MLB 2011, Part IV: An Amazing-er Finish

Game sevens are a strange thing. It decides the outcome of a series, and for that reason there's a lot of hype and excitement leading up to it. However, the hype and excitement often dies down somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning when one team seems to have the game in hand, and it's simply a matter of time before it's all over. In the first game seven in the World Series since 2002, it was much as I expected it to be: an exciting start before St. Louis took control of the game and closed it out to win their eleventh World Series title.

Compared to Game Six, it was infinitely anti-climatic.

I didn't actually see the first three or four innings of Game Six, but from what I gathered it was some of the sloppiest baseball you will ever see. Dropped fly balls, booted ground balls, throwing errors, it was all there. Even a hard slide at second by Matt Holliday led to an airmail throw to first. It culminated in the top of the fifth when David Freese dropped a routine pop-up to third, leading to an RBI double by Michael Young to give the Rangers the lead.

It was at this point that I could sense that this was going to be one of those games. My friends and I immediately debated whether this would be the Bill Buckner moment of the World Series, and I knew it wouldn't be. I knew something would happen in the late innings that would completely overshadow that play.

Then Mike Napoli picked Holliday off third base with the bases loaded. Then Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz hit back to back homers. Then Ian Kinsler got a clutch hit to put the Rangers up three. All of a sudden the Rangers had stolen the momentum and looked like they were in control of the game. The Cards went quietly in the bottom of the seventh, including what could have been Albert Pujols last at bat as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. It looked like the Rangers had it wrapped up, but somehow, I sensed that the game wasn't over. In fact, I think it was around this time when I told my friends that the way this game was going, it would probably end up going fifteen innings.

That set up the eighth inning. Allen Craig homered with one out to bring the Cardinals back within a pair. Then came a small chess game between managers with St. Louis threatening to get back in the game, but in the end they finished the eighth still down two.

The Rangers went quietly in the top half of the ninth. The Cardinals did not.

I don't really remember how it happened, but wouldn't you know it, David Freese came up with two on and two out and a chance at sweet redemption, a chance to send the memory of the botched pop up into ancient history. With two strikes, he drove a pitch off the wall in right field, just over the leaping Nelson Cruz. He ended up on third and tied the game at seven. I remember sitting there and the play seeming to happen in slow motion, as Cruz leaped and the ball just sailed over his glove.

As I predicted, the game went to extra innings.

The craziness continued. After a one out single by Elvis Andrus, Josh Hamilton hit a pitch that just got over the outfield wall. Hamilton had been struggling mightily, likely due to the rumoured groin injury he was nursing. He was one of the last players I expected to hit a home run. So of course, it was fitting in this game that he would put the Rangers up two runs. Again.

The bottom half was even crazier than the last. With two on and no one out, the pitcher's spot came up in the Cardinals order. Who does La Russa send? Kyle Lohse, another pitcher, to lay down a bunt after calling Edwin Jackson (also a pitcher) back from the on deck circle. Jackson was a better hitter (for a pitcher) but Lohse had more sacrifice bunts during the season. In all my years watching baseball, I can only remember Carlos Zambrano ever pinch hitting for another pitcher, and really, he doesn't count.

Lohse proceeded to hit the most brutal bunt ever, popping it towards third base. I was almost not surprised when it sailed over the head of Beltre, charging hard towards the plate from third with the wheel play on. Had Andrus not been going to cover third, it would have been disastrous; had Beltre not been charging from third, he probably would have caught the fly and maybe even turned two. It was a play that could have only happened in this game.

The next hitter, Ryan Theriot, grounded out scoring a run but again putting St. Louis down to their last out. Pujols was intentionally walked and Lance Berkman stepped up to the plate. With two strikes and the season hanging in the balance, he muscled a ball into right field, once again erasing a two run deficit with St. Louis down to its last strike. I couldn't believe it. All I could say to my friends was “I can't believe this is happening.” because I couldn't. It was completely surreal, like I was living in a dream.

Through all this, I truly wanted the Rangers to win the game, because this game would have been the only way to end the 2011 season. I knew a game seven wouldn't be half the game this was.

The weirdness continued in the eleventh inning when Jake Westbrook, who hadn't pitched in nearly a month came out of the bullpen for the Cardinals. Surprisingly he got the Rangers to go quietly, save for a Mike Napoli single. What next?

Another lightly used pitcher comes on for the Rangers, and in another strange twist of fate, David Freese led off the inning. I don't remember the count, I don't remember the pitch, but I do remember thinking “no way, no fucking way” as the ball sailed over the center field fence, ending the game. My friends and I all laughed and looked at each other in disbelief. What a game.

It was nearly five hours after the first pitch, almost one o'clock in the morning, and just like that it was over. I turned to my friend and said “Happy birthday Neil, it doesn't get much better than that.” We all smiled, and left for home, tired, but more than satisfied with the game.

I have seen some weird and crazy things in twenty-two years watching baseball. I have never seen a game like this. It was, without question, the craziest MLB game I have ever witnessed. I don't recall another game that left me shaking my head, dropping my jaw in disbelief, or jumping out of my chair like this game did. It will without question go down as one of the greatest games in World Series history. It has to. As I looked around the bar while we were watching the game, I could tell everyone else was thinking the same things as me. This game is the reason I love watching baseball. The chance that you catch a game half as good as this one is what keeps me tuning in year after year after year.

Now if only the Rangers had won, eliminating the need for that disappointing, anti-climatic game seven.

-matt

MLB 2011, Part III: The Amazing Finish

I've witnessed a few pennant races in my day, but I don't think I've seen one quite like the beauty that was the 2011 race for the post season. I've seen them go down to the last day of the season, and in a few cases, beyond. What I hadn't seen until this year was two playoff spots go down, not only to the last game, but to the last inning.

The Red Sox entered September with a nine game lead in the American League wildcard race. It seemed all but assured that the Yankees and the Red Sox would be in the post season yet again. The National League wildcard seemed to be firmly held by the Atlanta Braves, a team that surprised many through the course of the season. These two positions turned out to be anything but a sure thing.

By the time each team had completed their 161st game, the Braves were tied with the surging Cardinals for the National League wildcard and the Tampa Rays had evened things up with the struggling Red Sox in the American League. It all came down to September 28th, the last day of the season. Phillies vs. Braves .. Cardinals vs. Astros .. Yankees vs. Rays .. Red Sox vs. Orioles.

I was staying with a friend at the time, and made it known in no uncertain terms that if the games were close, I had to watch them. As the night unfolded, it was obvious early on that the Cardinals were going to win their game, and they cruised to a tidy 8-0 win over the Astros. The Yankees took an early lead over Tampa, and it looked as though the Red Sox, despite one of the worst September performances in recent history, may only need a victory over the lowly Orioles to squeak into the post-season. The Braves game was tight and until the 7th it looked like a tie break was in the works, but the Phillies evened up the game in the 9th inning, sending it to extras.

Even though the Braves game was close, I spent most of my time watching the Red Sox game, hoping that they would conclude their epic collapse and miss the post-season. The Yankees game seemed to be over and it looked like the Rays were done. After five innings, it was 3-2 Red Sox, and the Yankees were up 7-0.

During the 7th inning in Baltimore, the rain started to fall, so I flipped to the Yankees game. Shortly after that, the Rays struck. In the 8th inning, they scored 6 runs, capped by a 2-run homer by Evan Longoria, and all of a sudden it was a ball game again. An inning later, Dan Johnson homered to tie the game 7-7 to send it to extra innings. By this time, the Yankees had used ten pitchers and most of their A players were in the clubhouse. With the game in the hands of reliever Scott Proctor, things all of a sudden looked to be in Tampa's favour.

I didn't see the end of the Phillies game, but in the top of the 13th inning, Hunter Pence blooped a pitch into the outfield for an RBI single. The Braves failed to score and the Phils won 4-3. The Braves were done and the Cardinals were in.

For the next hour I flipped back and forth furiously as the Yankees and Rays went to extra innings and the Orioles and Red Sox resumed. As I sat and watched, I wondered when Scott Proctor would make a mistake that the Rays could take advantage of, and if the fragile Red Sox could hold on to their precarious lead.

The ninth rolled around in Baltimore with the Red Sox still clinging to a 3-2 lead. Jonathan Papelbon, one of the league's most reliable closers, came on with the Red Sox season hanging in the balance. Papelbon looked to have his A game, striking out the first two batters he faced. I thought at this point that the Red Sox had a chance. The next better doubled down the right field line, putting the tying run in scoring position. Nolan Reimold then tied the game with a ground rule double. I couldn't believe it.

The decisive play of the game will always stick with me for a number of reasons. With two out and the season on the line, Robert Andino, a name you may never hear again, hit a soft sinking liner to shallow left field. For a second, I thought Carl Crawford was going to get to it, but as he started to slide feet first I could see he wasn't. The ball short hopped him .. then he dropped it .. and before you knew it the game was over. His throw to the plate was no where near in time. The Orioles won.

As soon as my fit of laughter ceased, I immediately switched back to the Yankees game. The game was still tied 7-7 in the 12th inning. The Yankees were threatening, men on first and third and no one out. The runner on third was minor league call-up Greg Golson, and he made a fatal error. This mistake was largely overshadowed by what would follow, but it ultimately kept the Rays season alive. He wandered too far off third on a sharp ground ball to third, fielded by Evan Longoria, and he was done. He vainly tried to dive back to the bag, but Longoria tagged him for the first out. Dickerson struck out and Gardner grounded out to end the inning.

In the bottom half with one out, Scott Proctor finally made the mistake that I was waiting for. With the count 2-2, he served up a fastball to Longoria that barely cleared the fence and just barely stayed fair down the left field line for his second homer of the game. Fifteen minutes after the Red Sox crushing loss, the Rays won.

This night of baseball left me speechless. Two extra inning games and another decided in the bottom of the 9th. Talk about dramatic. Not only that, but the two American League games ended within minutes of each other, and both in walk-off fashion. It was one of those nights of baseball you see once in a blue moon and reminds you of why it is such a great game. You never know what is going to happen, and there are no sure things in the game of baseball.

-matt

MLB 2011, Part II: My Teams

I'll start with how my Chicago Cubs did this season. They were a mess.

Moving on ...

This year's number was 85. When spring training wound down, I thought that the Blue Jays would win 85 games this season, even though many baseball analysts had them finishing dead last in the AL East. At times, the season looked bleak, but in the end, 85 was a pretty good guess.

The big question mark this season was pitching, specifically the bullpen. With many of the Blue Jays mainstays opting for free agency, they were forced to bring in a number of veterans who had enjoyed various levels of success over the course of their careers along with a few young arms. It was intriguing following the team through spring training to see who would end up where in the bullpen, but as opening night drew near we weren't really sure. Today, now that the season is over, we're still not sure.

I didn't get to see a lot of the games, but I checked in on the team almost every day and even though there were sources of constant frustration with this team, I was impressed with what I saw. The Jays were playing a style that I enjoyed built on defence, pitching, and small ball. It didn't always work, but when it did, it was fun to watch.

Alex Anthopoulos continued in his quest to build the team, pulling the trigger on a deal that brought in Colby Rasmus from the Cardinals. Whether that deal pays off remains to be seen, but watching that deal unfold was .. refreshing. It's been a long time since the Jays made a move like that during the course of the season, and much like when the Maple Leafs acquired Dion Phaneuf a few years ago, it injected some buzz around a team that looked well on its way to finishing .500 and out of the playoffs.

There were three stories that really stuck with me over the course of the season, one very obvious, and two that I think flew a bit under the radar.

I'll start with the obvious, Brett Lawrie. While I was wary of jumping on the bandwagon when Lawrie first came up to the majors, I can't deny that this kid from BC is going to be one hell of a ball player. The raw talent is something we Jays fans haven't seen in a while. The hustle, reckless abandon, speed, power .. he has a lot of potential. If that's not enough, he's got a flair for the dramatic as well. The walk-off homer he hit in his first few weeks and the clutch grand slam he hit shortly thereafter show that he isn't afraid of being in the spotlight. It's a good thing, because he will be standing in it for many years to come.

Casey Janssen has always been one of my favourites since he came up back in 2006. Something about the high socks, the way he pitched, and the number on his back. He is my kind of pitcher. Janssen very quietly became one of the most reliable middle relievers in the American League this season. In a bullpen that blew countless saves, Janssen was the guy to go to in the 7th or 8th inning of a tight ball game. It seemed every time John Farrell gave him the ball, he got the job done, especially during a 16 2/3 inning scoreless streak during the month of August. It was much like 2007 when Janssen was the setup man and it seemed if the Blue Jays managed to have a lead going into the 8th inning, the game was over. Atta boy Casey.

By the way, does anyone know what happened to Jeremy Accardo?

Finally, the return of Dustin McGowan to a major league mound was a story that you couldn't help but feel good about, love or hate the Blue Jays. A string of injuries kept McGowan from pitching in the big leagues for over three years. It was nothing short of miraculous when he made his first big league appearance in September out of the bullpen, and started a few days later. It still remains to be seen if he will return to his 2007 form that saw him win 12 games, but the very fact that he is in the majors again is a great story. Here's hoping he is able to stick around for a while.

I'm very curious to see what the Jays will do in the off-season, because we all know something will happen. I sense that a window is opening in the AL East with the Red Sox in a bit of a re-tool mode and the Yankees core getting older and older. Sometime in the next few years, the Jays are gonna have a shot at the post-season. And I think AA is way to smart to miss it.

-matt

MLB 2011, Part I: The Year of the Pitcher

In the past few seasons, the term “year of the pitcher” has been thrown around but I don't really think it applied until the 2011 season. In a lot of ways, it really was the year of the pitcher.

Whatever theory you choose to subscribe to that explains the rise of the pitcher in the past five years is irrelevant. After two decades of a game dominated by offence, baseball has again become a pitcher's game.

Just look at what Justin Verlander did this year. He won 24 games, struck out 250 batters and pitched to a 2.40 ERA en route to winning the Am
erican League pitching triple crown and almost certainly a Cy Young Award. Hell, he might even become the first pitcher in recent memory to win the MVP Award. WHIP 0.92 .. Opponents average .192. All of those stats led the majors, save his ERA which was a mere 0.12 runs off the MLB lead. And oh yeah, he threw a no-hitter against the Blue Jays in May. I can't remember the last time a pitcher won 24 games, let alone dominate the way Justin Verlander did this season.

So how about his National League counterpart? Surely there wasn't a single pitcher who matched that performance? Not quite, but almost.

Several weeks before the end of the season, I noticed something. Verlander wasn't the only pitcher leading his league in all three pitching triple crown categories. So I did a bit of research and found that the last time a pitcher had won the pitching triple crown in both leagues was the 1924 season ... 87 years ago. Knowing we could be seeing something special, I checked the stats almost daily to see if some history might be made.

It was. Sort of. In a league that boasted the likes of Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee, it was Clayton Kershaw that ended up with a triple crown, although he was tied for the lead in wins with Ian Kennedy. Regardless, Kershaw's season and the fact that it was alongside that of Verlander is certainly noteworthy. He finished with 21 wins, a 2.28 ERA, and 248 strikeouts. Not quite the season his American League counterpart had, but certainly worthy of a Cy Young award, although that isn't necessarily etched in stone.

On the outset of the season, a lively debate sprung up between a friend and I about which team had the best rotation. On paper, it looked like the Red Sox (Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Lackey, Matsuzaka) and Phillies (Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt, Blanton) were almost on par with each other. As it turned out, the edge ultimately went to the Phillies.

Injuries to Roy Oswalt turned the Phillies' four aces into three aces, but those three aces were unbelievable. Let's start with Roy Halladay who I still contend is the best pitcher in baseball. He had a typical Halladay season, 19 wins, 2.35 ERA, 220 strikeouts .. numbers that will put him in contention for his third Cy Young Award. Cliff Lee's numbers weren't too shabby either, 17 wins, 2.40 ERA, 238 strikeouts to go along with a stretch of 30+ consecutive scoreless innings .. numbers that will put him in contention for a Cy Young Award. Finally, while Cole Hamels didn't quite have the award winning season his teammates did, his 14 wins, 2.79 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and .214 opponents batting average were indeed excellent numbers.

Again, I go back to the dominance of pitching this season. One team, albeit it one that didn't enjoy post-season success had three starting pitchers that on any given day could shut you down. It's not something I remember happening very often. The remaining starters were nothing to sneeze at either as Vance Worsley filled in admirably to the tune of an 11-3 record and 3.01 ERA for the injured Joe Blanton and Oswalt, both of whom struggled at times and battled injuries.

Whatever the reason, pitching has moved to the forefront in Major League Baseball. The game has become a more low scoring affair full of small ball, and I love it. Fewer and fewer teams sit around waiting for the big hit. The emergence of quality pitching has forced teams to manufacture more runs rather than sitting back, hoping for a home run. It means more bunts, more situational hitting, more big plays in the field, and more plays at the plate.

It's my kind of game.

-matt

MLB 2011, Prologue

The 2011 MLB season was .. well, great. I love baseball, and I don't think a year has ever gone by that I haven't kept up with MLB. I'm not sure what was different this year, maybe having cable and being able to watch games regularly for most of the season, but what a great year it was, so great that I can't possibly reflect on it fully in one blog entry. Or two. Or three. So, over the next little while, I'll take a look back at the 2011 season in four parts.

First, I'll examine the dominance of pitching this season. Next, a look at my teams and how they fared. Third, a look back at the unforgettable final day of the regular season. Last, but certainly not least, celebrating a friend and fellow baseball enthusiast's birthday with Game Six of the World Series.

I think if I figured anything out this year, it's that no matter how much I fight it, baseball is my sport. The great season of MLB ball only made me want more. Even now with the cold November weather starting to set in and hockey going full force (and the Leafs winning?!?), all I want to do is throw a baseball. But like they say, all good things must come to an end.

-matt