- This topic has 119 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
The Phillies are a perfect example of why the regular season is just a preliminary and doesn’t mean that much as long as you squeeze into the playoffs. Get hot in October, have two strong starters, a couple of reliable relievers and have one or two bats get hot and, well, we see now what can happen.
Hey Mo, when can we expect that you will acquire a stopper for the front of the rotation?gscottar…It sure was. It’s funny how I can remember that full 5 game NLCS from 42 years ago like it was yesterday, but sometimes can’t recall where I left my keys. I remember watching all or parts of all 5 games with Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Drysdale calling the action on ABC. Those old best of 5 game LCS could be genuine gut wrenchers. No room for mistakes. Other than possibly the ’76 ALCS, that Phillies/Astros NLCS was the hardest fought 5 game LCS I recall. Four of the five games went into extras. Nolan Ryan and Joe Morgan were non-factors for Houston, but the Phillies couldn’t get former Cardinal Jose Cruz out. Lots of future HOF’ers and past and future Cardinals on the rosters of those two ballclubs. Schmidt, Carlton, Rose, Ryan, Morgan, Cruz, L.Smith, Bake McBride and Andujar.
I’m guessing the Astros in 5 games and I wouldn’t be too awfully surprised if they ran the post-season table and swept the Phillies. Does Philadelphia have a chance? Sure they do, and I’ll be hoping to watch an upset take place, but I think it’s very unlikely. Other than the field manager, there’s no discernable weakness in any area of the game on this Houston ballclub and they’re the best team I’ve seen since the Yankee teams of the mid 90’s to early 2000’s. However, the Phillies have the single best player in the ’22 WS in Bryce Harper. If the Phillies upend the Astros, it’ll be because Harper demonstrates that he’s determined to win a WS championship. He’s a tough competitor who has the ability to go entirely ballistic with the bat. And then, there’s always the genuine possibility that the Dusty curse could be a factor at some key point. In any event, it’ll be a long winter, so I’ll enjoy watching these last few post-season games before it’s time to place more wear and tear on my spine whilst shoveling snow…
GameCard…From my standpoint, the question of which team is better is, without exception, always dictated by the final score. I’ve attempted to argue otherwise many times, but at the end of the day, no matter how hard I try, I can’t refute simple arithmetic…
I will NOT be watching the World Series. Can’t stomach watching that idiot Dusty Baker with his toothpick and sweat/arm bands and those stupid gloves. How this guy ever got a managing job is beyond me.
An early Cards exit kills off my interest in the post season. Once they get it over with we can move on to the NA opt out decision, non tenders, 40 man roster decisions, arb happenings and the FAs market. The big negative every winter is the unending trade speculation and proposals that are unlikely for one reason or another. But that is the hot stove, I guess.
Same here Bling. If it gets to a game 7 I will probably watch that.
Even though the Cardinals benefited in 2011, I just don’t like the expanded tournament where – as was stated earlier in the thread – 2 front line starters, 2 good relievers, and a couple of bats getting hot can undo a 162 season.
I want to see each league go to 4 divisions with only championns advancing. Does that format completely solve the problem? No, but at least the regular season has a real purpose and it would tend towards rewarding the deeper teams who are built for the 162 game marathon not a 3, 5, or 7 game sprint….
They need to get to 32 teams to clean this up. The stadium problems in Tampa Bay and Oakland are what the commissioner says is the roadblock.
Two front line stoppers?
Quintana gave up 0 runs and 2 hits against the Phillies in 5 1/3 innings.
Mikolas and Montgomery gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings against the Phillies.
That’s 2 runs and 6 hits in 12 1/3 innings against a team that’s going to the WS.
Starting pitching wasn’t an issue.
Historically I have always sort of liked the Phillies franchise. I think part of it is the red uniforms. They have gone through eras of truly terrible ball clubs, but will occasionally put a quality team together.
Thus I will be pulling for the “Brotherly Love’s” to upset what I believe will be a heavily favored Houston ball club.
Dusty seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way. I was in LA a couple of years in the ‘70s and he was a solid player back then. Wore number 12 because his favorite Dodger had been Tommy Davis. I really have no strong feelings about him one way or the other.
It would be something if the Phillies rose from a sixth seed to a Championship. Seems a long shot, but as I have mentioned they remind me a bit of our 2006 team. Going in to that World Series people said “Tigers in 3”, as a way to say St. Louis had no chance. You never know.
Looking forward to this one, then we will all settle in next to the hot stove and share our thoughts on what may transpire in 2023.
To clean this up they need to reduce the number of playoffs, reduce divisions to two in each league, only champions advancing, reduce the number of games per season with five games and two days off per week for each team. A little less baseball but less nonsense.
bccran…You’re exactly right. Neither SP’ing or the BP was an issue in either one of those games. The entire fiasco was primarily an issue of incredibly poor game management. Even the lack of offense can be attributed to a batting order that could well be termed as lunacy.
Bling…Well, it’s my impression that most of the more meaningful trades take place during the winter months. Goldy, Nado, Tudor, Sutter and L. Smith all occured during the off-season. I’m sure there were others for the Cardinals, but arb hearings, opt outs and non tender decisions are wearisome to me. I’d rather watch the WS…Haha!
I don’t like expanded playoffs either nor do I like wild card teams. It should be divisions winners or bust. I understand that a second place team could win 95 games and a division winner from a different division could win 90 but that is tough. Win your division.
Of course this is all headed the other direction. Eventually the owners will want 16 teams in the playoffs with who knows how many wild card teams. ($$$$$$$$) The World Series winner can celebrate by eating their Thanksgiving turkey and by giving out free snow shovels.
and that’s exactly how one of the most exciting Card’s team won in 2011 via the wildcard. I am in the minority but I have no issue with WC teams winning. So the division winners that deserve to win are those with the best records. To save all the aggravation of “undeserving” teams winning during the playoffs, eliminate divisions and play top dog from each league…there problem solved.
Oliver…I don’t have issues with a WC team winning either. I just don’t like THREE WC’s in each league. That’s two too many. When the Cardinals won the WS in ’11, there was only 1 WC berth in each league.
I don’t have a problem with 3 wc teams. Best records get a bye so that’s fair. For all the good it did them as only Houston made it to ws. Don’t lose to wc teams there problem solved again.
Oliver…You’re right. I think they should have 2 WC teams from each division. Make it 3… It’ll generate more revenue and MLB can draw some interest from hockey fans…
If MLB expands to 32 they could have four divisions in each league. That would be eight different division winners making the playoffs, which is plenty IMO. But as I said earlier, they will probably go to 16, which makes the 162 game grind mostly useless.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.