Braves/Cards/Giants

[kaldaniels]

Originally Posted by mdccclxix

What a knife twisting defeat for Atlanta at the hands of their rival, the new king, Philly.

What about the looks across the infield you were talking about...I missed it.

[mdccclxix]

Biggest upside: if the Cards advance, Albert may decide he wants to accomplish more elsewhere.

[mdccclxix]

Originally Posted by kaldaniels

What about the looks across the infield you were talking about...I missed it.

Yeah, I thought it was a duplicate so I deleted it. There were a lot of "see you next year" looks from the Atlanta bench. Especially their manager. Just my interpretation. Philly fought tooth and nail "for no reason". I'm sure the emotions are just about raw as they can get for Atlanta right now.

[mbgrayson]

I am amazed they did it it, but they did. Wow. The Cardinals are in the playoffs. I dislike that team very much, but I have to admit that unlike the Reds, they didn't give up. LaRussa and their vets kept the pressure on, and lo and behold, they made it. They had a great September, going 18 wins, 8 losses, and not losing a series since the Reds beat them 2 of 3 in early September.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Never thought I'd be rooting for Philly this postseason, but I sure will be. Go Phils!

[mdccclxix]

I'll probably take on AZ or Milwaukee, nah AZ or bust. F Milwaukee too.

AZ
Milwaukee
Philly
Cards

[kaldaniels]

Originally Posted by mdccclxix

Yeah, I thought it was a duplicate so I deleted it. There were a lot of "see you next year" looks from the Atlanta bench. Especially their manager. Just my interpretation. Philly fought tooth and nail "for no reason". I'm sure the emotions are just about raw as they can get for Atlanta right now.

I guess if you are looking at it from Atlanta's viewpoint you can get angry about it, but they really don't have much of a case. Perhaps PHL would rather have STL in the playoff field. If they do and they can make it happen, why not? "For no reason" isn't totally spot-on if you ask me.

[mdccclxix]

Originally Posted by kaldaniels

I guess if you are looking at it from Atlanta's viewpoint you can get angry about it, but they really don't have much of a case. Perhaps PHL would rather have STL in the playoff field. If they do and they can make it happen, why not? "For no reason" isn't totally spot-on if you ask me.

Oh I agree, but Atlanta looked to have lost some composure.

[cincrazy]

I'll certainly be rooting for Philly. But a tip of the cap to St. Louis for completing a miraculous comeback. Say what you will about that team, but they just made baseball history tonight, with a fair bit of help from the Braves, of course.

[RedsManRick]

I'm sure he could care less right now, but Pujols finished the season with a .299 average and 99 RBI -- the first time he failed to hit .300 or drive in 100.

[MikeThierry]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

I'm sure he could care less right now, but Pujols finished the season with a .299 average and 99 RBI -- the first time he failed to hit .300 or drive in 100.

Yeah, that was an amazing streak and still holds the record. I think he was sort of pressing the last couple of games to get to 100 RBI's. Took some very unconventional swings in his final at bats. Now that he doesn't have to think about the streak anymore, he can relax.

I wouldn't bet against the Cards. I know Philly is a juggernaut but StL has been hot for a month and they played well against Philly during the last few weeks of the season

I think the one thing that could help out the Cardinals is that they do have the best offense in the NL. More importantly, they strike out the least of any team in the NL if not all of baseball. If you look at the Phillies staff, they are strikeout pitchers and the Cards lineup might give them some troubles. I remember a game earlier this year were Cliff Lee gave up something like 7 walks to Cardinals hitters and in the last game against Halladay, they were able to get to them because they were patient at the plate. I'm not saying the Cards will win but that could be one thing that gets them over the top in this series.

Some other thoughts on the game. I know you guys hate Carpenter here but the dude showed you why he is an Ace. Gave up only 2 hits and struck out a season high 11 batters. I know they were the Astros but you gotta give props to him. Also seeing Arthur Rhodes celebrate in the clubhouse kind of gave me a smile. He is one of those good guys in baseball.

[CTA513]

Reds fans favorite pitcher with a dominate performance to help snatch the NL wild card.

[Ron Madden]

Like I said earlier, I'm not a huge Fan of the present day Cardinals but I'm glad they beat the Braves out of the Wild Card.

Sure the Braves choked but ya gotta give the Cards credit too. The Cardinals overcame adversity and injuries to win 90 games including 16 of their last 21 games in the heat of the Wild Card race.

[cumberlandreds]

Originally Posted by Chip R

I wouldn't bet against the Cards. I know Philly is a juggernaut but StL has been hot for a month and they played well against Philly during the last few weeks of the season.

I totally agree with you. The Cards have the hitting to get enough runs to overcome any pitching the Phils throw at them. The Phils haven't been playing well either the last two weeks. It may be hard for them to suddently turn it on. The Cards pitching is just good enough to shutdown the Phillies offense which isn't that great anyway. I think this could be a very good 5 game series that could go either way.

[oneupper]

Nightmare scenario: Yankees-Cardinals WS with Costas and McCarver announcing.