OT: 2014 MLB Thread

[cprice12]

Oh, and in the 2nd game, Harold Reynolds still wouldn't shut up about how he felt the Cards were stealing signs in the first game.

I don't think he ever once said he was wrong, even after Kershaw, the Dodgers and the Cardinals all said that just wasn't the case. He just said that's the way he saw it.

I guess any time a team starts to hit a guy who was dominant early in the game, he'll always say it's because of signs being stolen? Why signal out the Cardinals and harp on it non-stop for a game and a half? I've never heard an analyst make that big of a deal out of the possibility of signs being stolen...and then after everyone said he was wrong, to still harp on it.

What an idiot.
I used to like him...but he needs to let that go...it's just embarrassing now.

[ViPeRx007]

How can anyone not pull for the Royals? Since the White Sox weren't in the picture a long time ago, I've been pulling for KC, especially since I hate the Tigers.

I didn't think they'd beat Oakland in the WC game, they won.
I didn't think they'd stand a chance against the Angels, they swept them.

My second team is the Orioles and now they have to play each other. I still have to stick with KC though.

In the NL, my team was the Pirates, now it's the Nationals. St. Louis is next though.

I just like to see different teams win if my team isn't in it. No hard feelings.

[cardsfan04]

Oh, and in the 2nd game, Harold Reynolds still wouldn't shut up about how he felt the Cards were stealing signs in the first game.

I don't think he ever once said he was wrong, even after Kershaw, the Dodgers and the Cardinals all said that just wasn't the case. He just said that's the way he saw it.

I guess any time a team starts to hit a guy who was dominant early in the game, he'll always say it's because of signs being stolen? Why signal out the Cardinals and harp on it non-stop for a game and a half? I've never heard an analyst make that big of a deal out of the possibility of signs being stolen...and then after everyone said he was wrong, to still harp on it.

What an idiot.
I used to like him...but he needs to let that go...it's just embarrassing now.

Yeah, (Frank) him. Because, here's the thing. If we were stealing signs, good for us. Seriously. If we were able to, that's on the Dodgers. These aren't thirteen year olds. They're pros.

But I don't think that's what happened. I think they were going up there looking for a first pitch fastball and he didn't adjust.

[dmiles2186]

Cards fans up in arms about Howell celebrating is nonsense. It was a huge play.

"He was losing by 2 runs!"

Yeah, and if he didn't make that play, he's down by 4. And what do you know, Rosey the Riveter ends up putting the tying runs on base (of course). Nevermind the fact that if it was Neshek in the same situation making the same play, Cardinals fans would shower him with glowing praise. But I digress.

[cardsfan04]

Cards fans up in arms about Howell celebrating is nonsense. It was a huge play.

"He was losing by 2 runs!"

Yeah, and if he didn't make that play, he's down by 4. And what do you know, Rosey the Riveter ends up putting the tying runs on base (of course). Nevermind the fact that if it was Neshek in the same situation making the same play, Cardinals fans would shower him with glowing praise. But I digress.

For real. If you make a big play in a playoff game, you don't have to be stone faced, even if you're losing. That was huge.

Unrelated, but Puig isn't starting tonight. I think that's really dumb.

[dmiles2186]

Cards fans up in arms about Howell celebrating is nonsense. It was a huge play.

"He was losing by 2 runs!"

Yeah, and if he didn't make that play, he's down by 4. And what do you know, Rosey the Riveter ends up putting the tying runs on base (of course). Nevermind the fact that if it was Neshek in the same situation making the same play, Cardinals fans would shower him with glowing praise. But I digress.

For real. If you make a big play in a playoff game, you don't have to be stone faced, even if you're losing. That was huge.

Unrelated, but Puig isn't starting tonight. I think that's really dumb.

Win or lose, if I were a Dodgers fan, I want to go down with my best players in there. Puig has been awful this series. Doesn't matter. He can be a spark at any point in time.

[dmiles2186]

I have no (Franking) clue how they do this year after year after year.

[ViPeRx007]

Spoiled bastards.

[dmiles2186]

Spoiled bastards.

Very much so. It defies explanation.

[cprice12]

Cards fans up in arms about Howell celebrating is nonsense. It was a huge play.

"He was losing by 2 runs!"

Yeah, and if he didn't make that play, he's down by 4. And what do you know, Rosey the Riveter ends up putting the tying runs on base (of course). Nevermind the fact that if it was Neshek in the same situation making the same play, Cardinals fans would shower him with glowing praise. But I digress.

I have a problem with what Howell did.

His team is losing going into the last inning. If his team was up by 2, then I completely get it. But his team is losing. It's like wildly celebrating a sack when your team is down by a couple touchdowns with less than a minute to go. You look stupid. You are about to lose a very important TEAM game and you are over-celebrating an individual accomplishment. Dumb.

If Howell had just pumped his fist and yelled at his teammates in a rah rah manner to pump them up, then that's cool...but he didn't do that. He was yelling at the crowd...taunting them. He was yelling, "What!...What!....What!" Like he was proud of himself for shutting them up. All the crowd has to do is point scoreboard and he's got nothing. And then 3 outs later, his team loses the game and is down in the series facing elimination in the next game.
Oh....and Howell's ERA for the series? 13.50. So he wasn't even very good up to that point.

It's just a classless thing to do IMO.
I like fire in players, but taunting the opposing team or fans when you are losing late in a huge game is just stupid. All he did was make an ass out of himself.

He can yell, "What! What! What!" from his living room on Saturday as he watches the Cardinals playing in the next round.

[glen a richter]

I know as most of you are cardinals fans it's sacrilege to say anything nice about the royals but you have to be happy for them. No matter what, this is a hell of a run for a team left for dead in June, and for the last 29 years. I'm pulling for them.

[cardsfan04]

I don't think that's sacrilege. I mean, if we play in the WS, I hope that we win. But, I'm enjoying this run by the Royals. It's incredible. Last night at the Blues game, they showed the Royals score a couple of times and it got cheers. That surprised me a little bit, but I think a lot of people in St. Louis are pulling for the Royals so long as they aren't playing us.

[ViPeRx007]

Kolten Wong just made Monday not seem so bad...

[dmiles2186]

This team, man....

I could not 'connect' to this team as a fan during the regular season. They just didn't have the same appeal and charisma of past Cardinals teams. And then they reach the postseason, and just like an old computer humming to life, everything started to pop after the lengthy wait.

[cprice12]

If we win tomorrow, I think we win the series. We'd then have two more left in SF and the final two here with just two games to win.
It will be interesting to see how well we play without Molina.

That was a great game last night in terms of there was a lot of stuff going on and it was very exciting...culminating with a walk off homer from Wong...dare I say, a Wongoff Homer.
That has to be a tough game to lose for SF after they came back a couple times.

I'm worried about Wainright.
Molina is out for the series and probably the rest of the playoffs. It will be interesting to see how that effects things. I'm cool with either Cruz or Pierzynski...so long as Cruz can catch the damn ball. And he needs to frame the ball better. He could have gotten a number of strike calls that were called balls, but he was pulling borderline pitches out of the strike zone...especially the low ones. What the hell? Did anyone else notice that?

Peavy looked soooo hittable. I hope we see him again in the series.

AT&T Park's outfield is scary. I can see balls going in the gap and to the wall in right-center and us giving up a few triples. I hate playing SF in SF...we always have issues in the OF there.

Let's just win the next one 10-2 and breathe easy for one game.

[cardsfan04]

That was a fun game last night. Couple of observation.

-I hated HATED Molina bunting. Why give up an out there as we're moving toward the bottom of the lineup, especially in the 4th inning? I know the thought is to get 2 runners in scoring position with 1 out. But, while that might increase our chances of scoring exactly 1 run, it lowers our overall scoring expectancy that inning. If it were the 7th inning of a 0-0 game, I'd feel a little differently, but in the 4th inning, we're not trying to win a 1-0 game. I'd rather play for the big inning there.

-I'd love to see Molina bunt tomorrow night. I've never heard that place so quiet as when it was clear he was hurt. This blows.

-Lynn was solid.

-Neshek was dominant.

-Rosenthal was neither. I'm not as down on him as many are. But, that walk to Panik made me so mad. Posey on deck. Sandoval in the hole. Rookie Joe Panik at the plate. Just go after him. If he beats you, so be it. But, don't walk him and have to face Posey/Sandoval with men on. You have to make Panik be the one that beats you there.

-Wong is awesome. I love Wong. I said to my dad as the 9th started, "How about a 1 pitch 9th?" I guess I'll settle for 2.

-I heard (but didn't verify) that this is the first time in ML history that a team has homered in the 7th, 8th, and 9th of the same postseason game. I guess a lot of home teams that homer in the 7th and 8th, don't even bat in the 9th. But, that still seems surprising.

-I'm also worried about Waino. However, I think there are a couple of reasons for optimism.
1) Apparently he and AJP found something mechanical while watching video. That could just be part of the narrative he's telling, but hopefully that's true.
2) While I didn't get to see him pitch at all (I was at the Blues game), it seems that he's a couple of bad breaks away from it being a 1R outing. mCarp made the error. Grichuk dropped the ball (although that was hard hit), Wong botched the DP. If 1 or 2 of those happen differently and he allows 1-2 runs, maybe our outlook would be different? I dunno. I've heard he looked bad, and it wasn't just allowing 3 runs.

[cprice12]

Should have won game #3. Plain and simple.
They need to come back and win tonight..or else they are facing a tall task.

[glen a richter]

Royals sweep again! St. Louis is the tougher potential opponent. I think they'd be able to better keep SF's bats at bay though both the Giants and Cards are tough to hit against. Still, they beat the motherfranking Angels. Dare I say go KC?

[JesusNEVERexisted]

MLB doesn't want an I-70 World Series because they know no one outside Missouri will watch. The 85 Cards/Royals series was one of the lowest rated in baseball history!

[dmiles2186]

Feels like the Birds are all but about cooked. If so (And no, I'm not giving up yet), the blow will be cushioned by the fact that I can put my full support behind the Royals. They remind me of the 07 Rockies of a team coming out of nowhere and then steamrolling their way to the WS.