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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 15, 2019 19:45:43 GMT -5
So glad the Astros won the game they had to win again. Now hopefully they can split the next two games at NY and at least split the Houston games.
As for the Nats, they're off an running - 7 runs in the 1st!
Now of course keep in mind St. Louis scored 10 in the 1st in Game 5 NLDS and haven't scored since (almost). Hope that doesn't happen to the Nats in the World Series.
And of course, assuming the Nats can hang onto that narrow 7-0 lead, the Nats will have a full week off before the World Series starts (next Wednesday I believe?)
That's tough when a team is on an absolute roll and has their momentum halted by a week off. That happened to the Rockies in 2007 who couldn't lose for three weeks straight and then they had a week off while they waited for the Red Sox to come back against Cleveland and then the Sox squashed the Rockies 4 straight, and they looked like a very rusty team. Hope that doesn't happen to the Nats. Go Nats!!
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 15, 2019 20:54:54 GMT -5
The momentum narrative got a lot of play in 2007 but another(in my opinion more important) factor was that the Red Sox were a lot better than the Rockies.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 15, 2019 21:01:16 GMT -5
The momentum narrative got a lot of play in 2007 but another(in my opinion more important) factor was that the Red Sox were a lot better than the Rockies. Yes, that is true but sometimes it's not the best team who wins but which team is the hottest. I believe the Red Sox game plan for the beginning of the World Series was to challenge the Rockies' rusty hitters with primarily fastballs figuring they'd struggle to catch up to them.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 15, 2019 22:32:13 GMT -5
Congrats Nats!!!
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 16, 2019 7:50:45 GMT -5
Are the much maligned Washington Nationals this year's Team Of Destiny? EYHOBH Strasburg looks almost as good as Cole if he opts out. His changeup and curveball are insanely good. It's like he has 3 70 pitches. Maybe his fastball isn't a 70, but he has such great command of everything. I've seen this mentioned a couple times in various spots, so I just wanted to note that Strasburg's opt-out is after 2020. Anyway, the Nats were 74-38 from mid-May on, and it kinda flew under the radar because they were never really in contention for the division. So their run has surprised me (and apparently a few others) in a way that it probably shouldn't have. They're really good.
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Post by station13 on Oct 16, 2019 9:27:46 GMT -5
Strasburg was the one TBS took the scheduled Sox sunday game off to broadcast his debut vs the Indians instead. That's how hyped he was. He always had such good command of everything.
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Post by Guidas on Oct 16, 2019 10:45:41 GMT -5
Kills me Sox won’t have any shot at Cole.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Oct 16, 2019 11:39:07 GMT -5
Nice analysis of Soto's first two years in the majors. The discipline thing, and his quality of contact, are surreal for a 20 year-old: fivethirtyeight.com/features/who-needs-bryce-harper-when-youve-got-juan-soto/There was also an interview with Reddick after the game where he addressed the Yankee fans directly, explaining why it's dangerous to throw hard objects onto the field. The insults he can live with, but safety is the issue that concerns him. Very diplomatic.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 16, 2019 11:43:26 GMT -5
Kills me Sox won’t have any shot at Cole. I hadn't paid too much attention to Cole from before the All-Star break. Figured he's having a career year (which he is), but that he's basically the best version of what he's been, but it didn't really resonate. Well, now his performance is totally resonating. He's been so incredibly dominant. Yeah, somebody is going to get themselves an amazing ace pitcher in free agency. If I were the Yankees that's where I'd spend my money. I'm sure the Dodgers will have interest. I've heard the Giants might have interest. It'll be wild. He'll get a huge mega-deal where you're happy for the first few years and freaking out the rest of the time when he's injured or in decline, but his presence will be huge with whoever he signs with next year. And it will hurt Houston tremendously to lose him. I know they like Whitley and Urquidy and I know that's why they cleared out a chunk of their system for Greinke, but he'll be a huge loss and that will swing the balance of power in the AL. The Astros are better than the Yankees (and hopefully will be when this ALCS is done!!), but if you subtract Cole from Houston, that's no longer the case - and if you put him on the Yankees....hope that doesn't happen. And yup, he's not going to the Red Sox unforunately. Can't imagine he'll be as dominant going forward as he is this season and lately, but apparently his improvements are very real.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 16, 2019 12:26:23 GMT -5
The Astros projected payroll for 2019, without Cole or any other additions or re-signings, is $207M.
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Post by jimed14 on Oct 16, 2019 12:31:58 GMT -5
The Astros projected payroll for 2019, without Cole or any other additions or re-signings, is $207M. Yeah, I find it hard to believe that they could possibly compete with the Dodgers or Yankees and also expand payroll that much. I thought that they got Greinke to be his replacement.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 16, 2019 12:39:06 GMT -5
Champs. So far he won the NL Pennant and had the best year of his career as an Astro. He is surrounded by good veteran pitchers-teammates who are good for him. The still young and talented offense and defense behind him helps his game. The team has money and cap space. I can’t think of a single reason why he won’t be in an Astro uniform going forward. Yeah, what James said. They got Greinke to try to put them over the top this year and to maintain a 1-2 punch with Verlander next year in the event Cole is gone, which he will be. The Astros will put Urquidy and/or Whitley into the rotation next year most likely although Whitley struggled and won't start the year with them. You said Cole won the NL pennant. What NL Pennant did he win? I thought he spent his NL years in Pittsburgh with the Pirates only and was traded to Houston and the Pirates haven't been to the World Series since 1979, which is the last time they won it. They came within an out of winning the 1992 NL pennant (with rookie Tim Wakefield playing a key role) but Francisco Cabrera's 2 run single in the last of the 9th against Stan Belinda was the final time they had a shot. Then they lost the bulk of their time soon thereafter starting with Barry Bonds.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 16, 2019 12:48:57 GMT -5
The Astros projected payroll for 2019, without Cole or any other additions or re-signings, is $207M. Yeah, I find it hard to believe that they could possibly compete with the Dodgers or Yankees and also expand payroll that much. I thought that they got Greinke to be his replacement. There's a big gap here between "could possibly," "should," and "will." Much like the Nationals with Harper, the Astros depth at the position and ability to develop/coach the position might not make paying Cole 8/$240M or whatever the best allocation of resources. They also will pretend they don't have the money, which, whatever. That's been talked about enough. It does sort of remind me, though, of the time the Phillies thought they couldn't afford both Halladay and Cliff Lee and so they traded Lee for not enough of a return and just signed him as a free agent a year later after losing in the NLCS.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2019 13:26:18 GMT -5
Strasburg looks almost as good as Cole if he opts out. His changeup and curveball are insanely good. It's like he has 3 70 pitches. Maybe his fastball isn't a 70, but he has such great command of everything. I've seen this mentioned a couple times in various spots, so I just wanted to note that Strasburg's opt-out is after 2020. Anyway, the Nats were 74-38 from mid-May on, and it kinda flew under the radar because they were never really in contention for the division. So their run has surprised me (and apparently a few others) in a way that it probably shouldn't have. They're really good. Yes, I’ve gotten a little bit of that “2003 Florida Marlins” vibe with the Nationals this year. The 2003 Marlins were a wild card winner at 91 wins, not a threat in their division (Braves won 101 games that year), a bit of an afterthought going into the postseason. But that Marlins team was 19-29 at one point in the season, then had the best record in the MLB from the end of May through the end of the regular season. I’m pulling hard for the Nationals to win this thing.
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Post by trajanacc on Oct 16, 2019 14:20:53 GMT -5
The momentum narrative got a lot of play in 2007 but another(in my opinion more important) factor was that the Red Sox were a lot better than the Rockies. Yes, that is true but sometimes it's not the best team who wins but which team is the hottest. I believe the Red Sox game plan for the beginning of the World Series was to challenge the Rockies' rusty hitters with primarily fastballs figuring they'd struggle to catch up to them. Sometimes the hot team wins, sometimes the cold team wins. Sometimes the good team wins, sometimes the bad team wins. There's a lot of randomness in sports, especially baseball.
The word "momentum" is the most overused word in history by sports announcers. It drives me absolutely crazy. You would think that "having momentum" is more important than actually, like, scoring runs or winning ballgames.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Oct 16, 2019 14:21:53 GMT -5
The Nats have had problems with their back end starters and basically their entire bullpen the whole year, which kept them from getting into the "superteam" tier. In the playoffs, you can cover a lot of that backend weakness by riding those elite starters really hard, which is what they've been doing. The problem is that eventually those guys are going to hit a wall. Which is to say, momentum issues (which I don't totally discount) aside, sweeping the Cards is the best thing that could have happened for them.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Oct 16, 2019 15:26:16 GMT -5
The Nats have had problems with their back end starters and basically their entire bullpen the whole year, which kept them from getting into the "superteam" tier. In the playoffs, you can cover a lot of that backend weakness by riding those elite starters really hard, which is what they've been doing. The problem is that eventually those guys are going to hit a wall. Which is to say, momentum issues (which I don't totally discount) aside, sweeping the Cards is the best thing that could have happened for them. I'm down with this. For all the talk about hitters getting "cold" with a few days off, the starters get rested. For the Nationals, that's key. If the Astros win the AL, they may feel it a little more, since they've been riding their starters just as hard.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 17, 2019 6:29:24 GMT -5
NM
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Post by jimed14 on Oct 17, 2019 21:24:30 GMT -5
Big 2 strike outs from Pressly with the bases loaded.
edit: I feel bad for LeMahieu on that error call. That was some insane spin off the end of the bat.
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Post by soxfaninnj on Oct 17, 2019 21:35:34 GMT -5
Big 2 strike outs from Pressly with the bases loaded. edit: I feel bad for LeMahieu on that error call. That was some insane spin off the end of the bat. Thanks for the good juju, Correa!!!
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Post by jimed14 on Oct 17, 2019 21:35:41 GMT -5
WOOOOO! Carlos Correa 3 run HR!
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Post by soxfaninnj on Oct 17, 2019 21:37:39 GMT -5
Smoltz sounds deflated after that home run lol.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Oct 17, 2019 21:38:01 GMT -5
The spirit of Earl Weaver lives on.
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Post by jimed14 on Oct 17, 2019 21:40:53 GMT -5
All big boy home runs for the Astros in the last two games. Pretty sure they're all over 400 feet.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Oct 17, 2019 21:42:59 GMT -5
Nice game developments. I approve.
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