third eye

No extra innings. Unless we sub in the scrub team.

Hey folks, this looks like a good place to rehash the diving vs. running through the bag debate.

Whats with the soccer chant at Shea?

Wow, Sutcliff alluding to the overratedness of the closer position without even knowing it.

I mostly agree, but the 5 game series lends itself to being dominated by a single starter more than a 7 gamer. Also provides a greater chance for a flukey outcome. Hamels and Santana are more of a concern than anyone the Dodgers can throw out there. Manny Ramirez? I'd pitch around him any time someone was on base.

I mostly agree, but the 5 game series lends itself to being dominated by a single starter more than a 7 gamer. Also provides a greater chance for a flukey outcome. Hamels and Santana are more of a concern than anyone the Dodgers can throw out there.

WTF was Ronny doing there?

Interesting...since i'm pretty sure we wont be having SRO in the playoffs. Really? Why the change? They were available last year.

Could it get any better than Woody recording a strikeout to finish off a World Series win? I mean, a walkoff to win the final game would be really, really awesome. But sentimentally, Woody finishing off the last game would be unbelievable. I've run through these scenarios in my head countless times this year. The best one I can think of is ARam, Soto, Dero or Lee hitting a go ahead homer in the bottom of the 8th in game 4 or 5 (home) of the WS, then having Kerry come in to strike out the side in the 9th.

5/30/08?

2 and 3 That is the amount of extra base hits Theriot had in those months respectively. I'm all for OBP, but if you convert those months to wOBA, I believe you are going to get two below league average months, the first one being way below league average. Like I've said about 80 bagillion times, Theriot's peripherals don't show that hes gotten lucky, but his utter and complete lack of power (which I believe is purposeful as his FB rate has dropped significantly), leaves him as a player that is more dependent on luck than pretty much every other player in baseball. We've seen the regression happen within this season and last season. This isn't just a slump or him getting tired. This is to be expected when you don't put the ball into play with power. Hes making the most of his talents and I'm grateful to him to recognize and do that, lots of players don't, but hes no great shakes by any stretch of the imagination. Well, if we go by OPS, then, yes there were only 2 good months. Given that no one attributes any value to his power contributions, should we really throw out the .407 and .384 OBPs in his next 2 lowest OPS months, even given the lack of XBH? I understand the belief that Adam Dunn is the archetype of the modern hitter (correctly so, in many ways), but Theriot has had no lower than a .325 BABIP in any month before this one. Is there no accounting for the rare player who can get a hit without (much) speed and without power? Usually the high BABIP is reserved for the player with good power who has a high LD%. Doesn't seem to hold in this case. Maybe it is a statistical anomaly, but is it possible that this style of hitting doesn't fall into the accepted metrics in terms of predictive usefulness? I ask this as a point of curiosity to those closer to the more advanced metrics. I find the regression to the mean explanation a tired one, no pun intended.

There was more last year I think. I was there last year, and I don't think it rivaled 2003. But then again, it was a road clinch where the celebration came after the Milwaukee loss. I wasn't there this year, but it seemed that this was a foregone conclusion. The real excitement should come when/if they get past the first round.

either one is possible considering the recent trends of the Brewers and Cubs wait are these posts seriously referring to the astros having a legitimate chance at winning the division. please say no so that my brain does not explode. I don't think anyone is really saying that. But they have made it mildly interesting in the WC race. If you consider 6.2% interesting. I was responding to the fact that they really have put together some unbelievable late runs runs in 4 of the last 5 years.

Yeah, the Cards announcers said 3 out of the last 4 seasons, but I took issue with that. We all know the finish to the 2004 season. 2005, coming back from a 15-30 start to finish with 89 wins and a World Series appearance. 2006, nearly catching the Cards before their playoff run. Nothing last year, but they are back at it this year. Unreal.

lesayuno

I agree with this. But I considered them closer to a .600 team that had a somewhated flukey run on the positive side as well. Yes, the 1-8 alters your estimation of the team marginally, but the degree to which it matters might also depend on whether you were overestimating them before. I didn't really think they were a .630 team as their record indicated. In any case, they just really need to be a .500 team the rest of the way to not have to worry about the odds.

The 1-8 streak has only knocked about 0.5% off of the playoff probability, so there hasn't been a real reason to panic. This stretch is nauseating, but it hasn't even begun to meaningfully alter postseason odds. It is tempting, on one hand, to say that it is better to "get this out of our system now" rather than in October. I just don't buy that reasoning. Landing tails on a 60/40 weighted coin 8 out of 9 times in the final stretches of a 162 sample experiment doesnt really change the likelihood of winning 3/5 subsequent flips post-sample. This is a .600 team, and that is terrific. I just don't believe that the poor play is really getting flushed out of the system with this rough patch. Edit: I should add that autocorrelation is stronger in time series for baseball than in a coin flip. So there should be more of a "momentum factor". Still, the variables that determine the swings in momentum are too volatile in a small sample size, like a playoff series, to dictate the relationship between late season wins and post season wins.

Win 7 in a row, gain two games. Go 1-7 and only lose 2 games. Not a huge difference, but I prefer the former. Lets get back to it, K? thx.

You can take credit, but others were here. Just not much to talk about until the 9th :)

Gah, score one for the olde time color commentary guys.

Encarnacion on deck. He's not clutch. Just ask Jeff Brantley.

DBR! Spoilers du jour (sp?)

Torres toast anyone? damn, one out.

7.5 up on the WC