I'll get the barbeque ready.
DOWNDATE: I don't know where Fox got the picture of the lunar eclipse but the cloud cover here in St. Louis was so thick you couldn't see a star, much less the moon.
I have an idea that will make a fortune. I'll invent a batting glove that doesn't have to be readjusted after every pitch, especially the pitches where the bat never leads the batters shoulder.
Summary: I predicted to friends here two months ago that the Cardinals pitching was going to be a problem in the post-season. Their 1-2 starters (Williams, Morris) turned out to be their 4-5 starters. Three guys new to the team (Carpenter, Marquis, Suppan) all had career years and most had trouble in the past lasting a full season. Morris was the only power pitcher the Cardinals had and he was far too erratic to count on. Did you know they brought Rick Ankiel up in September, remember him? They lost Carpenter before the playoffs, Kline got injured leaving them with only one left-hander in the bullpen, and Tavares stupidly broke his non-throwing hand, though it didn't seem to affect him too much. The Cardinals had a good bullpen and a great defense, but their starting pitching cost them dearly, as did the dead zone in the middle of the order. Pujols hit for average but not power, Rolen had no hits in the entire series, Edmonds had a bunt single for the entire series. I think LaRussa made a number of errors, but the series sweep was so complete that isn't anyone's fault -- this was a team effort. Between the remarkably poor pitching (all those walks and hit batsmen), the terrible hitting, the bizarre baserunning mistakes, and LaRussa's mismanagement, the Red Sox thoroughly dominated the Cardinals, never trailing in the whole series. Kind of a shock for a team that was so used to being dominant for most of the year.
One of the guys that works for me was at the game tonight. He also attended the World Series here in 1964, 1967, 1968 and 1985. Yeah, I'm jealous. But as we say in Chicago, there's always next year.
Oh, and Tim McCarver still sucks as a baseball announcer.
Holy Crap!! What are the sports writers gonna talk about next year. No curse! They're gonna have to THINK instead of recycling cliches.
What will the sports writer talk about next year? Well to paraphrase what Chuck said, there's always the Cubs.
The morning sports talk dude here is from Boston and he's a huge Red Sox fan. He is basically forgoing any semblence of professionalism and having on on-air orgasm for his show. Can't really blame him, though.
Posted by: Jon at 09:10 AMThat was brutal, and it was over so fast. Horribly anti-climactic after the great LCSes. LaRussa had the 1000-yard stare on the post-game interview, and I think I detected hu-man emotions, too.
McCarver is the master of saying something very smart and inside-baseball, and then 30 seconds later, saying something totally & stupidly contradictory that makes you want to mute the rest of the game.
For all the good feelings generated by the Sox win, the proof in the pudding comes in 05 when Boy Genius Epstein has to figure out what to do with all those free agents. I'm just not that impressed by a so-called Moneyball GM when he has such a ridiculous payroll.
Posted by: Scott Chaffin at 09:43 AMIt's tough for a Cubs fan to root for the Redbirds, so it was OK to see the Red Sox clobber them. I suppose if you're living in enemy territory then you need to adapt ...
The way the Cards folded slightly reminded me of the Cub's fold at the end of the regular season. Instead of poor starting pitching, the Cubs bullpen stunk it up. Otherwise, weak bats, poor defense, bad baserunning and mismanagement were all in place. At least you got to admire a lunar eclipse - it was too cloudy here in NC for viewing it.
Posted by: MarcV at 02:20 PM