2011 NLCS: Cardinals vs. Brewers

brewers more like the who?ers

― k3vin k., Friday, October 7, 2011 11:22 PM (Yesterday)

made this one a poll, closing before the first pitch. i think the Cards are going to take it.

Fuck the Cardinals, Brew Crew all the way.

will always have a soft spot for the brewers because of this dude

http://image.become.com/imageserver/s7/1039191967-150-150-5-0/mike-caldwell-autographed-major-league-baseball-mlb-authentic.jpg

BrooCrue in 6

brewers in 4

Brewers in five.

I think I fell in love with the Brewers yesterday. "Fuck, yeah!" could be the "You Gotta Believe" or "Cowboy Up" or 2011--hope there are signs all over the stadium from here on in.

uh, who said "Fuck, yeah!"?

nyjer m.

oh yeah. Trying to figure out a way not to root for that guy and BB-Rod.

i still don't know what i think about this series... i'm tempted to pick the cardinals, honestly

Go Brewers.

voted "you should have married John Clarke"

brewers in 6 please god

Brews are the better team and i would rather they win. so most like the Cards.

Brewers in seven.

*most likely the Cards. is what i meant to say

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/08/zack-greinke-calls-chris-carpenter-a-phony

yes, please do give more motivation to carpenter.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/09/carpenter-calls-zack-greinke-a-big-fucking-asshole

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/09/molina-says-zack-greinke-looks-like-an-eagle-scout

Anderson/Smoltz/Darling again?!

Always thought Greinke resembled a Seuss character, myself.

come on with the warning already

Brauntober

guess he recovered from his Yom Kippur fast >_>

robneyer robneyer
I just realized why Ron Darling makes me crazy. He italicizes every word.

hahaha, otm

#Kevin_Goldstein
I expected shenanigans this series, but not in game one, inning one.

Looks like Holliday's hand issue means he's basically Johnny Damon in the OF now.

Is the Phillies game on after this?

greinke better plunk the next batter

boo

freese is very good

freese mode

great play by Fielder

holy crap

oh brother

unbelievable

those are two very good hitters

can't believe tlr let garcia pitch to braun, let alone fielder

yuni?

think it's time to pack this one up...

still no outs finally an out

I guess Yuniesky is this year's bad player having a great October.

And Dotel is giving BB-Rod a big hill to climb for the sucky ex-Met trophy.

ESPNStatsInfo ESPN Stats & Info
Prince Fielder's HR traveled at a speed of 119.2 MPH off his bat. That is the highest speed for any HR hit in the year 2011.

This crowd would definitely be just as thrilled with Greinke if the Brewers were getting shut out.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

that was a pretty good game, now tonight it's just football.

I'd be shocked if Braun didn't turn out to have the best postseason in Brewer history, when all is said and done. He's by far looking like the best hitter in the series.

that was quick

always seems to happen when the "what's wrong with albert" columns show up

Not a very plush dive

albert

nyjer gotta get that

oh my lord albert

oh idk mookie he hit that like 125 mph

yea that was insanely crushed

marcum not even pitching too badly, Albert is just taking him to school
non-Gallardo starters with an ERA over 12 in this postseason. guess it can only get better right?

strike zone =
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VVuMIB2hC0

these announcers sound like they are watching a funeral when the cardinals score btw

hey we gots a ballgame

bnw, I can't disagree but Brewers are the better 'story' + LaRussa fatigue

Not watching the game at the moment but the play-by-play dude is the Brewers' play-by-play dude.

these announcers sound like they are watching a funeral when the cardinals score btw

does anyone outside of st. louis actually want to see them win?

btw whatever they were doing to get Pujols out during the regular season, it's not working anymore

strike zone shifts every 2 innings.

wow that call on Weeks was really bad, that could have easily been a game changer

here is furcal being "out"
http://s1.proxy04.twitpic.com/photos/large/420848237.jpg
(no replays shown on this one)

so much beautiful trolling going on in this series

http://twitter.com/#!/drewsilv/status/123590844300267520

and now we get carp vs t-flush

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/744200/MolinaEyes.gif.opt.gif

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/story/2011-10-10/ernie-johnson-jr-son-pneumonia-muscular-dystrophy/50720984/1

Full disclosure: I live in St. Louis and am lifelong Cardinals fan. Can I get an outsider perspective on why this team seems to be so hated? Is it down to LaRussa? I'd have thought that a team that came from 10 1/2 games back to steal the wild card and continues to perform would be a pretty good narrative for baseball, but it seems like most people are rooting against the Cardinals.

Speaking personally:

1. They beat the Phillies
2. I hate TLR
3. I love MOT Ryan Braun

i think a lot of it is larussa. and the fact that the brewers just won their first playoff series in 29 years.

i dunno, the cards don't seem that likeable to me? pujols is awesome but kind of chilly, yadier seems like a dick. berkman's a good story and the fans are great, but the brewers are due.

cardinals always seem to be beefing with someone, whether it's the brewers or reds or whomever, which seems to fit with tlr's genius-against-the-world attitude

mookieproof otm

and i'm a big cardinals fan

Yeah, most of it is TLR, especially that shit he pulled trying to intentionally injure Braun because Pujols got pitched inside. They seem to have the attitude that the baseball world revolves around them. For me most of it was a result of all the complaints that seem to show up every year, accusing Milwaukee of cheating, calling their fans idiots (again this is mostly TLR), then that weird shitstorm they brewed up because Milwaukee was untucking their jerseys after victories (as a tribute to a player's dad, btw). I think Pujols was the one griping about how they were "showing up" their opponents, coming from a guy who stares at his home runs (and long flyouts) longer than anyone. They're just not a very likeable team IMO (outside of Berkman)

To be fair, St. Louis is not the only team who've complained about Milwaukee's shenanigans. The Giants got mad at them a year or two ago iirc.

the giants are a bunch of whiny ass bitches too tho - bitching about the humidor in colorado, always whining about getting shown up, etc.

Yeah totally.

I can agree with everything other than Yadier being a dick. Hot-headed, maybe, but how can you look at that babyface and feel upset? I want to pinch his cheeks.

The Reds feud made no sense to me. The Brewers feud (at least as I've experienced it in St. Louis) is non-existent other than a few Nyjer Morgan tweets. Tony LaRussa is Tony LaRussa.

yeah the Giants got pissy about the Prince Fielder earthquake celebration and obviously decided the only way to respond to that was to throw a baseball at him.

Baseball players, managers, and coaches are a particularly sensitive and hypocritical form of human.

i can understand a team being upset abt the earthquake thing. but you gotta give em points for originality too on that one.

yeah I can understand them being upset but it wasn't like they pulled that in their stadium! even still, I don't get the whole "we need to hit him with a baseball to restore order", especially since they waited until next season to do it! were they really so hurt???

for whatever it is, other teams hate the way the cardinals play, or how they carry themselves, and so naturally fanbases begin to adopt those same feelings. personally idk what it is, but it's something.

this guy is obviously biased, but i think he's kind of otm -- there's a difference between having your own team thing and "showing up" the other club. it's not like any of these guys went out and spiked the ball on the dallas cowboys' star.

http://pitchersandpoets.com/2011/10/10/unleash-the-beast-by-matt-christman

that's a pretty good post

otoh, nyjer morgan is a horrible human being

i'm pretty much trolling on the nyjer thing now... i should've posted this a few weeks ago

i went to see the cubs second to last home game of the season, which was against the brewers, and i was sitting in the bleachers in left center and it was pretty fun to watch nyjer... he was getting heckled and jeered all game, and he was messing w/ the crowd in between innings and pitches and stuff, which is much more interaction than most ppl get. but it wasn't really malicious on either side, the fans would boo and jeer him, and then he would pretend like he was gonna throw a ball up, and everyone would go crazy, and then he would gesture to throw it back to the dugout, then he would turn back around and wind everyone up, then eventually throw it back to the dugout. but then in the ninth inning he finally threw one up. i deplore his violent streak, and i think his alter ego is pretty contrived, but he did make sitting in the outfield for a meaningless 6-2 baseball game a lot more fun.

instead of just grimly plunking the next batter for the effrontery of his teammate, strike him out and make up your own damn celebration.

Yes. Get lessons from Jose Valverde.

I'm all for making baseball more fun and less about unwritten rules. I just wish someone other than Nyjer Morgan was the face of it.

lol poly otm

the saving grace is that he'll be back to his .240 hitting self 10 months from now

Has he ever hit that low? Isn't he around .280 lifetime?

well, he hit .250 for the nats

He hit .253 in 2010. every other year he's hit .296 or above. he's doing better this year (presumably) because he's not getting many ABs vs lefties.

I never really saw his personality as "contrived" at all, he's always been like this and above all he knows he's an entertainer more than anything. Yeah that thing in the outfield where he threw his glove was stupid but it's not like he's randomly violent. Volstad tried to hit him in the head with a fastball, and yet Nyjer's the bad guy for charging the mound?

nyjer's violent streak far transcends that play

volstad threw at him bcuz he trucked brett hayes in a meaningless game where the play wasn't even close at home and separated his shoulder

and if i'm not mistaken he trucked jason larue and ended his career?

nope, that was Johnny Cueto who kicked him in the head during a brawl

idk it's just hard for me to reconcile his fun loving, court jester persona with the whole injuring catchers and flipping off fans thing

nope, that was Johnny Cueto who kicked him in the head during a brawl

― frogbs, Tuesday, October 11, 2011 3:16 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh right, lol

but nyjer did run over some cardinals catcher when he was on the nats

or it was someone else

you can give him shit for running over catchers but it's really on MLB to change the rules then, isn't it? players do that all the time, because sometimes it works. and Morgan's had a lot of success with it. point is, it's completely legal to plow into the catcher, but illegal to intentionally throw at someone's head. same goes with hard fouls in basketball - yes it can injure people but sometimes it's the best strategy. btw I don't really buy into the "don't play hard if it's a meaningless game" thing, IMO that sort of treads the same ground as the "don't bunt during a no-hitter" junk

To me he just seems to be this year's Brian Wilson, the guy who does some quirky shit, gets some glowing press for it, and then becomes all quirk all the time. It's irritating.

idk it's just hard for me to reconcile his fun loving, court jester persona with the whole injuring catchers and flipping off fans thing

if you're referring to that thing from this year, he definitely did not flip off any fans, but it looked that way on camera. it was a hand gesture he's been doing all year

nyjer had to be told by the umpire to stop screaming obscenities at carpenter from the dugout. this was innings after his AB btw.

brandon phillips knows how to play the villain role. nyjer is mentally unstable. if the brewers were losing more, he would be seen as "a problem".

Baseball players, managers, and coaches are a particularly sensitive and hypocritical form of human.

― A Chuck Person's Guide to Mark Aguirre (Andy K), Tuesday, October 11, 2011 1:30 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark

massively otm.

if the brewers were losing more, he would be seen as "a problem".

yep. and in washington, last year, when they were losing, he was definitely seen as a problem.

if the brewers were losing more, he would be seen as "a problem".

I dunno, but I generally don't talk much with people who think like this. I mean I've heard media blame everything from KRod's recent complaints to Fielder's upcoming free agency as the "cause" of a losing streak.

Besides, I think he's kinda won Milwaukee fans over for life on Friday, especially given how little postseason history they have.

brandon phillips knows how to play the villain role. nyjer is mentally unstable.

there's some truth to that second statement, but really is Brandon Phillips a 'villain'? He's always seemed like a nice guy to me (who had a few harsh words for a certain team)

Brandon Phillips rules

I'll echo everything said about LaRussa above. I think a lot of Jays fans from the '80s and '90s developed really negative feelings about LaRussa--mostly because the A's would always beat us then (up till Alomar's home run), but he and Eckersley also had a knack for seeming really smug about it. I also thought he was overrated as a manager. He had 1) the greatest leadoff man in history, 2) what was then the greatest closer in history, 3) arguably the greatest home run hitter in history (not then what he later became, true), and 4) the guy who was regularly cited as the best player in baseball at the time (mistakenly--the answer to #1 above was better). With all of that, he won one World Series.

Other than LaRussa, I have nothing against the Cardinals.

I don't know if it's really fair to judge a manager on World Series wins. Great players or managers aside, it takes a lot of luck to win a title (and you could easily argue that the 2006 Cardinals were nowhere near the best team in the league)

I dunno, but I generally don't talk much with people who think like this. I mean I've heard media blame everything from KRod's recent complaints to Fielder's upcoming free agency as the "cause" of a losing streak.

point is obnoxious players are seen as endearing when a team is winning. otherwise not so much.

and trust me, you have no idea of TLR hate until you have listened to sports radio in st louis. There's a few thousand people who wake-up angry at Tony.

frogs, i'm not talking about the thing in SF. when he got tossed after the fight vs the marlins he walked off the field like triple H or some shit. it seemed very, yep, mentally unstable.

I'm being hypocritical, because I'm always pointing out how difficult it is to make the leap from great team to World Series winner. I guess I just recoiled from always hearing what a genius LaRussa was in those days--with Henderson, Eckersley, McGwire, Canseco, and lots else, it didn't really require a genius to win.

consider the source

http://i.imgur.com/SF99s.jpg

frogs, i'm not talking about the thing in SF. when he got tossed after the fight vs the marlins he walked off the field like triple H or some shit. it seemed very, yep, mentally unstable.

well he's definitely got a bit of a WWE in him.

either way I really do like high-energy players like that, hell I even like Carlos Gomez a lot even though he's not really that good, and was never bothered by Valverde or KRod like everyone else, so maybe I'm not the best person to speak on this

if the brewers were losing more, he would be seen as "a problem".

totally. and they will get sick of him soon enough anyway; he's a loose cannon.

i didn't mean to defend nyjer as the face of fun baseball, just to point out the absurdity of ppl getting pissed off because the brewers untucked their shirts or something.

and while nyjer has done some stupid and offensive stuff, the reactions he gets are sometimes idiotic. last year he got deliberately plunked for something deserving, but the opposing team (the marlins, i think?) got further upset because he subsequently stole second and third, which was "showing them up." that's some bullshit.

Apropos of nothing, but I hate the beast mode arm gesture because it reminds me of the rangers gesture from last year (and this year?). It looks dumb.

Kotsay confirms Darling's assessment of him as "a pro's pro," not.

(Seaver used to call Todd Zeile that every other day when he was a Mets Tv analyst. I think it means "replacement level.")

http://i.imgur.com/j1DYg.jpg

not exactly the pitchers duel expected

that kotsay play/pic is all time

i wasn't expecting a pitchers duel here, somehow anytime it's Grienke/Gallardo/Marcum vs. a #1 type starter there's always like 12 runs by the 5th

they are getting a pretty big zone from ump too

maybe because they're coming nowhere close to it

gallardo is threatening to settle in, carp not so much

Nyjer can have it, but i hope everyone remembers that 4th outfielder post-Manny Juan Pierre was the og beastmode

http://i39.tinypic.com/5x4eix.jpg

bullpen waited all year to show up ^_^

wow after the Kotsay HR that was a really boring game

frogbs otm about why the cards are so hateable, but i'd also add that chris carpenter is a giganto douchebag

Where do the Cardinals rank on the most hated team in baseball list?

oh, #14

I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely hate the Yankees but the amount of ire that this club inspires still surprises me. Yadier and Carpenter are two of my favorite players. I guess it's the nature of sports that you can't see your failings from the inside.

I'm in love with the Frankenstein bullpen that the Cards have cobbled together for this year.

i'm used to relievers having various beards, but motte's was reminiscent of bruce sutter's

If we do manage to scrape by Milwaukee I'm confident that the Rangers will trounce us.

2006

this is going to be the worst world series ever, in history.

oh, I didn't know 2 wins got you in

and no, Stankees-Phils-Braves in the last dozen years were the worst ever, you Flyover Country h8r.

this is going to be the worst world series ever, in history.

― Waxahachie Swap (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

It's shit like this that I don't get. Hasn't this been an exciting postseason?

I mean, hate on the Cardinals all you want but pretending like this October hasn't provided exciting baseball makes you sound like an ESPN shill.

wacky wednesday was the climax... this is just hobbits jumping in beds for the remainder of the film.

not exciting for Yankeefans and spitballers

(who can read the future, apparently)

Anti texas: Texas.
Anti St. L: Costasian Pure Baseball cornholeism, TlR.
Anti Tigers: I actually don't have anything against the Tigers but they seem like the least of these (PS SSS etc). Miggy might drive drunk after winning WS and kill someone, I guess.
Anti Brewers: Love Brewers but they are being speedily blown away. So anti Brewers for not destroying what is, in my mind, a vastly inferior StL team (PS SSS, etc).

Honestly the best day of the POs was the last day of the regular season followed closely by the Yankees losing.

Miggy might drive drunk after winning WS and kill someone, I guess.

hahaha

Love Brewers but they are being speedily blown away

Wha? Can we get a pct on the number of teams who've come back from 1-2 in a best-of-7? It's not low.

Anti Brewers: Love Brewers but they are being speedily blown away.

??

Have you even paid attention the games?

yeah, they're not out of it. their pitching has been ridiculously bad during the playoffs - since those first two home wins, they've given up 42 runs in the five games since. Wolf has been great vs. the Cards and I think today is totally winnable. So is tomorrow with Grienke going. If they win one in STL they can definitely win 2 home games w/ Marcum and Gallardo. we'll see.

Aside from the 12-3 blowout in game two the other two games have been very close. Game one came down to one inning of Brewers being badasses and game three could have been ended at any point if the Cardinals bullpen didn't come through.

last night could have easily gone either way. cards probably have a small edge in confidence right now. still feels like it'll be 7. which means back in beastville.

main worry is brewers cluing in the neither holliday or berkman is hitting much behind AP.

Basically, I think you all hate baseball because as everyone knows the Cardinals have the best fans in baseball. As it is written, so let it be done.

Honestly the best day of the POs was the last day of the regular season followed closely by the Yankees losing.

1) That wasn't the playoffs
2) When did you turn in your Evil Empire card?

The drunk-driving death quip indicates that he still has a Yankee fan's sense of humor, at least.

main worry is brewers cluing in the neither holliday or berkman is hitting much behind AP.

have you seen Rickie Weeks's numbers this postseason? he's not much better. also Lucroy has been godawful for the last month+playoffs. chasing way too much, not making solid contact, striking out a ton, etc. Hart is not doing well either.

yeah, but on the cards side it lets opposing teams pitch around pujols (like the brewers did last night after the first 2 at bats)

all given up, huh? weird.

BRAUNSTER

why Boggs and McClellan are on the roster and Sanchez isn't is one of those great TLR mysteries.

my God I am getting frustrated with Ron Roenicke. count the ways he fucked up this inning: Number one, you could have pulled Wolf. You have a great bullpen and it's the 6th inning. Number two, why not let him hit!? Wolf is one of the best hitting pitchers in the game. He stung the ball well both times. If he gets one in the outfield, that's another run, which is HUGE. Thirdly, WHY LET NYJER HIT THERE!? He's terrible vs. lefties. Putting in Gomez not only gives you a better chance at a hit, but it also lets you tighten up your defense. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

people are requesting the 'rally squirrel' kill ryan theriot

the facepalm that occurred the day theriot was signed is STILL reverberating. good lord he sucks

Torture-Rod

is there a stupider observation then the team that just won has momentum? like can you lose and have momentum?

so, advantage Brewers. This is baseball, they do it every day, as Earl said.

yeah this one's going 7

Wow I hope so. Brewers are gonna have Grienke tomorrow and Gallardo in game 7 (maybe game 6??). I feel good about their chances so long as it involves not losing a home game

btw not to look too far ahead, but how weird would it be if Milwaukee and Texas met in the World Series, and Milwaukee had home field b/c of Prince's HR off C.J. Wilson? I guarantee that's all everyone's gonna talk about for the entire series

yer prob right

we need a bpro analysis as to why managers in the playoffs bunt like theres no tomorrow

I'm finding that now that all the big payroll teams are out, there's no one to root against; I've been less interested in the LCS series than I thought I was going to be, and haven't watched a whole lot so far. (Missed the Tigers' 1-2-3-4 tonight.) I'm bleah over the prospect of a Cardinals-Rangers WS, even though neither team is without interest. One thing that seems absent to me (outside of Verlander) are great starters.

frogbs, congrats for remembering what happened in the All-Star Game.

how great was that Hairston slide home?

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsyodcGTod1qm9rypo1_500.jpg

i'll tell you what Hairston has been a frickin' godsend for this team. i hate to say 'he does all the little things right' but Mac did pretty much everything wrong this year

so yeah, big difference these past 8 games

Hairston memories

Hideki Matsui wasn’t the only former Yankee at the Stadium on Tuesday collecting his World Series championship ring. Jerry Hairston Jr., who now plays for the Padres, surprised his old teammates by taking a red-eye flight after his game Monday in San Diego to take part in the ceremony.

When Jorge Posada spotted Hairston in front of the dugout, he shook his head and asked why he was there.

“I flew here,” Hairston said.

“Why?” Posada asked.

From the Russian broadcast of the game: "This thing that the Brewers do after getting base hits has been invented by Nyjer Morgan, who is Mr. Tweeter. It means 'Hello, I'm a bear'"

Does anyone else think Mo Vaughn when they see Prince Fielder? I know they have different approaches and all, and PF was a genetic marvel as a teenager, but I also see this:

http://www.sports-logos-screensavers.com/user/Anaheim_Angels6.jpg

Postseason.tv's mid-home plate angle been buffering for a full inning now.

jeez, hero to goat in 60 seconds

Garcia will never pitch a fifth inning again.

Feel like the brewers have bought in too hard on their home field advantage and are just waiting to go back home

I don't, they're just losing tonight (so far)

i know pitchers (especially relievers) specialize in beards, but motte reminds me of bruce sutter

happy flight lives

During the finale, Goldstein retweeted something like "It hasn't been this quiet in Milwaukee since the Violent Femmes released that second album nobody liked."

what the hell went on with their defense in that series?

that's how it's been all year

really? I thought the D metrics put them more in the middle of the pack.

Definitely the worst defensive performance against the Cardinals since the Tigers in the World Series.

that's how it's been all year

not at all, actually

Defensive Efficiency 8th in the NL:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=975507

believe it or not Casey McG

believe it or not Casey McGehee was a plus defender this year. honestly I don't know if the defense was what killed them - the unearned runs they allowed in games 5 and 6 didn't really end up mattering. the game where the defense really hurt them was number 3. it was really a bunch of bad things coming together at once (lack of clutch hitting, a total of one 2-out RBI vs. 14 or so for the Cards, Pujols and Freese getting super hot while guys like Fielder cooled down, plus all the defensive gaffes, and a weird inability to make it past 2 innings without getting themselves in a massive hole)

(no idea what happened to my previous post)

all told they gave up 18 1st inning runs in 11 games. damn