Your 1st Place Texas Rangers

[KRAM1]

Are you referencing soccer here?? So it would seem.

This years Ranger red is ok, I guess, but I would prefer that they return to the classy red and white/gray Ranger uniforms of the 90's as opposed to these all red 70s relics.

Soccer does not take 31/2 - 4 hours to play...so it was clearly basball...boreball as it is...that I was referring to, and you knew that UNT90...I know you did.

[Green Guy Bass]

Bass,

I listened to diamondtalk tonight....Great Show!

Thanks man...tune in tonight if you can. That goes for the rest of you aside from KRAM.

[NT03]

For the record, I live less than a mile from Pizza Hut Park and I have no idea when soccer season is.

How's that Mexican restraunt that right across the street. I don't know the name of it , but it's off eldorado on the east side of the tollway.

[CaribbeanGreen]

Great place to see a concert. I've only been once, but it was fun. And though I haven't been, the scene when Jimmy Buffet comes to town is pretty monumental.

Amen. One of the best weekends of my year, I gotta say.

As for the Mex place, you mean Tijuana, Mattito's, or Manny's? There are three just east of DNT kinda within a mile or so.. all verrrry different.

Oh yeah, and I'm also siding with the red uni theory... if only we could bring back the conference-title-100%-of-the-time script....

[UNTflyer]

In the mean time, the Rangers are still in first place, third in the AL. My CBSSportsline fantasy team is named "Rangers Out By May 1st".

[KRAM1]

Thanks man...tune in tonight if you can. That goes for the rest of you aside from KRAM.

That's the best non-invitation I have ever had....and what in the sam hill made you think I would have tuned in this show in the first place??????? You are definitely stating the obvious here and you do seem to have a very firm grasp of the obvious. Thanks again...always nice to hear from you.

[Green Guy Bass]

That's the best non-invitation I have ever had....and what in the sam hill made you think I would have tuned in this show in the first place??????? You are definitely stating the obvious here and you do seem to have a very firm grasp of the obvious. Thanks again...always nice to hear from you.

I know you like to close yourself off to certain things, just helping you out man. Wouldn't want you to have to appreciate the great game this late in life.

[UNTLifer]

I know you like to close yourself off to certain things, just helping you out man. Wouldn't want you to have to appreciate the great game this late in life.

He promises to tune in once FC Dallas scores a goal. Don't expect him to tune in.

[hickoryhouse]

Great game last night. It is good to see Josh come back so strong, and his avg will come up soon. I am also a big fan of Hank coming trough. He is going to make fantastic trade bait when our young pitching staff fold and we need to get some new blood in here.

[KRAM1]

He promises to tune in once FC Dallas scores a goal. Don't expect him to tune in.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! I think FC Dallas has scored at least once this eason. Sad state of affairs out at Pizza Hut Park this season. It must be that college coach who stepped up to the professional ranks.

Actual count for FC Dallas is:

GF - 7

GA -15

1 win, 6 losses, 1 tie! OUCH! Avg. goals per game in FC Dallas contests this season 2.75. Avg goals per game in MLS this season so far: 5.23. I wonder how many runs will be scored on average in MLB this season per game? Do you think it will be THAT far off the 5.23 goals average, and how many goals additional would be scored if the games went on for 31/2 to 4 hrs. instead of 1.5 hours?????? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder? What would the runs per game be if baseball was say 3-4 innings in length???? Gee, I wonder.

[KRAM1]

Just to be fair about it all...the Dallas Morning News sports section reports 17 box scores from Wed. and Late Tuesday games...the average time for all 17 games was 3 hours and 9 min. The longest...a whopping 4 hours and 45 min.. The shortest 2 hours and 20 min.

Avg runs 12.43 per game (that seems high, but that's the fact for the reported period and includes one 24 run and one 26 run game) over 3 hours and 9 min. avg games.

The time is right at twice waht a 90 mon. soccer game takes...so divide the runs in half to equal the time and the 5.23 goals per game for MLS is not that far off the 6.2 for MLB. And, you guys aid baseball was such a high scoring affair compared to soccer. Go figure! Score one more goal per game on avaerage and you match the scoring avg. of MLB! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[oldguystudent]

MLB is the highest level of baseball in the world. If you drop down to the college ranks, for example, you will see many, many double digit games. Especially Sunday and Tuesday games where they throw in the bat boy to be pitcher. So the higher the level, the lower the average run total. You're saying that in your sample, MLB games averaged ~6 runs/90 minutes vs MLS soccer's ~5 goals/90 minutes. But can you say that MLS is the highest level of soccer in the world? I'd love to see the stats from the most recent world cup. What was the average goals/game then? I would venture a guess that it was higher than 2, but less than 3.

[forevereagle]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! I think FC Dallas has scored at least once this eason. Sad state of affairs out at Pizza Hut Park this season. It must be that college coach who stepped up to the professional ranks.

Actual count for FC Dallas is:

GF - 7

GA -15

1 win, 6 losses, 1 tie! OUCH! Avg. goals per game in FC Dallas contests this season 2.75. Avg goals per game in MLS this season so far: 5.23. I wonder how many runs will be scored on average in MLB this season per game? Do you think it will be THAT far off the 5.23 goals average, and how many goals additional would be scored if the games went on for 31/2 to 4 hrs. instead of 1.5 hours?????? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I wonder? What would the runs per game be if baseball was say 3-4 innings in length???? Gee, I wonder.

So what you are saying is that this FC Dallas you speak of averages 1 goal per game. Sounds exciting. What channel would I be able to watch this on?

[KRAM1]

MLB is the highest level of baseball in the world. If you drop down to the college ranks, for example, you will see many, many double digit games. Especially Sunday and Tuesday games where they throw in the bat boy to be pitcher. So the higher the level, the lower the average run total. You're saying that in your sample, MLB games averaged ~6 runs/90 minutes vs MLS soccer's ~5 goals/90 minutes. But can you say that MLS is the highest level of soccer in the world? I'd love to see the stats from the most recent world cup. What was the average goals/game then? I would venture a guess that it was higher than 2, but less than 3.

We are talking about MLB here. In soccer the goals per game go up in the "lower" levels too...but, we are talking MLS vs MLB. If baseball actually had a World Series pitching would be at an even higher premium. One reason MLB continues to score so many runs and have so many double digit games is that the quality of pitching is so far inferior to what it once was as there is need for so many more pitchers to staff the increased number of teams. The more spots there are for "major league" pitchers, the lower the overall quality becomes. It's simply a numbers game. Same can be said for the hitters...as witnessed by the decreasing batting averages of today's players vs. those of the 50-60's era. I dare say pitching ERA's are up and that is even as pitchers hardly ever thow complete games any longer...panty wastes that tey are these days. You can be an All-Star with a 12 win pitching record and you can be an All-Star with a batting avg. in the 230's. In the past if you didn't win 20+ games and average over 300 you were considerd average...not all-star material. So, runs go up as the quality of overall pitching decreases. In soccer, around the would where there actually IS a world championship, the quality of the professional player is much higher "overall" than it was in the 50-60's era and it continues to improve as more and more countries develop their players.

By the way, I am not saying that MLB players are not great baseball players, so don't get going in that direction. And, regarding the World Cup. At the World Cup level, the strategy becomes VERY important as different nations play VERY different styles of soccer. As in several other sports the scoring actually does tend to decrease at the "world Cup" level and on the World Cup stage. A premium is placed on defense and "moving on" through your bracket to get to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. If you actually followed soccer, you would know that strategy plays a bigger and bigger role as the championships get more and more important and as a team tries to survive the years long qualifying process. Teams do, in some circumstances, play to "not lose". While that can (and does) lower scoring it makes for some great defensive battles as the team needing the score to advance through qualifying pushes forward against what is hoped to be a very stout defensive wall. And, it in no way means the team trying to "not lose" is not looking for scoring opportunities. Some of the greatest goals scored each year are in such cirstances as the defending team gets a break-a-way chance or simply scores against the flow of the game. You follow the sport, you get to understand this more and more.

Unlike in the minds of most under-educated American sports fans...it ain't always about scoring the higest number of points/goals.

MLB is the highest level of baseball in the US and MLS is the highest level of scoccer in the US...comparison is legit!

oldguystudent...it might make for some good research to find out what the difference is in World Cup avg. scoring (I assume you mean the actual and final World Cup after all the qualifying games are played) over the avg. say in the top professional leagues in England, germany, Italy, France, etc. Hmmmmm, might be a good research topic for some aspiring sports management major or something likie that...

[KRAM1]

So what you are saying is that this FC Dallas you speak of averages 1 goal per game. Sounds exciting. What channel would I be able to watch this on?

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL has MLS games as well as international. And, yes, FC Dallas is on a scoring draught at the moment. You think that's why they have only won 1 game so far this season????? Go figure!

BTW...what's the average goals per game in NHL games...and does the scoring average go down or up during the Stanly Cup playoffs? How about the scoring avg. in the semi's through the finals? Just wondering...I know the fighting goes to all but nothing...would you call that a strategy change for the finals??? Just thinking.

[forevereagle]

FOX SOCCER CHANNEL has MLS games as well as international. And, yes, FC Dallas is on a scoring draught at the moment. You think that's why they have only won 1 game so far this season????? Go figure!

BTW...what's the average goals per game in NHL games...and does the scoring average go down or up during the Stanly Cup playoffs? How about the scoring avg. in the semi's through the finals? Just wondering...I know the fighting goes to all but nothing...would you call that a strategy change for the finals??? Just thinking.

Wow, now I know that everything has its own TV channel.

[oldguystudent]

Goals per game for world cup tournaments

5.385 : Switzerland 1954

4.667 : France 1938

4.118 : Italy 1934

4.000 : Brazil 1950

3.889 : Uruguay 1930

3.600 : Sweden 1958

2.969 : Mexico 1970

2.808 : Spain 1982

2.781 : Chile 1962

2.781 : England 1966

2.712 : United States 1994

2.684 : Argentina 1978

2.672 : France 1998

2.553 : West Germany 1974

2.538 : Mexico 1986

2.516 : Korea/Japan 2002

2.297 : Germany 2006

2.212 : Italy 1990

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

--Scoring so low in soccer because it is always 10 offensive vs 11 defensive on the offensive end (goalie doesn't go down and help very often) .. The defense has a big advantage. Restricting the two "wing" positions to one of the field would really increase scoring and interest.

-- I will never happen....

Edited May 14, 2009 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[KRAM1]

Thanks "oldguystudent". Do those numbers reflect the World Cup qualifying games or just the tournament itself? I would assume just the tournament and you can see the effect the tournament has on scoring.

ScreamingEagle66...interesting thought, but it would definitely not increase interest. To "Amercianize" a sport just so you can manufacture offense is something the NFL has done for years. It is not the way to do things with the international game where fans appreciate a sport for all it is not just the number of goals that will be scored. And, to the point of the defense always having an advantage...well, in some respects, but when did you ever see all opoposing players in front of the ball defending? That woukld spell disaster in a very...VERY...short time and would definitly raise the goals per game count. Nor, do you see a team often push everyone up to go on offense...same story would occur...brrakaway and a score quickly for the opponent. The "big" change I can recall (attempt to speed up play not to score more goals) was when they eliminated the ability of the goalkeeper to use his hands in the box when the ball was passed back to him by his own team. That ploy used to drive me nuts too...back to the keeper, pick it up, kick it out, get the ball back, pass back to the goalkeeper, he picks it up...yep, that even bored me to tears. It was a needed and a good change.

[UNT90]

Seriously!?!?!?!?!?! A legit baseball thread being hijacked by freakin soccer!?!?!?! It's true, we have became a socialist, no, communist country when something as evil as this can occur right under our noses!!!

Uh...Rangers win again....with decent pitching from what amounts to thier 5th starter. Big series against the Angels this weekend.

[hickoryhouse]

Walk off two run Homer by Chris Davis! wow!!! What a great 9th inning, down 2-0 then Hank Homers and then Davis. Holy crap that was awesome!

That is two games in a row where Morrow has blown saves thanks to the Rangers being Awesome!

[KRAM1]

Seriously!?!?!?!?!?! A legit baseball thread being hijacked by freakin soccer!?!?!?! It's true, we have became a socialist, no, communist country when something as evil as this can occur right under our noses!!!

Uh...Rangers win again....with decent pitching from what amounts to thier 5th starter. Big series against the Angels this weekend.

Yep, I agree...i thought several times while posting about soccer how long it would take before someone noticed that the whole thread had become on on soccer....AND, congrats to the Rangers for another ninth inning miracle finish...nice job!

[hickoryhouse]

By the way, the game was only 2 Hours and 10 minutes.

[Censored by Laurie]

Walk off two run Homer by Chris Davis! wow!!! What a great 9th inning, down 2-0 then Hank Homers and then Davis. Holy crap that was awesome!

That is two games in a row where Morrow has blown saves thanks to the Rangers being Awesome!

Lets not forget back-to-back complete games from Matt Harrison. The Harrison-Davis combo netted me 40 fantasy points today...lovin that.

[UNT90]

Is this soccer? I don't know. I know it's not baseball, cause the only baseball I've seen from the Rangers in the last ten years NEVER had anything called...what's that word....PITCHING!!! Is there pitching in soccer? Cause if there is, this must be that.

Huge series this weekend...if you can say that in May.