I turned last night's game off after the 2 run HR in the top of the 13th, then forgot about it until logging on this AM. When Voila! deja vu all over again in the (sort of) post-season relief corps (of great relievers). So, will Hoffman continue to have the demons which have imperiled Lights Out or will April 1st just be a new season for him?
The umpire blew that call! Holliday was out at home plate. Maybe the game would still be playing, about the 28 inning! But I would take Hoffman instead of Lidge any day.
Hoffman has a little more of a track record than Lidge. I'm sure he'll be fine. This thread really belongs in the Hangout forum.
I'd say Holliday, rather than being out, was never safe OR out. Of course, I guess by now he's gone pretty far outside the basepath.
If by "demons" you mean shoddy mechanics which began to plague Lidge well before the 2005 postseason, then maybe. Giving up runs is something that happens to every closer, and strictly by probability, if you pitch in enough big games... eventually there will be some where you give up runs. It's part of the game, and everyone knows it (except some fans). If Hoffman struggles next season, it won't be because of this.
Is Wily Tavares on the Rockies playoff roster, or is he injured? I looked at the box score from last night's game and didn't see his name.
1) Not every loss for a reliever is a choke job 2) Lidge doesn't have mental demons. What a misconception. His problem has always been there, it just took hitters awhile to figure it out. About 95% of his sliders are going to be out of the zone, so you just sit fastball and wait for a hanger. 3) Holliday never tagged home BUT Atkins (I think) hit a homerun that should have ended the game earlier but was ruled a double. All evened out in the end.
How do you think he can fix his probs. Change mechanics? Develop a Third pitch? Or is lidge doomed to be the same pitcher as he was this year. I heard that he tried to develop a splitfinger or some other pitch and it screwed up his delivery on his slider.
he pitched fine when he dropped the splitter. then he got hurt late in the season and has been pitching on a bum knee for awhile. just got surgery on it yesterday.
The big difference between the two is that Hoffman turns 40 in a couple of weeks. I wonder how much he's living on guts and reputation these days. Not that he's an average reliever by any stretch of the imagination, but he's certainly not as dominant as he once was.
Talk about choke...Reminds me of the Mavs... He just didn't have his stuff and he didn't face a Pujols type player...and btw, the guy didn't even touch home plate...
