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

Chris Carpenter's daughter ... oh, my! I can see where daddy gets his feistiness.
SNL has to make this a skit, the way they once mocked Giuliani's kid.

 

This Cardinal team is much better than the 06 version. That squad had somehow won with the likes of So Taguchi, Eckstein, Chris Duncan and riding the arms of Jeff Suppan and Jeff Weaver in the postseason, and Jason Marquis as their no.2 winner during the year.

This team had a much more formidable lineup and they showed as such many times in the postseason. They won 90 during the year. No apologies necessary.

Regardless, they go down in history now. Much like people remember and recall the 51 Giants, 60 years from now people will be talking about this team, showing their highlights, using them as a reference point in postseasons to come.

 

The criticisms of Washington are getting a little out of hand now.

With the trophy on the table, he was supposed to save Holland for a possible Game 7? Come on.

 

The criticism's been out of hand. The Rangers pitchers issued 41 walks in this series. They got two good starts out of their starters, and their bullpen, by and large, couldn't get outs. Somehow Washington could have pushed a different button and got a different result?

In Game 6, everybody's on him for bringing in Oliver to face two left-handers and the pitcher's spot in the 10th rather than leaving Feliz in. Of course that assumes Feliz, who had almost no command the whole series, would get those left-handers out. Washington's move was easily justified. Did it pay off? No. But had Feliz trotted out there and gotten hit (or, more likely, walked one or two of them), the criticism would have been just as loud.

Trotting out Holland to start game 7, leaving a fully-rested Harrison riding the pine, would have been silly. Holland, who pitched great on Sunday, has NOT been a consistently good starter this year. Harrison has, especially when fresh. Washington was perfectly justified in staying with Harrison as his game 7 starter.

My only real beef with Washington in both games 6 and 7 has to do with him leaving Holland in to face two right-handers in the eighth inning of game 6 when Adams, a right-hander and Texas' routine eighth-inning guy, was warmed and ready. I don't know what he was thinking. Holland got 'em out, but I don't like the process there.

If a manager gets a team to within a strike of it all, he's done a more-than-adequate job. You can only put the players in position to succeed. If they can't execute -- and, painfully for me, the Rangers couldn't, at least not well enough to shut down a hot-hitting Cardinals lineup -- well, that's the way it goes.

 

If the Cardinals don't sign Pujols to a 6-year 180 million dollar extension (at the minimum), St. Louis will burn to the ground.

 

If there had been a Sportsjournalists.com in 1986, I would imagine that John McNamara would be getting similarly crucified.

When your team blows the World Series the way this Rangers team did - coming within one strike TWICE of winning and not closing the deal - the manager is going to get heavily scrutinized and criticized. Especially if said manager has a history of making strange (many would say dumb) decisions that put his otherwise very talented team at a disadvantage.

Maybe Ron Washington should pay for the last two nights with his job, as Grady Little did after he left Pedro Martinez in too long in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Maybe Ron Washington should get to stay. I think you could make the case either way. I do know this - Ron Washington will be forever tarnished by what happened the last two nights forever, just as McNamara will be forever tarnished by '86, Dusty Baker will be forever tarnished by the '02 World Series and the '03 NLCS and Joe Torre will be forever tarnished by blowing the 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in '04. That's how sports goes.

 

I don't think a credible, informed case could be made that Washington should be fired for the performance of his team in the last two games of a seven-game World Series.

 

Who else can and would sign him?

The Brewers? If they can't afford to pay Prince Fielder, why would they be able to pay Pujols?

The Rangers? Would they really commit that much money to one player again after the experience with A-Rod?

The Yankees? They have Texieira.

The Red Sox? They have Adrian Gonzales.

The Phillies? They have Ryan Howard.

The Mets? Their financials are a mess due to Wilpon's involvement with Madoff.

 

The Cubs have the money, they have a gaping hole organizationally at 1b and in the middle of the lineup, and they have an interest in seeing the Cardinals weakened.

Not saying they would, but they could.

 

Now that the World Series is over, and the dreaded Rangers have lost, can I go back to hating the Cardinals again?

 

Yeah, that was pretty much the mindset.

The Rangers are just so, so stupid, up and down, it's offensive.