2014 WS: Royals vs. Giants

[Edgy MD]

Ed Charles likes the Royals.

Willie Mays is dogging for the Giants.

The 2014 Mets are of two minds on the issue.

[fimg=625]http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/royalgiants.jpg[/fimg]

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Banny is torn (happily).

Cone and Saberhagen? Less so... and in Sabes' case, confidently so.

[Guest themetfairy]

Edgy MD wrote: [fimg=625]http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/royalgiants.jpg[/fimg]

Studious Metsimus was all over this last weekend.

[MFS62]

If the uniforms they wear are able to predict the team(s) that reach the World Series, I'd prefer they keep wearing the ones that say "Mets".

LAter

[ashie62]

If it ain't the Mets playing I really couldn't care.

[Frayed Knot]

[fimg=425:1amm4qdq]http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/royalgiants.jpg[/fimg:1amm4qdq]

Musically speaking: they'll never be Royals, but they might be giants.

[Frayed Knot]

So how about Bochy's use of Yusmeiro Petit in the post-season so far?
- he's only been called on in 2 of the 9 games for SF, but in those 2 he's totaled 9 innings (a 6-inning outing in the 18-inning game, plus a 3-inning stint in Game 4 vs StL): [u:1qoz11rs]0 Runs on 2 Hits[/u:1qoz11rs], 4 BBs, and 11 Ks, getting credit for the win both times

[G-Fafif]

Frayed Knot wrote: [fimg=425]http://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/royalgiants.jpg[/fimg] Musically speaking: they'll never be Royals, but they might be giants.

And ain't nobody meetin' nobody in St. Louie.

[Guest d'Kong76]

From bbrdotcom on fb:
Excluding 1981 & 1918 (shortened schedules) this will be the 1st World Series in which both participants won fewer than 90 games

[Gwreck]

Rooting for KC.

Predicting Giants in 5.

[Fman99]

Game 1 not until Tuesday. BOOOOOO

[Guest d'Kong76]

Postseason Vanishing From Broadcast Networks
By RICHARD SANDOMIR, The New York Times, October 17, 2014

The 1980 World Series was notable for at least three things. To start, the Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series. Second, the Kansas City Royals played in their first one.

And third, together the Phillies and the Royals produced the most-watched game in World Series history: 54.9 million viewers saw Game 6.

Now, as the Royals await their World Series opener against the San Francisco Giants, they should not anticipate 55 million people tuning in, regardless of the interest generated by their 29-year postseason exile and eight consecutive postseason wins this year. Perhaps 15 million will watch. A decade, after all, has passed since the audience topped 20 million.

What has happened in the past 34 years is familiar: Prime-time viewing has eroded on broadcast television for virtually everything but the N.F.L. as the thousand-channel cable universe has lured viewers with options that were unimaginable when the journey around the TV dial involved only three networks and a few local, independent stations.

Other entertainment options � the web, video games, apps and streaming � combined with the aging of baseball�s audience and the crawling pace of the game, have not been kind to the sport.

But in the 1970s and �80s, viewership was regularly stunning, reflecting the size of broadcast audiences. The 1980 World Series averaged 42.3 million viewers.

Two years later, when the Cardinals played the Milwaukee Brewers in a seven-game series, one game drew 48.9 million viewers and another 49.9 million. In 1985, Game 7 of the Royals-Cardinals series had an audience of 45 million.

The 1980 Series was tightly played through five games, and with the Phillies leading, three games to two, anticipation was high for either the Phillies to clinch or the Royals to survive and force a seventh game.

Three future Hall of Famers were playing: Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and George Brett. Pete Rose, who would become baseball�s career leader in hits in 1985, was the Phillies� first baseman.

And there was still something special about watching the World Series. The glut of local and national games was years away. There were no interleague games or wild-card playoffs.

The league championship series would remain best-of-five affairs until 1985. Division series were still far off.

And all a viewer needed to know was that NBC and ABC were taking turns broadcasting the L.C.S. and the World Series.

This postseason, more than ever, underscores cable�s dominance. From the wild card to the World Series, TBS, Fox Sports 1, ESPN and MLB Network have each had pieces, requiring a navigation at my home from Channel 8 to 400 to 28 to 306. The only broadcaster involved is Fox. In this shifting sports business landscape, the money that Major League Baseball can amass from selling rights to multiple cable networks trumps the convenience of remote-armed fans � or even their ability to have access to some channels. With that in mind, there are a few points worth making:

? Fox�s postseason strategy changed this season with the start of its new M.L.B. deal and the availability of Fox Sports 1, its cable network. This year, up to five N.L.C.S. games were scheduled for Fox Sports 1, with two on Fox, whereas in past seasons, Fox routinely broadcast all its L.C.S. games. After Game 4 of the Giants-Cardinals series on Wednesday generated 5.1 million viewers, Fox Sports 1 declared in a news release that it was the most-watched telecast in Fox Sports 1 history, but Fox�s broadcast of Game 4 of the A.L.C.S. last year was seen by 8.1 million. Fox Sports 1 reaches about 85 million TV households, nearly 30 million fewer than Fox the broadcast network does. Do those viewership figures represent greater fan affinity for the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, or are they the expected result of a broadcast-to-cable shift?

Fox Sports 1 now labels itself �America�s fastest growing network.� But is what�s good for Fox Sports 1 good for viewers?

? As it has since 2012, the MLB Network aired two division series games. Under its new contract, Fox sold the games to M.L.B.�s cable network, which is in about 70 million households � great for a league-owned network but not as widely distributed as TBS or Fox Sports 1. When MLB Network carried Game 2 of the Cardinals-Dodgers division series, it drew 1.77 million viewers; the previous game in the series, on Fox Sports 1, attracted 3.6 million. Similarly, 1.84 million tuned in for Game 3 of the Nationals-Giants series on MLB Network; almost twice as many watched Game 2 on Fox Sports 1.

Cable networks, with revenue streams from advertisers and subscribers, can satisfy themselves with smaller audiences than broadcasters. They covet postseason games, and M.L.B. knows that it would not get the billions of dollars it has received if cable networks were given nothing but regular-season games. But beware of what you ask for. TBS increased its annual payment to baseball to $325 million this season from $150 million and saw sweeps in two division series and the A.L.C.S. That is a formula for substantial losses at a time when its parent company, Time Warner, is laying off employees and cutting costs.

The cabling of baseball�s postseason recalls a kerfuffle in 1996 when Don Ohlmeyer, then NBC�s head of West Coast operations, was irked at the network�s depressing performance in the division series and the L.C.S. Those series, each starring the Yankees, averaged 9.9 million and 11.2 million viewers, not enough for Ohlmeyer when NBC was No. 1 in prime time with programs like �Seinfeld.� Ohlmeyer wanted NBC to get out of the deal.

Back then, Ohlmeyer said, �We started off winning the first 12 of 14 nights of the season; then baseball started.�

His chagrin is long past. Now, thanks to baseball, cable networks issue gleeful news releases about their prime-time and demographic victories against their foes.

[metirish]

Saw a thing today on Twitter, is Bochy worthy of the HOF......is he?

Bochy always came across to me as so understated ,seems to get the best from his squad. I don't know what the criteria would be but he certainly has had a great last five years.

[Gwreck]

No. Bochy's managed 20 seasons and has a record of .500.

The 3 trips to the World Series in the last 5 years is nice but even if they win again I still don't see anything that puts him in the upper echelon of managers all-time.

[Edgy MD]

You don't have to be in the upper echelon, however that is measured. Pretty much anybubs who has ever won two World Series gets in eventually.

[batmagadanleadoff]

No. Bochy's managed 20 seasons and has a record of .500. The 3 trips to the World Series in the last 5 years is nice but even if they win again I still don't see anything that puts [bochy] in the upper echelon of managers all-time.

[fimg=222]http://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/espn-grantland/img/grantland-logo.png[/fimg]


Is Bruce Bochy One of the Best Managers in Baseball History? (Yes. Here�s Why.)

excerpt:

The Giants� success starts with the players, of course � the mainstays like Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, and Madison Bumgarner who�ve come up big in the last three postseason runs. Superstitious types will cite The Even-Year Effect, which (theoretically) enabled the San Francisco squad to carve through October every even-numbered season. But at some point, we have to throw some credit to the man who has been there longer than all but two members of the current roster.1 It�s quite possible that the Giants wouldn�t be where they are now without the guidance of Bruce Bochy � one of the best managers in baseball history. It may sound strange to anoint Bochy with such a lofty title. After all, managers don�t pump out detailed, easily scrutinized stats the way that star players do. Objective data tells us that Derek Jeter is a no-doubt Hall of Famer, even before we get into reverence and rings. With managers, the only standard on which everyone can agree is wins. And judging a manager solely by team wins is just as problematic as judging a pitcher by the same measure. But that�s not to say evaluations can�t be made. And when you look at it closely, there�s no doubt Bochy is an all-timer.

read the rest at http://grantland.com/the-triangle/bruce-bochy-best-manager-san-francisco-giants-baseball/

[Zvon]

Bochy's been managing for 20 years!? Cripes, I'm gettin' old.

[metirish]

Plus he is in the HOF for coconut size , always a good indicator.

[Frayed Knot]

Heard Tim Kurkjian relating a story the other day about Bochy, a typical low-offense backup catcher in his playing days, getting a rare game-winning hit. As a tribute his Padres teammates awarded him a six-pack of beer in
the clubhouse after the game. They put it in his locker ... on ice ... in his helmet!

Nothing like having a catcher's helmet big enough to double as a cooler.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, the tough thing is that we all understand that a manager can only do so much with what he has, that good managers are often saddled with a squad wanting for talent, and that bad managers often are blessed with managing a juggernaut, yet at the end of the day, they're mostly judged by winning percentage.

[Lefty Specialist]

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, the tough thing is that we all understand that a manager can only do so much with what he has, that good managers are often saddled with a squad wanting for talent, and that bad managers often are blessed with managing a juggernaut, yet at the end of the day, they're mostly judged by winning percentage.

(Cough....Joe Torre....cough)

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what you mean to say about Torre.

[Frayed Knot]

EVERY manager with three WS or more is in the HoF which has a lot of folks talking up Bochy this week for all the obvious reasons.

[Lefty Specialist]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure what you mean to say about Torre.

Torre was handed the keys to a Ferrari. All he had to do was keep it from running into a ditch. Had they kept Buck Showalter after 1995, they'd be talking about him for the Hall of Fame now. The Torre hiring was derided at the time because up to that point he'd been profoundly mediocre as a manager.

[Edgy MD]

Thanks.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure what you mean to say about Torre. Torre was handed the keys to a Ferrari. All he had to do was keep it from running into a ditch. Had they kept Buck Showalter after 1995, they'd be talking about him for the Hall of Fame now. The Torre hiring was derided at the time because up to that point he'd been profoundly mediocre as a manager.

[fimg=333]http://cdn.riveraveblues.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/CluelessJoeCover.jpg?edf414[/fimg]

[Edgy MD]

I would possibly dispute that Torre had decisively been mediocre as a manager. His record prior to joining the Yankees was a losing one to be sure. But if you are going to (very sensibly) call his appointment to the Yankees as being given "the keys to a Ferrari," then it would be good to include in any assessment his driving skills a good look at the make and model of the vehicles he had previously driven.

I'm not sure what I would conclude. But I know there's a way to assess a manager while controlling for the quality of his team.

[Lefty Specialist]

Very few Ferraris are given out. Hard to compare that with the 1977 Chevy Vega he was handed in Queens.

It's unusual for a manager to go to the playoffs with a team for the first time in 14 years (as Buck did) and then get fired. But these were the Steinbrenner Yankees, so anything was possible. Don't forget that Buck had the Yanks playing the best ball in the AL in '94 when the strike came, too.

So this was a team primed and ready to go. Yes, Joe didn't do anything stupid, but perhaps his best talent was dealing with The Boss, something Buck wasn't really capable of. Maybe he should be in the Psychological Hall of Fame.

[Guest d'Kong76]

San Francisco at Kansas City
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
SportsDirect Inc.

The red-hot Kansas City Royals kick off their first appearance in the World Series since 1985 when they host the National League-champion San Francisco Giants in Game 1 on Tuesday. The American League-champion Royals are a perfect 8-0 this postseason, taking the wild-card route to the pennant. San Francisco is in the World Series for the third time in five seasons as it also began this postseason journey as a wild-card entrant.

NL Championship Series MVP Madison Bumgarner will be on the mound for the Giants in the opener despite losing to the Royals during the regular season. James Shields, who pitched a four-hit shutout against San Francisco in August, starts for Kansas City. Both teams feature strong bullpens and have a knack for producing unlikely heroes � such as San Francisco's Travis Ishikawa, who belted a walk-off, three-run homer to end the NLCS matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals.

TV:
8:07 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP:
Giants LH Madison Bumgarner (2-1, 1.42 ERA) vs. Royals RH James Shields (1-0, 5.63)

Bumgarner has pitched at least seven innings in each of his four postseason starts and is holding opposing batters to a .170 average. In the regular-season loss to the Royals, he gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits in eight frames as Kansas City's Billy Butler had a homer and three RBIs. Bumgarner is 2-0 and hasn�t allowed a run in 15 World Series innings, blanking Texas on three hits in eight frames in 2010 and Detroit on two hits over seven innings in 2012.

Shields has struggled in the postseason, giving up 21 hits in 16 innings as opponents have touched him for a .309 average. He was at the top of his game in the regular-season outing against San Francisco, striking out five and walking one while tossing his ninth career shutout. Shields won his lone career World Series start, beating Philadelphia in 2008 as he gave up seven hits in 5 2/3 scoreless frames as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Kansas City swept a three-game home series against San Francisco in August, stealing seven bases in the finale.
2. Giants RHP Santiago Casilla hasn�t allowed a run in 12 consecutive appearances, while Royals RHP Greg Holland has converted 26 straight save opportunities � including six in the postseason.
3. Kansas City 1B Eric Hosmer is batting .448 in the postseason, while San Francisco 3B Pablo Sandoval is hitting .326.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Some night-before-the-game-soap-opera stuff:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-royals-great-frank-white-no-longer-associates-with-the-team-whose-stadium-he-built-044453095.html