Baseball fans only. What are your thoughts?

[carolina-rig-01]

What a wild end to the regular season. Man did the Red Sox choke or what? And the Braves have to be thankful that the Red Sox collapsed like they did because if it wasn't for them then the Braves would be proud owners of the worse collapse in baseball history. I am very happy that the Cardinals backed into the playoffs. 3 weeks ago I was saying that even if they somehow managed to make the Wildcard they really didn't play well enough to deserve it. But the way that they turned it and ran down Atlanta would be impressive anyways but they beat some very good teams in the process which makes me take back what I said about them not deserving it. With 2 weeks left I started looking at the teams St. Louis had left to play and the teams that Atlanta had left to play and I just had a feeling that things might fall into place. I don't care what anyone says I think Lance Berkman should get some serious consideration for MVP. He had an amazing season but the way that he keeps things light in the clubhouse while still using his veteran experience to keep the younger guys heads right was the difference in us making the playoffs or playing golf Saturday morning. I hope that Pujols goes somewhere else next year and we spend his crazy salary on some pitching but that is beside the point right now.

Looking foward I still say that the Phillies will be the team to beat in the National League but in the same breath I will also say that Arizona scares me too because they are the team that so many people are looking past which can be dangerous.

In the American League I say that the Rangers are going to be a handful for the same reason that Arizona scares me. They have as much talent as anyone and yet everyone is talking about the Yank-me's and the Red Sox, which I think plays into the Rangers favor.

[bcklash]

Hope everybody has forgotten about the Tigers, But I think the Phillies will be hard to beat. Just so the Yank-me's ( that's great Kory) don't win it all.

[3dkicker]

I think it's going to be the Ray's vs the Cardinal's in the World Series!!!

Went back and forth between both AL games last night and it was great baseball.

[MIbasser]

It was a great night to watch baseball. I am with Lash on this one, I like the Tigers (yes I'm a homer). But when you look at Verlander and Fister as a 1-2 that puts a lot of pressure on the Yank-me's hitters.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the Ray's beat Texas. They have one of the lowest team ERA's and are riding a hot streak.

[WatterBoy]

I like both the Rays and the Rangers, hate the Yankees and am not much of a Tigers fan only because they play in the same division with my Twins. I'd give anything to see the Yankees lose in the first round, even better would be if they were swept, so I'm rooting for DET in that series. I won't really be disappointed no matter who wins the TB-TEX series, but my prediction is that it will be TEX. Regardless, I'll be rooting for the winner of that series to reach the WS, and I'll predict it will be TEX over DET as the AL rep in the WS.

I don't really follow the N.L. all that much, so I don't have too much of a preference who makes it from that side. I guess I'm rooting for SL over Philly because my nephews down in IA are huge Cardinals fans, so that overrides the soft spot I developed for the Phillies during the years when my sis lived out there while doing her peds residency at CHOP. In the other NL series, I'll predict and root for MIL over AZ. And then MIL over SL in the NLCS.

Finally, I'll take MIL over TEX in a 7-game World Series.

[Jrob78]

What an amazing end to the regular season! I was so happy to see the Red Sox complete their choke and lose the wild card. I was pulling for Kory's Cardinals to make it to the playoffs too. I wouldn't say the Cards or the Rays backed in, they won the right to play! Like WatterBoy, I primarily follow the AL, being a Rangers fan.

We clenched home field advantage in the first round last night with our win over the Angels. The Rays are going to be a very tough out in the first round, they have great pitching and some momentum after their come from behind win over the Yankees. TX is arguably the hottest team going into the playoffs and have one of the most prolific offenses in baseball. They've won their last 6 in a row and 12 of their last 14, finishing the season with a franchise record 96 wins. It's also a rematch of last seasons first round, which TX took in 5 games.

The regular season is no indicator of how the playoffs are going to go but here are the regular season records for the teams against one another for the first round.

Rangers 5-4 over the Rays
Tigers 4-3 over the Yankees
Diamondbacks 4-3 over the Brewers
Cardinals 6-3 over the Phillies

I think all of these teams are capable of going all the way, it really just depends on who gets the hottest and who's pitchers can go out and give their team a chance to win. I would love to see the Rangers and the Cardinals in the World Series.

[carolina-rig-01]

What will be interesting from a Cardinals perspective will be their pitching. It's feast or famine with their pitching but when they are right I would put them up against any staff in baseball. Verlander is nasty, no doubt about it but Chris Carpenter has proved over the last several years that he can dominate any offense (I say can because if your going to get to him it will usually be early before he settles in and at times he digs his offense one heck of a hole in the first few innings). I do know that when one guy on the Cardinals is hitting it seems like they all hit and when that happens they are fun to watch. If their bats don't go silent on them I can't see anyone other than the Phillies beating them, if their bats go silent then it will be a short postseason for us. The achilies heal for the Cardinals is their defense. We have always had one of the best defensive teams in baseball but this year it has been an emberassment, 2nd worst defense in baseball type of emberassing. Like the line from Bull Durham says "it's a simple game you hit the ball, you catch the ball, and you throw the ball." As long as we play a hard 9 and make the routine plays I like our chances.

[Jrob78]

This commercial gives me chills every time I see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P3ImmQDtYA

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Jrob78

This commercial gives me chills every time I see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P3ImmQDtYA

That catch that Edmonds made at 16 seconds was in the NLCS I believe if I remember right. Anyways I remember jumping up and down and screaming like a little kid. That was a game saving catch in either the 9th or 10th inning and he came up and hit a game winning HR following the catch. That guy was as good of a center fielder as I have ever seen.

[bcklash]

My wife is a big Yank-me's and just showed her this and the fight has started. And no Kory I didn't blame this one on you like I did on facebook. LOL

Has anybody thought about getting a pool started? I'm game if somebody does.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by bcklash

My wife is a big Yank-me's and just showed her this and the fight has started. And no Kory I didn't blame this one on you like I did on facebook. LOL

Has anybody thought about getting a pool started? I'm game if somebody does.

For some reason I would be willing to bet I caught the blame for this one as well Ron, and probably everything else around the house that makes her mad too lol. "Why can't you put your dirty clothes in the hamper?" "Because Kory told me not to." "Ron why don't you shave your nose hairs?" "Because Kory told me not to." "Ron for crying out loud will you stop holding my head under the covers when you fart?" "But Kory told me to". Anyways that is how I have it figured in my head.

By the way I love the idea of a baseball pool of some sort.

[bcklash]

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

For some reason I would be willing to bet I caught the blame for this one as well Ron, and probably everything else around the house that makes her mad too lol. "Why can't you put your dirty clothes in the hamper?" "Because Kory told me not to." "Ron why don't you shave your nose hairs?" "Because Kory told me not to." "Ron for crying out loud will you stop holding my head under the covers when you fart?" "But Kory told me to". Anyways that is how I have it figured in my head.

By the way I love the idea of a baseball pool of some sort.

No I blamed it on Adam, he's still at work and can't defend hisself

[Jrob78]

I'm definitely up for a pool of some kind.

[keithdog]

I'm a HUGE Cardinals fan too Kory. Being I live up here in Cubby land I always have fun giving the Cub fans a hard time. haha I didn't think the Cards had a chance to get in a month ago, but over the past few weeks they have really caught fire. This season is starting to look like the last season they won the World Series. They were a wild card team then too I believe and with a record everyone said wasn't worthy of a playoff team. Yet they did what they needed to do in order to win it all. I have a feeling this year could be a repeat, but they have to get past the Phillies first and I know thats gonna be a real struggle. But they have shown they can play well against them. One team I am really watching as well is Milwaukee. They could take it all as well. But at this stage of the season I think the Cards could suprise everyone. Especially if Pujols starts to click. I hear what your saying about picking up some better pitching with the money they are spending on Pujols, but I really don't want to see him in any other jersey other and a Cardinals jersey. I think he is still the best player in MLB and his salery reflects that. I want to see him end his career in St Louis.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by keithdog

I'm a HUGE Cardinals fan too Kory. Being I live up here in Cubby land I always have fun giving the Cub fans a hard time. haha I didn't think the Cards had a chance to get in a month ago, but over the past few weeks they have really caught fire. This season is starting to look like the last season they won the World Series. They were a wild card team then too I believe and with a record everyone said wasn't worthy of a playoff team. Yet they did what they needed to do in order to win it all. I have a feeling this year could be a repeat, but they have to get past the Phillies first and I know thats gonna be a real struggle. But they have shown they can play well against them. One team I am really watching as well is Milwaukee. They could take it all as well. But at this stage of the season I think the Cards could suprise everyone. Especially if Pujols starts to click. I hear what your saying about picking up some better pitching with the money they are spending on Pujols, but I really don't want to see him in any other jersey other and a Cardinals jersey. I think he is still the best player in MLB and his salery reflects that. I want to see him end his career in St Louis.

I agree that Pujols is a great hitter, but he is a below average defensive first baseman that gets defensive recognition based on his offensive accomplishments which is a crock. The real issue is that although he is a great hitter we have proven that we can score plenty of runs to win games without him (don't forget that we clawed our way into a division lead while Pujols was on the DL) but we also proved that our pitching is capable of blowing a lead of any size. So to me it's common sense that we should unload his contract and buy pitching. Something that people are overlooking with him is that this is the 3rd year in a row that his numbers have declined from the previous year and he wants a 10 year deal. How good will he be in 10 years? And take this into consideration as well. I personally think his numbers may have been a little misleading earlier in his career because of the crazy number of intentional and unintentional-intentional walks which will boost his numbers. This year with Holliday and Berkman crushing the ball around him he got a lot more pitches to hit because pitchers went after Pujols and he had a horrible offensive season up until the last month or so when he finally got his average out of the mid to high 200s and did finally start hitting the ball out of the ballpark. However how many runs did he cost the Cardinals by grounding into double plays? He grounded into more double plays this year than a lot of teams did. I still say put Craig or Freese at first and buy pitching. C.C. Sabathia is a free agent after this year as is Mark Burhle (who has already said that he wants to pitch for St. Louis before he retires). There is a lot of ways to improve our pitching this off season and I think we need to jump at the chance.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

I agree that Pujols is a great hitter, but he is a below average defensive first baseman that gets defensive recognition based on his offensive accomplishments which is a crock. The real issue is that although he is a great hitter we have proven that we can score plenty of runs to win games without him (don't forget that we clawed our way into a division lead while Pujols was on the DL) but we also proved that our pitching is capable of blowing a lead of any size. So to me it's common sense that we should unload his contract and buy pitching. Something that people are overlooking with him is that this is the 3rd year in a row that his numbers have declined from the previous year and he wants a 10 year deal. How good will he be in 10 years? And take this into consideration as well. I personally think his numbers may have been a little misleading earlier in his career because of the crazy number of intentional and unintentional-intentional walks which will boost his numbers. This year with Holliday and Berkman crushing the ball around him he got a lot more pitches to hit because pitchers went after Pujols and he had a horrible offensive season up until the last month or so when he finally got his average out of the mid to high 200s and did finally start hitting the ball out of the ballpark. However how many runs did he cost the Cardinals by grounding into double plays? He grounded into more double plays this year than a lot of teams did. I still say put Craig or Freese at first and buy pitching. C.C. Sabathia is a free agent after this year as is Mark Burhle (who has already said that he wants to pitch for St. Louis before he retires). There is a lot of ways to improve our pitching this off season and I think we need to jump at the chance.

All very good points for sure. Especially if Holliday stays with the team, which I'm not sure he will. For me it's just an emotional thing. Your right about the Cards proving they can win without Pujols. In fact, it often seems they do better without him when he's injured. And our relief pitching is a joke. How many late game leads have we lost due to a poor relief pitching staff? Way too many for sure. I just would hate to see Albert leave. He's a Cardinal great and I want to see him retire in St Louis. Just as other Cardinal greats like Gibson and Brock did. Like I said, it's an emotional thing for me. My head says one thing, my heart another. I guess thats one good reason I'm not a team manager, hahaha.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by keithdog

All very good points for sure. Especially if Holliday stays with the team, which I'm not sure he will. For me it's just an emotional thing. Your right about the Cards proving they can win without Pujols. In fact, it often seems they do better without him when he's injured. And our relief pitching is a joke. How many late game leads have we lost due to a poor relief pitching staff? Way too many for sure. I just would hate to see Albert leave. He's a Cardinal great and I want to see him retire in St Louis. Just as other Cardinal greats like Gibson and Brock did. Like I said, it's an emotional thing for me. My head says one thing, my heart another. I guess thats one good reason I'm not a team manager, hahaha.

I can totally understand the emotional side of the situation. I have became emotional tied to several of our players in the past. Rolen, Edmonds, Steve Kline, and many more including Yadier Molina now. I guess if Pujols wants to retire a Cardinal then the ball is in his court, and if he chooses not to sign with the Cardinals then I hope he goes somewhere like the Blue Jays where they draw like 25 people a game and are a laughing stock, main thing is I hope he stays out of our division.

[joedog]

Hey, Hey! Have we forgotten the BREWERS?

[Top Tiger]

No one could forget the Brewers. Without them, there would be no Budweiser.
Go Bay Rays.

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by joedog

Hey, Hey! Have we forgotten the BREWERS?

Go back and re-read the last line of my post.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by joedog

Hey, Hey! Have we forgotten the BREWERS?

And the middle of my first post, LOL. If the Cards dont take it I'm rooting for your Brewers buddy.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by joedog

Hey, Hey! Have we forgotten the BREWERS?

I am not routing against the Brew Crew except I am a die hard Cardinals fan so it goes without saying that if they play my Redbirds I want them to lose in a big way lol.

[keithdog]

By the way Kory, I love your avitar!!!!

[joedog]

Thanks waterboy and kiethdog, ya I missed it earlier. I will say that if the playoffs and series play out like the end of regular season it should be fun for all. Cardinals are my favorite bird; just not when it comes to baseball!

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by keithdog

By the way Kory, I love your avitar!!!!

LOL thanks.

Here is a joke for you to share with the Cubs fans in your area.

What did Jesus say to the Chicago Cubs?

Don't do anything till I come back.