Marlins Beat Giants 3 Games To 1

[korme]

They are the first team in the postseason to advance. A valiant effort by the Giants, who fall 7-6, losing at the plate.

[Tekneek]

I like this Marlins team a lot more than the buy-a-team one that made it before.

[MikeVic]

Saw that sign, thought it was funny. What a good series. Pudge was HUUUUUUUUGE!!! I mean, wow. Didn't he get all 4 RBI's last game, then held onto the ball for the final out today?

[Vince]

Are you f***ing kidding me?!?!?!?! Why the hell send Snow when the bloop single had Conine running full speed towards the plate, Snow is slow as hell, and you have your #3 hitter coming up to the plate? Ridiculous call...I think the Third Base coach made a horrible call there.

[Alan T]

That final play looks like one engineered by the OOTP Postseason baserunning AI.... Amazing sending Snow home instead of having the bases loaded for Bonds to decide the game..


oh and Shorty.. its your draft pick... go now to the board :)

[RendeR]

I'm really impressed that teh Marlins managed to rebuild a title contender in such a short time without blowing out their team salary like they did the first time.

Go Marlins, win another one.

[Vince]

Why not pinch run Eric Young?

[Alan T]

ok.. vince informed me that I had my batting order wrong.. Aurillia was up next.. not bOnds.. but still same deal... Shorty its your draft pick :)

[clintl]

Originally posted by Vince
Why not pinch run Eric Young?

That is the real question. Young probably would have scored.

[Vince]

Well, I myself have been just informed that Eric Young was left off the roster for Jim Brower. I still fail to believe that there wasn't someone faster than JT on the bench.

[korme]

Alan, ok ok, I made my pick!

[Alan T]

:)

[clintl]

Originally posted by Vince
Well, I myself have been just informed that Eric Young was left off the roster for Jim Brower. I still fail to believe that there wasn't someone faster than JT on the bench.

Maybe not. Galarraga was still on the bench, but I can't think of who else was.

[VPI97]

Wow...either the Cubs or Marlins are going to be in the World Series. If that's not a reason to avoid watching it, I don't know what is...

[Vince]

Props to the Marlins...it takes tremendous effort and will to do what they have done.

But the Giants played their way out of every single game in this series. The only reason they won game 1 was because Schmidt made it so they didn't have enough balls put in play to lose the game. In each game, there was a key error or errors that hindered the Giants' chances. Game 1 - JT Snow hesitates, then throws the ball away from second base. Instead of an out at second there is now a runner on third. Game 2 - Cruz Jr. slips and falls, and a 1 RBI sac fly turns into a 2 run double. Game 3 - Neifi Perez dives for a ball he doesn't need to and an easy out turns into a single. Cruz Jr. lets a ball bounce out of his glove, and instead of getting the third out before Pudge can even bat, he gets a two run single that wins the game. Game 4 - Torrealba takes his eyes off the ball, and tries to find Rodriguez to apply the tag...only he doesn't have the ball. Then, to compound matters, the Giants forget about Derrek Lee, and he scores as well.

It's so incredibly frustrating that the Giants lost everything on purely mental errors that could easily have been avoided.

[korme]

If that's not a reason to watch, I don't know what is. What is wrong with having underdog, young teams succeed?

[Vince]

Originally posted by VPI97
Wow...either the Cubs or Marlins are going to be in the World Series. If that's not a reason to avoid watching it, I don't know what is...

Cubs still have to beat the Braves...

[SackAttack]

They would have had Cruz if Alou hadn't felt the need to insert him as a defensive replacement during the double switch.

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Vince
Cubs still have to beat the Braves... If you think the Braves have a chance, I've got this bridge in Brooklyn to sell you...

[Chief Rum]

Marlins win. Cubs winning. The world is good right now.

I just wish the Red Sox would get the message, so they could get off their asses and make this a series against the A's.

CR

[Alan T]

Originally posted by VPI97
If you think the Braves have a chance, I've got this bridge in Brooklyn to sell you...


nice. I have something to sell you, but it wouldnt be polite to say what.

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Alan T
nice. I have something to sell you, but it wouldnt be polite to say what. I have no idea what that means. :confused:

[oykib]

Originally posted by Shorty3281
If that's not a reason to watch, I don't know what is. What is wrong with having underdog, young teams succeed?

Some of us don't like this wildcard/90-win division winner in the playoffs stuff.

I'd rather have the two division setup again. This year it would have worked out so that we basically had four 100-game winners in the playoffs. Those would have been classic series. We're still fairly likely to get A's - Yankees. But we will probably be without the Braves as well as the Giants.

[Ksyrup]

Apparently JT Snow is no Sid Bream.

I'm tired of listening to the "Florida's 1997 WS win was a joke because the team was bought" crap. What makes the 1997 Marlins WS victory any different than the Yankees last 4 WS victories? The fact that they have an owner who can afford to keep the team together? Colangelo bought the Diamondbacks' championship...the only reason the selloff is a bit delayed is because a number of the players took deferrals which will be coming due shortly.

This is the free agent era, guys. All teams are bought. Just because one team couldn't be kept together doesn't make them any less of a valid champion.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by oykib
Some of us don't like this wildcard/90-win division winner in the playoffs stuff.

Yeah, boy, it was much better before the wildcard when every division winner won 100 games. :confused:

Ever heard of the 1990 Reds, the 1987 Twins, the 1985 Royals, the 1980 Phillies, the 1974 A's. None of them won more than 91 games in a season, yet won a WS. And that doesn't even include the non-WS winners who made it with less-than-stellar records (see: 1973 Mets).

[Draft Dodger]

Originally posted by Vince
Well, I myself have been just informed that Eric Young was left off the roster for Jim Brower. I still fail to believe that there wasn't someone faster than JT on the bench.

Felipe Alou, for example. but I don't think managers are allowed to play anymore :D

[Alan T]

Originally posted by VPI97
I have no idea what that means. :confused:

I guess it means that if I can root for the Braves for 7 years where they arguably were the worst team in baseball, I dont have any problems rooting for them down 2 games to 1 in the NLDS. Maybe you are right that the Braves will end up losing, but any fans who jump off their team when things look bleak in the playoffs are bandwagoning.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally posted by Shorty3281
If that's not a reason to watch, I don't know what is. What is wrong with having underdog, young teams succeed?

personally, it's because it happens too frequently now. I like the occasional underdog succeeding - but I do because it's a relatively rare occurence. Now, the underdog upsets are almost expected, and that tarnishes it for me.

It's happening a lot in hockey, too, and I don't like it.

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Alan T
I guess it means that if I can root for the Braves for 7 years where they arguably were the worst team in baseball, I dont have any problems rooting for them down 2 games to 1 in the NLDS. Maybe you are right that the Braves will end up losing, but any fans who jump off their team when things look bleak in the playoffs are bandwagoning. Ehh, I live in Atlanta, but I've been a Braves hater for 20+ years. Ever since I was a kid and I would flip around looking for Reds games and the god-awful Braves would be taking up space on TBS. With that siad, if there's a Game 5, I'll be there (my wife got tickets for some unknown reason) and I'll be rooting for the Braves to fall on their faces like they normally do.

[MrBug708]

I used to hate the Braves, but that was when they were knocking the Dodgers out of the playoffs every year. Now we dont go.

I still hate Sheffield

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Alan T
I guess it means that if I can root for the Braves for 7 years where they arguably were the worst team in baseball, I dont have any problems rooting for them down 2 games to 1 in the NLDS. Maybe you are right that the Braves will end up losing, but any fans who jump off their team when things look bleak in the playoffs are bandwagoning.

I've been a Braves fan all my life, and I've said before this posteseason started they had no chance. In truth, I called it right after the trade deadline. It was clear from the first half that they didn't have the pitching and I'm not sold on a team "powering through" on bats alone. Being a fan doesn't mean you remove your brain.

[Chief Rum]

You have to remember that underdogs are most often established by the media and by the oddsmakers.

The media doesn't have much more information than the rest of us for making these calls, and are often biased, but they practically determine in our minds who should be the favorite and who is the underdog.

The oddsmakers aren't picking who will win but placing the line at the midpoint to even out the betters on either side. But no one reads it like that except for people in the gambling business.

The fact is that more underdogs are winning because the media is screwing up more, getting caught in certain numbers while ignoring others.

For instance, last year, the Angels were a better team than the Yankees--going into the series. The evidence is all there. The Angels had a better pen, a better pitching staff, a better defense, and was just behind the Yankees in offense. They lost just three games less than the Yankees last year, but played in the ultra-competitive AL West, while the Yankees were picking up easy wins against the Orioles and Devil Rays.

The Angels would go on to prove the point by demolishing the Yankees in the ALDS, but prior to the series, only Angels fans and the very small handful of people who actually looked at the pertinent numbers believed the Angels had a chance.

So why was that? Because the East Coast and New York-based and biased media was constantly telling us the Yankees were the best team in baseball. And they were dead wrong, because they never bothered to look at the matter close enough (or those that did were shouted down by the lazier majority).

You shouldn't be questioning why underdogs are winning. You should be questioining just how much homework your likely sources for information and prognostication are doing.

Chief Rum

[Neuqua]

Gentlemen, they're playing the Cubs, let's not count them out just yet.

[Alan T]

Ok so rooting for your team and thinking they still have a shot while still alive is removing your brain?

Interesting.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Alan T
Ok so rooting for your team and thinking they still have a shot while still alive is removing your brain?

Interesting.

Nobody said stop rooting, because recognizing they do not have the pitching staff to win it all isn't being a bandwagon fan either.

[Alan T]

There is a huge difference between saying that a team has no shot and saying my approach:

The pitching is not as good as it has been in any of the playoff trips, they lose the head to head matchups in more than half the starting pitching faceoffs vs the cubs, Sheffield is out with an injury taking a big bat from the lineup and Fick is a moron... but even with that, if they can get the lead hitters on and timely hitting from the heart of the order then they should be able to have a good series and have a shot at winning this.

To say a team who won their division over the course of the season, and is still alive in a playoff series has no shot either is due to someone having an agenda or is fairly naive I think.

I never came out saying my team was the best in the world, but everyone in the world before the series had started proclaimed the Cubs the winner. If it ends up that way, then bravo for everyone else. If the Braves do win, then yay for us few braves fans that stood by their team (not blindedly, but rooting for the best)

[GrantDawg]

I really didn't think going into this series we had no shot to come out. I said we had no shot to win it all, and I still don't. I don't have an agenda, just an opinion. What good would any agenda I have do anyway? Ridiculus.

[GrantDawg]

dola: And to just give you a little background, Alan: Last year I said there was no way the Giants were going to beat the Braves in the NLCS. Do you remember what happened? Do you really want me to go back being cocky?

[Alan T]

Well I am probably a little worse off in prognostication in my 3 decades of Braves following, so I have no room to talk about how accurate my predicitions are :)



On an unrelated note, I think the jackets the Red Sox are wearing with Lil - ly on the backs of them are great .. funny stuff

[GrantDawg]

Big questions now: Will Sheff play tommorow, and is Smoltz seriously injured?

[Alan T]

I hope they both are available tommorrow.. I have to say as much as I wondered about the move, playing Franco at 1B worked out well.. Maybe they will keep that since Fick has not done anything this series.

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Alan T
I hope they both are available tommorrow.. I have to say as much as I wondered about the move, playing Franco at 1B worked out well.. Maybe they will keep that since Fick has not done anything this series.

Except that dirty little play tonight that will probably draw a fine (or should).

[Alan T]

Speaking of dirty plays, how about the move Byrnes just pulled with oakland.. not only did he not touch home plate, but he shoved a player during a play for no reason... geesh what a day, some really crazy plays

[Easy Mac]

No, Fick has done plenty in this series, its just always been for the benefit of the Cubs. He went what, like 0-10 in the first 3 games, and made 2-3 errors. He's been completely worthless the 2nd half of the season (hit under .200). Why Bobby didn't platoon Francos again I'll never know.... but this is Bobby.

Now its back in Atlanta, and I don't know if Wood can is allowed to sell his soul to Satan twice in a week to pitch good games (especially on the road again). As long as Hampton makes it out of the first inning with no more than 2 allowed again, the Braves have a very good shot. Chipper finally woke up (For both home runs, I chanted "Larry" prior to them. Hadn't done that all series... so it looks like a good omen). Andruw is due to have 1 hit/at bat that will completely determine the series (just a feeling). Either a home run/big hit or a badly timed strikeout. I dont' see Sheff or Smoltz back this series, or the next if they make it. The Braves are in trouble if that happens (Bragg sucks even worse than Fick, can't fick play the OF). I think Cunnane can fill in if needed, as he can't be worse than Smoltz of the last few outings.

And John Miller, it Fur-call, not Fore-cal. And if Steve Lyons says one more word, I swear I'll rip out his throat and feed it to a hamster. I mean, its as if FOX and ESPN stockpile idiotic announcers (Lyons, Brenneman, McCarver, Buck, Morgan, Miller, Sutcliffe...). I really hope ESPN is grooming Gwynn to take Morgan's place, as I will say the un-PC thing that the only reason he still has a job is because he fills their black quota.

[Sharpieman]

After that heartbreaker, its offically football season...Go Niners.