2011 MLB Thread

[Lambert Simnel]

Will Texas regret that one? I think that there was an opportunity for a pinch hitter to go for the pitcher and it was not taken. That was a big mistake and I thought it would come back to haunt them, and I was right. That would have meant that the 6th innings would have been pitched by Holland instead.

I think you can argue it either way. Lewis looked well in control at that point, and he had only pitched 4 innings. He then handled the 5th pretty straightforwardly, and I wasn't sure that taking him out in the 6th was the right thing to do. Ogando has just been toast against the Cardinals (7 hits and 7 walks in 2.1 IP ?). Holland ? Well, he had a great game 4, and a very good September, but it's not like bringing in Halladay or Lee in relief.

With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it's hard to disagree that they should have pinch-hit. But at the time I thought Washington made probably the right move - if you have someone one the mound who is shutting the Cards offense down, then I think you stick with him as long as you can.

 

[shadowplay]

Congrats Cardinals. What an amazing story.

Can't help but really feel for Texas fans here though.

 

[remake20]

YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH BABY!!!!!!

caps

 

[Godwynn]

Hell yeah! St. Louis baby!

 

[Azale]

Yeeeeeesssss. Lesser of two evils, Berkman gets a ring.

 

[Godwynn]

Yeeeeeesssss. Lesser of two evils, Berkman gets a ring.

St. Louis is not evil, the Yankees are. St. Louis is the greatest MLB team of all time.

 

[remake20]

St. Louis is not evil, the Yankees are. St. Louis is the greatest MLB team of all time.

Duh!

Or you could just go with these four simple points.

1. The Rangers have better hitting.

2. Pitching is basically a wash.

3. The Rangers have better defense.

4. The Rangers are better baserunners.

How'd your simple points work out?

 

[Azale]

Well, the Rangers did have better hitting and the Cardinals baserunning was atrocious...it just didn't quite add up for them.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

I really don't know how you conclude that about the hitting, Azale. And while the Cards didn't run well, the Rangers baserunning was pretty much locked down by Molina, so not a big factor. The key was the pitching, I think, with the Rangers bullpen coming back down to earth after a sensational ALCS.

Anyway... Go Cardinals! What a ride these last 2 months have been.

Tough on the Rangers - they looked pretty deflated after Freese tied it in the first. I guess they came out firing, got 2 runs in the top of the 1st, and were ready to put game 6 behind them and suddenly got reminded that they just weren't able to ever put the Cardinals away. Still, they have a strong squad, and they are going to be a contender again next year.

 

[dIZZyBlIZZy]

Well, the Rangers did have better hitting and the Cardinals baserunning was atrocious...it just didn't quite add up for them.

It's not supposed to add up. Goes back to an old sports axiom:

"The greats aren't great all the time, they're great when they have to be."

 

[Strider]

I made a few points before the series started stating why I thought the Cardinals would win. One of the points I made was that in a short series the better manager almost always win. This is more than enough proof of that. Washington allowed his team to deflate and lose hope when they needed to pull together. A La Russa team never stops. He simply won't allow it.

 

[Azale]

I made a few points before the series started stating why I thought the Cardinals would win. One of the points I made was that in a short series the better manager almost always win. This is more than enough proof of that. Washington allowed his team to deflate and lose hope when they needed to pull together. A La Russa team never stops. He simply won't allow it.

Except when they got swept in 2004 by the Red Sox. Or the 4 ALCS' lost during the decade before the Cards won the series in 2006. Or his incredibly mediocre decade as White Sox manager. Don't turn La Russa into Bill Walsh now, he's a great manager but I don't think his presence is what makes these Cardinals so unflappable. Hell, the manager in baseball is the least important of all the major coaching positions in professional sports.

 

[sophie]

Low ratings for the whole series.

Wow, really? That's surprising considering this one felt a lot more prevalent on ESPN than the last one was. For me that was actually rather uplifting...but I guess the ratings were low? Does anyone have a ratings/revenue report for this season compared to the last two (two because I'd expect '10 to be low because of 2 west coast teams)? I was rather under the impression that baseball was experiencing an upsurge.

 

[classical_hero]

It seems some fans don't watch Baseball, just their team.

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Guess you guys have probably seen this, but if not...

To quote The Smiths - "Oh, I can smile about it now, but at the time it was terrible"

 

[Zack]

This is depressing. I'm fearing the 2012 Rangers will be the baseball equivalent of the 2007 Mavericks.

How'd your simple points work out?

Please stop acting like you're a die-hard Cardinals fan. You're clearly not.

 

[NBAfan]

How'd your simple points work out?

The Rangers were clearly better, they had game 6 almost won 3 times! They just melted under pressure.

 

[Verarde]

Congratulations to the Cards!

 

[classical_hero]

You have to take your chances when they show themselves. Texas should have won game 6, but did not, so they only have themselves to blame for that.

 

[Darkness]

The Rangers were clearly better, they had game 6 almost won 3 times! They just melted under pressure.

Really? What series did you see? I thought the teams were pretty evenly matched, but the Cards just got the key hits/walks (especially walks) at the important moments. And maybe LaRussa (with the exception of game 5) played it all a bit better/smarter than Washington...