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Regarding the Kauffman stadium issue, I am questioning how much of a factor this really is. I recall maybe one borderline shot by Donaldson in game 1, and that's pretty much it. While Rogers Centre would be a better venue for home run hitting, I don't think the stadium had much to do with our losses in game 1-2.

I think you're misrepresenting what Rios said. He said many times in the interview that Estrada was hitting the corners and getting his pitches and pitching very well. Yes, at one point he mentions them not taking advantage of opportunities, but bottom line he was complimentary of Estrada on the whole.

I'm really worried about our bullpen. The loss of Cecil has left a gaping hole in it. Sanchez is okay, but unpredictable. Osuna is better, but he's only one man. What else have we got? Lowe is so-so. Hawkins has been very weak lately, and they seem unwilling or unable to use him more than once every 3-4 games. Last night scared me. Yeah we won, but they scored 8 runs on us! And they did it mostly without home runs, which makes it all the more troubling. Unless the bats stay really really hot over the next three games, I think we're toast. That or we get some amazing performances from our starters. I only hope Dickey brings his A game and works some knuckleball kryptonite on those KC bats.

I don't remember them mentioning the Jays having a reputation for sign stealing even once. Although I will concede I did have to go to bed by 10:30 for work, so maybe they mentioned it in the 8th or 9th. But overall I have been happy enough with the announcers. I haven't noticed any bias against the Jays as others have claimed. Both my wife and I have found them fair. And to be honest with you, when they do say something complimentary about the Jays, I find it's more meaningful because they're not paid by Rogers.

Not in a seat. In a booster chair supplied by the stadium which straps into the seats. With the child sandwiched between two parents on either side, she can't go anywhere, and the booster seats tend to sink back into the stadium seats, which means gravity is also on your side. You don't need to buy a seat for an infant, mind you. But the reason you would want to is because holding a baby for a whole game is tiring for the parent and the child and many are too squirmy to accept that for long. Our 1 year old was good for about 2 hours in her booster seat with another hour in a Baby Bjorn sling to sleep. She was just fine for the whole ballgame and made it the whole 9 innings without any problems, about 60-90 minutes sleeping, and the rest sitting in her seat taking in the sites and sounds, eating some snacks, etc... But of course every child is different, and like pitchers, mileage may vary from game to game. In the second game we took her to, we had to alternate the seat, holding her and letting her sleep in the sling because she became a little fussy. I am not saying you should take a baby or toddler to a ballgame - having done it we prefer to get babysitting if it's available. But the people acting like it's some act of gross child abuse are so depressingly ignorant and foolish. Like I said, very typical of the neurotic times we live in.

Did Martin even get to throw anyone out in this last series? I can't remember. This is why these small ball teams scare me. Great pitching can shut down the home run and even the base hit, but it seems almost impossible to defend against these sacrifice guerrilla tactics we saw Texas using throughout the series. Yeah, if our home run guys are active they will score more runs than the other team can manufacture, but if they run into dominant pitching, we are $$$ed.

Agreed. But every time he came up to bat I was cringing. He was hitting these routine infield grounders and somehow beating the throw like he was teleporting to the base or something. Unreal.

I'm just relieved we don't have to deal with Delino Deshields anymore. As a former Expos fan, I feel like he was sent to exact vengeance for his father. And the guy runs like a rocket - he just gets on base and you might as well give up and wave him home.

Tilson, the comments of most of the users above are about babies and children in general, not just newborns. So while you may be limiting yourself to newborns, I don't think you speak for everyone. And I am not surprised in the slightest that 95% disagree with me. Of course they do. That's the world we live in. Every few months somebody gets the cops called on them because their 9 year old walked to the park down the street alone and some parent snitched on them. Then everybody gets outraged on social media and talks about how when they were kids they could wander the neighborhood for hours as kids and how it sucks that kids can't go anywhere anymore outside an armored SUV. But we know whose fault this is - it's ours. These kind of neurotic attitudes aren't going to end when the babies grow into children and teens. Helicopter parenting starts early. The same parents who are aghast that a 1 year old can go to a ballgame for fear of a stray foul ball hitting them or suffering catastrophic hearing loss because Donaldson hit a home run - they're the same people who are going to ferry their teenagers by car to their friend's house 10 minutes down the street out of fear of pedophiles hiding behind bushes. I am not saying you should bring a newborn to a ballpark. I am saying that on the scale of dangers to your child's safety, this is pretty low on the list, several pegs below driving your kid to grandma's house on the Gardiner after a fresh snowfall. As for the people saying that the kid won't remember anything? Entirely correct. A baby also isn't likely to remember Christmas dinners at Grandma's, playing in the park, or much of anything else. So what? Judgy judgy judgy.

We have taken our daughter to a couple games at around 1 year old. I have never been advised that the noise level was some major health hazard. If it were, her grandfather (a pediatrician) would have said something. The only reason we haven't lately is because the price of an extra ticket is just too much now that the Jays are so hot. But here's a reality check - Babies aren't made of matchsticks and tissue paper. You can jump with a baby in your arms. Try it sometime. Babies like it when you do that. See that smile on her face? Hear that laughing? It's called fun. You can take a baby to most public venues, and as long as they don't scream or annoy others, you'll all be just fine. A ballgame is one of the few places where a baby can cry and nobody is going to care. Not that our daughter cried. She smiled, laughed, and had her picture taken with Ace. They supply booster seats for infants at the ballpark. How depressing it must be for you neurotics who lock your babies up in padded rooms, who can't so much as leave the house for more than an hour at a time with your baby for fear of missing a precious naptime. How tiring it must be to Lysol every doorknob in your house lest a nasty germ land on your delicate bundle of tissue paper. Next year we'll be taking our daughter to more ballgames. Other parents can watch her disapprovingly on TV from their dark basements.

Interesting that you decry illogical narratives and cliches and then employ one yourself. The "slump" and the "hot streak" are themselves variations on the Gambler's fallacy. Not saying that a team's past performance can't have a psychological effect on its future games, but generally speaking, random chance tells us that "slumps" and "streaks" are going to happen no matter what and have little or no relationship with one another other than being clustered together. Maybe the players are just nervous because it's a high stress series. I'll buy that explanation over the idea that they're in a "slump" as if the latest games have anything whatsoever to do with what happened two weeks ago. But for the record, as I watched Friday's agonizing game, all I could think to myself was: why aren't we doing what they are doing? There was a game where Josh Donaldson bunted a little while ago. Maybe some people thought it was beneath him. Personally, I loved it. If swinging for the fences hasn't work, maybe you should bunt. I know it's become a cliche to say so at this point, but how about some "little" ball? The Rangers did it brilliantly the whole time.

I don't think I can make it until tomorrow. I need to be frozen in liquid nitrogen so that I can just wake up and it will be Thursday. I will try to watch the National League WC game tonight. Maybe that will help stave off madness, a little.

Urrgh... that makes some sense. At least the Texans are getting shafted worse than us. They get to watch the game at 11:45 a.m. their time

Well I deleted that sentence from my post when I realized that not everyone goes to bed as early as I do. But yeah, Thanksgiving too, lol

I am new to the whole playoff thing, having never followed a team that was competing in the post season. But is it normal for them to have major games taking place during the afternoon on regular work days? I bought a ticket for Thursday's divisional game, which it says is going to be at 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. I was assuming it would be at 7:00 p.m. which is normal for a weekday game. I'm lucky I can re-arrange my work schedule to attend, otherwise my tickets would have been given away to someone who could attend. But Friday's game is at 12:45 p.m.? Who in blazes can watch a game at 12:45 during a workday, let alone attend? I guess only retirees and children. I was so excited to watch all the games. I guess I'll have to read about it in the paper. Is this normal? Wouldn't they want regular people to be able to watch their games? Isn't that kind of the point??