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Mike Shildt showed off his 4-letter playoff vocabulary again, lol, commenting after the game about the 7th-inning extracurriculars. This time, however, it’s okay for the whole family to hear. “Dude” is the word. He coaches a team of dudes who take care of business in the face of hostility. Jeter, ARod, Big Papi and Vasgersian got a kick out of it.
Edit…Uh oh…Jack has to work his mouth on the way to the dugout and ruin the moment by firing up this Padre team. Jack may not ever grow up.
Haha. What goes around, comes around. Jack evidently thinks Manny’s first name is Mother, lol, as he called him that when he told him to go sit down in the dugout. My lip reading skills aren’t great, but did he say his last was Tucker? Anyway, Manny got a 2-out, bases-empty hit in the 8th to precede Merrill’s 2-run HR.
Phils should boo Santa for their pitchers giving anything to Vientos to hit. You know, don’t walk him, but don’t give him anything to hit.
1td, I hope Thomson doesn’t send in Santa Claus to pinch hit later in the game. If he were to strike out, there might be a riot.
Phillie fans are turning on their boys. Booing Castellanos for swinging at pitches in the dirt and Stott for a caught stealing, hahaha!
Looked like the HPU’s expecting a stuffed envelope at the conclusion of this game.
I saw the pitch where Wacha K’d Torres, only to have the ump turn that AB into a BB. I didn’t watch much of the rest of that inning. Did the ump engage in other shenanigans besides that pitch?
As usual, Bill aims too low for his post-mortem purges. This is a gnat on an elephant glute. In the grand scheme of things, the gnats aren’t the problem.
The two NLDS series are kind of juicy, although I’ve never pulled for any of the teams. It won’t hurt me to see any of them lose, but I don’t want to see LAD, PHI, or NYM win. So the edge goes to SD and Shildt for me. Also, don’t be shocked if Edman goes on to win NLCS MVP, lol.
How Schildt’s players interacted with him postgame, caught my eye. That clubhouse looks together.
This is a key that I think gets lost in the proverbial line of “managers make only a couple or few games difference in a season.” That’s probably close from the perspective of lineups, bullpen management, in-game tactics, etc., but not always true from the leadership impact. Getting 26 guys willing to bust a wall down for the team’s goals everyday can have a bigger impact, although of course the talent is a limfac.
On the downside, the negative results of poor leadership have a very low floor. Dissension, apathy, single-mindedness, etc., all hurt performance and can cause win-loss results well below potential. It caught my ears during the last game when the announcers were talking about how Shildt transformed their culture from a disharmonious group of guys, who in some cases didn’t like each other last year, to what we’re seeing this year. He recognized this was his number one issue when he took over and quickly talked to the guys about how to get past it all. Eventually the jelling took place and then the Padres took off. They obviously respect Shildt as their leader.
Of course, some might have philosophical differences about how much of all that should be attributed to Shildt’s role as skipper, hehe.
1td, same here on Hinch. Funny stuff. I think the irony, humor, or whatever you call it, is not lost on a lot of people. I lived in the same town as Hinch when he was a top high school prospect.
Orioles delivered 1 run and 2 extra base hits in 18 innings. If that’s all you can do in 18 playoff innings, then 18 innings is all you get to play.
I’m with willie, I like the Orioles. They became my favorite AL team in the 60s after the Cards became my favorite MLB team. Hopefully, they’ll even things up tomorrow. I like seeing Shildt do well too.
I don’t think Helsley’s value is lower now either, but I think the point some are making is that teams in certain situations might pay a premium at the deadline for the perfectly fitting puzzle piece they’re missing.
Anyway, I think I like keeping Helsley along the lines of having your cake and eating it too. If the team improves next year, you’ve got a top closer all contenders need. If the team craters, you can still trade him at the deadline next year. Nothing’s ever a slam dunk is it? There’s risk with every decision, e.g., injury, meshing needs with a compatible trade partner, etc.
I didn’t get into it much this season, so fortunately I missed most of Goldy’s struggles. He’s what a real throwback pro looks like. He was fun to watch for most of his time in StL.
In the end, Father Time never loses and you never know when he’ll decide to not lose — if that’s what Goldy’s problem has been. Or maybe he has a bounce back left in him.
For those dreaming about free agent spending this winter this should serve as a sobering reminder.
To think about it as anything other than a dream would be something gullible fans do. Most years they don’t do it even when they say they are going to do it, or at best they underwhelm. Then they end up explaining it away with what they think is some fancy talk-around. That’s moving past the dream and into reality, which is sobering. The talk-around has runs its course, which is why so many fans are finding others ways to indulge themselves.