2009 MLB Regular Season Thread
 

I know it's not the regular season yet, but I'm listening to the Royals opening spring training game on MLB.com so close enough.

(And, for the curious- Rangers up 6-1 in the 2nd. Error by Teahen, playing 2B today, in the 1st opens the door for 6 Rangers runs off of Horacio Ramirez, who hopefully will not get a spot in the Royals starting rotation. Blalock got a homer in that mess and Butler got the Royals on the board with a monster shot of his own)

SI

Oof. Now it's 9-1. 2 more homers for the Rangers

SI

Did you pay for an account or is there some sort of promotion?

Mets up 9-3 on the orieols (sp). $ RBI from Castillo and 3 from Church. I hope they good at least average production from them this year. A healthy Church last year and the Mets probably make the post season.

I paid for the account, but it's only $15 for the entire year for MLB audio- home and road feeds for all teams, no blackouts. Since I won't be able to hear or see the Royals any other way, I figured it was a nice bargain. The tv packages are $80 and $110 and that was a little too much for my taste.

SI

$15 no blackouts? I might have to grab that.

I had the internet package for years and really enjoyed it. Last year I got the TV package since Mets games start at 4:00 here I can be done watching in time to watch TV shows with my wife. I think the TV package is about $160 for the season, but IMO is well worth it.

Yeah- you can't beat the no blackouts plus the home and away feeds so you can listen to different teams if you want to see how their guys do. MLB.tv has blackouts (in Richmond the Orioles and Nats are blacked out, for instance) so that was kindof a consideration for me, but cost was much more so.

SI

Both TV packages also include the MLB audio package.

They dropped it $10 this season: $120 for premium and $80 for regular, I think. But I opted to just go the lesser route. If there were more day games, I'd probably go with tv but as that's not the case.


I know, but in the end, I still didn't want to pay the extra $70.

SI

By TV I meant through Comcast, not the internet TV package. I wasn't clear on that.

I'll have to check if there's a trial -- I would only use it at work, and it is likely blocked here. At home I can just turn on the radio to listen to the Nats. :)

Seriously. I used to have that, but they blacked out the Dodger games when I was in California, so I ended up just dropping it. I already intended to snag it this year since I'm not in CA anymore, but it'll be nice to be able to get the Brewers' feed on Dodger off days.

My radio doesn't get great reception in this apartment.

Brewers games are some of the best radio broadcasts.

I'm tempted to get this for the White Sox games.

I subscribed this year and am really enjoying it after a few years of not having it. $109 for the entire year is a pretty good deal IMO. I'm a huge baseball fan, so having condensed games is a big plus for me.

There are very few non-Nationals games I would want to see, and mlb.tv would black those out for me, so it's certainly not worth it. However, I don't have cable, so I only get about 20 games per year.

Nice to hear, but that still makes them second best, at best.

For three innings, anyway.

Yeah, for those of you who are really only interested in watching your home market games, this probably isn't for you. The Phillies always come first for me, but I'm enough of a baseball fan that if I can watch 20-30 games late in the day at work a year, I'll be happy.

Major league baseball really needs to embrace the internet and get rid of the local blackout rule.

Watching 20-30 baseball games a day at work? I want your job! :)

Ha! Yeah, my job really isn't that great. When I say "watching" I really mean having the game on and catching glimpses here and there to keep up with the overall flow of the game.

In fact, I'll probably end up using the audio feature a lot more than the video, as it's easier to listen and work, than watch and work.

Same here. I last subscribed in 05 or 06. I went for the $80 option because the 800k picture was good enough for me and I found the video a little choppy with the higher speed connections. I also don't care about the multigame options as most games are too late for me.

Most of the games I watch live are afternoon games, and I also watch the condensed games regularly.

ESPN is Reporting ARod has to have hip surgery and looks to be out 10 weeks.

I signed up last weeek for the MLB audio since I couldn't resist the price ($15/yr), but I don't think it is even worth that price. The audio is absolutely *atrocious* (extremly low bit rate) and it is blocked if you're behind a proxy or firewall, so of course that means I can't listen while at work, which is where I spend 80% of my waking hours. It's not that my work network is specifically blocking things (I can still see video from most other sources, youtube, cnn, etc) - I just think that the feed can't work *anytime* a proxy exists.

Game on!

SI

Brian McCann gets his season off to a nice start by going upper deck, 2-0 Braves.

Postive vibes for my fantasy team.

I am enjoying this so far

myers up to his old tricks

This is making me want to fire up OOTP 6.5 again.

Welcome to the regular season. :) I'm only bummed that the BoSox opener is tomorrow at 2, when I'm sort of obliged to be at the ground station. :(

/tk

DVR it, the first week of MLB extra innings is usually free

I'm in NJ til the 13th, by the time I got home to it, I'd have long known the result and my DVR's already pretty full from the last week of not being there.

I am going to try to listen to the audio while there, I subscribe to the MLB.com audio package.

/tk

NJ, thats right.

Did you ever find the liquor store?

I did! It was actually a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. Got some yummy beer that's all gone now. ;) Turns out, it WAS right next to the grocery store, I'm disappointed that I hadn't noticed it on my own.

/tk

I ended up snagging the GameDay Audio package. What sold me was MLB.com allowing you to opt out of automatic renewal and making it easier to cancel said automatic renewal if you wind up with it and later decide you don't want it.

Really liking how the Braves are looking this game. They're really getting a good hold of Myers pitches.

Schafer with a HR in his first at bat.

2-2, HR, and an intentional walk for Schafer. Nice debut so far.

Nice try by Lowe with that bunt attempt.

yeah. stupid 2pm openers - wtf??

i'll have to just have the radio going at work and dvr it

It very well could be rained out too.

very true. but then it'll just be tuesday at 2pm or whatever so it'd still apply

Yeah, nice to see the defending world champs open up the regular season, right? :)

39 degrees at Busch tomorrow... no thank you. :)

in this manner, absolutly

Why is Atlanta wearing those uniforms? I thought spring training was over for them.

Getting a little nervous now.

Hey, no prob. Bash on the Phils after the Mets win a world title this century, k thanx. :D

'Course we have to temper it somewhat. That was Brett Myers on the mound for the Phils.

yawn.

it's a new season troll

Tigers 6-9 hitters tomorrow might be the worst ever assembled .. But thankfully all of them play amazing defense.

6. Gerald Laird - C
7. Brandon Inge - 3B
8. Adam Everett - SS
9. Josh Anderson - LF