Cards & Brews -- 2011 NLCS IST

[Frayed Knot]

Jamie Garcia v Zack Greinke in the opener.

- Braun's 2R HR in the 1st [KAH-RUSHED] gave the Brews a 2-1 lead

- David Freese's (where'd this guy come from?) [u:2fdqo27l]3R[/u:2fdqo27l] shot in the 5th puts the Birds up 4-2

[G-Fafif]

The Brewers make the noise and represent the better overall story, but I'm picking up a Team of Destiny vibe around these Cardinals.

Subject to change.

[Gwreck]

Brewers put up 9 runs in support of a sub-par Greinke effort.

[MFS62]

Two pearls from Bobby V during tonight's second game blowout. He's doing color on the ESPN Radio broadcast of the series.
1) He and the pbp guy were talking about keeping long rallies going, and said the Brewers hit too many homers, which Bobby called "rally-stoppers".
2) They were talking about the wild card. Bobby noted that when they instituted the wild card in Japan, the wc first round series was also best of five, but the wild card team was penalized by starting the series down by one game. So to win they have to win 3 of the next 4. Put that one in the "I didn't know that" category.

Later

[Ceetar]

MFS62 wrote: Two pearls from Bobby V during tonight's second game blowout. He's doing color on the ESPN Radio broadcast of the series. 1) He and the pbp guy were talking about keeping long rallies going, and said the Brewers hit too many homers, which Bobby called "rally-stoppers". 2) They were talking about the wild card. Bobby noted that when they instituted the wild card in Japan, the wc first round series was also best of five, but the wild card team was penalized by starting the series down by one game. So to win they have to win 3 of the next 4. Put that one in the "I didn't know that" category. Later

1. as much as Bobby knows about baseball, it's always annoying when he cites some of that stuff that people accept as true but isn't actually true.

2. It's not a best of five series then. There is no way to play five games.

[MFS62]

Sometimes, your brain has to do a double clutch when you listen to him.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

The Cards handed out 'Rally Squirrel' towels to arriving fans.
And despite that idiocy they scored four times in the 1st off Gallardo to take a 4-0 lead.
Brews got two back in top 2 off the previously untouchable Carpenter so the match-up of aces not quite going to way they wrote it up.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: The Cards handed out 'Rally Squirrel' towels to arriving fans. And despite that idiocy they scored four times in the 1st off Gallardo to take a 4-0 lead. Brews got two back in top 2 off the previously untouchable Carpenter so the match-up of aces not quite going to way they wrote it up.

That's kinda cool actually.

[TransMonk]

From a guy who doesn't think much of him during the regular season, I think Brian Anderson is calling a swell NLCS. Him, Ronnie and John Smoltz make a pretty decent national TV team.

I think TBS should always let the local play-by-play guy call their playoff games.

[Ceetar]

TransMonk wrote: From a guy who doesn't think much of him during the regular season, I think Brian Anderson is calling a swell NLCS. Him, Ronnie and John Smoltz make a pretty decent national TV team. I think TBS should always let the local play-by-play guy call their playoff games.

meanwhile the fox guys for the ALCS are pretty bad. on radio too.

[Gwreck]

ESPN Radio (free) has Dan Shulman and Orel Hershisher who are very good. The Tigers' and Rangers' local radio ($$ through MLB Gameday Audio) aren't.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: ESPN Radio (free) has Dan Shulman and Orel Hershisher who are very good. The Tigers' and Rangers' local radio ($$ through MLB Gameday Audio) aren't.

maybe they just had an offday, because Shulman and Hershisher were annoying me today. Normally I think they're okay. Mainly that it seemed like 90% of the broadcast was about the quantity of Verlander's pitches.

[Gwreck]

I only listened for a few innings so I can't critique the entire broadcast. That being said, Verlander's pitch count was one of the single most important factors in the game: he's the best pitcher in baseball; the Tigers had none of their top relievers available; it's a potential elimination game.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: I only listened for a few innings so I can't critique the entire broadcast. That being said, Verlander's pitch count was one of the single most important factors in the game: he's the best pitcher in baseball; the Tigers had none of their top relievers available; it's a potential elimination game.

I'm not denying that, but we don't need a pitch count on every pitch in the third inning and a projection of how far he can go with every out recorded or batter reached. Walk and an error in the third with outs and they weren't even talking about the potential go-ahead runness of the situation.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

These games have been just as close-- or almost as close, anyway-- but nowhere near as tense as the Rangers-Tigers series, amirite?

Thanks, Genius.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That Molina at-bat seemed to last about 75 minutes.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: That Molina at-bat seemed to last about 75 minutes.

So do most Braun ABs as he's one of those 'go for a stroll and re-adjust the batting gloves after every pitch' guys.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: These games have been just as close-- or almost as close, anyway-- but nowhere near as tense as the Rangers-Tigers series, amirite? Thanks, Genius.

Just what I was thinking.

[metirish]

Randy Wolf eh?

Enjoying the AL tilt more than this....

[Frayed Knot]

[u:3vb280s8]GAME 5[/u:3vb280s8] --

Wow that's a quick hook - even for LaRussa - as Garcia is pulled up 4-1 in the top of the 5th.
Of course it is Braun up as the tying run, but he's also 0-2 so far. Dotel in.

... and it works as Dotel Ks Braun with 2-on and 2-out.

[metirish]

Dotel is ageless , looked great there.

[Guest themetfairy]

Edited October 14, 2011 by Guest

[Guest Edgy DC]

Looks like it's not to be a Brewer night.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Looks like it's not to be a Brewer night.

Budweiser gaining market share over Miller.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

If I wasn't rooting hard for Milwaukee before, I am now.

God DAMN, is this team a LaRussa special-- it's engineered for pitching changes, lefty-righty matchups, extraneous defensive switches that end up getting lucky. A victory for them here (much less in the WS) is a victory for the kind of baseball that baseball haters see when they look at the game; it's baseball at its worst, like the Lemaire Devils or the Riley Knicks* winning championships.

Come on, you dumb, fat Brewers! Stop kicking the ball around for 18 innings!

*As a Starks/Masonite of the highest order, it pains me to say this.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

F the Brewers. They're like the 06 Mets, losing to an inferior StL team on merit.

[G-Fafif]

F the Brewers. They're like the 06 Mets, losing to an inferior StL team on merit.

Exact same pattern on games, too: Win the first, lose the second and third, win the fourth, lose the fifth, now bring the series home needing to win both.

Except for disdainful memories from 26 and 24 years ago (which forever turned me off to masses of red-clad humanity) and the sincere desire to watch Yadier Molina self-immolate every time the camera picks him up ("c'mon Sager, just bonk him with that microphone"), I could be into this Cardinal team. Yes, La Russa is managing this series to death, but thus far it's working to his advantage. And the Cardinals are picking the Brewers' pockets clean at every turn. They are so unlikely (given the yearlong absence of Wainwright and how far they had to go to catch and pass Atlanta) that I'm finding their ride hard to resist. Also, I did so much rooting against where the MFYs and Phillies were concerned that I don't know how much sheer animosity I have left in the tank.

Milwaukee has done little to inspire allegiance in this round. Ever since Greinke issued inflammatory quotes about Carpenter, I've had a sense of doom about them. That could change under the retractable roof of Miller Park, of course, but now I'm keen to see just how far this five innings, hand it to the bullpen tactic can carry St. Louis. It's a little like watching the 2008 Mets down the stretch except with relievers who don't uniformly suck.

[bmfc1]

This is such a hard series to find a favorite because each team has negatives. The ones for St. Louis are obvious: LaRussa; the Herzog years; Y. Molina; and, "the best fans in baseball." Milwaukee's players seem smug/cocky/arrogant, especially Braun; N. Morgan's an idiot; and they're Selig's team. I put on the games and instinctively root against both teams.

[Guest themetfairy]

bmfc1 wrote: I put on the games and instinctively root against both teams.

But not as intensely as the 2009 WS....

[Gwreck]

I just assumed nobody here even watched that series. I sure didn't.