Batter Up October 2nd, 2004
With the playoffs scheduled to open up next Tuesday I can’t find a clear cut favorite to win the world series.
The Cardinals looked closest to a sure thing two weeks ago. Now over the past two weeks their starting pitching has come apart.
Matt Morris, the ace of the staff has an ERA over 4.70 after giving up 6 runs in 4 innings Thursday to the low flying Brewers. Chris Carpenter is out of the first round with forearm miseries. Jason Marquis has struggled noticeably in September, leaving Woody Williams and Jeff Suppan as Tony La Russa’s most reliable starters.
Teams win in October with strong starting pitching. It’s not a pretty sight right now in St. Louis.
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With that in mind, take a good look at the Dodgers pitching, they won’t be around very long.
How did Cardinal reliever Julian Tavarez lose his appeal and wind up with an 8 game suspension for having a foreign substance on his cap? The umpires didn’t confiscate the cap when Tavarez was tossed from the game. MLB lost track of the evidence. In fact, a local St.Louis politico ended up with the hat when Tavarez tossed it into the crowd after his ejection. Sent to an independent lab, tests showed the cap had nothing but good old sweat and dirt on the brim.
Where is Johnny Cochran when you need him?
Scott Rolen’s calf injury and Jim Edmonds cold bat aren’t helping the Cards chances either.
If the Giants win the wild card they get the Cards in the first round. I say the Giants knock them out.
After watching Jerome Williams pitch Thursday night, he’s in my playoff rotation for sure. See you in spring training Kirk Rueter.
The Cubs hit plenty of solo homers, but give me a team that has a high on base average with plenty of doubles and I’ll give you a team to watch out for in October. Chicago’s inability to reach base other than through the long ball led to all those recent ugly low scoring meltdowns against the Expos, Mets, and Reds, ostensibly sinking the Cubbies playoff hopes once again.
In the AL the Red Sox (369) and the A’s (332) head into the weekend with the most doubles of the playoff contenders. In the NL the Giants lead the Cards 309 to 308 in two baggers.
Can Houston hang on and win the wild card this weekend? Seeing Colorado to end the season won’t hurt the Astros. Have you seen a worse bullpen in the majors this year than the Rockies? I’m not sure why Colorado manager Clint Hurdle keeps his job after seeing him sit there while closer Shawn Chacon walked four Dodgers in the ninth inning this week.
Remember those old grade “B†boxing movies where the hero is getting knocked all over the ring, then looks up and someone yells, “Your mother is here and Alice forgives you.â€
Someone should say those motivating lines to the A’s big three starting pitchers, then maybe they could get off the deck and shake their end of the season blues and knock out the Angels.
Not doubt about it, the Red Sox are rooting for the A’s to beat Anaheim so the Beantowners can continue their season long assault against the A’s pitching next week in round one.
My advice to Boston: Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Oakland’s pitching can still pull it together and dominate, especially if you give them three games at home.
Minnesota gets the Yankees next Tuesday. OK, if they sweep the Indians this weekend and the AL West winner ends with 92 wins, the Twins will get the Red Sox.
Memo to Ron Gardenhire: Pulling your starting pitchers early in the games against the Yankees this week, then losing all three wasn’t a bright idea. The Metrodome is such a decided home field advantage for the Twins, I would have gone all out to finish ahead of the winner in the West.
In addition, the Twins have handled the Red Sox this year beating them 4 of 6 including 2 of 3 in the Dome. What a mistake.
So who will win the world series, I picked Houston and the Yankees to be in the Fall classic way back in April.
I’m not so sure now. I’ll tell what I think next week after I see who’s playing in the postseason tournament.
0 comments
Marty,
Too bad Mulder couldn’t help himself or the A’s last night. With that weak lineup on the field (two rookies, a worthless hatteberg, and a backup catcher!), he was going to have to keep the game close. Did he have a chance at Anderson’s groundball? It looked like he was passive about it. Could have changed the entire inning, if they retired him. But like you said, Marty, Hudson and Zito can still dominate and that’s why the A’s aren’t entirely out of it yet. If they can pull off a win tonight, you have to give the A’s the advantage with tomorrow’s game with Hudson and Washburn going. You know Hudson will be ready to pitch and Washburn is just very hittable with all his fastballs.
-Mike E.
Wow, what a hard game to watch. Good thing they had fireworks or there would have been 100 people left at game’s end.
Mulder has lost his ability to field off the mound. I had noticed it before, but he didn’t even get down to get the balls hit towards him last night. Makes me wonder if the hip is not right–or did not heal right. As an athlete who has always had it come easy, he does not know how to deal with his struggles. An off season of working with a sports psychologist is in order. I just hope it is not physical.
Please don’t call Hatteburg worthless. The guy is beyond exhausted.He hasn’t had a day off in months. My heart goes out to him. He is still hitting the ball just not for hits. His mind hasn’t given up. I love the guy and I think along with Kotsay he is the heart and soul of this team. Two classy guys. (Compare them to the heart and soul of the Redsox–Manny and Pedro).
I think Robert Baun hit the nail on the head last night when he said the team is exhausted. There are no worthwhile backups on this team so no one gets a chance to rest. The A’s have played more 1 run games than any other team so there have not even been any late inning rests. Unlike the Angel’s who score a lot of runs, have a great bullpen, and can let players rest. Perhaps Billy needs to spend what $ they have next year to get a better bench.
Another telling stat–the A’s lost 8 games this year when they led with 3 outs to go in the games. Last year they lost 2 such games and in 2002 only one. Thank you Arthur Rhodes as he was responsible for most.
Whatever happens today or tomorrow won’t make the post season picture any brighter. It has been a long, tough season in Oakland. They have been fun to watch as always.
Marty,
The A’s got what they needed today. A great performance by Zito and the offense came through. I could tell Chavez was up for this series last night. Too bad the manager blew it by lifting Zito in the 8th. He should have at least let him start the inning.
-Mike E.
The A’s got what they deserved today. A loss and a lock out of the playoffs. The Angels were clearly the better team at the end of the season and came through with the magic. The A’s had negative magic never coming through when they most needed to. If your pen and closer can’t preserve a lead (all year really) you’re not going anywhere. Today was a microcosm of the entire season.
We saw Jim Mecir pitching the most important innings of the season. JIM MECIR!! The guy had one good season with A’s…three years ago. Why is he still with the team?
In addition its clear Dotel is not a closer. He’s a great set up guy, but doesn’t have the mentality and the nerve to be a closer.
Rhodes and Mecir are gone next year for sure.
Look for a much better A’s team as they finally won’t be losing a stud to free agency. I think BB can really upgrade this team in the winter. You’ll see. Dye is gone and with that $14 mil. BB will get much in return. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him trade Eric Byrnes, leveraging his solid season, to get bullpen help…maybe even a closer if he packages him right.
I’m excited about the A’s next year already. They just folded this year and proved they didn’t deserve to go. I really don’t think they’d have passed the first round. But you never know in a short series.
—Ned
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