IST NLCS 2019: STL vs WSH — Red State

[G-Fafif]

Root against the team whose featured color is red.

[G-Fafif]

First two games:



Friday, Oct. 11

NLCS Game 1: Nationals at Cardinals -- 8 p.m. (TBS)



Saturday, Oct. 12

NLCS Game 2: Nationals at Cardinals -- 4 p.m. (TBS)

[bmfc1]

While our eyes are bleeding, at least we'll hear Ronnie doing color for TBS.

[Lefty Specialist]

Ugh. Only thing worse would have been Braves-Nats, I guess. Time to catch up on the DVR.

[Guest 41Forever]

I'm ok with the Cards.



Bryce Harper must be kicking himself. Or, he's so busy trying to spend $300 million that he doesn't care.

[G-Fafif]

Bryce Harper Who?

[Lefty Specialist]

=41Forever post_id=24159 time=1570711889 user_id=69]
I'm ok with the Cards.



Bryce Harper must be kicking himself. Or, he's so busy trying to spend $300 million that he doesn't care.

[Gwreck]

Good news: Two loathsome teams - the Braves and Dodgers - were eliminated.



Bad news: can only eliminate one of two this round...

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'm not feeling any animosity for the playoff teams. Not even the Yankees, who I'm rooting against only because some of my friends are Yankee fans and I don't need to hear the good-natured razzing that'll come my way if they win, or even make it to the WS. What? I'm supposed to hate the Dodgers because five seasons ago, Ruben Tejada got Utley'd? This doesn't resonate anymore with me, because by this logic, I'd hate every team. Oakland took the WS from the Mets in '73. The Cubs Sutclffed the Mets and Dwight Gooden in '84. Ed Ott upended Felix Millan so if the Pirates made the playoffs, I'd hafta hate them too. What? I'm supposed to hate the Nats because they won more games than the Mets. That's on eff and Jeff. That's who youse should be hating. The Nats are doing their jobs. The Wilpons aren't. I don't get this anymore? The Braves are loathsome? Why? What are they supposed to do? Lose on purpose to the Mets so the Mets could make the playoffs?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Besides, and Mets fans don't really wanna admit this to themselves, it was at best a brave but foolish play by Tejada made necessary by a very bad play by Muffy, as much as it was a dirty play by Utley that led to that tragedy

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Besides, and Mets fans don't really wanna admit this to themselves, it was at best a brave but foolish play by Tejada made necessary by a very bad play by Muffy, as much as it was a dirty play by Utley that led to that tragedy

I've always maintained that. And I'm still not convinced that it was a dirty play in the first place. I think that the league over-reacted only because of the severity of Tejada's injury, figuring that if Tejada could could get hurt like that, tomorrow it might be a marquee player or superstar. I also totally agree with the Dodgers' defense that if the roles were reversed, David Wright would've done the exact same thing that Utley did. It's called playoff baseball.

[ashie62]

St. Louis has been playing as well as anyone since the break. Just en fuego.

[G-Fafif]

Sanchez vs. Mikolas.

[Frayed Knot]

If the Nats are going to get solid pitching from Sanchez the cards could be in a heap of trouble in this series.

On the other hand, he's been known to wind down the 3rd time through the lineup which means the bullpen, and with Hudson not available (I can't

believe a team with post-season aspirations didn't enforce the 'No sex in January' rule) this still could get interesting.

[G-Fafif]

One run, seven hits combined through 5 1/2, all for one team.

[Fman99]

I'm rooting against the Cardinals because they are the "Yankees of the National League." Which means, you know, fuck them. The Nats have never won shit. Plus, I enjoy the idea of Bryce Harper watching his former team win without him.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

No hitter thru 7 for Dirty Sanchez

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Well, 7 2/3rds not bad.

[G-Fafif]

Nationals lead the NLCS...is a sentence that has never been written before tonight.

[G-Fafif]

Scherzer vs. Wainwright.

[bmfc1]

It's weird not to be happy at the Cardinals' ineptitude.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

This whole 'hitting' thing doesn't seem to be high on the Cards' to-do list these days.

It's not good to be 14 innings in and still have your combined number in the 'H' column still be singular.



I see this and I keep wanting to check if deGrom is out on the mound.

[bmfc1]

Molina hits into a weak DP and I'm upset. This is weird. However, it looks like this feeling won't last much longer and then I can return to dispising STL per usual. In fact, I'll dislike them even more for SUCKING ASS against WSH.

[bmfc1]

2d straight series where the Nationals benefited from a manager's devotion to a once-great pitcher. I thought the STL manager promised to "fuck up" their next opponent. Maybe he meant that he was going to fuck up a big moment.

[kcmets]

Two road wins and lawdy that place was quiet.

[kcmets]

I only really care what the Astros do at this point, but it is mildly amusing

that the Gnats are doing this without the billion dollar bonus baby. He's wat-

ching at home (or at his club, on his yacht, on his private island...)

[G-Fafif]

Strasburg vs. Flaherty. Cardinals might want to look into getting going.

[Frayed Knot]

Remember when Marcel Ozuna was a good fielder and thrower as well as a good hitter, one who used to bedevil the Mets at various aspects of the game ... What happened to that guy?



He's still a decent hitter w/power (though a cut below his best seasons), but he's clearly neither the fielder nor thrower that he used to be.

How does that happen, seemingly so drastically, by age 28?

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: How does that happen, seemingly so drastically, by age 28?

Hiding an injury?

Later

[Frayed Knot]

He's played full seasons, or nearly so, each year of his career [148, 159, 148, 130 games played 2016-19].

And the way the announcers were talking, going back even to the previous series, it's not like he's currently not fielding/throwing, it's that he simply can't do so anymore.

Tonight he came in for a sliding catch on a ball that he had a ways to go on but one that was also in the air forever. He never quite got there, though I'm sure in past years he

would have, so he went into a slide for it instead only to have it clank off his glove for a two-run double.

In a few short years he's gone from good CF'er to a below-par corner guy at an age when he should be in or near his prime.



And since I wrote the earlier post he failed to pick up a ball at his feet on the first try ensuring that the runner from 1st could score easily.