I Hate the White Sox - But That Game was Awesome

[MMMordabito]

Tim Anderson - What's the script on that?

[Seth Stohs]

What a fun game... love it! Glad they'll be doing it next year and hopefully annually after that! The beginning was amazing though!! 

 

[bean5302]

I think the location and setup was really something special. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud... but there were 16 hits of which 8 were home runs. 23 of the 52 outs were strikeouts. 11 of the 19 base runners reached on a walk. The ending was dramatic, but the game represents the most boring aspects of today's MLB.

68 plate appearances. 34% strike outs. 16% walks. 12% home runs. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

13 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Field of Dreams game is tonight.

 

it was a somewhat o.k, game 

[mnfireman]

13 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Field of Dreams game is tonight.

 

MLB wrecked it for me by putting the Yankees in it. It was played in Iowa, could have put KC, STL, MIN, MIL, CHC instead, more of a local team so to speak.

[Monkeypaws]

Hope MLB will allow me to watch the condensed version.

Having been there years ago, it is pretty to see the dreams come true. 

Corny yes, but don't all sports rate high on the cross grid of corny and awesome?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

9 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

MLB wrecked it for me by putting the Yankees in it. It was played in Iowa, could have put KC, STL, MIN, MIL, CHC instead, more of a local team so to speak.

Maybe so, but I bet from the earliest planning stages the two teams were always going to be the White Sox and Yankees. Maybe Cubs, but probably Yankees.

The story it was based on is about the White Sox, and the Yankees are... the Yankees.

[Unwinder]

Field of Dreams is good and all, but MLB really needs to do a game based on the scene from Twilight where the vampires play baseball.

[RpR]

Sadly I turned the FoD game off when New York took the lead, did not want to see NY win again.?

[RpR]

Stupidly I turned it off when New York took the late lead.?

[Teflon]

The views of the Iowa countryside as the sun went down were as gorgeous and serene a backdrop as I've seen to an MLB game. Kudos to MLB for starting the game at 6 pm to make the most of the "golden time" lighting. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, either.

[h2oface]

17 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I think the location and setup was really something special. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud... but there were 16 hits of which 8 were home runs. 23 of the 52 outs were strikeouts. 11 of the 19 base runners reached on a walk. The ending was dramatic, but the game represents the most boring aspects of today's MLB.

68 plate appearances. 34% strike outs. 16% walks. 12% home runs. 

I must be an anomaly these days. I don't find MLB baseball, or most minor league and college ball, boring at all. I come too early and stay late. If the games go into extras, that is just more free baseball. As my three children grew up, they loved the games and baseball trips. When I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, we would go to Baltimore each year, stay at the Renaissance, blocks away from Camden Yard in the Inner Harbor, which was where the Twins always stayed, too. Early shagging BP balls in the outfield stands, and autographs for the kids after the games. Stay for the whole series. Same in Tampa, Boston (we saw Ortiz hit numbers 51 and 52 homers of his Boston record 54 in September of 2006), and Minnesota, of course (games in Arizona, Colorado, St Louis, Atlanta - I must be leaving some out.... both Chicagos..... and NYCs). They have dirt from the Field of Dreams (the actual one, not the new one with stands), and ran around on the field, too. Today's game, or yesterday's games in the 60s as a kid, never bored. These changes to "speed up" the game are schlock, and a disservice to the game. It is our internet video culture with half second segments streamed together that I find boring. 

I found nothing "boring" about the game in Iowa, tonight. Not a damn thing. And it had a magnificent ending that rewarded all that was there and stayed until the end wherever they were and however they watched it. For the Love of the Game.......

[Unwinder]

6 hours ago, h2oface said:

I must be an anomaly these days. I don't find MLB baseball, or most minor league and college ball, boring at all. I come too early and stay late. If the games go into extras, that is just more free baseball. As my three children grew up, they loved the games and baseball trips. When I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, we would go to Baltimore each year, stay at the Renaissance, blocks away from Camden Yard in the Inner Harbor, which was where the Twins always stayed, too. Early shagging BP balls in the outfield stands, and autographs for the kids after the games. Stay for the whole series. Same in Tampa, Boston (we saw Ortiz hit numbers 51 and 52 homers of his Boston record 54 in September of 2006), and Minnesota, of course (games in Arizona, Colorado, St Louis, Atlanta - I must be leaving some out....). They have dirt from the Field of Dreams, too. Today's game, or yesterday's games in the 60s as a kid, never bored. These changes to "speed up" the game are schlock, and a disservice to the game. It is our internet video culture with half second segments streamed together that I find boring. 

I found nothing "boring" about the game in Iowa, tonight. Not a damn thing. And it had a magnificent ending that rewarded all that was there and stayed until the end wherever they were and however they watched it. For the Love of the Game.......

I'm mostly with you here, I wasn't even watching baseball before it got the way it is now, and I like it just fine the way it is. Not opposed to seeing it tinkered with though.

[Brock Beauchamp]

While I thought they overly sanitized the event by building a full-blown stadium in the corn field, it was a lot of fun and held my attention FAR more than I expected.

For one, I hope they make this a yearly event. It was good fun all around and a great showcase game.

[Brock Beauchamp]

6 hours ago, h2oface said:

I must be an anomaly these days. I don't find MLB baseball, or most minor league and college ball, boring at all. I come too early and stay late. If the games go into extras, that is just more free baseball. As my three children grew up, they loved the games and baseball trips. When I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, we would go to Baltimore each year, stay at the Renaissance, blocks away from Camden Yard in the Inner Harbor, which was where the Twins always stayed, too. Early shagging BP balls in the outfield stands, and autographs for the kids after the games. Stay for the whole series. Same in Tampa, Boston (we saw Ortiz hit numbers 51 and 52 homers of his Boston record 54 in September of 2006), and Minnesota, of course (games in Arizona, Colorado, St Louis, Atlanta - I must be leaving some out....). They have dirt from the Field of Dreams, too. Today's game, or yesterday's games in the 60s as a kid, never bored. These changes to "speed up" the game are schlock, and a disservice to the game. It is our internet video culture with half second segments streamed together that I find boring. 

I found nothing "boring" about the game in Iowa, tonight. Not a damn thing. And it had a magnificent ending that rewarded all that was there and stayed until the end wherever they were and however they watched it. For the Love of the Game.......

While I don't *hate* the modern game, surprisingly enough it was Covid that soured me on many aspects of it, first and foremost pace of play.

When there was no baseball last spring and early summer, I ended up spending a fair amount of time watching old games on YouTube. While there's A LOT to dislike about the strategy (or lack thereof) in the old version of baseball, seeing the pitcher wind up every 15 seconds and the hitter put the ball in play over 80% of the time was a revelation.

But mostly it's seeing the pitcher wind up every 15 seconds. Just having action - literally ANY ACTION - happen that quickly and regularly is so much more engaging than the modern game of watching the pitcher circle the mound three times like a dog lookin for a comfortable bed between pitches.

A nice side effect of fixing this problem is that evidence is coming out to support that a pitcher cannot throw nearly as hard if he has to wind up and throw every 15-ish seconds. There's a decent chance the game doesn't have to alter the mound if pitchers have to get back on the mound and throw immediately.

[Murph]

Bean5302 is correct:  The atmosphere and "extras" were tons of fun.  It was a good show!  As for the game:  the small field, the power pitchers, the juiced balls all adds up to more money for the MLB;  more ulcers for the managers.  (Also Hendrix and his catcher did a terrible job in the 9th... wild, predictable, and emotionally out of control.  Way too much Hollywood for him.)

[wsnydes]

5 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

A nice side effect of fixing this problem is that evidence is coming out to support that a pitcher cannot throw nearly as hard if he has to wind up and throw every 15-ish seconds. There's a decent chance the game doesn't have to alter the mound if pitchers have to get back on the mound and throw immediately.

Interesting.  I had not thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.

I suppose the other side of that is that pitchers don't change their habits and tire more quickly and outings are even shorter, or more injuries occur.

Topic for a different thread though.  I don't want to hijack this one!

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 minute ago, wsnydes said:

Interesting.  I had not thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.

I suppose the other side of that is that pitchers don't change their habits and tire more quickly and outings are even shorter, or more injuries occur.

Topic for a different thread though.  I don't want to hijack this one!

Agreed on all counts. It's an interesting avenue to explore, one I don't see discussed very often (but I only heard about the arm strength/repetition issue a few months ago so maybe it's a new-ish thing).

[wabene]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Agreed on all counts. It's an interesting avenue to explore, one I don't see discussed very often (but I only heard about the arm strength/repetition issue a few months ago so maybe it's a new-ish thing).

Yep this has been discussed recently. My vote is for an 18 second pitch clock. Pitchers won't be able to max out every pitch and I venture they may be able to go longer AND have less injuries. More balls in play as well. Win, win, win.

[IndianaTwin]

11 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I think the location and setup was really something special. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud... but there were 16 hits of which 8 were home runs. 23 of the 52 outs were strikeouts. 11 of the 19 base runners reached on a walk. The ending was dramatic, but the game represents the most boring aspects of today's MLB.

68 plate appearances. 34% strike outs. 16% walks. 12% home runs. 

This isn’t a comment on whether things are good or bad, just different.

Sox and Yankees last night: 8 homers and 23 strikeouts.

Shoeless Joe in 1919 season: 7 homers and 10 strikeouts.

[Vanimal46]

Y’all are burying the lead… Guy Fieri made an apple pie hot dog for the occasion! 
 

 

[luckylager]

I got through about half the game. Did better than I thought considering my two least favorite teams were playing.  I thought the setting was just okay. Looked a bit like they were playing at Cracker Barrel Restaurant Field.  The whole "is this heaven"? thing got a bit tiresome after the umpteenth time it was used.  Again, it was a good mid-summer diversion but I'd be fine if they thought up something else for the years to come. 

[Unwinder]

32 minutes ago, luckylager said:

I got through about half the game. Did better than I thought considering my two least favorite teams were playing

 

[MN_ExPat]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

While I don't *hate* the modern game, surprisingly enough it was Covid that soured me on many aspects of it, first and foremost pace of play.

When there was no baseball last spring and early summer, I ended up spending a fair amount of time watching old games on YouTube. While there's A LOT to dislike about the strategy (or lack thereof) in the old version of baseball, seeing the pitcher wind up every 15 seconds and the hitter put the ball in play over 80% of the time was a revelation.

But mostly it's seeing the pitcher wind up every 15 seconds. Just having action - literally ANY ACTION - happen that quickly and regularly is so much more engaging than the modern game of watching the pitcher circle the mound three times like a dog lookin for a comfortable bed between pitches.

A nice side effect of fixing this problem is that evidence is coming out to support that a pitcher cannot throw nearly as hard if he has to wind up and throw every 15-ish seconds. There's a decent chance the game doesn't have to alter the mound if pitchers have to get back on the mound and throw immediately.

Great sentiment, and I totally agree.  It's funny, my son is a Senior and a pitcher for his HS team and it absolutely drives him nuts to work slow.  He routinely is back set on the mound within 15 seconds of throwing a pitch, and when he's on, 3 - 4  minute innings are common.  Absolutely love it and the defense loves it too .

[lukeduke1980]

Bean5302 nailed it.  Loved the game but it lacked balls in play.  Balls in play bring out the action- defense, baserunning, strategy, etc.  To be fair, what player wouldn't want to go up to bat in that game to try to crank one out into the corn.

[RpR]

I think they should put some bleacher seats, real bleachers, out in the left and right fields, still fascinating.

[Game7-91]

16 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Maybe so, but I bet from the earliest planning stages the two teams were always going to be the White Sox and Yankees. Maybe Cubs, but probably Yankees.

The story it was based on is about the White Sox, and the Yankees are... the Yankees.

Agree it had to be the WS. Thats the story. And of course MLB Corporate, er, Yankees, had to be there. Watching that video almost gave me warm fuzzies for Yanks. Almost. The game was made perfect when the Yanks went down in excruciating fashion, stealing defeat from the jaws of victory.  Any team that beats the Yankees is my 2nd favorite team that day.

And loved the throwback scoreboard. What a money saver for future ballparks.

[h2oface]

That was the Liam Hendriks I remember........

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

4 hours ago, lukeduke1980 said:

to crank one out into the corn.

This comment made me think. In stadiums, a player hits a home run and you can see where the ball lands, and get an idea of the distance that way. 

At that park, you hit it over the fence but you lose track of its flight, and you just assume it landed in the corn somewhere. Not sure where. The ball just kind of disappears.

A little bit of poetry to that, I'd say.

[RickOShea]

I was looking forward to the game.  I wanted to see the park, players and amenities.  Unfortunately, I joined the game just as it was starting.  I know this sounds immature, but I was miffed when I hear Joe Buck's voice.  Sure as shooting, that's all you heard for the next 3+ hours.  When will Fox figure it out?  He can't possible be winning popularity polls.

Listening to him, was like taking a big spike to the hot air balloon.