Giants/Phillies

[detlef]

Forgive me, but if I get hit and I think its on purpose. Im bring the bat with me to the mound. Screw the damn code. the ball bounced right up to Utley, and he tossed it at the direction of the mound. Hell Id have had no problem if he picked it up and threw it as hard as he could at Sanchez, Sanchez just did that to him while he was at the plate.

 

 

I play softball, I pitch. And balls come back up the middle 130 MPH. Ive been hit about 3 times a season, and in tourney play its an automatic out, and player is ejected. Local League where the competition isnt as good and people dont have as much control of where they hit, its just an out and ejection the second time it happens, but its also an out every time that players spot in the order comes up, and they can not add someone on defense either if a player is ejected. . It happens again, and its a DQ, because you cant play with 8 players in our game. There is no place for that in the game, especially at the higher levels of competition. But in baseball, pitchers throw at hitters all the time, break a bone in a batters hand all the time. There is no place for that either. Pitching inside is one thing, but to drill someone in the back, is horse sh1t. And Sanchez drilled him, it wasnt a accident.

Sanchez didn't freaking drill him on purpose. He's not that stupid. Nothing had yet happened that would ever lead to that. This wasn't some lame Roger the Roider thing where Utley owned him either. Plus, he was already down by 2 and there was a guy on first. There's not a sensible person alive who thinks he was doing that on purpose and I'm sure Utley in particular didn't think so.

[detlef]

I agree with Det to a point but baseball has always been that way and have always played by the unwritten code where in some cases the players govern themselves. Look at the situation with A Rod and Braden. I dont think your everyday baseball fan knows of the "how dare you walk across my mound" theory and yet this obviously exists. Also, as far as plunking. A lot of hit batsmen expect it when they know retaliation is on its way and a lot are fine with it as long as the picther places it in a spot that isnt life threatening. A plunk on the thigh or the ass will get chalked up as the underlying rules of baseball by "most" players but a ball to the head throws that out the window like in the case of Pedro years ago. If you watch the incident in question you can see right away Righetti knew that Utleys move was bush and so did Huff. Its a strange code but the players all seem to know it and know when its broken

I guess I'm not saying those petty, hypersensitive rules don't exist, I'm just saying they're lame. Soccer players flopping think those guys need to get a grip.

[keggerz]

enjoy keg

While not the outcome that I was hoping for I can say that I wouldn't have traded this for anything. We took my father to the game with us and I know that it meant a ton to him too. About 3 months ago his wife unexpectedly passed away due to a brain aneurysm that burst. I was able to use the Phillies as a reason to talk to him even more than normal all summer long. I just didn't want him to feel like I was checking up on him but I knew he would easily talk baseball and that is what we did, all summer long. So this was a way to see him again because being 5-6 hours away I usually only get to see him maybe once a year. Even though we only spent basically 2 days with him it meant a lot to him, my wife and of course me too.

 

Congrats to the Giants and their fans.

 

Edit: I am so emotionally and physically drained that I will have to add some thoughts later.

 

Hitting was clearly our Achilles in this series. On the ride back people were talking about our pitching being pretty good and giving it a B+ and stuff like that...the problem is that with how we were hitting the pitching needed to be dominant, something that they were not. As far as hitting goes it seems (I haven't checked the stats officially but this is more of a gut feel) as if early in the series the Phils hitters were very often behind in the count and we all know how much of a difference a 1-2 count is versus a 2-1 or 2-0 count. In the game they won in SF they might not have hit very well but they put the ball in play and things happened....in that game it seemed as if they had more hitters counts....in game 6 what hurts is that not only did they have a ton of guys on base they seemed to make many of their outs when they were ahead in the counts and had good hitters counts on them...of course that is how it seems and it may not hold any water but whenever I looked at the scoreboard I saw a ton of 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 type counts....the other thing is that in a series like this there is usually a series defining moment(s) and the Phils had their chances at those types of moments just in game 6....the Victorino almost Willie Mays like catch in CF, the Polanco error in the 3rd are two type plays that can really give a team a spark or conversely make you start to question yourself about not getting any breaks etc....much of this game is played upstairs...I said this prior to the series starting...it seemed like everyone and their mother was already crowning the Phils and that was something that I understood based on how hot they were but I also know that is why they play the games...

 

If you are in the playoffs you are a dangerous team...I know that many are saying the Phils are the favorites to get to and win the WS mainly because of our top 3 pitchers and as a Phils fan I sure hope so....but I also can't forget about how good the Braves rotation was for like 500 years with Maddox, Glavine and Smoltz, yet during their time together they won just one WS....like I said as a Phils fan I am hopeful and also excited but in no way am I going to take any team for granted.

 

The above was posted in a Giants thread.

 

 

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Once the game was over there was about 7-10 of us that stayed in our row waiting for the section to clear out some (some in shock and "sulking") and an usher walked by us and he said, "thanks for coming, you guys did your job, they didn't do their." The reason I mention this is because I honestly couldn't believe just how electric the crowd was the entire night...It was LOUD and I mean LOUD. No one (fans) never gave up or ever looked as if they thought we weren't going to pull out a win and that is because the Phils have shown that they are nick named the "Fightin' Phils" for a reason. They don't ever give up but this time they just didn't get it done. I take nothing away from the Giants as they made the plays they needed to make, they made the pitches they needed to make and they got the hits they needed to get. They play the game hard and tough and they have my respect. As far as who I will be rooting for in the WS I can't really say. I hated seeing us lose Cliff Lee so I want to see him do well because he gave us his all and I feel he deserves a championship and then there is Josh Hamilton and Ron Washington. How can you not root for those guys with all that they have been through. But in the end I think I would rather know that I ended up losing to the eventual champ. I guess when it comes down to it I just hope we as baseball fans are treated to a great WS, no matter who wins.

 

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One last thing, I haven't seen anyone ask Bruce Bochy if winning the NLCS against Philly was just a bit sweeter than it would have been against anyone else...I say this because back in 1980 Bochy played against the Phils NLCS and well let's just say he took one on the chin.

http://www.astrosdaily.com/history/1980NLCS/1980g4f.jpg

http://www.astrosdaily.com/history/1980NLCS/1980g4e.jpg

 

Of course the Phils won that series in four and that collision happened in game 4...I am certain that Bochy had to feel just a little redemption 30 years later.

 

 

Again, congrats to the Giants and their fans on winning the NLCS and representing the NL in the WS.

Edited October 25, 2010 by keggerz