wandered to pitchers he’d known and admired, men such as Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and A.J. Burnett, men he viewed as big-game pitchers. He thought back over how they’d won those games, those days and reminded himself, “You just want to go out there and be a pro and help your team win.” Simple like that.

Hours later he looked back over that Game 7 — two hits, no runs, all so clean — and said, “That was a really special one for me.”

By the looks of their smiles later, and the way they clung to each other on the Petco Park infield, it was special for all of them.

“This,” Zunino said, “was the best I’ve seen Charlie in the time I’ve been able to catch him, in the past two years.”

The Astros gathered their things. Some lingered. They’d had a going-to-the-World-Series party just like it a year ago. Another one three years ago. Now they could be sure that most were glad they were gone, and George Springer was asked what he thought about that.

“The Astros,” he said, “stayed in their dugout and stuck together.”

Those who rooted against the Astros for their crimes against the game, who raged against a system that would not — or could not — impose adequate judgment, who then watched as a mediocre regular-season team picked off the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland A’s and advanced to within a game of the World Series, and so wondered when the Astros’ past would come for them, would have to settle for Charlie Morton, who three years ago was the winning pitcher for the Astros in Game 7 of a World Series hardly anyone believes in.

It was Morton — along with 27 other Rays — who, it would be viewed, finally gave the Astros their due, except it was too late to surmise anything but that these Astros were very good, played exceedingly well, showed admirable resilience and were a hit or two away from being even better than that.

And the whole time, actually, while the taut Rays toiled to put away a team that was getting little from the likes of Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel, that endured defensive spasms from Jose Altuve, that dueled without ace Justin Verlander or closer Roberto Osuna, the thought simmered — why exactly did the Astros choose such a reckless path those seasons ago? They were good enough. Apparently only they suspected otherwise. They are still good enough, only now augmented by terrific young pitchers and Michael Brantley and a manager, Dusty Baker, who put a hand on their shoulders and asked only that they love each other and play the game.

That wouldn’t get them to the World Series, of course. Apparently it wouldn’t even get them a winning record. But something stuck, and it wasn’t under their shoes, and the Astros won some games, and it wasn’t until late one night in the middle of October when Aledmys Diaz flied to right field and the Astros were finished. 

Baker had listened to Taj Mahal most of the morning, some blues about a guy who was painting his mailbox blue. Bregman had promised to get after the next four or five at-bats like no other four of five at-bats he’d ever taken before. You could argue that any hardships along the way were self-inflicted, maybe even deserved, and still these Astros had huddled against the fallout, stumbled across two months in which they looked very fragile, then perhaps rediscovered the notion they were decent ballplayers too.

Not as decent as the Rays, it turned out, by a game. And that truly seemed to surprise them. But, still, decent enough.

“We weren’t on a revenge tour,” pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. said. “That’s not what this was. Guys wanted to play ball and go to and win another World Series.”

Baker, 71, said of the losses, particularly those later in October, “They’re all painful,” and this — down oh-three, tied three-three, now done — absolutely qualified. He also said he’d overheard Josh Reddick on the phone with his father Saturday afternoon and thought, “I wish I could call my dad.” He’s said goodbye to some friends recently, some who were ballplayers, even Hall of Famers, and some who were just good people, and in the minutes after he learned he would not be going to the World Series, Baker reminded himself there’d be another baseball season.

“The eternal losses,” he said, “those are tough to heal.”

The Astros, then, would not be remembered as the team that got caught, that banded together, that in the face of loud and hard condemnation returned to the World Series because, after all, they were so good at baseball. They’d be remembered still as the team that got caught.

Also, as the team that survived for a few weeks in the playoffs, and that began to believe again, right up until the night their past caught up with them.

Edited October 18, 2020 by wild_turkey

[David Dennison 18646]

Catches up with them?

They wildly overachieved. 

[Trey3216 15325]

21 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Catches up with them?

They wildly overachieved. 

They were virtually tied as the odds on favorite to win the AL from the start of the season, how did they wildly over-achieve?

Edited October 18, 2020 by Trey3216

[Jshep34 2303]

Ace starter , closer and rookie of the year didnt play any reasonable time this year. Debuted 9 rookie pitchers and came within 1 game of World Series appearance.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[pops 6972]

19 minutes ago, Jshep34 said:

Ace starter , closer and rookie of the year didnt play any reasonable time this year. Debuted 9 rookie pitchers and came within 1 game of World Series appearance.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

They win a cookie and a pat on the head. 

[phdhorn 6224]

The Astros, then, would not be remembered as the team that got caught, that banded together, that in the face of loud and hard condemnation returned to the World Series because, after all, they were so good at baseball. They’d be remembered still as the team that got caught.

Also, as the team that survived for a few weeks in the playoffs, and that began to believe again, right up until the night their past caught up with them.

That was very, very good sportswriting. That's how you do it.

[Vic Mackey 46927]

47 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

They were virtually tied as the odds on favorite to win the AL from the start of the season, how did they wildly over-achieve?

Fucking this.

[Vic Mackey 46927]

30 minutes ago, Jshep34 said:

Ace starter , closer and rookie of the year didnt play any reasonable time this year. Debuted 9 rookie pitchers and came within 1 game of World Series appearance.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Wow. How neat. Throw a parade.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

1 hour ago, Trey3216 said:

They were virtually tied as the odds on favorite to win the AL from the start of the season, how did they wildly over-achieve?

Astros fans think finishing below .500 in the worst division in baseball and sneaking in the backdoor of the playoffs means they wildly overachieved. They don’t understand that the twins would lose to any team you put in front of them and the A’s have a track record of doing the exact same in the postseason. But hey, man. “What are we gonna say about them now”

[David Dennison 18646]

1 hour ago, Trey3216 said:

They were virtually tied as the odds on favorite to win the AL from the start of the season, how did they wildly over-achieve?

LOL

Someone didn't watch the Astros play 60 games.

[Helobious 9480]

Didn’t realize the Astros were the first sports team in history to have to deal with injuries and players leaving. 
 

They fucking sucked this year. Even I didn’t realize how reliant they were on cheating until this season. They’ll likely never sniff the ALCS again. It was the last year of their window and they choked it away. 

[pops 6972]

Of course an astros fan would neg rep in the astros are cheaters thread. Sweater God the venn diagram of astros fans and aggy fans would damn near look like a single circle. 

[David Dennison 18646]

9 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Didn’t realize the Astros were the first sports team in history to have to deal with injuries and players leaving. 

They fucking sucked this year. Even I didn’t realize how reliant they were on cheating until this season. They’ll likely never sniff the ALCS again. It was the last year of their window and they choked it away. 

We're sorry for hurting you.

[David Dennison 18646]

7 minutes ago, pops said:

Of course an astros fan would neg rep in the astros are cheaters thread. Sweater God the venn diagram of astros fans and aggy fans would damn near look like a single circle. 

Baseball aggy plays in Arlington.

[crainiac 37]

Didn’t realize the Astros were the first sports team in history to have to deal with injuries and players leaving. 
 
They fucking sucked this year. Even I didn’t realize how reliant they were on cheating until this season. They’ll likely never sniff the ALCS again. It was the last year of their window and they choked it away. 

Seems like fucking sucked would be reserved for the team that went to last year’s ALCS, added the best pitcher in the league, back-doored into the playoffs, then didn’t get to the ALCS again, but that sounds crazy, right? Know your place t-shirt.

p.s. you using the phrase “even I didn’t realize” is hilarious, thanks for the lulz.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Window closed.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

2 hours ago, pops said:

Of course an astros fan would neg rep in the astros are cheaters thread. Sweater God the venn diagram of astros fans and aggy fans would damn near look like a single circle. 

 

2 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Baseball aggy plays in Arlington.

Aggy had a recruiting/cheating scandal in the 90s. Houston now has a cheating scandal. Houston is close to college station. Both REALLY care about what everyone else thinks about them, more than any other team in their sport. Yeah, I would say there are a lot of similarities. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by youdunnf'dup

[wood 11121]

4 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

They were virtually tied as the odds on favorite to win the AL from the start of the season, how did they wildly over-achieve?

 

4 hours ago, Jshep34 said:

Ace starter , closer and rookie of the year didnt play any reasonable time this year. Debuted 9 rookie pitchers and came within 1 game of World Series appearance.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Yep,  I'm pretty sure nobody predicted them to win the pennant after those early, very major injuries hit.

[Vic Mackey 46927]

3 hours ago, David Dennison said:

Baseball aggy plays in Arlington.

Too bad y'all couldn't make it to Arlington this year. So close. Yet so far.

[Trey3216 15325]

57 minutes ago, wood said:

 

Yep,  I'm pretty sure nobody predicted them to win the pennant after those early, very major injuries hit.

You mean, like damn near every team in the league had to go through? 

[Vic Mackey 46927]

3 hours ago, pops said:

Of course an astros fan would neg rep in the astros are cheaters thread. Sweater God the venn diagram of astros fans and aggy fans would damn near look like a single circle. 

Exactly. Pussy move. Want to neg if we go into the Astros thread to talk shit? Sure. That is also a dick move. This thread was created to talk shit about Houston as those Astros/Rangers shit talking threads that were good. I got multiple ones from StruggleBus in here. Lighten up StruggleBus.

[wood 11121]

9 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

You mean, like damn near every team in the league had to go through? 

Damn near every team in the league lost their best SP, their closer, and their best power hitter at the beginning the season, for the whole season? How many of those were predicted to win their pennant after those injuries? How many made it to game 7 of their LCS?

[Trey3216 15325]

3 minutes ago, wood said:

Damn near every team in the league lost their best SP, their closer, and their best power hitter at the beginning the season, for the whole season? How many of those were predicted to win their pennant after those injuries? How many made it to game 7 of their LCS?

A lot of those other teams didn’t have sufficient other talent.   The Astros were basically tied with the Yankees as odds on favorites to go to the World Series, and they’re going fishing, just like the Yankees.  

[wood 11121]

47 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

A lot of those other teams didn’t have sufficient other talent.   The Astros were basically tied with the Yankees as odds on favorites to go to the World Series, and they’re going fishing, just like the Yankees.  

Seems like you're being purposefully obtuse, relying on a projection made before losing three of their most important players for the season at the beginning of the season. Nobody in their right mind was projecting them to even be in the ALCS after even one or two of those injuries, much less all three of them, and after those injuries, nobody in their right might would say ALCS G7 is anything less than overachieving.

Edited October 19, 2020 by wood

[wild_turkey 3150]

Seems like you're being purposefully obtuse, relying on a projection made before losing three of their most important players for the season at the beginning of the season. Nobody in their right mind was projecting them to even be in the ALCS after even one or two of those injuries, much less all three of them, and after those injuries, nobody in their right might would say ALCS G7 is anything less than overachieving.

Teams lose players to injuries all the time.

2018 Dodgers were without Clayton Kershaw for half the season and Corey Seager for the entire season. Their pitching staff dealt with injuries to not only Kershaw, but also Maeda, Hill, Urias, and Ryu. They overcame it and went to the World Series, but then again, they didn’t have to carry the burden of being cheaters on their backs.

[David Dennison 18646]

1 minute ago, wild_turkey said:

Teams lose players to injuries all the time.

2018 Dodgers were without Clayton Kershaw for half the season and Corey Seager for the entire season. Their pitching staff dealt with injuries to not only Kershaw, but also Maeda, Hill, Urias, and Ryu. They overcame it and went to the World Series, but then again, they didn’t have to carry the burden of being cheaters on their backs.

Where they lost.

Again.

[youdunnf'dup 2147]

46 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

Teams lose players to injuries all the time.

2018 Dodgers were without Clayton Kershaw for half the season and Corey Seager for the entire season. Their pitching staff dealt with injuries to not only Kershaw, but also Maeda, Hill, Urias, and Ryu. They overcame it and went to the World Series, but then again, they didn’t have to carry the burden of being cheaters on their backs.

Nah, man. Vegas probably doesn’t account for the fact that a team might deal with injuries when they do their odds. They don’t account for the fact that a 40 year old starter might just get injured really easily. The Astros finishing 2 games below .500 in the gauntlet that is the AL west is a bigger accomplishment than their tainted World Series when you really think about it. They had so much to overcome this year and they STILL almost got to .500. 

[wood 11121]

1 hour ago, wild_turkey said:

Teams lose players to injuries all the time.

2018 Dodgers were without Clayton Kershaw for half the season and Corey Seager for the entire season. Their pitching staff dealt with injuries to not only Kershaw, but also Maeda, Hill, Urias, and Ryu. They overcame it and went to the World Series, but then again, they didn’t have to carry the burden of being cheaters on their backs.

Of course teams overcome injuries. And with all those injuries, the 2018 Dodgers overachieved to get to the Series, just like with all of their injuries, the 2020 Astros overachieved to get within a game of the series. This isn't difficult if you're really thinking. Y'all know what I'm saying is true. You just don't want to admit it because it's the Astros and you've fallen for the league branding them as "the cheaters", when this shit has been rampant throughout the history of the MLB.

You know as well as I do that had these injuries hit the Astros before that projection was made, nobody would have been predicting them to get as far as they did. Nobody with half a brain, anyway.

And of course ... the Dodgers were doing it, too. And the Red Sox. And the Yankees. And who knows who else. If you're gonna live in that glass house where "The Astros are 'the cheaters' and don't deserve to play with anyone else in the league 'cause they're all clean', I hope you have good insurance. That shit's all gonna come down around you.

Edited October 19, 2020 by wood

[wild_turkey 3150]

Of course teams overcome injuries. And with all those injuries, the 2018 Dodgers overachieved to get to the Series, just like with all of their injuries, the 2020 Astros overachieved to get within a game of the series. This isn't difficult if you're really thinking. Y'all know what I'm saying is true. You just don't want to admit it because it's the Astros and you've fallen for the league branding them as "the cheaters", when this shit has been rampant throughout the history of the MLB.
You know as well as I do that had these injuries hit the Astros before that projection was made, nobody would have been predicting them to get as far as they did. Nobody with half a brain, anyway.
And of course ... the Dodgers were doing it, too. And the Red Sox. And the Yankees. And who knows who else. If you're gonna live in that glass house where "The Astros are 'the cheaters' and don't deserve to play with anyone else in the league 'cause they're all clean', I hope you have good insurance. That shit's all gonna come down around you.

Yeah, we agree.

[wood 11121]

4 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

Yeah, we agree.

 

If you really believe the Astros are the only ones, then you need to learn a little bit about MLB history, recent and not so recent. But hey, ignorance is bliss, I guess.

[Vic Mackey 46927]

[DaysOff 7843]

Should definitely troll the Arlington Cowboys thread. Those motherfuckers might consider stealing signals. Yikes.

[Loch Ness Monster 3533]

Hoping the Astros can give it another run in 12 years. They cheated and got their 1. Congrats?