ATL - HOU 2005 NLDS Thread

I won't mind seeing either club move on to the next round or win it all, as both clubs have some players that I have enjoyed watching play.

Possible Bobby Cox slaphead move: I assume Horacio Ramirez is starting Game 3, despite being a MUCH better pitcher at home (3.59 ERA / 1.25 WHIP / .253 BAA) than away from it (5.69 ERA / 1.54 WHIP / .310 BAA). Also of note: Hudson shut out the 'Stros this year AT THE JUICE BOX (tho it was in April - they double-switched out Ensberg!) (Danny Kolb w/ the save, too, roffle) (also of note: the game went into extra innings scoreless - guess which 'roid freak started for Houston). Anyway, given that TH is only gonna get 1 start this series (barring some Game Five desperation), it might behoove BC to flip-flop those two in the rotation, more for HR's sake than TH's.

This series is all about the 'Stros shutting down the Braves, tho - I can see the Astros getting runs across because of wee Willy Tavares "causing havoc" and getting in on a 2-run Ensberg / Twinkie more than I can see the Jones Bros. doing yard work against the Stros pitchers (unless they do it on the guys between The Top Three & Lidge). Fearless prediction: Braves win Game 1 behind Schmoltzie, then drop 3 in a row, w/ Hudson & Horacio getting shelled. And if the newest Mazzone reclamation project, Jorge Sosa, sees any starting action, his bloom's coming off quick-like.

In summary: Tavares gets too much love from the broadcast booth, Andruw mails it in, Oswalt doesn't get enough love, Adam Everett goes goofy, Giles & Furcal work the tin gloves, Astros in 4.

I think Garner learned his lesson last year concerning starting pitchers on three days rest. Oswalt and Clemens were both gassed by the end of the LCS.

Backe has pitched well down the stretch and was great at home in playoffs last year.

Well, sometimes you have to gas your pitchers. If the Astros are down 2-1, are they really going to stick Backe out there when Pettite is available? The season is on the line.

Brad Ausmus post All-Star numbers:

.281 avg
.380 obp
.372 slg

Plus, a 10th-inning homerun off Isringhausen to tie a game.

Ausmus also has VETERAN PRESENCE.

Also:
Instead of carrying Kolb, Cox opted instead to carry Joey Devine, who gained a spot when Blaine Boyer awoke on Monday morning without feeling in his right arm.

?!?!?

(alternatively, look at Tim Hudson's 4 walks!)

Other than Jordan's catch, this game has been hell to listen to.

Beautiful Brad comes through, hatas!

It's all in the silver lining, I guess. Hey, they could have lost 15-2.

Also, did it appear to anybody else that Cox was managing on auto-pilot today? MoBerg has three RBIs already, so let's walk Berkman to load to bases to face him. Seems like a decision that was made before the game even started. And then walking Biggio to load the bases and get to Taveras. Does Atlanta have any advance scouts? They've pinch-hit for Taveras with Bagwell at least twice in last week. News flash: The Astros have other guys that can play centerfied.

"Bagwell was inserted for Willy Taveras, whose offense is so bad commentator Steve Phillips said it was 'almost like having the pitcher up.' Bagwell subsequently singled with the bases loaded, making it a 6-3 ballgame."

What else are the working folks of Atlanta saving their vac/sick days for?

OH YEAH BRIAN McCANN

Nothing like the war chant to remind me that it's the Braves' FANS that repel me most.

(But thanks for the Taco Belgrande, BTW.)

I wasn't comfortable with the 6-1 lead ... can't explain why. Sutcliffe and whatshisface have been ragging on the Braves bullpen all series, as if everyone in their pen was a replica of Dan Kolb 2005 (although they have been pitching like it thus far in the series. Come on, they weren't usually that bad, in fact, Farnsworth, Reitsma, and Boyer were damn good.

*crackly telephone line sounds*
"J.P.?"
"Go ahead, John."
"I'm down here on the field, and Qualls is throwing sinker after sinker!"
"..."

Issuing an IBB to pitch to Bagwell felt like a "cue ominous music" moment, but it somehow worked out for the Braves.

Arguing balls and strikes in the 16th inning of a must win game with nearly the entire roster depleted, C/D?

"Everyone was congratulating me, patting me on the back. I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas."
--Houston Astros fan Shaun Dean, who caught Chris Burke's game-winning home run, and also caught Lance Berkman's grand slam in the eighth inning (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Way back when the Mets and Astros played that marathon game for the NL title in 86, I left to go out to dinner with my parents with the Astros and came back and could not believe that game was still going. I'm sure Garner and Jose Cruz talked about that game a bit during yesterday's marathon, since they both were playing for the Astros at the time. In fact, I think either Jose Cruz or maybe Enos Cabell may have made the last out of that game.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10150HOU1986.htm

Kevin Bass struck out to end it with Denny Walling on 2nd base. I'm pretty sure Cabell was gone by then. I know he was doing some broadcasting for the Astros as early as '87.

Besides Nolan Ryan in the stands, the other participant of the '86 game in attendace yesterday was catcher Alan Ashby, currently the Astros radio analyst.

I was in 6th grade in '86 and was aware that the Astros were in the playoffs but I didn't watch any of the games. It wasn't till the next year that I gained full sports consciousness and became a raving Astros fan. This happened one night when I discovered I could listen to all the games on the radio. Kevin Bass hit a homerun from each side of the plate in that game.

Please explain this!

ASTROS 10TH: HEEP BATTED FOR WOODS; Heep popped to shortstop;
Puhl lined to center; Cabell made an out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0
E, 0 LOB. Phillies 8, Astros 7.

Here is a linky to the 86 Mets/Astros marathon which featured one Dickie Thon. It reminded me that Billy Hatcher was a good playoff hitter. Rijo was great, but Hatcher should have been at least co-MVP of the 1990 World Series.

I went and checked it out after your post and realized I was thinking about Cabell making the last out in 1980. It doesn't explain why I posted that link again, but I suppose I was just laughing to myself about the name Dickie Thon.

Was Nolan Ryan using a Stadium Pal?

btw, since we don't judge bad decisions by lucky outcomes: Garner letting Ausmus hit in the 9th was nuts, yes?

I'd root for Houston to go all the way -- IF I got assurances that Dubya's parents would suffer massive coronaries in the celebration. (I hope their driver took them to the Astrodome Sunday.)

10 points for guessing team and # of games
6 points for guessing team and # of games +1/-1
4.5 points for guessing team.
3 points for guessing 5 games and losing (this seems very stupid in retrospect?)
0 points for guessing nothing.

How about 10 points for guessing team/# of games and 5 points for guessing team?

OK, I finally understand gygax's point system:

Correct team + # of games = 10 pts
Correct team, off by one game = 6 pts
correct team, off by two games = 4.5 pts
correct # of games = 3 pts
all other combos = 0 pts

I was a little bit off ...

I like the 6/4.5 system. And three points for guessing that a series will go the distance is reasonable, since there's a lot of luck involved in who wins a 5/7 game series. It doesn't seem right to get zero points for not picking the right team in that situation. However, if that's the case, then I'm going to predict both series to go the distance, since that seems to be the way to maximize the expected # of points.

Maybe 3 points for guessing 6 OR 7 games and losing?

By Win Probability, the Astros' MVP of the game was... ex-Met Dan Wheeler.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/a-game-of-epic-proportions/

And regarding Ausmus's hitting in the 9th: I really don't think Bagwell has the power back right now. I think he's great to have on the bench when you need a pinch-hit to drive in the run. In his at-bats since coming back, he has hit some line drives and many ground balls, but nothing in the air to even medium depth in the outfield (although supposedly he has been hitting homeruns in batting practice). Inserting him in that spot when you need a big fly may be asking too much right now.

And that is the second time in a month Ausmus has hit a game-tying dinger off a closer in the potential final inning of a game. He hit one off Isringhausen in the 10th a few weeks ago.