All About Pocket Knives

Baseball is a funny game. Funny peculiar. Yesterday the Rangers totally stunk. Started one of their rookies out of the bullpen and were down 4 runs before they even got up to bat. Lost to Seattle 11-3.

Today against the damnYankees, in New York, Mike Minor pitched a shutout gem. Rangers win 7-0! As usual it's all about the pitching.

Meanwhile the Cards are still 3 games up on the Cubs. They play each other 7 more times this month so I'm thinking the Division may come down to head-to-head battles. Gonna be fun!

Ken

Nats score 7 in the 9th, thanks to a walk-off HR by our little Suzuki, and beat the Mets 11-10!

Red the rubber hits the road on Thursday. 4 game set, Nats and Bravos!

gsmith7158 wrote:Red the rubber hits the road on Thursday. 4 game set, Nats and Bravos!

Yes, it will be a good showing of what's what.

I gotta be a Nats fan for those games just on GP. Can anybody beat the damn Dodgers though?

John, your boys gotta get their motor scooter in gear.

jerryd6818 wrote:John, your boys gotta get their motor scooter in gear.

You mean our little Suzuki?
6 telling games to go, I hate the 1 Wild Card game deal so I hope they can best the Braves and git'er done!

This guys says, "Go Braves"

After a 4-3 win tonight over the Nats, Atlanta's magic number is 13.

Braves magic number is now eleven...

Cubs went 2 & 2 with the Padres. It was a wasted trip. Everyone is right where they were on Monday. Let's see if they can gain some ground with the Pirates.

Diamondbacks swept in a 4 game series by the Mets, total score 26-4. DBs are probably done. With Christian Yelich out for the season, can the Brewers score enough runs to over come their bad pitching? Last 14 games or so to be interesting in the NL wildcard race.
In AL wildcard race, big advantage to Oakland who have all remaining games after tonight against sub .500 teams. However, there can be spoilers in both races.

Cubs have a tough finish to the season. Two series totaling 7 games with the Cardinals and a 3 game series with Ferg's pesky Cincinnati Reds, plus a trip to Pittsburg for 3 games with the Pirates. I don't have any allusions of them making the playoffs. Hey, they're the Cubs - Completely Usless By September.

Just hoping the Nats can stay in that #1 WC spot.

I'm not a fan of the 1 Wild Card playoff game, the loser might as well not made the Playoffs.

If my math is correct, I do believe the Bravos can clinch the National League Eastern Division today with a win over the Nats!

Braves cut that magic number to four, but poor Charlie Culbertson paid the price. I hope he's going to be OK.

1967redrider wrote:Just hoping the Nats can stay in that #1 WC spot.

I'm not a fan of the 1 Wild Card playoff game, the loser might as well not made the Playoffs.

John, don't be too hasty to poo-poo that Wild Card.

"The new system was instituted in 1994 (but first used in 1995 because a players strike canceled the 1994 playoffs) when Major League Baseball expanded from two to three divisions per league."

"The following wild-card teams have won the World Series:
the Florida Marlins, in 1997 and 2003;
the Anaheim Angels, in 2002;
the Boston Red Sox, in 2004;
the St. Louis Cardinals, in 2011;
and the San Francisco Giants, in 2014.
Thus, three consecutive titles, from 2002 to 2004, were won by a wild card."

So with only about a dozen regular season games remaining, one can look at the upcoming offseason and the "manager merry go-round" to see who may be unemployed and available. If the Mets and Phils do not make the postseason, are the two managers likely to be looking for work? What is the deal with Joe Maddon, who does not have a contract for next year? If the Cubs do not go deep into the playoffs or World Series is he gone? We already know Bruce Bochy of the Giants is retiring, so they will be shopping. Who else do you think will get the ax?

Yeah, it's almost that time, isn't it? I see Andy Greene's name thrown around along with Scott Servais, Clint Hurdle and even Don Mattingly. The Maddon situation is interesting, even for a Cardinal fan like me. The Tigers are my AL team, yeah I know....46.5 games out, I find it somewhat amusing that Gardenhire apparently is secure with in excess of 100 losses. I guess managers don't ALWAYS get the blame when they have crap to work with.

jerryd6818 wrote:

1967redrider wrote:Just hoping the Nats can stay in that #1 WC spot.

I'm not a fan of the 1 Wild Card playoff game, the loser might as well not made the Playoffs.

John, don't be too hasty to poo-poo that Wild Card.

"The new system was instituted in 1994 (but first used in 1995 because a players strike canceled the 1994 playoffs) when Major League Baseball expanded from two to three divisions per league."

"The following wild-card teams have won the World Series:
the Florida Marlins, in 1997 and 2003;
the Anaheim Angels, in 2002;
the Boston Red Sox, in 2004;
the St. Louis Cardinals, in 2011;
and the San Francisco Giants, in 2014.
Thus, three consecutive titles, from 2002 to 2004, were won by a wild card."

Thanks, Jerry. The only part I don't like is the fact that there is only 1 game played between the two Wild Card teams and the loser is out of the playoffs, almost before the playoffs have begun. The Wild Card tiebreaker game is ok in my book though, and necessary if it boils down to that.

1967redrider wrote: The Wild Card tiebreaker game is ok in my book though, and necessary if it boils down to that.

Oh! You mean like that mess last year when the Cubs had to play a one and out against Milwaukee for the Division Championship, ended up with the Wild Card and lost the one and done to the Rockies??

Waukonda wrote:Yeah, it's almost that time, isn't it? I see Andy Greene's name thrown around along with Scott Servais, Clint Hurdle and even Don Mattingly. The Maddon situation is interesting, even for a Cardinal fan like me. The Tigers are my AL team, yeah I know....46.5 games out, I find it somewhat amusing that Gardenhire apparently is secure with in excess of 100 losses. I guess managers don't ALWAYS get the blame when they have crap to work with.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today thinks the Cubs are going to let Maddon go and hire David Ross as the manager for 2020. Gardenhire is doing exactly what he was hired to do, that is bring the Detroit Tigers minor league prospects up to the majors, play them into contending ball club (still in progress), while keeping their payroll at a minimum. Losing 100 games unfortunately seems to go along with that program. The Tigers did get some good prospects in their trades this year. But it will take some time for them to gain experience, especially the pitching.
Also for the first time in more than 36 years, the call in Fenway on Tuesday night was "home run by Yastrzemski". Carls grandson Mike homered in his first game in Boston playing for the Giants.

jerryd6818 wrote:

1967redrider wrote: The Wild Card tiebreaker game is ok in my book though, and necessary if it boils down to that.

Oh! You mean like that mess last year when the Cubs had to play a one and out against Milwaukee for the Division Championship, ended up with the Wild Card and lost the one and done to the Rockies??

Yep, I just think that's a waste of time and effort.

1967redrider wrote:

jerryd6818 wrote:

1967redrider wrote: The Wild Card tiebreaker game is ok in my book though, and necessary if it boils down to that.

Oh! You mean like that mess last year when the Cubs had to play a one and out against Milwaukee for the Division Championship, ended up with the Wild Card and lost the one and done to the Rockies??

Yep, I just think that's a waste of time and effort.

Or maybe they should just add two more teams to Major League Baseball. One for each league and then split each league into four divisions. That's what they did with the NFL. Maybe Charlotte and Las Vegas??