This post seems pretty relevant right now.
UPDATES: Really, I had harbored hopes of doing a detailed post on this game, but at this point I’m just gonna go to bed when this is done. I may add to this in the morning.
A few random thoughts from my notes about the game that probably did the Astros in:
*Adam Everett being hit with the pickoff throw in the 3rd definitely brought back memories of Reggie, one of the earliest World Series moments I vividly remember.
*”Scooter” explaining what the pitches are doesn’t bother me as much now that I’m watching the game with kids.
*When Crazy Carl was cursing out Oswalt, the cameras caught a little much of Garner telling Carl Everett, “f__ you motherf___”. At least, that’s sure what it looked like to me.
*Doesn’t Cliff Politte look just like Dann Florek, who’s played Capt. Cragen on two of the Law & Order shows? He even has the same grimace.
*Joe Buck managed to squeeze in a totally non sequitur Bill Buckner/1918 reference in the fifth inning.
*There was a huge roar from the crowd when Berkman was called for a strike on a check swing trailing 5-4 in the eighth; you could tell, at that point, that the crowd was palpably desperate.
*Why was I not surprised to learn that the three White Sox who made a Journey song the team’s theme song were Crede, Rowand and Pierzynski?
10 thoughts on “And Going, And Going, And Going . . .”
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Dude how do you find the time? I am amazed that you have a job, a wife and kids (KIDS!) and yet you still find time to post here. WTF man I cant even find the time to clean my room. (And yes for the record I am one of Simmons’ readers who probly wont ever be back here, but good work nonetheless) Peace
The White Sox’ bullpen depth won this game. Check out my site.
Diesel Sports Blog
Longest game in WS history, over 5 hours long….14 innings………..Get a homerun and watch the crowd slowly fade into the night……Sox win!!!! The game ended at 1:20 a.m. Was a long night, but the Mighty Whiteys squeeked one out 7 – 5. Geez, they’re winning ugly! (Whoops, that was their ’83 slogan!) Go Sox!!!!
Using whatever starting pitcher you’ve got laying around doesn’t count as bullpen depth. 🙂
Why the heck are Astascio and Rodriguez doing on a WS roster? The Astros failed TWICE to drive the winning run in from third with less than two outs. The really could have used another hitter on the bench over a pair of tater-happy rookie 5th starters.
A Journey song? The White Sox deserve to lose just for that. Journey sucks.
Rodriguez and Astacio have both pitched reasonably well at times, though I agree having both of them out there is probably overkill. The problem, though, is that Garner (a) tends to overmanage and (b) the Astros don’t really have quality hitting depth that could be on the roster instead. Luke Scott might be the best bet, but he posted a 270/288/557 in 34 games this year, most of them early in the year before putting up some numbers at Round Rock (AAA-PCL). Else it’s, uh, Todd Self (250/311/561 in 21 games), or maybe Charles Gipson (250/273/523 in 19 games) to pinch-run. This team didn’t go 15 games under .500 and tie the record for times shut out for playoff teams for no reason, though Berkman’s absence was part of at least the former.
If Garner overmanages what the heck is Frankie Tavaras doing at the plate in the bottom of the 9th with 1st and 3rd and 1 out? He’s a bad RBI guy, a bad clutch hitter, a rookie and plays a position that the Astros have depth at. There was no chance he was going to do anything against Hernandez but strike out.
Garner had been pinch-hitting for Taveras earlier in the postseason; my best guess is that he was seduced by Willy’s good performances the first two games of the series, and by the lack of clearly much better options. Note by this point he’s already used Bagwell, Bruntlett, and Burke; if he pinch-hits for Taveras, it has to be Palmeiro, Vizcaino, and Raul Chavez. Palmeiro is probably the best pinch-hitter, and he can also play OF, but that leaves Burke in CF, which is sub-optimal. This problem comes up, though, because he essentially wasted Bruntlett, pinch-running for Lamb with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th and then pulling him as part of the double-switch that put in Lidge and Burke. The most intelligent thing to do under the circumstances would have been to have Taveras try to lay down a squeeze attempt, even with the infield in.
There’s overmanaging and then there is managing as if you expect to win. You have to get someone in there who has a chance to win the ballgame for you. I remember in 2003 Joe Torre just outmanaging Grady Little (the Pedro incident not withstanding) so badly by being confident and making moves that made his team more likely to win. Would Torre have let Tavaras hit in that situation? No way.