World Series: Game 1 thoughts
Good game, eh? An encouraging beginning start to our hope that we'll finally get a decent World Series.
1. As Cole Hamels put the Phillies on his back last night, I reflected upon last year's winter meetings in Nashville, and a conversation a handful of reporters had with a Mets officlal. The Mets had done nothing to help their starting rotation, besides losing Tom Glavine back to the Braves, and the official was sensitive to the notion that the Mets' rotation was weaker than Season 5 of "Seinfeld."
"We have Maine and Perez," the official argued politely. "What team in our division can match that?"
"Well," I countered, "the Phillies have Hamels, who is better than either of those guys."
As it turned out, the Mets acquired an ace who is every bit as good as Hamels - at a salary about 44 times more expensive than Hamels'. Hamels' price will go up in 2009, when he should be a "Super Two" eligible for arbitration; figure about $6 million. Still, that gives the Phillies plenty of bang for their buck. And plenty of payroll flexibility to replace impending free agents Pat Burrell and Jamie Moyer.
The more Hamels pitches this postseason, the more you start to believe some of these. What a pleasure it was to watch Hamels control the Rays' lineup, neutralizing their speed by largely keeping them off the bases. Gotta love that changeup, too.
With Hamels atop their rotation _ assuming, as always, good health _ the Phillies are in good shape for years to come. Credit must be given to former Phils GM Ed Wade, who selected Hamels 17th overall, two picks after Game 1 loser Scott Kazmir, in the 2002 amateur draft.
To be fair, Mike Pelfrey found his way for the Mets this season, so with Santana, Pelfrey and Maine _ we'll see whether they re-sign Perez, or whom they bring in as Perez's replacement _ the Mets are in considerably better shape, starting-pitching-wise, than they are a year ago. Nevertheless, it has to be discouraging that their prime rival has an ace in the fold for at least the next four years. And if the Braves get Jake Peavy, the NL East will get even more interesting.
2. Brad Lidge. Wow, is he dealing. The heart of the Rays' order - Carlos Pena (strikeout), Evan Longoria (strikeout) and Carl Crawford (foul out to Phils third baseman Pedro Feliz) - couldn't even hit a fair ball off him.
I covered the 2005 NLCS, when Lidge blew Game 5 by giving up a tape-measure homer to Albert Pujols that probably still hasn't landed yet, and the 2005 World Series, when Lidge seemed to be in aftershock as he gave up a walkoff homer to scrawny Scott Podsednik in World Series Game 2 and lost Game 4, for good measure.
Here's what sticks in my memory from that postseason: The Astros rebounded from that Game 5 shocker by winning Game 6 in St. Louis, thanks to a dominant performance by Roy Oswalt. They carried a 5-1 lead into the ninth inning - not a save situation, in other words.
Astros manager Phil Garner brought in Dan Wheeler, who, interestingly, is opposing Lidge in this World Series as a member of the Rays' bullpen. Wheeler closed out the pennant-winning victory. But I've always wondered why Garner didn't bring in Lidge there, to let Lidge get right back on the horse and put a positive memory back in his brain. Would that have made a difference for Lidge, moving forward? Because for the rest of Lidge's Astros career, through last season, he never seemed to escape that Pujols moonshot.
I'm going to try to ask Lidge and Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey, who was the Astros' pitching coach in 2005; small world, eh? But the beauty of blogging is I can throw this stuff out here for conversation's sake without doing any actual work.
3. B.J. Upton, the Rays' offensive hero in the ALCS, hit two balls hard. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, both of those balls turned into double plays; in the third, his twin-killing wiped out a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Throw in that Longoria, Upton's ALCS partner in crime, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and you have a good idea of how the Phillies won despite hitting 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
4. Ryan Howard is just brutal defensively, isn't he? It really detracts from his value. I'll discuss this issue more once the NL Most Valuable Player is announced next month.
5. Here is a column I wrote on the development of the Rays' young pitchers. Yet another case of patience ruling the day. A reminder, to those who are ready to catapult Brian Cashman into outer space based on his decision to not acquire Johan Santana, that the stories of pitchers like Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are not yet complete.
Should be another good pitching matchup tonight, with Brett Myers facing off against James Shields.
6. Hank Steinbrenner wasn't at The Trop last night, but the Yankees did have a representative: Tampa native and resident, and former Devil Ray, Tino Martinez. "I had to do some media stuff," he said, from a luxury suite behind home plate. Tino attended the Yankees' organizational meetings last week; Brian Cashman likes him a great deal and is trying to get him more in the loop.
Have a great day.
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Comments (30)
The Phillies won 3-2 last night thanks to Cole Hamels last night. Hamels is now 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA this postseason. The Phillies won despite leaving base runners left and right going 0-13 with RISP. Kazmir had guys on base in about every inning, and some how got out of the inning. And at times Kazmir seen to be distracted with the runners on base when he should be concern with the batter at the plate.
Bill Madden in today’s Daily News has a quote from Phillies GM Pat Gillick saying everybody in the NL East hated the Mets guts. Gillick said, “If you want to know the best thing we had going for us this year," said Gillick, "it was the fact that all the other teams in our division hated the Mets' guts. It started with Atlanta and all the hostility they had with the Mets through the years. Then Fredi Gonzalez left Bobby Cox to manage the Marlins and he didn't forget everything that went on between the Braves and Mets. Look what Florida did for us the past two years (beating the Mets two out of the three in each of the last series of the season to prevent them from making the postseason)! "Washington doesn't like them very much either, and all those teams seemed to really get up for the Mets." If that’s not proof that the Mets are the most hated team in the National League, I don’t know what is.
You really think season 5 of Seinfeld was weak? The Marine Biologist episode was that season, and that was perhaps the best episode this show ever produced. I would argue the last season was far and away the weakest, because that was Larry David was no longer a part of the show and Seinfeld was exposed as a fraud (ok, too strong, but you get my point).
I know there's this theory that Lidge never recovered from that home run to Pujols -- it's repeated endlessly -- but the numbers don't back it up. His ERA bloated in '06 to over 5, which is why everyone thinks he was terrible, but he still managed, in all his post-tramatic stress disorder funk, to post a 36/104 BB/K in 75 innings. 104 strikeouts in 75 innings (which was actually a higher strikeout rate than the year before). Clearly that is someone who still has killer stuff and knows how to use it. The following year, in '07, Lidge put up a 30/88 BB/K in 67 innings. Again, excellent numbers. This idea that Lidge fell apart after that home run is simply, in my opinion, not true.
What's the relationship between Tino and Girardi, Ken? Personally, I would love to see Tino on the coaching staff. Maybe they can give him the first base job and move Pena to third, and then if it works out make him the bench coach. Tino always seemed like an intelligent, hardworking, unpretentious sort of fellow.
You want expert analysis? ESPN has expert analysis. Fernando Vina on ESPNews: "Hamels kept the Rays off-balance with his fastball and changeup mostly. On the offensive side, Chase Utley hit a big two-run home run in the first. The Phils win a big game." So their best pitcher had a good game throwing his best pitch and Utley hit a home run and it was a big win (as it was game one of the World Series and all)? Wow, no wonder they pay these guys for their expertise.
Charity bet: Phil Hughes will win the Cy Young Award by the end 2012.
Tino Martinez is one of the good guys. His work on the college level last year was refreshing. I'd like to see him move into a position with the NYY.
Baumbach, Seinfeld a fraud? Take that back, or else I'll never link to The Final Score again! I agree that Seasons 8 and 9 (LD left after Season 7, so there were two years that Jerry flew solo) reflected LD's departure, but I also thought those seasons had a freedom, an absence of LD-induced angst. In Season 5, they clearly were trying to live up to the greatness of Season 4 and lost their way, IMHO, with episodes like the premiere (in which a certain sexual act was featured) and "The Barber," in which they overplayed the "mundane act become huge drama" idea. Marine Biologist was good but not great. I don't like George's speech at the end - I know, I'm in the minority there. Just not consistent with his character; he's never that eloquent.
baileywalk, maye a better way to put it on Lidge is that the Astros never got over him giving up the HR to Pujols. Remember, in '07, he lost his closer's job (temporarily) after blowing the first save opportunity of the season. The Pujols questions never seemed to go away - even though, as you pointed out, he still had great stuff.
Tino and Girardi have a fine relationship, as far as I can tell, but they're not great friends. Mutual respect, I'd call it. I agree with you that Tino would be a good coach. For now, it appears that Cashman likes having Tino as a front-office voice/sounding board. But maybe down the line, Tino's role could change.
I thought the last season of Seinfeld may have been the best. It got away from the original plot, which was a show about everyday life. (It was never about nothing) The last season was outragous and as realistic as 24, but it was still great. The P.R. day parade was my favorite episode ever.
Lidge sucked after he gave up that homer to Pujols. He had an ERA over 5!!! I dont care if you strike out the side every inning, if you also give up a run. It comes back to my discussion with Ken at the beginning of the year. Strikeouts help make you a better pitcher. You dont depend on anyone, I get that. But in the end, what matters is not how you got the outs, but if you gave up runs. And Lidge gave up a ton of runs that year. Strikeouts or no strikeouts. Strikeouts help you not give up runs, but there are abberations to Kens theory (I think Ken would agree to that) and there maybe no better abberation than Brad Lidge in 2006. He had killer stuff, but it killed the Stros. To be fair, he obviously still had talent, but I dont think he really knew how to use it.
A.J. Burnett is another example of the K being overrated as far as a be all end all stat. Without the K, I'm sure Burnett would really really suck. With the K, he is a better than average pitcher. But who had a better season this year, Burnett or Cliff Lee? I may rather have Burnett for the future, but this season, it wasn't even close. The K is a great tool to gage how a pitcher will perform in the future, but at the end of the season stats, I'd rather have a guy with a low ERA.
Ken,
The Rays were patient so that proves the Yankees should be too?
The Rays weren't patient -- they had no choice but to wait for their young pitchers to develop. They can't sign veteran pitchers and they cant bundle young players to get an expensive starting pitcher because they cant afford either.
They could have lost 99 games again this year and no one would have noticed. The Yankees dont have the luxury of sucking for 10 years and hoping it all works out one day with No. 1 draft picks and youth-for-youth trade.
I'm surprised you would misapply what the Rays did so badly.
Enjoy the rest of the series!
Wow, we just need Chicago Norm to get the Hat Trick. I love the Final Score dudes bc they talk hockey.
Rieber, I agree with a lot of what you say. The Rays basically have to operate the way they operate.
But I always laugh when people say the Yanks cant afford to not try and win now. If any team CAN afford to suck for 10 years, it would be the Yanks. The Yanks can suck for 100 years and they'll still play in NY. And when they finally win, they will draw 3-4 million. Its a team like the Rays that cant suck for 10 years. Because once they do, they will draw no fans and maybe they'll be forced to relocate.
Just look at the Knicks. They still sellout (though no one actually goes to the games). And they still sell the tickets at outragiously high prices. Same with the Rangers.
Truth is, in NY, you can suck for as long as you want. You'll still draw pretty good and once you win, everyone will fight to jump on the bandwagon. The GM/Manager/Players may not be able to last the 10 years, but the franchise will be just fine.
If the Yankees trade youth to get one of these vets, then pay the vet $150 million and then watch the vet bomb, not only Cashman should be fired but Rieber, too, for advocating such irresponsible actions. Let him write about pumpkin picking out in Southold.
Do the Yankees have to "suck" for ten years to work a few young pitchers and a rookie outfielder into the lineup? I think not. It is prudent to do this. Did the Red Sox "suck" for 10 years? Didn't they win the World Series after turning to youth?
Let's keep throwing money at players and we will have the same problem we do right now.
We are missing a message Ken subtly delivered here--someone in the Mets organization at one time thought they could compete fairly easily with John Maine and Oliver Perez as the top pitchers in the rotation. This knowing that the Phoillies would have Hamels and Myers at the top of theirs and the Braves would have Smoltz and Glavine at the top of theirs. Stop worrying about Seinfeld, that show was garbage, I never saw it then, I haven't seen it now. I never saw NBC Must-see TV one time, I didn't miss a thing.
The people down here in radio and the the papers are getting on Tampa's fans for allowing Ryan Howard to reach all the way intot he stands to catch that foul ball. Calling them "fair-weather fans" they have all said the same thing, any knowledgeable fan would have done anything possible to make sure he didn't catch that ball.
Dennis as far as the Mets being hated, they have been the most hated team in the NL ever since the prima-donna team of the 80's who grandstanded all season long with curtain calls and loudmouths and showoffs like Ray Knight and Gary Carter egging fans on with their theatrics, plus the fact they couldn't win but one championship. I know for a fact that teams did not want to deal with Frank Cashen and when the Mets finally fell apart and went into disgrace in the early 90s most teams were extremely pleased to see it happen--and I bet that was sped along because teams didn't want to do anything that might even help them one bit.
Seinfeld - I only liked a few episodes. Why come home after a day of dealing with obnoxious New Yorkers to watch more of them on TV?
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Dennis - good quote from Gillick on the Met hatred in the NL East. it wasn't our imagination that clubs refused to back down.
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Patience by the Rays - yes, they had no choice, as free agents in the prime of their career don't decide to play in Tampa. Only those closer in age to the metal detector crowd will take that option.
But I guess that the Oakland A's had no option other than creative management, scouting intelligently and following a disciplined financial program in order to compete in the early part of this decade.
The Red Sox adapted the Bill James/A's model over the past 7 years and have overtaken the Yankees - why shouldn't the Yankees also take and adapt their opponent's penurious and patient strategy and add some money/a free agent or two when absolutely necessary (like the Braves from 1991 to 2006) ?
The A's, Braves and Red Sox management were/are frankly more intelligent than the Yankees at the present time - except when it comes to extorting pubic funds for stadium construction.
Bob, I have re-read everything you wrote yesterday afternoon and want you to know I appreciate your thoughts, find them valuable and learned a great deal during the course of the exchange.
Sandy how do you know Seinfeld was garbage if you never saw it?
I'm torn about blocking another team from catching a fly ball. Back when I was a huge Mets fan, there's no way Howard catches that ball if I'm sitting there. But not being a huge fan anymore, I think its respectful to let the players decide the game. Though I probably would want the foul ball more than my own respect.
JMH, perhaps Cashman should hired better baseball personal people to help him build the farm system. The Yanks have been drafting and stockpiling pitching while they have not done a lot of drafting position players.
The weather forcast for Game 3 on Saturday in Philadelphia is not good. There is a 70% chance of rain on Saturday. If Game 3 on Saturday gets rain out, then Game 3 will be on Sunday, Game 4 will be on Monday, Game 5 will be on Tuesday, Game 6 will be on Wednesday and Game 7 will be on Thursday. That would mean Games 3-7 of the World Series will have no days off if they get rain out on Saturday. That would also mean the Phillies and Rays might alter their starting rotation for the rest of the series.
The problem with Ryan Howard right now is he is swing at the breaking ball. Pitchers have been throwing a steady diet of breaking balls to Howard lately and Howard has been chasing on them.
Bill James happens to be the same guy who defended Pete Rose on whether he bet on baseball. Even thought Rose confessed to betting on baseball years later, James still feels that Rose didn't bet on the sport and he totally disagree with the Dowd report. And James happens to be a pay employee of the Red Sox.
Richie, I'm sure you've watched enough baseball to know that 1) ERA is a much smaller indicator for a reliever than a starter (because a few bad outings, due to a small number of innings pitched, can kill your ERA) and 2) ERA is not the only way to judge a pitcher's performance.
My point was not that Brad Lidge was great, or even as good as he was in '05, but simply that the idea of Lidge falling off a cliff, being totally worthless, simply isn't true. I'd gladly have a bunch of guys in my bullpen who "sucked" as hard as Lidge did in '06. Lidge basically had one bad game each month in '06 that kept his ERA elevated (look at the game log -- once a month he'd give up three runs and the rest of the time he was his normal self). Again, he wasn't a lockdown closer, but he wasn't trash, either.
Richie beat me on the question to Sandy.
JMH - I respect your thougths and words as well. especially regarding the sports education of our kids.
I put "Seinfeld" in the BK, Marvin Miller, Bud Selig dumpster of blog subjects, along with "Entourage".
And how about the Yankees/mets/Ratner's IRS victory on yet more tax free bonds? The teams get a three-fer - public assistance, interest payment sin lieu of taxes and reduced revenue sharing.
Dennis - Damon Oppenheimer is one of the best in the business. I think Ken can confirm that D.O. is very highly regarded around MLB. The Yankees have had several good drafts. Don't forget that some of the free agent signings over the years and trades have cost them picks.
Bailey, that is true about relievers ERA.'s. Though two other things are true also. Some middle inning guys ERA's are low despite sucking. They can let three inherited runners score and not give up an earned run and be fine.
And two, a closers ERA should always be lower considering they only have to pitch one inning. But I do agree that if a closer has a brutal day it can take a month to make up for it. But Lidge was one of the best closers in baseball until the Pujols home run. He certainly was nowhere near that level after. I dont deny he still had great "stuff." The strikeout totals prove that. Either way, he's been very impressive this year.
Bob, do you not like Entourage, or just dont want to blog about it? LaMonica has a pretty good Entourage blog!
RG - like I said before, I think it's a male consumption version of "Desperate Housewives". I don't enjoy watching televsion except for the real reality show - sports (and Simpsons and South Park) And I'm still confused by Jeremy Piven and how he was cast as a college student in "PCU" in 1994 as a 29 year old.
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Will Ryan Howard answer the white courtesy phone - someone is either impersonating you or your trying to handicap the Phils into a 7 game series
Richie from word of mouth and endless commercials for the show I decided it wasn't worth seeing plus the lack of success most of the cast has had since showed me they weren't as popular as made to be. Larry David did better than all of them.
Entourage was a better show before Vince became a big star and it lost its way. Climbing to the top is more fun than being there. Now the only interesting character on the entire show is Ari. One thing that I've noticed on Entourage is that none of the men cast seem to be taller than 5'6" or so. Jeremy Piven looks almost like a midget and the rest of them are comparible to him in size except for Drama.
The point of Howard catching that ball was it was in the stands and nobody did a thing to try to stop him from grabbing it. There was a runner in scoring position and that play ended the inning. The other thing that they didn't like down here was hamels not being called for a balk, besides that they know they didn't do enough to win the game.
Sandy, I sorta feel the same way about Frank TV. I would never watch it, no matter how many times I hear Very Funny.
Curb Your Enthusiasm is better than Seinfeld, probably because you can curse. But I really disagree with you that nobody has had success since Seinfeld. The New Adventures of Old Christine has been successful, and have you seen Kramer's standup career?!?!?! J/K. But yeah, Larry David is definitely the glue.
I did notice all the small people on Entourage. Supposedly 24 is cast the same way. I love Piven though, he's awesome.
And I agree the fans didn't help out last night. I'm just not sure as a 37-year-old I'd want to intefere with how the game is going to be played. I think I'd feel really guilty if I cost a team the World Series because I went for a foul ball.
Doesn't anyone want to talk about the fishtank in the outfield?
Man oh man, people are pushing my buttons today, and it's not even Richie G. doing the pushing! LOL.
Sandy: Seriously. "I didn't watch Seinfeld, but it was garbage." Come on. You sound like my 5-year-old son's friend who says, "I'm allergic to salad," but is not allergic to salad and hasn't tried it.
Rieber: You know I'm not advocating the Yankees using four rookies in their starting rotation and finish in last place for 10 years. You're just trying to stir me up, and you have succeeded. I am saying that it's foolish for people to say that Cashman should forget about the youth movement. And to declare his Santana decision a mistake, when it was a six-year decision and we're done with just one year. Also, of the Rays' starting rotation, two were acquired via trade, and only one from using a high draft pick (Delmon Young for Garza). The Rays drafted smarter than the Yankees and most other teams.
JMH, Damon Oppenheimer is indeed highly regarded. Last year at this time, he was a genius, with Joba and Kennedy thriving. Right now, not so much. We'll see what another year brings.
Norm - the only thing in the tank in Tampa is Ryan Howard's batting skills. He makes me want to avoid the Subway "Philly Cheesesteak" sandwich at all costs.
Ken - do you need a new headset and batteries as you walk the beaches looking for loose change yet?
Are any parents noticing that Hamels and Santana, two of the best pitchers in baseball, get by throwing fastball/change almost all of the time - and that Scott Kazmir has picked up a change after arm problems? Teach your children well...
When a successful TV show ends, the actors on that show usually are not successful at other things. Larry David certainly has done better with Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO than the actors on Seinfeld.
The new GM of the Mariners, Jack Zduriencik work in the Mets front office from 1994-98. He has happens to be friends with Padres GM Kevin Towers going back to when they both were scouts with the Padres.
Wow....The Vinal Flore guys have drifted over here and started waxing.
Expanding their horizons in the blogosphere.
I suspect their appearance here is part of a far bigger plot to secure greater visibility for one of their members.
Cuz I just came across this on the internet:
http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=BOUIPOZ&altl=SJFCFS
That's just scary.
Is he even 35???
If nominated, I will not run.
If elected, I will not serve.