Posted on 10/04/2010 2:39:35 PM PDT by BluesDuke
This looks like it's going to be a pleasantly exciting postseason for the most part. Everybody with me? Good.
Now listen up. Step aside, Empire Emeritus. Savour your still-recent laurels, Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies. You've made it this far and have earned your props, but you're playing way out of your league, Cincinnati Reds. (Fact: This season's Little Red Tinkertoys, a likeable bunch when their leadoff man isn't jawing their way into nasty brawls with teams from St. Louis, did most of their winning against sub-.500 teams, while compiling a losing record against .500+ teams.) It hasn't been that long since your last World Series rings, O Yankees, Rays, Phillies, Reds, Minnesota Twins.
There is a team in this year's postseason who haven't won a World Series since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House; Edward R. Murrow was top dog at CBS News; John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State and Nikita Khrushchev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; Casey Stengel was managing the Yankees, for whom Whitey Ford was pitching, Yogi Berra was catching, and Mickey Mantle was driving baseballs two states across; coast-to-coast air travel was conducted aboard the Lockheed Constellation, the Douglas DC-6, and the Boeing Stratocruiser; Father Knows Best was on radio alone; Jack Benny and Our Miss Brooks were on radio and television at once; Elvis Presley was a mere gleam in the eye of Sun Records; the quiz shows that provoked the eventual scandals were barely in the seeing stage; and, Duke Ellington had yet to make his stupefying resurrection at the Newport Jazz Festival.
And here's the part most intriguing: The team in question, for the first time in maybe three generations, is actually likeable. On their home turf, and beyond.
When last they appeared in a World Series, their looming presence (some said larger than life, not necessarily as praise) was a moody, misanthropic do-it-all who struck fear into the hearts of enemy pitchers, enemy managers, and his own teammates. Not necessarily in that order. His overblown sense of privilege turned his clubhouse into a chamber of horror, and yet even he could not yank his mates across the threshold of the Promised Land.
They were, you see, blessed concurrently with a manager whose questionable ability to manage the tensions his top star consummated was matched only by his unquestionable ability to seize the wrong moment under the wrong spotlight. He was probably more naive than nutty when handing his gallant starter the "game ball" while lifting him in the eighth inning of Game Six, 2002 World Series, in full sight of the spunky team about to overthrow them, when they stood a mere six outs from the Promised Land, first in that game (it only began when a journeyman first baseman wrestled a journeyman relief pitcher through eight pitches, all but one out and away, with the eighth down and in enough for him to send it up and out) and, a day later, in that Series.
Prior to that stab at the ring, this team had been to the postseason eight times since last they won a World Series; between that stab and the one about to begin, they had been there but once, a year later, being swept out in three straight close games by the eventual ring-winning Florida Marlins, after taking the first game with a puny enough 2-0 score. Elsewhere:
* They lost a 2000 division series to a New York Mets team when they opened by beating the Mets, 5-1, but continued with the Mets shutting them out in three straight.
* They were swept without a win in 1997 by a slightly different (and soon to be blown up) kettle of Fish who would go on to win a somewhat unusual, and slightly controversial World Series.
* With a little help from an earthquake, and a lot of help from seismic shifters from Oakland, they lost the 1989 World Series in four straight.
* They lost a 1987 National League Championship Series to the last of the great Whitey Herzog-managed St. Louis Cardinals teams and managed, somehow, to earn a slightly unfair reputation as unsportsmanlike chokers.
* They lost a 1971 National League Championship Series, after winning the first game, in four straight, to a Pittsburgh Pirates team who sent a mere three Hall of Famers against their four.
* They lost a 1962 World Series in seven thrillers to the last of the ancient dynastic Yankee teams, leaving everyone to wonder how a team such as theirs with five Hall of Famers on roster could not overcome even a Yankee team with three Hall of Famers whom they'd outhit and just about evened up in pitching on the regular season, the ring disappearing when a powerful line drive from a tall first baseman/outfielder found its way to no further than a lithe second baseman's glove clutch.
I'm not entirely sure you can suggest they've been under a curse, necessarily. You could say that letting go of Sal Maglie, when he still had a few gallons of petrol in the tank, a year after they swept the big bad (111 game-winning) Cleveland Indians in four, only to see the Barber return in June 1956 in Brooklyn Dodgers silks and all but make the final Brooklyn pennant possible (he went 13-6 once he rounded back into shape, including a no-hitter, before pitching a jewel of a World Series game on the backside of Don Larsen's perfecto), might have wreaked a little unpleasant mojo upon their franchise.
Nothing personal, Texas Rangers. You've had a mighty long wait for the Promised Land in your own right, ever since you were born as the Washington Senators II, under which guise the closest you got to a shot at it was 1969, when men walked on the moon, hundreds of thousands congregated for music, mud, and marijuana in a place called Bethel---while calling the whole shebang Woodstock---and you spent much of the season in the American League East race under the field management of the league's eventual Manager of the Year. A fellow named Ted Williams.
But you haven't waited quite so long as the San Francisco Giants. They haven't won a Series since they arrived by the Bay in the first place, when their plans for Candlestick Park were copied and sent to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley to instruct his Dodger Stadium architect, "Study these and learn what not to do."
Not Willie Mays, nor Willie McCovey, nor Juan Marichal, nor Orlando Cepeda, nor Gaylord Perry could bring the rings to the Stick. Not Dave Kingman, Bobby Bonds, Jack Clark, Will (The Thrill) Clark, Robby Thompson, Matt Williams could bring the rings to the Stick. Not Bonds, not Jeff Kent (Bonds' equal for moodiness, if not quite for complete demolition), not Kirk (Woody) Rueter, not Jason Schmidt, not Rich Aurilia, not Robb Nen, not J.T. Snow could bring one to Pac Bell, when it was still known as Pac Bell.
Ever since the disappearance of Barry Bonds, they've laboured hard to make Tony Bennett singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" something a Giant fan can do without choking or holding his nose again. And they finally succeeded, this season, with a team of little-to-no-names of talent and chutzpah enough.
Are you ready for the champagne shower? an enterprising reporter, wired right into the AT&T Park PA system post-game after the Giants finally won the West, asked pitching star Tim Lincecum. F--k yeah! Lincecum roared, echoing gamily around the stands and over the bay into which Barry Bonds' reputedly tainted bombs landed as if according to scripts.
San Francisco has been ready for the champagne shower since approximately the Kennedy Administration. There has been something poignant about this year's exuberant Giants reaching the postseason in the same season as possibly their most legendary postseason swinger went to his reward. I make note that I write on the fifty-ninth anniversary of his Shot Heard 'Round the World, off the pitcher who would say upon his death, "I lost a ballgame but I gained a friend."
And when they have a team this likeable, managing somehow to put just enough more runs on the board than the other guys they do well enough in preventing from scoring, led mostly by stalwart, often virtuoso pitching, veteran clutch hitting, and a young catcher who joined up late enough in the first half of the season only to become just about the team's future, it just doesn't seem fair---unless one is that recalcitrant a Dodger fan---to root against them.
Fear The Claw!
Because of the TEXAS RANGERS!
In a short series, whoever has the hottest pitching rotation will carry the day.
As they say, “It’s the pitching, stupid!”
As they say, “It’s the pitching, stupid!”
As they actually say (and have said), "Good pitching beats good hitting---and vice versa." Make note that the other guys batted a mere .236 against this year's Giants, with a mere .683 OPS against them. The team ERA over the final 28 days of the season was a whopping 1.74; over the full season, 3.36.
Now, about the other guys they will or might face this postseason:
Cincinnati Reds: .254; .719; 3.62; 4.02.
Atlanta Braves: .246; .690; 3.81; 3.57.
Philadelphia Phillies (as in, the presumed pitching-rich Philadelphia Phillies): .254; .716; 3.00; 3.68.
Texas Rangers: .246 BAA (batting average against); .709 OPSA (OPS against); 3.59 team ERA over the final 28 days of the season; 3.93 season ERA.
Minnesota Twins: .266; .734; 4.47; 3.95.
The Empire Emeritus: .249; .721; 5.06; 4.06.
Tampa Bay Rays: .244; .711; 3.74; 3.78.
Going to the WHIP (walks/hits per inning pitched, last 28 days and the season):
Reds: 1.22/1.33
Braves: 1.33/1.27
Phillies: 1.20/1.24
Rangers: 1.26/1.31
Yankees: 1.40/1.31
Twins: 1.38/1.29
Rays: 1.27/1.26
Giants: 0.96/1.27
I submit that on paper there is no reason why any objective analyst should suggest the Giants go into the postseason with less than perhaps the best overall pitching of any of these contenders.
Phillies....thats why.
Then you’ve convinced me.
The only abstract factor that could play is the ‘playoff stage jitters’.
The Phillies KNOW what waits beyond. The GIANTS don’t.
What controversy are they referring to?There was quite a to-do for awhile about the Series being played late enough in October and under time conditions mandated predominantly by television, while Cleveland was under extreme chill. An issue that often came up again in years to come, and still does at times. The 1997 Series was the first time in quite a few years that television joined the weather in becoming an issue at least as big as the Series itself, to say nothing of the Marlins proving to have been a rent-a-team when their then-owner decided to blow them up the following season when he couldn't get new ballpark terms to his liking.
The answer is that "overall" pitching is meaningless in the postseason. Quality # 4 or 5 starters are pointless in a short series.
The Phillies will make certain that Halliday, Oswalt, and Hamels--whose combined second-half ERAs are around 2.25--will pitch 90% of their innings.
I will say the Giants could be a tough opponent if they make it past Cincy but GO PHILS!
Prediction: Twins finally beat the Yanks in the ALDS.
The only abstract factor that could play is the ‘playoff stage jitters’.Neither do the Reds, actually. (Only one Reds pitcher, Bronson Arroyo, has postseason experience.)The Phillies KNOW what waits beyond. The GIANTS don’t.
That said, teams coming into a postseason with no knowledge of what waits beyond have acquitted themselves very handsomely. That acquittal only began with the 1914 Boston Braves; it only continued with the 1919 Reds (I'm convinced there is no reason why that team couldn't have beaten the White Sox in an unfixed fight), the 1939 Tigers, the 1948 Indians, the 1964 Cardinals, the 1966 Orioles, and it only reached a staggering apogee with the 1969 Mets, the 1984 Tigers, the 1990 Reds, the 1997 Marlins, and the 2002 Angels. These were teams that weren't supposed to survive their postseasons when they got there (the 1914 Braves, the 1919 Reds*, the 1969 Mets, and the 1990 Reds especially), but did.
That gives the Giants at minimum a 50-50 chance of shaking off the jitters. With their pitching, their revived veterans, and their solid enough youth, they could shake them off well and swift.
They lost their season series against the Braves by one game but they split the season series with the Phillies and beat the Reds in their season series by a game. The Giants really do have about a 50-50 chance and maybe a little bit more.
By the way: They faced all three of the Phillies' top postseason starters on the season and beat them every time out (Roy Oswalt twice; Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, once each). Granted the postseason is a different season, but that factoid too takes a little first-time jitter edge off the Giants, if they get far enough to meet the Phillies in the NLCS . . .
Funny the author couldn't even give the Angels.....credit here, much less name them!!
That was a very entertaining series...The Angels were the WILDCARD team..that mowed down the Yankee's...and kept on rolling into the World Series...to beat the Giants.
I will never forget that series....as a life long Angels fan.
The answer is that "overall" pitching is meaningless in the postseason. Quality # 4 or 5 starters are pointless in a short series.See above. It isn't as meaningless as you think when considering that on the season the Giants faced and beat all three of them each time they faced those men.The Phillies will make certain that Halliday, Oswalt, and Hamels--whose combined second-half ERAs are around 2.25--will pitch 90% of their innings.
And if the Giants decide to go with Jonathan Sanchez instead of Barry Zito as their third postseason starter (it would be the prudent move no matter how expensive Zito is), they'll be sending a trio whose ERA combined in the final 28 days of the season was 2.10, quite comparable to Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels in the final 28, even if their second-half ERAs combined were shy enough of a full run higher. Three pitchers re-horsing themselves down the stretch isn't exactly anything for their own team to fret over.
Your Phils need to make it past The Reds, while we tangle with The Braves.
Funny the author couldn't even give the Angels.....credit here, much less name them!!The author (it was I) was tempted to name the Angels specifically (and happened to have been rooting for the Angels in that Series, having become an Angel fan while I lived in Orange County for about nine years) but feared giving away the rhetorical tip.
And as entertaining as that Series was, indeed as was the Angels' entire postseason run, I don't forget that for the first time two wildcard teams squared off in the World Series.
Nice rotation. To which I respond: Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez. Their combine ERA FOR THE SEASON is under 3 and for the last month...under 1.5
Expect LOTS of 2-0 and 3-1 games...and a couple of 1-0.
Dusty Baker handed that series to The Angels. Someone should give that Rally Monkey to an Asian family.
Because they are from San Francisco. They are dead to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.