Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
...Or battle of the once and future chumps, however you'd like to put it. After the Cards rolled over the Tigers in Game 1, it's Jeff Weaver and Kenny Rogers in Game 2. It's been my feeling all along that Rogers won't win a pressure game this October. This isn't exactly a 2-0 game, or a 2-2 game like the one Weaver started in the NLCS, but there is some heat on the Tigers to win tonight. Let's see if the real Gambler finally shows.
I dunno...I think Rogers is going to step up. Just because Alex's predictions are usually the kiss of death. ;-)
last time i heard something like that the pitchers threw the ball really well.
"Whatever problem Alex has with Derek, if he has one, doesn't affect us on the field," he said. "We didn't not beat Detroit because of any issue with Alex. Their pitching was exceptional, they were a better team. Not because Joe doesn't like Alex or because Alex doesn't get along with Derek.
"It's because the Tigers did everything exponentially better than us. That's the bottom line."
http://tinyurl.com/yelhoj
14 Rogers is one of the most unlikeable guys in the game, and you're exactly right no one is buying his act. But zero runs allowed in the PS? Something is going on. My guess is a heart transplant.
Update: Buck just interviewing Leyland on the substance topic I dunno, but 'ol Jimmy's eyes were blinking a little too much when he said he 'didn't know anything about it'.
http://tinyurl.com/ygdeqq
I blame ARod.
And I so thought the game was going to be tied or won by Molina. Something about Todd Jones bugs me--maybe it's that he has more saves than strikeouts this year, or his wad of chew?
At his age, it's very suspicious that he's suddenly throwing the ball faster than he has in years.
What's with this sudden 'passion'? The anger, the stalking, the dugout body language and profanities... pul-eeze. Who is he kidding?
24 PED? Street grade meth. Test this puke. Now.
Face it. He's pumped to show up the Yankees and the entire baseball universe for dumping on him in the past.
I'm into 'Storm Stories' ;-)
Remember, they had Randy averaging 96-98 in Game 3. I can count on two hands the number of pitches he threw that hard in the regular season.
I can only hope that's pine tar. It certainly isn't dirt.
Man, it feels so long ago.
As far as I can see, he's facing a terrible, terrible, team, but he's also getting great location. He's also seemed to have the Cardinals guessing, and guessing wrong, a greal deal.
Like it or not, that type of gamesmanship/strategy/cheating is part of the game. Sometimes, getting caught also is, I guess. LaRussa loves catching people, so it'll be interesting to see the fallout over this.
If the Tigers win the World Series, they have to beat the Yankees again in a new five game series. And Kenny Rogers will have to throw right-handed.
If the Tiger's lose that series, MLB does the whole AL postseason over again. Whoever wins the CS will be the assumed winner of the World Series.
Baseball in November!
(gawd, what a long, slow, cold trip it'll be.)
As for Kenny Rogers I'm no fan of his and you won't see me defend him like I do Alex :) . But I have to ask. They found the dirt, pine tar etc.. in the first inning. If that was helping him ( how he was cheating) then why weren't the Cardinals able to put up more hits/runs in innings 2-8, after he washed it off? Shouldn't he have lost something on those pitches afterwards?
here's an article by ken rosenthal all about kenny's mysterious smudge, complete with before and after pics.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6088362
43 and yes, he managed to pitch just as good (arguably better, that S.O.B.) after he washed his hand.
25 talk about emotions... did you see him after the game? he was fighting back tears.
is it sad that the very INSTANT i saw the shot of his dirty hand i was looking forward to reading the reactions here?
I don't think you have to discount most of Ford's career. The revelations in "Ball Four" date to the final four years of Ford's career. That's when I'd expect a once-great pitcher to seek additional assistance to maintain his career. I doubt that the 1957 Whitey was throwing the buckle ball or the ring ball.
Not that Kenny Rogers is a "once-great pitcher" but he is in the final years of his career. So is Rogers' "additional assistance" justified because of his age? And wouldn't a guy his age have found a better hiding spot for his pine tar than his pitching hand?
(BTW, if this sounds like I'm defending Rogers, I'm not...)
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