For the 11th time: Cardinals

David Freese is the new Jeter.  I hate him!  (kidding — he seems like a good guy)  What a dream post season he had — how is he ever going to top it, or even equal it?  I guess that’s a good problem to have.

I feel bad for the Rangers, and especially for their fans.  What that must have feel like to have victory snatched from them in that way.  I hope the Rangers have a chance to get back to the Series, but I have a feeling this is going to take a lot out of them, and let’s face it– like Verdun said, their pitching is not that good.  Feliz and Ogando alone cost them the Series, but you also have to look at C.J. Wilson.  Terrible job out of him!  He’ll be gone anyway — good riddance.  I hope he goes to the Yankees. 

Chris Carpenter is indeed a great pitcher — tremendous job out of him on short rest.  He seems like a miserable person, though, as does LaRussa.  That’s why I really wanted the Rangers to win.  The Cards have won enough — 11 Series and 18 pennants.  Still, I must give it up to St Louis.  What a pennant race and playoff run they had.

The Cardinals remind me a little of the 2002 Angels, another offensive-minded club  They’re a team full of gamers that played gutty and hard-nosed ball.  The main difference between the two being the Cards won despite their manager, whereas the Angels had a great manager in Mike Scioscia.  

The thing that makes me mad is that LaRussa’s over-managing style has been vindicated and that we will see much more of the same from all too many clubs in ’12.  It’s fun to watch these games in the postseason, but they are death when it comes to a mid-June A’s-Royals matchup.

So now we must say goodbye to that greatest of sports and turn our attention to football.  Here in the Bay Area the fans and media are crazed with the early season success of the 49ers, who at this writing are 6-1.  One of the radio hosts has them finishing at 13-3!  I don’t know about that, but I do know that I am ready for some football! 

Cmon, trainer, get in the mosh pit!

One for the ages

Two words I thought I’d never say are:  Poor Texas. 

Game six of the 2011 World Series was one of the greatest games I have ever seen.  Despite poor fielding, porous pitching, terrible managing, and one of the worst blown saves of all time, it was one of the most compelling and riveting games of all time. 

I watched the game with my middle child, Lee, and by the 10th inning we were both screaming and laughing in disbelief and awe.  How could a team be within one strike of winning their first ever World Series and blow it both times?!  Ranger closer, Neftali Perez has got to close that game!  He had two strikes on Freese before grooving a pitch that was hammered deep to the opposite field.  

When I saw the ball hit off the bat I thought the game was over, but Nelson Cruz, the Texas right fielder, either got a bad jump on the ball, or was afraid of running into the wall. 

For all their incessant yammering about meaningless statistics, Buck and McCarver were mute on whether or not Cruz had a play on the ball.  Their intent is to deliver as bland a broadcast as possible, and on that front they are successful.  Either way…triple and tie game.

Some people have been saying that Ron Washington should have stuck with Perez for the 10th, but I disagree.  I’ve seen enough of him to know that he stinks.  So does Ogando, for that matter.  Perez is one of those guys that compiles saves during the season, but when it comes to money time he wilts.  That’s what made Mariano so great — he was (is)great both during the season, as well as the post season.

LaRussa is an ass.  The Cards are winning despite him, just as the Rangers have made it all the way to game seven despite their inept manager.  Last night LaRussa worked himself into a situation where he had no remaining position players by the ninth inning, and had burned through the bulk of his bullpen.  He was even using multiple starting pitchers as pinch hitters.  He pinch hit Edwin Jackson for Kyle Lohse, who was batting for still another pitcher!  What a tool.  What I wouldn’t have given to see a 20 inning game.  He would have had to have used Carpenter!

I would be shocked if St Louis does not have a big lead in game seven by the middle innings.  It’s hard enough to win a game seven on the road, but to expect the Rangers to recover from a gut wrenching loss when they were inches from the crown…that’s asking a lot. 

I can’t wait to watch!

Cards v Rangers getting great ratings in the East Bay

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but my son and I are tuning in.[Maxwell Smart voice]  And…loving it! 

Game two was actually tied 1-1 for a few minutes in the ninth inning.  I almost got my wish of a long extra inning game — Nick Punto was even in the lineup.  For those of you who didn’t read my prediction a few posts back, I’m waiting for LaRussa to burn through his entire staff during a long extra inning game.  He actually was down to his last position player last night.  He even took Yadier Molina out for a pinch runner.  What a tool.

Finally, on Thursday night, LaRussa’s over-managing caught up with him.  He has his fireballing closer — Jason Motte — on in the 9th throwing seeds and he takes him out for Arthur Rhodes, an aging, journeyman contact pitcher.  You’d think he would have at least gone to Octavio Dotel at that point, but he didn’t, and two sac flies later the Rangers were up for good, 2-1.

Ron Washington is not much better, he’s just more likable.  How the hell do you remove Colby Lewis from that game.  I’m sure his pitch count was well below 100, and even if it wasn’t, Lewis has shown himself to be a big game pitcher.  I would rather have him out there than Alexi Ogando, who is rapidly turning into this year’s version of Byung-Hyun Kim.

My fear is that since LaRussa and Washington have, for the most part, gotten away with their revolving door style of pitcher management, that other major league managers will begin to copy their style next season pushing the average time of game to four hours. 

But enough nitpicking.  This has been an incredible start to the Series and I could not be enjoying it more.  Well…I guess I could if the Mets were up 2-0. 

What happened?  I was delusional.  Now where was I?  Oh yeah…there has been great pitching, stellar defense, and some clutch base stealing as well.  All of this may yet take away some of the sting of having to suffer through Buck and McCarver.