Playoff Baseball for 10/14
JMB · October 14, 2006 at 1:00 pm · Filed Under Game Threads, General baseball
Oakland at Detroit, 1:30pm
New York at St. Louis, 5:05pm
Hooray (woosh) for games (ba-dum) with different (buzz) start times (ka-chunk).
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I love hearing Piniella do Piniella. “He’s a big kid, throws strikes.”
Meanwhile, Steve Lyons got fired for suggesting Piniella was going to steal his wallet on-air.
“Forget all of that, what is a GGD exam?” — Lou Piniella
Lou is such a straight shooter.
I’ll bet that other people watching this game don’t understand how hilarious Lou is. Tampa, or New York, even Reds fans weren’t exposed to so much Lou for so long.
Bring back LOU!!!!
my vocational councilor friend is ranting about the GED comment.
Time tp clinch. Go Detroit!
I’m glad the A’s have decided to turn up and make a game of it for a change.
So, if the A’s lose, is the NYM/STL game still on @ 4.30 (PST) tomorrow?
What did Lyons say about Shawn Green?
#2
Oh my God! Really?!? Ha Ha Ha!!!
Steve Lyons is pretty much the most worthless color guy ever. I mean, even Hendu tries to analyze the game every now and then.
Cracks me up that Fox replaced him with an announcer named Jose.
What’s wrong with a GED? Or was it the commentary?
I forget who fired Gerald Perry and why.
Lou may not be the most insightful color guy ever, but I have to agree that he is pretty amusing.
Lyons tried soooooooooo hard to funny and goofy, but he just wasn’t–good riddance.
Whaaa? Lou Piniella has Hispanic heritage? He strikes me as about as Hispanic as I am. Always seemed like the quintessential crusty white-guy manager.
Hey marbledog, were you at the feed last night? There was one woman I never met.
I thought Lou was Italian.
Yes, you met me, Lauren. We talked about long bamboo sticks.
Oh! For some reason I thought you posted under your real name. I’m dumb.
(hi!)
Hi.
Wow, the Fox broadcast just – sort of – made a weird return to the Habla Espanol bit, and Lou didn’t know what to say… awwwwwkward
I did before I had to register. Registration brings out the anonymugeon in me. So you’re not dumb.
Hey Lou is talking about being bilingual. It’s refreshing when they don’t pretend that something didn’t happen.
Lou seemed shocked it came up, though, I don’t think they forewarned him they might go back to that well.
It was intentional – the Fox execs are worried about their Hispanic market share. God I hate television.
You’re probably right about that – Lou seemed caught off guard. The dorks.
Pudge. Baby.
Well, Hispanic can mean lots of things.
For instance, I have relatives who moved down to Argentina (as a lot of Europeans did.) Would you consider them Hispanic? Latino?
But yes, Lou is Hispanic. This great article about Al Lopez mentions it:
http://rays.tbo.com/rays/MGB2S9SI8BE.html
It’s weird that it’s okay to peddle the worst racial and religious stereotypes on Fox News, which pretends to be a news network, but during a sports broadcast even Lyon’s inept comments result in instant termination and repentance
“Pushin’ Forward Back”
Excellent choice of music, Fox Truck Guys.
Yeah, but people of all kinds of cultures and backgrounds dig baseball, whereas people turn into right wing propganda TV *expecting* that sort of ugliness… like was said, whatever panders to your demographic.
Fox is an incredibly schizophrenic network, even by the rather outré rationality standards of Big Media. Just look at the values found in their comedies vs their “news” operation. But then it all does reflect Rupe rather well…
Hmm, this game just got interesting…
So, apropos nothing except one player on the field today, did anyone see the interview with Vernon Wells where he mentions Kenji Johjima got Wells’ father to paint a portrait of Pudge?
(Apparently Wells’ father has done paintings for a bunch of big leaguers — Torii Hunter comissioned one of Hunter, Wells, and Ichiro)
Also, asked the most friendly outfield to outfielders, he says
Somebody likes Safeco’s fences
Can anyone explain the Detroit lineup? Wouldn’t we, here in this space, eviscerate Hargrove if he batted someone like Placido Polanco third? Especially in a PLAYOFF game! And Leyland is supposed to be some sort of genius? Am I missing something.
Not to mention that Craig Monroe with his .301 OBP and incongruous .478 SLG is batting second…should’t he and Polanco be flipped?
Well, if the Fox News guys were to take over the broadcast and make “wetback” comments about Hispanic players, you bet that Selig would be running the new TV contract through the shredder. The last thing baseball needs is to insult its large Hispanic audience, even if in cases like Mexico it’s split between the NFL and the Mexican futbol leagues.
Oh, and I got the feed pics up on Flickr now. Not as good as last time.
Hey 16 pictures of the back of my head! I shoulda put my hair up because it was hiding “Doyle.” A true fashion faux pas.
Tigers, Tigers, burning bright!
Man, you guys had the game on and everything. I missed out.
The Tigers are sure gonna have a long time to rest up for the WS…
Yeah, but we hardly had a chance to watch it because Dave was on fire.
Everyone posting here is UnETHICAL!!!!!!!!!!! Its been 4 posts since I asked my question about the Tiger’s lineup. Why is everyone avoiding the question?
39: RDF
Re #32:
I think Leyland is just playing the hot hands, to the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t really used a regular lineup this year.
Thank you for your question about the Tigers. Derek’s a busy guy, but he’ll get back to you when he can. Thanks.
40: You’ll have to help me out on the acronym…
Really darned funny?
Great meeting a buncha people last night. Between my classes and last night’s feed, I’ve got a case of Too Many Questions syndrome, so hopefully that didn’t grate on anyone too much. Sorry if I didn’t talk much: I think I need a hearing aid, because I had a real hard time hearing individuals amidst everyone shooting the breeze, even when standing next to the person in question. I felt embarrassed because I did want to meet and greet with a lot of you (notably Roger; good to meet you, man), but I couldn’t hear a lot of basic conversation. Once the Q&A started and it was individual voices, I was fine, but still, it was a lot of fun and can’t wait for the next one.
Meeting Corco in person was rather surreal.
Meanwhile, wow, I had no idea Oakland would morph into Chokeland so fast.
Also, if they really want to make things hard for the WC team in terms of home games, they could use a 2-1-2 schedule.
How come we got rid of Carlos Guillen again?
We had Guillen twice?
So something that sort of came up last night amongst a couple of people at the feed (which was great — thanks everybody!): in the postseason (and presuming, ahem, the Mariners aren’t playing) what’s the process you use to determine your allegiance? Setting aside the obvious — teams you grew up with or from places where you used to live, or cheering for the AL team in the WS unless or even if it’s the Yankees — how do you pick a team? I can understand wanting to see a player like Pujols add some more hardware to his career, but I’d rather see the Mets get into the WS just because (a) the Cardinals were there recently with a better team and rolled over for the Red Sox, and (b) having the Mets go all the way when the Yankees got bounced in the first round has to drive Yankee fans stark, raving, batcrap. Plus does anybody want to see Mr. Crimson-Magenta Soul Patch of Shame get to play in (another) World Series?
JMB: enforcing grammar through humor.
I keep waiting for someone to make a feed-related joke about how, by my not being there, I actually spoke slightly more than I would have had I been there. Thanks, guys.
Actually, I think Derek made that joke at the feed.
If Spezio is the WS MVP, I say the M’s should sign him back. /sarcasm
47. Guillen made it clear that he was leaving after the season so the M’s traded him for whatever they could get.
49. I just watch and enjoy. I may develop a vague preference for a certain team in a certain series, or, obviously, have a preference to see a certain team lose (lol NY Yankees). As for last night’s game, I had no preference for either the Mets or Cards, but just enjoyed a good playoff game between two good NL teams (which is like saying two good AAA teams, and yes I know the NL is still way better than AAA, but work with me on this).
Actually, I think Derek made that joke at the feed.
Ok, ouch.
I made a comment that you’d be well-suited to talk about a cooking topic. I think Dave made that joke.
Lou’s grandfather immigrated from Spain & apparently they did speak Spanish at home during his childhood– which is really interesting when you hear his pronuciation of hispanic names, such as our old pal Ral Eyebanez.
#48– why, yes! don’t you remember Carlos, The Early Years?
#51– well, we did actually discuss your contribution to the Q&A, but as you may have heard, Dave was ON FIRE!
Jason wasn’t there last night?
33. dw, great pics!
You got about 5-6 shots of the side and back of my head, which is 5-6 more shots of me than I expected to see at all, so HUZZAH!
catching up, maybe this was a nice excuse to finally dump Lyons for being a crap analyst? having the Lou comments happen on top of having to apologize on air for the comments about the magnification glasses worn by the Mets fan…. he was just suspended for the ‘humorous’ Green comments…
[i]“He probably did it more for the heritage and not the religion. He’s not a practicing Jew. He didn’t marry a Jewish girl. And from what I understand, he never had a bar mitzvah, which is unfortunate because he didn’t get the money.” [/i]
Holy crap. He totally deserved his sacking.
I’ll figure those tags out one of these days… eventually… maybe never…
Macha demonstrating the concept of bringing your closer into a high-leverage situation even when it’s not the 9th inning. Memo to Hargrove…
good pictures Dylan! and I too didn’t get down the table-length to say hey to marbledog, either, ‘though I admired the jersey
#63– of course, La Russa brought his closer into a tied game in the 9th last night…
Thanks, msb – sorry I missed you too. After last night I am going to try to pay more attention to peoples’ names here because I had little idea who anyone was. Except for Joel and the robots up in front.
Yes, it’s the A’s lack of speed and small ball that has kept them out of this series. Thank you for that extended rant, Fox broadcast.
Man the talking heads bias against the A’s is so stupid, no one has bitched about the Cardinals’ lack of speed the last few years.
…I just can’t stand Brenneman(sp?) he’s so gosh-darned, judgemental. I don’t watch games for the stern lectures by the play-by-play guy.
He just triggered the repressed memories I have of the Mariners not being able to score runs during the mid-nineties due to the lack of a 20+ SB guy at the top of the order. Thanks for that. Now I am damaged.
you know, I was talking to Deanna last night about the ‘98 All Star tour of Japan– maybe I’ll drag those out to listen to Lyons pretending to do live play-by-play and talk about why Ichiro won’t make it in baseball if he does go to the big leagues…
I wonder…
Hee hee hee.
Have to give Macha credit for going to Street in the 7th, that was a great move in my opinion.
How come the pictures include me glaring but not me and Jeff posing amicably? I was sure that’d be awesome — did that one not come out?
Aw man. Little Ramon wanted to win it all.
DMZ, you were exhibiting your Carl Everett impression in response to a question, right? Right?!?
Someone had mentioned they weren’t going to buy my book.
WOW.
N
F
W
Magglio!
They’re going to win the World Series.
Man, I wanted this series to go 7, so both teams could beat up on each other real good- but–
HOW COOL WAS THAT!?!
BTW, Billy Beane’s shit still doesn’t work in the playoffs.
ahh…..WOW
Wow! Amazing!!!
It would take a miracle for either NYM or STL to beat the Tigers. With the exception of Carpenter, they’d both be hopelessly outgunned with the starting pitching matchups on any given day.
Oh, and, it was pretty obvious that Macha stayed with Street a wee bit too long.
Going to be fun in Detriot tonight!
Remember when we were supposed to get Inge for Guillen?
Billy Beane’s shit still doesn’t work in the playoffs.
It doesn’t work when you leave your closer in for 2+ innings even when the leverage level sinks.
Screw posting $30M for Matsuzaka. Let’s spend that on prying Dave Dombrowski away from the Tigers.
Great, exciting play. Makes me happy for the Tigers.
Wasn’t Ordonez’s career supposed to be over last year?
Will Beane/Macha survive the offseason? Are they good but not good enough?
I can’t think of a better short term turnaround: from 119 losses to a WS berth in 4 seasons.
And, for accuracy’s sake, Inge, Santiago, Monroe, Infante, Bonderman, Ledezma, Robertson, Walker, Rodney and probably a few others were all co-conspirators for those 119 losses.
If they get fired it will make retaining Bavasi and Hargrove that much more stupid looking.
The Tigers have great power pitching like the White Sox last year. And like the White Sox, they have only lost one game in the playoffs so far. They certainly look they are the team of destiny this year.
I’d like a Cardinals vs. Tigers World Series, so we can see a matchup of two “genius” managers who have both made touted moves in the postseason this year.
LaRussa vs. Leyland. Who gets the better of whom.
What were the preseason odds of the Tigers winning the AL? I might need to find myself a time machine.
How appropos is it that Houston Street blows it? After being lights out last year, he’s been anything but this year. Sort of a microcosm of the A’s season: “not quite there…”
Somewhere, Alan Trammell is drinking Jack from the bottle and swinging a sledgehammer into his 50-inch plasma TV.
#97: He’s better known under the alias “Brad Lidge” ….
I think it was the lack of speed on the base paths and the absence of small ball that allowed Mags to jack that pitch out of the yard.
98: Alan Trammell is re-enacting the Martin Sheen, “The End” scene from Apocalypse Now with the broken mirror being replaced by the shards of glass from that plasma.
Wow… looks like Pudge DID help turn that ship around after all.
(Yes, yes, I know that Bonderman, Robertson et al. matured, that they picked up Guillen and Magglio and Camerakiller and speedy young outfielders and they’ve got a bunch of flamethrowing youngsters and….)
BTW, how about Billy Wagner’s impersonation of Brad Lidge in last night’s game. And now that So Taguchi has 2 jacks in 2 ABs this postseason, can we call him October-san or does he need to hit another one?
Eckstein has really sucked lately.
I’m in a bind. We mentioned it here before that signing a free agent to a contract means he can’t be traded immediately. What was the full rule regarding that?
How come the pictures include me glaring but not me and Jeff posing amicably? I was sure that’d be awesome — did that one not come out?
What you see is what I took.
I mean, I’m not exactly a party pics sort of guy. I’m usually sitting in the kitchen with the other introverts. Despite my 250 questions last night, I don’t like prying into people’s lives.
Next time, though, I’ll make people pose.
Carlos Guillen. Is going to play in the World Series. Before ARod.
You know, against the NL in interleague this year the A’s were 8-10; the Tigers were 15-3. And the A’s were playing the same NL West the Mariners crushed 14-4, while the Tigers played the same NL Central that StL struggled to win (they swept the Cards in three games by a combined score of 21-13). Small sample size and all that, but if the NL wants a shot I think they’d be hoping to send the Mets.
A “SPEE-ZEE-OH!” chant, I love it!
Spaaaaaaztastic!
Scott Spiezio, triple machine!!!
Rather cool being at the feed, and putting SOME faces to names (getting swiss cheese memory at my age). (Oh, who am I kidding…ALWAYS had a bad memory).
I’m just bemused by the cosmic irony of Guillen getting in the World Series and the crowd chanting for Spezio….
Somebody from here needs to volunteer to kill Spiezio. How can he justify doing well somewhere else and sucking here?
Jim (113), at least by Spiezio doing well, the CArds will more likely pick up his 3.25 million option for 2007, saving the M’s the 250K buyout.
That’s like saying that the best revenge is living well.
No … the best revenge is garrotting Spiezio with his own guitar strings.
Hey, this guy Spezio is really good. And what a cool red soul patch! Mariners ought to take a close look at him; he’d be a great fit in Safeco.
I really have to give Pudge credit. When he took his World Series ring from the Marlins and signed with the worst team in baseball, just about everybody thought he was insane, or suggested he was anticipating (or was already hiding) injuries and was expecting to play out a declining career out of the spotlight. This was a team that at 119 losses was little more than a running joke (remember Maroth’s “quest” for 20 losses?) But Pudge was the “name” that showed everyone else the Tigers were serious, and gave some credibility to their rebuilding attempt. Either he looked at the Tigers’ system and is far better judge of young talent than most scouts/GMs, or he has more confidence than is typical even for big-headed professional athletes. And maybe he was the hand that steadied a young pitching staff, too. Of course everything had to go right, and lots of things from injuries to unfortunate combinations of DWIs and Venezuelans could have gone wrong. But three years ago I don’t think anybody conceding any amount of things going right would have expected to see the Tigers where they are now. Except, maybe, Pudge.
Jim (113), at least by Spiezio doing well, the CArds will more likely pick up his 3.25 million option for 2007, saving the M’s the 250K buyout.
Half of which, presumably, is going to his ex-wife. And some not insignificant portion of the remainder going to the stripper-of-the-month. He sure as heck isn’t getting his money’s worth from his barber.
The Mets long relief corps are going to get some air time over the next few games, starting… now.
That’s how bad Trachsel is. Gives up a two-run triple to Spiezio then gives up a homerun to Jeff Supan.
117. Also, remember the SI article about Pudge written early in his 1st season in Detroit, and how he was fighting to reshape the attitude of those woebegone Tigers, egging on his teammates in ST and getting in opposing players’ faces for hotdogging after taking a Tigers tomato can deep? I remember reading that and going, “Man, how awesome would it be if he DID lead a huge turnaround and they got back to the playoffs?”
…
I admit I had completely forgotten about that until now.
Hey JI,
We talked about this last night, and at the time I really felt a 2-0 Mets lead meant the series was over. By the same token, if the Cards win this one — and all signs point to yes — it’s over the other way. Ugly, ugly start so far.
119. Wait, like they haven’t already? IIRC, John Maine started, was lucky to last 4 innings while getting the Pineiro treatment (5 walks too), and the relievers threw 112 pitches. Maine himself only threw 88.
Sooooooo…. anyone watching the commercials?
Better hairpiece: Shatner, or Chekov?
Erm, in last night’s game.
Hey, Trachsel… didn’t McGwire break Maris’ HR record off this guy?
That Amex Tiger Woods commercial (”There are no rainy days”) would have been better if they did a parody of that rainy scene from Caddyshack.
Jason,
I never thought that Traschel would suck this badly. I thought that it’d be a 7-5 game with either side capable of winning. But with Perez going tomorrow, Glavine on short rest on Moday, and the pen getting extended reps, it looks pretty bleak for the New Yorkers as far as run prevention is concerned.
Had the Mets won last night, we’d be looking at the series as a toss-up now, which is why I felt that they would have a chance, even down 2-0.
BTW, the last time STL faced the Mets in the LCS they were down two pitchers (Stephenson and Ankiel), this time the Mets staff has been crippled. Karma, baby, karma.
P.S. I am the only Mariner fan alive right now that doesn’t want Spiezio’s head on a stick…
127. Not quite… I don’t like Spiezio but I can think of better (worse?) people I’d want headless.
The Mets really needed that one last night.
Barring a miracle tonight (like 5 shutout innings from Oliver), their bullpen is going to be shot. And at that point, win or loss, you need a near-miracle from Perez tomorrow.
If you don’t want Spiezio’s head on the stick I think we may have to re-evaluate your status as a Mariner fan…
There are probably dead Mariner’s fans that don’t want Spiezio’s head on a stick.
Not many, though.
I think Oliver will be pitching 5 or 6 regardless of his effectiveness. The only way they’ll pull him now is if they load the bases with 1/2 outs and the pitcher’s spot is due.
Wanting Spiezio’s head on a stick doesn’t have anything to do with this series, either.
130. I want the contents of a port-a-potty to be funnelled down his throat. Is that good enough?
Pudge is kind of making a career out of being a turnaround specialist; see this from 2005:
Edmonds has looked pretty awful out in center since his return from the concussion/foot problems.
Speaking of Met-like chokejobs… UW Huskies coughed up 17 unanswered pts in the 2nd half and are losing 27-17 to Oregon State with about 4 minutes left. Haha.
I only care because the UW alums and students overrun the U District like pestilence until a couple hours after the game ends. I live there and actually leave the neighborhood on the day of home games. It’s that bad. I’m in Capitol Hill right now on a wi-fi connection.
Anyway, it appears Darren Oliver has settled down and we’re resigned to a few more innings of boredom in what likely will be a 5-0 Cards win. I can’t believe a team with a rotation that bad is this close to a World Series.
Edmonds has looked bad ALL season…….
That team being the Cards. The Mets, of course, have a similarly bad rotation, but at this point it appears neither here nor there.
There is a lady in the stands wearing a red Spezio soul patch sticker on her chin.
Smite her, Lord.
138
No he hasn’t.
Is it too late to bash Lyons? This was from his playing days, in 1986…
Link
The Red Sox were trailing by two runs, with two out in the ninth and runners on first and second. Wade Boggs, who was hitting over .400 at the time, was at the plate. For some reason, Lyons decided to steal third base. Rick Cerone, the Brewers’ catcher, easily threw him out. End of threat. End of game.
The clubhouse was eerily silent after the game. It’s always quiet when a team loses, but this was like going to a wake. If anybody said anything, it was in a whisper. The postgame meal sat virtually untouched on the tables in the middle of the room. McNamara walked up to me and said he wanted to use my office to have a meeting with Lyons. They went into my office, and McNamara closed the door. “You stupid son of a bitch,” McNamara screamed. “How could you do that?” McNamara told Lyons it was the dumbest thing he had ever seen in all his years in baseball. In the mortuary- quiet clubhouse, the players could hear every word.
After the meeting with McNamara, a miserable Lyons was surrounded by reporters.
“I was running on my own,” he mumbled, hanging his head. “There’s nothing I can say to make it any better.”
McNamara had a lot more to say.
“That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen,” he told reporters. “There’s no reason for that. He will not be in center field tomorrow night.”
Lyons was traded a few days later. Managers had a lot more control then.
It amazes me to this day that the guy could keep working in the game with an IQ in the low double digits.
Did any of the NL teams have good rotations heading into the playoffs?
141
Yes he has.
Ugh.
You know, living in the U District and then complaining about Huskie fans during the football season is a bit like, I don’t know, living in Seattle and complaining about the gray, gloomy days. And yeah, I know people do that too but I don’t understand — or feel at all sympathetic about — that either.
Did any of the NL teams have good rotations heading into the playoffs?
And regardless of how good they might have been, they’re not going to be as rested and ready as the Tigers…
143. Good point, Chef Barker.
Wow, if an NL team can get themselves 3-4 good, durable starters this offseason, they could well punch a ticket to the 2007 World Series. Now I await someone pointing out an NL team that DID have 3-4 solid injury free starters and didn’t make it.
I wasn’t asking for sympathy. I know what living in the U District entails, part of that being 6 days a year where it gets swamped with tens of thousands of alums who left about half their IQ at home. It’s cool.
143
The Padres, and maybe the Dodgers, had Penny been going well. Whoever wins this series has about a +/- 10% chance of beating the Tigers.
144
Speaking as someone who has watched as many Cardinals games as Mariner games this year, I can say that Edmonds scuffled out of the gate when he was playing with the rib injury. However, by the end of May, he was fully back in the swing of things by the middle of June before having to miss the last month of the season with post-concussion syndrome.
You’re talking about a guy who has had 5-6 different injuries this year, but when he’s been healthy he’s hit well. Most teams would take his final line (.257/.350/.471) from their centerfielder.
Sure, he’s basically Mickey Tettleton at this point, and his days as a centerfielder are numbered, but he’s still a good player.
Oh, and Edmonds and Spiezio are good friends.
Sure, he’s basically Mickey Tettleton at this point
Except he holds his bat properly.
147: Here’s one….
Clemens: xFIP=3.76
Oswalt: xFIP= 3.75
Pettitte: xFIP=3.82
But I have to say, watching the Astros play was painful….
Yeah, the Astros could have done some damage had they made it.
And heck, the Mets had Pedro and El Duque until a few weeks ago, pushing Glavine and Maine to the back of the rotation (though Maine probably would have been in the pen, with Traschel still in the rotation).
And I wasn’t surprised to see Oliver hitting. They need him to rest the pen.
McCarver appearently doesn’t understand that there is going to be a game 4, and a game 5…
There you go, the Astros. A FULL season of Clemens probably gets them in, and then, yeah, a series facing Clemens, Oswalt, Pettite… heh heh.
But then Ensberg crapped the bed, they had to go and get Huff, they got so little from their role players, the back of their rotation was terrible, their bullpen was mostly terrible….
Yeah, you have to have at least a capable rest of the ballclub for my inferred axiom to work.
And El Duque would have matched up nicely against all the Cards’ RHBs.
Who were you going to hit, McCarver? Gimpy Cliff Floyd? Ancient Julio Franco? C’mon.
re: Pedro and El Duque… with El Duque, you never quite know what you’ll get come October, and Pedro when healthy only gives you about 6 innings of good pitching, maybe 7. They still have to overwork that bullpen.
He can’t hit (right now), but Rolen sure can pick it.
Actually, Lowe, Penny and Maddux were a solid combo for the Dodgers. They just… weren’t solid in the NLDS. Hm.
Rolen has basically has three post-seasons lost/tainted with due to being tackled by on-comming baserunners. At least he got a chance to take Clemens deep.
Whaddya mean you don’t know what you’re gonna get from El Duque? In the regular season, maybe. But in the post-season he’s got a 2.55 ERA in over 100 innings.
My point, though, is that even though he and Pedro aren’t Johnson/Schilling, they still get the likes of Perez and Traschel out of the Mets’ rotation. Huge upgrade.
OK Mets, gotta get a couple here.
… and not cough up any more. Go, sweatshop bullpen! Daddy needs more outs! (whoever Daddy is)
re: El Duque… point taken, though I think the durability is the bigger issue than his performance when healthy.
The Mets should be so much better than the Cardinals, its kind of unfortunate for the sport that they had their rotation gutted right before the post-season. Otherwise they most likely would have rolled over the Cardinals, and had a reasonable chance against Detroit.
Now the question is, “Will the National League make it 12 in a row?”
#149:
I’ve seen about 60 games with edmonds in center this season. If he is a good centerfielder then i’m the non-caucasian, female, ex porn star, 7-time divorcee, who is currently having an affair with a married guy named Al Ki-Aida, and who will be the republican nominee for president in ‘08….
Then there is that little thing about Edmonds and the left-handed kryptonite….. (which is surprising since the NL isn’t exactly stocked with quality lefties as evidenced by Aurilia’s splits against lefties: .347/.406/.680).
Obviously he is old and oft-injured….but he also isn’t a great defender any longer…
166: 12 what?
12 straight WS game losses to the AL, I’m guessing.
Erm. I guess I was confused. I thought the Marlins and the Diamondbacks were in the NL.
170:
2004 WS: AL swept NL (4 games)
2005 WS: AL swept NL (4 games)
2006 WS: JI wonders if the AL will sweep the NL again
that would be 12 in a row…
Ah. Gotcha. Games, not series.
Darren Oliver with 6 shutout innings in relief, martyring himself to save that overworked bullpen, and with Michael Tucker (?!?!?!?! WHAT’S WITH ALL THE SCRAP HEAPERS IN THIS SERIES?) pinch hitting for him, he is done. Too bad the Mets need an ‘86 Style miracle to win this ballgame.
I think Suppan will get the game ball.
He certainly deserves it to some extent, but the Mets fell into a huge hole early and the pressure was on the hitters, rather than Suppan, to perform.
So I just got an email back from some M’s slush-pile reader regarding an angry, stats-filled screed I sent to one of their official feedback addresses a couple weeks ago re: bringing Hargrove back. It was as vague and noncommittal as you’d expect any such thing to be–though they made it clear they’d at least read my first sentence–but it was still funny to see a response in my inbox.
Also, here’s to a Mets-Tigers Series.
Hey Ed,
Yeah, I got one of those back, too.
It’s not on a stick, and man his grinning visage galls me.
JMB, did they give you the same line about how they’re always happy when the fans are impassioned enough to respond, “even if they are angry or disappointed”?
Frustratingly, that strikes at one of the big problems of fanhood. I’d like to think keeping Hargrove is so boneheaded I’d have the conviction to boycott them till he’s gone, but.. they’re still the M’s.
Well, Hispanic can mean lots of things.
It shouldn’t. Hispanic should mean “hailing from a Spanish-speaking country.” By that measure, Brazilians (Portuguese), Haitians (French), Arubans (Dutch), and Americans (English) are NOT hispanic. Ever. But Spaniards are.
I just say Latino instead.
Also, I didn’t send a letter to the Mariners, because I knew I’d get the canned response.
“If ever living, breathing proof that clutch hitting really does exist was needed, Scott Spiezio is it. I ask anybody to explain how such an average regular season hitter becomes so good during the playoffs. That’s now 24 RBIs in 21 games and 15 hits in 21 ABs with RISP. Incredible stuff.”
Direct quote from a Cards fan at the UK baseball site I am a member at. If only he knew the truth…
#88– Remember when we were supposed to get Inge for Guillen?
No. I remember when the Ms offered Meche for him straight up and were turned down. I remember Infante was said to be the other choice than Santiago. and (not to sound too prudish) isn’t that screen name skirting a little too close to failing the Guidelines?
#117– When he took his World Series ring from the Marlins and signed with the worst team in baseball, just about everybody thought he was insane, or suggested he was anticipating (or was already hiding) injuries and was expecting to play out a declining career out of the spotlight
I thought everyone thought, wow, Dombrowski is giving Pudge that much money, and for that long?! Did we ever hear what the M’s late (look! Sasaki-money!) offer was to Pudge just before he took the Detroit deal?
#118– FWIW, Spiezio actually married the tattoo-immortalizing girlfriend, not that that precludes him finding other ‘fiancees’
From my point of view, I’m having trouble explaining Spezio’s success in this postseason (and 2002) as just pure luck. Granted, I have no hard evidence to back this up, but is it possible that he has a “playoff gear.”
Logically, though, if Spezio were simply a “streaky” player, and prone to bouts of pure suckage juxtaposed with pure stardom, wouldn’t we have seen him get hot–just once–here in Seattle?
Maybe my memory is clouded, but I don’t recall him ever having a streak remotely like this in his time here. Again this is pure speculation, and perhaps its all the amazing NL pitchers (who wouldn’t make it on most AL rosters) being thrown at him…but I just think its possible that he has some sort of ability to bear down a little more when it counts…
Streaks can last awhile.
Perhaps he lost his motivation in Seattle, so he just wallowed in the aforementioned suckage until he got a change of scenery. Maybe he didn’t like it here, maybe his marriage breaking up contributed, but whatever the reason, he stayed in the rut.
OTOH, maybe a 3-year contact made him complacent, and maybe the prospect of never playing in MLB again (after the M’s released him) was a big kick in the pants.
#60. Catching up, maybe this was a nice excuse to finally dump Lyons for being a crap analyst? having the Lou comments happen on top of having to apologize on air for the comments about the magnification glasses worn by the Mets fan…he was just suspended for the “humorous” Green comments.
and
69. ….I just can’t stand Brenneman (sp?) he’s so gosh-darned, judgemental. I don’t watch games for the stern lectures by the play-by-play guy.
It was Thom Brenneman who made the insensitive comments about the blind Mets fan and his “Jordy” goggles.
#95. LaRussa vs. Leyland. Who gets the better of whom.
They were saying during the Cards/Mets game later last night that Leyland and LaRussa are the best of friends, they talk together ALL the time.
I thought the NY Times had the best summary of both the event & the problems with Lyons & Brennaman:
“…Brennaman is not great. He is mediocre, distinguished mainly by an unmodulated megaphone-like voice that is like a parody of what a sportscaster should sound like. It does not convey a warm welcome, or the promise of excellence, as do Vin Scully or ESPN’s Jon Miller, who was joined for Friday night’s Yankees-Tigers game in Detroit by the retired Ernie Harwell, ever a delightful and welcoming legend.
Worse, for Brennaman, is his usual boothmate, Steve Lyons, a childish personality who has never attempted to live down his nickname, Psycho. Lyons is capable of an occasional insight. But he also made ignorant remarks two years ago about Shawn Green, who is Jewish, regarding why he did not play for the Dodgers on Yom Kippur. Fox suspended Lyons briefly.
In their years together, Lyons and Brennaman have shown no growth as a team. And Fox has yet to show a desire to find a better backup duo for McCarver and Joe Buck. Once upon a time in the 1980’s at NBC, Bob Costas and Tony Kubek backed up the No. 1 team of Scully and Joe Garagiola.
All of which leads to the regrettable incident last Thursday during Game 2 of the Dodgers-Mets playoff series at Shea Stadium. Brennaman and Lyons bonded like spitballing 13-year-olds in a middle school lunchroom to mock a Mets fan who was wearing an unusual-looking device over his eyes to help his poor vision. Stephen Teitelbaum, blind except for peripheral vision in one eye, was wearing a Jordy, a magnifying device, to help him watch the game.
Brennaman and Lyons could not know those details when the camera found Teitelbaum, but they could see that he was not goofing with a child’s toy. Still, they pursued him as if he were the class weakling. What was he wearing, they wondered?
”A Psycho-meter,” Brennaman said, to welcome Lyons to town.
”Maybe he’s in virtual reality,” Lyons said. If he is, Lyons explained, ”he should stay there.”
And maybe, Lyons suggested, the Dodgers should don the contraptions to better hit Tom Glavine. Lyons then hit on the most logical puerile explanation: ”He’s got a digital camera stuck to his face.”
This insensitive nonsense went on for 53 seconds while Marlon Anderson batted, offering a window into stunted imaginations. But it also underscored the failure by anyone at Fox to tell them to let up. Fox could have dispatched someone to Teitelbaum’s seat to report back on his condition. Instead, Teitelbaum’s family called Fox on Friday, leading to Brennaman’s on-air mea culpa early in Game 3 Saturday from Los Angeles.”