this is really just for me or other Giants fans:

Lincecum allowed three runs in seven innings, walking one and striking out six, and stuck around long enough for the Giants' slumbering hitters to rise. They scored twice in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead and beat the Rockies 8-3.

If Lincecum's five-run debut against Philadelphia fostered doubt that he was ready for the gig, some of that was erased on a warm evening at Coors Field. He accomplished what he set out to do: throw his fastball for strikes so he could introduce that wicked curveball that was not a factor against the Phils.

In the first inning he did just that. He opened with 11 consecutive fastballs before dropping a 2-2 hammer on Matt Holliday, who missed it for the third strike and third out.

Lincecum allowed single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings, the last one a solo homer by Todd Helton, but not once did he look out of control.

"The nervousness wasn't there this game as much as the first game," Lincecum said. "I was more relaxed and I didn't feel I had to win by myself. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself and feel I have to."

Indeed, the 22-year-old could take a serious bite out of his meal money if he bought a thank-you round for everyone who contributed to his big night...

Lincecum also had to thank Bochy for letting him pitch the seventh, down 3-2, even though he began the inning with about 85 pitches. Lincecum allowed two singles, but with his 112th pitch he struck out Troy Tulowitzki to end the inning. Lincecum would not have won without that out because, Bochy said, he would have removed Lincecum right there.

"He was fine," Bochy said when asked about the pitch count. "His stuff was still good and he wasn't laboring. In fact, his offspeed stuff was getting better as the game went on."

So Lincecum returned to the dugout, watched his team score six runs over the final two innings and started to taste that first win.

"I hope there are more to come," he said. "I think I'm just going to soak this one up and enjoy it."

i was walking around nyc today and was thinking of going to a bar to maybe catch the end of the sox game when i checked the score on my phone and decided it wasn't worth it. stupid me.

MLB Releases
Updated Postseason Schedule

Written by The Staff
Monday, 14 May 2007

As we reported earlier, Major League Baseball announced its schedule for the 2007 postseason today.

The 2007 World Series is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 24th. The World Series will continue to follow a 2-3-2 format, meaning that off-days will be scheduled on the ensuing Friday and Tuesday. FOX Sports will broadcast the 103rd World Series.

The 2007 postseason will begin on Wednesday, October 3rd, with three of the four Division Series in play. One of the two American League Division Series will begin on Thursday, October 4th. Any decisive fifth game of a Division Series will now be preceded by an off-day. All Division Series games, which will continue to follow a 2-2-1 format, will predominantly be airing on TBS with additional games on sister network TNT.

The National League Championship Series, to be broadcast by TBS, is scheduled to start on Thursday, October 11th, with the American League Championship Series beginning the following day, Friday, October 12th on FOX. Each series will continue to follow a 2-3-2 format.

"Major League Baseball is pleased to make these amendments to the postseason schedule," said MLB President & Chief Operating Officer Bob DuPuy. "Starting the World Series in the middle of the week, when television viewership is historically higher, will provide more fans with the opportunity to watch the games. The additional off-days throughout the postseason will give us greater flexibility to facilitate travel and protect against poor weather."


2007 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL POSTSEASON SCHEDULE


Series Date Network
NLDS A Game 1 Wed., Oct. 3 TBS
NLDS B Game 1 Wed., Oct. 3 TBS
ALDS B Game 1 Wed., Oct. 3 TBS
NLDS A Game 2 Thurs., Oct. 4 TBS
NLDS B Game 2 Thurs., Oct. 4 TBS
ALDS A Game 1 Thurs., Oct. 4 TBS
ALDS A Game 2 Fri., Oct. 5 TBS
ALDS B Game 2 Fri., Oct. 5 TBS
NLDS A Game 3 Sat., Oct. 6 TBS
NLDS B Game 3 Sat., Oct. 6 TBS
ALDS A Game 3 Sun., Oct. 7 TBS/TNT
ALDS B Game 3 Sun., Oct. 7 TBS/TNT
NLDS A Game 4 Sun., Oct. 7 TBS/TNT
NLDS B Game 4 Sun., Oct. 7 TBS/TNT
ALDS A Game 4 Mon., Oct. 8 TBS
ALDS B Game 4 Mon., Oct. 8 TBS
NLDS A Game 5 Tues., Oct. 9 TBS
NLDS B Game 5 Tues., Oct. 9 TBS
ALDS A Game 5 Wed., Oct. 10 TBS
ALDS B Game 5 Wed., Oct. 10 TBS

NLCS Game 1 Thurs., Oct. 11 TBS
NLCS Game 2 Fri., Oct. 12 TBS
ALCS Game 1 Fri., Oct. 12 FOX
ALCS Game 2 Sat., Oct. 13 FOX
NLCS Game 3 Sun., Oct. 14 TBS
ALCS Game 3 Mon., Oct. 15 FOX
NLCS Game 4 Mon., Oct. 15 TBS
ALCS Game 4 Tues., Oct. 16 FOX
NLCS Game 5 Wed., Oct. 17 TBS
ALCS Game 5 Thurs., Oct. 18 FOX
NLCS Game 6 Fri., Oct. 19 TBS
ALCS Game 6 Sat., Oct. 20 FOX
NLCS Game 7 Sat., Oct. 20 TBS
ALCS Game 7 Sun., Oct. 21 FOX

WS Game 1 Wed., Oct. 24 FOX
WS Game 2 Thurs., Oct. 25 FOX
WS Game 3 Sat., Oct. 27 FOX
WS Game 4 Sun., Oct. 28 FOX
WS Game 5 Mon., Oct. 29 FOX
WS Game 6 Wed., Oct. 31 FOX
WS Game 7 Thurs., Nov. 1 FOX

Italics indicate "if necessary."

Associated Press
Major League Baseball News Wire

NEW YORK -- Bud Selig was willing to discuss just about
everything -- other than Barry Bonds and steroids.

The baseball commissioner sidestepped questions Thursday about
whether he'll attend games as Bonds nears Hank Aaron's home run
record of 755.

"Is he really approaching?" Selig, a longtime friend of Aaron,
said facetiously after owners finished their two-day meeting. "I
don't have anything different to say today. I'll make a decision at
some appropriate time."

In 1974, commissioner Bowie Kuhn was criticized for not
attending the game when Aaron hit No. 715 to break Babe Ruth's
record. Kuhn was there when Aaron hit No. 714.

Bonds began Thursday with 745.

Selig also wouldn't say whether he was concerned that active
players thus far have not agreed to be interviewed for former Sen.
George Mitchell's steroids investigation and only a few have
supplied requested medical records.

"That is something that my friends at the players' association,
the players, you'll have to ask them," Selig said at a news
conference.

Mitchell's investigation was not brought up during Thursday's
meeting.

Owners approved baseball's new seven-year "Extra Innings"
out-of-market television contracts with DirecTV and iN Demand,
deals that guarantee the clubs an average of $80 million annually.
Owners also approved the launch of the MLB Network, which Selig
said will be available to at least 47 million homes when it starts
broadcasting on Jan. 1, 2009.

"That will exceed any other cable channel launch in cable
television history by almost 20 million homes," baseball executive
vice president Tim Brosnan said, adding that the current high was
set by MSNBC, which was available in 28 million homes a year after
its launch in 1996.

The MLB Network will broadcast baseball programming 24 hours a
day, including a weekly Saturday night live game during the regular
season.

Selig said the new postseason schedule did not come up during
the meetings. Last week, baseball announced that the World Series
will start Oct. 24 and Game 7 will be Nov. 1, an effort that
eliminates Friday night games and cuts Saturday night games from
two to one. Those are the lowest-rated television nights of the
week.

"I'm the one that always worried about the postseason schedule
and how late we play," he said. "The sport is so popular, it's up
to us to do everything to make sure as many people see as many
things as possible. We get criticized when we don't do that. And I
think putting the World Series on, starting it on a Wednesday, is
good for us. I think more people will be able to watch it. I want
the World Series ratings to reflect that this sport is more popular
today than it's ever been."

Selig said baseball was not considering an expansion of the
first round from best-of-five to best-of-seven.

"We're pressing now to Nov. 1. The clubs are not interested in
shortening the season, and I understand it," he said. "And
therefore, you can't have everything. There are a lot of people who
believe a five-game series really has more tension, more pressure,
every game means more."

At times, Selig also has said baseball would consider changing
the first-round schedule to make it more difficult for wild-card
teams, who currently are home for Games 3 and 4.

"We continue to talk about that," he said.

Brosnan said affiliation agreements were in place with 33
multisystem operators of cable television networks to carry the MLB
Network on their widest digital tier. Baseball owns two-thirds of
the network, DirecTV owns one-sixth and Comcast, Cox and
Time-Warner Cable own the remaining sixth.

"We used the out-of-market package to leverage distribution, to
be quite honest with you," Brosnan said.

Baseball originally reached an exclusive "Extra Innings" deal
with DirecTV that was criticized by some. Brosnan said that
agreement was a $400 million, four-year contract that gave the
company a $300 million, three-year option.

Brosnan also said it was too early to determine whether baseball
will send teams to China for exhibition games next March. He will
be part of a baseball delegation traveling to China in May to
examine ballparks.

"It's a giant, burgeoning marketplace that's just starting to
figure out how to digest big U.S. sporting events," he said. "I
think we'll know a heck of a lot more about the viability on our
return."

Yankees are baseball's Bad News Bears

this amphetamine thing with Jason Giambi has me thinking. it's well known that speed has always been in the game. this was the second leak but suspensions are bound to happen. i wonder how big the problem is?

Jesus. After reading that shit Bee posted I'm reminded of what a lame duck douchebag Bud Selig is. 2nd worst commissioner behind whoever runs the NHL.


That being said:


Smoltz vs Glavine tonight in the rubber game between Braves/Mets. I'm actually interested.

Draft 2007 is now on ESPN2

first round is now over. never thought that i would be watching something like this so i blame football. seeing what my team, the Giants, are doing is great theater. We have one of the best pitching staffs in MLB (Lincecum, Cain), too bad our everyday players are old and tired.

Schilling is six outs away from a perfect game.

edit- six outs away, make it four.

second edit - now he is three outs away.

grounder to short, one out.

grounder again to short

one out to go for perfect game

base hit

i actually don't like Schilling, he is too full of himself. i would of loved to have seen this happen however and watching it live was fun. if he did it would this have taken first story on Sportscenter over the first game of the playoffs? we now will never know.

doh!

at least we got a win, finally.

Forgot it was an afternoon game. Guess I'll watch the replay at 8 anyway.

Just got back from the game. My wife and I were actually pulling for Curt in the last couple of innings. If he ended up pitching the no-no, Lugo would've owed him dinner for a year for booting that grounder a couple of innings earlier and costing him a perfect game.

(Phils sweep Mets! Yay!)

do you actually know what a perfect game is? i mean, i was watching at the gym, and he lost the perfect game sometime before the 6th, i think.

i was watching the Draft and ESPN was saying it was a perfect game. i did not know that an error was commented at the time.

sucks to lose a perfect game on an error

Reynolds Hired by MLB.com As Broadcaster

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Harold Reynolds was back talking about baseball Tuesday, hired as a broadcaster by MLB.com while he pursues his lawsuit against ESPN.

Reynolds sued ESPN in October, contending he was wrongly fired after a female intern complained about what he called a "brief and innocuous" hug. He had been with the network since 1996 and had a six-year contract that his lawsuit said was worth about $1 million annually.

"I felt like it was personal. It hurt my family. It hurt my name, and it hurt everything I've worked for 30-some years," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I felt like I was wrongfully accused and wrongfully painted, and I wanted to right that wrong."

Following next month's All-Star game, Reynolds is to appear on the Web site five times each week at 2 p.m. EDT. Other former players on MLB.com include Billy Sample, Jim Leyritz, Brian McRae and John Marzano.

Reynolds was a two-time All-Star second baseman during a major league career from 1983-94 with Seattle, Baltimore and California.

He said he agreed to a two-year deal with a mutual option for a third year. Before Major League Baseball Advanced Media hired him, he met with commissioner Bud Selig and Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

"Everybody was kind of curious as to what transpired at ESPN, and I assured them that I'm not going to embarrass them," Reynolds said. "My lawsuit is going to continue on. I felt like I did what I needed to do, and I'm going to continue to do that."

ESPN maintains it acted properly,

"We're are very confident in our legal position," network spokesman Mike Soltys said.

If the suit goes to trial, Reynolds said it wouldn't start until February 2009.

"I think that ESPN had a rush to judgment," he said. "I don't think they did a proper investigation. I believe that I wasn't asked pointed questions. I never was told from day one — or today even — by any executive at ESPN as to what was in the complaint, so how am I supposed to defend myself?"

He is saddened that some of his former colleagues have disassociated with him.

"Peter Gammons calls me once a week to see how I'm doing and to make sure I'm OK," Reynolds said. "I guess if there's any disappointment, the people I thought I had good relationships with, I haven't heard from. But Gammons is solid as a rock, and I appreciate that.'

While Reynolds' current deal is for the Web site only, he's looking ahead to the launch of the MLB Network in 2009.

"For now, it's kind of all the tentacles are in the air and we'll all meet and figure out where I fit best for everybody," he said.

anyone see the no-no last night?

Verlander only allowed four walks for the Tigers. i have MLB Extra Innings but was not home from work in time to catch it.

Four walks isn't a small amount but I figure you mean something else.

MLB Considers Expanded Bonds TV Coverage

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer

1:21 PM PDT, June 14, 2007

NEW YORK -- Whether they're rooting for him or against him, fans might get to see a lot of Barry Bonds on television.

Fox and ESPN are discussing the possibility of expanding coverage of Bonds as he approaches Hank Aaron's home run mark of 755, anticipating viewers will tune in -- out of admiration, curiosity or contempt.

"First we have to decide, when can we break in and begin to do live cut-ins of his at-bats, and that's being negotiated now," said Len DeLuca, ESPN's senior vice president for programming and acquisitions. "Is it within two? Within three? Within five? Where does it become reasonable?"

Fox is broadcasting Bonds' San Francisco Giants on each of three consecutive Saturday afternoons this month, with 66 percent of the U.S. television households getting this weekend's game at the Boston Red Sox, the Giants' first trip to Fenway Park since June 1915. The Giants also are slated for Fox appearances on June 23, July 14, July 21 and Sept. 8.

Fox Sports president Ed Goren said the debate over whether Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs could be good for TV ratings.

"There are some who would say that in a way it's a perfect storm," he said. "Those who are rooting for him will watch. Those who are rooting against him will watch. You never know."

Bonds is eight homers shy of Aaron's record and has hit just two home runs since May 8. Chris Tully, baseball's senior vice president for broadcasting, said through spokesman Pat Courtney that it was premature to discuss national television coverage of Bonds.

Fox might be interested in carrying Bonds' games in prime time when he is on the verge of setting the record, but adding broadcasts is complicated by rights deals. Fox has an exclusive window on Saturday afternoons and ESPN has an exclusive on Sunday night telecasts. ESPN also televises games on Monday and Wednesday nights.

"We're a television network. We're not an all-sports cable operation, so we play under different rules as an organization," Goren said. "The variables are how far out do you have to declare to move a game and can you get a game in time?"

When Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run in 1998 to break Roger Maris' season record, Fox was able to acquire the game from FX, a cable network also owned by News Corp. The game drew a 12.9 rating, the highest for regular-season baseball in 16 years, and was seen by 43.1 million viewers.

DeLuca, a former CBS executive, remembers how news coverage drove ratings during the 1994 Winter Olympics. The women's skating showdown between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan got a 48.5 rating -- the sixth-highest-rated program and No. 3 sporting event in the history of U.S. television.

"It is almost axiomatic that the more controversy surrounding any major event drives more casual people to the set," DeLuca said. "The baseball fans are going to be there. This is the Holy Grail, the career home run record. But one of the facts of news that we all know, be it in sports or in regular news, is that controversy drives interest."

Goren already has had internal discussions within Fox about the possibility of pre-empting prime-time entertainment coverage for Bonds when he gets close to the record. The decision would have to be made on short notice and in conjunction with affiliates -- Giants' home night games start at the same time as the 10 o'clock news on the East Coast.

"Can your sales guys sell it in three days? Is there a lot of money in the marketplace in June or July? There are a lot of variables," Goren said. "When all is said and done, the key question: Would we like to televise the record-setting game? I think the answer would be yes, all things being equal."

Because it is an all-sports operation, DeLuca said ESPN plans to detail Bonds' pursuit on its "SportsCenter," "Baseball Tonight," "Outside the Lines" and "ESPN First Take" shows. There also is coverage on ESPN Radio, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Radio.

"We have all the assets to cover this story fully and on all its very, very complex levels," he said. "Some of it is not so complex -- does he hit the ball out and where does he hit it?"

Both said Bonds treats the television rights-holders about the same as other media. ESPN Original Entertainment aired the reality series "Bonds on Bonds" early in the 2006 season before it went on hiatus. Bonds spent 1 1/2 hours taping an All-Star game promo for Fox this year and twice in the past traveled after games in San Francisco to Los Angeles for charity dinners the network is involved with.

"He's been cooperative with us in many ways, and in many ways like he treats everybody else: He ignores us," Goren said.