Cardinals Soar High in World Series Victory

It is hard  to admit that I was wrong, but I was. I didn't believe. I thought there was no "team of destiny," I thought there was no way that the Cardinals could out hit the Rangers. I was wrong. It was after game 6 I knew I was wrong, it was after the Ranger bullpen that I touted as the better of the two gave up TWO, not one, TWO two run leads in the 9th and 10th inning that I knew I was wrong. As soon as Nelson Cruz decided to go all Bill Buckner on his team and blow game 6 with a terrible defensive play I knew the Cardinals were going to be World Series champions.  So before I continue, congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals, you earned it.

The entire World Series was actually watchable this year, the first time in a long time that I have seen such passion about two teams, not many people in my neck of the woods (Upstate New York) care about. Sure you have those people who "just. love. baseball." but I'm talking about the casual fan, tuning in for every game, in fact every pitch of every game. The kind of fans who don't know any of the players names, except for the stars, and who, with every game, learn something new about the manager or second tier players. Heck, even I was bored to death by Rangers vs Giants last year.  But this time I didn't want to miss a pitch. 

Part of what played into that is the story of the St. Louis Cardinals. It has been said so many times over the last month that I'm only going to mention it once: they were 10.5 games back a month away from the postseason and they won the World Series. Those of us that don't believe in "team of destiny" stuff have to stop and think that MAYBE just MAYBE there was something more than just "momentum" driving St. Louis. Just look at what transpired in this World Series. Game 2: The Cardinals blow the game after manager Tony LaRussa, pulls his closer, the Rangers tie the series at 1-1. Game 3: the Cardinals, (or as they could be called for that game, the St. Louis Alberts.) blow the lid off Texas in an absolute drubbing. Game 4: Rangers win, by SHUTTING OUT the red birds in a pitching gem by Derek Holland. Game 5:  the so called "Phonegate game," a game that the Rangers won after a screw up with bullpen phone caused a mismatch, that Mike Napoli took advantage of. Game 6: St. Louis goes down it it's final strike of the World Series against one of the best closers in the game and David Freese hits a 2-run triple. Then, after a Josh Hamilton 2 run HR, Lance Berkman drives in the game tying run in the bottom of the 10th. Finally, Freese hits a walk off HR in the bottom of the 11th to win the game for the Cards. Game 7: It was all over but the celebration from the first pitch. After Freese tied the game in the bottom of the 1st inning the whole stadium knew what was going to happen. Eight innings later St. Louis had the trophy. 

David Freese won the World Series MVP after his
Game 6 and 7 heroics

The Cardinals shouldn't have won this series. They were beaten time after time by the Rangers and yet they wouldn't die. The Cardinals, as strange as it is to say, were the little kid on the playground that gets the snot beaten out of them but keeps getting up. Here's the thing though, that kid eventually wins the fight, whether it's through force or brains he wins, and that's what the Cards did: they won. 

Now, three days after the victory was completed another story line has emerged, the story of the end of Tony LaRussa's career. LaRussa, is without question one of the top 5 managers in baseball history. He has won the Manager of the Year award four times and has won three World Championships and is one of the few to have done it in both the American and National leagues. True greatness is found when the game changes because of one person, and with LaRussa that is the case. Before LaRussa's success no one would have thought to use a bullpen like he did, he changed the game and won while he did it. And in the end he got to go out on top. Congratulations Tony and congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Courtesy of MLB.com

The Battle of Bullpens gives Rangers advantage

The World Series starts tonight at 8p on FOX, the two contending teams have fought HARD to get there, but no part of each team has fought harder then the bullpens.


In the NLCS Tony LaRussa was forced to use his bullpen at an almost unbelievable rate: 55% of the innings were pitched by Cardinal relievers. In only 24.1 innings the St. Louis starters gave up 19 runs to the Brewers, an offense that does not measure up to Texas' in any way.  It is obvious that if the Cardinals are going to win one of two things need to happen: their starting pitchers need to go deep into games AND shut down the explosive Rangers offense OR the Cardinal offense needs to out hit the Ranger offense. Ideally the Cardinals would exercise option number one, however the way they have been pitching throughout the playoffs it appears that, with the exception of any game Chris Carpenter starts, it is going to turn into a slugfest, followed by a battle of bullpens. 

The fact is that as bad as the Cardinal starters have been the Texas starters have been worse. In the ALCS Texas pitching gave up 25 runs, 21 were given up by the starters. The relievers gave up only four runs, on four solo HRs, the entire series. When Texas brought in a reliever the Tigers were completely shut down, allowing the Rangers to come back and win two games in extra innings. The premier reliever in the LCS was Alexi Ogando, who in four appearances pitched more innings (7.2) than all but two starters on both the Cardinals AND the Rangers, and those two starters got two starts. Ogando is the biggest weapon the Rangers have in the bullpen, in his 7.2 innings her had 10 strikeouts, compare that to the "ace" of the team, C.J. Wilson's 11 SOs in 10.2 innings and you begin to understand how dangerous Ogando is. 

Ogando isn't the only weapon coming out of the Rangers' bullpen. Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz have also dominated this postseason, with Adams getting a win and Feliz getting a save in the LCS. In fact, all four of Texas' ALCS wins came out of the bullpen. Normally I would say that this is a trend tat has to stop in order to win a championship, but this year I don't think that is the case. With Ogando, a pitcher who WAS  a starter all year and Mike Adams, a shut down reliever, ready to go at any time the Rangers pitchers can go out there with a "just don't blow it" mentality. Because with the offense they have that's all they have to do, to borrow a term from football, they simply have to "game manage" let the offense do what it does and win the game and the series for Texas. 


I believe that the starters for the Rangers will be able to game manage enough for Nelson Cruz, Michael Young and the Texas offense to win the series, with a little help from Alexi Ogando, in SIX  games. 

An Open Letter to Alex Rodriguez

Dear Mr. Rodriguez,
You're kidding right? I mean, you have to be kidding because there's no way I just saw you go 0-4 with three strikeouts in game five of the ALDS, did I?


Oh wait, I did. Well let me just voice an opinion that you have heard before and you are about to hear AGAIN from every media outlet in the greater NYC area: YOU ARE, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST OVERHYPED AND UNDERPERFORMING PLAYER THE YANKEES HAVE EVER SIGNED. And Alex, that is saying something. You are worse then the Carl Pavanos and the (post-steroid) Jason Giambis, You're even worse then A.J. Burnett, and do you know why? Because with those guys you didn't EXPCET them to come through, they would have mediocre seasons and then have mediocre playoffs, or they would have a good season and have a good playoffs but none of them were like YOU. YOU have great, MVP like seasons (not this season to be fair but most seasons) and then you choke in the playoffs, and I mean CHOKE. There are bandits that got hung from trees in the wild west that don't choke as much as you do in the clutch.


Let's look at last night: seventh inning, down two runs, one out, bases loaded, you come to the plate. You didn't even need to get a hit. All that you had to do was hit a deep fly ball and score a run. That's IT. However you aren't even good enough to do that, instead you struck out swinging.....on a pitch that started inside and kept moving towards you, it was NEVER going to be called a strike and yet you still swung. Alright well I guess I can forgive you because Benoit threw you a change-up and you were looking fastball, so he made a good pitch, plus Tex walked in the run that YOU should have walked in so at least we scored a run. However, you had ANOTHER chance to define your legacy as a Yankee in the bottom of the ninth.


This time there were two outs, no one on base and if you don't get on base the SEASON is OVER, that makes it slightly important for your ass to get on. All the pressure is on you, and guess what: when you sign a contract for over $200 million you are signing a contract that says "HEY I WANT THE SPOTLIGHT ON ME, I WANT THE PRESSURE ON ME. I'M GOING TO COME THROUGH WHEN NO ONE ELSE CAN!!!!!!!" So the Baseball Gods gave you your wish, all of Yankee Stadium and most of the baseball world is watching YOU, watching YOU stare at two pitches that you easily could have launched over the right field fence and then watching YOU swing through a pitch that YOU should have obliterated. And then we watched YOU walk back to the dugout after, for the SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON, making the last out of the playoffs by striking out. I hope you feel good about yourself Mr. Rodriguez.


Now before you go and pull a LeBron and ask, "What should I do?" I'll just tell you. You should go to the front office of the New York Yankees and tell them that you want to re-structure your contract so that you make the minimum amount of money possible for a major leaguer unless you hit over .300 in the playoffs OR get game tying/winning hits in the postseason. I want you to tell them that, because it is clear that you don't feel like you need to EARN your money at all, you just expect us to give it to you, and as of now, you are correct. But before you blow off this letter please do me this favor, look at the other people in that locker room, look at all the fans you let down, time after time and ask your yourself this question: Is the money really that important to me? Because if it is then you aren't a real Yankee, and you will NEVER be a real Yankee. A real Yankee goes out there for his teammates and for he fans, Nick Swisher is a real Yankee, Robinson Cano is a real Yankee, Brett Gardener is a real Yankee, even C.C. is more of a Yankee then you are. So do yourself a favor Mr. Rodriguez and get in the YANKEE mentality because if you aren't in the Yankee mentality then you don't deserve to be in a Yankee uniform. So as Stephen Colbert would say: you're on notice.


Sincerely,
Andy Cahill and Yankee fans everywhere.

The Best Combo Nobody is Talking About

Anyone who has been paying attention to this baseball season has heard about some of the big-name hitting combos: Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, Matt Holiday and Albert Pujols, and the duo that has gotten the most attention, Adrian Gonzalez and David "Big Papi" Ortiz. But did you know that none of these three-four combos lead the ML in stats such as runs batted in, home runs or runs scored? I'm sure that this will come as a surprise to many people out there, and a bigger surprise is who DOES lead in these important hitting categories: Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder of the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers. 

That's right, Braun and Fielder are combining to beat out all of these prestigious slugging duos in almost every statistical category. Yet they continue to not get half the respect they deserve. For example, much of the talk on ESPN and across the internet is Adrian Gonzalez's 71 RBIs combined with the resurgent Papi who has added in 48 of his own. Yet their combined total of 119, while being closer than anyone else on this list, is 10 FEWER than Braun and Fielder's 129. The secret to their success is that they are balanced, Braun has 60 coming from the three spot in the line-up and Fielder follows him with 69 more RBIs. To put this astounding stat into more context let's look at the other two hitting combinations: Tex and Rodriguez have combined for 113 RBIs of which Tex is responsible to 62. When it comes to Matt Holiday and Albert Pujols the number drops to 95 RBIs between them, but someone who has been paying attention will point out that Holiday has played just over 50 games, putting him at a nearly 20 game disadvantage. This is a fair point, however how realistic is it that in those 20 games he would have added 33 RBIs, the amount needed to put him and "The Machine" in the lead? Not very. 


When it comes to home runs, the stats get a little bit closer. With 37 home runs between them, Braun and Fielder are tied with the Yankees bashing brothers, Tex and A-Rod. However it must be remembered that Mark Teixeira is leading the Major Leagues in HRs with 24 (he is in a tie with Joes Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays) so once again I would give the edge to Braun and Fielder, who share the HR load, 21 for Prince and 16 for Braun, considerably closer than the 24/13 mark left by the Yankees sluggers. Gonzo and Papi come up four HRs short having blasted 33 homers, a surprisingly low number considering Gonzo leads the majors in RBIs. Holiday and Pujols pull up the rear again with 27 HRs between them, which is actually an impressive number considering the stunted season for both stars. 


Possibly the most telling statistic of all is runs scored. With 104, Gonzo and Papi come the closest but still come up two runs shy of Braun and Fielder's 106. While both stats are impressive, the Brewers tandem proves their worth even more when looking at the total team statistics. Gonzo and Papi have accounted for an astounding 25 percent of runs scored for the Red Sox, who have scored the second most runs in the ML behind only the rival NY Yankees. Braun and Fielder have combined to scored 30 percent of the Brewers 355 runs. This shows how important these two are, it is clear the Brewers are not the same offensive powerhouses as the other three teams, which rank 1st, 2nd and 4th in runs scoring. 

With this knowledge at hand it is clear that Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder have shown they are not only great players but that they BOTH deserve a trip to July's All-Star game. The powerful combo has shown that they can not just hang with the best but they can BE the best. They are, without a doubt, worth talking about. 

Saying goodbye to D.C.

Jim Riggleman was the manager of the Washington Nationals from mid 2009 to June 23, 2011 when he suddenly resigned. In that time Riggleman won 46% of his games, a better winning percentage then any season since 2005 (the team finished 81-81). On the surface it doesn't seem like the resigning of a manager who is under .500 seem like that big of a deal, until you dig a little bit deeper.


When Riggleman took over the team in 2009 they were an ML worst 26-61. Under Riggleman the Nationals finished the final 80 games at 38-42, quite the feat when you consider the roster that the Nationals had. In 2009 only two members of the Nats had more than 62 RBIs (Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn both had over 100), only one player with more than 31 at-bats hit over .300 and not only two players had double digit steals (N. Morgan 42, W. Harris 11). Needless to say the team was not an offensive juggernaut. As for pitching, the two leading game winners were Livan Hernandez and John Lannan, both of whom had only nine wins. For Riggleman to win almost 48% of his games with a roster like this shows just how good a manager he is.


In both 2010 and 2011 Riggleman led the Nats to improving records, finishing 69-93 in 2010, an 11 game improvement on 2009. In recent weeks the Nats have won 11 of 12, and on the day that he retired his Nationals went over .500, a record they have not had this late in the season since 2005. So given all of the positive signs and considering that next year the Nats should get considerably better with the return of pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg and hitting superstar Bryce Harper, why would Riggleman quit?


According to Riggleman it's because he felt disrespected by the Nationals organization, they refused to offer him a contract extension. He told General Manager Mike Rizzo earlier this week that he would quit if he did not get a contract extension for 2012, and despite this ultimatum Rizzo refused a meeting with the manager; apparently trying to call his bluff. But Riggleman was not bluffing, after managing a great game in which a pinch runner and pinch hitter both made key plays in the bottom of the ninth Riggleman announced his resignation. While speaking to reporters after the game Riggleman said, "I'm 58, I'm too old to be disrespected."


I could not agree more. Riggleman has proven over and over again that he knows how to manage this team. The team's record has improved every year that he has managed it, and they were on pace for their best finish since 2005, and maybe ever. Why wouldn't the Nationals want to sign a proven asset to an extension? Because he isn't a big name? Because he doesn't make headlines like Ozzie Guillen? It doesn't make any sense. What makes a manager a big name? Winning, that's what, and that is exactly what Riggleman was beginning to do. I can't even imagine how good of a team Riggleman could have had next year ones Strasburg and Harper arrive, combined with a solid young core and all-star caliber players like Jason Werth and Ryan Zimmerman the Nationals could have been relevant for the first time since...EVER!


I think that the best way to describe why this move is so strange is a short story. I was watching ESPN the day before Riggleman's resignation and a Nationals highlight came on, a game that they had won. The person I was watching with turns to me and says, "the Nats are gettin' better aren't they?" To which I responded simply, "They don't suck." Which is something that before Jim Riggleman took over I could have never said, and that has to count for something.

Riggleman retired on June 23, 2011