Baseball, what is the point of baseball it's stupid

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:eca208e520="El-Saltman"][quote:eca208e520="PotKettleBlack"][quote:eca208e520="El-Saltman"][quote:eca208e520="nevdully's"]Normalization.[/quote:eca208e520]


Abnormalization- the Phillies lost :arrow: :([/quote:eca208e520]

That was normalization, since they are creaky and old also.[/quote:eca208e520]

Okay, well you aren't totally wrong.
Seems like Careers are getting shorter though, because 30,31 didnt used to be considered old for a ball player- used to be 30 was still considered a prime year.[/quote:eca208e520]

Jimmy Rollins feels like he came into the league with Jackie Robinson. Polanco was 31 a while ago. Ibanez is older than I am. Injuries took their toll on mUtley and the Flyin' Hawaiian.

Phils were really bad down the stretch, largely because they wore down. Dunno if that's old, or what exactly, but they didn't really play well in September, while the Cards were on a mission.

Really, I like the Cards over the Rangers. Home field, I like their reconstructed pen, Yadi shuts down the Rangers run game. Rested Carp.

[216 Stitches]

Life, what is the point of life it's stupid

but on the topic of whether the best team wins in the playoffs:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15303

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:da437070f5="River Field View"]Life, what is the point of life it's stupid

but on the topic of whether the best team wins in the playoffs:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15303[/quote:da437070f5]

A friend of mine is a SABR member, and he's been nagging me (lightly) to share my thoughts in a paper for SABR on what makes teams win or lose in the playoffs, which is tied to Porter's Diamond of International Competition (management framework, not sports). I am reluctant, because, as solid as the Diamond of Playoff Competition has been at picking teams, there is a ton of random chance that evens out over seasons, but over small samples, like a playoff series, doesn't. So, something small and lucky, like Buckner or the Denkinger, can alter one game among evenly matched teams, and that can be it.

[thetallguy747]

Where's the luv for my beloved Redbirds?!!

My condolences to Phillies phans, but your boys and their manager should have stopped reading the newspapers that said the world championship was theirs to lose. When you start believing that, you start playing to not lose. The Cardinals, on the other hand, played to win and they did.

My condolences to Brewers fans. What's not to like about your team? They're young, personable, likeable, and brimming with enthusiasm. And then the post season began and it looked like someone spiked their water cooler with prozac. They had at least three close calls go against them and and hardly a peep of protest. Throughout the series, Roenicke looked like he was proctoring GRE exams instead of leading a team on a quest. While the Brewers waited for walks and a gopher ball to launch, the Cardinals drove the ball to all fields, bunted, hit and ran, took extra bases, backed each other up in the field, and just generally played to win. While the Brewers do have a few more fielders who can bend over than the Tigers have, I was appalled at their apparent disinterst in using a little extra effort to try to overcome all the iron gloves, thick bellies, and slow feet that populate their defense.

I hate Tony LaRussa. He's the antipathy of what I think makes a good leader. He's paranoid, has an extreme bunker mentality and fosters internal fueds. Plus, he's an aging pretty boy, who would rather be with the pretty people in Florida or California than going to backyard barbeques in St. Louis the way Whitey Herzog did.

But since the only thing that really matters in competitive sports is winning, I love the fact the LaRussa has once again this year shown why he's one of the best managers ever. Talent is exceptional across the board in MLB. In the end, the difference is made by what's between the ears. And LaRussa always leads his teams into the post season like a mongul horde. And without doubt the difference between the Cardinals and their opponents this post season has been what's going on between the ears.

It seems fitting to me that they'll be facing the Rangers in the World Series, since Nolan Ryan is building a winning tradition than stresses tenacity and resilience equally with talent.

Kevin A

[dwightskino211]

I was on my honeymoon in 1982 in St Thomas VI. On the way to Mountain Top, a tourist trap, with incredible views of the harbors, our tour bus got stopped at an intersection.

I looked out the window and saw a complete shack, with four people in it. Just old discarded metal and wood for material to make a shelter.

Lawn chairs for furniture, no running water, a bathroom was non existent, BUT a color TV in the only room?

With the Cards vs Brewers World Series game on, everyone was watching the ball game!!

So baseball was IT, in the poorest sections of St.Thomas, and it is IT in a lot of other places as well. ATG fans know this well.

I have never forgotten that brief, unbelievable scene. Then the bus started up and back to reality for me. Who were they rooting for?

[LARRYLANG]

[quote="george barnard"][quote:f7ddb05a54]Since I don't care about either team in the WS, I will have to root for the Rangers to win their first one ever![/quote:f7ddb05a54]

Now there's the kiss of death. Better go place my bet on the Cardinals




lol

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote="Pelzer"][quote:1c5fdce600="george barnard"][quote:1c5fdce600]Since I don't care about either team in the WS, I will have to root for the Rangers to win their first one ever![/quote:1c5fdce600]

Now there's the kiss of death. Better go place my bet on the Cardinals




lol[/quote:1c5fdce600]

Consensus seems to be Rangers. I'd bet Redbirds.

[chasenally]

[u:b2c5b31c53]Thetallguy

'They had at least three close calls go against them and and hardly a peep of protest.'[/u:b2c5b31c53]
The peep of protest means nothing more than complaining. The close calls that don't go your way do. 1 maybe, 2 change of a game. 3 and you lose a close series that both teams match up.

The Cards are hot and that helps but when a close holding call puts a TD return back on your own 15 in the second quarter and you lose the Super Bowl 20 - 17 that makes a difference.

Earl Weaver kicked the dirt and that made Bob Gibson pitch better. :roll:
I do understand that you back your players but all of sports in less then an inch and you win.

[JedimasterTjg1]

In baseball the best team doesn't always win. It happens every day here in Strat, where the wild card team prevails. Everyone who has played this game knows that being a fan of one or the other has no relavance on who is going to win. That being said it is the same reason that all of us continue to root or play this game...Football doesn't have that charm.

[thetallguy747]

When Weaver kicked the dirt it had no effect on Bob Gibson. But it did seem to make Jim Palmer pitch better.

Kevin A