MLB Monday 5/31

[Wiretowire]

YTD +4433
3-3 last

A rant....................

Has anyone seen professional baseball? I used to love it. Would watch all day and night. As a kid I even played all day and night and for a few years I even made a career in professional baseball. But I haven't seen it in a few years so I am asking has anyone seen MLB recently?

Oh, they put something on TV that kind of resembles baseball. But then again not really. The take out slide to break up a double play is outlawed. And even if you look like you tried to you are both called out. Apparently you can cheat and have closed circuit TV steal signs and electronically relay those signs to the batter and they reward you with world series rings. The catcher can't block home plate anymore. Double headers are now 7 innings long instead of 9 each and the fans don't say anything about losing half a game. I bet they don't discount the price of admission even though they are taking game time away from you.

Replays are after every close play so why do they even have umpires? And didn't the owners want to speed up play? But it seems every play is followed by 5 minutes of replay. And that's in NY? So the umps in the stadium even the one that made the call stands with his thumb up his ass while a voice that could be 3,000 miles away tells him what he should have called? Does that shit sound right to you?

Pitchers will walk the bases loaded then somehow get out of it and act like they just won the world series pumping their fist in triumph as they stride off the mound when it was your worthless ass that got yourself into the bases loaded mess in the first place. Few if any of the outfielders have an arm worth a shit and the TV even puts up graphics saying how bad they are. ALL the players wear so much jewelry and shit they look like hookers on the streets come Saturday night and no one says shit about it. I haven't seen two consecutive defensive plays without seeing the fielder at least once bobble the ball.

Pitchers can't throw more than 100 pitches EVER. It's not their fault though as minor league coaches are actually fined if they let a pitcher throw more than 90 pitches in a game no matter what the situation is. Yes, they will take a minor league pitcher out who has a perfect game going if he's about to throw pitch 91. Pitchers with an era of more than 6 will stride off the mound like a conquering hero when he gets a strikeout. Never mind that he won't get more than 3 more the rest of the game. Each one is like the last out of game 7 and he's going to strut to show how fantastic he is.

Even with the worst pitching I can remember ever seeing, the batters have a league average that is around .180. That is below the magic Mendoza line (.200) and if your ass hit that low you were put on a bus and sent home in my day. Now you can't send everyone home because EVERONE can't hit. These guys start swinging while the pitcher is still winding up and the guessing, well, I have talked about that before. Swinging at pitches 10 feet outside or in the dirt before the ball crosses the plate. Or my favorite just standing there with two strikes as the pitcher throws a lazy fastball for strike three because they were fucking looking for something else? Like what were you looking for with two strikes on you you moron? And before you start listening to the announcers nobodies sinker or curve is that good. These guys just stink as hitters.

And to make matters worse they have come up with horseshit stats to make these guys averages look better. What the fuck is an OPS or and OBP? Really? I have news for you and all the clowns that try to make those new stats seem important. If a guy is hitting .180 I don't give a shit how many times he walks or how many of his hits are doubles or HR's. You can give me all the inflated new stats til you are blue in the face the fact of the matter is if you tell me he is hitting .180 I KNOW he is going to be out more than 4 out of every 5 times he walks to the plate. Knowing that, can you still tell me if it matters at all what happens when he does finally hit the ball? Oh, he got a double or a HR once and that should mean more to me in those extremely rare occasions he did manage to reach base? Jesus wept.

So please if you see any sign of professional baseball be sure to let me know. In the meantime, I'm going to go watch a little league game. But they probably won't keep score because they wouldn't want to hurt any ones feelings so fuck it.

All x50 each - all unders -130 each

TB/NYY under 9 1/2
Minn/Balt under 9 1/2
MLW ML -230
SD ML -150
CHW/Cle #1 under 8
CHW/Cle #2 under 8
Ana/SF under 9
Bost/Hou under 9
Oak/Sea under 9
Wash/Atl under 9 1/2
Pitt/KC under 9
Mets/AZ under 8

Probably come back later to play the Grand Salami under when it comes out.

GL

 

[number2]

@Wiretowire
In your playing days, were you a pitcher for the whitesox organization? I think you said it once.

love ur rants.......but would really like to read your stories from your playing days.....pretty sure there’s some funny stories to be told.....

GL today.......

 

[Wiretowire]

I was a catcher Number 2. Laughing because I have never been so insulted as to be called a pitcher. GL

As for when I played it was $1500 for the season and in year three that went up to a whopping $1800. But we did get all the stale hot dogs and popcorn we could eat after the game. Bus rides were killer but we were sworn to secrecy about what happened in those buses. It was the 70’s after all. Most of the stories would be x rated but it was a helluva lot different than it was today. But that was 50 years ago. GL

 

[B.A.R.]

That's a rant!

And a great one.

 

[Wiretowire]

Thanks B.A.R. GL

 

[Wiretowire]

Number2, there is one story I can tell.......

We were playing one afternoon and our first baseman, Mike Squires, had hit two homeruns in his first two at bats. He was a little guy but he could hit a ton. Actually went on to play with the big club because of his hitting. Had a very good major league career. So Squires walks up to the plate and the pitcher hits him in the back. That happened a lot back then. Hit two and you didn't ever hit three. So we end the inning and coach Thiel pulls me aside on my way out and says "I'm going to the pen tell him to hit the first batter for Squires." You couldn't let that shit go unanswered back then. Then coach says "Nothing major." Which meant hit him low, back or below.

So we finish the warmups and the first batter steps in. I give the sign to hit him. That was the middle finger (the bird) pointing toward the batter and then I made the low sign both hands pointing to the ground. Batter was this little Hispanic kid and he's about 19. Pitch goes to his back and he jumps out of the way. I give the sign again and the next pitch is at his knees. He jumps over it. I give the sign again and this one is at his back again and the batter spins out of the way. The pitcher looks in and yells to the batter "Stand still you little fucker." The batter yelled something back in Spanish. I'm laughing. The umps laughing. Both teams are laughing. The next pitch was at his head which it wasn't supposed to be but the pitcher was furious at this point and the batter ducks and runs to first. The other team gives him a standing ovation and our team including Squires is killing themselves laughing. I look to coach and he waves off hitting the next batter smiling.

New batter steps in and I give the sign for a fastball outside and Tommy proceeds to hit him square in the back even though it was called off. As I said, you didn't let that shit go unanswered. At least some people didn't. GL

 

[Wiretowire]

ADDING>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Grand Salami under 121 1/2 -110 x500

Rain killed an 800 over winner on Saturday and saved me from a 500 over loser yesterday. Let's see if I can sneak this under in before rain washes it out. GL