A few random thoughts about last night's game. I sent these to a few of my friends and thought I'd pass them on to the list as well. A nice break from the political battling going on.
- Has anyone heard what Molina and Manny where discussing so heatedly at home plate? - I'm not sure if John Mabry actually tipped that third strike or not but Tim McCarver's read of the actions of the Sox catcher was completely off. He said the catcher's actions looked like someone who thought it was a third strike and who couldn't believe that Mabry didn't run. From the replays I saw, it looked like the catcher got up pretty nonchalantly for someone who was going to have to make a throw to first to get Mabry if he had started running or to try to stop the runner at third from scoring. Later in the inning (or the next inning), there was another ball that got away from the catcher a bit with a runner on base. He jumped right up and after THAT one! - Anybody else feel that Tony LaRussa went into the game knowing there was no chance, had somewhat given up and wanted to give some World Series experience to his players? What other explanation is there for playing John Mabry, starting Molina and letting Hector Luna (of all people) bat with 4 outs left in the series. Was *anyone* surprised that Luna struck out? Clearly bringing in Izzy was just a nod to his closer who couldn't get into the series otherwise. - When it was obvious that Jason Marquis was struggling, why didn't Tony go to the bullpen? Sure, Marquis worked through it and only gave up 3 runs but he was pretty lucky to only give up 3. Was he saving the bullpen for today? - Having said that, I don't blame LaRussa for the loss in the WS. How could you? When your 4-5-6 men all have something like 2 hits between them in the entire SERIES, you know you are in big trouble. Last nights game was winnable. Holding that Red Sox line up to 3 runs is a good effort by the pitching staff. They should have won it, but other than Albert Pujols no one seemed to have the desire. - Wow, can Albert Pujols field! - Watching Pujols bat late in the game was *so* painful. It was so clear that he was swinging for the fences every single time (as was Walker) to the exclusion of all else. He clearly had no confidence that if he did get on base, the guys behind him would bring him home. With good reason, I might add. - I went into the series happy that the Cardinals had put the NLCS jinx behind them. I was determined to be happy with that even if the Cards ended up losing. And I still feel that way. If we had to lose, it was nice to do it to a team that I don't hate for once. Oh well, just wait until next year! - jmh _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
