In Search of .... Pennant Races (NL Version)

[Frayed Knot]

It's bad enough that our shot at a division race died somewhere around Flag Day - but it doesn't look like there's going to be any interesting races down the stretch this year!


East - Philly's had their problems lately but still has a 6.5 game lead over Florida & 7.5 over the Braves (and we know that no one could possibly blow a ~7 game lead with only 20 to go)

Central - the Cardinals have run and hid, leading by 9.5 games - helped more than a little bit by the Cubs running the other way and no one else being able to crack .500

West - has the best potential for something interesting as the Dodgers have stumbled (21-20 since Aug 1) and their once 9.5 game lead is down to 3.0
Problem is that the West loser is probably going to be the Wild Card which takes a lot of the drama out of things.
Rockies (26-15 since Aug 1) now lead the fading Giants by 4.5

Wild Card standings see the Giants 4.5 behind the Rockies, Marlins are 5.5 out, Braves 6.5, and Cubs 7.5
Colorado is in San Fran this week which could very well end the Gints playoff hopes.


Be nice if something got flung upside down in the next 3 weeks - just for entertainment purposes if nothing else.

Edited September 14, 2009 by Guest

[Gwreck]

AL is no better:

MFYs have the East.
Detroit has the Central (5.5 up over Minnesota)
Los Angeles has the west (up 6 over Texas).

Texas is 4.5 back of Boston for the Wild Card and that's as close as it gets. Nobody else even has a shot.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Made worse by the fact I hold an antipathy towards 6 of the 8 teams currently occupying playoff positions. If the season ended today I'd be rooting for the Angels in the playoffs -- that's how bad things are.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm looking forward to watching the Phillies collapse.

[dgwphotography]

I'm looking forward to watching the Phillies collapse.[/quote:2yvbk9kv]

Not if it's the Marlins who catch them...

(am I the only one who heard Leonard Nimoy's voice when reading the subject?)

[Guest Edgy DC]

[Frayed Knot]

(am I the only one who heard Leonard Nimoy's voice when reading the subject?)[/quote:27kl6ez0]

I hope not.



Giants beat Rox last night as Lincecum was back after missing a start. Dodgers, meanwhile, are enjoying a visit from Pittsburgh so figure to gain ground this week no matter how the other series goes.
Marlins lost to StL while the rest of the East was off.

So the WC race gets a bit tighter as the West race becomes more comfy for LA

[Gwreck]

Made worse by the fact I hold an antipathy towards 6 of the 8 teams currently occupying playoff positions. If the season ended today I'd be rooting for the Angels in the playoffs -- that's how bad things are.[/quote:1tyc8jp7]

Tigers. Or the Rockies, I guess. I don't remember them doing anything particularly offensive in recent memory. 6 of the last 8 WS winners in the playoffs again isn't the most compelling story ever.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Hooray for SF, I suppose. (Although my thin-slicing, gut-type reaction when I look at their team/performance tells me they ain't goin' nowhere come October. I may be wrong.)

The race to top a prematurely-dead man in team-records for counting stats notwithstanding... there's little on the individual-achievement front, too. (At least since Mauer's average slid a bit.)

I don't remember the last time I was this plugged into pro football during its opening week, or Premier League/Champions League during their opening month.

[Benjamin Grimm]

How about the thrilling race for the Mets 2009 home run title?

We currently have David Wright and Gary Sheffield at 10, and Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy at 9.

Fernando Tatis and Jeff Francoeur, with 7, can surge to the lead, as can Omir Santos or Angel Pagan, who have 6 each.

This doesn't make your heart pound?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

How about the thrilling race for the Mets 2009 home run title?

We currently have David Wright and Gary Sheffield at 10, and Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy at 9.

Fernando Tatis and Jeff Francoeur, with 7, can surge to the lead, as can Omir Santos or Angel Pagan, who have 6 each.

This doesn't make your heart pound?[/quote:38gsdv4v]

Almost as much as watching narcopleptics watch paint dry.

[Chad ochoseis]

How about the thrilling race for the Mets 2009 home run title?

We currently have David Wright and Gary Sheffield at 10, and Carlos Beltran and Daniel Murphy at 9.
[/quote:toz0jfog]

Whoever wins has a chance at breaking the team record for lowest HR total ever to win a Met HR title.

I won't blow the trivia question by posting the current record here. But there was a three way tie for the Met HR title that season.


Season: 1977

HR Total: 12

Player 1: John Stearns

Player 2: Steve Henderson

Player 3: John Milner

Edited September 15, 2009 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think it was in the late 70's, and the total was, maybe, 16?

[metirish]

I find I have little or no appetite for baseball right now . I'll watch the playoffs I suppose .I'll root against the yankees , yes it's small of me and I don't care. Seeing them lose is not a consolation but it's something.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Me, I tune in to the Mets for an inning here or there. After they play their last game, I probably won't watch any sports at all until next March when they return to Port St. Lucie.

[Chad ochoseis]

"Late '70's?" Awfully soft and squishy for an answer. Is this what happens when Disney buys Marvel?

No comment on whether or not it's correct.

Not 16.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Okay, then, I'll say 14, 1978, Lee Mazzilli, John Stearns, and Steve Henderson.

[Chad ochoseis]

Yes to Stearns and Henderson (which I guess makes it fairly clear that 1978 isn't far off the mark).

[Guest Edgy DC]

Stearns and Hendu shared the 1977 title with John Milner --- a lousy 12. Somehow, Kingman got out of Dodge without hitting more.

As disappointing as it was, it was also encouraging, as Stearns was in his first season as a starter, and Steve Henderson was a rookie playing little over half a season. It would make it pretty letty-downy that neither would ever slug at that rate again.

I know this because the previous low leader was Ed Charles' 15, in 1968, which you can read all about here: http://www.potomacbooksinc.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=186448.

[Chad ochoseis]

Well, that was fun while it lasted. Congratulations to Edgy for walking around with this stuff in his brain and to the Thing for getting it half right just by guessing.

For what it's worth, Kingman was batting .209 with 9 home runs and 28 RBIs when he was traded. I'm now trying to understand why my 12-year-old self found the Kingman and Seaver trades equally crushing.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It's because Kingman even when he sucked was a threat to hit one 4 times a night. It was exciting to have him around every day.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Well, it looks like the Jints are coming to the party; the Rox lead is down to 2.5 games -- their remaining schedules look very even. The Fish are now 4 GB after beating STL.

[Frayed Knot]

In the last game of the night to finish, the Dodgers got one in the 9th to tie the game and then, after Pitt scored in top 13, a 2R walk-off HR in the bottom half to beat the Pirates and jack up their lead to 5.0 full games.

Andre Ethier was the one with the HR - and it's like his 6th walk-off hit this year, including 3 that are extra-inning come-from-behind HRs

[Frayed Knot]

Colorado avoided the sweep by the Giants Wed night.
But the overall WC race tightened up this week as the Gints and the east teams pulled up on the Rox

SF - 3.5
Marlins - 4.5
Braves - 5.0


Dodgers swept the Pirates and are up by 5.0 in the West

[metirish]

I'm officially rooting for the Giants , I'd tune in to see Tim Lincecum in the post season and Zito and the big guy at third.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

The Rockies lose to Arizona, while the Giants win in LA. Their lead is down to 2.5. Flo Rida also winning means they're 4 behind. The Rockies are gone, IMO.

[Frayed Knot]

Philly (and Lidge) blew another lead last night, this time to the chasing Marlins.
Fish were down 6-3, but got a 7th inning run off starter Hamel, one run in the 8th off Madson, and gave a one-run lead to Lidge in the 9th who promptly went: 2B - Line-out - K - BB - RBI-1B, RBI-1B

Not that it'll matter much to the NL East race - Phils still have a 6.5 game lead - but the WC still has a chance to get interesting:
- Rockies lost to SD last night after almost blowing a big lead the night before
- meanwhile, the Giants won, the Braves won, and the Marlins won
- Braves & Giants are 4.0 games out, the Marlins 4.5

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Glad the Mets could do what they could to make this race interesting.

[Frayed Knot]

Colorado lost again to the Pads moving everyone in the WC chase a half-game closer ... except the Giants who were busy losing 3-2 to the sCrubs (Brian Wilson served up a 2R HR in the 9th).
Dodgers also won 7-6, serving up the Nats' 100th loss (although they had to eke it out even after scoring their first four hitters of the game), to build their lead over the Rox to a near-impossible 6 full games

WC:
Braves -3.5
Marlins -4.0
Giants -4.0

and the Rox get StL this weekend (Cards magic # = 1) while Braves get Nats, Giants continue with Cubs, Marlins get ... Mets!!

Edited September 25, 2009 by Guest

[Guest Edgy DC]

I have a Marlins "fan" in the office next to me who just wants them to lose already so he doesn't have to look at the infield dirt on the field when he watches Hurricanes football.