The 2011 MLB Thread
- Thread starter shayd
- Start date
Rick Sutcliffe is seriously the most annoying baseball commentator EVER. He NEVER stops talking about his own playing career, as if he was some kind of legend or something. And he points out one minor mistake that a player or team makes during the game and harps on about it endlessly, no matter how consequential or not. I'm sick of him. Joe Morgan talks about his career a lot too, but at least he has a Hall of Fame career to talk about. Just stick with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver for the whole playoffs, and throw in some Dan Shulman while you're at it.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Huge win tonight for the Redbirds. It won't be easy but I love our chances going back to Miller Park needing only 1 of 2. Terrific job once again by the bullpen....Dotel was killer once LaRussa pulled the hook on Garcia and Lynn and Motte closed it out. I can't believe how this bullpen has progressed from earlier this year. Incredible.
Great series....two great teams. I just feel like we're in the driver's seat now....sure hope it turns out that way.
Great series....two great teams. I just feel like we're in the driver's seat now....sure hope it turns out that way.
Eric Lindros
#88
I know you from the United States consider the winner of the World Series as the World Champions, but today, The Netherlands wrote history by defeating Cuba 2-1 in the final of the World Championships for countries.
A great result for a small country.
A great result for a small country.
maildude
Postal Paranoiac
A much-deserved congratulations. :thumbsup:
Marlo Manson
Hello Sexy girl how your Toes doing?
Congratulations to the Texas Rangers.. :bowdown::glugglug: Impressive team, I hope they win it all. Nelson Cruz is a monster. Not saying the outcome of the game would have changed, but Cruz should have been out on that appealed check swing, and the other play @ 2nd base where the runner was forced out and called safe. BAD CALLS!! with the aid of those blown calls that inning and the game just snow balled out of control. Tigers had a great year. :2 cents: :hatsoff:
I'm gonna have to pick the Rangers over the Cardinals for this one. It's tough to call, though. The Cardinals having home-field advantage is actually huge in this case. Reason being, the Rangers have nine strong hitters in their lineup against both righties and lefties. When facing righties, they can DH Michael Young and put Mitch Moreland (a natural first baseman) at first base, and give up a little bit on defence by starting Mike Napoli behind the plate. Against lefties, they sit Moreland, Young plays first, Napoli DHs, and Yorvit Torrealba (a vastly superior catcher, defensively) starts behind the plate. It's a winning formula, one that has obviously been working. Now that formula has to be thrown out the window for 2-4 games in this series. They'll have to sacrifice either hitting or defence, no matter whom they're facing.
However, I just think that their lineup is stacked beyond measure, Nelson Cruz is a machine right now, and their bullpen is unbelievably good. The Cardinals, in my opinion, don't necessarily have the greatest bullpen (I know the results thus far in the playoffs, so just hold your horses before you jump to disagree), but I just think that Tony La Russa is a master strategist when it comes to using his bullpen effectively and in the right situations and matchups. I think it's going to come down to whether or not La Russa can outmanage Ron Washington so well that he's able to overcome the superior talent of the Rangers. I wouldn't put it past him, after having done so against both Charlie Manuel and the Phillies and Ron Roenicke and the Brewers. But my pick is still the Rangers, and I do hope that they win.
However, I just think that their lineup is stacked beyond measure, Nelson Cruz is a machine right now, and their bullpen is unbelievably good. The Cardinals, in my opinion, don't necessarily have the greatest bullpen (I know the results thus far in the playoffs, so just hold your horses before you jump to disagree), but I just think that Tony La Russa is a master strategist when it comes to using his bullpen effectively and in the right situations and matchups. I think it's going to come down to whether or not La Russa can outmanage Ron Washington so well that he's able to overcome the superior talent of the Rangers. I wouldn't put it past him, after having done so against both Charlie Manuel and the Phillies and Ron Roenicke and the Brewers. But my pick is still the Rangers, and I do hope that they win.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
You're a Rangers fan so I'd feel the same way I suppose but I hope you and everyone else from John Smoltz and Ron Darling on down keep picking against the Cardinals. They have overcome everything and then some this season....literally back from the dead. "Superior talent of the Rangers"? Not sure I would agree with that but, even it it were true, the Rangers don't have the talent the Phillies do and look what happened there. No need to ask further. This series should be a classic. Sure hope so at least. Go Redbirds!!
I'm actually not a Rangers fan at all, I'd just prefer to see them win the World Series than the Cardinals. In fact, the Cardinals have always been my favourite National League team, and I've always preferred them to the Rangers, but I do like the Rangers, and the Cards won the World Series recently enough and there's no one in particular on this Cardinals team who wasn't on the team that did win the World Series that I really wanna see win a ring. There's not a single World Series champion on the Rangers, and I'd love to see Josh Hamilton and Michael Young win rings.
I'm also impartial, and I'd have to say that you're displaying some homerism by arguing against my "superior talent of the Rangers" comment. The Rangers were the second-best offensive team in the majors this season, behind only the Red Sox, while the Cardinals were right around the middle of the pack in the majors. And the Cardinals pitching only marginally outranked the Rangers (twelfth, with a 3.74 ERA versus thirteenth with a 3.79 ERA). Not to mention the All-Star calibre names that there are on both sides; there are far more on the Rangers than on the Cardinals. Their lineups aren't really comparable, and I'd only give the Cardinals a slight edge in terms of starting pitching, and not even in terms of relief pitching (again, despite their success thus far in these playoffs).
What the Cardinals have going for them is that they have beaten two great teams already right after having (out of necessity) gone on a major hot streak to make it into the playoffs. The Rangers have been a playoff team all year long, and were in the World Series last year.
P.S. I definitely don't think that the Phillies have superior talent than the Rangers. Utley, Howard, and Rollins aren't the players that they were in 2008 (at least they weren't this year), and I would say that the Rangers lineup completely dwarfs the Phillies'. Obviously, the Phillies have the better pitching staff, but I don't think they're as good a team as the Rangers are.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I'm sorry my friend but your facts are simply incorrect. St. Louis led the NL in offense and were 5th overall. That's not "middle of the pack" by any measurement. Also, offensive stats are misleading due to the DH skewing numbers for AL teams. For instance, Kansas City had better overall offensive numbers than St. Louis did. Would you argue that the Royals are therefore the better team? :dunno:
Likewise, your comment that the Rangers have "far more" all-star caliber names than the Cardinals do is....well, just preposterous really. If you look at each team, position by position, they are extremely comparable:
Catcher - Molina or Napoli. Both really good, Molina's defensive dominance and handling of pitchers gives him a slight edge in my book.
1B - Pujols or Young. No question here....it's Albert.
2B - Punto (or Theriot) or Kinsler. Since Skip Schumaker is injured, Kinsler would be my choice here.
SS - Furcal or Andrus. Andrus is the better hitter so I'd give him the nod.
3B - Freese or Beltre. In the postseason, Freese has outperformed Beltre by a mile. Regular season, it was Beltre. Call it a push.
LF - Holliday or Murphy. Holliday for sure. No contest.
CF - Jay vs. Hamilton. Josh for sure. No contest.
RF - Berkman vs. Cruz. Tough call. Cruz has been on fire, Berkman is NL comeback player of the year and has better regular season stats than Cruz. Gotta call it another push.
OK....let's see....that's 3 for St. Louis and 3 for Texas with 2 pushes. Hmmmm....looks pretty even to me. Certainly not "far more" for the Rangers as you claim. For you to say their lineups aren't comparable and that Texas is vastly superior is just not supported by the facts. If you disagree, fine, but you better have solid reasons to back it up. Otherwise, you're the one who sounds like the homer. :1orglaugh
Regardless, it's fun to debate these issues from a subjective viewpoint but the truth of the matter is that the result will be decided on the field. I actually see this as a classic matchup with both teams being fairly even across the board so it should be a great series. Both teams are great and have plenty of offensive firepower. As is almost always the case, it will all boil down to pitching.
PS- The Phillies had the best record in baseball this year so to say that the Rangers lineup "completely dwarfs" the Phillies is beyond ridiculous. They lost a 5 game series to a team that got seriously hot at the right time. There's not a baseball pundit around who would agree with your assessment of Philadelphia's talent compared to Texas'.
Let's play ball!
Comparing position by position the way you did made the claim that Michael Young shouldn't be counted as an All-Star... that sounds preposterous to me. Calling Beltre and Freese a push (seriously ridiculous, what are you even thinking? A multiple Gold Glove winner, former MVP, and All-Star this year versus a rookie, sure he's having a great postseason, but get real!) did the same thing... once again, preposterous. Same thing with Cruz. Also, offensively, Young had a better season than Pujols did, .338 average with 106 RBI versus .299 average with 99 RBI (just saying, obviously Pujols is arguably the best player in the game, so I'm not making a claim that Young is a better player, I'm just pointing this out).
If you did it in a fair way, here are the All-Star calibre names (which was how I worded it in the first place) for each side:
Texas: Mike Napoli, Michael Young (was an All-Star), Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre (was an All-Star), Josh Hamilton (was an All-Star), Nelson Cruz, C.J. Wilson (was an All-Star), Alexi Ogando (was an All-Star), Neftali Feliz.
St. Louis: Yadier Molina (was an All-Star), Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday (was an All-Star), Lance Berkman (was an All-Star), Chris Carpenter.
That's 10 for Texas (5 of whom were All-Stars this year) to 5 for St. Louis (3 of whom were All-Stars this year). That is twice as many (i.e. "far more").
Comparing position by position was a cheap way of making it look different than it is.
You're right about the St. Louis offence being fifth overall and the best in the NL. I swear that I looked it up and it showed them being fourteenth, but that must have been from earlier in the season or some weird link that had it wrong. So my bad for that, I was wrong about that. Either way, the Rangers offence outranked the Cardinals' across the board in nearly every offensive category, so they clearly do have the better offence.
No, I wouldn't argue that the Royals are the better team (I know it was a rhetorical question), but I would argue that they are the better offence. That's not really an argument, actually, because the statistics prove it.
You're also correct that most baseball pundits would not have argued that the Rangers (or any other team) are a better team than the Phillies. But I believe they are, I did before the playoffs started. However, my statement that the Rangers lineup "dwarfs" the Phillies' is most definitely supported by the stats; the Rangers scored nearly 150 more runs than the Phillies did and hit 30 points better in terms of batting average. Just because the Phillies have guys like Rollins, Utley, and Howard doesn't mean that those guys are all in their prime and that lineup is fearsome. Those three guys, as I mentioned before, have had far better seasons in the past, and weren't playing at their peak in the series against the Cardinals (nor were they this whole season).
P.S. How can I sound like a homer if I'm not from Texas (which I'm not, I've never even been there)?
P.P.S. I just wanna mention that I never said this was gonna be a runaway series victory for the Rangers, I said it would be tough to call and would come down to how well La Russa can outmanage Washington. I just made the point that the Rangers have more talent overall, and that their offence is superior than the Cardinals'. As an impartial observer, I think that's obvious, but I know it's hard for some people to see their home team as inferior in any way even when the evidence is there.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
:1orglaugh Let's both chill out, dude. I never said Young wasn't all-star quality....I said Pujols was better. And when I look at all-star quality, I'm talking career, not just this season (Pujols didn't make the all-star team this year....do you think that makes him less than all-star quality? Who has the most all-star selections?
). Besides, the all-star teams are a popularity contest anyway so who cares? You're using all-star selection this season as your criterion ("more fair" ....I don't buy that but....whatever). I'm looking more at career accomplishments (a "cheap way" by your reckoning....don't see how that's "cheap" but....:dunno.Comparing the teams position by position as I did, they are very close is my contention. By the same token, it's totally subjective and it depends what spin you want to put on it, like your Cruz/Berkman comment. Do the same thing with the Freese/Beltre comparison. Who had the better year (Berkman & Beltre)? Who has been hotter in the playoffs (Cruz & Freese)? Which factor carries more weight? Does it really matter? Blah...blah....blah....
I think we're splitting hairs here. That's what happens when there aren't any games to analyze and debate. That all changes tonight so, to quote a highly-respected member here on Freeones, let's simply agree to disagree. In the meantime, I'm up for some great games here in the next week and a half and the best team is the one who wins. Hats off to them when they do.
My prediction is the Cardinals in 7. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to congratulate the Rangers. I mean, after all, it's not like they are the Cubs.
PS-Just for the record, Freese is not a rookie.
I never said that.
Rangers win in 6.
Yup. I can't see the Rangers losing this series. But I couldn't see Philadelphia and Milwaukee losing either.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I don't agree with that but your point is well-made. I think the rule should apply only if you are under contract by that team when they actually win the World Series.
Let me tell you what is equally stupid, however, and that is the "whichever league wins the all-star game gets home field advantage in the World Series" rule. I'm a Cardinal fan but it just isn't right that a wild card team should have home-field against a team that won its division. It greatly diminishes the point of winning the division....unjustly so. How ironic would it be if St. Louis wins the World Series....and Prince Fielder is named MVP?? :1orglaugh
Just another scar on the ridiculous reign of Bud Selig....by far the worst commissioner that MLB has ever had.
