I like to think of Washington’s Jayson Werth as a diamond in the rough. I can see the hotness through his excessive facial hair. Also, that walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th to force Game 5 in the NLDS between the Nationals and the Cardinals didn’t hurt his Designated Hotter odds.
[All photos from Keith Allison.]
» Continue reading “Designated Hotter: Jayson Werth”
Commissioner Bud Selig championed the second Wild Card slot.
MLB officially announced via Twitter that 2012 is the year of expanded playoffs. A second Wild Card slot will be added for the coming postseason. ESPN has more details on the new playoff format.
The arrangement has been in the works since the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and was intended to dovetail with the league realignment. The new slot essentially creates another (very short) playoff round, in which the two Wild Card teams battle for our amusement in a single-game death match. The winner goes on to face the highest-seeded division champion, as is already the case for the Wild Card team.
As far as I can tell, the changes are intended to create more of a drive for teams to win their division, and also to increase late-season interest for teams who, in the past, would not have had a shot at the playoffs. But a single-game elimination seems awfully anticlimactic.
I’m fine with what is, essentially, a crap-shoot of a postseason. If we wanted to award the championship to the team with the best record, we could do so at the end of the regular season. I like that a team can come from behind and luck into a World Series win if all the pieces fall into place.
But baseball is so chance-driven, and so few things are ever decided by a single game, that inserting a Sudden Death Round feels monumentally pointless. It seems antithetical to the nature of the sport, which has always been more of a marathon than a sprint. Still, resistance to change is as traditional in baseball as the seventh-inning stretch, so I expect I’ll learn to appreciate it eventually.
(Probably when the Cubs finally luck into that fifth postseason berth. Hey, a healthy dose of self-interest can cure a lot of ills.)
If the Cards lose tonight, at least he's had plenty of chances to practice his sad face. (image via flickr user senatording)
It can be debated, and should be if you ask me, that the best teams in baseball are not battling it out for the World Series title right now. How often does that ever happen really? Often the teams that survive this time of the year don’t have the most talent, but they usually have the great team chemistry and execute their game plan the best (or the other team plays worse than usual. hello, errors.), or at least that is how Major League Baseball will present it.
The MLB want fans to think that smaller market Cinderella stories have a shot at baseball’s ultimate prize and having their names ingrained in history – because it creates more interest, and by interest, I mean money. MLB launched huge social media and television advertising campaigns that promoted the games with fancy email marketing software, full page ads in magazines and newspapers, and various online contests, polls, and forums. All of that effects revenue, but it isn’t cheap on such a large scale, and comes at a price that hurts the game of baseball itself.
When the MLB added two wild card slots, a lot more fanswere going to games & thinking their team had a shot, which is all well in good, except that the MLB’s other main goal was not as pure: these fans would continue to spend. Yet those wild card teams were obviously not the best that season, and sometimes could not even compare to those at the top. And, now, rumors are the MLB wants to add two more wild card slots at some point in the near future. More teams in the playoffs means more money for the MLB – but also less competition for a berth in a potential 10 team postseason- which is almost insulting to those teams who fought to stay at the top all throughout regular season play.
In the case of the World Series this season, obviously the best team won’t be winning, or even playing – the Milwaukee Brewers were eliminated by St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, as you probably already know if you’ve been following the postseason.
And yes, I will come clean, I’m a huge Brewers fan – but numbers don’t lie. The two teams battling for the title are the Texas Rangers and the Cards. The Cards finished the regular season in second place to the NL Central Division champs, my Brew Crew. Yet, the fact that the Cards even made it to the playoffs to begin with is nothing short of a miracle. Although you may vaguely remember the regular and beginning of the postseason (or wish to forget it), let’s take a little walk down memory lane…
» Continue reading “World Series: Is It About the Best?”
Hint for Cards fans: taunting could be more effective when you learn how to spell the name of the person you're making fun of. (photo via Deadspin)
Sports and controversy go together. Take any single game and you can run down your laptop batteries before you’ve read every story online about the players’ theatrics on or off the field. This Wednesday saw the embarrassing close to yet another controversial sports story, with Cards fans chanting “Nyjer Morgan sucks,” as ESPN did the postgame wrapup of Game 1 of the World Series- between the Cards and the Rangers, neither of which Morgan plays for.
How did this start? Why is Morgan now a name that many discussing the World Series don’t neglect to mention? And when is there a difference between good-natured trash talking and actual disregard for sportsmanship, like the Cards fans showed last night?
To begin this story, we’re going to have to go all the way back to the regular season in September…
» Continue reading “Leave Nyjer Alone!”
Rangers fans! via deadspin.com
A Cardinals fan!
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Stay tuned for our recap on Around The Horn after the game.
David Freese hit the first homer of the night that sent the Cards to the World Series (photo via Flickr user cack_handed)
What started out as a home run derby at Miller Park, with a combined six home runs in the first three innings, ended in joy for the St. Louis Cardinals and disappointment for the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cards won Game 6 of the NLCS, with a score of 12-6, securing their berth in the World Series against the Texas Rangers.
Struggling starting Brewers pitcher Shaun Marcum was no help to Milwaukee for the one inning he pitched. The Cards led from the start, scoring first, and then cementing the lead with a three-run homer from David Freese, making the score 4-0. A home run from Brewers slugger Corey Hart gave the Crew a glimmer of hope and provided a rally point. Cards player Rafael Furcal answered with another homer in the second inning. At the Brewers’ next time up at bat, Rickie Weeks added another run and catcher Jonathan Lucroy hit a two-run double, bringing the score to 5-4. It seemed as if the game was going to come down to the wire for these two talented teams.
But the Cards seemed determined to not take any chances, and Albert Pujols aided his team in bumping up the lead to 9-4 in a home run off of Chris Narveson. The Brewers were only able to score one more run from the Cards’ strong bullpen, and after this it seemed like the home team was falling apart.
» Continue reading “NLCS Game 6: Redbirds Get Their Happiest Flight Yet”
Ryan Braun believes home is where the heart -and wins- are. (photo via Flickr user eytonz)
“All we have to do is find a way to have a two game winning streak at home, which we’ve done plenty of times,” Ryan Braun said in a postgame interview following the Brewers 7-1 loss to the Cardinals last night, putting the Cards ahead in the NLCS series at 3-2. Strong words coming after a game filled with player errors and blown chances to capitalize at bat with players in scoring position.
Yet players, staff, and fans alike (including me) have unwavering faith that, even after a game marred with error against a rival team filled with talent, winning two games at Miller Park is not as daunting of a challenge as it may seem. ”I have a lot of confidence in our guys, they’re confident at home, we can win two ballgames at home,” manager Ron Roenicke said.
Yes, it’s a known fact that every team in baseball, or any sport for that matter, generally plays best on their home turf. However, Miller Park seems to have provided a special setting for the Brewers, in both regular and postseason games. During the regular season, the Brew Crew won 57 games at home, which was the best home record in MLB for the season. In the postseason, the Brewers have been 4-1 at home and 1-4 on the road. Now that it’s come down to all or nothing for the Brewers, the Crew is going to have to clean up their game from costly errors, focus on getting past the Cards’ bullpen, boost team morale, and pep up their early innings play.
Miller Park is the perfect environment for them to do just that – both the facts and the fans are solid evidence that not only will the Brewers have a Game 7 in the NLCS, but they will also soon have a Game 1- of the World Series.
» Continue reading “Brewers Believe in Miller Park Magic”
Redemption comes from unexpected places. For example, Brewers pitcher & tonight's hero, Randy Wolf. (photo from Flickr user Steve Paluch)
Tonight, the Brewers ended a postseason road game losing streak with their 4-2 win over the Cardinals – the Brew Crew’s first road postseason win since 1982.
“Overall, we played a really good game,” Roenicke said in a postgame interview. Talk about an understatement.
Even the rally squirrel didn’t show his face at Busch Stadium. Any doubts regarding the Brewers’ ability to handle Pujols and the Cards were dismissed inning after inning by the Brew Crew.
With a slow start that was almost reminiscent of the previous game, the Brewers quickly managed to bail themselves out from a sloppy mistake, get on the board by scoring hard-earned runs, and impress both offensively and defensively to secure the win - as well as guaranteeing them a chance to return to Miller Park for Game 6.
What made tonight so different than the last two games? It seemed as if the Brewers had more going against them than for them- an away game that was after two losses hardly seems like a morale booster. Any team, no matter how talented, may have low morale, and would have allowed the self-doubt be evident in their game. But even anyone who has seen only a few regular season games this year knows that the Brewers are not just any team.
Yet, wanting to win is not enough. So what was it that allowed the Brewers to hold off the Cards from scoring for the last five innings of the game as well as surpass a 2-0 lead by two runs after not scoring in the first three innings?
The better question is: Who made a difference tonight? Several key players brought elements to the game that together created a winning combination, literally.
» Continue reading “Brewing Elements Of A Win”
Kotsay probably won't be winning any popularity contests today. (photo by Flickr user julie.dolak)
After last night’s game, the Brewers needed dedicated fans to restore their morale, shots of whiskey to restore their pride and washers to restore their uniforms. And, most importantly, a reevaluation of the mistakes that should not have been, so that they will never make them again.
Game 3 between the Brewers and the Cardinals ended in a 4-3 loss for the Brewers, the Brew Crew Nation, and my heart. Hopefully the Brewers can learn from their mistakes and sloppiness and secure a win tonight in Game 4. After some reflection (and recovering from last night’s hangover), here’s the good, bad, and ugly of the Brewers in last night’s game.
Top Brewers Plays
The game wasn’t without its shining Milwaukee moments. The best plays also remind us what the Brewers are capable of doing. Here are the plays where the Brewers looked the sharpest:
Kotsay’s home run put the Brewers within one run of the Cards. Even though they weren’t able to capitalize on the home run, it still shows a great rallying point. It doesn’t completely make up for his other blunders (see below), but it helped make the loss less embarrassing (no one wants to relive Monday’s game).
Gallardo himself admits the five innings he pitched weren’t his greatest: “Overall, my command wasn’t where its been the last couple of starts,” Gallardo said. However, although he had a rough start, Gallardo was able to keep the Cards from scoring more runs in a difficult fourth inning. With Chris Carpenter and Rafael Furcal on base, Gallardo was able to ground Jay into a double play. For the final out of the inning, Gallardo struck out Matt Holliday with a fastball after six pitches. Was the pitching pretty? No. But Gallardo definitely can be credited with helping put a lid on the Cards’ lead.
» Continue reading “Brewers NLCS Game 3 Hits and Misses”
Rangers show their swag and stick it out to win Game 4. Photo from flickr user Rich Anderson.
After a rain delay of over two hours (two hours and thirteen minutes to be exact), Rick Porcello and the Detroit Tigers were ready to get right down to business. Three batters up, three batters down was the song he was singing, thanks to Motown defensive skills, and the young ace’s strikeout of Elvis Andrus. I imagined him pushing a big red “easy” button as he walked off the field, but of course, it was too soon to make such judgements.
Alternatively, the Rangers were marching to a different beat in their first inning. Matt Harrison walked the first batter for the Tigers, Austin Jackson, when he threw four straight balls after he set up two strikes. Luckily, the Rangers had defensive backup in the infield to execute a double play before Harrison tossed his second walk, Miguel Cabrera.
Porcello pulled off his second strikeout to none other than Adrian Beltre, and finished off the top second inning with another K, his third of the night, to Rangers catcher Mike Napoli. Did you blink? You probably missed this inning.
The rain started to soak Porcello’s shoulders in the top of the third. Remember how the weatherman said we should have four hours of dry weather? That “dry window” they spoke of? Where did it go?
Porcello’s jersey might have been dampened by the rain, but his arm was certainly still on fire. The young guy tossed another strikeout. Then he went cold when he gave up a double to David Murphy, the first Texas runner of the evening. It was just a brief hiccup though, as Porcello threw his fifth strikeout to Yorvit Torrealba, and Ian Kinsler’s groundout the third inning continued the game with nothing but eggs on the scoreboard.
Detroit scored a run as Brandon Inge singled to right field. Ryan Raburn singled to second, and next Miguel Cabrera took his bat. And he whacked. Not quite a home run, but hey, he got two runners to score, and made it to second. The Tigers took the lead 2-0.
Delmon Young caught a rocket that Josh Hamilton shot back at the warning track, and Porcello, wait for it, struck out Michael Young for number six.
» Continue reading “ALCS Game 4: Rangers Make It Rain In Detroit”
