Soulstation1 Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 (edited) get your picks in ss1 Edited October 22, 2004 by Soulstation1 Quote
BERIGAN Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 (edited) I surprised myself, and said Sox in 7. Hard to vote against a team that came back from 3-0. I was going to do a poll myself Soulstation1 , and well, your choices were going to be better than mine. I was going to say I that the Cards had a 51% chance of winning it all. It's gonna be close, don't ya think??? The Cards do NOT have a Shilling type of starters, good, but not great. Lots of runs will be scored. The Cards have a better bullpen IMO, at least it hasn't been used quite as much. Didn't I hear that Edmonds made the first error by any Cardinal of the entire post season tonight???? How the hell can that be??? Larry Walker made plays in game 6 that were incredible, somehow keeping Beltran to a single with a ball off the wall, this ain't a little park. Rolen is the best 3rd baseman in baseball. So, Defense is a Cards advantage. Offence is a slight advantage for the Sox, but both are good, Ortiz or Pujols up in the 9th, with runners on? Just walk 'em! That stupid winner of the Allstar game giving home field advantage to their league may be the difference. Edited October 22, 2004 by BERIGAN Quote
Brad Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 Sox in 6. I wanted to say 5 but this one will probably go a little bit longer. Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I generally agree with Berigan's analysis. The Cards have a tremendous offensive lineup (though the Yanks did, too), and some tremendous defenders. But don't count out the Sox on defense, either. About the only truly weak link is Manny in left, and Bellhorn is just adequate overall. The big defensive problem will be in St. Louis when Ortiz will have to play first base, and Millar probably sits unless he's been hot and Nixon hasn't. On the bullpens, I think its as close to even as you can get. The work they had to do to beat the Yanks-that's three days old when the game starts. I don't think fatigue will be that much of a factor, unless we get some more crazy games. Also, as solid as Isringhausen is, he's no Rivera. Trading in Rivera for Isringhausen means that automatically, the odds of a save have gone down. Offensively, the Cards are tremendous, no doubt about it. But the Sox do OK, too, which leads me to the important distinction: There's no devastating ace on the Cards staff. No Clemens or Oswalt or Pedro or Schilling, no Mussina and certainly no Randy Johnson. No one to strike fear in the heart of a lineup, feeling that you have to take advantage of any opportunity you get because it may be the only one. Good pitchers, all, but with that offensive juggernaut, I find it remarkable that no one managed to win more than 16 games. I know, they all won 15, but c'mon-that's a function of decent pitching with great offense. A true ace, on a team with 105 wins has got to end up with 20 wins, and no one did. Its basically a staff of third starters-terrific third starters, or second and third starters-but no one to scare the other side. And I mean no disrespect! So, if the Sox aces do their work, I think we'll be fine. And the last reason to have faith: 4 games at Fenway, and the team had the second best home record in baseball. Quote
Brad Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I think the only area that the Cardinals may have an edge is the offense but I don't think that's much of an edge because the guys you need to stay away from are Rolen and Pujols. If you can pitch around them, I think they can be pitched to. The Sox are much more evenly balanced in my opinion. Their starting pitching is not that impressive and the ERAs are high for the NL. Isn't Morris' ERA near 5. It's a nice staff but not a championship staff in my opinion. I'm not that impressed by their bullpen because in a big spot I don't think Isringhausen will do it for you. He's not a big time closer in my opinion. He blew the save in game 6 and the game in game 5. Edmonds is very good defensively but hey the Sox only made one error in the ALCS and Cabrera really impresses me. So I still like Sox in 6. One other factor. In the NLCS, the Cards did not win a road game and split 2 in the NLDS. The Sox have proven they can win on the road and since the Sox have home field, they will win. Quote
BERIGAN Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 (edited) I think the only area that the Cardinals may have an edge is the offense but I don't think that's much of an edge because the guys you need to stay away from are Rolen and Pujols. If you can pitch around them, I think they can be pitched to. The Sox are much more evenly balanced in my opinion. Their starting pitching is not that impressive and the ERAs are high for the NL. Isn't Morris' ERA near 5. It's a nice staff but not a championship staff in my opinion. I'm not that impressed by their bullpen because in a big spot I don't think Isringhausen will do it for you. He's not a big time closer in my opinion. He blew the save in game 6 and the game in game 5. Edmonds is very good defensively but hey the Sox only made one error in the ALCS and Cabrera really impresses me. So I still like Sox in 6. One other factor. In the NLCS, the Cards did not win a road game and split 2 in the NLDS. The Sox have proven they can win on the road and since the Sox have home field, they will win. One area I forgot about when talking offense is team speed, and against a knuckballer, that could be a big deal. I haven't heard a word about Chris Carpenter, is he out of the WS for sure??? Matt Morris seemed to have a big problem with runners on during the playoffs, all of the sudden, his Curve didn't do much(Forget who was doing the Cards/LA game on TV, but they brought it up) when pitching from the stretch, and I bet that has been a problem all year. Suppan and Williams are probably the best starters right now, I am sure Sox fans must find Suppan's name as a surprise! I think I saw on ESPN that the last 4 WS the Sox were in , they each went to 7 games, and we know how that worked out....Better try it in 6! EDIT.... Why was there so few days between the Playoffs and the WS??? Only one day for the NL team?? I thought there was always 2 days even after a 7 game series! Edited October 22, 2004 by BERIGAN Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 As far as team speed goes, Wake and Pedro were bad at holding runners, Schilling and Arroyo less so. So, yes, Cards can try to run, for sure. As far as Wakefield goes, I did see that Mirabelli is getting the start, a good idea in my opinion. Whichever Card pitcher was hurt-he's done, supposedly. And another potential problem with the Card starters: don't they all give up homers, but most especially Morris (led the league?)? Not a good thing against the Sox. Keys for the Sox: Manny produces runs. Damon is the Damon we saw in Game 7. Bellhorn sets the table. Of course, number one is somewhat dependent on number two and three. The tablesetters have to do their jobs so the big boppers can do theirs. Then Red Sox Nation can sleep easy. Quote
sheldonm Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I just returned from the St. Louis game last, what a blast . It's appears the board is full of Rex Sox supporters. Although I have been a fan and student of baseball since childhood, I will not proclaim to be an expert are many of you appear to be. As I mentioned to Dan earlier, it all comes down to execution; it will be an exciting series. BTW, if Rolen is #3, who are the #1-2 3rd basemen ??? Mark Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 BTW, if Rolen is #3, who are the #1-2 3rd basemen ??? Who said that? Quote
sheldonm Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 BTW, if Rolen is #3, who are the #1-2 3rd basemen ??? Who said that? My fault, I read Berigan's post incorrectly. He said the best 3rd baseman, not the 3rd best. I even read it 2-3 times as I couldn't believe he was saying that. My dyslexia is kicking in ! m- Quote
Jazzmoose Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 Cards in 7. The only question to be answered is who's the new Buckner... Quote
BERIGAN Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 Cards in 7. The only question to be answered is who's the new Buckner... I predict Manny! Are you back in the fold, brother Moose???? B-) Quote
Alec Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I picked the Sox in five, but I don't really care. I'm hoping that they win so I won't have to hear anything more about the damned "curse"! Quote
sheldonm Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I picked the Sox in five, but I don't really care. I'm hoping that they win so I won't have to hear anything more about the damned "curse"! It's not really a curse, it's more of one team being much better than the other! Quote
Noj Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 I picked the Red Sox in 6, but who knows? Both of these teams have tremendous batting line-ups, it will come down to pitching (always the same story in baseball, I guess). I hope Boston wins, it would be better for baseball. Quote
Jim R Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 I said Cards in 6 (the #1 vote-getter as I write this, although most of those voters didn't post any comments). Although I've always been a SF Giants fan with a preference for the national league, I'm going to be pulling for the Sox to finally get over the hump. I just think St. Louis is going to win it (gut feeling). Quote
Dan Gould Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 Its been announced that Mirabelli will catch Wakefield tonite, and it should be noted that this is not the major offensive reduction some people commented on during the ALCS. From today's Boston Globe: He has now constructed the equivalent of one full plate-appearance season with the Red Sox. In 615 at-bats, he has 31 home runs, 40 doubles, 101 runs batted in, and a Red Sox career .475 slugging percentage. An impressive 45 percent (71 of 159) of hits while wearing a Red Sox uniform have been for extra bases. What other official backup catcher can approach those figures? Quote
PHILLYQ Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 I think Bosox in 6, as long as they blow out St. Louis in game 6: if it's close, something weird will happen and the Bosox will lose game 6 & 7 and the 'Curse' will live on. Quote
Quincy Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 Something to watch for in Game 1 - Edmonds is 17 for 37 against Wakefield (just 1 homer though.) The rest haven't really faced him more than once or twice. Won't be long now until the 1st pitch! Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 (edited) here I am again, left out in the cold. I was hoping some team from the Negro Leagues would be playing the Black Sox. History and sociology collide in PROFESSIONAL sports. For you little kiddies, that is not sport at all. Edited October 23, 2004 by Chuck Nessa Quote
Brad Posted October 24, 2004 Report Posted October 24, 2004 F'in Manny. I hope he doesn't cost them the game Quote
Brad Posted October 24, 2004 Report Posted October 24, 2004 After winning this game the way they did and the ALCS, the Sox must be blessed this year. Fortune must be shining on them. GO SOX! Quote
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