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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Get the Los Angeles Dodgers™ logo on your checks, Check Card, and statements…time is running out!
Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs launched two-run homers in the eighth inning Monday night to power the Phillies to a crushing 7-5 comeback win over the Dodgers and a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
Victorino, the former Dodgers farmhand, homered off Cory Wade, and Stairs’ pinch-hit blast came off Jonathan Broxton. The Dodgers took a 5-3 lead into that inning after scoring twice in the sixth inning on Casey Blake’s home run and a run-scoring throwing error by Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard.
Dodgers starter Derek Lowe, pitching on three days’ rest, spotted Philadelphia a 2-0 first-inning lead. The Dodgers responded with a run in the bottom of the first inning off Joe Blanton, Rafael Furcal’s slap-bunt single cashed in by James Loney’s RBI double.
Repoz
Posted: October 14, 2008 at 04:43 AM | 61 comment(s)
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1. Crispix Attacks Posted: October 14, 2008 at 04:48 AM (#2981337)1. Matt Stairs is a mammal
2. Brad Lidge shuts down offenses ALL the time
3. The purpose of Shane Victorino is to flip out and kill people
Haven't read the recap, but I imagine that at one point, Joe Torre rediscovered his old magic gift for bullpen management...
You nailed it - this is in his all time top 5.
Pedro Feliz
So Taguchi (2x)
Eric Bruntlett (0 PAs!)
Brad Lidge
Cliff Floyd (2 PAs!)
Eric Hinske (1 PA!)
Dan Wheeler
A utility IF from a losing team, a pinch hit specialist that was in two series, a closer and his setup man from a team that got swept, a utility infielder who never really played, and two fifth outfielders who never really played. I hope grandma is ready to learn some new names.
The same question was posed in an ALCS thread. The networks are the drivers.
Anyway, there are probably some employees at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro who are Phillies fans because they live in Bucks County where the housing is cheaper.
My apologies for being an AL guy and thus largely ignorant of the senior circuit outside of Philly (since that is the hometown team)...
Ugh, the bullpen use was pretty bad too. Why was Kershaw pitching the 6th with a one-run lead. Actually why was Lowe pulled, I mean 74 pitches through 5 WTF? So you replace the starter who's cruising with a low pitch count with a 20 year old rookie in a one-run game. This game was both argle-bargle and foofarah.
Scott Eyre was on the '02 Giants. Also Troy Percival, though I suppose you omitted him for injury.
We all know, though, from his NYY history, that that's what Torre does. If Scott Proctor was healthy at all, he would have been the man, and been inserted in exactly the same situation. From what I have seen of Wade this year, he certainly could have gotten thru one scoreless inning -- just as Proctor/Nelson/Stanton/Farnsworth/Karsay/et al used to do in New York. And then Broxton would have pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, and ballgame.
It was just luck that he didn't have it tonight. And then Torre argle-bargled and put in a closer who wasn't Mariano, and there you go. Torre's mystique and aura are maintained, while his ballplayers have let him down.
"My whole career, even back in the early days, my approach was try to hit the ball out of the ballpark," he said. "And it's something I enjoyed doing. In batting practice, I try to hit every ball out of the ballpark. I'm not going to lie, it's fun. I try to hit home runs and that's it. I'm not going to hit a single and steal second base. So I think the biggest thing is to get up there, swing hard and elevate."
Can't find any A/V of the "pounded" quote. Probably a good reason for that.
Anyway, it's tough to fault Torre for bringing in Wade there. He did get Burrell out, and the pitch to Vic was a good one (maybe not the best place to pitch Victorino, but the pitch itself was executed well). I don't think there are many managers in baseball who would have left a lefthander in to face Burrell as the tying run.
The real mistake was burning through all the lefties early in the game.
No matter which of the four teams wins the WS, at least one player on that team will be winning his second (at least) ring.
Trivia time: Which were the last two teams to win the WS which consisted only of players who had never won the WS before?
Random-ass guess for the other: '85 Royals
Devon White, '92-'93 Jays
Random-ass guess for the other: '85 Royals
Skates, '80 Phils and '82 Cardinals (and then went on to lose with the '91 Braves -- how come I never read about he just "knew how to win"?)
Good guesses in that both were young, unheralded teams, but no. Those clutchy veteran goodness presences lurk everywhere.
Because you weren't reading? There was plenty of "Good teams follow him around" type stories in the early 90's.
Alejandro Pena, '88 Dodgers.
2002 Angels had Clay Bellinger (1 AB during the season) and Dennis Cook (24 IP), but no one who actually played for them in the series had a previous ring.
The parameters of the question have to be defined. Are we looking for a team which never once during the season had a player who had once been on the roster of a team which won the WS? Like Team A had a player B who had one AB in May, and Player B also had one AB in May 5 years ago for Team C which then won the WS, thus team A is not the answer.
Or is it more liberal like my answer in #27?
1903 Boston Americans?
The ambiguity you describe spoils the question a little. This wasn't one of the two teams I had in mind, but you do have a case.
Of course everyone has worked out that Craig Counsell from the '97 Marlins was the spoiler for the '01 D-Backs.
Seriously.
of course, Mr. Marlin. Shoulda known.
So close ....
who on the 2003 Marlins had won a WS before?
Andy Fox and (stretching things) Gerald Williams.
Edit: what #35 said.
Devon White, '92-'93 Jays
Al Leiter was also on the '93 Jays
Bingo!
Not too many years before that was the other team I had in mind.
Now we know why Vaux wants the Phillies to lose. Rank homophobia!
'64 Cards?
Dick Groat, '60 Pirates.
Edit: once again, too slow. Yes, '55 Dodgers is the other team.
Try searching for Don Zimmer and Beano Cook Nazi-porn if you really want to be turned on.
of course their manager had a boatload as a player
TRY FACT-CHECKING ONCE IN A WHILE YOU GOONS
(I also like that Alex Rios was apparently caught stealing second against the same batter/pitcher, one inning earlier. How exactly did Stairs accomplish that?)
Maybe he was just proclaiming that he's done it for the last time, what with singles and stolen bases being for pussies.
Maybe he was just proclaiming that he's done it for the last time, what with singles and stolen bases being for pussies.
"...but when you get that nice celebration coming into the dugout and you're getting your ass hammered by guys, it's no better feeling than to have that done."
This happens to everyone - no one gets excited to get to second base after they've hit the home run.
As for Torre's bullpen usage, admittedly I wasn't watching the game that closely, but one thing I noticed is that he pulled Lowe early and then proceeded to burn through three relievers to get through the 6th inning. The biggest indictment of Torre in this game may be that he saw fit to use six relievers to get through four innings. Eventually when you cycle through that many pitchers, you're going to find someone who doesn't have it that day, and Torre found more than one (Wade and Broxton).
Is there a good reason Kershaw couldn't have pitched to more than three hitters, given that he can be expected to pitch multiple innings and was replacing the starter in just the 6th inning?
Also, I noticed that Torre called on Broxton a day earlier to pitch the 9th inning, up 7-2. But I wouldn't criticize him for that, since Broxton hadn't pitched in a while. Still, the bullpen usage is odd.
Seriously - hitting a single and stealing second base doesn't get your ass hammered by guys. What's the point?
Heehee. I'd get excited if I was playing in a new ball park though, if you know what I mean.
Not that there's anything wrong with the other league.
He didn't look good at all. He walked Howard, went 3-1 on Burrell before giving up a single and only got Victorino because he gave himself up.
He had 2 strikes on Howard, and went 3-2 (not 3-1) on Burrell before giving up the hit. And he was 0-1 on Victorino before Victorino bunted. The next three hitters were Dobbs/Feliz, Ruiz, and Jenkins/Taguchi. I think Kershaw could have continued.
And if Manuel ordering Victorino to bunt isn't idiotic enough on its face, it seems even more odd that Manuel would do so when facing a pitcher who was clearly struggling. Though I will never again over-estimate Manuel's level of competence. With his intentional walk of Ramirez in the first inning -- almost as if Manuel were watching his first major league game -- all bets are off.
Walking Manny in the first is something I probably wouldn't have done. As a manager, I don't want to build an aura of invincibility around an opponent, but Chollie's been around the bigs a lot longer than me so he gets the benefit of the doubt. Manny IS freakin' unconscious right now.
But that's part of my complaint: Why are there three pitchers lined up for the 7-8-9 innings? Why does Torre have to pull Kershaw for the 7th if he's pitching well, just to take the chance that the next three pitchers will all be effective?
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