2011 MLB Season

[Noj]

Congrats Cards fans! Condolences Jim and Al and Rangers fans.

[ghost of miles]

Congrats Cards fans! Condolences Jim and Al and Rangers fans.

Same here, and Jsngry, I will definitely keep that invitation in mind. Quite a ride for the last few weeks of the MLB season. Over at Yahoo Sports Steve Henson writes:

In the waning days of August, St. Louis had a 0.2 percent chance of reaching the playoffs, according to AccuScore, a company that calculates probabilities by running thousands of game simulations. Expressed another way, the Cardinals faced 1 in 500 odds

And that was to make the playoffs. Their chances of winning the World Series were miniscule, like a speck of Midwestern dust somehow reaching Manhattan or Malibu. It might have been the greatest comeback in baseball history.

The Cardinals squeaked into the playoffs the last day of the regular season, earning the wild-card berth primarily because the Atlanta Braves folded down the stretch. Once in, they proved they belonged, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in five division series games and the Milwaukee Brewers in four championship series games.

After falling behind three games to two in the series by losing Games 4 and 5 in Arlington, Texas, the Cardinals were on the brink of elimination. Twice in Game 6 they were down to their last strike, only to rally.

Baseball lore is a pleasure to revisit, and someday the manner in which the tail end of the 2011 season unfolded will be recounted in reverent tones.

Game 7 concluded one of the most entertaining stretches in baseball history. It began with the final day of the regular season, when the Red Sox and Braves culminated colossal collapses by losing their last games and their hold on the wild-card berths. The Rays eclipsed Boston by overcoming a seven-run deficit against the Yankees and winning in the 12th inning on Evan Longoria’s home run. The Cardinals blanked the Astros and learned they’d made the playoffs two hours later when the Braves lost to the Phillies in 13 innings.

Game 7 also was the 38th game of the postseason, only three short of the maximum possible and equaling the record for the most games required to crown a World Series champion, set by the 2003 Florida Marlins. Three of the four division series went a maximum five games (the Rangers needed only four to beat the Tampa Bay Rays) and both championship series went six games.

Cardinals win World Series the easy way

[BERIGAN]

Weird to be from St. Louis and hoping that the Cards would lose so the Rangers could finally win one...but, it wasn't meant to be...feel sorry for Ron Washington, the players and fans, but they played great all through the playoffs, and can hang their heads high....just wait til next year!

[Chalupa]

I feel awful for the Rangers. Tough, tough loss. But if there is a silver lining I still think that as of right now - and that could change this off season once FA signing period begins - their chances for returning to the Series for a 3rd straight season are excellent. Except for Michael Young their core group of players is still pretty young. The window for them is still wide open.

[Big Al]

Weird to be from St. Louis and hoping that the Cards would lose so the Rangers could finally win one...but, it wasn't meant to be...feel sorry for Ron Washington, the players and fans, but they played great all through the playoffs, and can hang their heads high....just wait til next year!

I want so much to agree with this, but I can't. Fact is, the Rangers got away with MORE than their fair share of mistakes, blown plays, and other minor-league stuff that should've guaranteed them an early exit. It's a credit to their gutsiness and their refusal to die that they were able to overcome that. But tonight, and especially last night, it finally caught up to them.

In the end, I think this is more a statement on the sorry state of baseball than on how good or bad the Rangers did. Any other year and this team doesn't even make the playoffs. But now the talent pool is so diluted and so concentrated ("Occupy Yankee Stadium" anyone?) that damn near anyone can make the playoffs and the World Series. This year, that's exactly what happened.

For sheer entertainment value, yeah okay this was one for the ages. But for baseball value? Forget it.

And the odd thing is, I'm not nearly as disappointed about tonight's outcome as I thought I'd be. Probably cuz there wasn't any lower one could go after last night.

But I'll give Wash this: he was smart to stick with Harrison to start tonight. Even if Holland starts, it makes no difference if the bats are gonna go cold again. It's almost as if he could see the end before it began. That was evident when Ogando came to the mound. All that was missing was the waving of the white flag.

And so it goes. That's the way baseball go. Guess we'll try it again next year.

Go Rangers! Forever and ever, amen!

[mattes]

The series was good for baseball and Texas will bounce back because, among other things, they have great fans like Jim.

[JSngry]

Best Rangers team, best Rangers season, ever.

EVER!

Worst possible ending to that season. Go figure.

No condolences, please. Couple of cold ones wouldn't be a bad idea, but no condolences.This is a dark corner of a very bright street.

[Tim McG]

Congrats Cards fans! Condolences Jim and Al and Rangers fans.

Same goes for me. My condolences to Jim and Al. A tough loss.

Best Rangers team, best Rangers season, ever.

EVER!

Worst possible ending to that season. Go figure.

No condolences, please. Couple of cold ones wouldn't be a bad idea, but no condolences.This is a dark corner of a very bright street.

I'll buy the first round, Jim.

Go easy, my friend.

Edited October 30, 2011 by GoodSpeak

[Joe]

Move Feliz out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation last year?

I just hope "Game 6" doesn't become to these Rangers what "The Catch" was to the... the... you know, the pro football team that plays down here?

Al -- you got an amen right here!

[Tim McG]

Seriously, the minute Fox put up that bottom of the 9th inning graphic showing the Cubs, Indians and then (gulp) Rangers as the baseball franchises that have gone the longest without a championship, I had a feeling bad things were about to happen.

I actually felt the opposite, especially since the Giants won it all last year and took themselves off the dreaded list... and Texas was the team they beat... and because it seemed obvious (several times) that Texas was going to win that game.

Yes, but the Giants were up 3 games to 1 at that point.

I just meant that since the Giants finally got off the list last year and Texas was knocking on the door, that they might be next.

Seriously, the minute Fox put up that bottom of the 9th inning graphic showing the Cubs, Indians and then (gulp) Rangers as the baseball franchises that have gone the longest without a championship, I had a feeling bad things were about to happen.

I actually felt the opposite, especially since the Giants won it all last year and took themselves off the dreaded list... and Texas was the team they beat... and because it seemed obvious (several times) that Texas was going to win that game.

Which dreaded list would that be? They won a World Series in NY with the Say Hey kid. Same franchise, different city.

Uh, yeah, I know the Giants' history. I'm pretty familiar with Willie Mays. The list I'm referring to is the list of franchises that have waited the longest to win a World Series. At 56 years, the Giants were high on that list, until November of 2010.

It was a great season, too.

With Posey catching bullpen right now and Sanchez, Wilson, Shireholtz and basically the rest of the entire team on the mend, the Giants should right be back in the thick of it next year!

Go Giants!

[JSngry]

I just hope "Game 6" doesn't become to these Rangers what "The Catch" was to the... the... you know, the pro football team that plays down here?

The phrase I'm already starting to hear is "One strike. Twice". That's true, but...look at who got you there in the first place, ya' know? No guarantees, other than that somebody's gotta fuck up somewhere. On a good day, it's their guys. On a bad day, it's ours.

We had two very, very bad days. But they were the two last possible days of the season. Talk about a mixed blessing...

Just gotta refine that pitching staff and retool the bench to be as useful under NL rules as they are AL rules. We got a front office for that, and so far, they've proven confident,

Someday...

Move Feliz out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation last year?

I heard a report that Nefti was so distraught about blowing the save in the 9th of Game 6 that he was unable to come back out to pitch the 10th. Wash had originally planned on sending him back out, apparently.

I hope he finds a way to forgive himself without forgetting and move on. so much talent...The kid's only 23, supremely gifted, but it seems that his head is not pressure-proof at this point. This might not prove to be the best choice of careers for him...dammit.

Like I said earlier - no more Donnie Moores, please.

Edited October 29, 2011 by JSngry

[Dave James]

Like I said earlier - no more Donnie Moores, please.

Amen to that.

[alocispepraluger102]

mike shannon's prescient remarks from last march.

if tv is obsessing with twitter and fb, why do we need tv?

a buck isn't what it used to be. i enjoyed the local cardinal radio broadcast back on radio station kmox, with savvy veterans mike shannon and john rooney, foregoing the droll bland new buck. the sync radio-tv wasn't bad; radio was 2 seconds ahead of the pic.

Edited October 29, 2011 by alocispepraluger102

[JSngry]

Casual fandom (the type who ask "how much time is left in the game?) and the more vicariously macho elements of the local sports press (a majority, actually, imo) are already hurling the slings and arrows, and etc. Telling us that this team & this season are FAILURES.

Bullshit.

Greatest season ever, worst possible ending. Gonna have to figure out a way to reconcile that, but...it's do-able. Calling the whole thing a FAILURE, though, that ain't how to do it. Not in business, not with friends, not with employees, not with anything.

Failing is a fact of life, and so is failing when it looks for all the world like there's no way you could. "Failure" is best applied to specific actions, not people. This World Series turned out to be a failure, and even then, a 4/7 failure. But the season and the players? Failures?

Get off of that bandwagon and stay off it.

One of the lead writers on Lone Star Ball summed it up best, imo:

my feeling on that is that, if you as a fan are going to view anything other than winning it all to be failure, you should probably find something new to occupy your time.

Word.

[Quincy]

When I was 9 years old just once I put a quarter into a fancy gumball machine that was full of baseball team magnets inside of clear plastic containers. The one that came out was this Ranger logo. At first there was a feeling of brief disappointment but then I realized it was probably the largest magnet, plus it was a big ole cowboy hat so all was well. A couple of years later the Rangers caught further attention because Billy Martin was leading the team in a charge against the Mustache Gang. Over the years I paid a little more attention to the Rangers than I normally would have had I not gotten that magnet. I noticed they'd end up with former Pirates like Richie Zisk or Al Oliver. They had a few future Hall Of Fame pitchers over the years like Jenkins, Blyleven & Gaylord Perry. Some of those teams had great offenses, one great pitcher and the rest of the staff couldn't hit a barn door.

Like Berrigan the Cards were my regional team growing up (I was on the Cub/Cardinal line) though I defected when law & order Vern Rapp took over. I eventually came back when elements of Cubdom became intolerable, though the M's became my main team after settling down in the Pacific NW. So while it was hard to root against the Redbirds it I sure didn't wish the Rangers any ill will.

That game 6 was as rough as anything any fan has ever had to suffer. But just as I still count the '95 series win over the Yankees as a type of title this year can be that and more for the Rangers. They fought the good fight.

Let's try to file away that a team can lose its ace and still make the World Series, since both teams are examples of that.

[Free For All]

I heard a report that Nefti was so distraught about blowing the save in the 9th of Game 6 that he was unable to come back out to pitch the 10th.

*bad jazz pun warning*

They need to heal Nefti.

[Chuck Nessa]

[Joe]

When I was 9 years old just once I put a quarter into a fancy gumball machine that was full of baseball team magnets inside of clear plastic containers. The one that came out was this Ranger logo. At first there was a feeling of brief disappointment but then I realized it was probably the largest magnet, plus it was a big ole cowboy hat so all was well. A couple of years later the Rangers caught further attention because Billy Martin was leading the team in a charge against the Mustache Gang. Over the years I paid a little more attention to the Rangers than I normally would have had I not gotten that magnet. I noticed they'd end up with former Pirates like Richie Zisk or Al Oliver. They had a few future Hall Of Fame pitchers over the years like Jenkins, Blyleven & Gaylord Perry. Some of those teams had great offenses, one great pitcher and the rest of the staff couldn't hit a barn door.

Like Berrigan the Cards were my regional team growing up (I was on the Cub/Cardinal line) though I defected when law & order Vern Rapp took over. I eventually came back when elements of Cubdom became intolerable, though the M's became my main team after settling down in the Pacific NW. So while it was hard to root against the Redbirds it I sure didn't wish the Rangers any ill will.

That game 6 was as rough as anything any fan has ever had to suffer. But just as I still count the '95 series win over the Yankees as a type of title this year can be that and more for the Rangers. They fought the good fight.

Let's try to file away that a team can lose its ace and still make the World Series, since both teams are examples of that.

Thanks for sharing those memories.

The Rangers started playing her in North Central Texas the year I was born (though several months before my eventual arrival date). So, yeah, I feel more than a geographic connection to this franchise.

"Where did you go, Jeff Burroughs?"

[Joe]

Move Feliz out of the bullpen and into the starting rotation last year?

I heard a report that Nefti was so distraught about blowing the save in the 9th of Game 6 that he was unable to come back out to pitch the 10th. Wash had originally planned on sending him back out, apparently.

I hope he finds a way to forgive himself without forgetting and move on. so much talent...The kid's only 23, supremely gifted, but it seems that his head is not pressure-proof at this point. This might not prove to be the best choice of careers for him...dammit.

Like I said earlier - no more Donnie Moores, please.

I wondered about that. I full expected to see Feliz (or maybe Gonzalez, but not Oliver) in the bottom of the 10th. Crap crap crap.

But, yeah, I'm thinking bigger picture here and hoping like hell this doesn't end up being the Donnie Moore-ing, Calvin Schirladi-ing or Mitch Williams-ing of one supremely talented, futures-ahead-of-him Nefti Feliz.

On the upside... this being baseball, so I can't help but think of my dad (who passed away the year the Red Sox finally beat the curse, though he did not live to see that comeback) and how he LOVED the Cardinals. Were he here today, he'd be reminding me how, when he was growing up, they were the only team that really represented the Western half of the United States at all in the Major Leagues (somehow, the old KC A's did not count), at least until the Dodger and Giants moved. But the Cardinals were always there, and, for a kid growing up in Texarkana, AR, they were a team he felt to which he could pledge some allegiance. Small comfort that, but at least it's not cold. Congratulations to a great baseball franchise. Next time, amybe the Rangers will have the good fortune to face a truly despicable NL team.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Joe

[paul secor]

Didn't have a horse in the race this year. I'm normally an American League fan, but seeing that dirtbag Nolan Ryan's mug made it hard for me to root for the Rangers. Of course, seeing that dirtbag LaRussa made it just as hard for me to root for the Cardinals. In the end, I let it all go.

Condolences to the Rangers' fans here. You guys gave them all the rooting karma you could.

[Chuck Nessa]

Maybe next year for the Cubbies. My season has been over for a while.

The "off season" looks good for us though.

[Neal Pomea]

(somehow, the old KC A's did not count)

Nice story about your dad!

The KC Athletics were just about a farm team for the Yankees. It was close to a scandal.

I just recently learned that the Philadelphia Athletics' color was blue. Whoever moved them to KC changed to green and yellow in order to have something different and stand out on color TV. I still remember Bert Campaneris playing for them. Ed Charles.

Edited October 30, 2011 by Neal Pomea

[Aggie87]

I'm normally an American League fan, but seeing that dirtbag Nolan Ryan's mug made it hard for me to root for the Rangers.

Why do you feel that way about Ryan?

[Big Al]

I heard a report that Nefti was so distraught about blowing the save in the 9th of Game 6 that he was unable to come back out to pitch the 10th.

*bad jazz pun warning*

They need to heal Nefti.

Dude, haven't we suffered enough?

The nice thing about Rangers fans is we generally tend to be forgiving (unless, of course, your name is AFraud or Texeiria), so I like Neffy'a chances better than the other guys in that list.

Joe, seeing that old logo is kinda bittersweet: it represents how the Rangers used to be, but it also represents my childhood as a lifelong Rangers fan.

[Tim McG]

Like I said earlier - no more Donnie Moores, please.

Amen to that.

And how.

What a tragedy that was.

I'm normally an American League fan, but seeing that dirtbag Nolan Ryan's mug made it hard for me to root for the Rangers.

Why do you feel that way about Ryan?

I don't get this response either, Aggie.