It's not like the teams they faced in the playoffs were that much better than the ones we faced. I'll give you the Red Sox being better than the Braves, but you can definately argue that the Cardinals were just as good if not better than the Angels. Not to mention that if it wasn't for the blown call in game two, that series could have played out differently. Yeah, they came up with more clutch plays than we did, but we beat ourselves more than they outplayed us. Our bullpen completely blew it in game two, after being pretty much unhittable for most of the playoffs. Then Oswalt inexplicably giving up 5 run in one inning after dominanting everyone else he faced. Finally, not being able to score in the 13 inning game or in game 4. Again, the series could've been much closer barring Clemens' injury and the choke jobs by our bullpen, our offense, and Roy.
So you're saying if the offense, starters, and bullpen played better, the series would have been closer?
that's a bit of a non-starter to me...because any team can beat any team in a series in baseball. you hope your guys are peaking and their guys are slumping. in years like 1998, that can be extremely frustrating.
If we had a better offense last year we probably would have won the WS. The offense let us down in the end. DD
i seriously don't know how you can say that, having watched that world series. clemens got hurt and his outing didn't go well...oswalt didn't pitch well. the bullpen imploded. we scored 5 runs in one game and 6 in another. the offense actually performed better in the WS than in the NLCS. the team was built around pitching and defense...that's how they won. the formula broke down when the pitching faltered.
Apparently Ric doesn't agree with you and I guess neither do I. Any team can beat any team in one game, but over a 7 game series the better team will win more often than not.
The better team will win more often than not certainly - but that just means they win more than half the time, which is what makes them the better team. But in any given 7 games series, any team can win - this is more true in baseball than any other sport. The best teams win about 60% of their games, while the worst win about 40%. But if you put the Astros-Cardinals into a series of 7-game series either of the last two seasons, one team would not consistently win.
Max, still our offense was not good enough to answer the challenge, and the Whitesox outscored us in every single game. Sure they were close, but if Beltran was on the team in CF last year, I believe we win it all....of course that assumes we get there. This year, as I have been saying all along, something is missing.
I think it definately happens more often in basketball and hockey than it does baseball. In baseball just having flat out talent is much more important than in the other two sports, where the team that wants it more can gain a big advantage. I still disagree that any team can beat any team in a 7 game series. The Astros and Cardinals' teams from the past two season weren't just any teams, they were the best two teams in the NL. If you match up those Astros or Cards teams with the Pirates for a 7 game series the Stros and Cards are going to win that series consistently.
But the Pirates don't make the playoffs. If you repeat last year's playoffs 10 times, I'd bet there would be at least 3 or 4 different winners. Baseball involves far more luck than any other sport, partly because its so dependent on one guy having a good day (the starting pitcher). Barring a fluke like a crappy division champion (The NL Comedy Central from 1997, for example), every team in the playoffs has more than enough talent to win it all. That's why wild card teams have had such good success the last several years.
Exactly, any team can't beat any other team in 7 game series. If you're talking about only playoff teams, then yes, more than one team has a good shot to win the World Series every season. And that's exactly what I was saying in my previous posts, it was definately possible for some team to beat the Sox in the playoffs last season. I agree about the luck factor. More specifically I would say the outcome in baseball depends more on a team's momentum than in other sports.
Tejada Trade looks dead ESPN INSIDER http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2522380 Tejada has been linked heavily lately with the Astros, in a deal that allegedly would send shortstop Adam Everett, pitcher Fernando Nieve and hot outfield prospect Hunter Pence to Baltimore. But according to an official of one club that has been speaking with both teams, the Astros have backpedaled away from that proposal at the speed of sound. And two different baseball men told us unequivocally this week that Houston's interest in trading for Tejada now is "minimal" at best.
Wow I am surprised this is just now making its way onto this board as it was posted on the "insider" Monday morning. As for it being dead who knows as management has been putting out conflicting statements over the last two days as all three of them Purpura, Drayton, and Garner have made conflicting and contradicting statements on what they are going to be doing.
i was posting specifically about last year's WS; the better team won. they outpitched us, outhit us, outmanaged us, outgloved us - there was no shame in losing to that white sox team. however, i don't think the astros were a better team than the cardinals. but unlike the year before, where all the breaks seemed to flow their way, we started to catch some and took advanatge. and we had excellent starting pitching.
The Sox definately played better than we did during the series, which is why they swept us. However, I still think we could've beaten them and so could a few other teams. Starting pitching was definately the key to beating the Cards. Overall I'd say their team was better as well, but our pitching completely shut them down.
except, we didn't beat them, nor did a lot of other teams. they had the best record in the AL, dispatched the defending champs in round 1 and went 11-1 overall in the postseason.
