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#31
10-27-2004, 01:16 PM
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Re: It\'s the pitching, stupid!
[ QUOTE ]
The Cardinals had the chance to asolutely destroy Pedro last night [/ QUOTE ] They had 1 great chance to, and they didn't, and that was my point. The only clear blunder the Cards made was the Suppan play, which cost them 1 run, and maybe more (but maybe not). In the 1st inning, Pedro/Manny escaped, but I don't think the Cards blundered. But Pedro shut them down after he gave them 1 chance, which is was great pitchers do. [ QUOTE ] To me, the reason the Cardinals are losing is just as much, if not more, what the Cardinals are doing, as opposed to what the Sox are doing. [/ QUOTE ] With all due respect, this is sour grapes. Sure the Cards have made mistakes. But, umm, the Red Sox made 8 errors in games 1 and 2, so it's not like they have played perfect either. The biggest factor has been this: The Cardinals did not play a team like the Red Sox all season. The Sox' ability to relentlessy grind out at-bats and pounce on mediocre starters has put them in the lead in every game, and this has put the Cards under pressure they haven't felt all year. On top of this, the Red Sox are a team built for October. The Cardinals - like so many Red Sox teams from the past - were built more for the regular season. Line-ups like the Cards crush the average pitching they see day to day during the season. But they are susceptible to big time pitchers stepping up, which is what you see from good teams in October. They were shutout twice in the playoffs before the World Series, and the Red Sox have pitched well to them as well. Combine this with their own mediocre pitching, and you have a team that is fighting an uphill battle. 
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#32
10-27-2004, 04:53 PM
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Re: It\'s the pitching, stupid!
[ QUOTE ]
But Pedro shut them down after he gave them 1 chance, which is was great pitchers do. [/ QUOTE ] Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree on this, but that was my point entirely. Pedro isn't a great pitcher anymore, he's merely good, and this was never more evident than in the first three innings of last night's game. Its not like he only made one or two mistakes upon which the Cards failed to capitalize. He was near-awful, just all over the place in terms of control. Even Francona admitted it. However, when he looked up to see that, through horrible mistakes, the Cardinals still didn't have a run, he regained confidence and came out pitching much better. There's no way to tell, obviously, but if the Cardinals had scored a few runs there, I don't think Pedro would have been pitching in the 6th. That's why I said it would have changed the game so much, beyond just what was on the scoreboard. [ QUOTE ] With all due respect, this is sour grapes. Sure the Cards have made mistakes. But, umm, the Red Sox made 8 errors in games 1 and 2, so it's not like they have played perfect either [/ QUOTE ] And they stranded 21 runners, which was my point exactly. The Red Sox weren't playing well at all. So it wasn't the Sox's great play that carried the first three games; it was mistakes and the Cardinal's failure to capitalize on the poor play of the Sox that lost them. I completely agree that the Sox have pitched well, but again, a bigger factor has been the horrendous pitching of the Cardinals. I just cringe when I think about Matt Morris starting (and now I get to do the same with Suppan... great). Although it would certainly be great for Sox fans and probably baseball in general, I really hope the Cards don't get swept. But I'm not holding out much hope for the series after the way they've played.
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#33
10-27-2004, 06:28 PM
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Re: It\'s the pitching, stupid!
Your points are well taken, and I see where you are coming from. Just to respond:
[ QUOTE ] Pedro isn't a great pitcher anymore, he's merely good, and this was never more evident than in the first three innings of last night's game. [/ QUOTE ] I don't want to get into semantics here..so I think about it like this: how many guys would I have rather had pitch last night than Pedro? Not many. Pedro in 1999/2000 was not great - he was historic. IMHO, the best 2 seasons run of all time. Clearly, he is not that guy anymore...but he is still Top 5 in the AL, and to me, that makes him great. He was bad in the 1st 3 innings last night, but good enough to get off the mat and dominate. [ QUOTE ] I completely agree that the Sox have pitched well, but again, a bigger factor has been the horrendous pitching of the Cardinals [/ QUOTE ] Agreed. My angle is that the difference between the staffs has been the biggest factor. I suspect that the Cards may not be pitching dramatically worse than they did all season, but rather the Red Sox are making them pay for their mistakes worse than any other team did all year.
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