Looking more and more like White Sox/Astros next weekend...
Congrats to the White Sox. The whole Game 2 thing was unfortunate. But having lived through something like that, you just accept your gift and move forward. And how can you complain about Game 2 when you get so utterly dominated in Games 3, 4 and 5??? Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a postseason rotation! Who can root against a team that doesn't even need its above-average bullpen? I admit to being roughly 800% wrong about the White Sox' starters, having been unimpressed with them all year long. I am a HUGE Jose Contreras fan, by the way... after realizing that every complete game playoff win must be a serated dagger twisting through the hearts of Yankee fans everywhere. Hehehe. But on a less selfish note, I am glad that an odds-on favorite has now emerged. Pitching and defense, folks...
As for the NL, you gotta love the Astros right now. Game 4 was extremely ugly, but I blame Tony La Russa. He knows better. I have no idea why an allegedly superior manager would pull a nutter like that. It just sets a bad example for your players... and wouldn't you know it, Jim Edmonds pulled a nutter himself and got himself tossed in the middle of an at-bat. Granted, Phil Cuzzi should be banned from the next five playoffs for his handling of the Jim Edmonds situation. There's absolutely no excuse for running a guy so promptly; any ump who can't put the players' anger in context doesn't deserve to work in the playoffs. Major kudos to Tim McClelland for trying to keep the game in hand (like he's supposed to) instead of satisfying his inescurities. Further proof that McClelland is the best umpire in baseball, and has been for a long time. Why the umpires can't model themselves after him, as opposed to a hotheaded dipshit like John Hirschbeck, is beyond me. Sandy Alderson should make Cuzzi watch game film of McClelland in a Clockwork Orange chair.
I don't think the Cards are entirely dead, but their only chance at this point is to outslug Houston. St. Louis' rotation has shown its true colors this week... and they're all shades of brown! As good as Chris Carpenter may be, he's not shutting anyone down right now, not even San Diego. Mark Mulder has never been a dominator. And I think we've seen the best from Matt Morris and Jeff Suppan. Since they don't have a money pitcher, it would take a monumental Houston collapse for them to win without scoring runs. I don't know if it's documented here, but I've been questioning this rotation all season, primarily because of their Emperor's New Clothes-type meltdown last fall. Each of their pitchers is beatable. No guts. On the flip side, I've watched Andy Pettitte long enough to know what he does in games like this. He wins them. Doesn't matter what kind of season he had... he could post a 6.00 ERA in the regular season, but go through the whole postseason without allowing a run. He's the white El Duque. Gotta respect that. And you gotta think that between Pettitte, Oswalt and Clemens, one of those guys can beat the imploding Cardinals. Hopefully this thing goes the full seven games, but I'm not seeing it.
In closing, F the Broncos. In fact, F 'em with a capital F... sideways. And make sure that capital F is big enough to really hurt.
Congrats to the White Sox. The whole Game 2 thing was unfortunate. But having lived through something like that, you just accept your gift and move forward. And how can you complain about Game 2 when you get so utterly dominated in Games 3, 4 and 5??? Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a postseason rotation! Who can root against a team that doesn't even need its above-average bullpen? I admit to being roughly 800% wrong about the White Sox' starters, having been unimpressed with them all year long. I am a HUGE Jose Contreras fan, by the way... after realizing that every complete game playoff win must be a serated dagger twisting through the hearts of Yankee fans everywhere. Hehehe. But on a less selfish note, I am glad that an odds-on favorite has now emerged. Pitching and defense, folks...
As for the NL, you gotta love the Astros right now. Game 4 was extremely ugly, but I blame Tony La Russa. He knows better. I have no idea why an allegedly superior manager would pull a nutter like that. It just sets a bad example for your players... and wouldn't you know it, Jim Edmonds pulled a nutter himself and got himself tossed in the middle of an at-bat. Granted, Phil Cuzzi should be banned from the next five playoffs for his handling of the Jim Edmonds situation. There's absolutely no excuse for running a guy so promptly; any ump who can't put the players' anger in context doesn't deserve to work in the playoffs. Major kudos to Tim McClelland for trying to keep the game in hand (like he's supposed to) instead of satisfying his inescurities. Further proof that McClelland is the best umpire in baseball, and has been for a long time. Why the umpires can't model themselves after him, as opposed to a hotheaded dipshit like John Hirschbeck, is beyond me. Sandy Alderson should make Cuzzi watch game film of McClelland in a Clockwork Orange chair.
I don't think the Cards are entirely dead, but their only chance at this point is to outslug Houston. St. Louis' rotation has shown its true colors this week... and they're all shades of brown! As good as Chris Carpenter may be, he's not shutting anyone down right now, not even San Diego. Mark Mulder has never been a dominator. And I think we've seen the best from Matt Morris and Jeff Suppan. Since they don't have a money pitcher, it would take a monumental Houston collapse for them to win without scoring runs. I don't know if it's documented here, but I've been questioning this rotation all season, primarily because of their Emperor's New Clothes-type meltdown last fall. Each of their pitchers is beatable. No guts. On the flip side, I've watched Andy Pettitte long enough to know what he does in games like this. He wins them. Doesn't matter what kind of season he had... he could post a 6.00 ERA in the regular season, but go through the whole postseason without allowing a run. He's the white El Duque. Gotta respect that. And you gotta think that between Pettitte, Oswalt and Clemens, one of those guys can beat the imploding Cardinals. Hopefully this thing goes the full seven games, but I'm not seeing it.
In closing, F the Broncos. In fact, F 'em with a capital F... sideways. And make sure that capital F is big enough to really hurt.
posted by Jeff at
12:34 AM
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