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Tag Archives: 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests

All the Results from 2017 Baseball Contest

17 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

"MillersTime" Contest, 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Winners

The votes from MilersTime readers are in for the remaining undecided contest.

Contest #2: Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2017 MLB season.

Three predictions received all the votes:

4. Ryan Zimmerman will be the Comeback Player of the Year. Probably True. He just won the Players’ Choice Award for the NL Comeback Player of the Year. (Mike Moustakis won it in the AL category).

7. Altuve & Correa will combine for a batting average of of over.300. Very Close. Their combined BA was .299 (Altuve -.310 and Correa – .288).

9. The hidden ball trick will be used successfully this season. True. Blue Jays Ryan Goins fooled Yankees Todd Frazier on 2nd. And there may have been others this season.

But the competition was really between Todd Endo’s #4 and Jeff Friedman’s #9.

More of you voted for #9 over #4, so Jeff wins, and his prize is as follows:

He can join me for to see a Nats’ game of his choice in wonderful seats. If he can’t get to the swamp here, he can pass the prize on to someone who can get here, or he can choose one of The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball. (He can also substitute this book I read recently and thought was terrific: The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse by Tom Verducci.)

SUMMARY OF ALL THE WINNERS IN 2017

#1. Pick your favorite team, predict their 2017 record, if they’ll make the plays or not, how far they will go if they do, and what’s the most important factor in determining their season.

Winner: Monica McHugh

Runner-Up: Annie Orgad

 

#2. See above.

Winner: Jeff Friedman

 

Runner up: Todd Endo

 

#3. 10 True False Questions:

Winner: Chris Boutourline

Inter-generational Winner: Brandt Tilis & Samantha Tilis

 

#4. A. Which MLB team will have the best improvement in games won over 2016. B. Which team will show the biggest decline (most losses compared to 2016).

Winners: Todd Endo, Jeff Friedman, Rob Higdon, Dawn Wilson, & Meg Gage

 

#5. Will the AL continue its dominance over the NL in the All Star game in 2017? Tie-Breaker: Name AL & NL players who will get the most votes to play in the All Star game.

Winner: Nicholas Dart

 

#6. Who will be the two teams in the World Series in 2017 and which team will win it all?

Winner: Clare Bolek

Runner Up: Nicholas Lamanna

 

Extra Credit: Make up your own question and then answer it.

No Winner in this category this year. A few good questions but the creator(s) of those questions couldn’t even answer them correctly!

 

For all the winners, please send me your T-shirt size so I can send you the MillersTime Contest Winner T-shirt (not the one pictured at the top of this post).

And if you haven’t already contacted me about your prize, please do so.

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Predictions That Came True, or Almost Did, in the 2017 MLB Season

09 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Baseball Contest, MLB Predictions in 2017

How come fortune cookies never say anything about baseball?

Contest #2: Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2017 MLB season.

Here are the ten best, in my humble opinion, from MillersTime contestants that either came true or came very close to being true.

1. Greinke comes back, wins 20 games, and leads NL in ERA. Mostly true. He won 17 games and was sixth with a 3.2 ERA.

2. Two of the top four MLB home run leaders will come from the NL (last year the top six were from the AL). True. Giancarlo Stanton was first with 59, and JD Martinez was third with 45.

3. Cubs will struggle to make the playoffs. Mostly true. They lead the Brewers in the NL Central by six games, but they won 11 less games than in 2016 (92 vs.103).

4. Ryan Zimmerman will be the Comeback Player of the Year. Probably True. He just won the Players’ Choice Award for the NL Comeback Player of the Year. (Mike Moustakis won it in the AL category).

5. There will be no perfect games thrown in 2017. True. In fact, there was only one no hitter in all of 2017, thrown by Edison Volquez of the Marlins.

6. Andrew Benintendi will win the Rookie of the Year Award in the AL. Close. He’s one of the three finalists in the BWAA list. Altuve won it according the the Player’s Chocie Awards.

7. Altuve & Correa will combine for a batting average of of over.300. Very Close. Their combined BA was .299 (Altuve -.310 and Correa – .288).

8. Freddie Freeman will hit .300 this year. True. His season BA was .307.

9. The hidden ball trick will be used successfully this season. True. Blue Jays Ryan Goins fooled Yankees Todd Frazier on 2nd. And there may have been others this season.

10. The average time of MLB games will be longer than in 2016. True. It rose by 4 1/2 from 3 hours and 42 seconds in 2016 to 3 hours, five minutres, and 11 seconds in 2017.

The Winner of Contest #2 will be chosen by MillersTime readers who vote for which is the best prediction.

Please vote either in the Comment section of this post or by sending your vote to me in an email (Samesty84@gmail.com).

Deadline: One week – Thursday, Nov. 16 at noon.

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How Well Do You Know Your Team? Plus, Winner in Contest #1

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

'Homers', 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Baseball Contests

Fenway Green Monster fans react to a Rafael Devers’ homer, but “a homer” has another meaning too.                     (Photo by Matt Stone)

Contest # 1: Pick your favorite MLB team (or the team you know the most) and answer the following questions to prove whether your just a homer – “someone who shows blind loyalty to a team or organization, typically ignoring any shortcomings or faults they have” – or whether you rally know something about your team and can honestly evaluate its strengths and weaknesses:

a. What will your team’s regular season 162 game record be in 2017?

b. Will they make the playoffs, and if so, how far will they go?

c. What will be the most important factor (hitting, starting pitching, bullpen, an individual’s performance, injuries, etc.) in determining their season?

Conclusion:

There were four teams chosen that had five or more of you predicting their season:

Orioles fans over predicted what their team would accomplish this season. (Once again Chris Eacho, who probably should never be taken seriously, thought the O’s would win over 100 games, would win the WS, and Buck Showalter would win Manager of the Year.)

Red Sox fans also largely over estimated how well they would do, but there were also a number of these wonderfully intelligent and obsessive fans who were very close to exact in their predictions.

Yankee fans largely underestimated how well they would do this year. (David P., however, thought they’d win the WS, which wasn’t as wild a prediction as it seemed at the beginning of the season.)

Nats’ fans were the most accurate in their assessment of their team.

Although the numbers were not significant, fans of the Cubs, Cards, Reds, Giants Braves, Royals, and Mets generally overestimated how their teams would do. Fans of the Pirates, Brewers, and Astros underestimated their teams for 2017. Dodger fans were split between over and under estimating how the Bums would do.

Winner of Contest #1:

There were a number of you who came close, generally faltering on Part B of this question. Included in this category were David Price, Daniel Fishberg, Jesse Maniff, Steve Veltri, Matt Wax-Krell, Ellen Miller, Jeff Friedman, Jon Frank, Nick Nyhart, and Meg Gage.

The two who vied for winning were Monica McHugh and Annie Orgad.

Monica predicted the Nats’ record would be 96-66 (they were 97-65), they would lose in the NLDS (true), and Bryce Harper would be instrumental in their season.

Annie predicted the Red Sox would be 94-68 (they were 93-69), they would lose in the first round of the playoffs (true), and hitting would be a big factor in their season outcome.

Monica McHugh wins this closely ‘fought’ Contest, based on the fact that her submission preceded Annie Orgads’. Monica’s prize is two tickets to a regular season game with her favorite team (details to be negotiated with me).

 

 

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More Contest Winner(s) – True/False Questions

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Contest # 3

Not a good showing for MillersTime Baseball contestants in the 10 True/False questions.

Seventy-five per cent of you had six or less correct, and no one got all ten right.

Contest #3: True or False:

A. The Chicago Cubs will follow Joe Maddon’s advice again to “Be a good Cubbie and try not to suck” and will at least go to the World Series in 2017, as they did in 2016. False, largely because they lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS 4 games to 1.

B. The Washington Nationals will NOT lead the NL East Division as they did in 2016. False. They won their division by 20 games (97-65) over the Marlins. In 2016 they won their division by 8 games (95-67) over the Mets.

C. One pitcher will throw two no hitters in 2017. False. There was only one (1) no hitter thrown in all of 2017 (Edinson Volquez for Miami against Arizona, 6/30/17).

D. Bryce Harper will rebound from his 2016 season – BA -.243, HRs – 24, RBIs – 86 and finish in the top five of the MVP voting. Mostly True. In 2017 his line was BA – .319, HRs – 29, RBIs – 87. The Baseball Writers Association of America came out last night with the finalists for various awards, including MVP, but they only listed the top three. Harper didn’t make it into that group but at least one list of the top ten I saw had him number five.

E. A contract at over $400 million will be offered before the end of the 2017 season. False. But maybe in 2018.

F. There will be five or or more Triple Plays in the MLB this year (yearly average has been 4.1). True. The Orioles did it twice.

G. There will be more than three 20 game winners in 2017. False. There were none. (Last year there were three).

H. No pitcher will have an ERA under 2.0 in 2017. True. Kluber best with 2.25. In 2016 Hendricks at 2.13.)

I. At least one MLB batter will strike out 219 times or more in 2017 regular season play. False. The only batter with more than 200 was Aaron Judge (208). Last year Chris Davis struck out 219 times.)

J. One of Grandpapa’s grandchildren will witness in person either a grand slam, a triple play, a no hitter, or Teddy win the President’s race at the Nats’ stadium. False. (Last year I believe Eli saw a no hitter and a grand slam.)

Five of you got eight out of ten: Rob Higdon, Monica McHugh, Brent Schultz, Meg Gage, and Sam Poland, but one person did even better.

The winner is Chris Boutourline who got nine out of ten and wins his choice of one of these books: The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball. Chris also wins a MillersTime Winner T-shirt, tho I think he may have won a contest in the past.

In the inter-generational category (parent-child, grandparent-child, grandparent-grandchild, etc. Brandt Tilis and daughter Samantha (age one at the time of her/their contest submission) are also winners, correctly identifying 8 out of 10 questions. If anyone knows of a good book on baseball for toddlers, please let me know. Of course they will each get the very valuable t-shirts (please send sizes).

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And the Winner Is…

06 Monday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, 2017 World Series, Baseball Contests, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers

What a World Series that was!

I think in the end the ‘right’ team won, as the Astros were able to separate themselves, just barely, from a very good Dodgers’ team.

While it is a cliche to say that “it’s too bad only one team could win,” it’s only right that at the end there is a winner and a second place team (note I didn’t describe them as losers, tho indeed they lost).

Anyway, the end of the WS makes it possible for me to declare a winner in the MillersTime Baseball Contest #6: Who will be the two teams in the World Series in 2017 and which team will win it all? Tie-Breaker: Name the five teams in each league who will make the playoffs.

Three contestants were in the final consideration:

Nicholas Lamanna (referred by Matt Galati) predicted the Dodgers and the Astros would be in the World Series and the Dodgers would win. He did not predict the Tie-Breaker.

Elizabeth Tilis (formerly Elizabeth Miller, daughter of yours truly) predicted the Mets and the Astros would be in the WS with the Astros winning it. She did not predict the Tie-Breaker.

Clare Bolek predicted the Cubs and the Astros would make it to the WS with the Astros winning it all. She did make a prediction for the Tie-Breaker, getting four of the ten teams who made it to the playoffs.

Each of these three got one half of the primary question right and missed one half it. So the Tie-Breaker settles the winner.

Clare Bolek, the only one of the three to answer the Tie-Breaker question, is the winner of Contest #6 and the prize of one ticket to the 2018 World Series.

Nicholas Lamanna, while he didn’t win the big prize, does get to choose any regular season Washington Nationals’ game he would like to see in 2018 and can bring along Matt Galati who clued him into the contest. Assuming I’m in town for the game Nick chooses, I’ll join him and Matt for the game.

Elizabeth Tilis already got to see a WS game in 2007 when I flew her to Denver to join me for the fourth and final game of the Sox sweep over the Rockies.

And finally, I’d like to thank the 19 of you who wrote in to respond to my request for help in making the above decision (see Comments). Your thoughts were very helpful, even the one by David Stang, who wrote,

No winner if Dodgers don’t take the Series. You some kind of a wimp and want to give losers a prize like participation trophies to Little Leaguers who make errors and strike out? In competitions there are winners and losers. If the highest grade is D+ that doesn’t make the slacker a winner.
Or do you, soft-hearted one, think differently?

Now on to figuring out the winners in Contests #1, 2, 3.

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1st MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2017 All Star Game, 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, Aaron Judge, AL, Bryce Harper Mike Trout, Contest #5 #, Jose Altuve, NL

Update July 12, 2017: Congrats to Brent Schultz. See below.

When the MLB All Star game concludes tomorrow night, we’ll have our first winner of the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

Contest #5 asked you to predict who would win that game. Seventy-three per cent of you said the American League would continue its dominance. Twenty-seven per cent said the NL would triumph this year.

There was a Tie-Breaker question that asked which player would get the most votes in the AL & the NL. Most of you thought Mike Trout and Bryce Harper would be the league leaders. In fact, Harper did lead the NL with 3.6+ million votes. However, no one named Aaron Judge (3.4+ million votes) to lead in the AL. Jose Altuve was second in the AL with 2.9+ million, followed by Mike Trout with 2.5+ million.

So, if the AL wins the All Star game, Brent Schultz will be this year’s Contest #5 winner as he had Harper and AL Runner-Up Altuve . Jesse Maniff and Todd Endo both had the AL and Trout and Harper. Close, but not close enough.

If the NL wins, there’s a tie between eight of you who had the NL and Trout and Harper – none had Altuve – (Nicholas Dent, Land/Dawn Wayland-Wilson, Jerome Green, Annie Orgad, Sam Poland, Steven Begleiter, Nellie Romero, Nicholas Lamanna). In that case, because his submission came in first, Nicholas Dent will win.

Prize: Winner will join me to see a Nats’ game in wonderful seats. If the winner doesn’t live in the DC area, can’t get here, or doesn’t want to come to DC, he can give his prize to someone who can get here, or I can take a kid to a game in the winner’s place.

And, of course, the best prize of all, he will get the rare and valuable MillersTime Winner T-Shirt.

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Join Me for a Nats’ Game

27 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, Baseball Tickets, Nats, Washington Nationals

Here is a list of games available in April, May, and June at Nationals’ Park, DC, either to join me or to get two seats for yourself.

Mon., April 10, 7:05 PM vs the Cards – Two tickets (without me) four rows behind the Visitors Dugout. Free if you take someone of a different generation, otherwise $75 per ticket.

Tues., April 11, 7:05 PM vs Cards – Join me at no cost to you.*

Wed., April 12, 4:05 PM vs Cards – Join me at no cost to you.

Wed., May 3, 7:05 PM vs Diamondbacks – Join me at no cost to you.

Wed., May 10, 7:05 vs Orioles – Join me at no cost to you.

Fri., May 12, 7:05 PM vs Phillies – Two tickets at no cost to you if you take someone of a different generation, otherwise, $57 per ticket.

Sat., May 13, 7:05 PM vs Phillies – Two tickets at no cost to you if you take someone of a different generation, otherwise $57 per ticket.

Tues., June 13, 7:05 vs Braves – Two tickets at no cost to you if you take someone of a different generation, otherwise $57 per ticket.

Fri., June 23, 7:05 vs Braves – Two tickets at no cost to you if you take someone of a different generation, otherwise $57 per ticket.

Thurs., June 29, 4:05 vs Cubs – Join me at no cost to you.

*I will accept, however, a bag of peanuts (for sharing).

Email me (Samesty84@gmail.com) if you are interested in any of the above games, whether to join me or to take the two tickets for yourself.

Let me know of any interest by Monday next (Nats’ Opening Day, April 3). If possible, give me two games so I can juggle any requests as this will not be decided solely on a first come, first serve basis.

I’ll have other tickets, many more, for July and August and will post those dates probably some time in May.


REMINDER

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests

Submission Due – Monday, April 3


 

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Nats’ New Park, Sox’s Fenway South, & When to Get Your Kid Hooked on Baseball

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, Astros, Baseball Contests, Boston Red Sox, Fenway South, Green Monster, Houston Astros, Jet Blue Park, Joe Posnanski, Nats, Orioles, Pesky Pole, Rays, Sox, Spring Training, The BallPark of the Palm Beaches, Thomas Boswell, USA, Washington Nationals, World Baseball Classic

We had heard a good deal about the new Nationals/Astros spring training facility — The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Thus, when I saw that the Sox would be playing the Nats there, I of course got tickets and met my cousin and some other friends there Mar. 7th.

We had tickets behind the Sox dugout, and, for some reason, the Sox brought most of their starting players. The weather was perfect, and we got to see both first string Sox & Nats players as well as those trying to make the teams. The Sox won, of course, and even if it doesn’t matter who wins Spring Training games, if you’re a Sox fan, you never want them to lose.

Indeed it’s a good park. I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the place. It has 6,500 seats and another 1500 spectators can sit on a grass berm beyond left and right field. The stadium seats are largely in the shade, thanks to good planning and to some over hanging shade structures. There’s an open air concourse that goes from the left field fence all around to the one in right, and you can walk along it without missing a pitch. The only fault I could find with the park was the small scoreboard in the outfield which made it hard to see the names of the players, etc. (But that could also be a factor of my aging eyesight.)

The facility is on 160 acres of what use to be a landfill, trash dump. There are 12 practice fields, six for each team. The Astros have one which is the exact dimensions of their home field, and the Nats have two that are similar to their park in DC. The facility was built quickly, in 15 months, and cost about $150 million, $50 from the state and $100 million from a new county hotel tax. We had heard horror stories about the traffic getting into the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, but thanks to advance word and advice from my cousin, we approached it from the north (?) and had no trouble parking.

There are now four teams that have their Spring Training facilities in the area – Nats, Astros, Cards, and Marlins – so if you have the time and interest, spending a week or so in the Palm Beach area in the month of March will allow you to see those teams as well as ones that come across the state from the West Coast.

 

Then it was on to the West Coast to see other friends and three Sox games, one against the USA World Baseball Classic team, one against the Os, and one against the Rays. Of course, the Sox won all three, and even if the games don’t count for much, if you’re a Sox fan, you always want to see them win.

But the real reason to go was to see Fenway South, i.e.,Jet Blue Park, where the stadium is said to be a replica of Fenway Park in Boston. Built five years ago, after much negotiation with the ‘powers’ in Ft. Myers, the Sox got a new $77.9 million stadium outside of the city on 126 acres, including six practice fields (one with the same dimensions as Fenway) and a rehabilitation center. The funding came, in part, I think, because Lee County was afraid the Sox would move away, and involved some kind of public-private partnership, where much of the public outlay came from a “bed tax” on hotel rooms in the area.

While the main ball park itself has the same dimensions as the one in the north, it didn’t feel so much like Fenway in Boston. Yes. It has a Green Monster, with seats and a net in the middle of the wall, a former Fenway scoreboard that has to be manually updated with the use of a ladder (there’s no room behind the scoreboard to change the score between innings, etc.), a Pesky Pole, a triangle in center field, and a lone red seat (longest HR in Fenway).

The 11,000 seat stadium is quite open and shady, but it didn’t feel anything like Boston’s Fenway to me. I couldn’t tell exactly, but the right field configuration didn’t feel like the Fenway I know and sitting on/in the Green Monster (game vs. the Rays) only faintly resembled the one in Boston. In the game vs the USA team, we sat just to the left of home plate and had an enormous amount of room in which to stretch out. Against the Os, we sat beyond first base and by the end of the game our necks were sore from looking to the left.

Still, it’s the spring home of my heroes, and, like most spring training facilities these days (15 in Florida and 15 in Arizona), you feel close to the players, the weather is delightful (away from the cold and snow of the north), and you get the opportunity to see both starting players and those who are trying to be starters, or will be in several years.

I’ll definitely return. Anyone want to plan next year’s trip with me?

**          **          **          **          **          **          **          **

Readers of this site probably already know of my interest in different generations enjoying baseball together. That’s how I got hooked on baseball, and I’ve carried that on with my own kids and now grand kids.

You may also know of my two favorite current sports’ writers, Joe Posnanski and Thomas Boswell, from whom I learn something every time I read one of their columns.

And so, check out Posnanski’s latest column, wherein he writes about the best age to get your kids/grandkid involved. While the article does focus on Theo Epstein, I post a link to it primarily for the discussion about getting the next generation involved.

And finally, I have not heard from most of you with your predictions for the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests. And in case you missed the post, Connecting Generations, there are special prizes this year for submissions that involve cooperation between two generations.

Deadline for submissions is just about two weeks away. Remember, in case of a tie, the predictions submitted earlier wins.

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Saturday Was Different

13 Monday Mar 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, 2017 World Baseball Classic, Andrew MIller, Arrowhead Stadium, baseball, David Ortiz, Dominican Republic, KC Chiefs, Marlins' Park, Nelson Cruz, Starling Marte, The Real World Series, USA, WBC, World Baseball Classic

I have seen more than 500 MLB baseball games live, between spring training, the regular season, and the playoffs (including the Sox winning the World Series in game four against Cards in 2004).

But this past Saturday night in Marlins’ Park was different than all of those 500.

The game itself wasn’t different. In fact, it was between two teams each chocked full of MLB stars. The rules were (largely) the same, and the play was definitely at the major league level.

It was the 2017 World Baseball Classic with the USA vs Dominican Republic in game four of the first round of the tournament. The stadium was sold out. In fact, it was the largest ball crowd ever to attend a game in Marlins’ Park – 37,446.

As we drove near the stadium, we could hear roars coming from inside the park, and the game was still a half hour from beginning. People were lined up around the stadium just to get in.

So what was so different about this game?

The crowd.

I’ve always thought that the fans at a baseball game are every bit as important as the teams playing. Players come and go (more frequently now than when I was a kid), but for the most part, the fans remain and remain loyal (tho Dodger and Giant fans might disagree). Sometimes referred to as the Tenth Man, I think the fans are what makes baseball special.

And in Saturday night’s game, it was definitely the crowd that led the Dominicans to their victory over the USA.

We got to our seats as the first USA batter was up, and you would have thought we were in the 9th inning of a tie game. Every pitch led to the crowd rising, clapping, screaming, waving USA or DR flags and banners. And that was before the first hitter even got out of the batter’s box.

Behind us were a group with a banner largely and loudly proclaiming that “This Was the Real World Series.” And while the Dominicans were clearly a majority in the crowd, there were plenty of USA fans with their flags and paraphernalia.

When the USA scored and scored again and went ahead 5-0, the crowd settled down a bit, but the noise was still louder than what I had heard at the KC Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium record decibel level a year or two ago, with only half as many in the crowd.

Then the tide began to turn, one run at a time for a couple of innings as the DR closed the score to 3-5. The decibel level increased. Then, in the bottom of the 8th with two men on base, DR’s Nelson Cruz (43 HR in 2016) batting against the USA’s Andrew Miller (10-1 with an ERA of 1.45 and WHIP of 0.686, the MLB’s best in 2016) hit a HR that just stayed fair and put the DR ahead 6-5.

The stadium went wild.

(See my shaky video of the Cruz’s HR & crowd reaction)

When the next DR batter, Starling Marte, also hit a HR off of Miller (has Miller ever given up two HRs in a game or back to back ones?), the DR fans were already standing and did so for the remainder of the game.

Final score: DR over the USA 7-5.

Forget it Arrowhead fans. You’ll never equal the noise Saturday night from Marlins’ Park (where the fans didn’t have to be told to make noise).

I’ve never been to a South or Latin American (or European) soccer game with 100,000 fans, but I think I’m beginning to understand what that must be like.

Never in my 65 years of attending MLB games (first went at the age of about eight to Fenway), have I been part of such an animated and exuberant crowd.

While I was clearly, and vocally, rooting for the USA, I was delighted to see so many fans, jumping up and down, screaming, cheering, and filled with joy.

Euphoric doesn’t adequately describe the fans that streamed out of the park at the end of the almost four hour game. Even the USA fans seems exhilarated, if also disappointed.

Baseball at its best, and the fans knew they were part of a game they’d never forget.

As of this writing, the DR remains undefeated in the 2017 WBC (they won the last championship when the WBC was played in 2013 and likely will do so again this time if Saturday’s game is any indication).

Credit their fans.

The DR team could not and will not let their fans down.

PS – David Ortiz was seen Sunday night in the DR’s dugout dressed in a DR baseball uniform as they defeated Columbia 7-3 to move on to the next round.  Could we possibly see him at bat again before the end of This Real World Series?

PPS – More from my recent 2017 Spring Training trip coming in a future post.

PPPS – Don’t forget to get your predictions in for the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests. Deadline approaching.

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Connecting Generations

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

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Tags

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, baseball, Baseball Contests, Generational Connections, Grandparents/Grandkids, Joint Submissions, Red Sox

Among so many other wonderful things, baseball is also about connecting generations. Look around you at any MLB  or professional game, especially a day game, and you’ll see fathers/mothers with their sons/daughters. Look more closely, and you’ll see grandfathers/grandmothers with their grandsons/granddaughters.

(Digression: I’ve written elsewhere on this site about my wonderful grandfather who introduced me to Fenway Park and my Red Sox obsession when I was less than 10 years old. I’ve written about taking my daughters to games for years, including World Series victories! And about my belief that it’s never too early to start because here’s what can happen. Most recently, I blogged about taking my then seven year old to his first Fenway game and taking my six year old granddaughter to see the Nats. And if what my grandson promised me (unasked!) — that he would take his grandson to Fenway Park — then that will be seven generations (over 100 years) of family seeing the Sox and baseball together and sharing wonderful memories of being connected with each other.)

Thus, a long lead in to something new this year I am adding to my annual MillersTime Baseball Contests:

Consider a Joint Submission with a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, niece, nephew or with your father, mother, aunt or uncle, or grandfather or grandmother. If you and your ‘generational companion’ win, then both of you will get a ‘prized’ MillersTime Winner T-shirt and two tickets to a regular season game of your choice.

This addition is clearly a transparent attempt to encourage different generations to discuss baseball and for one generation to pass on their baseball interest to a younger generation, or, if you’re participating with an older generation, to get that older generation to share with you things from their past.

My definition of ‘different generations’ is a loose one, and as long as you ‘discuss’ some of the contests with someone older or younger and submit joint answers to the contests, then you will qualify. Even if you have to drag some kid off his/her Internet device or an elder out of his or her 4 PM dinner.

I am hoping for at least ten submissions this year that are Joint Submissions. And I am hoping that at least some of those are from women with a daughter, a son, a niece, a nephew, a mother, a grandmother, or a grandfather, etc. — the possible combinations are almost endless.

Please consider being one of the Joint Submitters.

See: 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests :

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests

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Truck Day, Spring Training, & The Contest

03 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"MillersTime" Contest, 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, 2017 Spring Training, Boston Red Sox, MillersTime Contest Winners T-Shirts, MLB, MLB Baseball, Nats, Opening Day, Sox, Truck Day, Yunkees

Finally.

Life begins again.

Truck Day for the Red Sox is Feb. 6.

Sox Pitchers & Catchers report to Spring Training Feb. 14.

Sox first full-squad workout is Feb. 17.

(Sox are reporting a week earlier than last year, tho many, if not most, of the players go early to ‘Fenway South’ – JetBlue Park – anyway.)

Sox first Spring Training game is Feb. 23 against Northeastern. and their first Grapefruit League is against the Mets Feb. 24.

And I’ll see the Sox vs the Nats at The Ball Park of The Palm Beaches (the Nats new Spring Training facility) on Mar. 7, and then three games at Jet Blue Park (USA team, O’s, and the Rays) on Mar. 9, 10, & 11.

Opening Day for MLB is April 2 with the Yanks vs Rays and the Cubs vs the Cards. The Sox open at home against the Pirates on April 3, and the Nats also open at home April 3 vs Marlins.

Life takes a turn for the better.

MillersTime 2017 Baseball Contests:

Meanwhile, I’m starting to work on the annual MillersTime Baseball Contest questions for 2017, and I have a few questions I hope you’ll answer:

  1. Usually I have six contests with maybe an Extra Credit one. Is that too many?
  2. I’ve moved from a Sox vs Yunkee focus to questions about your favorite team and ones that require more knowledge of all of MLB. While I try to have a mixture of simple and more complicated contests, what kind of questions in general do you prefer?
  3. I’m open to specific suggestions on new questions. If you have an idea for one for 2017, please send it to me in the next couple of weeks.

I hope to have The Contest questions posted on this website by Mar. 1 with your predictions due by Opening Day, April 2 at 1:10 PM.

Feel free to have your baseball friends join in. If anyone you bring in wins (they need to mention your name), you too will win a prize.

To see last years winners, go to: Summary of 2016 Winners and to see last year’s questions, go to: 2016 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

And all winners will get the exclusive and highly coveted MillersTime Winner baseball t-shirt in addition to individual prizes for each contest.

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