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Anyone wanna guess the final score?In the first baseball game played at the Los Angeles Coliseum since 1961, the Red Sox and Dodgers will meet on a field with the left field line only 201 feet away (shades of Ned Williamson at Chicago's Lakefront Park). Yook:
Two hundred feet to left? That's awesome.Imagine if they brought the Wall one-third closer to the plate at Fenway. There will be a 60-foot-high (or 62) mesh fence on top of the left field wall. The wall in right field is 440 feet away.
Jason Varitek thought the last time he had played on a field with a 200-foot fence was the Little League World Series when he was 12. Kevin Cash -- who will start tonight with Tim Wakefield pitching -- is not expecting a 61-48 score.
Think about the Coke bottles [above the 37-foot Green Monster]. They're not 30 feet above The Wall and not many hit there. I think there will be a lot of "oohs" and "ahs" but I don't think it's going to play that much of a role in terms of home runs. But if it plays off the net and ricochets all the way back to me at the plate, I might think differently.How many high flies to left will fall on the other side of the fence? Will the outfielders play over towards right field and let the third baseman and shortstop play caroms off the left field mesh? Will balls carom? How tight is the mesh?
A crowd of 93,103 watched a 1959 exhibiton between the Yankees-Dodgers. A crowd of 115,000 is expected tonight for the 10 PM game. Terry Francona hoped to rest his starters, but "out of respect to 115,000 people, we're going to play them a little bit".
(The game is on both NESN and MLB.TV, so we might have a game thread.)
152 comments:
see where the backstop is? right where the dirt ends! it'll be a dream tonight for kevin cash.
juan pierre said he's probably going to have to use his cup.
One word for this.
Fucking awesome. This is gonna be hilarious.
Tightness of the Mesh. Wasn't that your first novel?
I really wanna know that, though, it seems quite important. Are balls gonna be slingshotting all over the place, or just lazily sliding down the mesh, landing on the top of the wall and plopping down on the track?
Did you see where Edes on XB last night had the wrong pitcher in the game? These "real" writers will get the hang of blogging someday....
I saw one quote from the grounds crew saying they did not want the mesh to be like a trampoline.
A wacky field with the knuckler ... perfect!
They should remove that RF fence and have the outfield go and go and go -- like CF at the Polo Grounds -- 650 feet to the far wall.
Jason Varitek thought the last time he had played on a field with a 200-foot fence was the Little League World Series when he was 12.
Given that Tek's hitting so far this year has been suitable for little league, somehow that seems appropriate.
Oh wait, I'm supposed to guess the final. I'll say 8-5 us.
i'm going to say 15-11 red sox.
that's just a wild guess, obviously, but I think it'll be a high scoring game.
There might not be any dongs, but I gotta figure people would just tattoo that "fence" for never-ending innings. So I guess pitchers will be staying "middle-out" on righties. ANd sock is right, the defenses could have three guys between right and center field. All this makes me think normal-scoring game, but maybe just a little higher.
NESN already showing shots of the stadium. Looks like a huge party out there.
sea of blue.
i wonder if the coliseum will end up being completely full.
Wall in right is not 440 feet, according to the diagram they just showed. All dimensions are in the 300s.
It's getting close to full.
That backstop is absolutely ridiculous.
what a weird camera angle. it's not too bad, but the camera is out of focus a little bit, and the umpire is in the way. it's just a strange way to view the game.
I FUCKING HATE MLB WITH EVERY FUCKING FIBER OF MY FUCKING BEING. FUCKING FUCKERS CAN'T GET FUCKING MLBFUCKINGTV TO FUCKING WORK. 30 FUCKING MINUTES -- NOW ON FUCKING HOLD FOR THESE INCOMPETENT FUCKWITS.
FUCKFUCKFUCKSHITFUCKSTICK SHITSHOLES
you can see the irrational movement of the knuckleball very well with this camera angle.
is it me or is mlb fucked up for everyone?
why can't i get baseball without having to deal with this shitheads?
Cashin' in!
i tried the uh, bootlegged mlb.tv feed and that didn't work. sopcast, etc.
kevin cash just hit a 3-run dong to left-center.
Joy--still not getting it?
This camera is so Guidry...
RS isn't approving comments; he's off loading buckshot for MLB.
I haven't gotten my MLB.tv thing yet but I still probably will.
Last inning they used Andruw Jones as their short fielder.
omg. wild pitch.
Anyways, Lyndon was stealing second, and Andruw Jones was there to take the throw from catcher Russell Martin. Had Lyndon been caught, it would have been scored 2-8 caught stealing.
MLB's servers are down. Why?
Because they offered 3 free games on MLBTV and the shitsticks couldn't handle the response.
WHY IS IT THAT EVERYTHING MLB TOUCHES TURNS TO SHIT?
So because they can't fucking do their jobs, I can't see my game.
WELL
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
MLB
you are absolutely worthless
Poor MLB guy :>)
I said "I know it's not your fault, but if you are logging complaints (yes, we are, we do that) please let someone know that ..."
I said if there was anyway I could get my baseball without having anything to do with MLB.com I'd gladly play double what I pay now.
I hope someone is monitoring that call for quality assurance.
Cash with the money shot, eh?
Yooooook, over the net!!!!
Sweaty dong for two more runs.
Allan, don't worry, you can't see the ball on any ball in the air. You're lucky if the cameraperson finds it. Even on that dong, Remy, even on replay, just said, I just missed that one entirely.
MLB being unprepared today is like hearing the Post Office complain about being swamped at Xmas.
IT HAPPENS AT THE SAME TIME EVERY SINGLE YEAR -- DON'T YOU SEE IT COMING AND MAKE PLANS?
WHAT -- DID XMAS SNEAK UP ON YOU AGAIN, MR. POST OFFICE??? FOR THE 85TH STRAIGHT YEAR!
i need a drink or 9.
fuck - i guess i can watch the game on archive tomorrow at work.
maybe. who the fuck knows.
Yeah, ALlan was right, left fielder plays over in center, shortstop plays balls off wall.
Yooo-ooook!
Oh and the customer service guy said MLB would be putting up a thing saying its servers are down.
Would be doing it. In the future.
How long as the problem been going on? The first free game was at 1PM.
Really - the shortstop does that? I wasn't completely serious.
Is this like arena football?
The camera is so far over (to the left or "Yankee Stadium '83" side), it's at such an angle that the ball coming out of Wake's hand appears to go up and to the right above his hand before going back down and to the let. Thanks to Ish for drawing my attention to this. I don't know if it's because of the angle, the speed, or the knuckler, but it's probably all three. And a Dodger did move to third on a ball that got by the catcher before.
Pop up to short, just in front of the wall.
Oh yeah, Cora got one off the wall, held guy to a single. ANd laughed about it afterwards.
ellsbury went for it again... but, he is caught!
2-8 caught stealing.
Jacoby bloop over short, one hop off the wall. And then he steals his second base of the game--except the ump calls him out. Eh, I guess it was very close. Maybe a tie. Of course, we have no angle on this.
And the wave makes the mile-long trip around the coliseum...
That's the biggest wave I've ever seen.
This is awesome. Don and Rem admitting they can't see any ball in the air and have no idea what side of the field it's going to or how far it's travelling. I really can't believe they couldn't position the center field camera in the normal spot, or even on the other side of the pitcher (as it is), but still at the same angle. Instead, it's so far over that literally on every pitch with a man on base, you can't see the plate/batter because the ump is in that spot.
game on for me now!
awesome!
Uncle Joe: The strike zone is really a rumor at this vantage point.
Dave O'Brien: Have you ever called a game this far from home plate before?
Joe: Probably back when I was making audition tapes as a kid.
And they said the Tokyo games were weird...
nice to hear remy still can't read a promo without stumbling over the words.
I know it's just an exhibition game. But it's an embarrassment when you can't see the plate on 80 percent of pitches. Couldn't they have made sure the camera wasn't exactly in that spot? Or at least told the ump to avoid positioning himself in that one spot just this once? Is this on the Dodgers' network, too? Did their camera get the "good" spot?
Off the taught!!! Finally. Lars bounces one off of it. Looked like it didn't carom as far as the fielder expected.
9-8 on the putout! Finally my birthday gets a play of its own! September 8th. Too bad they didn't then throw it to the left fielder and then to the third baseman....
Grounder between third and short....off the wall.
Pinch-runner is Jason Place. Jace Place.
wow - really hard to tell what fielder is where.
Question for everyone:
Since the start of the 2008 baseball coverage, has anyone else noticed that everything on NESN seems murky and brownish looking?
I'm watching a Sunday afternoon Japanese baseball game, one of the teams being the Yomiuri Giants. This is pretty cool. Being played on Japan's ESPN.
One of the stranger game threads. Wakefield with the ear plugs!
Just got home from work. What a bizarre layout.
strike that on the earplug.
I have not noticed the murkiness, but this game and the Japan games have been in darker atmospheres.
Another one off the "wall," a rocket shot and the carom was pretty weak. I guess just what you'd expect from a moderately taught mesh wall.
Remy fooled by phantom earplugs....
How are you getting Japan's ESPN?
awww man. almost a triple play.
No trippple play?
Holy shit. Orsillo so calm on what was nearly a triple play!
It's a peer-to-peer streaming feed on the internets.
#80 guy that Remy didn't know is Angel Chavez.
Holy shit. Orsillo so calm on what was nearly a triple play!
He probably couldn't see it, heh.
Dave O'Brien was right in the play on the radio. I could definitely tell what was happening. Unfortunately, the man at second was safe.
p2p streaming. makes sense, but I've never heard of it. That's pretty cool.
I think the ump is luck he doesn't fall backwards over that knee wall behind home.
Speaking of Japanese pitchers, tomorrow's matchups will be Clay Buchholz vs. Hiroki Kuroda.
mmmmmmmm, sandwich pick.
Haha. Ball got stuck in the screen. During batting practice, there were balls that were going through the screen.
My earlier theory kind of came true. Ball rolls down screen, hits top of wall, but just stays there. Not that taught, I guess....
Great, now I want a sandwich.
this is like a crazy whiffle ball field.
Wow, half a bat gets caught in screen. Don completely losing it.
I think they're smoking something in the booth.
couldn't even get his words out..what was that "553rd"? Then silence.
wow -- seeing jere's comment about the bat in the screen means i'm on a major delay with mlbtv
LA crowd filing out in 7th per tradition.
Did you see the broken bat stuck in the screen?
It is too bad the fans don't have too much to cheer about... Maybe a Dodger or two could hit a dong.
Reid "ing is Fundam" Engle.
Engel. Sorry.
Place-y?
"Out comes Joe Torre in this Red Sox-Dodgers game in the LA Coliseum after the Red Sox-A's games in Tokyo."
It's like we've jumped ahead 10 years or entered an alternate universe or something.
These poor kids. Get in line! Do it right! Your lives depend on it!
This whole experience reeks of something that was conceived last night right before bed.
So is Loney's nickname Loney-y?
Over the 62-foot fence. Even within the broadcast they're wavering between 60 and 62. My 8-5 prediction is looking gold!
lonely dong.
Either I've learned how to pick up the ball in flight, or the cameraperson has.
Another Dr. Charles Steinberg masterpiece.
They signed him for a Loney and a Toney.
Imagine hitting a ball 61 feet above the LF wall.
What happens if you hit a ball through the screen in the game? HR, ground rule double?
HOLD THE LINE!!!!
corey's lack of lips and underbite are a bit unsettling. almost makes me wish he's not in the pen.
...and then there was Embree and his huge, lobe-less ears.
Yeah Corey's face looks like a wax figure of Craig Hansen's.
from ESPN:
LOS ANGELES -- As he walked down the Los Angeles Coliseum tunnel and glanced toward the left-field screen, Boston catcher Jason Varitek smiled and said sarcastically: "Wakie's a fly ball pitcher. That's great."
Then, in his best broadcast voice, he intoned: "Dodgers 85, Red Sox 81."
The sad truth is that not all major-leaguers are going to see much non-baseball action, if you know what I mean.
That includes you, Brian Bruney.
3 strikes are company for dewitt.
Oh, cock. I wanted to be able to say "Hu's on first."
Orsillo messes up McEnroe's classic "You cannot be serious!" line with "you kiddin' me?"
(upon seeing a a McEnroe lookalike in the crowd, which I actually thought looked like him even before Remy said it.)
I thought of Joyce earlier when they showed DeWitt. Kim and I tried to come up with all the 3's Co. names. JT "Crissy" Snow....
I have the TV on mute and I thought to myself, that dude looks like John McEnroe. Acts like him, too.
I was expecting the McEnroe look-alike to flip me the bird.
ANd the Twins have Jon Knott.
You know what's weird? How I changed my little pic thingie from my cat to differentiate myself from Ish, yet the colors and look of my current one make ours still somehow look the same at a glance.
Bob's Furniture has a new fake wife.
i should change mine by tuesday.
i wanna steal that picasso tizzle.
I think Charles J. Ritter (1885) is the closest ballplayer name to John Ritter.
Appropriate that Koplove is wearing Dodger blue.
Yeah I'm looking for a new pic for '08 I think.
Too bad they don't have piping. Thin blue line.
The Marlins purchased the contract of a player named Paul Hoover. He'll be playing on the same team as Dan Uggla. I'd still venture to say hockey has the best names, though.
I like how the white hat speed gun guy is there behind the knee wall. I'm looking up his name...
...
Mike Brito.
Sweet Caroline now playing in mid-8.
Sweet Caroline plays again in the middle of the 8th, like in Japan. Unlike Japan, the fans in LA know how to go about it.
Stop!
Jeemer Time.
The way this is shaping up, they'll probably play Dirty Water at the end.
Tito showing everyone he's wearing his uniform top.
The Dodgers probably asked Steinberg, How can we be the Red Sox?
Either that or after Torre wanted to piss off the Steinbrenners: I want Sweet Caroline, I want Dirty Water, I want long hair and beards....
THen again, Joe has specifically said he's "so sick of Sweet Caroline."
ThinkCure has been renamed "the Timmy Fund."
Place holder.
Thanks for the feedback, Jere, concerning my question about the overcast look on NESN broadcasts. I would've responded sooner but I forgot to check back.
Oh, man. That broken bat almost took out a couple of cameramen.
Now NESN effing up, at least on my TV. Of course, whenever I see the screen start flickering in a SoCal game, I think it's the Big One.
"Thanks for the feedback"
Sure. I'll keep monitoring the situation, as we get into more "normal" games...
I'm rooting for a Thurston dong to make it 8-2, then LA scores three in bot 9 to make my prediction correct.
I just got truped on an infield pop-up. The camera pointed too far up.
Thurston Howell, III pops out to Joyce DeWitt, as a Yankees Suck cheer goes up among the Brooklyn faithful. And then NESN misses a diving catch. ANyone else having NESN issues?
Did Steve Kemp marry a black woman?
The radio was affected, as well. Satellite troubles, I guess.
Jason Place: "J. Peyton"?
Average Dodgers fan who showed up at the Coliseum tonight: I've come. I've seen. Let's go.
Getting Bob's ad. Looks like same old fake wife.
SNUFFER!
There was a brown-haired woman awhile back. Now the blonde is in this one. Very confusing.
Why? You don't think Bob is a ladie's man?
Uncle Joe thinks Tommy Lasorda is currently "attacking the post-game spread."
I think Remy's wrong. I don't remember the Timlin injury being on TV.
Hey, have Joe and Dave had Scully on? They said they'd try to do that.
Bad news: Pap gives up dong. Good news. My score prediction nearly perfect!!!
A real Roper for Dewitt.
I remember seeing Timlin's injury. The ball just got a piece of his hand as it rocketed back up the middle.
I loved watching those people surrying after the ball. Seeing popcorn flying, etc.
Diaz not making a good case for self this inning.
Hu's on first!
Nope, they haven't had Scully on. Vin's been doing the games on TV. But Dave has been keeping a pretty constant Vin Scully impersonation going. Maybe they'll make it work tomorrow. That'd be cool.
Nice call on Roper.
I remember reading about Timlin's injury. And it just seems like if a game was on I should have seen it. But I believe you, if you've got a memory of it. I guess Don and I are wrong. But hey, he was THERE.
Hu's on second now.
Looks like a slow beginning of the season for the Snuffer. Not snuffin' much right now.
snuff now, pls.
I heard Dave's Scully impression a few weeks ago. Awesome.
bot doesn't have the cheerio mouth going. more of an open gape. not good.
Wacky game, as it was supposed to be. Could have been wackier, but I'm glad it's over now.
Goodnight, everyone. See you for Opening Day #2 on Tuesday.
Nice doubleheader for Sosock, Carolina goes to Final Four, Sox win in crazy field game.
There's a win. [/kay]
I may announce Tuesday nite if anyone wants to check in....
My NESN still flickering annoyingly. I hope this isn't a regular thing in '08.
Good night!
Wait a minute. Now NESN sportsdesk guy very seriously saying, "Wake with earplugs to drown out the 115,000." So did he have plugs?
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