Sunday, October 23, 2011

World Series (open discussion)

Who watched the game last night?  What do you think of the 2011 World Series so far?
I think the Rangers needed to win that game last night, especially since they had the advantage in starting pitching; but also because they needed to firmly take the momentum from the Cardinals and take home field advantage.
Obviously the Rangers need to win tonight or the series is over, also to add some reason to watch.  This hasn't been the best-played series, has it?  Huge defensive lapses, substandard pitching and slugfests belong in slow pitch, beer league softball, not in the World Series.
It is nice to see one of the greatest players of all time, Albert Pujols, do something on the big stage (3 HRs in one game) that'd only been done previously by Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson; but it's also unfortunate that the other big star in this series, Josh Hamilton, is playing at not much more than 50%.
Zebster's two cents worth.

(RJ and Brent, you can respond in the comments or you can add to what I've written in the editor.)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You want to know the truth? I haven't watch a baseball game since August. I have no idea who is winning the World Series or how anyone is doing other than Twitter updates.

dasnake said...

it was an offensive blowout from st.louis, albert did well, maybe because of the media pounding from game 2. you are right on about the defensive play. tonight will be of interest because texas needs this one.

Brent said...

It was an offensive display by the Cardinals, but it was predicated on the 4th inning bad call by the 1st base umpire, who screwed up the call on the double play ball by Matt Holiday. It allowed the Cards to score 4 more runs that inning.

The one thing that I did learn from watching the 30 for 30 series episode about Steve Bartman interfering with Moises Alou and his attempt for the catch is that the psyche of athletes is fragile during big games. One bad call or something that doesn't go right can mess with their mind. That is what I think happened to the Rangers.

Look at last year, the Rangers made it and the Giants stomped on them. Now, you have the Game 1 victory by St. Louis, the Game two victory by Texas with the help of the Pujols error. So going into game 3, the Rangers are thinking to themselves that we can't win unless we get help from the other team. Then the ump blows a call that is routine most of the time. The psyche blows apart and the Cards roll.

I'm sure that the Cards said "let's make this ump famous.", just like the Marlins wanted to make Bartman famous. The Marlins did, the Cards didn't because Pujols went off.

dasnake said...

i'll give you the points scored "because" of the call, but a good team has to shake that off when the inning ends. i know texas is a good team, and i think they just ran up against a better team last night, we shall see in an hour. hey what about alberts three homers, pretty heady company, ruth and jackson, i remember the night reggie did that, what a great game, and no, i don't remember when ruth did it, i'm not that old.

dasnake said...

hey, i have a question, who runs this site, is the list of contributors the people that run the site.

Zebster said...

It's my blog, Snake. What can I do for you?

dasnake said...

nothing zebster, just curious, nicely run site, thanks.

Brent said...

Yes, good teams have to shake off the bad call and respond. But the Rangers didn't. I am just pointing out that if you believe that something going wrong for you is the prophecy that you will fail, it usually is. Look at the Rangers history. It is filled with bad omens and things. Just pointing out that it might have been why the Rangers turned into the Astros for a night.

dasnake said...

well they shook off a bad one, tied now, great pitch performance, to bad he could close out the ninth, nolan was pulling for him.

Zebster said...

Thanks Snake, glad you like it. It wouldn't be as good as it is without the great bloggers.
Glad to see the Rangers win last night and for the most part a well played game.

dasnake said...

edge of our seats now boys, top of the tenth whadda game. cya tomorrow.

dasnake said...

that was probably one of the better games i have ever seen, lots of mistake, but lots of heart also, cya later.

Brent said...

The Rangers should have won that game. In the 8th with Andrus not taking the force at second gave the Cardinals new life, and now we know why Nelson Cruz isn't a Gold Glove candidate out in Right Field on the game tying Triple in the 9th.