Well, it kinda helps that Cincinnati's lineup is basically built for a guy like Liriano to feast on. The top half of the lineup is basically patient lefties who get victimized by a hard lefty slider that can catch the corners and Brandon Phillips. Liriano's the best lefty slider pitcher since Randy Johnson when he's healthy.

Also, as an addendum, fuck the CRADS. Fuck them forever.

Sox fans don't like anything obi. They are all pure evil.

Anyway, go Pirates. Anyone know if Salazar is pitching for Cleveland tomorrow? That would be really fun to watch.

Whatever, what's the point of following a club if you like other clubs.

Oh come on Putin, lighten up.

I sit here a lifelong Mariner's fan, but just because they were out of contention about a month into the year doesn't mean I stopped following baseball. The Pirates are a fun story and you have to root for someone when there are ten teams left and none of them are yours.

Sure, have teams you would like to see advance in a particular scenario, but he has 3 different 'favorite teams'.

Really, Putin, what DO you do once your team is eliminated?

Do you really just fold your arms and refuse to watch any more games or hope anyone else wins?

ghug has the idea...

If we stopped caring about baseball when our teams were out of contention...at best we'd stop by May, at worst, well, we never had a shot this year to begin with, so should we just not watch this year at all? That's being a fair-weather fan!

Anyway, go Bucs. ...The good ones. The ones in Pittsburgh. Not Tampa.

Oy...the Tampa Bay Bucs...what a mess!

I will always root for the Cubs over everyone. I hope for good things for the Brewers because they make my stepfather happy. I will always root for whoever's playing the damn CRADS up to and including a team assembled completely from serial killers, pedophiles, and billionaires.

No, I have a team #1 (ie, my FAVORITE team, my preferred, beloved team) and then my fallback, backup, non-preferred, "The Mets Are Done But Here's October" teams.

I didn't watch the Angels at all this year.
Why?
No playoff baseball, right?
But I'll watch the Sox games because, hey! They're still alive!

I won't celebrate if they win, but I prefer them winning than anyone else...well...

No, this year, I REALLY want the Pirates to win. For just this year.

But if they can't, better the Sox than someone else I hate more (a Sox/Dodgers series would be interesting...I'd be the only one chanting "Beat LA!" in an LA bar...and THAT, folks, is how I die!) :p

I don't stop watching when they're out of contention. I just stop focusing on playoff prospects and start evaluating how individual players are doing and how the young talent is coming along. That's less stressful anyway.

Either you support the team or you don't.

And with that, 6-2 the final,

PITTSBURGH IS READY TO PARTY LIKE IT'S 1992!

:D

Even Putin can't ruin this (and I still watch/listen to/follow the Mets and their prospects...but if you haven't noticed, it's October, and I feel like watching and caring about some October baseball.)

I'm still bitter about 1990. Pirates? Blah.

Gratz 'Ratz. Too bad the Cards will take you down just as they would have the Reds.

Damn Putin knows how to hold a grudge...

I mean, sure, the Niners lost to the Giants in 1990 to end arguably the closest shot ever at a three-peat and, with it, the days of Joe Montana as quarterback after a vicious hit...

But come on. You move on. Steve took over. We won again. Things improved.

It's because of *2011* and the utter, utter sadness following Kyle Williams' two fumbles to lose the NFC Championship game in OT that makes me bitter towards the G-Men.

;)

Hey! It's October! Baseball post-season! Put football aside for the next few weeks, K?

You move on if there's a plethora of post-season glory. Easy for a DeBartolo franchise to forget about a bitter loss when they bought 5 superbowls.

"Mets and Sox fans BOTH unite when one or the other takes on the evil, evil Yankees..."
I'd also like to point out that despite the Sox and Yankees huge rivalry, the Sox are still able to respect an amazing pitcher like Mariano Rivera, enough to give him a standing ovation despite his years and years of pitching against their beloved Red Sox.

Of course we can. It's not hard to understand exactly what Mo's done. I imagine the Yankees fans will do the same for David Ortiz when he decides to hang it up in the next 3-4 years.

"You move on if there's a plethora of post-season glory. Easy for a DeBartolo franchise to forget about a bitter loss when they bought 5 superbowls."

To paraphrase someone I can't stand politically--

Why begrudge success?

In REAL LIFE I think that's utter shit, but in SPORTS...are you really going to hold it against a team that they took advantage of a rich owner?

I think a salary cap is ideal for all sports, yeah--but I'm not going to apologize for Eddie D. building a superpower when and how he could.

And yeah--I think everyone respects and will miss Rivera.

A LOT of my postseason baseball memories are defined by that man and his team either triumphing or falling to defeat.

"are you really going to hold it against a team that they took advantage of a rich owner?"

I don't give a fig about the 49ers. And starting this year I don't give a fig about the whole game of headbrick.

David Ortiz does not deserve the recognition that Rivera is getting.

Rivera is arguably the best (at worst second best) relief pitcher of all time, and is known for clubhouse presence and philanthropic work.

Ortiz is a guy that is very good at one part of the game and completely nonfunctional at the rest who has alleged connections to PEDs and who will probably make the hall of fame over more deserving candidates simply because he plays in the gigantic market that is Boston.

Not even arguably. He's the best.

There's a case for Goose Gossage. Not a very good one, but a case nonetheless.

The only other reliever who might be in the conversation is Eckersley. Rivera is in a class of his own.

And how do the Indians still have that stupid Chief Wazoo logo?

Chief Wahoo, sorry. Like it makes a difference to get its name right.

Ohio inexplicably has so many Indian mascots despite having no officially recognized nations. They still have the logo because the tribes are too dead to complain about it.

But we have lots of burial mounds!

Ghug, you and every other Mariners fan. It's really sad that people spewing the shit you do are the ones that make me dislike the team instead of the fact that the team is shit and has been shit for as long as I can remember and trades away everything on their club that isn't shit except for Felix Hernandez because I guess they think he can singlehandedly make the team win.

The rest of the people around the league will tell you that Papi led the Red Sox out of the curse and the people around Boston will tell you that that city belongs to Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Ted Williams, Tom Brady, Paul Pierce, and David Ortiz.

And, by the way, the news broke today that the Cleveland Indians were asked by the baseball offices to change their name to something "tasteful and non-offensive."

I recommend the Ohio Indians.