World Series

WHOO HOO! Ryan is back!
And you don't see those AL pitchers hitting homers!

Just one more!!!!!

GO Phillies!!!!

 

Well at least we did not get swept. Just 3 more and the Rays win. :godisgood:

 

Yep, our trap is about to be sprung. :laugh:

 

Looking forward to the news choppers (all six of them) flying over my house filming the celebration/anticipating the riot on Cottman and Frankford after the Phillies win tonight...or Wednesday... or Thursday.

 

Back in 1980 I was working night shift at Albert Einstein Medical Center and got a birds eye view of a riot at Broad and Olney after the win.

They flipped cars over and set a huge bonfire in the middle of Broad Street.

I'm sure they'll win tonight, my daughter is working there this evening.

Rob

 

Yeah. But he wasn't available. So they called the people at East Lansing who provided a good number of helpful tips.

What is it with Michigonians whose teams win titles and that spurs them on to taking to the streets to commit criminal mischief? Oh wait..I forgot...they commit criminal mischief anyway. It's just an innate thing. :laugh:

 

Some Phillies fans are crying foul that they played the top of the 6th inning when they knew that the game would likely be suspended. They claim that the game should've been suspended after 5 innings. First off, I don't see how any Phillies fan can complain one iota about the officiating of this Series, when the umpiring and strike zone has been so clearly in favor for them over the Rays. This has been one of the worst officiated Series' in history and the Phillies have benefited the most from it. Secondly, playing the top of the 6th was actually a huge favor to the Phillies, because it meant Hammels got to pitch one more inning. If they suspend it after 5 and come back tonight, I doubt Hammels would be pitching the top of the 6th.

If the Rays somehow come back and win this Series, they will truly deserve it. If the Phillies win, I'm not saying they won't deserve it, but they will simply be the team that played the best over these last 5 games, not necessarily the best team...shades of 2006 all over again.

 

Or maybe, if they were playing on a dry field with dry bats, that ball that Rollins gets to actually gets by him because the hitter was able to swing harder with a dry bat. Therefore, the bad conditions can work to favor either side offensively or defensively. But playing the top of the 6th gave the Phillies one thing: Another inning pitched by Hammels.

Buck and McCarver (who are pretty even-keeled) were pointing out the disparity in the strike zone in favor of the Phillies last night. Kazmir got ripped off on several calls. Moyer in Game 3 had a huge strike zone which benefited him greatly. I'm not saying that every call has gone against the Rays, but I think most unbiased opinions would agree that the Phillies have benefited the most from the erratic officiating.

No, I will think they deserved it. I'm not a Phillies-hater. It will be kind of neat to see them win. I just think this whole Series has been played in poor conditions (umpiring, weather) that was not conducive to bringing out the most reliable outcomes. But that's the breaks in sports. It's just a game.

Maybe - if you want to look at it so simplistically. Or you can look at a much larger sample size like 162 games and realize who was the better team. You can also consider injuries, weather, etc. and realize that a 5-game span does not necessarily produce the most deserving champion at all times.

 

Last night was insane! Both teams were forced to play in a downpour - yes it was a downpour, I could hear it on my skylight - simply because the officials from Selig on down were too afraid to suspend/call a game where one team was winning. On the other hand, it had already started to rain at 6 o'clock while I was on my way home from work, and if they had looked at the weather map, they would have seen that it was only going to get worse and they should not have started the game in the first place!

Tonight doesn't look like it's going to be much better, and they're going to play a 3 1/2 inning game to maybe decide it all.

Not to mention, it was the weather that scored the tying run, not the player.

I guess it's just all about the money. :tear:

 

How can you say this? There is no way to know how the top of the 6th, let alone the entire game, would transpire under normal conditions. So what if the ball slipped from Rollins' hand. Do you think it's easy to hit a 90-mph baseball with pouring down rain and holding a slippery wet bat?

Actually, the most athletic thing I saw last night was BJ Upton being able to steal 2nd in that wade pool of an infield and score from 2nd without slipping one bit. He showed incredible agility in that situation last night. Also, I think Hammels did him a huge favor by throwing over several times in a row - this gave Upton a great look at his move and he was able to get a great jump when Hammels went to the plate.

Yes, that's true. But remember, without the money the networks wouldn't be airing the game in the first place, and neither one of us would be watching it, would we?

 

Better by 5 games against a much tougher schedule. Handicap the schedules by about 5 games, and the Rays were at least 10 games better than the Phillies over 162.

 

I did a stress test on a guy that attended the game last night.

He had a couple of seats
(he sold one seat for last nights game for $1400, it was later resold for $1800).

He said conditions were terrible last night, cold and wet.
Very little beer was sold, every went for the hot chocolate and soup.
He got home after midnight and took a long hot shower to warm up.

I asked him if he would attend the game if it was played tonight and he said, "Yeah, I gotta go, but I really don't want too."
I'm sure he's glad that it won't be played tonight.

I would have posted earlier but I had to shovel an inch and a half of slushey, wet snow off my driveway.
Later I'll cut up the many limbs that have fallen.
One took out my beautiful Japanese Maple :tear:

Great football weather. :laugh:

Rob

 

It is a beautiful day in Philadelphia as I write. Temperature feels about mid-50ish and there is a light wind. Why are they not playing baseball right now? They are going to wait til tonight when the temp is in the low 40's, there are high winds, and a chance of rain. It makes no sense!

 

It's a little cold out there, but doable.

I agree during the day, like NOW would be better than waiting for tonight when there could be a shower, and it will be even colder. And they are playing a half hour LATER tonight to allow FOX to carry the Barak Obama Show at 8. Can you believe it?

 

Yeah, it's suddenly gotten quite warm here in Philly.

Rob