Posted on 10/08/2013 10:04:36 AM PDT by campaignPete R-CT
Craig Kimbrel is supposedly the heir to Mariano Rivera. In his postseason career as closer, Rivera recorded 27 appearances of 2+ innings.
Uribe bunted two balls foul, ... and then tomahawked a high fastball from David Carpenter into left-field stands for a shocking two-run homer ....
Note that I wrote "David Carpenter" and not "Craig Kimbrel."
The Braves had to win this game. Lose, and they go home. Somehow they lost -- in the late innings, no less -- without using the most dominant relief pitcher in the game.
The sad thing is, Gonzalez apparently didn't even think of using Kimbrel for two innings. "I think six outs isn't something we were even talking about in the dugout," he said after the game.
But what’s the difference between four outs and six outs? Six pitches? Ten pitches? And that doesn’t even factor in that the Dodgers had the 5-6-7 hitters due up in the eighth and the 8-9-1 hitters up in the ninth.
So instead you lost a game with a guy who had a 6.07 ERA last year for the Houston Astros.
... ".. I want the ball." We'll see if Kimbrel confirms that, but even if he didn't say that, his look of disgust, standing there with his hands on his hips, will haunt Braves fans all winter.
This should be covered in Managing 101. ... Who cares if it's the seventh inning or the eighth inning or the ninth. I'd rather lose with Carpenter in the ninth inning or the 10th inning or whenever ...
Look, managing your bullpen in a structured manner in the regular season is one thing.
October is not the regular season.
Fredi Gonzalez didn't think the best reliever in the game can get six outs.
He ended up getting none.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Announcers are influenced by a home crowd. They feel a need to speak louder and faster because of crowd noise and excitement. Fans of the visiting teams always think there’s a home team bias.
That said, it’s possible announcers can actually show bias, but it’s almost always in favor of East Coast teams or, secondarily, California teams.
Valid points; just seems the Fox guys are heavily pro-DET, this game anyway.
Sometimes, I wonder if the TV guys want this series to go 7, and they cheer who they may think is the underdog to get to game 7.
Yes. More exposure is good for their careers, too.
Dang, I jinxed myself after Cabrera singles in a run. Fielder still stinking it up to end inning.
The next game should be Middlebrooks @ 3rd, Xander @ SS. Drew offers nothing offensively; he can be the late inning defensive replacement.
5 - 4 - 3 DP. Time for some runs.
Great DP! Yes, a couple more runs would be sweet.
That may have been the 1st run the Sox bullpen has given up in this ALCS. Breslow in.
Yep. The Bres is in for the rescue. Would like BOS to score a couple more runs...
Tiggers are relying on Veras alot. About 30 pitches from him.
He’s their Breslow.
Bres and then Koji to nail this f**ker down.
Makes last night pants-sh*tting by Peavy all the worse - could have closed this out tonight.
Yup.
Yep.
Peralta battles BUT Ks. Heh.
Big K.
Infante - Ks. Top of the 9th.
Koji’s the man! He almost makes me forgive Japan for Pearl Harbor.
Assuming Uehara comes back in the ninth, the Tigers need to lay off that splitter. Almost all of them are out of the strike zone.
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