The Man in Blak

Yeah, I'll be cancelling that scheduled rain dance now. Honestly, I'm kind of torn on this decision. On one hand, it puts the Astros in a great position for the World Series if they steal one with Munro. Even if they lose tonight, they get a fresh Clemens for Game 7 and a rejuvenated (?) Ozwalt takes the mound for Game 1 of the World Series. The bad news is that, by not pushing all of your chips in, you're inviting the Cards to get back into this series. Munro was serviceable at best in Game 2 and, if the Cardinals remember to be patient, they'll be breaking into the bullpen early (Munro's longest start of the year was a seven inning affair against Milwaukee in July), which means that Houston will have even less room for error in a potential Game 7.

Varitek - Seattle Mariners Millar - Florida Marlins Bellhorn - Oakland Athletics (surprise, surprise) Cabrera - Montreal Expos Mueller - San Francisco Giants Ramirez - Cleveland Indians Damon - Kansas City Royals Nixon - Boston Red Sox Ortiz - Seattle Mariners (signed as a free agent in 1992) Schilling - Boston Red Sox (originally drafted by Boston) Pedro - Los Angeles Dodgers Arroyo - Pittsburgh Pirates Timlin - Toronto Blue Jays Foulke - San Francisco Giants

Rice goes to the Seahawks for a conditional seventh-rounder, based on a physical? How the mighty have fallen. I hope Rice reels off a couple of big games (or at least catches) on his way out.

*throws random shit around in the TSM dugout* *breaks left hand*

You mean, no one in the mainstream media who's latching their Nielsen ratings onto Bonds' chase for the Babe next year.

Oh, and Backe beat Mark Prior earlier in the year, so even though this kid has six career wins, you might as well give him the next twelve Cy Youngs. Jesus tapdancing christ.

The worst thing about the walk is the message that it sent to Isringhausen - "I don't feel like you can get one more strike on Berkman." And, considering the pitch he grooved for Kent, it's pretty obvious that Izzy was affected by it. Just an insane move...but that's how things have swung in Houston. I'm still perplexed how a team that survived on "tough at bats" all season is now all of a sudden morphing into the Anaheim Angels, swinging at pickoff throws to first. When it's all said and done, if the Cardinals lose, it'll be hard picking a goat between Matt Morris, Jason Marquis, Julian F'n Tavarez and everybody in the lineup except for Larry Walker and Albert Pujols. Just get the team the hell out of Texas, for the love of all that's holy. Away from the singing and clapping and the most annoying stadium in all of stadium-dom. And I'll be praying for sunshine on Wednesday.

Okay, that reminded me waaaaaay too much of Ankiel's 2000 meltdown on the mound. Of course, this is great, because Tavarez's psychosis essentially reduces us down to a five man bullpen (Haren, Eldred, King, Calero, Isringhausen) behind a four man rotation (Williams, Marquis, Suppan, Morris). Thanks to Tavarez's recent discovery that he's insane, as well as injuries to Carpenter and Kline, we've got a nine man pitching staff for the rest of the NLCS. Awesome.

The gap between Lidge and Dan Miceli is gi-normously bigger than the gap between Jason Isringhausen and any of the Cardinal relievers...so Garner still comes off as a tremendous idiot. I think the bigger issue was the fact that LaRussa brought in Dan Haren, who's essentially the designated long reliever, for such a short stint today when the entire bullpen was available. If Marquis isn't sharp (which is likely to be a reality - he's been throwing with a dead arm the last month or so), we'll need somebody to eat up innings tomorrow and Haren could have been that guy.

Yeah, Beltran's out of his "NL adjustment" period now. And yeah, Clemens was great, but Lidge is the real difference maker - the Cardinal bats can't seem to solve him at all. Brad Lidge makes any game against the Astros a seven-inning game when Houston has the lead and that alone could turn a mediocre outing by Backe or Munro into a win (which is why Garner was rightfully vilified for not bringing him in). Yeah, that one's pretty much indefensible.

I don't remember if you did a Keltner's List for him, but what about the recently-retired Robin Ventura?

There's an excellent recap of last night's game by Brian Gunn of The Hardball Times that you might want to check out: "Mistake #2: Letting Brad Lidge rot in the bullpen. This one is so obvious that I feel bad bringing it up, but why in the world Garner let Dan Miceli face Pujols/Rolen/Edmonds in the bottom of the 8th is beyond me. One week ago I was watching Game 2 of the Braves/Astros divisional series, and I saw Garner call on Lidge with one out in the seventh inning. At that moment I knew the Astros were forces to be reckoned with, because the move told me that Garner had learned from Jedi masters Joe Torre and Jack McKeon, that he was willing to bring in his top reliever wherever and whenever he was needed, "by the book" be damned. But perhaps because the Astros ended up losing that game (in part due to a subpar performance from Lidge), Garner has completely retreated from that strategy. Last night the 'Stros got close enough to have the tying run on deck in the last inning. Last night they were tied heading into the bottom of the 8th. And for some reason Garner let Brad Lidge -- as in Light's Out Lidge, better than the Great Gagne this year -- pitch exactly zero innings in these contests. Mystifying."

I think it's safe to say that, with six home runs in seven postseason games, Carlos Beltran is making The Leap (tm, Bill Simmons). He's going to be quite an expensive grab for somebody this offseason.

Actually, given how off Matt Morris has been lately, I am quite thankful that we aren't drawing Wade Miller or Andy Pettitte.

Is Brandon Backe the luckiest man alive, or is he just better than advertised?

If you amended "face" to say "bad ankle", I think it'd probably be a little more accurate. That said, you can't really dispute that Curt needed to put up or shut up, considering past comments that he's made.

At least the Braves have won the World Series in the past 85 years Checkmate.

Oh, shit. The draft was yesterday, wasn't it? *looks at auto-drafted team* *cries*

Yeah, if you go by the Grady Little precedent set last year, Francona should be skinned alive for leaving Timlin in there for so long.

OMG CLUTCH GROUNDOUT

The bitterness is scary. Only because I was so right that I even scare myself.

Heh. I'm waiting until the offseason before I resurrect my Yankees rant post from last year's World Series thread (which was dead on, BTW).

So, how's the scores looking so far, Mr. Spreadsheet?

The great thing about this picture is Kevin Millar being drawn like Yosemite Sam. Yosemite Sam would make an awesome Red Sox player.

Man, the Ravens have got to trade for Brad Johnson before the deadline hits. Even Washed-Up Disgruntled One-Eyed Paraplegic Brad Johnson can out quarterback Kyle Boller. Oh, and Mewelde Moore piled up a bunch of yards in the backfield, proving that perhaps even I could cash in a buck fifty on almost any opposing defense if I had Culpepper and Moss to keep everybody honest.