If anyone's interested, Brooks Baseball has up the normalized strikezone map from last night's game. Just click on the link that says "Normalized Strikezone Map" to bring up the graphs. Nelson was fairly consistent all-night, the majority of umpires tend to call a wide outside corner against LHH, but even Nelson's only got one pitch that is more than about 2 inches off the plate (fairly certain that was a 5th pitch, called strike during Ibanez's AB in the 4th). Considering how much flak the umps are getting for their performance in the field, this seems like a pretty low-key, solid job behind the plate.
Behind the plate is not where the bad calls are happening. It's in the field. I'm a huge Phillies fan but everyone knew that Howard did not catch that ball. Utley beating out the throw (Game Two) was not as obvious; but still shows why it is important to have replay. The funny thing is people opposing the instant replay claim it will "ruin the pace of the game" are they crazy?? Games already take four hours! Lastly the calls will be much easier than say the football instant replays. Did he catch it or not? Was it in play or not? Should be quick and not hurt the pace of play, I want to see it in every game.
No, no. Throwing meatballs to the most productive hitter they've had this series is all part of the master plan.
This is one of the best World Series we have seen in a long time. While I am a huge Phillies fan I would be stunned if the Phils took two, let alone one in NY. Cliff Lee is used up and he seems to be the only answer to the Yankee O. Although Lee did say he would be available game seven if the Phils needed him. Chase Utley is amazing. Johnny Damon is ridiculous, I knew that guy was good but WTF?? I posted a while back that Joe Mauer hands down deserves ALMVP over Jeter, now I'm not so sure. Nick Swisher is kind of a dick. Lastly how refreshing to see Chase Utley tie Reggie Jackson's HR record and in the same night have Ryan Howard tie the strike-out record. What a series................
I wouldn't be surprised to see Lee pitch at least 3 innings if it goes 7. Him and Hamels can eat up a good amount of innings in game 7 if they're on. What's even more amazing about Utley is that 4 of his 5 hr's this series are off lefties. 3 off Sabathia. He's out of his mind good this series
Anybody know what happened to the other half of the letters Ozzie Guillen left out of his pregame commentary?
Having to listen to Joe Buck during the game is bad enough, I don't subject myself to more of him by watching the pregame. I wonder what the Yanks are going to do with Matsui in the off season. He may not be able to play the field anymore but he can still hit as he just homered of Pedro. Matsui has had an incredible second half of the season and he is class act so I would miss him on the team.
A friend and I were discussing this earlier. Operating under the assumption that Posada will be DH'ing more next season, might they only let him do that when the Yankees are facing left-handed pitchers, and give Matsui the slot against righties? Seeing as Hideki is most definitely Pedro's drunk, abusive father tonight, I agree that he's too valuable to simply let go.
Matsui is crushing the Phillie's tonight going 3 for 3 with 6 RBI's already. He has been a clutch hitter for the Yankees since the day he arrived.
Are there any sports psychologists on here who can explain to my why Phillies fans are dealing with losing the world series like a 14 year old who just found out his girlfriend cheated on him? It's really fucking bizarre. I have to listen to all of this shit since I live in NJ and have friends on both sides of the fan wheel (I'm a baseball fan, and I cheer like hell for my fantasy teams, but have no allegiance. I'm a baseball atheist) and my facebook page has been insane. "The yankees only won because they outspent everybody, they suck, Phillies play with heart" The Phils have the 7th highest payroll in baseball, it's not like they're a small market team. Also, the Yanks payroll this year was about 79% higher than the Phillies. Last year, the Phillies payroll was about 124% higher than the Rays. That's right, their payroll was 2.25 times bigger. Exactly how can these fans complain about that? But the Yankees cheated! Everyone knows A Rod and Pettite have taken PEDs Yes indeed. And your 37 year old outfielder just had a career season.
The PED issue is bullshit because every team has or had players who indulge in the butt needle. Intelligent fans have in implicit pact that they won't discredit another team's win because of PED use if that teams fans don't discredit their own. The payroll thing is a legitimate gripe though. The way the Yankees operate in that regard disrupts the competitive balance to an egregious degree. Generally the difference between a small market team (Oakland, Minnesota, etc) and a large market team (Dodgers, Red Sox, etc) is that the large market team can go after multiple big signings where the small market team has to manage its resource and decide which players they want to go after; but the small market teams are still competitive with the large market teams on the players they target. With the Yankees though it's a different story. If the Yankees want a player, they can't be outbid. Period. The Sabathia signing is a perfect example of this. With the largest offer on the table being the Brewers' $100 million, the Yankees offered $160 million. The Red Sox and Angels didn't even tender offers because outbidding the Yankees was so hopeless, which for the quality of player under consideration is ridiculous.
But, $180 million did not get NY a WS in '03, stacked up against a $63 million Marlins squad. Beaten in 6. One of many instances where the money only went so far, including from then til 2009.
You didn't even attempt to address the real point, which is that the Phillies have the 7th highest payroll in the league, a payroll that was 2.25 times that of the Rays in 2008 while the Yankees payroll this year was 1.78 times that of the Phillies. These fans are convinced that they're the ultimate underdog, but they're not, not even close.
If you want to rag on Phillies fans for being assholes, welcome to Obvious 101. The fact remains that any team having to face the $200 million juggernaut (with the exception of the Mets and Cubs, because any team that spends that much and sucks that bad has lost all rights to be taken seriously) has a right to complain about the massive payroll disparity, but more importantly the unquestioned ability to get any player they desire that comes as a result.
Where did you get these ridiculous quotes???? Maybe your friends are just fucking idiots. I am a phillies fan's and so are my friends and none of us have either thought or said anything so stupid. First off we are proud of the phils and thankfull for another great season, getting back to the WS was quite an accomplishment. Secondly everyone wanted to play the yankees because if we were going to go back to back why not beat the best franchise in the history of the game?? Not one intelligent person in Philly would agree with anything you posted. I have no problem saying the Yanks are a better team. Jeter is ridiculous and to compare Brad Lidge to Mariono is like comparing Chase Utley to Brett Gardner. Reading that makes me think it was posted by a seventeen year old or a kid with a bunch of very stupid friends. Even the nuts calling the talk radio shows don't say anything ridiculous like that.