Month: October 2005 (Page 7 of 12)

“Customarily, if the ball is in the dirt, you hear: ‘No catch, no catch, no catch’ and I didn’t hear any of that. It was strike three, the third out of the inning and I threw the ball back to the mound.”

Those are the words of Angels catcher Josh Paul, who thought his pitcher, Kelvim Escobar, struck out AJ Pierzynski with a hard slider to end the ninth inning. The pitch was low, but Paul appeared to catch it before it hit the dirt and home-plate umpire Doug Eddings apparently confirmed that by raising his fist to signal that Pierzynski was out. The Angels, thinking the inning was over, jogged off the field and Paul, assuming he caught the ball and getting no indication otherwise from Eddings, rolled it out toward the mound before heading toward the dugout.

Not so fast.

Pierzynski took off toward first and was ruled safe. Angels manager Mike Scioscia argued the call, but after the umps huddled to discuss the play, the call was upheld.

I’m not sure what to think about this. I guess at the heart of it all, you’ve got an umpire who signaled that the hitter was out. Inning over. Eddings also admitted that he didn’t call “no catch” and thought Paul trapped the ball. But if that’s the case, why didn’t he call “no catch”? Still, while Paul definitely has a gripe about that, in a game of this magnitude, you’d think Paul would tag the batter just to be safe. I’ve seen catchers tag hitters hundreds of times in situations like this, just as a precaution. If Paul plays it safe and tags Pierzynski, there’s no controversy and the game heads into extras. Instead, Joe Crede came up and hit a game-winning double. Series tied 1-1.

But the bottom line here is, if Eddings thought Paul trapped the ball, why did he signal that the runner was out, and why didn’t he call “no catch”? If I’m the Angels, I’m feeling cheated right about now.

There’s an episode of “The Simpsons” where Homer, as an adolescent, is an accomplished gymnast. His father, Abe, is simply waiting for him to screw up. Homer performs a floor exercise flawlessly, until he steals a glance at his father, who instantly shouts, “You’re gonna blow it!” Sure enough, Homer trips over his own feet and flops miserably. Later, Abe tells Homer, “That’s what I get for having faith in you.”

Homer is the White Sox, I’m Grandpa Simpson. I picked the White Sox to win in five, but despite being a Chicago resident for ten awesome years, I’m only kind of rooting for them. It’s not a Cubs/Sox thing – yes, I’m a Cubs fan, but I wish the Sox no ill will – and it’s not that I love the Angels that much more than the White Sox. If anything, it’s the simple fact that Chicago baseball teams will break your heart, and there is no point in getting emotionally involved. I picked the Sox to go to the World Series not because I believe in them, but because in analyzing the stats and the circumstances, the Sox have a considerable advantage. The only problem is that they’re still the White Sox, and they’ll surely find a way to melt down like Chernobyl on the sun. Why? Because that’s what Chicago baseball teams do. For 97 years on the North Side and 88 years on the South Side. That’s the Chicago way.

In the end, I look at it this way: if they’re going to choke, I would prefer that they choke now, because losing to St. Louis in the World Series would be much, much worse than not getting to the Series at all.

Here we go again. For the second year in a row, the NLCS comes down to the top two teams in the NL Central. Houston gave it their all last year but fell short, which is a pity because I thought they would have given the Red Sox a much tougher fight than the Cardinals wound up giving them.

This time around, the ‘Stros are missing a couple of big bats (Beltran, Kent), but their pitching is much stronger thanks to a healthy Andy Pettite, who put up Cy Young caliber numbers. But the 18-inning marathon Game 4 had to wreak havoc on Phil Garner’s plans for the NLCS. Luckily for him, unlike the Angels, he gets two days to rest his players, not 12 hours.

The breakdown, piece by piece:

Starting pitching: Houston. Yes, the Cardinals have Chris Carpenter, the likely Cy Young winner, and Mark Mulder is no slouch, either. But they simply don’t touch Clemens, Pettite and Oswalt, no matter how you slice it. Having a lefty ace in Mulder is lost on an Astros team that’s almost exclusively right handed, and their one big bopper lefty, Lance Berkman, is a switch hitter.

Relief pitching: Houston. Brad Lidge makes grown men cry. Izzy is competent but absolutely hittable. St. Louis has good setup help, but they lost their best guy Al Reyes on the last day of the season. Tough luck.

Hitting: St. Louis. Albert, freaking, Pujols, kids. So what if Scott Rolen is down for the year, Jim Edmonds strikes out too much and Larry Walker is one race away from the glue factory? Pujols has a similar effect on the game as Barry Bonds. No one wants to face him with runners on base, and that winds up making pitchers do dumb things.

Manager: St. Louis. LaRussa’s the best strategist in baseball, period.

Defense/Intangibles: St. Louis. Houston has good fundamentals, but St. Louis runs clinics on the subject every time they play.

My pick: St. Louis in seven, just like last year. I’m secretly hoping I’m dead wrong about this, though. I’d love to see a Series between a team that’s never been to it and a team that hasn’t won it in almost a hundred years.