Sammy Sofa

Better let www.thesarcasmknowitall.com go.

Those are the only two options?

I have to admit, with Carpernter an Wainwright as the 1-2 and Pujols/Holliday/Ludwick in middle, I thought they had a great chance to do some serious damage in the postseason. I also think they will be a lesser team at the start of 2010. Holliday and DeRo will leave, and Franklin won't repeat his 2009 performance. They'd likely still be a "lesser" team even if they did resign DeRosa, given that he was not all that good for them this year, he's old and he has wrist issues. DeRosa doesn't even need to enter the equation for discussions along these lines. Hopefully the Myth of Mark DeRosa will finally begin it's long-deserved death. I would rather the Cardinals shelled a bunch of years and dollars toward him first. True.

There's a difference between conceding that something is technically possible and agreeing that it's likely to occur.

That's not what I said: I'm asking for evidence that any kind of "bad chemistry" actually cost them games. Seems like a fat, injured and sophomore slumping Soto, injured Soriano, the offensive black hole at 2nd base until Baker showed up and Aramis missing almost half the season would clearly have had much more to do with games being lost than "chemistry" issues. I don't see how anyone could argue that they would have won more games despite all of that simple because they liked each other and got along. Good feelings don't trump critical players in horrible slumps and/or playing injured or on the DL. People want an easy answer as to why the team faltered and Bardley's made himself the obvious target with his poor behavior and stupid comments. Please present your proof that team chemistry has no effect on a team's win/loss record. I'm not saying that it doesn't for sure. Personally, I don't think it does to any significant degree. Baseball is, ultimately a sport of personal ability. The team isn't involved at the moment of truth when a pitcher has to throw his pitch or the batter is taking his swing or the defender is making his play. If baseball players are so easily swayed by their feelings for another player when that player ultimately has nothing to do with what they need to do at the exact moment they're actually being a baseball player (hitting, pitching, catching) then theoretically they're also going to effected by anything negative in their lives. Obviously, some things beyond the game are going to weigh on players as we've arguably seen with players dealing with serious things like death or illness or births involving loved ones, but those are truly important things well beyond some jerk lurking out in RF. I mean, sure, something like the pitchers hating the catcher or vice versa has the real makings of being a problem, but how the hell is Milton Bradley being a jerk effecting how the other players play the game? Are they worried he's going to come out of nowhere and attack them? Are his verbal bon mots so scathing that the thought of them just makes it impossible to concentrate on the game? He's one guy. If everyone else gets along fine, how does one pissy guy shatter the "chemistry?" That's basically saying that these guys are so weak-minded that just the thought of a guy they don't like, who almost always has NOTHING to do with what they need to do as baseball players at any given moment, is going to cause them to play poorly. I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem too realistic.

That's not what I said: I'm asking for evidence that any kind of "bad chemistry" actually cost them games. Seems like a fat, injured and sophomore slumping Soto, injured Soriano, the offensive black hole at 2nd base until Baker showed up and Aramis missing almost half the season would clearly have had much more to do with games being lost than "chemistry" issues. I don't see how anyone could argue that they would have won more games despite all of that simple because they liked each other and got along. Good feelings don't trump critical players in horrible slumps and/or playing injured or on the DL. People want an easy answer as to why the team faltered and Bardley's made himself the obvious target with his poor behavior and stupid comments.

Almost as dishonest as those who, due to either an irrational hatred of the general manager, a strident and close-minded adherence to neo-sabermetric principles (without examining the evidence), or just a general contrarian attitude, refuse to admit that his behavior had any negative impact on the team. I think what we're waiting for is one shred of evidence that Bradley's mere presence made the team worse, and nobody seems to have that for us other than to say he's been on a lot of teams. 1. Step One: Create a finite and irrational set of terms on which a discussion must occur 2. Step Two: Demand Evidence 3. Step Three: Ignore evidence provided by other side by declaring any evidence that doesn't fit within a ridiculous set of terms (see Step One) to "not be evidence." 4. Step Four: Profit! What evidence has been presented that shows that Bradley's negative effect on the chemistry and the attitude of the team actually cost them games?

Oh, those wacky stats freaks.

I have to admit, with Carpernter an Wainwright as the 1-2 and Pujols/Holliday/Ludwick in middle, I thought they had a great chance to do some serious damage in the postseason. I also think they will be a lesser team at the start of 2010. Holliday and DeRo will leave, and Franklin won't repeat his 2009 performance. They'd likely still be a "lesser" team even if they did resign DeRosa, given that he was not all that good for them this year, he's old and he has wrist issues. DeRosa doesn't even need to enter the equation for discussions along these lines. Hopefully the Myth of Mark DeRosa will finally begin it's long-deserved death.

special? they've won 26 championships, which is more than double the number than any other franchise has won. their payroll is about 33% larger than that of any other team in the game, they've been leading their division and league for most of the year, they have more talent than any other roster in the game, and were probably favored to win it all going into 2009. how is this special at all? Winning another one the first year in the new stadium would be pretty cool.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Ozzie vs. Milton has a real possibility of ending in murrrrrrrrrrrrrderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Would it really be that difficult to just alternate home team regular season announcers?

Please prove this.

Man, this is the best I've felt after a baseball game for a couple of months. Granted, that's pretty sad, but still, that was fun to watch.

Oh my God, this is so [expletive] glorious. It's like baseball porn. Go drink your pain away, La Russa.

Didn't Harden basically shut himself down?

I thought they just pulled Thome back so Pierre could lay down the bunt. I think he is still available. Was he not announced?

Burning Jim Thome in the 5th to get Juan Pierre an AB with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out? Yikes. I reiterate again my belief that most good teams win in spite of their managers.

While the "true fan" thing is subjective nonsense, it definitely seems difficult to reconcile being a Cubs fan and rooting for the Cardinals to get a step closer to another WS win. It really would be like a Red Sox fan rooting for the Yankees or vice-versa

why though!? there comes a time when you just have to drop the hatred and realize that an organization has done a good job this decade... recognize that they are a group of quality ball players, and root for them because they deserve to be in the position they are currently Why would I root for the eternal rival just because they have a good team? If anything that just makes me hate them even more.

I don't hate them because of it. It's more of a jealousy/want them to feel the pain they gave us kinda thing. But not when they are playing the Cardinals. Yeah, I really don't have anything against the teams that beat the Cubs in the playoffs. I guess depending on who they'd be playing I'd prefer if they lose, but playing the Cardinals? Go whoever isn't the Cardinals.

That's still screwy.

I don't care if who the Dodgers have on their team; how the hell can you root for the Cardinals?!?

How the hell does that work?