DirecTV, Extra Innings Update for 2009

For the last few seasons, the most popular post on this Website during baseball season seems to be my take on the Major League Baseball blackout policy, and how it affects us DIRECTV Extra Innings users.
So since I first wrote that piece, here are the updates.

Good:
Home and away feeds are now available (since 2008 season) [...]

Best Pitching Performance of Our Lifetime Goes by Relatively Unnoticed

Hidden amongst the sports news of the weekend was a gem that you should know about. The headline read: “Longhorns win 25-inning marathon in College World Series,” but the real story was hidden in the third paragraph.
Quick summary: Texas beat Boston College 3-2 in 25 innings Saturday/Sunday, setting a new NCAA record for [...]

Just Manny Being Barry

Just when you thought that baseball was on the downside of the Steroid Era, and that the scandals were thinning out, another bombshell hits the sport. Manny Ramirez has tested positive for a banned substance and has been suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball’s testing program.
According to sources, Ramirez tested positive for [...]

Why Must a “Closer” Stay in the Game?

Why is it that once a “closer” wins the job for a big league baseball team, that he just won’t come out of the game, no matter how much he sucks at that job?
Exhibit A: Matt Lindstrom, Florida Marlins.
After being extremely decent at best in his first two years in the show, Lindstrom won [...]

High Schooler Throws Fourth Straight No-Hitter

Patrick Schuster of Mitchell High fame in Florida is having a pretty good month of baseball. Schuster just tossed his fourth straight no-hitter, tying the Florida state record and striking out 17 in the process. The 17 gets even more impressive when you remember that high school only plays seven innings.
Schuster has whiffed [...]

Yankee Stadium’s Big Home Run Problem

What do you do if you spend $1.5 billion for your new baseball stadium, and after just three games you realize that you built it wrong?
This is the problem that could be facing the New York Yankees, as their “replica” of the old Yankee Stadium is playing nothing like it. Through three games, it [...]

Legendary Phils Announcer Kalas Passes Away

A bad week for baseball just got a little worse.
The best set of pipes in a broadcast booth passed away, as Harry Kalas died today. The legendary announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies was found passed out in the broadcast booth in Washington at 12:30 local time, and was pronounced dead less than an hour [...]

2009 Major League Baseball Superlatives

Continuing our Major League Baseball 2009 preview, here are the lukekohler.com selections for the postseason hardware.
See also our previews for:
AL East
AL Central
AL West
NL East
NL Central
NL West
Postseason
Now, on to the superlatives:
American League
Awards
MVP: CC Sabathia
Cy Young: CC Sabathia
Rookie of the Year: Matt Weiters, C, Baltimore
League Leaders
HR Leader: David Ortiz
Batting Title: Placido Polanco
RBI [...]

2009 MLB Playoff Predictions

So if you’ve been following, I’ve now previewed each division in baseball. Now that we’re through the regular season, let’s take a look at the final standings and the playoff picture.
Click division title for full preview.
AL East
Boston Red Sox, 98-64
New York Yankees, 96-66
Tampa Bay Rays, 95-67
Baltimore Orioles, 77-85
Toronto Blue Jays, 73-89
AL Central
Minnesota Twins, 88-74
Cleveland [...]

2009 AL West Preview

The Angels were baseball’s only 100-game winner in 2008, and have won this division in back-to-back seasons. Last year, they won for fun, partly because they were good and partly because the rest of the division was not very good. They won the division by 21 games in ‘08, being the only team [...]