AWESOME GAME!!! I finally came down from that DP enough to post. 1 MORE GAME BABY!!!! Don't settle ... we NEED to take care of this tomorrow night. I DO NOT want to go back to STL.
Agreed... I really hope they just explode tommorow and score some runs (they're actually due for one of those... no matter who's pitching). I really don't think Lidge has much left... but I'm still giving him the ball if its 2-1 tommorow.
I've wondered the same as well. Same for Giambi. I know he was sick and all, but he got big very fast. He was hitting terribly then all of a sudden he's packing on more muscle and is hitting for the fences again. I have nothing against Pujols, but you gotta admit he's got the same type of frame you've seen from Bonds, McGwire, Giambi, and Sosa.
I've got freaking Franz Ferdinand tickets for tomorrow night. Never been happier to be in a situation where I may have to blow off a great concert.
I don't understand why the media hasn't questioned Pujols. He looks as big or even bigger than some guys who taken steroids. If I had to guess, I would say he is on the roids.
I am not saying he's, and I don't think athletes are stupid enough to keep taking roids and risk ruining their careers. I think human growth hormones are a strong possibility in the case of guys like Sosa, Pujols, etc. Regardless, Pujols is one heck of a hitter, I mean it's not like he's Big Mac and he only hits for power. Pujols is more in the Bonds league as far as being a good hitter. So I am not saying he's on roids or whatever other illegal drugs, but just surprised a bit at the size of those arms
Bob DuPuy, baseball's No. 2 official, said after the Astros took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series that plate umpire Phil Cuzzi's actions were justified because both La Russa and Edmonds disputed ball-strike calls, a dispute that leads to immediate ejection under baseball rules. ---DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer Cards lose their cool in Game 4 10/16/2005 10:25 PM ET By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com ST. LOUIS -- The ejections of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and center fielder Jim Edmonds on Sunday punctuated what was a close 2-1 Houston win in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. And Bob DuPuy, baseball's No. 2 official, said after the Astros took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series that plate umpire Phil Cuzzi's actions were justified because both La Russa and Edmonds disputed ball-strike calls, a dispute that leads to immediate ejection under baseball rules. DuPuy is in town for Games 4 and 5 of the best-of-seven series at Minute Maid Park. "It doesn't matter if it's a playoff game or a regular-season game," DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, told MLB.com. "The umpires have to keep control of the game. Tony was warned twice [to stop arguing], and when he didn't do it, he was thrown out. It's a shame, but those are the circumstances." La Russa was run after reliever Jason Marquis walked Lance Berkman on four straight pitches to load the bases in the bottom of seventh. Morgan Ensberg followed the fracas with a sacrifice fly to center that drove in the winning run in an inning when the Astros didn't muster a base hit. Edmonds was tossed in the top of the eighth with a runner on first base and two outs. The left-handed hitter thought the 3-1 pitch was up and in and began heading toward first base when Cuzzi signaled the strike call. "All I asked was where the pitch was," a calm Edmonds said. "I said, 'How do you call that ball a strike?' And he said, 'Don't you come back here and f-ing argue with me.' I said, 'You have to do a better job than that.' And he said, 'OK, you're warned,' and he threw me out." John Rodriguez pinch-hit with a full count and drilled a shot to deep center field that Willy Taveras grabbed to end the inning as he sped up Tal's Hill that leads toward the fence at the 438-foot mark. DuPuy acknowledged that the pitch to Edmonds might have been out of the strike zone. "But the four pitches that got La Russa tossed were all balls," DuPuy said. "These guys are human beings, too. Things reach a boiling point and it takes a little while to calm down." Cuzzi was not required by MLB to appear in the interview room, nor was a pool reporter sent into the umpires' quarters to get an explanation from the embattled ump. "There's no rules interpretation here," DuPuy said. "You can't argue ball-and-strike calls. Plain and simple. It needs no explanation." La Russa declined to comment about the umpiring or his ejection. He began arguing the ball four call on Berkman from the Cardinals dugout on the third-base side of the ballpark and was gone before his foot even touched the field. Tim McClelland, the third-base umpire on Sunday and the crew chief for the series, ultimately blocked La Russa's path toward Cuzzi, who kept his distance and looked in the other direction as the veteran manager circled home plate and continued a steady verbal patter. "All day in the bullpen, a couple of guys were talking about how consistent he'd been behind the plate," Marquis said. "Then I came in and everything changed." La Russa said he wouldn't talk about his own ejection. complete league championship series coverage Home | News | Video | Audio | Photos "I'm ready to discuss anything about the game," he said. "Anything involving the umpires, there's nothing you should say afterwards -- not the next day, next week or next year. So I have nothing to say about that." Asked about Edmonds' ejection, La Russa added: "I believe Major League Baseball is here in force. I know what they tell us about certain latitudes you get in postseason play because you're supposed to be emotional and try and win this thing. "See what the explanation is for allowing Jim to get thrown out for the little that he did and the little that he said. I don't think he cursed anybody from what I understand. But that's for the higher-ups to take care of." Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty also declined to discuss the umpires or what had transpired with La Russa and Edmonds in the game. "I don't want to say anything about it until the series is over, because I don't want to have anything else happen," he said. "But I can tell you this: we're not very happy about the umpiring." Marquis, who came on in relief of starter Jeff Suppan in the sixth and worked the last three innings, took the high road and said he couldn't blame the loss on Cuzzi's calls. "I thought I made some quality pitches, but they weren't considered strikes," he said. "I didn't get the job done. You can't blame it on an umpire." It has been a postseason of discontent as far as umpires are concerned. The momentum in the American League Championship Series may have turned from the Angels to the White Sox in Game 2 with two out in the bottom of the ninth and no one on. The question was whether Los Angeles catcher Josh Paul had trapped a 3-2 pitch to White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who swung and missed for what appeared to be the final out. Umpire Doug Eddings signaled a third strike, but said he never told Paul that the batter was out. Paul could have simply tagged Pierzynski. Instead he rolled the ball back to the mound and the Chicago catcher alertly took first base, where he was ruled safe because Eddings determined that the pitch had indeed been trapped. Moments later the White Sox won the game and tied the series at 1-1 when Joe Crede drove in Pablo Ozuna, who pinch-ran for Pierzynski. The umpires came into the interview room afterward and explained that they had viewed the FOX replay of the incident and determined that it was inconclusive. Umpire supervisor Jim McKean explained the next day in St. Louis that FOX had used a zoom in the truck to enlarge the key frame. "And no one could tell if he had trapped it," he said. Sunday's events in Houston were much more cut-and-dried. Edmonds and La Russa argued calls in no-man's land and paid the price. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/content/printer_friendly/stl/y2005/m10/d16/c1252207.jsp
