Gullycanyon's musings on baseball

[The Suburban Avenger]

I meant Pujols' error in the ninth ... apparently the scorer went back and gave him an error about an hour after the game ended. I'm not sure the runner would not have reached second had he fielded the throw, which wasn't a great throw.

Of course, Tim McCarver was certain the ball caromed off Pujols' glove (it certainly didn't seem to), so the batshit old coot prattled on for the next 15 minutes about how the ball hit Pujols' glove.

Tim McCarver = the white Joe Morgan

[gullycanyon]

I saw those clumsy plays from Freese, too. Thought: Our guy woulda had that.
A quick glance at the Fielding Stats for 2011 is revealing, although Freese didn't play a full-time 3B for the team. Still, certain totals & percentages can be compared, and he didn't look too good.
In these World Series games, it sure as hell looked like the thing to do is to hit the ball to his right (or, for those watchin' onna teevy, to his left; y'know, the foul-line side,) drop the bat, and run like hell for 1st Base while he, or somebody else, attempts to retrieve the ball that went "just past his out-stretched glove."

[The Suburban Avenger]

I saw those clumsy plays from Freese, too. Thought: Our guy woulda had that.
A quick glance at the Fielding Stats for 2011 is revealing, although Freese didn't play a full-time 3B for the team. Still, certain totals & percentages can be compared, and he didn't look too good.
In these World Series games, it sure as hell looked like the thing to do is to hit the ball to his right (or, for those watchin' onna teevy, to his left; y'know, the foul-line side,) drop the bat, and run like hell for 1st Base while he, or somebody else, attempts to retrieve the ball that went "just past his out-stretched glove."

Freese looked very pedestrian in the field last night.

No dog in this fight, but I hope the Rangers win it all. Mostly for guys like Napoli, Kinsler and Michael Young.

[gullycanyon]

Not me.
I can't stand Ron Washington and his jitterbugging on the dugout steps, and Right Fielders who oil themselves up and pose for muscle photos give me the fuckin' creeps.
I do admire Michael Young, though; after the way the Rangers have moved him around like a throw rug, I guess what I would really like is for him to go to another team and end up with a ring. Time's a-wastin,' however.
I had warmed up to the idea of the Tigers making a move on him, but it didn't happen.

[The Beav]

I saw those clumsy plays from Freese, too. Thought: Our guy woulda had that.
A quick glance at the Fielding Stats for 2011 is revealing, although Freese didn't play a full-time 3B for the team. Still, certain totals & percentages can be compared, and he didn't look too good.
In these World Series games, it sure as hell looked like the thing to do is to hit the ball to his right (or, for those watchin' onna teevy, to his left; y'know, the foul-line side,) drop the bat, and run like hell for 1st Base while he, or somebody else, attempts to retrieve the ball that went "just past his out-stretched glove."

Freese looked very pedestrian in the field last night.

No dog in this fight, but I hope the Rangers win it all. Mostly for guys like Napoli, Kinsler and Michael Young.

I have to agree. Just for the fact that I don't want La Russa or McGwire on the winning side again. It was cool as the 89 A's, but I can't win $20 on this series so fuck 'em.

[gullycanyon]

Shit, I gotta admit that Derek Holland is pitching his ass off, here in Game Four of the World Series.

Let me clarify, here: I don't hate the Rangers. I cannot stand Ron Washington, and Nelson Cruz makes my skin crawl. I don't like Adrian Beltre, but I respect good baseball players, and he's a good baseball player, with bat or glove.
But, I (of course) respect Nolan Ryan, and-- as I stated, earlier-- Michael Young is one of the better hitters of the past decade, and he has put up with a lot of shit from the Rangers. If they win this thing, it may bring him some gratification to consider that, partially through his willingness to be a team player (another quality I respect,) he has helped them to bring in Kinsler, Andrus, and Beltre, so even though his bat has been soft in this post-season, he is, in a way, the Rangers' MVP.

[The Suburban Avenger]

Holland was terrific last night. Even if Carpenter shuts them down tonight, the Rangers have pretty favorable pitching matchups in games 6 and 7.

And that was the Edwin Jackson we all remember and love. Seven walks.

[gullycanyon]

There is no debating the assertion that one of the best, maybe the best, trade-deadline move was the Tigers' acquisition of Doug Fister.
Furthermore, the Tigers-- who, some locals believed, should have pursued free-swinging Free Agent Adam Dunn-- were wise to instead attract Victor Martinez. Martinez had pretty much exactly the type of season, at the plate, that he usually has, but for the fact that he did no significant amount of crouching behind it.
Improving the net gain of that canny decision was the White Sox' pick-up of Dunn, who did absolutely nothing for the White Sox-- who many, including Gully, figured to be the odds-on favorite to win the ALC-- but disappoint them, while pocketing $12,000,000 of Money For Nothing and having them on the hook (more like a noose, as it turns out) for $44,000,000 more over the next three years.
While, of course, other factors-- certainly including the trade for Fister-- were involved, the boost Martinez gave the Tigers' offense combined with the toxicity of the White Sox' signing of the suddenly-lifeless outfielder to, on its own, swing the ALC crown away from the White Sox and right into the Tigers' grasp. A Dunn Deal, we might say, if we were that shamelessly punderous.

Meanwhile-- last winter, really-- a three-way deal went down. While it was no rival, in over-all fruitfulness, for the three-way from the previous winter, one involving a total of seven players who all wound up in 2011's post-season action (Curtis Granderson, Ian Kennedy, Max Scherzer, Phil Coke, Daniel Schlereth, Austin Jackson, & Edwin Jackson!! Edwin, ironically, has moved twice-- and thrown a no-hitter-- since the original three-way, one of the moves having put yet another guy, Diamondback Daniel Hudson, into this year's October festivities, and the other having landed Edwin in St. Louis, for whom he got a starting assignment in Game 4 of the World Series,) it resulted in one very important addition to the Texas Rangers.

In my previous epistle, I cited Michael Young's slightly-begrudging willingness to move, one more time, as having played an important part in the assembling of 2011's American League Champs.
But, Young was already there, which is not true of Mike Napoli, who contributed his career-best season into the Rangers' successful pennant drive.
Napoli, you see, did not come directly from the Los Angeles Angels. Napoli was first sent to the Blue Jays, who were eager to unload Vernon Wells and the ridiculous, and pointlessly unmanageable, contract to which they had agreed with him. The Jays found a willing Fall Guy in the Angels, who never hesitate to spend gobs of money on players, despite their long-standing inability to bring in guys who will combine to form a team capable of winning more than, at most, a 1st-place finish in a mediocre AL West. So, the Angels sent Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera (soon Designated for Assignment before landing, back in California, with the Dodgers) to Toronto, and the Jays sent Wells, along with his brutalizing, inappropriate contract, to the hapless Angels; the Blue Jays, confident that they had, in young J.P. Arencibia, their Catcher-In-Waiting, sent Napoli to the Rangers in exchange for relief pitcher Frank Francisco, who showed promise as a potential Closer but was imminently expendable, given that the suddenly pitching-rich Rangers were happily exploiting the luxury of being able to casually lean back in their chairs and figure out, between Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando, which to use as a Starter and which to use as a Closer.

So, when we watched Game 4 of this World Series, Nick Punto wasn't the only guy we saw who had gotten lucky and found himself playing for a ring.
Great God, I love baseball.

[Ya Mar]

ANy thing that makes George W. happy makes me hate it.

Go Cards...

[The Suburban Avenger]

ANy thing that makes George W. happy makes me hate it.

Go Cards...

But if the Cards win it will make George 'throws like a girl' Will happy.

Either way, we all lose.

[The Beav]

ANy thing that makes George W. happy makes me hate it.

Go Cards...

But if the Cards win it will make George 'throws like a girl' Will happy.

Either way, we all lose.

I could care less about what the hell the Wills think. I want Nolan Ryan to be happy.

[The Suburban Avenger]

I could care less about what the hell the Wills think. I want Nolan Ryan to be happy.

Nolan Ryan is nine innings away from happy.

In last night's Tony LaRussa retard circus, why do you have Pujols hit and run (and yes, Pujols reportedly likes the play) when Ogando looked too scared to throw anything near the plate on a full count? Instead of two on with nobody out, the runner gets a late start, Pujols swings and misses and the double play clears the bases.

And blaming the dugout phone for not having Motte ready to face Napoli is horseshit.

[The Suburban Avenger]

That there was one hell of a last three innings last night.

Fearless prediction: Pujols goes all King Kong again tonight and Carpenter shuts them down ... Cardinals win 9-2.

[Ya Mar]

That there was one hell of a last three innings last night.

Fearless prediction: Pujols goes all King Kong again tonight and Carpenter shuts them down ... Cardinals win 9-2.

That was an amazing thing to watch last night. I am not old enough to remember watching Fisk in '75, but I cannot believe that any WS game in the last 5 decades was more exciting - especially since it was the Rangers ont he receiving end...

[Roquefort Robert]

I just kept saying, "Wow". After this season, it would only make sense that the World Series goes like this. I may never again see a baseball season with so much drama and so many twists and turns.