2009 Division Series games

[logan82]

Interesting that the Twins who "play the game the right way" are 3rd from the bottom in UZR this year and worst in UZR/150. About the middle of the league in SB also. I bet the lead in grittiness though.

[TooLiveBrew]

On Punto, I really thought his 3B coach hung him out to dry. If you watched the replays, the coach was like 3/4 of the way to home plate, and only threw the stop sign up (pretty low/discrete sign, to boot) at the very last minute. I even thought he gave the sign well after Jeter had gloved the ball back up the middle, but I'd have to watch the replay again to be sure/sure-ish.

[wibadgers23]

Watching the Rockies-Phillies game tonight is making me crave for another Brewers postseason appearance. What an atmosphere in Denver. Looks like a game 5 tomorrow night.

[hawing]

Watching the Rockies-Phillies game tonight is making me crave for another Brewers postseason appearance. What an atmosphere in Denver. Looks like a game 5 tomorrow night.

Maybe. I don't know about you guys, but I look at Huston Street and see the guy who gave up a dinger to Jason Kendall two weeks ago. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

You're right about the postseason excitement, though.

[TooLiveBrew]

How on earth you let a struggling Street face Howard with the tying runs on base is just so far beyond me. Horrible, horrible, horrible managing by Tracy. And just last game Joe Simpson (iirc) was praising Tracy for managing the bullpen well by having "roles" for his pitchers (a la Ned Yost). Whoops. Looks like playing the matchups might be a better idea.

[hawing]

Well, that was brutal if you root for the Rockies. This postseason has been chock full of brutality, hasn't it?

[Vgmastr]

Well, that was brutal if you root for the Rockies. This postseason has been chock full of brutality, hasn't it?

Boy, you aren't kidding. In all four division series, the eliminated team lost a game by blowing a 9th inning lead. We've seen some amazing comebacks so far.

[pretendastronaut]

That was a fast, but entertaining first round. Now I have a few days to stew about the MLB playoffs being slaves to a the broadcast schedule, with no baseball for a few days.

[owbc]

You have to give credit to all of the division series winners for taking care of business on the road. It sure looked like all the superior teams won--no wild card winners advancing this year.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yeah, I agree, Weatherman. I like to see the top dogs advance & square off for the LCS-es. Both should be awesome series-eseses this year. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Polish Falcons]

What was up with closing pitchers in these division series'? By my count, the closers for the four losing teams combined save opportunity rate was 1 for 6. Street blew two of three save opportunities, otherwise the Rockies might be in the NLCS now. Nathan, Papelbon and Franklin all blew their only save opportunity. The only time their team was up in the 9th inning these guys couldn't close the door even after recording two outs and having two run leads. I know Holliday dropped out number 3 but in addition to that Franklin gave up two walks and two hits with two outs to blow the lead and the game and looked aweful. Papelbon looked completely terrible. Nathan might've been tired after pitching more than normal in the play-in, etc and you have to give credit to ARod for his clutch HR. In the end it amounts to a not very exciting first round of the playoffs with 3 sweeps and 1 four game series, and must be disappointing for fans of these teams.

[pretendastronaut]

If you're not a fan of one of the teams involved, I don't understand how you find all of that 9th inning drama and heroics to make a "not very exciting first round"? If all of the series were that short lived and didn't contain the 9th inning rallies, then I'd understand, but every single series had a 9th inning rally, which is pretty amazing for such a short span of games.

[Polish Falcons]

I see your point. I guess it was a poor choice of words because you're right, those games were pretty exciting. I guess I was thinking more in terms of the suspensful game 5. We got 3 sweeps and a 4 game series. To me that's kind of dissapointing because I would've liked to have seen the Rockies, Red Sox and Twins win, or at least pull out some wins. Even in games where it seemed those teams played better they still couldn't pull out a win because of failure to close the door in the 9th.