Comments on: 10/5 playoff discussion thread

By: jlc

jlc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:14:28 +0000

The Angels win percentage against the rest of the league was about what it was against the west. And Scioscia took a really bad organization and turned it into one that produces well-rounded players and winning teams. I’d take him in Seattle in a heartbeat.

By: Axtell

Axtell — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:44:01 +0000

Another annoying thing about the Angels is the non-stop praise Scioscia seems to get, as if he’s somehow responsible for the rest of the division stinking.

By: Colm

Colm — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:58:35 +0000

Darned Angels. They’ve been walking all over us since 2002 – so I never get tired of watching them lose. Even if it has to be the Red Sox beeating them.

My other bugbear is the plethora of lazy press stories they seem to inspire about how “they always play the game the right way” – cue unenlighting column inches about srappiness and hustle. I want them to sign a bunch of 250lb, iron-gloved sluggers and start playing for the three-run homer (kinda like the 2000 A’s) just to quosh these stories once and for all.

By: Colm

Colm — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:53:15 +0000

msb – I caught that frustrated aside from Dave Campbell too. That’s one of the smarter things I can remember him saying.

By: jlc

jlc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:39:56 +0000

Yay, a lead! Someone has a lead! And it’s not even six hours into the game yet.

By: jlc

jlc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:31:30 +0000

Speaking of the Dodgers, Dodger Thoughts talked about the unwillingness to use youth (this was from July 28, quoted in today’s entry):

“Yes, the Dodger lineup is infused with youth. Young players are everywhere – in the lineup, in the rotation, in the bullpen. It’s not that Colletti and Torre don’t want the youth to do well. It’s that at the sign of trouble, they don’t believe. They’re on a roller coaster that they want no part of. In their perfect world, there is no youth.

They’re addicts, and they can’t stay on the wagon. Veteran talent is the drug and it feels so good, even if they wake up emptier than before. The Dodger leadership doesn’t have the backbone to stand on its own two feet. …”

But it worked.

So today’s entry went on to say that Torre learned:

“I don’t think Torre and Colletti will panic. I think they’ve turned the corner. It might have taken them longer than it should have, but I think they know who their team is now. That doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Juan Pierre ever. That doesn’t mean the young players should be cocky. (Andre Ethier to Dylan Hernandez of the Times: “I have to compete for a starting job again next year.”)”

A Dodger-Tampa Series would be a nice reminder that veteraness does not triumph by and of itself.

By: MedicineHat

MedicineHat — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:18:04 +0000

Another great story to show how important team chemistry is (not).

LOS ANGELES — Of all the numbers floating atop the sudsy Dodger Stadium joy Saturday night — 20 years, three-game sweep, eight more wins — the most important one was never mentioned.

In a sport that celebrates perseverance, it’s a number that doesn’t make sense.

In an organization that built its tradition on continuity, it’s a number that is actively shunned.

Yet here it was, the most compelling number of one of the Dodgers’ most compelling playoff series in history.

Zero.

That is the number of times the Dodgers had used their division-series winning lineup before the division series.

The eight position players who took the field for the opening game against the Chicago Cubs had never before started a game together.

Never.

By: jlc

jlc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:13:57 +0000

Of course. This game could not possibly be complete without a Weaver.

By: jlc

jlc — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:03:14 +0000

Dear God, let this game end and let the announcers shut the hell up. Not necessarily in that order.

By: msb

msb — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:56:30 +0000

I don’t think Kerwin Danley is an F-Rod fan.