Rodster wrote:All I kept reading was how the Mets were supposed to win this series especially with their young pitching staff. They're now down 0-2. Sports can be soooo unpredictable.
In my local sports forum at StLToday,com I predicted the Royals in 5. The Royals have a knack for making aces look ordinary, and are just a more complete baseball team. And the had plenty of pitching and defense to prevent the blue Jays from going crazy on them. I had no reason to think the Mets were going to be a bigger challenge.
Rodster wrote:All I kept reading was how the Mets were supposed to win this series especially with their young pitching staff. They're now down 0-2. Sports can be soooo unpredictable.
Cause the Royals get no respect, really. Both teams were 30-1 to win the WS at the beginning of the season, many thought that KC was actually a fluke last year. But I've been saying it for awhile, they have one of the best bullpen and last night Cueto went the distance. They don't strike out often and the bottom hitters are as danderous as the top.
During the regular season they went thru key injuries and they waved the storm.
Game one was fantastic although it may have drained all the energy from the Mets.
I have no idea why anyone would pick the Mets...other than maybe their starting pitching. The Royals have solid starting pitching, a stud bull pen, they can pick it better than any team in the big leagues, they don't strike out and are managed well. They will win the series easily.
Thank you AA for bringing the Jays back into the playoffs picture after some 20+ years of frustrations. Not that the team sucked badly over the years, because the Jays have always been in a rather very tough Eastern division. Just not enough mula to compete with the Yankees and Bosox. With the new boss in town who allegedly scolded AA that he gave too many prospects away when the Jays went all or nothing in July to win it all, he decided to reject a 4 year extension worth 8 million.
M. Shapiro coming from CLE is a wise baseball man, and apparently a bit of a control freak type A guy. Good luck running the team, he'll have his hands full trying to resign the likes of D. Price and M. Estrada.
And yeah, Gibby, with AA gone you can start packing as well.
It's a very strange set of circumstances for sure.
-Rogers was obviously not going to hesitate giving a new President total control. After all, this process began last year - at a point when Anthopolous had not produced a playoff team in his 5 year tenure. While he had made some fascinating trades (some good, some bad), he really didn't have much to show for it.
-The optics definitely look bad after a miracle half season where your team turns into a superpower, runs from 4th in the division into first place and then takes fans deep into the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
-What do they do? Anthopolous definitely deserves full control, but so does Shapiro who you just brought in. Tough situation. Seems like Shapiro/Anthopolous weren't really set up to work together. Yeah - Gibbons is gone for sure.
I'll miss Alex - some of those moves definitely floored me. He was a tireless negotiator, and I definitely had faith that he would make 10,000 calls a week to get something done (there were reports that for every call a typical GM made, he made about 15). However, until this year, he didn't seem to have grip on "team building" - but instead was more focused on pure talent acquisition. After seeing the success that KC, STL, SF etc...have had in the past 5 years, it's hard to look past the team building approach IMO. Those teams, while still talented, didn't overly impress with their sheer power or pedigree.
With every position player coming back next year, I'm not too worried about a Tulo, Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion heart of the order. I doubt Price is signing back anyways, so there's definitely some work to be done on both the rotation and bullpen. What a crazy season!
Rodster wrote:All I kept reading was how the Mets were supposed to win this series especially with their young pitching staff. They're now down 0-2. Sports can be soooo unpredictable.
Who said that? The Royals are a much more complete team. The Mets bullpen scares the living crap out of me. That's the reason I picked the Cubs over them...turns out they didn't need the bullpen last series...but with the way the Royals approaching hitting, the dominant starting staff is fairly neutralized.
Rodster wrote:All I kept reading was how the Mets were supposed to win this series especially with their young pitching staff. They're now down 0-2. Sports can be soooo unpredictable.
Who said that? The Royals are a much more complete team. The Mets bullpen scares the living crap out of me. That's the reason I picked the Cubs over them...turns out they didn't need the bullpen last series...but with the way the Royals approaching hitting, the dominant starting staff is fairly neutralized.
Most if not all the online rags I read were saying how the Mets should win the series.
That said, Steven Matz is a carbon copy of former lefty NY Mets Pitcher Jon Matlack including his number and windup.
If it wasn't for 2 plays the last 2 games Mets be going into KC up 3-2.
KC unreal. I still don't get how Hosmer scored the tieing run in the 9th. The 1B had him dead at home easy but rushed the throw. Even if he takes a step to set himself to throw home he's still out by 2 feet.
Not sure what's up w/ the MEts manager leaving in the starter after he gave up a lead off walk in the 9th.
Congrats to KC. Played old school baseball and won it all. They were on a mission all year and it showed.
Feel a little bad for Collins. He's a good guy and a slightly above-average manager who is forever going to have to deal with questions about the 9th. I would not have let Harvey go back out, but I understand that decision. No clue why he didn't yank him after the walk though. That blew my mind.
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RobVarak wrote:Feel a little bad for Collins. He's a good guy and a slightly above-average manager who is forever going to have to deal with questions about the 9th. I would not have let Harvey go back out, but I understand that decision. No clue why he didn't yank him after the walk though. That blew my mind.
Familia had blown 2 saves so it's not like it was a sure thing. New York fans were chanting for Harvey and he pretty much told Collins you're not taking me out. New Yorkers get what they want, it doesn't work and now they want someone to blame.
Better team won it was that simple.
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Congratulations to the Royals. What a great team. Makes me proud of what the Astros accomplished taking them to 5 games after having lost over 100+ games three of the last four seasons.....
The Astros turnaround was really the story of the season. That was just incredible.
The Royals are just more sound team, and exploit that by putting continuous pressure on their opponents. Hosmer scoring from third was just that. The Mets had not demonstrated an ability to make a play under pressure all series. Only a perfect throw, catch and tag was going to get him. Who would have thought the Mets could pull that off?
The Royals left the tying run on third base last season in game 7 when they weren't aggressive. They didn't repeat that mistake this season.
Aristo wrote:The Royals left the tying run on third base last season in game 7 when they weren't aggressive. They didn't repeat that mistake this season.
Apples and oranges. While I think they should have sent the runner last season, that was Game 7 and a high chance he would have been thrown out. I actually think last night's decision to run was borderline reckless IF they weren't up 3-1. I like the move because it's a high reward/low risk since it is doubtful the Mets would have won 2 in KC.
Great to see the Royals win it, and a great capper to a fun baseball season.
And like that, my favorite Brave is traded away. See ya Simba. It's been fun.
This team is soooo frustrating lately. I get the point of trading away the high priced stars, but Simmons was on a good affordable deal and he's an absolute stud defensively, helping the young pitchers along. So yeah, no sure I get this one.
After all of these heartbreaking Braves trades I can finally see the vision w this Shelby Miller trade. An absolutely awesome move. Finally something to get excited about. It was fun watching Shelby pitch for a year but you're an idiot if you don't pull the trigger w the return they got from the DBacks. Wow.
Miller was cost controlled for another few years. I was really surprised that they made him expendable, but I guess they got some really nice prospects in return.
Crazy how both the Cards and Braves might have neither player from the trade just after one season. As long as Heyward doesn't end up with the Cubs, I'll be fine. I'm not 100 percent sold on his production for the amount of money he probably wants.
sportdan30 wrote:Miller was cost controlled for another few years. I was really surprised that they made him expendable, but I guess they got some really nice prospects in return.
The Phillies are hoping for the same scenario with Ken Giles. He is under control for (I think) 5 more years so he is attractive to teams needing a closer. The Phillies love him but the need for a bonafide closer by the Phillies pales in comparison to getting some legit top end prospects for him. The Kimbrel deal was an eye opener for the Phillies. Obviously Giles isn't Kimbrel but his 'economical controllability' is what makes him ultra attractive. If they trade him they better get a nice haul. Perhaps LA will be interested now that the Chapman deal has all but dried up.
Saw a discussion about how MLB teams no longer depend on attendance. They have huge local TV deals, even as national TV ratings are down. Apparently the Diamondbacks could sign Greinke because they have a $1.2 billion TV deal, in Phoenix of all places.
The other part which is supposedly bringing in good revenues is MLB Advanced Media. They do the At Bat apps and also serve as the platform for NHL and HBO. Really? If national ratings are declining (playoffs and world series), who's buying those MLB At Bat subs?
sportdan30 wrote:Miller was cost controlled for another few years. I was really surprised that they made him expendable, but I guess they got some really nice prospects in return.
Crazy how both the Cards and Braves might have neither player from the trade just after one season. As long as Heyward doesn't end up with the Cubs, I'll be fine. I'm not 100 percent sold on his production for the amount of money he probably wants.
But the REALLY crazy thing is that the Braves turned ONE year of Heyward into an outfielder that had the same FWAR as Heyward because of his elite defense (Inciarte) and the Dbacks top 2 prospects (#1 overall pick in '15 and the 36th pick in the '14 draft) as well as Terrell Jenkins who is still highly regarded from the Cards. Just an unreal haul for someone you couldn't sign long term anyway. The Heyward trade was good when it happened and now it's phenomenal.
And there's no way he lives up to the money he's going to make. He just doesn't hit for enough power to elicit that kind of cash. I love the guy but I just can't see anyone justifying that kind of money to him.
