NLCS Series Thread - Cardinals @ Brewers

[Eze]

placeholder

Edwin Jackson vs. Shaun Marcum

[nuraman00]

*** Split MLB talk into series threads, hopefully this makes the playoffs talk easier to follow for more posters. ***

[nuraman00]

3-4, top of he 7th, two outs.

[nuraman00]

I like the guacamole "avocados from Mexico" commercial.

Here's an interesting Carls. Jr. guacamole bacon cheeseburger commercial from 1988:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjR1lC7ViMI

[nuraman00]

Berkman HBP by Saito, bottom of the 7th, no outs.

[nuraman00]

St. Louis refers to Carls Jr. as Hardees. Missouri is one of those states.

[IowaSacKing93]

What do you mean by "one of those states" Huh?

[IowaSacKing93]

I think all runs in this game were scored in the first 3 innings.

[IowaSacKing93]

9th inning time. Who do the Cards send out there?

[nuraman00]

9th inning time. Who do the Cards send out there?

Motte.

[IowaSacKing93]

Here's a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time Motte touches his cap. You'd be passed out drunk in a tub of sparkling dark urine before he threw 2 pitches.

[IowaSacKing93]

Brewers down to their last strike...and Fielder is in the dugout joking and laughing with a teammate??

[nuraman00]

Motte reminds me of Brian Wilson, with the fastballs and the beard.

[nuraman00]

Here's a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time Motte touches his cap. You'd be passed out drunk in a tub of sparkling dark urine before he threw 2 pitches.

I did not notice that Motte did that. I'll look for that in the next game.

[nuraman00]

Brewers down to their last strike...and Fielder is in the dugout joking and laughing with a teammate??

I think it's more like Rickie Weeks is in the dugout joking and laughing with a teammate.

Jemile > Rickie.

[nuraman00]

Dang, I wanted to see Carpenter. But the AL game went long, so I had to pay attention to that.

[Sir Harry]

whooohooo

[IowaSacKing93]

Since the Cardinals won, here's a random YouTube video in their honor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu9ltb-CuC4

[nuraman00]

Eckersley likes Motte because he's hairy.

[nuraman00]

3-2, heading to the bottom of the 5th.

[nuraman00]

A Cardinals fan in the stand just yanked downward, hard, on his friend's badge, after the Holiday hit. The friend was wearing a lanyard around his neck, and the lanyard was holding the badge.

[nuraman00]

IowaSacKing93 (http://kingsforum.net/live/member.php?9-IowaSacKing93), David "The Hit Machine" Freese with a single. (That's what the broadcasters called him.)

[nuraman00]

This series is starting to get the feel of STL-NYM 2006, where the teams split their first six games, one after the other.

[IowaSacKing93]

Tied at 2 games apiece now.

Milwaukee with their first road playoff win since 1982 (I think it was against STL back then too).

STL scored 2 runs early, but Randy Wolf ended up going 7 strong innings. Krod and Axford both gave up base hits, but looked good overall. Just like last night, STL failed to score runs in the middle or late innings.

This is a tough series to call. Both teams have good pitching, but both can go on offensive binges too. We've seen low scoring games for the most part (STL scored 12 runs in game 2). It's just tough to predict what will happen. Gallardo gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning yesterday and it could've been worse.

IMO, talent is sometimes thrown out in the playoffs (or stats) and it's just about how you perform for a few innigns that could decide a game, and eventually a series. So someone who had a quiet regular season, like Jerry Hairston or Nick Punto, could eventually be the hero. In general, Braun/Fielder/Pujols are going to perform better than your average bench player but we see those no-names come up with big hits or big strikeouts in clutch situations. And these two teams are evenly matched and show similar tendencies/characteristics. It's just going to be fun watching it play out because either team can win any game, without a doubt.

It's turning into a really good series. I hope we have a game 7.

[IowaSacKing93]

ESPN's MLB captions reads, "Howl of an effort"

Too cheesey and not that close.

[IowaSacKing93]

Greinke v Garcia tomorrow night. 8 ET/7CT/5 PT.

Ok, both struggled in earlier appearances. I'll say that both keep their teams in the game and give up 2-3 runs in 5-6 innings of work. Garcia is a master at generating groundballs, but Greinke can be dominating too (even though we haven't seen that side of him in a Brewer uniform). So both have that potential to 'dominate', but more realistically, I think we'll see both earn a Quality Start and go 6 innings max. Close, mid scoring game.

The Brewers do have a nice advantage in the bullpen, so I will give them that.

[nuraman00]

Tied at 2 games apiece now.

Milwaukee with their first road playoff win since 1982 (I think it was against STL back then too).

STL scored 2 runs early, but Randy Wolf ended up going 7 strong innings. Krod and Axford both gave up base hits, but looked good overall. Just like last night, STL failed to score runs in the middle or late innings.

This is a tough series to call. Both teams have good pitching, but both can go on offensive binges too. We've seen low scoring games for the most part (STL scored 12 runs in game 2). It's just tough to predict what will happen. Gallardo gave up 4 runs in the 1st inning yesterday and it could've been worse.

IMO, talent is sometimes thrown out in the playoffs (or stats) and it's just about how you perform for a few innigns that could decide a game, and eventually a series. So someone who had a quiet regular season, like Jerry Hairston or Nick Punto, could eventually be the hero. In general, Braun/Fielder/Pujols are going to perform better than your average bench player but we see those no-names come up with big hits or big strikeouts in clutch situations. And these two teams are evenly matched and show similar tendencies/characteristics. It's just going to be fun watching it play out because either team can win any game, without a doubt.

It's turning into a really good series. I hope we have a game 7.

Yeah. That's why I picked one obscure type player for MVP, when I picked Furcal. Because sometimes it's those guys that get the hits.

The thing it's hard to predict is that sometimes teams win for reasons you didn't expect them to, lol.


ESPN's MLB captions reads, "Howl of an effort"

Too cheesey and not that close.

Yeah, agree on both counts. Too cheesy, and maybe if he only gave up 1 ER you could use a pun like "Howl" for Randy Wolf.

[nuraman00]

Greinke v Garcia tomorrow night. 8 ET/7CT/5 PT.

Ok, both struggled in earlier appearances. I'll say that both keep their teams in the game and give up 2-3 runs in 5-6 innings of work. Garcia is a master at generating groundballs, but Greinke can be dominating too (even though we haven't seen that side of him in a Brewer uniform). So both have that potential to 'dominate', but more realistically, I think we'll see both earn a Quality Start and go 6 innings max. Close, mid scoring game.

The Brewers do have a nice advantage in the bullpen, so I will give them that.

BOLD PREDICTION: Both of them won't get a Quality Start. One, at most, and it will be Garcia. I'm just basing this off of past performance for Greinke in the playoffs. It may be unfair, but that's what I'm going with.

I think even if Greinke doesn't give up many ER, he'll get pulled before 6 innings.

Even though I'm rooting for MIL, I'm also rooting for good pitching, so I want to see Garcia give up very few hits, and get an immediate double play if he gives up a hit.

[nuraman00]

0-3, top of the 3rd.

[nuraman00]

LaRussa pulls Garcia with two outs in the 5th, runners on 1st and 2nd, and Braun at the plate. Dotel will come in. Score is 1-4.

[nuraman00]

Yadier is batting .300 in this series. He's a possible MVP candidate.

For now, I'd go:

1. Pujols
2. Freese
3. Holiday
4. Molina
5. Motte

[nuraman00]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7103882/tony-la-russa-pushing-right-buttons

[Eze]

These have been the most non-interesting playoffs for me. There's nobody to root against, all the evil was killed in the first round and I can't find a reason to root for really any of the remaining teams. :sigh:

[nuraman00]

These have been the most non-interesting playoffs for me. There's nobody to root against, all the evil was killed in the first round and I can't find a reason to root for really any of the remaining teams. :sigh:

I rarely root against teams. Either I root for teams, or I root for a good game. Style of play may be a factor with me.

[Sir Harry]

I've been hoping for a St Louis v Texas series all along

[nuraman00]

I've been hoping for a St Louis v Texas series all along

Why didn't you make predictions?

Those were the two teams I picked, but I was hoping Milwaukee would make it.

[nuraman00]

Bottom of the second. Cardinals got out to a 4-0 lead in the 1st. But we have had a combined five HOME RUNS, three by Milwaukee, and it's 5-4 after two.

[nuraman00]

Albert Pujols HOME RUN. 6-4. Six home runs combined today.

[nuraman00]

IowaSacKing93 (http://kingsforum.net/live/member.php?9-IowaSacKing93) was right about David Freese! He said he would be a x-factor before the playoffs started.

David Freese, NLCS MVP. Congrats.

[nuraman00]

Cardinals SPs had the lowest % of IP by a winning team in MLB history. 46%. Next lowest was 50% by the 2002 Angles in the WS.

Texas also also had one of the lowest too, with 51%, in the 2011 ALCS.

[IowaSacKing93]

IowaSacKing93 (http://kingsforum.net/live/member.php?9-IowaSacKing93) was right about David Freese! He said he would be a x-factor before the playoffs started.

David Freese, NLCS MVP. Congrats.


This is probably a coming out party for him. I expect him to be an everyday player next year. He's been a backup these past few years, but now he should have his spot in this lineup. Craig too, maybe.

[IowaSacKing93]

Cardinals SPs had the lowest % of IP by a winning team in MLB history. 46%. Next lowest was 50% by the 2002 Angles in the WS.

Texas also also had one of the lowest too, with 51%, in the 2011 ALCS.

Yeah, this seemed like a trend in these playoffs. I don't like it too much. Trust your SP more and let them go more than 4-5 innings, unless they're getting killed. But i think the mentality now is more one of less IP, but possibly more outings (either as a starter or a reliever in a different game. EXample: Kyle Lohse might only pitch 4 innings on Saturday, but that might mean that he's available as a reliever in game 5 or something, as opposed to pitching 6 IP and being unavailable). So: more appearance with less IP.

[nuraman00]

To be fair, they pulled the SP in that game 6 because they wanted a pinch hitter to drive in runs.

But that hasn't always been the case in these playoffs.