But I wonder how much he might have preferred throwing 90 and hitting corners if it meant now he could open game 1 at home where his splits are better rather than getting knocked around for 5 H, 4 ER, 2 HR in 3 innings so far in San Francisco.

Haha, good point. But it seems to me that Panda just has JV's number.

For once though the team with the better record actually has HFA in the World Series. What a revolutionary concept.

I don't think any pitcher is going to complain about pitching in the Bay area.

I didn't hear exactly what was going on because I was cooking grub, but didn't they say something about Verlander changing his approach tonight and trying to throw harder early in the game? Similar to what he wanted to do in the AS game...

Here's hopin' he remembers that AS game after his stinker tonite...

And, it's nice he gets to eat the meal of his own creation... kind'a sucks, don't it Justin?

Yeah, Justin Verlander is hating life so much right now. His team is in the World Series and he's dating a young bombshell.

Seriously guys, is there anything else to thread about other than finding different things or people to hate on? Justin Verlander is an amazing pitcher, the best of this generation. Pitchers have rough outings. Shit happens.

I think this thread is poking fun at Justin Verlander more than it is hating on him, to be quite honest. I'm rooting for the Tigers, I want the AL to win the World Series, I know JV's a phenomenal player and I love watching him pitch.

It's amazing that this is the second year in a row this has happened. Good ol' CJ lost the All-Star game last year and later lost the first game of the World Series in St. Louis.

Eric "Justin Verlander is an amazing pitcher, the best of this generation. Pitchers have rough outings. Shit happens."

You're simply wrong on this take. What makes this such poetic justice is that Verlander admittedly blew off the ASG as a meaningful competition, instead using it as a pitching experiment to see if he could blow fastballs (only) by the NL's best. He couldn't, of course, and got rocked. At the time, he didn't much care (and said so) - - presumably it was because at that point in the season, the Tigers weren't thought to have a serious chance at making it to the WS.

Ranger fans (and perhaps Rangers?) were disheartened, feeling that Verlander's half-assed performance had cost their team their chance at a needed WS home field advantage. And I'd wager a ton that if Verlander were hooked up to a polygraph now, we'd find him wishing for a redo on his lackadaisical approach to the ASG. The way it turned out, it just feels right.

man he was saying the rough outing was game 1 of the world series, not the all star game

So because Justin Verlander had a bad start in Gm. 1, and because it satisfies some weird subjective reason of yours, that means he's supposed to care about what the Rangers players and fans think about him?

Ranger fans (and perhaps Rangers?) were disheartened, feeling that Verlander's half-assed performance had cost their team their chance at a needed WS home field advantage. And I'd wager a ton that if Verlander were hooked up to a polygraph now, we'd find him wishing for a redo on his lackadaisical approach to the ASG. The way it turned out, it just feels right.

I'm sorry, this is ridiculous. If you are going to open a point with "Eric... You're simply wrong on this take," then your retort needs to be unimpeachable. This paragraph above is garbage. This is like the recent thread talking about how Josh Hamilton owes Rangers fans an apology, which I thought was ridiculously stupid.

Justin Verlander's team is in the World Series. The World Series. Do you think JV would rather be down 2-0 in the World Series or wish he would have pitched better in the All Star Game?

On BBTiA we've gone through Wash, Coolbaugh, Face, Kins, Cruz, Napoli, Ham, Dutch, Colby, Neftali... Naming them each at different intervals as to why we failed to win it this year. Now we need to play the what-if game with the ace of Major League Baseball? He doesn't care about you. All he owes his pitches to are the other players his own team.

Eric, this is why everyone here thinks you're an asshole. Go back and reread the thread and implications... All that is being argued is that JV probably regrets not doing his best in the ASG, as he could have opened the series at home rather than away if he helped the AL win. THAT'S IT. You've turned this in to much much more and distorted people's original arguments.

"Do you think JV would rather be down 2-0 in the World Series or wish he would have pitched better in the All Star Game?"

No, but I sure as hell bet you he's thought after that first WS start , "Man, I wish I hadn't screwed around in the ASG so I could have pitched at home."

Quit being so argumentative on every board. Admit that this was lighthearted before you blew this shit up with your accusatory post.

Eric,

You are a retard. You are totally missing the point of this thread. Would Verlander rather have started game 1 at home or on the road, would the tigers rather have home field advantage? Of course they would you retard. The thread never said his life was shit or that he owed anybody anything. Of course his life is great and they are happy to be in the World Series, but I am sure they would prefer to have home field advantage, and if they could have had that if Verlander had not dicked around at the All Star game. I bet if they lose a game 7 on the road there will be some regret on his part or at least some second guessing on his approach to the All Star game. That is the point of this thread. As usual you hook your claws into some random idea and go off on a tangent and take everybody with you. Just take you pompous ass elsewhere.

Eric is this site's Michael Young, without the early years' success.

An asshole AND a retard: Since when did all my ex-girlfriends start posting on BBTiA?!

No but seriously, maybe I did take it somewhere it didn't need to go. It just seems like there's a lot of finger pointing on this board, spawned through negativity. And whichever way you cut it, negativity breeds more negativity if I don't agree with the premise. That's just the way shit works in my radical mind.

But since I'm apparently off base, just disregard everything I said.

"An asshole AND a retard"

Self-realization of one's flaws: the impetus for personal growth and improvement. Here's hoping.

Thanks Eric. You're certainly not the only one doing such finger-pointing, but because of your posting frequency, you have a lot of exposure. Just please be thoughtful when criticizing someone's arguments, and at times just keeping your opinion to yourself if you strongly disagree. This was a lighthearted (and mostly irrelevant and off-base) thread until you took it on a new tangent. But I do appreciate you owning up to that.

And you're not an asshole. Just too opinionated/vocal in my mind. Let's all just get along.

Since the ASG my only hope has been that if the Rangers didn't make it to the WS, the Tigers would and that Verlander would lose the final game, preferably in game 6. Is he so confident that HFA simply didn't matter to him? What was he thinking? Four games to go. Maybe they'll turn it around. But I hope not.

We're lucky to see that kind of stuff, it's been fun so far, who cares

It is ironic that he "jacked around" during the ASG and now finds himself in the World Series down 3-0. Maybe because of home field advantage, maybe because SF's pitching is just about unhittable this go around. Poor guy tho and I'm sure that is one of his major regrets, hopefully next ASG he chooses to try harder.

Who Cares?

At this point home field advantage does not seem like a factor that would overcome the Tigers' losing three straight games.

My lesson to all of this is (1) home field advantage is nice to have, but (2) I'd rather have great pitching. Oddly, the tigers do have a very good rotation but SF is showing, again, that good pitching prevails, the oddness being other than Verlander the Detroit starters have pitched well. SF has been gifted some breaks, but their staff is pretty tough, especially with Lincecom regaining his lights out form in relief. Lincecom has been fun to watch. Wish he could be a fit here.

First of all Eric is not an asshole. He has taught me much on here. He is always eager to remind me how I am wrong on some things and chastises me for them. Fuck that, he ia an asshole!

This thread got a little ugly after I started it and didn't come back for a while. As someone mentioned, I was poking fun at Verlander. I agree he's the best pitcher in baseball, and I'd love to have him on the Rangers. In the end it didn't matter b/c the Rangers fell apart, but yes at the time, when we expected the Rangers to contend for the WS, I was pissed at Verlander b/c his "having fun" might have come back to hurt my team. I get that its stupid that the ASG counts as it does. It SHOULD be about just having fun, but it doesn't so you have to take it seriously as long as that's the case. And yes, Verlander is in the WS while the Rangers' offseason started weeks ago. But you know what I bet Verlander would like more than simply being in the WS? Actually WINNING the World Series. He's pitched better at home than he has on the road, and home field advantage would have been better for him in Game 1. Of course the Tigers have had plenty of other problems (pitching other than Verlander has been pretty good), not the least of which is hitting, but the fact remains that Verlander admitted that he did not take the ASG seriously, and by screwing around in July Verlander put himself in a less advantageous position in the World Series.

He pitched one inning!!! Good gosh....