Mets Win!

After all the gloom and doom I heard from Mets fans during the spring, the Mets opening day victory should be a reminder of every fan of the sport, not just Mets fans, that anything is possible this game.  Although I don’t consider the Mets to be playoff contenders on the one hand, I don’t believe this team is as bad as some columnists and baseball pundits think it is on the other hand.  Johan Santana’s first start since 2010 was encouraging to see.  Although not vintage Johan, he was still good enough to hold the Atlanta Braves to only 2 hits in 5 innings of work and the Mets bullpen (which is a solid group) finish the job as Frank Francisco gets his first save as a member of the Metropolitans.

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

It’s a new season and Justin Verlander picks up where he left off by tossing 8 innings and striking out 7 Red Sox batters.  Although he didn’t get the decision in the Tigers  3-2 win over the Red Sox, the reigning American League Cy Young Award and MVP winner made it clear that the Tigers will be one of the heavyweights in the American League this season. 

As for the Red Sox, well…they pick up right where they left off last September by losing again in the latter stages of the ballgame.  Not that I feel sorry for them as a Yankees fan, but I hope that their collapse continues right through June.  It’s only fair!

The need for the new format…

I truly favor this change to the playoff format, much as I did back in 1994 when the playoffs were expanded.  After many lackluster Septembers of season’s past, in which potential Wild Card and Division races were pretty much an after thought, adding a second wild card team will once again put emphasis on winning the division.  This time, settling for the Wild Card could be a mistake for any team that believes it can coast through the month of September because they have a comfortable lead in the Wild Card and Division standings.  Had this format been in place during the 2010 season, the race for the American League East, the two September series between the Yankees and Rays would have been a nail bitting, tension filled pack of games. Yet because of the fact that both teams had a comfortable lead in both the Wild Card/Division the Yankees and Rays basically played .500 baseball the rest of the way not even caring about the Division crown.  Under the new system, both teams, if they find themselves in the same scenerio as 2010, will have to go all out and win the division or else suffer a potential one game playoff loss against another Wild Card team.

But another important reason as to why a second Wild Card is needed, besides placing emphasis on winning the division, is the MLB’s need to win back the month of September away from the NFL.  For too long, once the calendar turns to September, it seems football dominates the sports airwaves while baseball takes a back seat until the playoffs begin.  Now with potential exciting Wild Card and Division races, baseball can become relevant again in the last month of the season.  The move by the Owners and Players is good for the game and will bring even more excitement to this season and seasons to come!

Jorge Posada

On October 4th 1995, or should I say October 5th, since by then Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series had stretched past midnight into the wee hours of the morning, the Yankees and Mariners were locked in a nail biting duel that saw the Bombers fall behind their West Coast rivals by one run in the top of the 12.  In the bottom part of that inning, after future Yankee reliever Jeff Nelson struck out Randy Velarde to lead off the bottom of the twelve, future Hall of Famer and Yankee third baseman Wade Boggs stepped to the plate.  After battling Nelson, Boggs got the best of him and worked out an important walk that would later become the tying run in the now nascent Yankee rally that extended this postseason classic another 3 innings.  But before that run would come around and score, the then cerebral Yankee Manager Buck Showalter decided to take a gamble and take out Boggs in favor of a pinch runner Yankee prospect, who was a September call up and was kept in the roster once postseason started.  That prospect was Jorge Posada. As everyone knows Posada came around to score the game tying run after Ruben Sierra took a Tim Belcher pitch into the left field corner, a ball that on a warm day would have definitely landed in the lower left field seats at the renovated Yankee Stadium.  When Posada scored the tying run, Bernie Williams was behind him, but a great defensive relay by the Mariners stopped Bernie from scoring the winning run, and so the game continued.  This classic game, that ended with Jim Lyritz dramatic two run home run, was only the second appearance by Jorge Posada in a Yankees uniform, but it was also a glimpse into the successful postseason future that Posada would become a part of.

Of course it would take three more years before Posada became a mainstay in the Yankee backstop, and when given the opportunity to split catching duties, Posada, like most of the members of the famed “Core 5″ made the most of it.  In 1998, Posada caught David Wells’ perfect game, going down in history with his battery mate as the 13 duo to accomplish baseball immortality.  Although not a great defensive catcher by any stretch, Posada that day called the game of his life.  “I was so nervous,” he would say after the game, not understanding that the result of the game would propel him into becoming the full time starting catcher.  When future Yankee Manager Joe Girardi left the Yankees as a free agent in 1999, Posada inherited the starting position, a position he held until 2010.  In his first season as a starter, Posada lead the Yankees to a second straight World Series Championship, a feat that would be repeated the next year when the Yankees defeated their cross-town rival Mets for a third straight World’s Championship and 4th championship in 5 years.  Overall, Posada would play in 7 World Series, yet his biggest moment in the post season, in my opinion, was his clutch game tying double in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS off Yankee nemesis Pedro Martinez.  That game was just one example of Posada’s ability to come through in the clutch when his team needed a big at bat.  Over his 17 year career, Posada gave many Yankee fans thrills they will never forget.  Just last September, with his appearances down to pinch hitting duties, it was in that roll that Posada, with an RBI single led the Yankees to the American League East title.  Although primarily a player that came off the bench last season, Posada had a knack for providing the Yankees with big hits.  Yet his final postseason series with the Yankees will cement his legacy as a great Yankee.  In the ALDS against the Tigers, Posada was the best Yankee in the lineup.  He lead the Yankees in hitting during the series, posting .429 batting average, and a spectacular .579 OBP.

Thus Jorge Posada is part of a winning Yankee legacy and part of a dynasty that Yankee fans will probably never see again.  And so today, with a heavy heart, Posada says goodbye to the organization, the city and fans that allowed him to become the baseball player he dreamed about while growing up in his native land of Puerto Rico.  His retirement also marks the end of a career of another player that was the backbone of the late 90′s Yankees dynasty that now leaves Yankee fans with only Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.  Jorge Posada will be missed.

Michael Pineda and the myth of 2nd half slump:

Michael Pineda had a sensational start to his rookie season for the Seattle Mariners.  The rookie right hander started the first half of the season in 2011 with 7 wins and just 5 losses; 99 strike outs, a 2.65 ERA with a solid 1.06 WHIP in just 102 IP’s.  In the second half Pineda’s numbers weren’t as impressive as the rookie just won 2 games, saw his ERA and WHIP ballooned to 5.35 and 1.20 respectively, while only striking out 74 batters.  Looking at these traditional stats an average fan might say and believe that Pineda tailed off in the second half, or was tired, etc.  But measuring Pineda’s value by looking at traditional pitching stats hides his true value.  A sabermetric analysis of Pineda’s second half numbers tell a different story.  Even though Pineda had only two wins after the All-Star break, his numbers during the last half of the season were actually better than his first half.  By measuring Pineda’s skills independent of defense, his numbers in the second half were better.  First, his Expected ERA (xERA) was 3.16 which was 42 points lower in the second half.  His Control Rate (Ctl, bb/9), a metric that measures a pitchers walks per game was only 2 points higher.  Pineda’s Dominance Rate (Dom, K/9) a metric that measures the strikeouts a pitcher allows per game was higher in the second half (9.7) as opposed to his first half (8.7); more importantly his Command Rate (CMD), a metric that measures a pitcher’s ability to throw pitches in the strike zone was 3.2 a 0.1 point higher.  Had Pineda pitched in a team with better defense and an ability to put more runs, his traditional pitching numbers would have been different, but looking at statistics that reflect his pitching skills alone he definitely was a much better pitcher in the second half than he was in the first half of the year.  As a pitcher Pineda has the potential of being a future Cy Young Award winner and his value to the Yankees will be greater than it was to the Mariners, since the former will provide Pineda with run support.

The only downside Pineda is that he will likely have a innings limit again.

As for the Cardinals bats, what more can be said about the clutch hits by Series MVP David Freese and the resurgent Lance Berkman!  After a monster Game 3, Pujols went cold, only getting another single, if I’m not mistaken, the rest of the series (a single that sparked a big rally in Game 6), and the Cardinals offense basically fell into the bats of Freese and Berkman, the two players who basically provided most of the offense for the Red Birds in the last two games of the series.  Freese and Berkman’s performance in Game 6 saved the Cardinals season as they were twice down to their final strike.  The performance of these two players is what separates, in my opinion, the true champions from the champions on paper.  On paper, the Philadelphia Phillies were the best team.  Yet in their series against the Cardinals, the batters in the Phillies lineup failed to come up with a clutch hit in key situations.  Freese and Berkman did not.  On paper, the Brewers were no doubt better than the Cardinals yet in the NLCS, I can’t count how many times Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Nyjer “Tony Plush” Morgan failed to come up with that clutch hit that usually turns a series around.  The Cardinals not only got the clutch hits, but those hits won them the series.  The performance of Freese and Berkman reminds me of the clutch hits that players like Scott Brosius, Cecil Fielder, Bernie Williams, Jim Leyritz and Jorge Posada gave the Yankees during their last dynasty in the late 1990′s; and it were those clutch hits that helped that Yankees dynasty to win 4 championships in 5 years.  This year, the Cardinals were the beneficiaries of similar performances by their players.

Tony LaRussa Retires…

After guiding the Cardinals to their 11th World’s Championship, Tony LaRussa has decided to call it a career as manager of the Red Birds.  For 16 years LaRussa guided the Cardinals and during his tenure, the Red Birds made three trips to the World Series, were a game away in his first season (1996) from making a trip to the Series, and of course won two championships.  Yet for all his success, I still have my problems with the Mad-Man.  Considering the fact that he was badly out managed by Ron Washington in Game 5 of the Series, what I dislike about LaRussa is not his unorthodox managing style–God knows he revolutionize the way the game is managed–but his knee jerk reaction to inside pitches against his players soured LaRussa in my eyes. LaRussa look like a clown at times, especially when he instructed his pitchers to retaliate after questionable inside pitches.    Back in August LaRussa basically admitted that his pitcher sent a message to the Brewers when Ryan Braun was plunked by Jason Motte, after Albert Pujols was hit by a pitch earlier in the game.  Although the league never suspended him, or fine him for it, the fact that he was allowed to get away with that nonsense is why I won’t miss LaRussa at all.  But if I do have to say one positive thing about LaRussa, is that he went out on top!

The Albert Pujols show..

Game 3 of the World Series should be remembered as the Pujols show.  Coming into the game, Pujols was 0-for-6 and committed the error that allowed the winning run for the Rangers to get on second base in Game 2.  After grounding out to Mike Napoli in the first inning, Pujols lead off the top of the 4th inning with a solid single to left.  That single was the beginning of a special night in Texas for King Albert, a player who has a knack for snapping out of slumps with big nights at the plate.  Tonight was no different.  After that solid single, Pujols again lead off the top of the 5th, this time with another solid single to center.  At that point in the game, the Cardinals were up by two runs after seeing the Rangers erase their 5-0 lead with a great bottom of the 4th inning rally.  But just like the Cardinals last half inning at the plate, Pujols’ single sparked another Cardinals rally and in that inning, the Cardinals take back the three runs scored by Rangers in the bottom of the 4th.  After the Rangers came back in the bottom of the 5th to erase the three runs the Cardinals scored the previous half inning, you’d think that it would be only a matter of time before the Rangers would take over the game.  But as we now know, that was the last time Texas was in this game, because in the top of the 6th Albert Pujols literally took over.

And in the top of the 6th, with two runners on base and one out, and Texas pitching sensation Alexi Ogando on the mound, King Albert made his presence known by crushing a 96 mph four seam fastball into the Texas night.  The moonshot by Pujols stretched the Cardinals lead to six runs and the Red Birds never looked back.  In the top of the 7th, Pujols again crushes another four seem fastball, this time off Michael Gonzales, for a 2 run homer.  And in the top of the 9th, Pujols caps a record tying World Series game with a solo home run off ageless reliever Darren Oliver on, you guessed it, another fastball.

1982 Was The Last Time…

1982 was the last time a player had five hits in a World Series game.  That year, Paul Molitor of the Milwaukee Brewers set the record by getting five hits, oddly enough, against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Tonight, Albert Pujols ties that record with five hits of his own.

Pujols also ties Mr. October, Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth with 3 home runs in a World Series game.  Not bad for a player who was seeing as a goat by the media after his careless play in Game 2.

Umpiring in Baseball….

Even though it didn’t turn out to be as costly as it could have been, had Kyle Lohse done his job and kept the Rangers off the scoreboard, the blown call by first base umpire by Ron Kulpa on Matt Holliday’s force out was just terrible.  Even with Ian Kinsler’s poor throw to first, Mike Napoli clearly tagged out Holliday before reaching the first base bag.  Kulpa’s bad call continues what has been a disastrous season for Major League Baseball umpires who continue to make bad call after bad call.  If it wasn’t for the inept bullpen display by the Rangers tonight, that play could have been the turning point of the game, but thanks to Pujols’ night, the call didn’t matter in the end.  Something about the bad umpiring, however, has to be done during the Winter, because as technology improves the scrutiny of the men in blue will be even greater and it will be difficult for the MLB to be the last pro sports league without expanded replay.  Either the Commissioner should accept more replay into the game, or accept the much deserved criticism for not doing anything about the bad calls made by MLB umpires.

Looking ahead….

I wonder what Game 4 will have in store for baseball fans.  Will the pitching return? Or will the offensive outburst continue.  I guess we’ll find out Sunday night.

As far as the Rangers are concerned, the only thing I have to say is that Ron Washington better not pinch hit players that have only seen the bench since September.  He clearly has to stay a step ahead of the Mad-man LaRussa in managing this game because if the Rangers lose game two, it could potentially be a short World Series.  Of course I don’t think that will be the case.  Washington is a smart manager, and like LaRussa, he knows how to make the right moves…well most of the time.

As far as the Rangers are concerned, CJ Wilson opening another postseason series with a loss is not very encouraging.  Yet the good news for the Rangers is that their offense is still hot, despite only scoring two runs.  The Rangers had runners on base all night and just missed a clutch hit from breaking the game open.  The turning point of the game had to come in the top of the 6th, when Kinsler was stranded at third, after leading off the inning with a single, moving two second on a sacrifice and taking third base on a fly out by Josh Hamilton.  Michael Young, in this situation, came close to hitting a double down the right field line, but thanks to a great play by Albert Pujols, Young’s batted ball resulted in an inning ending ground out.  That missed opportunity by the Rangers to drive in Kinsler from second with one out, most likely cost them the game tonight.  Now, it’s just one game.  I do believe the Rangers will capitalize in those situations in this series, but if they fail to drive in runs with RISP it will only open the door for the Cardinals to take this series.

Mission accomplished:

It was imperative for the Cardinals to win Game 1 and for Carpenter to have a quality start.  Now that the Cardinals accomplished that goal, the next thing they need to do is hope that Jaime Garcia is up to the task of pitching a big game in Game 2 and shut down the Rangers offense.  The only way, as I said, that the Cardinals can win this Series is if they get solid starting pitching.  Carpenter did his job, will Garcia now respond?

As for the Rangers, this is just one game. This series is far from over.

Key for the Cardinals to win this Series:

For the Cardinals to have a shot at winning the World’s Championship, the key to their potential success is Chris Carpenter and the rest of the Cardinals.  If Chris Carpenter is on his game, and pitches well in 3 out of the seven games, that would put the Cardinals one decent start away by either Garcia, Lohse or Jackson, towards winning the World Series.  In both LCS rounds this season, starting pitching was nowhere to be found, and the redbirds staff didn’t exactly pitch well, as none of their starters made it past the fifth inning in all six games of the series against the Brewers.  So something has to give.  Either the bad starting pitching by both the Cardinals and Rangers will continue, which will benefit the explosive Rangers offense; or the starting pitching will be good that the more experienced Cardinals staff will have an advantage.  If the latter happens, I don’t see why the Cardinals wouldn’t win this series.  Good starting pitching by the Cardinals will create a bridge to a bullpen that has performed exceptionally well in this postseason, and would in a long series benefit St. Louis.  The same could be said about the Rangers, but the Cardinals starting staff is just more experienced, and I don’t see Texas’s lefty starters doing well against the heavy righthanded offense of the Cardinals.  Now, if the former happens (which is likely to happen), the Rangers will win this series easily.

So the key for St. Louis is Chris Carpenter.  He has a good series, the Cardinals will win.  I believe that will happen.  Go Cardinals