Your point was? One game yesterday. A 1:05 game today. Stadium could easily be ready in time for a 7:05 game tonight.
on the backend of riding out a hurricane? they do that all the time?... really?.... so you've been up 24, 36, 48 straight hours with no power... and a longer trip is somehow better? and don't forget: they now have to travel all the way to florida for a game tomorrow night. as tired and rundown as they likely are, i'm guessing that's going to ultimately be easier from milwaukee than seattle. again, what was the better - and more importantly, viable - alternative? and do you REALLY think playing in front of 20K cub fans is what did the astros in? they're freaking 5-4 this year at wrigley, foer heaven's sake. i'm guessing - wildly, i'm sure - that riding out ike was a slightly bigger factor. i'm not defending it, msn; but this is like jumping up and down that the astros should have added better pitching this winter and when confronted with the question of who, sticking your fingers in your ear and stomping your feet, "more pitching! more pitching!" it is, from a striclty baseball perspective, a crappy situation no matter how you try to slice it.
are you under the impression players show up at 6:55 for a 7:05 game? they usually take the field some 1-3 hours before the game, not to mention having to share locker rooms, etc., and the logistics of trying to organize all that, plus press and broadcast teams... you can't snap your fingers and make something like a mlb game happen. and what if the game goes extra innings, msn? hell, the astros and cubs played an 11-inning, 4:17 game just 13 days ago. it's not viable, msn, to schedule two different games, involving four different teams, on the same day in the same stadium. come on......
If the astros had won these two games in Milwaukee, msn and company wouldn't be complaining about a thing....
i certainly think cooler heads would see this from a different perspective; i understand the rancor, and the whole thing undoubtedly sucks. but it was a lose-lose situation for the astros, unfortunately. and given how they played, NO ALTERNATIVE would have lessened their burden.
Well its over now, we can still win this thing. We got Roy O starting us off in Flordia, just the right guy to get us on track. We are 2.5 down with 13 to go not impossible. We can not change the crap of the last two days but just look at whats left and hope for the best. The Astros have overcome alot this season who is to say that they won't overcome this.
But they lost and that can't be ignored. The situation was stacked against the 'stros and you know it. I guess noone should ever complain about anything.
Drayton has to take the blame also. Anywhere but Milwaukee. We are trying to catch the Brewers and they want to play at a "neutral" site. Not to mention it's easier for Cubs fans that do not live that far away from Milwaukee. Drayton dropped the ball on this and may have cost the Astros a playoff spot. There were other options that could have been taken. Shoot,they play at minor league stadiums during spring training, they could have used Dell Diamond in Round Rock or Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi. If Drayton wasn't buddies with Bud Selig and had more of a backbone he wouldn't have his team playing in a rivals stadium with a wild card spot on the line.
Monday, September 25, 2000. That's the day when the Cleveland Indians hosted both the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins in a double-header in order to fit the games in before the season ended (Cleveland finished the season 5 games back of Chicago in the Central Division). MLB managed to make that work, so there's no reason to believe Tampa should have been ruled out. Milwaukee should have been the LAST place to play (besides Wrigley and U.S. Cellular). In my opinion the only way for MLB to save face is to donate a a BIG check to relief efforts (preferrably from Allan Huber Selig's pocket).
....unless it's in Milwaukee. Play one game at 11:05, the other at 8:05. It's not that hard. What if the game doesn't? Extra inning contests have broken play and resumed on other days before; there is precedent. It's not *easy*. It's certainly "viable". It's not like Florida and Tampa have tens of thousands of rancourous fans breaking down the doors to attend, either. Sure Ike was the bigger factor. If you think playing in front of 20K booing cubs fans was a non-factor, then I don't know what to do for you. Agreed! A crappy situation made far crappier by a lazy commissioner who sought the easiest way out. There is no excuse. Welcome back jgreen! I wasn't around here much before today, but I was complaining about it in advance. I've also already conceded that the Astros may well have been swept even if all three games were in Houston sans Ike. The point is not that they lost "home games" because of the "away" locale--the point is that we'll never know. Where were you during the 14-1 stretch? Please go back there. Precedent! Obviously the scope is much bigger, but NCAA baseball does this all the time.
Well he should be getting a lot of heat. I'm with Coop--perhaps hearing Selig explain himself in person would help it make "a little" more sense, but we don't have to be happy with it.
I'm doing more reading on this, and those who are pointing fingers at McLane have a legitimate beef. I think he could have handled this differently. I'm with the ESPN writer, however, who doesn't think McLane's tomfoolery absolves MLB of its own. http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=22528 Piniella: "these ballgames were secondary in nature." Up yours, Lou. "We had no significant advantage. It was inconvenient for us." Really? Two days off, and an hour-and-a-half drive as opposed to a flight to Houston? You poor, poor, inconvenienced lovable loser.
