Tag: 2011 MLB Playoffs

So it’s all tied up 2 – 2 now and true Cardinals fans (as opposed by playoff types like me) may be disappointed in their performance, but as long as they avoid being placed in an elimination bind their situation is not so bad.

No one on the Brewers staff seems to be able to solve the Pujols problem and Zack Greinke with his lousy post season starts (37th and 40th out of 56) and 8.18 ERA is unlikely to be the key.  They’ll be reduced to pitching around him.

Opposing will be Jaime Garcia who’s pitched better than his record.  Also Berkman will be back in the lineup after a day of rest.

Still, it’s likely to be a low scoring game since Busch Stadium is much friendlier to pitchers than Miller Park.

I’ll remind myself that this weekend is also a Formula One weekend with Qualifying in Yeongam tonight at 1 am.  I’m not sure what I’ll talk about as I missed practice in last night’s excitement.

#occupyeverywhere

As bad as you think Lohse is (and he had a terrible 5 Run 6th against the Phillies), Wolf was positively torched in the 5 Run 1st by the Diamondbacks and surrendered another 2 in the 3rd.

So this might be a high scoring game.

With a 2 – 1 Series advantage, the Cardinals need not leave the friendly confines of Busch Stadium while in the battle of the beers the Brewers desperately need a road victory to send it back to Miller Park.

Either way a defeat won’t crush the Cards who look to be the better team for all their wild cardiness (heh), but the Brewers, while not in desperation mode just yet, will be trying hard to even this one up.

Up Date by TheMomCat:

The site server was down but we are back. Here is a recap of what has happened so far:

MLCS Brewers at Cardinals Game 4:

Weather could be a factor. It’s very windy

Line up

Top of the 1st: Pitching for Cardinals is Kyle Lohse

1 out; 2 out;

Brewers’  Braun Base hit, single

Brewers’ Fielder strikes out, side retires one runner left on

Bottom of 1st: Randy Wolf pitching for the Brewers

1 out; 2 outs; 3rd out inning over

Top of the 2nd:  1 out at 1st, 2nd out; 3rd out on a fly ball

Bottom of the 2nd: 1 out; Solo home run by Matt Halliday

1 – 0 Cardinals with 1 out.

Ground rule double by Molina

Base hit to 1st, Molina on 3rd; 1 out

Base hit out at 1st, runners on 2nd & 3rd

Pitcher Lohse at bat and je strikes out

Top of the 3rd: 1 out; Brewer pitcher Randy Wolf with a double

Ugh.  I think we’re at the ‘pray for rain’ stage of this particular series.  Fortunately there’s almost a 100% chance of that.

If Chaac fails to come through (and goodness knows he doesn’t much listen to Rick Perry’s prayers) we have another Verlander/Wilson matchup.  For the supposed aces of their staffs neither one of these guys has looked particularly dominant, of course that may be because of their Joe Btfsplk-like rainmaking qualities.

From here on the Tigers have to win every single game which is always a tough row to hoe.  Additionally they’re suffering from injuries to Martinez, Young, and Ordonez.  If you see any of them play it’s merely a sign of desperation.

In contrast the Rangers need pick up only 1 of 3 remaining (with 2 of those home games) and their only questionable starter is Beltre.  Despite (or perhaps because of) that the latest betting line favors the Tigers in this particular contest.

Who knows?  That’s why they play the games.

All even going into St. Louis where we will have a 55% chance of rain and the question is whether Chris Carpenter will be available for Game 7 if it happens and it happens on time.

He’ll be facing Yovani Gallardo in another duel of the aces.  Nothing more boring than that.

The Brewers are under a bit of pressure because of their loss Monday, not from the margin which was due to an incredible performance from Pujols, but because strategically they have to win on the road against the Cardinals.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as you are aware I’m rooting for the Cards to win it all, but it’s causing some tension with my dad, Richard, who’s an honorary Cheesehead (I’m only half troll).

Not that he cares all that much, both he and Mom are die hard Yankee fans since they moved their games to Newsradio 88 (traffic and weather together at 8, 18, 28, 38, 48, and 58 minutes past the hour) and he shows more interest in hating on the Rangers (“they have ‘Texas’ in their name and that’s all I need to know”).

Yup, us Metropolitan supporters are masochistic rebels.

Yay!  Detroit wins one and Richard is pleased.

One win does not a series decide and the Tigers are still in a hole that only with good luck and a win in Arlington will they dig their way out of.

Today we’ll see Rick Porcello and Matt Harrison.  It’s basically a pick ’em based on ERA, though Porcello got pasted in his start against the Yankees and the Rangers’ Harrison performed quite competently in Game 4 with the Devil Rays.

On the injury front Beltray, Martinez, and Young are all expected to start.  It’s been raining in Detroit and we could have yet another delay.

I am soooo looking forward to that.

Well, I can’t pretend the results in this series so far are what I would wish.  At best the Tigers can hope to win at least once in Arlington and advance.  I’m sure they’re gratified that Obama has declared he’d rather watch them than the Republican debate.

Me?  I’m not so sure.

The Rangers will be putting up Colby Lewis who has an ERA of 13 (yup, you can expect him to give up 13 runs for every 9 innings pitched) against the Tigers this year with a substantially superior but still sucky 4.66 ERA last year.  Rangers fans will say that he’s a different pitcher in the post-season with an ERA of only 1.65.

The Tigers will counter with Doug Fister who is much, much better on paper.  Still, while it’s difficult to claim any but an elimination game is a ‘must win’, if they don’t succeed tonight it’s hard to see any way through to the World Series.

Another positive sign for the Tigers is the Rangers record of futility at Comerica Park.  Negative signs are that Magglio Ordonez’s injury may mark end of his career and his replacement Delmon Young will sit tonight after aggravating his oblique strain.

There is no denying the 6th inning was kind of a melt down (though I was able to stay awake until the 8th).  From now on they’re going to close the roofs no matter how nice the weather to avoid home field wind tunnel effects.

Maybe they’ll let you pitch inside too.

And that’s the beauty part of the Senior League game.  Pitcher bops one of yours, you bop the pitcher, there’s a bench clearing brawl at the mound, Managers get ejected and have to make their calls watching TV in their office.

You know, like hockey except for the razor sharp skates and sticks.

I’d repeat all my underdog rooting pablum from this afternoon except I’d even bore myself, though I will add that the Cardinals have won 5 of the previous 9 Series in which they’ve fallen behind 1 – 0.

Facing each other tonight are Edwin Jackson and Shaun Marcum.  Marcum had a disasterous start for the Brewers in Game 3 of the series against the Diamondbacks, but he was playing away.  Jackson had a bad outing against the Brewers at the beginning of August but has beat them twice since.  Marcum throws grounders and the Brew Crew’s defense is suspect.  Some of the more breathless pundits are comparing Braun and Fielder to Ruth and Gehrig.

We shall see.

It’s really hard to remember what happened Saturday what with the 2 Rain Delays and Suzuka, but at least last night they had the good sense to cancel early so I could take a nap and the really stellar news is that this afternoon’s game is going to wipe out Faux’s schedule until early evening.

When last we left them the Tigers had just lost a squeaker, 2 – 3, at the Rangers leaving them trailing in the series 1 – 0.  Optimistic fans will say that doesn’t matter so much as you’re always playing for a split away and wins at home.  Plus, of the last 23 7 Game Series, the winner of the initial game went on to ultimate victory only 13 to 10 times.

Sure I’m whistling in the dark here.  I hate the Rangers and want them to lose.

Last night’s rainout will mix up the pitching rotation down the road, but for today it will be Max Scherzer and Derek Holland.  Scherzer is remarkably inconsistent, Yankees fans should think A.J. Burnett.  It also created some breathing space in the Bullpen for the Rangers so Ogando will be available.  Scherzer gets an extra day of rest after a 1 1/3 inning relief appearance.

The other big news is that Magglio Ordonez has re-injured his ankle and will be out for the rest of the post-season.  He’ll be replaced by Delmon Young who was pulled from the roster against the Yankees with a strained oblique.

You may have noticed in my sports reporting I don’t pretend to objectivity.  That doesn’t mean you can’t root for the other team and the play by play is what it is, just that I don’t care if you’re aware that I’m happier if certain teams win.

As I said at the beginning of this year’s Major League Baseball Playoffs I have two distinct prejudices- Junior League teams don’t play Baseball but instead Designated Hitter Derby, a bastardized game designed to protect pitchers from proving their essential offensive uselessness and cowardice in the face of consequences from their injury causing deliberate ‘mistakes’ AND extend the careers of overpriced has beens too old and slow to even play catch.

The other is in favor of teams with compelling underdog stories and from areas not governed by racist corporatists.

So the Cardinals succeed on all counts and the Brewers fail because of Scott Walker.  Sorry Brew Crew.

The Cardinals have a better Bullpen, but their offense has been anemic (on paper they’re superior to the Phillies).  Brewers starters have not pitched to form making them vulnerable.  Today they both pitch the best they have, Carpenter and Greinke, and since both teams hate each other and indulged in a fair amount of trash talk it should be close if not interesting.

I was worried when the Yankees failed to advance I’d lose any minimal rooting interest in the Junior League.  Fortunately my distaste for all things associated with the execrable W is so profound that it allows me to overlook the numerous problems with the Tigers and focus instead on their pitiable record of failure and the deep depression of their host city to summon a small, tiny iota of sympathy.

There’s nothing like that about the Rangers.

One potentially telling statistic is the season long futility of the Rangers in close contests where they are exceeded only by the hapless Royals.  Their starter is C.J. Wilson was just terrible in Game 1 against the Devil Rays.

The Tigers are opposing with Justin Verlander who has been incredibly effective against the Rangers with an ERA of 1.29 and 3 – 0 record in Arlington and 2.61 and 6 – 2 overall.

The corporate shills at MLB are celebrating the defeat of all the major market teams and the ‘balanced’ competitiveness of the remaining field as a triumph of team work over payroll.

They’re full of shit.

What they should be mourning instead is what will be one of the lowest rated championships ever, regardless of how close the games or how long the series last.

But that’s modern capitalism for you, it doesn’t matter how crappy the product is or whether you have a market for it, it’s all about crushing the workers and minimizing your labor costs.

Coverage starts at 8 pm ET on Faux (where they were undoubtedly rooting for the Yankees).