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6076. wabbit - 7/16/2008 3:53:43 PM  I didn't make it to the end of the game, but from what I saw it was a good one this year. By the ninth inning, Tito had used all his field position players, so his team (except for the pitchers) was set for the duration. After a record-tying 15 innings and a record-shattering four hours and 50 minutes, after every player on each team that could be used was used -- and some, possibly, abused -- the AL finally put away the NL, 4-3. It was one of the most remarkable, frustrating, thrilling, patience-shattering exhibition games in the long history of the sport. The last All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium continued the AL's mastery of the sad-sack NL, which hasn't won one of these things since 1996. The only non-loss in that time for the NL came, memorably, in a 2002 11-inning tie in Milwaukee that prompted baseball to up the All-Star rosters to 32 players per team and award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner.
For a while, it looked like this might be the NL's year to win. The NL took a 2-0 lead, the first run coming on an opposite-field home run from Colorado's Matt Holliday. The AL tied it up with -- horrors of all horrors in Yankee Stadium -- a two-run homer from Boston's J.D. Drew. The NL struck back in the eighth with a run off Boston's Jonathan Papelbon (to the delight, somewhat strangely, of the Yankees fans). The AL tied it in the bottom of the inning.
And then they played on and on and on. And on some more. The NL got its leadoff hitter on in the ninth. Nothing. The AL had its first two on in the 10th. Nothing. The AL had its leadoff man on in the 11th and 12th, the NL in the 12th and 13th. Nothing. And some more nothing.
Then finally, in the bottom of 15th, with the NL on its last pitcher, Minnesota's Justin Morneau singled off Philadelphia's Brad Lidge, Tampa Bay's Dioner Navaro singled Morneau to second, Drew walked to load the bases and Texas second baseman Michael Young -- who hit a game-winning two-run triple in the 2006 game -- lofted a fly ball to right field that was just deep enough.
The throw from Milwaukee's Corey Hart was a little on the first-base side of home, and Morneau slid in just ahead of the tag from Atlanta catcher Brian McCann. Somewhere, commissioner Bud Selig -- who took the blame for the 2002 debacle -- let out a long, slow exhale...
6077. wonkers2 - 7/17/2008 5:19:02 PM 2008 Pacific Cup Cap'n [Dirty's daughter Sarah is sailing in this race, double-handed on a Moore 24.] 6078. iiibbb - 7/17/2008 6:16:02 PM Another EPO doper in the tour was caught today. First person of any significance... Ricardo Ricco... who had won two stages this year and was in contention for the climber's jersey.
Ricardo Ricco
6079. iiibbb - 7/17/2008 6:19:08 PM Also in cycling news... UCI meltdown.
Won't be sorry to see them go because I think they're one of the things bad about cycling. 6080. alistairconnor - 7/22/2008 4:01:32 PM "Put Gollum on serious bike training and you'd end up with something close to Cadel Evans," reckons Chris Hatton, "the strange voice, watery eyes and all. He wants the precious jersey, he has the precious jersey, then he meets his doom on top of a large mountain - hmmmmm"
 6081. alistairconnor - 7/22/2008 4:05:03 PM Look out for footage of John-Lee Augustyn who topped the highest pass of the Tour first, then plunged off the edge of the road on the other side... his bike fell several hundred metres, but he hung on by his fingertips, waited for another bike, and carried on.
These are the same roads I was riding on last week, more or less. 6082. jexster - 7/27/2008 5:29:31 PM I looked AC...guess I missed it
Break up Spain 6083. wonkers2 - 7/31/2008 3:55:35 PM Final report on Pacific Cup Cap'n Dirty's daughter "crushed" the competition in DH2 division. 6084. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/31/2008 5:35:12 PM A chipette off the old block--congrats!
6085. wonkers2 - 7/31/2008 8:54:24 PM The Cap'n sez, "Thanks. I taught her everything she knows!" 6086. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/4/2008 10:41:56 PM This is fun . . .
6087. jexster - 8/6/2008 3:47:45 PM Cool!
The NyT has an interactive Olympic calendar which allows you to drag and drop your favorite sports to the top of the list. Your time or ching chang chong time 6088. wabbit - 8/8/2008 12:19:52 AM Whoa, Ronaldo!
Wired also has some links for watching the Olympics online, for those so inclined.
My apologies for my continued absence, when it rains it pours. I do check in (as you all have no doubt surmised), but will be largely absent for a while longer.
Before I go, let me say one thing for the benefit of the also largely absent Banks - boo hoo about Manny going to LA, it's about damn time. I know of exactly one person who wishes he was still in Boston, but only one. He is welcome to be Manny on the left coast. They'll learn. 6089. marjoribanks - 8/8/2008 6:59:11 PM Ha! I thought of this thread when I heard the news that Ramirez was LA-bound. Bawston just doesn't get it. I bet this sets off another curse, and they don't win the WS again for a few decades.
I've just watched the entire Olympics opening ceremonies all this evening, as the monsoon pounded down outside. Stunning, with unbelievably elaborate effects and choreography. Be sure to watch the whole beginning (1.5 hours or so), and also the lighting of the torch. Truly spectacular. 6090. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/8/2008 7:48:11 PM Ramirez continues to bang the ball out there, pissing off and on his former fan base--how utterly Manny. 6091. wabbit - 8/9/2008 2:08:41 PM hahahaha, Manny *is* the curse, but happily not for us anymore! Bahstun gets it just fine; his crap was tolerated for too long. Nobody is saying he isn't a great hitter, but he is not a team player, and that has always been his problem here. Manny wants to be the center of the team, and too bad for him that wasn't going to happen here. It wouldn't have happened with the Yankees either, which may be why they have consistently declined to take him off our hands for years. I would have traded 100 Mannys for one Jeter any day. All he's doing in LA is proving he was dogging it here because he wasn't getting his way. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and figure you didn't see the bullshit he pulled the last few weeks he was here. He has nobody but himself to blame for his contract, he got what he wanted and wouldn't budge when we wanted to trade him three years ago. He won't be missed.
I'm trying to watch something of the Olympics online. NBC's online coverage is having problems. 6092. wabbit - 8/9/2008 2:13:05 PM I seem to have dropped the link above to Wired's how-to-watch-the-Olympics-online wiki - here it is. 6093. wabbit - 8/9/2008 2:27:37 PM I couldn't get the NBC stream to work in Firefox, but it works fine in Internet Explorer. 6094. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/9/2008 2:45:07 PM Like everything else, wabb, you're dead on target wrt Manny.
I couldn't watch any of the opening Olympic hoopla--besides the commercials, I felt like I was watching The Borg after their invasion of Tibet. China is a global cancer in it's early stages and this planet no longer has the antibodies to fight it. 6095. wabbit - 8/9/2008 2:49:45 PM I saw bits and pieces of the opening ceremony. I'm watching the eventing horses do the dressage portion of their competition right now. The horse events are in Hong Kong because of the pollution in Beijing.
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