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October 22, 2012

Playoff Prospectus

NLCS Game 6 Recap: Giants 6, Cardinals 1

by Sam Miller

Guess the MLB.com headline!

a. Against The Wall, Giants Hammer Carpenter
b. Cardinals Hit An NLCS Double-Vogey
c. Giants Download No. 1 ‘Song
d. Oh Ryan! Star Turn For Vogelsong
e. Carpenter Doesn’t Finish The Job
f. Redemption Song
g. V for Vogelsong, Victory
h. In San Francisco, Winning Is In ‘Voge’
i. With Cards’ Ace Showing, Giants Hit

Answer, at the bottom, is terrible as always. 

***

There was an episode of This American Life a couple weeks ago about a girl in New Zealand who was attacked by a shark. It’s really an amazing story and you should listen to it, whatever you think of shark attacks (I, for instance, am against them, but I think you would like this story even if you are in favor). The girl in the story asked the show’s producers not to give away her name, not because there’s anything embarrassing or indicting about her story, but because in New Zealand everybody knows her as the shark girl. She lives here now. She doesn’t want to be known as the girl who was attacked by a shark. She just wants to be known for being her.

You know Ryan Vogelsong’s story, and you probably know it in enough detail that there’s little hope of impressing you with it. Did you know he walked 5.9 batters per nine innings in Triple-A just one year before his amazing breakout in 2011? If you knew that, then there’s just no impressing you anymore. But still, that’s who Ryan Vogelsong is: He’s the guy who wasn’t very good, then went away for a long time, came back and was still terrible, somehow lucked into a shot and was way better than he ever had any business being. Bill Shaikin wrote wonderfully about this story in the LA Times Sunday, a piece about how the Angels (like everybody) let him get away. Here’s the key quote in the piece from the Angels director of player development:

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