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Post by commond on Nov 4, 2022 6:51:16 GMT -5
We've got the Women's Rugby World Cup semis this weekend, and the All Blacks are playing Wales in Cardiff. Wales haven't beaten the All Blacks since 1953, but with injuries, suspensions and bereavements plaguing the All Blacks tour thus far, there's never been a better chance for Wales to beat them. The next three weeks could be very painful for All Blacks fans with tests against Scotland and England to follow.
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Post by commond on Nov 5, 2022 21:06:02 GMT -5
Let me use the spoiler tag for Berkley's sake. {Spoiler: Click to show} Phew, the Black Ferns managed to hold on and defeat France 25-24 after France missed a penalty kick to win the game. Bit of a sheepish feeling since the game was lost on France's boot, but what a thriller. Canada put up a huge fight against England too in the other semi.
Wales were a bit soft against the All Blacks. The All Blacks gave them plenty of chances to get back into the game with silly errors after they'd scored, but in the end, it was too easy for the All Blacks to score and they racked up a big total in Cardiff. The other games were close, though, with Ireland beating South Africa 19-16 and France scoring a late try against Australia to win 30-29. France created history with their 11th test win in a row, which bodes well for next year's home World Cup.
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Post by commond on Nov 5, 2022 21:07:47 GMT -5
The Blazers did well to beat Phoenix with Lillard still out. Their reward is getting to play them again on a back-to-back.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2022 22:25:42 GMT -5
Welp that's that. Astros in 6. Christian Vazquez has his second WS ring, and its countdown time as Xander Bogaerts has 48 hours to opt out of his current contract, so if the Sox are going to extend him before he becomes a free agent, they must do it in the next two days.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2022 4:20:07 GMT -5
I don't really watch any modern baseball anymore, but happy at least for Dusty Baker with this World Series win as a manager. With La Russa retiring, he's pretty much my last active connection into the game I grew up with. The Dodgers were actually the post-season enemy for me back in the day, but I still respected the heck out of the talent on that team.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 6, 2022 10:29:01 GMT -5
Congrats to the Houston Astros winning the World Series, since they defeated the Phillthies and that's always a good thing, but I really had hoped that Dusty Baker never got a ring.
He was one of those "old school" guys who crapped all over analytics because those were generated by guys who went to college and "who didn't play the game" like he did. It was a travesty what he did to Mark Prior, burning out his arm by not managing pitch counts and just using him up. To note:
In 2003, Prior started 30 games and threw 100+ pitches in 26 of them. In his last six starts of that season, his lowest pitch count was 109, and he topped 124 in the rest of them, including three games over 130 pitches.
In 2004, Prior started 21 games and threw 100+ pitches in 10 of his final 11 games, including a high of 129 over 7.2 innings and 116 in just 6 innings; the only game where he didn't throw 100 pitches, he threw 89 in just 3 innings. Before that, he didn't top 100 pitches, but he had games where he threw 92 pitches in 5 innings, 99 pitches in 5 innings, 92 pitches in 4 innings, and 92 pitches in 4.1 innings.
In 2005, Prior started 27 games and threw 100+ pitches in 19 of them. He started the season throwing 92+ pitches in 8 straight games, when most teams are easing their pitchers into the year coming out of spring training. Prior had games of 106 in 6 innings, 107 pitches in 5 innings, 102 in 4.2 innings, 109 in 6.2 innings, 108 in 6 innings, 123 and 118 in 6 innings each in back to back games, 131 in 6.2 innings after those two, 122 in 6 innings, and 120 in 6 innings.
Prior pitched only 9 games for the Cubs in 2006 at the age of 25, then signed free agent contracts with San Diego (twice), Texas, New York Yankees, Boston, and Cincinnati over the course of the next 7 years, never throwing another pitch in the big leagues again.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2022 12:06:50 GMT -5
He was one of those "old school" guys who crapped all over analytics because those were generated by guys who went to college and "who didn't play the game" like he did. Baseball was a LOT better with those "old school' guys. I can't even watch the game anymore.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 6, 2022 12:23:50 GMT -5
He was one of those "old school" guys who crapped all over analytics because those were generated by guys who went to college and "who didn't play the game" like he did. Baseball was a LOT better with those "old school' guys. I can't even watch the game anymore. I can see that point of view, but as a person who works in a highly-data driven profession, I believe that ignoring analytics to go with "gut feelings" is foolish. Baker played during an age where many guys had off-season jobs because they weren't making millions of dollars. However, as a manager, he mishandled his company's assets because he refused to change with the times. Before him, Don Baylor (another old-school guy) ruined Kerry Wood, a job that Baker eventually finished off, because they treated him like pitchers were treated back in their day. I think there is a place for both in the game. Teams should be using analytics to drive decision-making at a high level, but they should also allow the managers to do their jobs provided the managers aren't operating in a manner completely inconsistent with what the analytics are pointing towards. Having pitchers throw 100+ pitches game in and game out is the surest path to having them destroy their arms, especially since the lowering of the mound in the late 1960s and the increased emphasis on batters taking more pitches due to focus on on-base percentage rather than batting average.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2022 12:40:20 GMT -5
Baseball was a LOT better with those "old school' guys. I can't even watch the game anymore. I can see that point of view, but as a person who works in a highly-data driven profession, I believe that ignoring analytics to go with "gut feelings" is foolish. Baker played during an age where many guys had off-season jobs because they weren't making millions of dollars. However, as a manager, he mishandled his company's assets because he refused to change with the times. Before him, Don Baylor (another old-school guy) ruined Kerry Wood, a job that Baker eventually finished off, because they treated him like pitchers were treated back in their day. I think there is a place for both in the game. Teams should be using analytics to drive decision-making at a high level, but they should also allow the managers to do their jobs provided the managers aren't operating in a manner completely inconsistent with what the analytics are pointing towards. Having pitchers throw 100+ pitches game in and game out is the surest path to having them destroy their arms, especially since the lowering of the mound in the late 1960s and the increased emphasis on batters taking more pitches due to focus on on-base percentage rather than batting average. Fair enough, believe it or not I work in a highly-data driven profession as well (and do analysis all day long). So I should be more of this mindset in theory, but honestly, I'm just old and tired at this point. I appreciate what certain data insights can bring (and yeah, I totally get the example of burning out the pitchers), but honestly applying it broadly to the game just takes the fun out of things for me. Baseball was a somewhat simpler escape for me, and now I feel like it's part of "big data" like everything else these days. It's sometimes why I also like to just go read Conan and dream of a "simpler" world. So don't listen to me...I'm genuinely glad for those who still find enjoyment with the game! My memories of Baker and Baylor are from a time long ago...
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Post by Rob Allen on Nov 6, 2022 14:22:02 GMT -5
The Blazers did well to beat Phoenix with Lillard still out. Their reward is getting to play them again on a back-to-back. Yes, that game was a gift. The league's review found three officiating errors in the last few seconds, all of which benefited Portland. If any one of them had been called correctly, the outcome would have been different. Last night's game was more like what was expected - Phoenix by 20. Still, we're past 10% of the season with a record of 6-3. That's better than most people thought they'd do.
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Post by berkley on Nov 6, 2022 18:24:00 GMT -5
I couldn't quote commond's post without the spoiler contents being unveiled - is that a glitch with the spoiler tags or am I doing something wrong?
Anyway, I didn't read any results so all is good. As it happens, I've managed to see one of the Women's RWC semi-finals, Canada-England, and two of the Northern Tours matches, Nz-Wales and SA-Ireland. Will try to watch the other Women's semi-finalNZ-France, and the Men's France-Australia within the next few days.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2022 14:34:34 GMT -5
Fenway Sports Group pots the Liverpool soccer club for sale the same day Xander Bogaerts opts out of his contract to become a free agent. Hopefully they use the proceeds of the sale to finance Xander's new contract... -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 7, 2022 23:04:52 GMT -5
I think that ship may have sailed.. and I think Jeremy Pena being so good replacing COrrea didn't help... I'm sure they have visions of Marcelo Mayer being that guy in 2024, if not next year. The money could definitely go to Devers though, np, which would make me happy
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2022 23:14:39 GMT -5
I think that ship may have sailed.. and I think Jeremy Pena being so good replacing COrrea didn't help... I'm sure they have visions of Marcelo Mayer being that guy in 2024, if not next year. The money could definitely go to Devers though, np, which would make me happy Problem is I don't think Devers signs an extension with them unless Xander is there. He wants to play with Xander, and if Xander signs elsewhere, he may want to try to follow him wherever he signs, especially if there continues to be rumblings that the Sox want to move him from 3B to DH or elsewhere. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 8, 2022 11:30:44 GMT -5
I'm concerned about that too, actually. The media is always talking about how close they are, but is it really true? Would Devers actually give up money to play with Boegarts, or vise versa? I guess we'll find out.
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