Post Season discussion (beyond the Brewers)

[Patrick425]

I have been kind of surprised that there has not been any thread set up as a general discussion regarding the playoffs (If there is one and I missed it, feel free to merge). Maybe people are so depressed that the Brewers got knocked out early, that they are not following it. If so, it's too bad, because there have been some really good games.

 

I have really enjoyed watching the Philly/LA series. Most of the games thus far have been exciting and everything that you would want in a postseason competition. The Saturday Boston/TB game was incredible.

 

With the Brewers being in the NL and the fact that I participate in an NL only fantasy league, I don't usually follow the AL too closely. The more I watch TB, the more impressed I am with them and it's scary how long they could be competitive (although they will always have to compete against the NY and BOS payrolls). They have a great mixture of speed and power. They are young and seem to show very little signs of postseason pressure. If I'm not mistaken, I think they made their first error in the postseason in last night's game. I really hope the fans in the TB area start to realize what they have and that ticket sales go up next year, because this team is too exciting to be playing in front of a more than half empty stadium every night.

[BrewCrewRising]

Tampa has been incredible to watch. I'm kind of annoyed with how they went from worst to first since it means that they got to stockpile all those high draft picks right before they exploded onto the state of baseball excellence. I guess I'm just jealous that they can do so much with a small market, low payroll team while the Crew has scratched and clawed its way to a wild card and got knocked out of the first round. (I'm also jealous that they did something with Balfour and we didn't). I'm rooting for them over Boston.

 

I've been enjoying Philly/LA because I have no clear favorite there. Part of me would like to see the Dodgers go to the WS while the Yankees enjoy some nice October golf. The Yankee brass then has to wonder if they were a little harsh letting Torre go. I'm not a huge Philly fan, but they've done their time suffering and it would be nice to have gotten knocked out by the champions. I just really dislike some of their players (Myers and Werth mainly. Myers for the wife beating and Werth...nothing rational of my dislike there.)

 

 

edited out long quote--pitchleague

[hawing]

Well, there's no reason we can't have a discussion right here. I'm guessing that the Brewers' elimination made a dent in the general desire to have something like IGTs for the remaining postseason games.

 

I'm still hoping for a Rays-Phillies World Series, mainly to confound the media (no LA, no Boston, no Manny? Whatever shall we report on?). We visited Boston this past April and I was rather turned off by all the Red Sox adoration, so watching them falter at home these last couple of ALCS games has given me a bit of grim satisfaction.

 

When the ALCS was in Florida, I would have liked to poll the Rays-gear-wearing fans throughout Tropicana Field and ask them, "how many regular season games did you go to?" I'd just be curious to know.

[rm121978]

When the ALCS was in Florida, I would have liked to poll the Rays-gear-wearing fans throughout Tropicana Field and ask them, "how many regular season games did you go to?" I'd just be curious to know.

The fact that they still appear to be tarping off thousands of seats due to not enough sales makes me laugh. They say they'll remove the tarps for the WS as they expect ticket sales to be high enough to have at least part of those seats occupied.

[jjfanec]

I was listening to Mike Tirico this morning and he was talking about how cheap tickets were for the Dodgers game tonight. I just looked on StubHub and there are a lot of tickets for under $20 for tonight's game. There are some for as little as $7. I know it is a big stadium holding up to 56,000 but I found that sad.

[MJLiverock]

I couldn't believe how many empty seats there were in my section of Miller Park for the Sunday (game 4). I know some people may have been elsewhere in the stadium but these were in the club level right at third base so not too bad. My wife and I had the 2nd and 3rd seats from the aisle, the first seat was empty the entire game. The two seats in front of us were empty the entire game and a couple rows down which was the first row also had seats sit empty the entire game. I just found it odd that no one ever came and used the seats even for an inning.

 

 

Anyway on the remaining teams I hope for a Tampa/L.A. World Series. I like a lot of the Dodger players, Kemp, Ethier, Martin, Billingsley, Nomar, and yes Manny. I love watching Manny play and how he drives people like Tim McCarver nuts. Seeing Manny in the World Series and no Red Sox would make me very happy. I just don't think they can pull it out over the Phillies who seem to get a timely HR at will. I can't stand hearing the fawning over their lineup and pitching. Other than Hamels/Lidge I don't think their pitching is anything special. For all the acclaim of the lineup I wasn't that impressed in the Brewer series since they didn't really outhit the pathetic offense the Brewers put on the field until Sunday but as a whole Howard, Rollins, Utley haven't done much.

[tristarscoop]

The best part of watching the Rays has been to see guys I have no name recognition on just lighting up teams like Boston. I'm a pretty hardcore follower, so usually just between highlights and ticker crawls, you become familiar with who's where on teams you don't normally come across, but seriously, who's Luis Aybar? It's great to see teams and guys like that take Boston down a peg or two.

[alorrigan]

It's Willy Aybar. He was a pretty big prospect with the Braves if I recall correctly and had some personal issues (drunk driving maybe) so they traded him. This isn't really a Rays team full of no names. The pitching yes, but offensively it seems to be a bunch of guys who have finally figured it out. Between Carlos Pena, Willy Aybar, Eric Hinske, Dionar Navarro, and Jason Bartlett they have a lot of other teams failed prospects that have gotten really good in Tampa.

[jhart05]

"Vintage Maddux"

 

Definition: Getting pitches called strikes that no other pitcher gets.

[BrewCrewForever]

Besides the 4 games I got to watch the Brewers play. I have most enjoyed watching every Rays game I have been able to. It's very fun to watch guys like Upton, Longoria and Crawford hit. If they can hold onto Shields, Kazmir and Garza they have something special in their starting roation for years to come.

 

Did anyone else see Edwin Jackson last night? I had no idea he threw that hard. I heard he might be on the trade market this winter. Hmmm. Needs to work on control a bit but still very young and has electric stuff.

[BrewCrewForever]

Does anyone have a clue the reasoning behind Manny wearing a mouth piece when he bats?

[Patrick425]

Does anyone have a clue the reasoning behind Manny wearing a mouth piece when he bats?

I think it's red and blue. I was wondering the same thing myself. Actually, I was wondering if it was a mouthpiece at all, since he doesn't really seem to "wear" it. He just flips it around in his mouth more than anything.

[TheCrew07]

I have an affinity for the Rays pitching depth, so they've been a favorite of mine for a long time, not to mention they compete directly with my 2 least favorite teams in the AL. Sort of like in football how whomever is playing Minnesota is my second favorite team...

[gypcasino]

I guess I'm just jealous that they can do so much with a small market, low payroll team while the Crew has scratched and clawed its way to a wild card and got knocked out of the first round. (I'm also jealous that they did something with Balfour and we didn't).

This has been eating at me too. We went "all in" yet only ended up winning one game in the NLDS. Tampa Bay has been in the league for ten minutes, has a payroll of 15 cents, suffered major injuries, yet here they sit one win away from the World Series. I'm not saying it's rational but it makes me mad. I'm fine with them winning it all but the whole thing still sucks.

[bullox]

I'm fine with them winning it all but the whole thing still sucks.

Look at it this way - it's going to make the time that the Brewers do win it all that much better.

[owbc]

It looks like it's going to be the first time in ages that the two most complete teams face each other in the World Series. I'm really looking forward to it. I expect it to go to 6 or 7 games and have some dramatic endings.

[Baldkin]

I'm just so happy its not Boston vs LA.

 

I wouldn't have even watched.

 

Here's an imaginary game 1 recap:

 

Manny Mannied Manny with two Mannies on and Manny Mannied to Manny with a walk.

[SeriesFinale]

Although I'd have preferred seeing the Dodgers make it, the Phillies won the NLCS in pretty impressive fashion and I've gotta give them credit. They buzzsawed a buzzsaw.

 

I'm really happy for the Rays organization and the tiny band of die-hard fans though (provided they can close it out)...guys like Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli and Dick Vitale and even Vince Naimoli and Chuck LaMar. Like I've mentioned here before, I grew up down in Sarasota as a Brewers' fan prior to the Rays' existence and I've always closely followed them and attended many, many games when I moved back to St. Pete after college for a couple years. I do think it's pretty funny watching that bandwagon fill on up after ten years of rock-bottom failure--I guarantee you that, even after having not lived in Florida since 2000, I've attended more Rays' games than 50% of any playoff crowd they've had so far.

 

I'm also happy for Gabe Gross and Grant Balfour (who went from despised "BallFour" here to being popular enough to be given his own warmup song--Midnight Oil's "King of the Mountain" and intro graphics at the Trop).

 

Given the makeups and young talent of the two teams, this really should be an entertaining, tight World Series (if the Rays make it). Then again, I also thought the LA-Philadelphia series was going to be tight, too.

 

Here's to Kevin Stocker's Revenge!

[tristarscoop]

It's Willy Aybar. He was a pretty big prospect with the Braves if I recall correctly and had some personal issues (drunk driving maybe) so they traded him. This isn't really a Rays team full of no names. The pitching yes, but offensively it seems to be a bunch of guys who have finally figured it out. Between Carlos Pena, Willy Aybar, Eric Hinske, Dionar Navarro, and Jason Bartlett they have a lot of other teams failed prospects that have gotten really good in Tampa.

I didn't say they were no-names, I said I had no name recognition on them. Cleary - I couldn't even get Aybar's name right.

[danzig6767]

I'm not a fan of AL baseball and thus don't watch much or follow it that closely. This Tampa/Boston series though i'm enjoying very much on two fronts. I hate the Red Sox big time and love seeing this Tampa team play, hopefully the Rays can finish off Boston on the Sox home field.

 

As i type, the Rays put in the dagger, Upton with another huge hit and it's now 7-0 in the 7th, i love it!! Man the Rays have flat out dominated the Red Sox in this series.

[hawing]

Ohhh, not the best time for Grant Balfour to regress to the (small-sample) Grant Balfour of Milwaukee.

 

And am I just grouchy about Boston, or was the TBS crew practically rejoicing after that big home run?

[TheCrew07]

As i type, the Rays put in the dagger, Upton with another huge hit and it's now 7-0 in the 7th, i love it!! Man the Rays have flat out dominated the Red Sox in this series.

Jinx!

[pitchleague]

which one? The Ortiz blast or the Drew homer? They were BOTH either way biased calls or just going with the crowd energy. My hope is #2.

 

Figures that the Sox will make things interesting and now everyone will be saying that the Sox have all the momentum, all the energy, and will definitely win the series, etc. etc. I was so nice hearing Fenway Park be so quiet.

 

I still think this would have all been avoided had Gabe Gross not pulled up on that Pedroia RBI hit in the 7th. On the fairly catchable ball, he held up and played the ball safe (in a 7-0 game, of course, so it made sense) and let the ball drop where if he took another step and a slide would easily have made the catch to end the inning. Seriously, Gross took 2-3 pitter-patter steps to prepare for the crow-hop and throw to third on the play when he could have made a pretty darn good effort to make the catch and keep the game at 7-0.

[hawing]

I wondered about that play by Gross, too, though (like pitchleague) I could see where he was coming from, playing safe to allow "just" the one run.

 

My earlier comment was about the Ortiz blast. We turned off the TV a while ago, so I've missed the recent fawning.

Earlier tonight, Chip & Co. were listing the reasons why this just wasn't the same Boston team as earlier in the season, and it sounded to both me and the S.O. like they were making excuses.

 

I suppose the TBS guys might like at least one more game to call (and FOX would surely rather broadcast a WS that has Red Sox Nation tuning in), but I'm finding myself very tempted to say "Boston bias" more than "crowd energy."

[owbc]

Forget all the junk that the announcers/commentators/Sox nation are spitting at us. The Boston Red Sox simply refuse to lose. They weren't the most talented team last year and they certainly aren't this year. This series was over, and as soon as the odds were about as stacked against them as they could get, the Red Sox found a way to do it.

 

All the pressure is on Tampa Bay heading back to the Trop. If the Red Sox get an early lead in game 6, this series is over.