Mlb 2012!

Zuwadza · 2012-10-22T19:17:47.000Z

Sarkus:

In fairness to Kozma, that slow-mo they showed of the Pence hit made it pretty clear it was a freak hit.

Yeah I hadn’t seen the slow-mo. Pretty flukey.

Courteous_D · 2012-10-22T20:06:10.000Z

nKoan:

If nothing else, the slow mo camera that Fox is using is awesome.

That shot is really freaky. Not just the bat kiss-kissing the ball, but Pence’s right hand making those little adjustments.

Woolen_Horde · 2012-10-22T20:25:09.000Z

God, San Francisco, save some of that for Detroit.

ineffablebob · 2012-10-22T20:28:22.000Z

Crazy comebacks in just about all the NL playoffs this year, and the Giants have the biggest one yet. Looking forward to this World Series!

sluggo · 2012-10-22T20:34:41.000Z

My god, this rain is crazy. And the slo-mo showing it is awesome.

I think the ump is about to expand his strike zone quite a bit here. :)

Alan_Dunkin · 2012-10-22T20:41:33.000Z

The rain is nuts. 15-20 minutes’ walk from here, on top of the hill… coming down fairly hard. I can imagine it’s the same there… going to take 15 minutes at least, it’s streaming right over the city.

— Alan

triggercut · 2012-10-22T20:43:56.000Z

Tigers fans: be careful what you wish for.

Grats Giants fans. Your team was pretty clearly the best in the NL.

Alan_Dunkin · 2012-10-22T20:44:04.000Z

…and now I can hear the fireworks.

— Alan

charmtrap · 2012-10-22T20:51:52.000Z

Allow me one WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

triggercut:

Grats Giants fans. Your team was pretty clearly the best in the NL.

Maybe, not sure, but they’ve certainly ended strong.

Great series! Can’t wait for Wednesday even if we get Verlander’d.

Mark_Asher · 2012-10-22T20:53:18.000Z

Congrats to Giants fans. As a Cards fan I’m disappointed, but mildly so. They never looked like a World Series caliber team this year so getting as far as they did felt like bonus baseball. I wish for the sake of baseball fans the last two games were more competitive, though I’m sure Giants fans enjoyed them immensely.

Sarkus · 2012-10-22T21:01:50.000Z

What a crazy scene with all that rain in the end.

A Giants/Tigers world series sounds fun to me!

Ryan_Markel · 2012-10-23T05:10:35.000Z

ineffablebob:

This is what I was looking for, though. I like the Tigers’ chances better against the Giants. At least, if they can get freakin’ Scutaro out. No one in the NL seems to be able to.

He’s not the only one hitting like that. There was a hit-by-hit analysis of the Panda shown the other day and he’s just on fire - he’s cranking things that just aren’t in the same ballpark as the strike zone.

When you have players who are hitting stuff that’s supposed to be a ball out of the zone as a setup pitch, you’re pretty tough to beat.

I love the Cards, but now the rest of you have seen what we put up with all season as fans: a team with tons of potential that could really score runs (and had the best run differential in the league by a long shot - seriously, it wasn’t even close IIRC) but would inexplicably turn into a beer league team for stretches of ten games or so every month and a half-ish.

Giants pitchers had more RBIs in the last three games than the entire Cardinals team. One team got really, really hot and the other team got really, really cold. It sucks, but now I can root for the team of my childhood fandom and say “go Tigers.” :)

ineffablebob · 2012-10-23T06:07:52.000Z

triggercut:

Tigers fans: be careful what you wish for.

Yeah, that’s always a concern. You hope for a particular opponent since you feel it’s a better matchup…but getting that opponent means they’ve been winning.

triggercut:

Grats Giants fans. Your team was pretty clearly the best in the NL.

…during the last two weeks, yes. Just as the Tigers were the best in the AL in the last two weeks. Now the question becomes, who can be good for one more week?

Zuwadza · 2012-10-23T07:11:42.000Z

Scuzz · 2012-10-23T08:35:20.000Z

So…Does Verlander get three starts?
Is there only one off day or are they taking two?

nKoan · 2012-10-23T11:02:54.000Z

There will be two travel days. Verlander could pitch 3 games, 1,4 and 7 if they are willing to do it on short rest. I don’t think that makes much sense, though, with how good the rest of the rotation is doing anyway.

sluggo · 2012-10-23T11:08:07.000Z

Right now the schedule – assuming no rainouts – is Wed/Thu in SF, Sat/Sun/Mon in Det, Wed/Thu in SF.

Leyland has already confirmed he’s using four starters for games 1-4, so Verlander would start again in game 5 and probably not get three starts in the series.

edit: What nKoan said.

TranquilityBase · 2012-10-23T11:20:36.000Z

I remember a Bill James piece about how that strategy of using your ace three times in a best of seven series backfires fairly often. It was written in the 80’s, though, so I’m not sure how it’s fared since.

And dang, what is with the Cardinals and their inability to close out a 3 games to 1 lead. This was the fourth time they’ve blown it, while I don’t think any other team has even done it twice. And in game seven of those series, the Cards have been outscored by a combined 39-1.

ineffablebob · 2012-10-23T13:37:11.000Z

I’m just as happy to see the Tiger starters going two games each. That’ll put Scherzer on the mound for a possible game 7…with Verlander in the pen for a couple of relief innings if it becomes necessary. I can live with that.

ineffablebob · 2012-10-23T14:27:49.000Z

Marlins make decision to dismiss Guillen

I don’t get the Marlins at all. They hire Ozzie to spice things up, he does his usual crazy, and now they don’t like him? Maybe management actually does care about performance on the field - in which case you have to wonder about the original hiring decision.