Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

That word was bellowed through my newsroom about 15 times during the games.

You're story, however, that just delighted me.

 

Listen, I've without a doubt imposed a narrative on facts myself, complete with themes and plot points and everything else.

But I also think that it can be taken a step too far, and we've reached that point with the Red Sox, where the events are now crammed into the predetermined narrative.

 

According to that site, the Rays had a 3% or less chance of making the playoffs thoughout most of the last two months of the season.

 

Does anyone know the song playing in background of Rays clubhouse celebration when Madden was being interviewed. Seemed like a good party song.

 

As someone who lived and died with the Braves during that run, I'd argue that a lack of timely hitting was the ultimate reason they didn't win more titles. From the 1-0 loss in Game 7 of the '91 WS to the blackout in '96 (24 runs through the fifth inning of Game 4, 2 runs the rest of the way), the offense simply wasn't consistent enough to take advantage of the starting pitching. You're correct that Glavine and Maddux had losing records in the postseason (14-16 and 11-14, respectively), but look at the ERAs (3.30 and 3.27). Those guys did more than enough to win. The run support simply wasn't there. Smoltz was definitely the most dominant of three, but it's interesting to note that the one time the Braves won the whole thing, he was a complete disaster (2.1 innings, 15.43 ERA in his only start against Cleveland). Glavine, meanwhile, had a 1.29 ERA in his two starts (on his way to WS MVP).

 

From what I have seen in the blogosphere the last 12 hours, a lot of people seem to think the probability formula needs adjusting. At least the one used by Baseball Prospectus.

 

The pink hats want an execution.

http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=WEEI

 

Since Curb Your Enthusiasm aired its Bill Buckner redemption episode, the Sawx went 6-18.

Thank you, Nate Silver.

 

I've wondered about that, but I don't see why this would be the case just because of some improbable outcomes. How many teams a year have a 3% chance to make the playoffs with a month to go? If it's around half-a-dozen, you'd expect one of these comebacks once every five years.

 

Turned it on, and the first thing I heard was the sports-talk guy ending a call, "Hey, it was a great day for baseball, a bad day for the Sawx fan."

Actually, a pretty healthy outlook.

 

Gammons was just on. He said they will do whatever they can to ship out Lackey.

 

Its unbelievable how things sometimes align,

Crawford, the mega-dollar FA signing, fails to make a not-so-difficult catch, then makes a throw that is worse than Bonds and the Red Sox collapse is complete;

Meanwhile Crawford's old team, the Rays, step through the door to grab the Wild-Card spot.

Its true the Bosox were going nowhere in the postseason, not with starters like Lackey/Bedard. After '04 & '07, the Bosox have at least 50 years of a pass.