MLB '09

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

A very quick informal survey shows ....)

Originally Posted by Alex

Unless we're not all being served the same page, that doesn't seem to be it. Lots of teams are now elimated from the playoffs but I just hit each page and only three were showing the Team Leaders box in place of the standings box.

Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington. All others still show standings.

Which of course were two of the three teams I looked at in my "quick informal survey".

[Moonliner]

Huh. Dodgers lost. Go figure.

On a brighter note....

In the bottom of the 8th a towering pop-fly came directly to me. SMACK! Off my hands into the hands of the guy next to me. In all my MLB history (which is deceptively large) that's the first fly ball I ever laid a hand on. Still cool even if I did not get to keep it.

[Kevy Baby]

You go into the bottom of the 9th with a three run lead against the team with the second worst record in baseball, and you somehow manage to lose?

Yeah, I don't have much confidence in the post season at the moment.

I hope the Rockies win (they are currently up 4-3 in the sixth) so the Dodgers can claim the pennant by winning a game and not another team losing one.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'm going to blame it on them thinking a bit too much about the champagne in the locker room.

[Kevy Baby]

Seriously?!?

How the fvck do you lose 11-1

To the effin PIRATES!!!

[Motorboat Cruiser]

With each passing day, I'm becoming less convinced that we are going to clinch the division, let alone win the first round of playoffs. The team is in meltdown mode and we can't drive in a run to save our lives. Manny, Ethier and Kemp aren't hitting, the bullpen isn't getting it done, and we have Blake and Belliard benched with injuries. They better figure this out quickly or we'll get swept in the first round.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

With each passing day, I'm becoming less convinced that we are going to clinch the division, let alone win the first round of playoffs. The team is in meltdown mode and we can't drive in a run to save our lives. Manny, Ethier and Kemp aren't hitting, the bullpen isn't getting it done, and we have Blake and Belliard benched with injuries. They better figure this out quickly or we'll get swept in the first round.

I disagree (well, the clinching the division part is obviously easy to disagree with).

The offense got wobbly for a bit. That happens. I disagree that the bullpen isn't "getting it done". They weren't given the opportunity down the stretch. With the woeful offense (which I do believe will make a comeback in the playoffs), they weren't exactly given many leads to work with. They blew a couple, sure, but even when a team is doing well that's going to happen once in a while, it just stands out when things are otherwise going bad. I think all that happened that last week+ was a lack of focus due to being a lock for the division (yes, even as poorly as they were doing, a magic # of 1 with that many games left is a lock).

Meanwhile, though the common wisdom is that starting pitching is the biggest ? for the Dodgers going into October, I think their starting rotation is stronger than it's been all season, and one of the strongest in the post season. Team ERA over the last month...3.08, 2nd best in the NL and more than 30 points lower than their league-leading season average. 2.57 in the last 4 games of the season. They don't have any real flash in their starters in the way of Cy Young candidates, but Wolf is a horse, Kershaw can be unhittable, and they've got two winners in the late-season pickups.

As long as Mattingly can remind them how to hit the ball where the defense isn't, I see good things.

[Gemini Cricket]

Yankees Shmankees

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Yeah, I was pretty frustrated when I posted that, perhaps not thinking so clearly. It was a hell of a stressful week.

I do think their starting pitchers can pull it off, although I would feel better with Kuroda there. Billingsley is the biggest "if" and I'm not yet convinced that he is back to form. But the bullpen is indeed strong.

Hitting-wise, I think we will be okay, although it would of course be very nice if Manny would turn it up a few notches. It will be interesting to see how much playing time Pierre gets in the postseason.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I think Pierre's playing time hinges more on Ethier and/or Kemp's performance than Manny's. If those two are on their game then I think Joe will feel confident enough to use Pierre as a spark. But if Ethier and Kemp aren't producing, then even if Manny also gets off to a slow start it'll be a better bet to hope Manny's experience will kick in and carry them through it than pull him out leaving it up to Ethier and Kemp to figure it out without as much postseason experience.