STL vs WSH

And Morse just blasted a 2 run HR into the bullpen in the 3rd! Go Nats! Nats up 6-0.

The kid is having quite a night.

9 innings of torture, but sometimes all 9 mean something.
We are so used to it in the Bay Area. Since MVPosey arrived, 9 innings of torture is lots more fun.
What a game this thing called baseball!
Seems like it was just a few months ago I sat with justbaseball and listened to Daniel Descalso talk about how his HS coach didn't think he could play shortstop and it took the Cardinals to prove things wrong...he laughed.
What a night for a former UC Davis guy! Great night!
I hope they are done though..starting Sunday.

The baseball gods apparently wanted to see the # 1 draft pick play the game and when they didn't.....oh boy.

Wow! I am absolutely stunned! Davey Johnson did nothing. Even when the game became tied. Nada, nothing.

Hats off to the Cardinals. They never gave up. The experience of having been in post season showed.

Nightmare for the Nats.

Cards bottom of the order came through big time.

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:
Seems like it was just a few months ago I sat with justbaseball and listened to Daniel Descalso talk about how his HS coach didn't think he could play shortstop and it took the Cardinals to prove things wrong...he laughed.

I've known Daniel since he was 14. Also know Drew Storen as a former Stanford teammate of my older son. Both have really great and supportive families.

As happy as I can feel for Daniel tonight...I truly ache for Drew and his family probably by a factor of 10. Maybe it's because my son is a pitcher too and I could imagine the pain. But my wife and I were in agony as that 9th inning unfolded.

Just the way I feel right now.

Footnote - A scan of Twitter tonight shows some horribly insensitive comments directed at Drew. Just breaks my heart.

LOL..Bet Nats could've used Strasburg to shut down Cardinals. Those decision makers have to be the dumbest bunch on the planet. If I were a Nat fan, I'd have been livid.

Lots of credit goes to the Cards for working their way out of a deep 6-0 hole, especially away. Must be a very healthy clubhouse.

The twitter stuff disappoints me as well, but on the Nationals website the majority of fans have been very supportive. Storen has had a very good season since coming back from surgery. Prior to that he really did well. There is no doubt he was the right person out there-- although it didn't work out. There was (understandable) sentiment they kept him out too long, but again things happen so quickly. He seemed classy in defeat, and although I do not know him at all I feel he will not let this incident define him. Seems too strong (mentally and physically) for that.

That's why I love baseball.....just like life, you should take nothing for granted. Murphy is alive and well.

quote:

Originally posted by PA Dino:
That's why I love baseball.....just like life, you should take nothing for granted. Murphy is alive and well.

All due respect to Murphy, he wasn't there last night.

One team wanted it more than other. No unhurt team member didn't play and they proved again, 6th time recently, they are the best short series team in the world.

They didn't let the umps or the other team take the series.

Go Cards, they need some respect, because they earned it.

"This NL division series was over, you see, but no one bothered to tell the Cardinals. No one informed the team with the strongest and most unbreakable heart in pro sports, that it was time to stop competing, time to end the fight, time to pack and say goodbye until the first dawn of 2013 spring training.

It was supposed to be closing time for the Cardinals at Nationals Park, but go ahead and just try to make this team quit before they've used up all of their energy, all of their will, and their 27th out. Just try to make the Cardinals hang their heads and go home for the winter.

On a bracing Friday night that felt chilled and charmed, just like the enchanted autumn of 2011, the Cardinals gave us one of the all-time shockers. It was something out of the imagination, a baseball fable that couldn't be real. Except it did really happen, and if you closed your eyes and listened intently, you may have heard the echoes of the late Jack Buck barking "Go crazy, folks. Go crazy."

In one of the most amazing, improbable, remarkable, miraculous, incredible, unbelievable, astonishing and stupefying comebacks in MLB postseason history, the Cardinals came up with the 2012 version of Game 6.

This was another October, in a new year and in a different city. The retired future Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa wasn't here to push them on, and the menacing Albert Pujols wasn't waving a bat at the Nationals, playing his customary role of enforcer. None of it mattered during this 3 hours and 49 minutes of mayhem and madness. The Cardinals are still the team that wouldn't die."

http://www.stltoday.com/sports...52-0019bb30f31a.html

Apparently Chris Carpenter's presence in the dugout was dramatic. He started in the 3rd or 4th inning telling everyone that if they believed that the Cardinals would come back. Apparently, he was non stop in this message.

As a member of Cardinal's nation, that was fun. Congratulations to the Washington Nationals. They have a tremendous future ahead of them.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
Apparently Chris Carpenter's presence in the dugout was dramatic. He started in the 3rd or 4th inning telling everyone that if they believed that the Cardinals would come back. Apparently, he was non stop in this message.

As a member of Cardinal's nation, that was fun. Congratulations to the Washington Nationals. They have a tremendous future ahead of them.

Also with the team (not sure in dugout but with team) is Berkman and Furcal two big influences in last years success (the other mentor with impact Dotel at Detroit). These are guys who have been there and done it, over and over. You really can't lose with that type of experience in the clubhouse.

The story that is amazing to me is Pete Kozma, who was the first round pick same year as DK. I watched him grow up. Have seen him many times in person and he has such a sweet swing. Often ridiculed for his insistance to swing on the first pitch and lots of errors at SS, he was always young for every team he played on. Last I saw him was in 2011, skinny, his body has filled out and has matured. I would suspect working with the ML staff has also allowed for improvement. It's crazy because everyone thought he might be dropped from the 40 man, but that just goes to show you fans usually aren't correct.

quote:

One team wanted it more than other.

I would sure question that statement and how you would know that not being in both dugouts and clubhouses. One team might have had more experience in terms of how to handle those late innings of intense pressure. Want it more in a way that made the difference those last 5 innings..not a chance.
Did the Yankees want it more than the Orioles, the Giants more than the Reds, Detroit more than the A's?
Did Buster Posey want it more than Matt Latos when he hit the slam?
Wanting it more? How could anyone know.

quote:

Still not sold on the new Wild Card rules. There are two teams that had better season records than the Cardinals that are at home watching on TV.

So you'd rather have a team who can win games when it doesn't really matter instead of a team who can win when it's "win or die?"

Anybody can win when you just go out and play. Put the pressure on and competitors will come out.

TPM, nice post on Kozma. As an FYI, statements like "they wanted it more" have always puzzled me. Is there a possibility that a team that "wanted it more" lost? Sure. I don't even understand how this statement can be qualified in any sport.

Just watched the jesture by Harper. What a shame.

First of all....GO CARDS!

And I hate to even ask, but what gesture by Harper?

quote:

Originally posted by justbaseball:

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:
Seems like it was just a few months ago I sat with justbaseball and listened to Daniel Descalso talk about how his HS coach didn't think he could play shortstop and it took the Cardinals to prove things wrong...he laughed.

I've known Daniel since he was 14. Also know Drew Storen as a former Stanford teammate of my older son. Both have really great and supportive families.

As happy as I can feel for Daniel tonight...I truly ache for Drew and his family probably by a factor of 10. Maybe it's because my son is a pitcher too and I could imagine the pain. But my wife and I were in agony as that 9th inning unfolded.

Just the way I feel right now.

Footnote - A scan of Twitter tonight shows some horribly insensitive comments directed at Drew. Just breaks my heart.

justbaseball, what a poignant post. Knowing your sons are pitchers and your knowing the pitcher and his family has to make it tougher.
I read this quote of Drew Storen early this morning:

"Closer Drew Storen, who five times threw a pitch while one strike from a victory but each was called a ball: "It's the best job when you're good at it. It's the worst job when you fail. Just got to learn from it."

Very mature approach in the toughest of locker room situations with the media. "Just got to learn from it." For me, that says so much about Drew Storen and his make-up.

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:

Still not sold on the new Wild Card rules. There are two teams that had better season records than the Cardinals that are at home watching on TV.

Follow that logic and we can skip the playoffs and World Series all together.

quote:

So you'd rather have a team who can win games when it doesn't really matter instead of a team who can win when it's "win or die?"

The regular season should matter ! Heck, if the owners really wanted to protect their precious pitcher's arms, they'd shorten this already irrelevant season and get to the playoffs in September.

In the 1960's through somewhere in the mid 90's the playoffs were the east and west division winners. There was a real pennant race. The very best of the best teams proven by grinding out a complete season....then competed for a chance at the World Series. Excitement was that last week of games leading up to the close of the regular season when teams were literally battling it out to the bitter end.

Now we have a watered down system where mediocre teams can win one game and advance, get lucky and claim the prize. The old way, all four teams were proven winners. I am not a big fan of the expanded wild card format but all that matters is the owners are. Here to stay.

If you don't have the wild card, you would have the occasional injustice of a team at or barely above .500 winning its division while a second place team in another division doesn't advance despite winning 12-15 more games.

I personally don't care if they have zero, one, or two wild card teams. However, I think it is pointless to argue about the format after the playoffs have begun, just as I had little patience with Ranger fans who suddenly decided last October that they didn't like using the all-star game to decide home field advantage in the WS.

Also, it seems that a divisional champion forfeits its claim to be the better team if it can't win a playoff series in which: a) they have a home field advantage that puts every possible elimination game in their own park, b) the wild card winner has to survive a play-in game while they rest, and c) games one and five match their ace against their opponent's #2. That's a lot of advantages.

quote:

a) they have a home field advantage that puts every possible elimination game in their own park, b) the wild card winner has to survive a play-in game while they rest, and c) games one and five match their ace against their opponent's #2. That's a lot of advantages.

Unless d.) a team volunteers to sit out their ace in games one and five just to give the other team a fighting chance.

I guess I have missed the memo that states that a 15-6 pitcher guarantees a victory. Granted Strasburg is a talent but nothing is guaranteed in the post season. Some fans are talking like it is a foregone conclusion that if he pitches the Cardinals do not stand a chance. I seem to recall that the Cardinals were not only not the favorite last year but given a slim chance at best to advance.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
I guess I have missed the memo that states that a 15-6 pitcher guarantees a victory. Granted Strasburg is a talent but nothing is guaranteed in the post season. Some fans are talking like it is a foregone conclusion that if he pitches the Cardinals do not stand a chance. I seem to recall that the Cardinals were not only not the favorite last year but given a slim chance at best to advance.

Darrell,
It was in the same memo that says the Braves would have been guaranteed to start hitting with RISP if the umpire had been wise enough to rule on the "intent" of the infield fly rule instead of the boring old language of its wording.

I happen to think the better team won. Considering the total circumstances.

It never was in my opinion that Strasburg would have guaranteed a win or two for that matter. It was that he belonged on that mound because he represented their best chance to win.

As a team member, you owe it to your teammates to get up on that mound and prove your commitment to the team, justify your salary, solidify your character. If you are not injured to where you can't contribute, then you should be out there. Guys like Cal Ripken demonstrated that commitment matters to teammates and fans. Remember the lap around the park? Or Curt Shilling...the bloody sock?

What happened to Strasburg is a step backward. It's all about I, Me, Mine. Next year he's supposed to step up to the plate. Well, if I were his teammate ......I'd put him in the ice tray.

PA Dino, I didn't mean to imply that you were saying such. I just piggybacked on to your post the notion by the talking heads and other experts that Strasburg guaranteed National wins.

Swampboy, I agree and listen to all of the comments that the Cardinals would have lost to the Braves if... No one knows what would have happened and yes, certainly there might have been a chance that the Braves would have won. However, and again, no one knows.

quote:

As an FYI, statements like "they wanted it more" have always puzzled me.

Same here.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachB25:
TPM, nice post on Kozma. As an FYI, statements like "they wanted it more" have always puzzled me. Is there a possibility that a team that "wanted it more" lost? Sure. I don't even understand how this statement can be qualified in any sport.

Just watched the jesture by Harper. What a shame.

I have a feeling that first time up at bat against the Cardinals next season he will get a free pass to first.
If you read the STL dispatch there is an interesting article with the players telling their version of how everthing unfolded.

quote:

Just watched the jesture by Harper. What a shame.

Maybe you guys saw a different video than I did. What I saw is just "whatever" to me. And many know I'm not a Harper fan.

I saw what I would consider worse at a high school football game Friday night..