*** Official *** 2012 MLB Season Thread!!

[TechBoyJK]

man that was some bitchin shit to watch. systematic comebacks like that under that kind of pressure aren't normal.

 

[TechBoyJK]

These past few seasons.. even sine 2006. I really can't comprehend this. This is just incredible. Dethroning the phillies, then the brewers, then the rangers, then the braves, then the nationals. Wow.

 

[TechBoyJK]

The nationals really have a nice field. Perfect for celebrating on.

 

[SP33Demon]

These past few seasons.. even sine 2006. I really can't comprehend this. This is just incredible. Dethroning the phillies, then the brewers, then the rangers, then the braves, then the nationals. Wow.

You have to tip your hats to the Cards tonight. They played until the very last out. Descalso and Kozma weren't the automatic outs they were during the regular season and that was the difference.

Storen better learn 3 new pitches before ever taking the mound again in Washington next year. Stupid, choking POS.

 

[SP33Demon]

Washington manager Davey Johnson could have walked Kozma once Descalso stole second base with two outs. Cardinals closer Jason Motte, who had pitched the eighth inning, was due up next, although Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had sent backup catcher Tony Cruz, the last player left on the bench, to the on-deck circle as a decoy. He’d be entering the game anyway for Molina, who had been run for. Kozma has been pretty hot, hitting .333 for the Cardinals during his September call-up and homering earlier in this season.

Johnson could have put Kozma on and pitched to Cruz, which would have served two purposes: Force Matheny to bat Cruz, a guy who hit .254/.267/.365 in 126 at-bats, but also a guy without an at-bat in nine day. More importantly, it would have likely forced Matheny to pull Motte. Matheny already used Joe Kelly, Trevor Rosenthal, Edward Mujica and Mitchell Boggs, so that would have meant the Cardinals would be using, at best, their fifth-best reliever in the ninth.

Huge mistake by Johnson and I can only guess he was in such a state of shock he didn’t have time to think the situation through properly.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30032/cardinals-stun-nats-in-amazing-comeback

Wow, I didn't even think of this. Huge mental mistake by the Nats manager. ...

 

[IAteYourMother]

And the Curse of Strasburg™ has descended upon us.

What did they expect, Gio to go 6 solid today on 3 days rest? Sure would have been nice to have an ace on full rest but that's what happens when you pussy out. Fck off Rizzo and co, this team will be lucky to make the playoffs next year.

http://www.nesn.com/2012/10/stephen...ams-gms-to-hate-washington-nationals-too.html


A-fcking-men. And the Nats are my 2nd fav team btw.

strong words from those GMs. I will speculate that it's Brian Sabean

 

[Andrew111]

And the Curse of Strasburg™ has descended upon us.

What did they expect, Gio to go 6 solid today on 3 days rest? Sure would have been nice to have an ace on full rest but that's what happens when you pussy out. Fck off Rizzo and co, this team will be lucky to make the playoffs next year.

So you think Gio was solid on his first start in the series? You must not have watched it then. Gio's performance had nothing to do with rest....he was just choking on the pressure and couldn't maintain decent control of his pitches...wouldn't have mattered how many days of rest he had. Based on how he pitched the first game, it was practically a miracle the Nats won the first game.

That was the problem for Gio and Storen...when you have a lead you have to make the players swing the bat to beat you....not give them freebies via the walk. 3 walks for Gio in the 5th inning, 2 for Storen in the 9th inning.

 

[thegimp03]

Outside of the umpire mishap in the Braves game, this has been a great playoffs so far.

 

[TallBill]

Outside of the umpire mishap in the Braves game, this has been a great playoffs so far.

Agreed, that was sad... I'm glad that the Nats lost. I liked their team up until they sat Strasburg... never ever sit a #1 starter. Hope that they suck for a few years and he gets traded to someone that can win.

 

[rockyct]

Damn, no one really left for me to cheer for. I guess the only team I don't hate is the Tigers so I guess I'll pull for them.

 

[raystorm]

Exciting playoffs so far but all the teams I wanted in all lost! LOL Fuuuuuuuuuuu...

I hate the damn Cardinals and couldn't care less about the Giants. I never root for AL teams in the World Series but I'll make an exception and root for the Tigers. It would be good for the city anyways if the Tigers can make it.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Last night fucking sucked. Both teams I really wanted to root for are out and lost to teams I hate. Time to root for the Tigers out of pure indifference.

 

[Sinsear]

Assinine to sit Strasburg; cost Washington big time

 

[Squisher]

Assinine to sit Strasburg; cost Washington big time

psst: how about sit him the first half of the season and start him the first game after the All Star break?

 

[Adrenaline]

Outside of the umpire mishap in the Braves game, this has been a great playoffs so far.

Must have been something other than that infield fly rule call as it was legit:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-why-the-infield-fly-rule-was-the-right-call/

It was good enough during the regular season, which he has a similar example of, but then people think it is wrong in the post season. This is not the NBA with their fake playoff rules. Call the playoffs like you call the regular season.

There must be something else you are thinking of, so throw it out there.

 

[Adrenaline]

the announcers just said it was the largest comeback ever in a do-or-die situation. I assume that they mean 9th inning with 2 outs, not necessarily just game 5.

They were also down 6-0 at one point.

 

[Squisher]

Must have been something other than that infield fly rule call as it was legit:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-why-the-infield-fly-rule-was-the-right-call/

It was good enough during the regular season, which he has a similar example of, but then people think it is wrong in the post season. This is not the NBA with their fake playoff rules. Call the playoffs like you call the regular season.

There must be something else you are thinking of, so throw it out there.

Ordinary Effort means at most a trot to me, never a dead run by the fielder. And, this doesn't take into effect the poor application of the rule by it being called so late.

Just maybe, by the ump calling it so late he is saying he couldn't determine that the ball was easily catchable and if so, then something out of ordinary effort was required to catch it.

 

[Adrenaline]

Ordinary Effort means at most a trot to me, never a dead run by the fielder. And, this doesn't take into effect the poor application of the rule by it being called so late.

Just maybe, by the ump calling it so late he is saying he couldn't determine that the ball was easily catchable and if so, then something out of ordinary effort was required to catch it.

It is explained in the video why it was called at the time it was. The fielder was in position. I have not heard the fielder say anything about it. The fielder doesn't need to catch the ball once the call is made. Either way, it was the correct call.

 

[bigpimpatl]

It is explained in the video why it was called at the time it was. The fielder was in position. I have not heard the fielder say anything about it. The fielder doesn't need to catch the ball once the call is made. Either way, it was the correct call.

it's not as clear cut as that; if it was, there would be no controversy in the first place.

 

[Adrenaline]

it's not as clear cut as that; if it was, there would be no controversy in the first place.

Unfortunately, it is that clear cut. It is only a controversy because the ball was dropped.

Once the call was made, the catch became irrelevant.

 

[MetalMat]

Assinine to sit Strasburg; cost Washington big time

Im glad Washington loss, that was a douchebag move to shutdown Strasburg. I know its every player for himself but at least put up some sort of illusion that you give a crap about your team.

 

[SP33Demon]

It is explained in the video why it was called at the time it was. The fielder was in position. I have not heard the fielder say anything about it. The fielder doesn't need to catch the ball once the call is made. Either way, it was the correct call.

It's still arguable because it's very easy to say the example with the Cubs was called late as well. For almost every outside shitty pitch that's called a strike in the playoffs, I can show you footage from the regular season where it was also called a strike. Showing another crappy example that an ump made another late call in the regular season isn't changing my opinion.

In addition, did Kozma get out of the way because he heard the ump call for Infield Fly or because of miscommunication between the Left Fielder Matt Holliday? Harold claims that Kozma let the ball drop because he heard the ump, however there is no concrete proof of this. It behooves the player to always catch the ball unless they are out to deceive the runner. Catching the ball ensures that the runners have to get the hell back to their base, especially in the playoffs where you don't want to risk them advancing on a dropped IF (the ball is still live, remember?).

Now that we've established that most players want to catch the ball in the playoffs regardless of the situation and are not going to risk deception, it means that Kozma most likely screwed up and thought Holliday called for it. As a result, if the Iinfield Fly was not called, Atlanta has bases loaded 1 out (i.e. in very very good position to win the game) instead of 2nd/3rd, 2 outs. Instead, Kozma misses it and gets bailed out by the ump's late call.

Summary:
1) Another crappy example from the regular season does that not change the fact that it's still a late call in both scenarios.
2) I strongly believe that Kozma would have caught that ball if he could, but miscommunication prevented that from happening regardless of whether Infield Fly was called or not.
3) The ump's late Infield Fly bails out Kozma from missing the ball, and Atlanta is screwed out of a rosy bases loaded 1 out scenario.

 

[Adrenaline]

It's still arguable because it's very easy to say the example with the Cubs was called late as well. For almost every outside shitty pitch that's called a strike in the playoffs, I can show you footage from the regular season where it was also called a strike. Showing another crappy example that an ump made another late call in the regular season isn't changing my opinion.

In addition, did Kozma get out of the way because he heard the ump call for Infield Fly or because of miscommunication between the Left Fielder Matt Holliday? Harold claims that Kozma let the ball drop because he heard the ump, however there is no concrete proof of this. It behooves the player to always catch the ball unless they are out to deceive the runner. Catching the ball ensures that the runners have to get the hell back to their base, especially in the playoffs where you don't want to risk them advancing on a dropped IF (the ball is still live, remember?).

Now that we've established that most players want to catch the ball in the playoffs regardless of the situation and are not going to risk deception, it means that Kozma most likely screwed up and thought Holliday called for it. As a result, if the Iinfield Fly was not called, Atlanta has bases loaded 1 out (i.e. in very very good position to win the game) instead of 2nd/3rd, 2 outs. Instead, Kozma misses it and gets bailed out by the ump's late call.

Summary:
1) Another crappy example from the regular season does that not change the fact that it's still a late call in both scenarios.
2) I strongly believe that Kozma would have caught that ball if he could, but miscommunication prevented that from happening regardless of whether Infield Fly was called or not.
3) The ump's late Infield Fly bails out Kozma from missing the ball, and Atlanta is screwed out of a rosy bases loaded 1 out scenario.

1. The example was fine and nobody complained about it then that I can recall. So, if it was fine then, it is fine now.
2. I have not heard anything said from Kozma, but you are right, he should have caught the ball. Nobody knows for sure if it was the call or a miscommunication.
3. The call was made as the ball started to descend from the peak or the arc. It dropped fast, but the call was made.

 

[SP33Demon]

1. The example was fine and nobody complained about it then that I can recall. So, if it was fine then, it is fine now.
2. I have not heard anything said from Kozma, but you are right, he should have caught the ball. Nobody knows for sure if it was the call or a miscommunication.
3. The call was made as the ball started to descend from the peak or the arc. It dropped fast, but the call was made.

1. Nobody complained about it in the regular season because it was watched by a total of 100 Chicago Cub fans, lol. But it's not like they are going to show bad calls outside of the strike zone on Sportscenter anyway. Simply put, it's a judgement call either way.
2. Even if he had heard the ump, why would he let the ball drop? It could have taken a funny bounce. He clearly meant to catch the ball and couldn't.
3. I understand that the ump didn't know that Kozma was going to drop the ball, but now I bet he won't make that call again.

 

[rcpratt]

Feel good about the Yankees series. We're in their heads.