I’ve been perusing the Hacking Mass standings and noticed a few things. First of all, I want to say what a cool idea HM is. I’m reminded of a time a couple of friends and I went bowling at the college center and discovered early on that the lanes were warped like the decking of a Spanish Galleon sunk by a squall in 1648. When we realized that no matter how well-aimed our balls were, they were not going to hit the pocket, we decided to see who could bowl the lowest score–without throwing the ball in the gutter. The best frames were the ones where you picked the seven-pin off with your first bowl and the 10-pin off with your second. Boy, that was some fun. It drew quite a crowd and started a campus fad which eventually spread to colleges across the country. OK, those last two parts never happened, but you see why I’m making the comparison.
Just when you think this postseason can’t get any more dramatic, along comes a day like October 18.
An update on The Ankle and all the other injuries affecting the teams that are stil playing.
Alan Trammell did a good job of mixing parts this year, but employed a few too many one-run strategies, more than this team needed. Over 100 years into the modern game and most managers haven’t figured out what John McGraw knew in 1920, that the era of inside baseball is dead, no matter how poor your offense is. Other than in a sudden-death, ninth-inning situation, giving away outs just brings the end of the game closer. The average American Leaguer reached base 34% of the time last year, and grounded into a double-play in .022 of all at-bats. When you bunt, both percentages drop to close to zero. It’s not a fair trade off.
The NLCS was set for its solo, but the ALCS stole the spotlight one more time.
Paul DePodesta looks ahead, Bob Brenly looks back, and Carlos Beltran looks like he’s going to get really, really rich.
Even if you weren’t surprised by the Yankees’ performance in the ALCS to date, Saturday’s 19-8 rout had to come as a shock.
What do the D.C. Expos, surprising seasons and infield singles have in common? Just the readers’ interest.
For the people who might have missed Wednesday night’s NLCS Game One, Phil Garner was nice enough to repeat his mistakes.
The Red Sox are down two games to nothing in the AL Championship Series. How does their situation compare to teams who found themselves in a similar hole in best-of-seven series and came back to win?
Can Nate Silver break down the most common managerial dilemma in the game–the decision to replace a starter with a less-effective reliever? Of course he can.
A Nation holds its breath and waits for news on Curt Schilling, news that is going to make an 0-2 deficit even harder to handle.
One of the benefits of working the count is that you get the starter out of the game and the bullpen into it. What happens to that strategy when the relievers are better than the starters?
The Astros might have pulled out last night’s game if Phil Garner had borrowed a page from Billy Martin.
In a matchup featuring two powerful offenses, the Cardinals and Astros march into battle. Chris Kahrl breaks it down.
Joe Sheehan takes a look at last night’s Yankees-Red Sox tilt, then analyzes the Cardinals-Astros matchup.