Posted on 09/29/2011 7:43:01 AM PDT by doug from upland
BOSTON - Move over, Bucky Dent. Step aside, Bill Buckner. Make room, incredibly, for Jonathan Papelbon.
The star closer is the stunned symbol of the latest Red Sox collapse. This one lasted a month and finally ended when there were no more games left to lose.
Rays, Cardinals clinch playoff spots
"This is just maybe the worst situation that I ever have been involved in my whole career," designated hitter David Ortiz said. "It's going to stay in a lot of people's minds for a while."
No team has blown a bigger lead in September — a nine-game margin through Sept. 3 — and missed the playoffs. Boston went 6-18 after that and did not win consecutive games at any point in the month.
Stunning.
"This is one for the ages, isn't it?" general manager Theo Epstein said, a blank stare on his face.
CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler says this year's collapse is as bad as it gets, because there's not one moment and not one villain.
"There's an entire group that spent four months masquerading as the best team in baseball, or one agonizing month masquerading as perhaps the worst," Knobler writes.
Boston began play Wednesday tied with Tampa Bay in the AL wild card race. But the Red Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 when Papelbon, who had blown just one save before this month, blew his second in September, allowing two runs in the ninth.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Could be.... the Bambino is back!!!!
The Texas Rangers cruised to the playoffs for the second year in a row. I believe that's one of the signs of the apocalypse.
Thanks. I like "Pink Rose." My older brother idolized Charlie Hustle, even to the point of sprinting out his walks as Pete did in his early career.
My mother is a very, very reserved woman. I can't over-emphasize that point enough. I took my mother Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series. When Frankie Cabrera singled to left, and Dave Justice and Sid Bream scored, my mother turned to her right and hugged the man sitting to her right. She hadn't said a word to him all night and hadn't put her arm on the armrest for fear of touching him, which would be inappropriate.
My middle daughter (now out of college) is the most torn about the Braves. When she was four, we taught her to imitate the batting stances of different players. She was tiny then (she's only 4'10", 98 lbs. now, a former gymnast).
If you said "Cecil Fielder," she would stick her butt out like a coffee table. Say "Will Clark" and she'd hold imaginary bat straight up and glare at you as if you had just killed her dog. A couple of years later we ran in to Frank "The Big Hurt" "Big Frank" Thomas in the Atlanta Airport. She ran over to him and was soon impersonating batters for him. I thought Thomas was going to get a hernia from laughing. He picked her up and plopped her on his hip like a mother does with a toddler and talked with us for about twenty minutes, until we had to catch a plane. As we were leaving, he made her do Will Clark again (twice) then taught her a couple of new batting stance impersonations.
There's nothing like baseball.
from wikipedia...
The New York Yankees of the American League have played in 40 World Series and won 27, more than any other club. The National League's San Francisco Giants (formerly New York Giants) and Los Angeles Dodgers (formerly Brooklyn Dodgers) have appeared in 18 World Series championships while the St. Louis Cardinals have played in 17 and won 10, the second most of any club.
end of story... Go Yankees!
A big deal for Jim Leyland at Detroit. ´Kinda torn twixt them and the Cardinals. ´Better wait before hitting Tom up for a handout.
51 years here! Might have been my whole life, but Dad was a Brooklyn Dodger fan. Until they left Brooklyn. Then he gave up on team sports. He took me to a few games when I was a small child. Far and away, the Yankees are the greatest sports franchise ever. And without a doubt, the best MLBB team of all time.
Yes, you’re right. But... we’re talking about his ghost..... eeeeeyoooowaaaahhhh....
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Yes. See my post 69 (appropriately enough).
This gave me another reason to root against them, in addition to the bias of the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network (ESPN).
Oh well. I’m cheering for the Cardinals and the Brewers to meet for the pennant, and then for whichever wins to win the World Series. I’m an Upper Midwesterner, born and raised in Chicago, living in St. Louis. And I’m a National League man. Real baseball—strategy, no DH.
“After listening all pre-season and all season about how great the 2011 Red Sox would be this year and how they were going to challenge the 1927 Yankees for the honor of the greatest team of all time. In the end, the Red Sox crashed and burned. The fantastic Adrien Gonzalez and the speedy Carl Crawford didn’t make a difference. Joke Beckett and Big Poopy are very sad.
Go Yankees!”
In all fairness, I only have one thing to say to Skankees... er, I mean Yankees fans. 2004 ALCS
Forget preparing for the ALDS and having your startwers rested, uh uh,the Yankees should have, in a game totally meaningless to THEM put their best pitchers out their and the best closer in the history of the game, allo the fuc*ng RS could have a shot at losing in the first round, a total certainty anyway.
I lived in the Boston area for 12 yrs and can testify to them being the most pathetic and sorry fans in sportsdom. To be a Red Sox fan means NEVER admit you were beaten by a better team. Nope, if you lose the reason will be one of the following:
Umps were biased
Umps were lousy and inconsistent
Playing field was tailored for opposition
Then we have the alibi's and the “what if’s”:
“Did you see that shot xxx hit in the 4th? Damn if that had been hit just 1/4 inch higher on the bat it would have cleared the wall.
If xxx gets a better jump on that pop fly by xxx in the xx inning he catches it and the entire game changes.
and on and on and on...
The good folks who reside in MA are called “Massholes” for a reason.
RE: Take your $160m payroll and choke on it!
That you Obama?
I knew Papelbon was gonna have trouble..he'd been pushed hard the night before..threw, 27-28 pitches..and he's never come back well the 2nd night after that much effort.
The pinch hit homer in the 9th was electric..we'd just started to leave, and I was standing in the aisle, and the place went wild.
Sawx should have been able to score a few insurance runs in the top of the 9th. THAT, to me was the game. Once they'd lost, I was actually glad that the Rays won, because there was no way that the Sawx were gonna win a one game playoff..
Prior to the complete collapse the last week, I felt sure they'd win the WC..by a few games, and I thought that Crawford would have a great playoffs..a chance for redemption....instead..he was the goat...he should have easily caught that ball.
I'd dump Francona....the clubhouse culture needs to change.I don't put that much value in managers..you need good players to win..but over a 162 game season, a good manager should be able to steal a few wins.. Francona blew several games in the 9th over the course of the season...and Crawford, who is a really good player, suffered a season-long slump...and it's the manager's job to fix that..and he didn't..
FYI..unrelated..check out weeklystandard.com today..nice article on Sandy Koufax..
so the question is..if the Cards' win the WS..does that make it easier, or harder, for Pujols and/or LaRusso to leave for greener pastures?
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!
Thanks for the tip on Koufax article. I saw him pitch many games, including his first no-hitter against the Mets. Besides the blazing fastball, his curve was virtually unhittable.
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