vaball

I don't know, after faltering, they seemed to get pretty hot the last week of the season and carried it right into the playoffs. And just being hot won't always get you to the series, but it sure helps.

Should the Wild Card winner in each league have disadvantages imposed on it? I ask this not as sour grapes after the Cardinals lost to Houston, but it seems to me a structural problem in the baseball postseason. The way that the Wild Card is set up seems to naturally select teams that are the most likely to succeed in October. First, the winning WC team has to be hot just to get in; second, they have to play playoff-pressure games just to get in. The WC team always seems to be exactly where a team would ideally be, intensity wise, to start the playoffs. Third, WC teams do not win the division because balanced teams do. But teams with dominant pitching seem to be the ones that the WC selects. So you end up with a hot team, used to the pressure, with dominant pitching. The very nature of the WC selects a team that is very likely to succed over a short time span like the playoffs. What, then, is the point of playing 162 games other than tradition?

I love Ray, but maybe if he'd been able to retire left handers this season he could have pitched in the playoffs.

power pitching shuts it down. Nobody on our team except Pujols can hit a fastball. We ripped the Padres a new one. We couldn't hit Oswalt for anything.

I'd like to think that the Cards have some money to spend with record attentance this season, 5 playoff games, and increased revenue from the new stadium. The owners said they would put that revenue into the team on the field, we'll see if they keep their word. I think they sign A.J. Burnett, not Giles, and trade Marquis for a young outfielder, perhaps somebody from Texas or Toronto but I really don't know. Grudz comes back. Sanders comes back on a one year deal. (he was having a 30-30 season before he broke his leg in a collision) Carpenter Mulder Burnett Suppan Reyes Eckstein Edmonds Pujols Rolen Sanders Somebody Grudz Molina Izzy, Flores, Wainwright, Thompson . . .

ARod makes more then twice what Pujols does. Pujols outproduces him in almost every offensive category, using seasonal averages, except for HR, of which ARod averages 3 more per season, and stolen bases. The avg., obp., and slg. aren't even close. ARod has more speed, but Pujols is a damn good baserunner in his own right. He's a very good defensive first baseman. He is the consumate team player, and a very humble man. Pujols is 5 years younger than ARod. To me this seems like a no brainer.

Don't think so. Selig didn't like it when the Cards and Dodgers did it last year and said no more.

Every single team in MLB claims to have the best fans in baseball. Every player claims that the team he is currently playing for has the best fans. Go figure. Clearly, however, there are some cities that are better baseball cities than others.

So with Mazzone out is this the year that the Braves finally lose the NL East?

Yeah, we just got beat. Oswalt pitched the game of his life tonight. We lost two scrapers in Houston. No excuses. The only hitter that showed up all series was Pujols, again. That being said I hope the Astros lose the World Series because the flag pole keeps the game winning homer in the park.

Yeah, this is an easy one. Cards-Cubs has been going on for over 100 years and they are two of the oldest teams in all of baseball. The Astros have no identity. They're just some team. The absurd cartoon ballpark they play in is a perfect example of that, like some disney land version of baseball. Here's how Buzz Bissinger described Cardinals-Cubs in "Three Nights in August:" "The Rivalry between the Cubs and the Cardinals is probably the oldest and perhaps the best in baseball, no matter how the Red Sox and Yankees spit and spite at each other. That's a tabloid-fueled soap opera about money and ego and sound bites. That's a pair of bratty high-priced supermodels trying to trip each other in their stilettos on the runway. But the Cards-Cubs epic is about roots and geography and territorial rights. It's entwined in the Midwestern blood and therefore refreshing and honest and even heroic. It isn't simply two teams throwing tantrums at each other but two fuedal city-states with eternal fans far beyond their own walls, spread throughout not only the Midwest but also deep into the South and the West." p. 20

The thing that keeps my eyebrows raised (If ya smelllll....) is the fact he was was born in the Domican Republic, and yet I haven't heard one time he has gone back to his home country. Sammy, Pedro, Moises, Papi, etc, etc...always seems able to get back home, but not Albert. Now unless I am wrong, I think he doesn't leave the states, cause that would require a background check on his passport (if he has one), and with the crackdown on "phony" passports, you know.......I think Pujols is actually closer to 35, then he is 25....he just won't "risk" leaving the stats. But...until the age is "verified" (come on....he ain't 25) people will take it at his word. But IMO, he is the greatest hitter to ever lied about his age. :twisted: Two things: One, Pujols came to the USA when he was 16 and went to high school in the US, not at 9, 10, or 12 like most of the kids who fake their age so that they can dominate in little league. If he has faked his age it doesn't fit into the normal pattern. Two: He went to the Domincan this past offseason. His charitable foundation is active in the domincan. Personally, I don't think he looks older than 25. His face looks a lot more youthful when he shaves and he isn't playing with stubble or a goatee. I think mostly what makes him seem older is the way he carries himself and what a mature presence he has. Some people just seem older than they are because of the way they act. And by the way I know 23 year olds with receeding hairlines and thinning hair.

Did anyone else notice that during the post game press conference Pujols was wearing a shirt that said "Who's Your Daddy?" Owned.

Is that not a moronic post? I've been here a long time, I think most people will vouch that I am not a flamer. This guy's crying and all I did was call out his dumb post. I'm crying so hard I can barely see to type.

Did I insult you? Because that is uncalled for. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't level petty insults against me, seeing as you don't know me.

I'd just like to give some props to the Cubs fans who are rooting for the Cardinals in this series. That you can swallow your pride and want your rival to win is a testament to you as a baseball fan. I'm not sure I could do the same thing if the roles were reversed. And I now see why so many Cubs fans hate Roy Oswalt. Granted, I'm mad he beat us, mainly that we wasted a great game by Mulder, but he really is one punk azz motha. There's just something about him that makes you want to punch him in the face.

Yes, there are many Cardinal fans who hate LaRussa and would be happy to see him fired tomorrow. Why is beyond me since all he does is win. I think he's gotten even better in the last two years because he has loosened up some and given the players more input. But for many Cards fans Whitey Herzog is the pinnacle of management and they have never accepted Tony.

The Cards have also been in the playoffs 5 times in the last 6 years, 4 of those times as division winners. They folded down the stretch in 2003 because of awful pitching. In 2004 they got the pitching to complement the offense. They made that pitching even better for 2005. They also have a history as one of the NL's winningest teams. The Cubs, well, you know . . .

\:D/ Hey, Stuart's lazy eye is better than that bug-eyed runaway bride. :shock: Yeah, but she's not influencing the MVP discussion. Besides, she could probably take in the whole stat sheet at once.

awesome.

You forgot about the time Cub fan gave a standing ovation to someone everyone pretty much suspects and by at least one person's account injected steroids. Yet Cub fan then roundly booed their relief pitcher for giving up a two runs in a meaningless game all on the same night. I didn't see the need to bring Sammy Sosa and LaTroy Hawkins into it.

This one time, I met these Cub fans, and man were they obnoxious! There was just something so "Cub fan" about them. They thought their team was great, and they rooted for it; they were even putting down the other team, sometimes even the other's team's fans! The worst part was that they were so arrogant! They thought their team was the best, better than the other team. Can you believe that? They were actually proud of the Cubs' triumphs over the years and even bragged about them. I hope the Cubs never win anything with fans like that.

Keep in mind that anyone wanting the Astros to win is just asking for another week of that inane train whistle and god-awful piped in bee noise.

Maybe it has something to do with only drafting players who's last name begins with B.

Mulder just got drilled on the left arm by a comebacker in the 2nd inning. Happy now?