The Hey its 2021 now guys MLB thread

[buckchuckler]

Good points on Game 6, 2003, guys.

Gonzalez booted a sure DP ball, Prior lost his composure, Dusty messed up, etc. Just a shyte-show of historic proportions, which made it a surreal half-hour. I have seen a LOT of baseball (as have many other Scoopers) and there's never been anything like it.

As for Buckner, the recent 30-for-30 on the Mets did a good job of explaining how huge an eff-up that was by McNamara. Buckner had a heck of a career and deserved better.

People also assume that Alou would have caught that ball.  I sure don't think that was a given. He threw the tantrum like he would have caught it, but who knows.  Would have been a really tough play.

[MU82]

Tough finish for the Giants, but bad calls happen. Dodgers earned it.

Great game.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Make a call and make it confident. 

That was nowhere close to a swinging strike.

[#UnleashSean]

Buckner's error lost the game for the Red Sox but the Cubs still had the lead after the Bartman interference. Cubs fans always ignore what came after and blame everything on Bartman. 

I don't think many people actually blame bartman.

[The Sultan]

I don't think many people actually blame bartman.

They most certainly did at the time.

[#UnleashSean]

They most certainly did at the time.

He became an iconic scapegoat. But most people knew the Cubs fucked themselves.

[jficke13]

They most certainly did at the time.

Should blame Gonzo booting that double play ball, right? (or is that a different Cubs playoff loss?)

[Dish]

You can watch the entirety of the top 8th (only) on YouTube. I watched it last night, if I were a Cub fan, there's one singular person I'd be pissed at, and that's Dusty Baker.

It's a monstrosity how he handled that inning. He just casually starts the inning with no one warming up and Prior near 100 pitches. As soon as Pierre doubles, you should at minimum have someone up. Prior is at 105 (!) pitches with the heart of the order coming up. It's at pitch 113 (8 pitches into Castillo's at bat) that Farnsworth gets up to stretch. Ironically pitch 113 is also the Bartman incident.

Prior walks Castillo on the next pitch, and Ivan Rodriguez comes up. A clearly fatigued Prior (velocity down to 92) gives up a basehit to I-Rod, 3-1 Cubs.

Clearly with his pitch count at 117, go ahead run at the plate in the form of clean up hitter (young) Miguel Cabrera (who homered earlier in the series off Prior) Dusty is coming out, right? Wrong. First pitch, Alex Gonzalez play happens. Still 3-1 Cubs.

He now HAS TO get Prior out, 118 pitches, Derek Lee (2-3 off Prior in game 2 with a HR) coming up.

He keeps Prior in! First pitch to Lee, rocket double to left, two runs score, 3-3 game.

If the above happened today, I don't know if Dusty makes it out of Wrigley with his job.

[buckchuckler]

You can watch the entirety of the top 8th (only) on YouTube. I watched it last night, if I were a Cub fan, there's one singular person I'd be pissed at, and that's Dusty Baker.

It's a monstrosity how he handled that inning. He just casually starts the inning with no one warming up and Prior near 100 pitches. As soon as Pierre doubles, you should at minimum have someone up. Prior is at 105 (!) pitches with the heart of the order coming up. It's at pitch 113 (8 pitches into Castillo's at bat) that Farnsworth gets up to stretch. Ironically pitch 113 is also the Bartman incident.

Prior walks Castillo on the next pitch, and Ivan Rodriguez comes up. A clearly fatigued Prior (velocity down to 92) gives up a basehit to I-Rod, 3-1 Cubs.

Clearly with his pitch count at 117, go ahead run at the plate in the form of clean up hitter (young) Miguel Cabrera (who homered earlier in the series off Prior) Dusty is coming out, right? Wrong. First pitch, Alex Gonzalez play happens. Still 3-1 Cubs.

He now HAS TO get Prior out, 118 pitches, Derek Lee (2-3 off Prior in game 2 with a HR) coming up.

He keeps Prior in! First pitch to Lee, rocket double to left, two runs score, 3-3 game.

If the above happened today, I don't know if Dusty makes it out of Wrigley with his job.

I don't know.  Shortstop makes a pretty routine play for 2 and none of that matters. 

[Dish]

I don't know.  Shortstop makes a pretty routine play for 2 and none of that matters.

Even fielded cleanly, as slow as that ball is hit to Gonzalez's right, a double play turn there is slim/unlikely .

[MU82]

You can watch the entirety of the top 8th (only) on YouTube. I watched it last night, if I were a Cub fan, there's one singular person I'd be pissed at, and that's Dusty Baker.

It's a monstrosity how he handled that inning. He just casually starts the inning with no one warming up and Prior near 100 pitches. As soon as Pierre doubles, you should at minimum have someone up. Prior is at 105 (!) pitches with the heart of the order coming up. It's at pitch 113 (8 pitches into Castillo's at bat) that Farnsworth gets up to stretch. Ironically pitch 113 is also the Bartman incident.

Prior walks Castillo on the next pitch, and Ivan Rodriguez comes up. A clearly fatigued Prior (velocity down to 92) gives up a basehit to I-Rod, 3-1 Cubs.

Clearly with his pitch count at 117, go ahead run at the plate in the form of clean up hitter (young) Miguel Cabrera (who homered earlier in the series off Prior) Dusty is coming out, right? Wrong. First pitch, Alex Gonzalez play happens. Still 3-1 Cubs.

He now HAS TO get Prior out, 118 pitches, Derek Lee (2-3 off Prior in game 2 with a HR) coming up.

He keeps Prior in! First pitch to Lee, rocket double to left, two runs score, 3-3 game.

If the above happened today, I don't know if Dusty makes it out of Wrigley with his job.

I like Dusty ... but that was a disastrous inning for him. As you said, it would be hard for a manager to have handled it worse. Having said that, there were plenty of other culprits, starting with Alou and Gonzalez.

Why would you torture yourself and watch it again, Dish?

[buckchuckler]

Even fielded cleanly, as slow as that ball is hit to Gonzalez's right, a double play turn there is slim/unlikely .

I'll take your word for it, I haven't seen it in 18 years.  But I know I remember thinking ot was a pretty standard double play ball. 

[MU82]

As for last night's game ...

It was a chickenpoop move for the ump who blew the call to not admit afterward that he made a mistake, and for his crew chief to give cover. Be accountable, like Jim Joyce was after he robbed Armando Galarraga of a perfect game.

Still, the call didn't "cost" SF the game. I mean, that call didn't give LA a run in the top of the 9th. As their own manager, Gabe Kapler, said:

"There are other reasons we didn't win today's baseball game."

Just sucks that Flores didn't get a chance to put his bat on the ball, and that a great game ended on a missed call.

[tower912]

The checked swing is among the last judgement calls.

[MU82]

The checked swing is among the last judgement calls.

Yeah ... except the judgment made to end the game was wrong.

It's painful for any official in any sport to admit any mistake, let alone one that ended a postseason series between two bitter rivals. But he did blow it, he knows with 100% certainty that he blew it, and he should have owned it.

Again, like Jim Joyce did.

[PGsHeroes32]

Idk why Flores was even batting there

0/17 against Scherzer

[MU82]

Idk why Flores was even batting there

0/17 against Scherzer

Yeah, it was cruddy the way the game ended ... but it was gonna be over after he whiffed on the next pitch anyway.

[HutchwasClutch]

Idk why Flores was even batting there

0/17 against Scherzer

Really? They had two options- Casali, a light hitting backup catcher 0/2 career against Scherzer, and Duggar, a backup OF 0/3 in the series who's never faced Scherzer.   

[PGsHeroes32]

Really? They had two options- Casali, a light hitting backup catcher 0/2 career against Scherzer, and Duggar, a backup OF 0/3 in the series who's never faced Scherzer.   

Duggar and Flores had similar OBPs, OPS+ and slugging%.

So it wasn't much of a trade off when you consider one guy is completely inept against said pitcher.

But the stat was mostly to highlight that while the call sucked. That was a set up pitch for a K that was imminent.

[Dish]

This Red Sox/Astros game is going to be 6 hours long.

I'm not joking.

[PGsHeroes32]

This Red Sox/Astros game is going to be 6 hours long.

I'm not joking.

It's definitely gonna overlap easily with the other game

[MuggsyB]

Wow.  Braves in 4?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Wow.  Braves in 4?

Definitely the most palatable of the remaining teams.

[PGsHeroes32]

Dodgers have a relentless lineup.

But pitching to Betts there was quite literally insane

[JWags85]

Unreal swing in Boston.  Sox 6 outs away from 3-1 and the Stros explode for 6 unanswered runs to take control of the series back.