OT: This is why baseball is great

[tbob]

Oakland 14 Texas 5. Three game sweep of the Rangers to win the West on the last day. Overcoming suspensions, injuries, a brutal September schedule, loss of their best pitchers through trades, relying on 5 rookie starters, etc.
Big money Angels looking up and going home for the fall.
Congrats to the Amazin' A's!!!!

[z28jd]

If baseball was so great, the Pirates could have one year that makes no sense instead of twenty straight that make perfect sense

[CW]

Kudos to the A's!

Another great scene this evening in baseball... the Kansas City fans giving Cabrera a standing ovation as he we pulled in the middle of the game.

[HRBAKER]

The KC fans have been waiting a long time for something to cheer about!
Agreed, very nice gesture.

[Fred]

Another fun moment. The Padres down 6-0 against the Brewers. Braun is one RBI away from tying Chase Headley for the NL RBI crown. Headley gets two more RBIs on hits that went to LF (Brauns position). Pads win 7-6. Braun gets 0 RBI in the series.

Great ending to an otherwise lousy season for the Padres.

No, I'm still not over the way Braun got off the hook for his PED use.... I'd rather see him take the "Melky" way out and own up to it.

Just wait until next year, the Padres will be at .500!

[Runscott]

After blowing the World Series last year, I didn't think things could get worse, but I was wrong. Now it's just up to Baltimore to put them out of their misery.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by tbob

Oakland 14 Texas 5. Three game sweep of the Rangers to win the West on the last day. Overcoming suspensions, injuries, a brutal September schedule, loss of their best pitchers through trades, relying on 5 rookie starters, etc.
Big money Angels looking up and going home for the fall.
Congrats to the Amazin' A's!!!!

This Giants fan has to love these A's. Simply amazing.. And Beane and Sabermetrics cannot hog all the credit this time. Bob Melvin did an amazing job, and even though there are a few worthy candidates, he's got to be AL manager of the year.

Bay Area baseball is all the way back!

[Rickyy]

Amazin A's!

Ricky Y

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Beane and Sabermetrics cannot hog all the credit this time. Bob Melvin did an amazing job

Who hired Melvin? After the D-Backs dumped him a month into the 2009 season, his phone didn't ring again until Beane offered him the job in 2011.

As far as Manager of the Year goes, I think he's now a lock, and deservedly so.

[irishdenny]

I Really wish Brandon Inge didn't get hurt... He Helped them out when they really needed a "Pick me uP"... it also cost him 6 million, TuFF Break!

[barrysloate]

I think the Rangers were in first place for nearly every day of the season except one...the last day! And now they run the risk of having one more bad game and being done for the season. Hats off to Oakland.

And congrats to Miguel Cabrera, for a truly special season.

[Nashvol]

Here in middle Tennessee there is much hope for two Cy Young award winners: R. A. Dickey from Nashville (Univ. of Tennessee) and David Price from Murfreesboro (Vanderbilt Univ.). What are the chances?

[Jcfowler6]

Its not so perfect when last years MVP used drugs to get it.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Friday afternoon, the Cardinals and Braves, one game winner moves on, same thing that night. I plan to order pizza and I hope the phone doesn't ring!

Saturday I am torn. I plan to attend the first half of the Ouachita Baptist-SE Oklahoma football game at 1:00, walk across the street to see the first half of the Henderson State-Arkansas A&M game at 3:00 and then drive to Conway for the Central Arkansas-Nichols St. game and sit with my daughter in the rain at 6:00. Great football day but then I hate to miss any of the baseball. The 90 minute drive home that night should provide good old fashion radio baseball!

Bob you will note that all of this prevents me from watching the Razorbacks, which is probably a good thing!

[sportscardpete]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I think the Rangers were in first place for nearly every day of the season except one...the last day! And now they run the risk of having one more bad game and being done for the season. Hats off to Oakland.

And congrats to Miguel Cabrera, for a truly special season.

I'm going to throw up if Trout gets MVP. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but if Cabrera isn't MVP after winning the triple crown, then the voting system is screwed up.

[Robextend]

Originally Posted by thekingofclout

Who hired Melvin? After the D-Backs dumped him a month into the 2009 season, his phone didn't ring again until Beane offered him the job in 2011.

As far as Manager of the Year goes, I think he's now a lock, and deservedly so.

Can't go wrong with Melvin or Buck Showalter. I don't know about this board, but virtually everyone I know had the Orioles finishing in dead last place. What they were able to do in the AL East was amazing.

[edhans]

Originally Posted by sportscardpete

I'm going to throw up if Trout gets MVP. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but if Cabrera isn't MVP after winning the triple crown, then the voting system is screwed up.

Pete,
Don't forget that defense counts when determining a players value.

[sportscardpete]

Originally Posted by edhans

Pete,
Don't forget that defense counts when determining a players value.

ED -

That's true, but so should making the playoffs.

Pete

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by sportscardpete

ED -

That's true, but so should making the playoffs.

Pete

Why? Cabrera made the playoffs but his team had a worse winning percentage than the Trouts. (Det - .543/LAA - .549). If both leagues just put in their to 6 teams Detroit wouldn't have made it.

Detroit the 7th place team in the A.L. Yet teams 3 and 4 have to play a one game playoff to see who gets into the play in the playoffs teams 5 and 6 don't get in at all. Anyways that is off subject.

Baseball is still great, but they will keep losing fans if they don't make it easier to be a fan.

[prewarsports]

100 years from now people will still be talking about Miguel Cabrera's season. How do you not reward that with the MVP award? I know defense counts, but it doesn't count THAT much. I watched Trout a lot this year play against the Mariners and he is a great player, but I agree that if you dont give it to Cabrera, something is wrong with the voting.

I do however completely disagree and always will with the notion that you have to be a playoff team to win MVP. This is a recent trend developed in the last 20 years or so as a result of ESPN and other Talk Shows overanalyzing Sports to no end. Look at the history of the MVP award since it was started. Yes sometimes the players pre 1990 made the playoffs, but a good portion of the time they didn't and that was always ok until recently and now people treat it like a hard rule.

MVP means "best player" despite how you want to interpret the "Value" aspect of it. For some reason they dont do this for Cy Young and often times reward a pitcher like Felix Hernandez for being dominant on a bad team, but flip the tables on hitters. There is no logic to this no matter how people try and stretch it.

Sometimes the best players in the game are on bad or mediocre teams and that is the beauty of baseball!

[doug.goodman]

There is precedent for winning the triple crown and not winning the MVP, just Ted Williams (twice).

[bosoxfan]

Originally Posted by sportscardpete

I'm going to throw up if Trout gets MVP. Not that he doesn't deserve it, but if Cabrera isn't MVP after winning the triple crown, then the voting system is screwed up.

In 1942 and 1947 Ted Williams won the triple crown in both years only to finish 2nd in the MVP voting. Heck, I believe he also lead both years in runs scored, BB, OPS, and WAR by substantial amounts.

[sportscardpete]

Originally Posted by bosoxfan

In 1942 and 1947 Ted Williams won the triple crown in both years only to finish 2nd in the MVP voting. Heck, I believe he also lead both years in runs scored, BB, OPS, and WAR by substantial amounts.

There was a triple crown winner 4 times in the ten years preceding Ted Williams' 1942 and 1947 seasons. I'm sure it means more now, considering how long it is has been.

[honus94566]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Bay Area baseball is all the way back!

WOOT WOOT! Hopin' for another "Battle of the Bay" World Series.

[z28jd]

As far as the MVP voting goes, I think defense should weigh in and I don't think that gives as advantage to Trout. Remember that Cabrera has been a first baseman since 2007 and he moved back to third base to make room for Prince Fielder, then went out and made just 13 errors in 154 starts. That is a wash to me, he needs to get some big time credit for the success he had with that move.

The team records shouldn't go into the discussion, especially when they are so close, because they don't play a balanced schedule. Hard to compare the Central winner to an AL West team and say the Angels were better because they won more. I can't assume that the records would still show the same if they played the same exact schedule

[Fred]

John,

Good point about Miggy. He took over 3B to accommodate the Pig. He could have cried and complained. Instead he does what is best for the team and goes on to have his greatest season ever! If that isn't valuable, then I don't know what is...

[gman]

Originally Posted by Fred

He took over 3B to accommodate the Pig.

But having the pig behind him definately helped with his offensive year. And man wasn't it fun watching his season. To win the triple crown. Amazing.

Another thing about Trout that we don't hear alot about is that he had 30 HR and 83 RBI's as a lead off hitter. As impressive as that is, think of what could have been had he not missed the first month of the season!

Stuff like this is what makes this game so great.

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Nashvol

Here in middle Tennessee there is much hope for two Cy Young award winners: R. A. Dickey from Nashville (Univ. of Tennessee) and David Price from Murfreesboro (Vanderbilt Univ.). What are the chances?

Three local pitchers were in the limelight this year- Cliff Lee from Texarkana (University of Arkansas), AJ Burnett, Sherwood, Arkansas and Drew Smyly from Little Rock (University of Arkansas). Lee had a down year and little run support but should be back next year to elite status, Burnett is a candidate for comeback player of the year and for a while was single-handedly lifting the Pirates in to contention and Smyly, despite injury, was terrific for the Tigers and deserves support for AL rookie pitcher of the year.
Arkansas hasn't had the run of top flight players recently like it had in the past with HOFers Bill Dickey, Lou Brock, Brooks Robinson, Travis Jackson, etc but it has always produced great pitchers like Dizzy Dean etc.

[tbob]

We'll see how Trout's career goes in the future but in his first year the player he most reminded me of was a young Mickey Mantle with average, power, blinding speed and glove. Big shoes, but we'll see....

[Jlighter]

MVP doesn't mean giving a player credit because they changed positions, on that some token Trout wins because he's a ROOKIE. He's hasn't played a full season of Major League ball before.

May the record show that I believe Miggy deserves and wins the award, but the switching positions argument is as spurious as they come.

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by bosoxfan

In 1942 and 1947 Ted Williams won the triple crown in both years only to finish 2nd in the MVP voting.

While Teddy Ballgame was a Sophomore in High School, the Iron Horse was busy winning the 1934 Triple Crown. However, he didn't fare to well in the MVP balloting, finishing fifth. FIFTH! Two Pitchers finished ahead of Gehrig, including one of his own teammates!

[howard38]

/

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by gman

As impressive as that is, think of what could have been had he not missed the first month of the season!

It's worth pointing out that the reason he "missed" the first month of the season is that he started out the year in AAA. Why did he start in AAA? Because he was awful in the majors in 2011 and didn't do enough in spring training to earn a roster spot from the beginning.

Tabe

[Orioles1954]

Manager of the Year should go to Buck Showalter and it's not even close. The Athletics improved by a mere 8 games this year. The Orioles were lampooned by the national media all season and were predicted to lose 110 games by ESPN. To improve by a staggering 24 games over 2011 in a division like the AL East is unbelievable. 16-2 in extra inning games, 74-0 when leading after 7 innings. Won every road series this year against the Yankees along with the Nationals and Braves in interleague. Simply O'mazing

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

The Athletics improved by a mere 8 games this year.

8?.... or maybe 20.

Go Bay Area Baseball! Great wins today/night Giants and A's, from 0-2 to game 5s tomorrow! Let's do this!!!

.. and while we're at it, maybe make TBS/MLB sorry for scheduling a Game 5 at 10am and noon in the teams' respective local markets, so everyone's favorite NY team can occupy its prime time slot for a game 4.

-ADDED THURSDAY-
Well after that day of games (Thursday) I don't think TBS is sorry for anything.. with exception of A's game that got away from them, all games were amazing... and of course, the Giants pulled it off!

[mets41]

George Anderson had an interesting comment in Cooperstown some years ago (I've been saying this since 1959): "Baseball is a great game and if you don't like it, GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!"

[tbob]

Congrats to the A's and O's for incredible years and fighting to the last out of the last game of their respective series.
Sympathies to the Nats' fans who had to watch the debacle against the Cards.
Oh those El Birdos! The players change but the team is always gritty, competes and never gives up.
Should be a couple of good championship series- Tigers and Yanks, Jints and Cards.
And oh by the way, another reason baseball is great is you have a guy who hit .230 in the minors this year and was only called up because a regular (Furcal) was hurt and he ends up starting in the playoffs and hits a 2 out 9th inning hit and drives in the winning runs. What a game!

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Bob you will note that all of this prevents me from watching the Razorbacks, which is probably a good thing!

Arkansas 24 Auburn 7
Lol Mike, you missed a good game by our underachievers

[packs]

The Cardinals always seem to get great performances from unheralded guys. David Eckstein, David Freese, and now Pete Kozma.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by packs

The Cardinals always seem to get great performances from unheralded guys. David Eckstein, David Freese, and now Pete Kozma.

Kozma has done a really nice job since he was called up when Furcal went down.
He has gotten some key hits and played good defense. His hit last nite though just proved the adage that any ML hitter can hit a meatball.