Just thought I would kick off, as the season kicks off.
Currently 4-0 to the A's.

Has news of the Bosox winning yesterday not made it to Bournemouth?

That game counted, you know. Your boys are already half a game behind! Fire Girardi!!

I missed it. I thought the game on now was the first... oh well.

So who is the "home team" in this series?

When it was the Cubs and Mets, each team had one "home" game, so as not to create a schedule imbalance. I presume that they are doing the same thing this year, and as a result the Sox and A's will each have 80 "real" home games instead of 81.

A's win.

Yankees (and everyone else in the AL East) now a half game ahead of the BoSox.

Gero, order champagne!

Just watching ESPN News, and I had to jump back to be sure I read the crawl right--Kaz Matsui is going to be out a few days because of an anal fissure.

Really, in a case like that, couldn't they say "an undisclosed condition"?

Can we have a sum up of who everyone supports?

Me: SF Giants

Chicago Cubs.
99 years without a championship and counting.

ms. ursus is a Giants fan, and I likely would have been if they hadn't abandoned New York the year before I was born. I would counsel against irrational exuberance regarding their chances this year.

Is it possible to predict who will do well in baseball. It always seems quite random from this side of the pond.

It's quite possible. We haven't yet entered "Big Four" territory, but some teams are clearly better than others. One thing that can make it seem more random than it is is the divisonal system, which mneans that a mediocre team in a weak division can make the playoffs, whereas a good team in strong division may very well not.

That is basically the only hope for the Cubs this year, btw; they are in the weakest division in the major leagues by far.

In this corporeal world its the Blue Jays. Out there on the astral plane however the Expos are playing at Jarry Park and I'm on the third base line four or five rows back.

Parc Jarry was indeed a very special place. I can almost convince myself that it never really existed as a major league stadium, but I saw the Expos play the Phillies there.

Other allegiances among the US contingent:

Femme Folle: Red Sox
Reed: Reds
Jason Voorhees: Yankees
Inca: Dodgers
goldstone 97: White Sox

I don't support anyone, really, but will probably go see a few Nats home games.

ursus arctos wrote:

QUOTE:
Inca: Dodgers

I again stress that this is half-hearted.

I would just like to remind everyone that going to Nationals games brings with it eternal damnation.

AdC is a wimp for even wandering onto the corporeal plane.

The '94 Expos were the perfect team. Pedro Martinez was the no. 3 starter, for Chrissakes, and the bullpen had arguably both of the best closers in baseball that year (Rojas and Wetteland). When the season ended they had the best record in baseball. The stadium was starting to fill up again. It all could have been so different.

Baseball is dead to me.

Ah, the heavy from the NPS is a sentimental softie at heart.

Genuinely great piece by Pat Jordan on Canseco.