I know, I said the Yankees had homefield and drew the Tigers.
Glad we could help.
All things considered, this season could have been much worse for the Royals. 62-100 isn’t anything to be proud of, but after a horrible start and talk of challenging for the worst record of all time, I’ll take it. We finished strong against Detroit despite a rash of injuries late in the season and there’s finally some good talent in the minor-league system. Dayton Moore will make some good moves this off-season, and we should play .500 ball next year and be a factor in the AL Central in 2008.
As I said in the Athletics thread, I will expect the worst (vs. the Twins) so I can only be pleasantly surprised. But I suspect it’s hopeless. History is not on Oakland’s side.
As for the Phillies missing out, silenus, I am going to refrain from posting my actual feelings, in the colorful/hateful language I would prefer. I’ll just say that every damn one of the Giants should have walked right out of Pac Bell Park and drowned themselves in McCovey Cove. They played like sissies the whole weekend, when one damn win might have made a difference. A disgrace.
However, I will say this: I like LA’s chances against the Mets. Don’t know why; just a hunch.
I can’t get a feel for SD-St. Louis. Could go either way.
The Yankees will roll Detroit like a bunch of Central Park bums. Deservedly so, too.
My Nats’ 71-91 isn’t going to knock the socks off of anyone, but it could have been worse - preseason, I expected them to go about 67-95, so they beat my expectations.
This started off as a season without a storyline - they still didn’t have an owner, and the fate of their manager and GM were uncertain. And the team was still being operated on a shoestring. We’d lost over the offseason a number of players that had been integral to the team’s early success in 2005, and it was completely unclear which players would still be around at the end of 2005, let alone opening day 2006.
There are still a lot of uncertainties, but now we’ve got an owner, a team president, and a GM; even if we don’t know who next year’s manager is, we know it won’t be Frank Robinson; we can hope for Soriano’s return, but we know it’s not likely; and we know Kearns, Lopez, Schneider, Zimmerman, and Nick Johnson will be the core of next year’s everyday lineup, and Chad Cordero will be the closer.
We know that we need starting pitching. Boy howdy, do we need starting pitching.
Still, it was good to see the Nats not fall apart in the late going. They were 15-14 after September 1, in a lost cause of a season. You’ve got to like a team that doesn’t fold. I expect they’ll be better next year; how much better depends on what they do to fill in the holes, especially in the rotation. I’m guessing they’ll be an under-.500 team still, next year, but not by quite so much - maybe 77-85 instead of 71-91. But given that an entire offseason lies ahead, with all sorts of possible changes, that’s just a guess.
This is really a team that’s aiming to be good by 2009; the storyline is whether they do the right things between now and then to make that happen.
That’s a good analysis, RTFirefly. We’ve seen teams leap up the standings recently, go from way down to way up, and it seems like a lot of the struggling teams try to make that happen when they consider their offseason moves. But really, teams are much better off building through incremental steps, getting slowly better and better. I don’t know why, but I guess more attention seems to be paid to the future as well as the present when you don’t try to rush it. The A’s have done that in the last 8 years, with good success, and it can happen for the Nats, too. Keep your fingers crossed.
No way. Not enough experience. Not enough consistency. Ain’t gonna happen.
We’ll see. Like I said, just a hunch. Not really based on anything.
Though I will point: Maddux and Lowe in the Dodgers rotation have plenty of experience pitching in the playoffs, including some major success. Tread carefully.
I knew there was a reason I liked ya, anyrose.
cough Yankees suck cough
What?
I’m not in love with he Tigers getting the Yankees, especially in the fashion in which they did it. I think that getting the Yankees might be a mixed blessing, an indoctrination to the postseason by fire. It should be a good yardstick for the players (and us, the public) to see how far away they really are. However, if the postseason comes to pitching, like most pundits like to say, the Tigers won’t be an easy victim. The Tigers did have the best pitching in baseball, but, the postseason is a different animal.
Well, that explains why you are a history teacher and not a math teacher… 
I think this says it all.
Greg Maddux is not really a very good post season pitcher. He is 11-14 lifetime and has been known for many short starts putting a burden on the Atlanta bullpen.
Lowe is better but nothing great. He is 4-4 with some good years and some terrible years.
He has only made 6 starts in the post season. The rest of his games were out of the bullpen.
Jim {LOUNE, your pitching is hittable and my offense is incredible, does this sound like a good recipe to you?}
My pitching also had the best ERA through the season. I’m more worried about the Tigers’ offense, personally.
That Yankees’ lineup is scary, that’s for sure. Sheffield against Zumaya should be fun to watch.
Oakland is up 3-1 in the 9th. Santana pitch 8 good innings but Zito is pitching a great game and is at only 91 pitches. He will probably get a chance to complete his gem.
Mets-Dodgers first game is tommorrow so I have nothing to report yet
Oakland won after a small scare 3-2 over the Twins. Both Starters were great.
Nuh-uh. He didn’t pitch the 9th, and i think it was the right decision.
If it goes to a Game 5, they’ll need him again. If it doesn’t, and the A’s win, they’ll need him in Game 1 of the ALCS. No point worrying about ego stats like complete games. Better to get him out of the game with a two-run lead, and let your closer finish it off. Street did fine, and if Bradley hadn’t lost a fly-ball in the Metrodome roof, it would have been a final of 3-1 instead of 3-2.
[BugsBunny] Aw, don’t be such a cry-baby. It isn’t like 87 years is Forever… 
[/BugsBunny]
And there are better t-shirts out there…
Then I’m lucky. I was there in '84 when the Tigers won last, so it’s only been, what, 22 years?
2 hours and counting… 