Baseball coming to Australia

whatever you do, never root for the Dodgers

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
This thread made me chuckle. Joe Dimaggio in LA.

Joe Dimaggio played for the New York Yankees his entire career.

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
This thread made me chuckle. Joe Dimaggio in LA.

THIS. It would be the same as rooting for Seattle Seahawks.

You quoted the wrong response.

Originally posted by boast:
whatever you do, never root for the Dodgers

This. It would be like rooting for the Seahawks... even worse. All they do is spend as much as they can to try and buy a title.

Originally posted by slip:
And everyone chews tobacco. Lol Tonight has been educational. I must say, hitting a ball at a 100 miles an hour with a bat thinner than a cricket bat must take quite some skill. I do know hitting the ball not in the field is a foul.

In my experience, by far the toughest thing to do in sports is hit a pitched baseball....and think about it, by the time someone is at the pro level (minor leagues up into MLB [Major League Baseball]), it's not just getting the bat on the ball to hit it, it's also being able to not make an out when you do manage to hit it, i.e. get a base hit. When you consider that if you are able to do this 30% of the time, meaning your batting average is .300, you are a damn good hitter even though you "fail" 70% of the time. And it's not just the 100mph pitches, it's also wicked change-ups that start off looking like they're going to be in the 90s mph, but end up being low/mid 80s...or the big rainbow curve, or a nasty slider.

Obviously I'm a huge baseball fan...it's not as "in your face" as football, so it can take a while to really see some of the more subtle things going on in a game. But even if you don't, still fun to just watch a game, particularly in person. Hopefully you'll get into it, and if you make it to the States be sure to take in a game...fortunately many teams have cool modern "retro" stadiums if that makes sense, and a couple (Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox) still play in 100+ yr old ballparks.

Originally posted by sacniner:
Isn't it insanely hot and humid there right now? Would suck to play ball outdoors... my co-worker from Australia said that everyone tries to leave during the summer because its that nasty

Can't be much worse than say Cincinnati on astro turf. For some reason I remember in the early SF Bonds days whenever they went to Cincinnati it was always like 130 degrees on the field.

Originally posted by slip:
As the cricket season in summer comes to an end and the football season is about to start, the Arizona Diamondbacks v LA Dodgers will play at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Don't know much about baseball. Who should I support? Aren't the Dodgers from Brooklyn? I heard about that in a movie. Lol What's a diamondback? Is that like the Australian redback spider?

Most people on this forum like San Francisco area teams. So many of us like The SF Giants. We hate the LA Dodgers as they are our main rivalry. We also don't like the Arizona Diamondbacks but they don't make us sick to look at like the Dodgers do. So in that game in Australia I'd root for AZ because f**k LA. Thanks.

Fresno Grizzlies is another good team to root for.

Originally posted by Ninerjohn:

Originally posted by boast:
whatever you do, never root for the Dodgers

This. It would be like rooting for the Seahawks... even worse. All they do is spend as much as they can to try and buy a title.

Those. Don't be a douche and root for Dodgers.

Originally posted by sacniner:
Isn't it insanely hot and humid there right now? Would suck to play ball outdoors... my co-worker from Australia said that everyone tries to leave during the summer because its that nasty

Melbourne and Adelaide have reached 44 degrees. I think you guys still use the other temp so that would be 100 degrees or close. I wouldn't say every Australian dislikes summer. Strangely enough, many people here enjoy the beach and the majority of the population are coastal dwellers, which explains why we are good at swimming and surfing. If you don't like summer, it's only a few months of heat you have to put up with. This year in Sydney has been quite pleasant and summer only has another six weeks. If anything, it's the English that have issues with their climate either moving to Australia or visiting during our summer.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

Originally posted by slip:
And everyone chews tobacco. Lol Tonight has been educational. I must say, hitting a ball at a 100 miles an hour with a bat thinner than a cricket bat must take quite some skill. I do know hitting the ball not in the field is a foul.

In my experience, by far the toughest thing to do in sports is hit a pitched baseball....and think about it, by the time someone is at the pro level (minor leagues up into MLB [Major League Baseball]), it's not just getting the bat on the ball to hit it, it's also being able to not make an out when you do manage to hit it, i.e. get a base hit. When you consider that if you are able to do this 30% of the time, meaning your batting average is .300, you are a damn good hitter even though you "fail" 70% of the time. And it's not just the 100mph pitches, it's also wicked change-ups that start off looking like they're going to be in the 90s mph, but end up being low/mid 80s...or the big rainbow curve, or a nasty slider.

Obviously I'm a huge baseball fan...it's not as "in your face" as football, so it can take a while to really see some of the more subtle things going on in a game. But even if you don't, still fun to just watch a game, particularly in person. Hopefully you'll get into it, and if you make it to the States be sure to take in a game...fortunately many teams have cool modern "retro" stadiums if that makes sense, and a couple (Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox) still play in 100+ yr old ballparks.

Thanks for the information. Cricket is similar with batting and bowling averages and a slower ball or an in swinging or out swinging ball can deceive the batsman. When I visit the States I'll try to attend a game, but that would be your summer which is the middle of the year. I want to attend an NFL game in San Francisco so I will more likely visit in winter. I visited England this time last year and the plane stopped over in San Francisco for only a few hours and the airport had signs flashing everywhere "congratulations 49ers for making the Superbowl". Wish I had more time, I would of seen more of the city.

Originally posted by slip:
Thanks for the information. Cricket is similar with batting and bowling averages and a slower ball or an in swinging or out swinging ball can deceive the batsman. When I visit the States I'll try to attend a game, but that would be your summer which is the middle of the year. I want to attend an NFL game in San Francisco so I will more likely visit in winter. I visited England this time last year and the plane stopped over in San Francisco for only a few hours and the airport had signs flashing everywhere "congratulations 49ers for making the Superbowl". Wish I had more time, I would of seen more of the city.

There is some overlap in September, as that's the opening month for NFL and final month of regular season for baseball...then baseball post-season begins, with playoffs and then World Series going thru Oct into very early-Nov.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

Originally posted by slip:
Thanks for the information. Cricket is similar with batting and bowling averages and a slower ball or an in swinging or out swinging ball can deceive the batsman. When I visit the States I'll try to attend a game, but that would be your summer which is the middle of the year. I want to attend an NFL game in San Francisco so I will more likely visit in winter. I visited England this time last year and the plane stopped over in San Francisco for only a few hours and the airport had signs flashing everywhere "congratulations 49ers for making the Superbowl". Wish I had more time, I would of seen more of the city.

There is some overlap in September, as that's the opening month for NFL and final month of regular season for baseball...then baseball post-season begins, with playoffs and then World Series going thru Oct into very early-Nov.

What about Basketball and Hockey? When are those sports played?

I struggle to watch Basketball, very different to most sports. I have to admit though, getting a ball through a hoop which isn't much bigger than the ball takes some skill, especially those 3 point shots.

I prefer contact sports such as Rugby and NFL.

Originally posted by slip:

As the cricket season in summer comes to an end and the football season is about to start, the Arizona Diamondbacks v LA Dodgers will play at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Don't know much about baseball. Who should I support? Aren't the Dodgers from Brooklyn? I heard about that in a movie. Lol What's a diamondback? Is that like the Australian redback spider?

49er fans are typically SF Giants fans. Get down with that bro. Don't be like some and like teams from across the corners of the US. All SF baby