Posted on 10/07/2005 4:37:37 PM PDT by frogjerk
Stark is such an idiot. I heard him on the radio today saying that the Boston-Chicago series proves that you can't bash your way to the World Series, meaning that the Sox's pitching was their downfall. Hmmmm, last time I checked, the Sox scored a grand total of nine runs over three games -- that's hardly an offensive juggernaut, particularly from a team that average 5 1/2 runs per game in the regular season.
The Red Sox's pitching, other than Matt Clement, wasn't terrible in the series, and their bullpen too wasn't horrendous, either. But Boston just wasn't able to hit well against the White Sox.
NOTHING was more shocking or a bigger choke than watching the Red Sox stay one elusive strike away from winning the WS on 4 different batters against the Mets in 1986 during Game 6....
Then to punctuate the matter, they blew a 5-2 lead during Game 7.
What must be considered is degree of choke was compounded in that it was THE WORLD SERIES.
Agree...
Torre must have forgotten that El Duque was a PROVEN Big Game money pitcher (didn't you have the feeling Duque was gonna extricate the Chisox outta that bases-load/no-out jam?), and Kevin Brown...wasn't.
Absolutely. And Torre's bullpen mismanagement is continuing this series. Leiter has done a great job as a lefty specialist, but Torre, instead of being happy with that, is having him 1) stay in too long, and 2) face righties. It makes no sense. And Torre should have left Small in to finish the 6th -- the hits Aaron gave up were all bloopers.
And then there's Tom Gordon. He really, really stinks in October -- he did last year, and he's doing it now. The fact that Al Leiter had to bail him out says it all.
Torre ALWAYS mismanages and over-manages the pen.
He panicked and took Small out too soon. He'd have settled down. And you're right about Leiter. Effective against lefties, but he can't remain in to face righties. They rap him around.
"And then there's Tom Gordon. He really, really stinks in October -- he did last year, and he's doing it now. The fact that Al Leiter had to bail him out says it all."
Talk about a choker. He's October Money -- for the OTHER team. And then there's Sturtz, who's another liability. And please tell me WHAT Scott Proctor is doing on this post-season roster??
The staff has desperately missed the heart of of El Duque, Pettite, and David Wells.
Clemens?? We both know he has no heart. Nice to see him shelled against Atlanta.
Mo and Jeter should never be booed. RJ doesn't get that protection.
"They have no nationally-recognized stars."
That's what makes it better, your watching a team being managed like baseball was meant to be played, instead of million aires being led by a CEO.
You can keep Sosa, Giambi, McGwire and all the other juiced up egomaniacs. As a baseball purist, I've always viewed them as ruining the game. That's why the 2003 Marlins over the Steroid Sosa-led "Cubbies" was so enjoyable to watch. A truly conservative approach.
"the announcers were all Big supporters of Chicago."
What? ESPN-Eastern Seaboard Promotional Network is how I read them.
Here's an article I wrote a few years back that's only half-true today:
Holy Cow!
"Booze, broads, and bullsh*t. If you got all that, what else do you need?"
---Harry Caray
It’s around that time of the year when Cubs and Sox fans eventually draw together with the inevitable late summer realization that they actually have something in common…the Sox stink and so do the Cubs.
For me, however, as the last games of the season are being played, the sad, sad feeling takes hold that, once again, Harry Caray wasn’t at least here to entertain us while the Cubs were descending into their habitual mid-season death throe. Despite some of the bum rap he received a few years before his death, (“Too old,” “He’s losing it,”), Harry’s comeback from his stroke in 1987 sort of took the wind out of his critics and managed to make him a legend to thousands of North Siders.
I grew up with Harry Caray as the play-by-play man for the Chicago White Sox, a fact, I think, that some Wrigleyville folks have conveniently forgotten. Harry, at the time, was paired up with former Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall, whose claim to fame was the fact that he cracked-up on his way into the 1952 baseball season.
“You’re Crazy,” Harry would say after Piersall would make some sort of off-the-wall comment during a Sox game.
“No I’m not,” Jimmy would retort, and then with a hesitation add, “…and I’ve got the papers to prove it!”
But Harry was the quintessential showman. Piersall was only a prop, but I have to admit, a good one. During Harry’s time at old Comisky Park, once called the world’s largest outdoor saloon, the seats directly under his broadcast booth were priceless. Forget the upper deck seats over 1st base. Forget the first two or three rows by the Sox dugout on the 3rd base line. The seats in the upper deck, pulled as far back from home plate as could possibly be, were where we sat, the people who really loved Harry Caray.
And Harry would reward us during the game. At the time, he was hawking Falstaff beer, and after more than a few cans, would often dance that silly dance that only a dozen Falstaffs could induce. When things looked bad for the Sox, he’d shake up a twelve-ounce can and open it, baptizing everyone within the immediate area of the broadcast booth with the foam from the can. We’d scream, raise our hands and testify, our souls were touched, bathed in the malty richness of Harry’s beer. To add to our adulation, Harry would then rip off the tab from the can and throw it into the crowd. If you were lucky, you could brag about the fact that you caught a foul-tip, hit off the bat of Richie Allen, but you really had bragging rights if you caught the tossed beer can tab from Harry Caray.
Harry was a showman. My favorite Harry Caray story, however, has nothing to do with the Sox or Cubs but rather when Harry was the announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1968, he was hit by a car as he attempted to cross a street on the way to his hotel. His injuries were extensive, including broken legs and a broken shoulder. For months, Caray recuperated at the Florida villa of Gussie Busch, the Budweiser beer magnate.
On opening day of the next season, Harry returned to work as the master of ceremonies for the event. With two canes to assist him as he walked out onto the field, he took a few wobbly steps, stopped, looked up at the crowd and tossed one of his canes away. The crowd went wild. After a few more steps, he threw the second cane away and 50,000 fans jumped to their feet to applaud their wounded hero. The Cardinal’s pitcher, Bob Gibson, later reminded Caray that he hadn’t been using the canes for weeks. Said Harry as he smiled, “This isn’t just baseball Gibby, it’s show biz!”
Even with his death in 1998, Harry proved to be showman. Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day with his wife in a West Coast haunt before the start of the Cub’s 1998 season, Harry was recognized by someone on the night club staff. With strains of “Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin’ town,” coming from a band, Harry was asked to take a bow. He did, then collapsed from a heart attack, dying four days later.
What a showman. Always leave ’em wanting more.
s w e e t.
I was a runner in the Loop during the 70s, a young man I was working with attended the Columbia (Chicago) School of Broadcasting, he said that Carey-Piersall tapes were played by the instructors for the bad example of radio sports broadcasting, they would constantly breathe into the mike, eat and drink, sneeze... every no-no in the book:)
Harry used to tell Jimmy "Take your pills and calm down".
The Cub fans used to hate Harry Carey when he worked for the Sox, it was only after he was hired by the Trib and became a "Bud Man, Cubs Fan" did the Cub Fans like him.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I was commenting on why the rating w/b lower w/o these types of players. Of course, now that the ratings for the Series are out and are the lowest in history, that might have been a contributing factor.
The shortness of the Series, even though the games were generally good and close, didn't even give the average fan a chance to really get to know these guys, many of whom were playing on a national stage for the first time.
And then when Clemens leaves because of injury...
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