Posts Tagged ‘St Louis Cardinals’

How was your Week?

Posted: February 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
Tags: , , , ,
1

It was a bit of a tough week to be a hockey or basketball fan in Chicago. On Tuesday the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane was crossed checked and fell awkwardly into the boards. He didn’t return to the game and had surgery a couple of days later for what was being reported as a broken clavicle. The NHL doesn’t report what is injured on a player, but here in Chicago they’re reporting broken clavicle and Kane will be out about 12 weeks. The Blackhawks would have to go deep into the playoffs for Kane to return and without him that will be tough for them to do. Kane was being mentioned as a candidate for MVP and was among the top scorers in the NHL Kane has 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points this season in 61 games for the Blackhawks. The same day Kane’s injury was announced the Chicago Bulls announced that Derrick Rose needed another knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus ligament. Rose had his surgery yesterday (Friday) and at a press conference the Bulls said he’d be out 4 to 6 weeks. I think this is a bit of an accelerated time line for Rose to come back. Russell Westbrook had this same type of surgery and was out 8 weeks. Now most Bulls fans will remember the first time Rose had knee surgery there where reports that he’d be returning and then he wouldn’t. What happens if we get to the Bulls announced 6 week mark and Rose isn’t ready to play. With Rose’s injury history when I heard he was injured again I just figured he was done for the season. If Rose is out the 6 weeks he’ll return with 3 regular season games left. Is that enough time for him to get ready to help the Bulls make a playoff run? Even though both teams have winning records; both teams have been disappointing this season. The Blackhawks are 37-21-5 and in 3rd place in the Central division of the Western conference with 79 points. Even without Kane they should get into the playoffs, but at the beginning of the season this team was considered a Stanley Cup contender and I’m not sure many people think that now.  The Bulls are 37-22 and hold a 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central Division of the Eastern conference. Even if the Bulls can’t hold off the Cavaliers and win the Central division they’ll still make the playoffs. At the start of the season there was a lot of talk that the Bulls would represent the Eastern conference in the N.B.A. finals and some experts where even picking them to win it all, but right now are they a threat to even get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. I did actually hear a couple of Chicago blaming Tom Thibodeau for Derrick Rose’s injury. Thibodeau appears to be on the hot seat in Chicago as reports have come out that the front office team of Gar Foreman and John Paxson don’t like Thibodeau and his coaching style; so it was looking like he would be fired at the end of the season anyway. If anyone on the Bulls organization is blaming Thibodeau for Rose getting hurt you’d have to figure this is just another nail in his Bulls coaching coffin. Luckily for Chicago fans there’s a lot of hope for the upcoming baseball season. That’s a good thing as I wouldn’t be surprised if both the Bulls and the Blackhawks get knocked out of their respective playoffs very early or even in the 1st round.

If you’re a Bay area sports fan last night (Friday) was a good night to listen to Sports Time Radio. Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports was on the podcast with us. Nick covered everything San Francisco Giants wise and stuck around with us to talk some Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers football. We didn’t get into the Golden State Warriors, but Mr. Fantasy isn’t the biggest basketball fan; so we stayed away from that team. We  have quite a few interviews on the podcast and it’s not like your normal radio interview where the guests answers 2 or 3 questions and then they’re let go. We keep our guests on with us for almost a full 30 minutes and last night Nick stayed on the podcast with us for an hour to cover all the topics we wanted to discuss with him. We’re doing what we can to get someone from all 30 Major League Baseball teams to get previews for the upcoming season. I typed we’re, but it’s actually Dan the Man who schedules all the interviews for Sports Time Radio. If there’s a guest you’d like us to try to get on the podcast e-mail us SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com and will see if they’re willing to come on and talk to us.

Are the St. Louis Cardinals losing their grip on the NL Central? Adam Wainwright had to miss a few days of spring training already with what was being reported as an abdominal strain. Wainwright was given a few days off and has resumed his spring training workouts, but don’t forget he is also coming off surgery to clean up his throwing elbow.  Wainwright is the ace of the Cardinals pitching staff and they can’t afford to lose him for any long period of time. You do have to wonder if this abdominal injury will linger into the start of the season and cause issues. Yader Molina also missed quite a few regular season games with a thumb injury. While Molina did return for the playoffs, but went 5 for 22 in 6 playoff games. There are other questions with the Cardinals starting rotation besides Wainwright’s health. Lance Lynn is solid as a #2, but what can the Cardinals expect out of Michael Wacha and John Lackey as their 3rd and 4th starters. Then who gets the 5th spot in the rotation? Jaime Garcia, Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez. While I do feel that St. Louis is still the best team in the NL Central I think the gap is starting to close. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been there the last couple of seasons, the Chicago Cubs look like an improved team and remember the Milwaukee Brewers where in 1st place in this division for the better part of 2014. Sorry Cincinnati Reds fans; I think you may end up in the cellar of this division.

So how was your week?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 9/6/14

Posted: September 6, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
Tags: , , , ,
0

Thursday night the NFL season kicked off in Seattle. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks defeated the Green Bay Packers 36-16. It was a tight game going into the 2nd half. Seattle was ahead 17-10 at halftime, but was able to pull away in the second half. The Seahawks added a field goal and a safety in the 3rd quarter while holding Green Bay scoreless to make the score 22-10 after three quarters. While the Packers where able to put up a touchdown in the 4th quarter the Seahawks scored 2 touchdowns to get the score to where it ended 36-16.

The Seahawks were led by quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Marshawn Lynch and wide receiver Percy Harvin, Wilson was 19/28 for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wilson also ran the ball 7 times for 29 yards. Lynch handle the load on the ground for the Seahawks carrying the football 20 timed for 110 yards and scoring twice. Harvin led the Seahawks in receptions with 7 and receiving yards with 59. Ricardo Lockette and Derrick Coleman where the two players Wilson threw his touchdown passes to. On the defensive side the Seahawks had 3 sacks and 1 interception. Cliff Avril, O’Brien Schofield and Michael Bennett where the Seahawks getting sacks. Bennett’s sack led to the Seattle safety which was credited to Tony McDaniel. Byron Maxwell got the interception for Seattle. Bobby Wagner led the team with 14 tackles and Kam Chancellor had 11 tackles. For the Packers Aaron Rodgers was 23/33 for 189 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. James Starks gained the most yards rushing for the Packers. Carrying the ball 7 times for 37 yards. John Kuhn had the Packers rushing touchdown. Jordy Nelson was the Packers leading receiver with 9 catches for 83 yards. Randall Cobb caught the touchdown pass from Rodgers. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had the Packers only sack of the game while Morgan Burnett and A.J. Hawk where the teams leading tacklers with 8 tackles apiece.

You’ll get our full picks for Week 1 of the NFL season on Sunday’s show, but on every Thursday show will let you know who we’re picking for that night’s game. On the show we all had Seattle winning this game; so going into Sunday’s game we’re all 1-0. This season Schaumburg Stu is joining myself, Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man in picking the week’s NFL games.

It seemed like at one point in time everyone had expected the St. Louis cardinals to pass the Milwaukee Brewers for 1st place in the National League (N.L.) Central and it finally happened. Milwaukee ended a nine game losing streak last night (Friday) with a 6-2 win over St. Louis. They’re playing a four game series against each other this weekend. St. Louis won Thursday nights game; so the series is 1 game apiece right now. The Brewers are 3 games out of 1st place and really need to win the two remaining games in this series to tighten the division race. Milwaukee does hold 1 of the 3 N.L. wild card spots, but any team would prefer to win the division than go into that one game wild card playoff. Tonight’s game is a 6:10 p.m. (CST) start in Miller Park features Lance Lynn (14-8) on the mound for the Cardinals against Kyle Lohse (12-8) for the Brewers. Lynn is the pitcher St. Louis likes to see on the mound in Milwaukee. Lynn is 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings in nine games; five starts at Milwaukee, including three relief appearances in the 2011 N.L. championship series.
He fanned 11 Brewers while scattering three hits in seven innings of a 4-0 win in his most recent visit to Miller Park on April 14. Lohse is in a six-start stretch in which he’s gone 1-4 with a 6.46 ERA while opponents have batted .322. He was roughed up for seven runs Sunday and pulled with two outs in the sixth of a 15-5 defeat at San Francisco. While there are a couple of other close pennant races these are the only two top teams playing each other this week. The other tight races have the Loa Angeles Dodgers with a 2 game lead in the N.L. West over the San Francisco Giants. The Kansas City Royals also have a 2 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the American League (A.L.) Central. I mentioned earlier that teams would much, much rather win their division than be a wild card team. Not that a team wouldn’t take a spot in the playoffs as a wild card team, but you’d much rather win your division than go into the winner take all wild card game.

Team USA has moved into the next round of play in the FIBA World Cup. The international basketball tournament is borrowing the name from soccer. Team USA’s average margin of victory is 33.2 Points Per Game (PPG) through its first five games. While I’m not all that interested in this tournament the National Basketball Association (NBA) news that came out was when NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that he believes expanded legalized sports betting in the United States is what he called “inevitable,” and the league is open to participating in it. Silver is the first professional sports commissioner who has come out and address gambling and their league. It’s a change in tune for the NBA, which in 2012 joined the NCAA, NFL, MLB and NHL in suing New Jersey over its efforts to bring legalized sports betting to its casinos and race tracks. The sports leagues, which were joined by the Department of Justice, ultimately prevailed over New Jersey with a majority decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. New Jersey, however, is continuing its pursuit of sports betting. More than $3.6 billion was wagered on sports at Nevada sports books in 2013. The American Gaming Association, citing the National Gambling Impact Study, estimates that as much as $380 billion is wagered illegally in the U.S. annually. I’d be interested to know where the other major sports stand on this topic, but I doubt will hear much from them on gambling. This is a story that I’ll be interested to see play out.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

+

11/16/13 How was your Week?

Posted: November 16, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20131121-205611.jpg

So major league baseball handed out their awards for the regular season. They gave out The Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young award and the MVP award. For the most part I think the voting went as it should’ve. Will Myers and Jose Fernandez won the Rookie of the Year awards for their leagues. Fernandez beat out Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Myers main competition was from his teammate Chris Archer and the Detroit Tigers José Iglesias. These where the two players I thought should’ve won the awards. I think the only award that they handed out that I wasn’t in total agreement with was A. L. Manager of the Year. I thought John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox would get this award, but he finished 2nd to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. While the Indians had a good season Farrell and the Red Sox went from worst to first and I think he should’ve won this award. There where a lot of good choices in the national League for manager of the Year, but it was Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates who won the award. You could debate about Mike Matheny, Don Mattingly or Fredi González win this award, but I had no issue at all with the choice of Hurdle. Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw won the Cy Young awards for their leagues. Scherzer won 21 games and was the best choice in the American League. I know a lot of the new experts don’t value wins anymore, but 21 is an impressive total. The only other pitchers getting 1st place votes where Chris Sale and Scherzer’s teammate Anibal Sanchez while Yu Darvish finished 2nd in the voting. Kershaw received 29 out of 30 1st place votes on his way to his 2nd Cy young award in three years. The other 1st place vote went to the St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright. Rookie of the Year Jose Fernandez finished 3rd in the voting. Alright the category that drives me crazy M. V. P. Andrew McCutchen won the National League award getting all but two 1st place votes. While I believe McCutchen deserved this award I thought the voting would be much, much closer than it was. Paul Goldschimdt of the Arizona Diamondbacks finished 2nd in the voting and St. Louis cardinals catcher Yader Molina finished 3rd and got the other two 1st place votes. There was a little complaining about Molina’s 1st place votes since they came from two local St. Louis writers. I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal because I believe both writers had McCutchen 2nd on their ballots. Dan the Man mentioned on Friday’s show that Nike already has ads with McCutchen in them running; so I guess they thought he’d win as well. Now in the American League all I can say is here we go again. Miguel Cabrera won the MVP for the second year in a row and he should have. Mike Trout finished 2nd in the voting and I don’t think he should’ve been that high. While I like a lot of experts feel that Trout is the best player in baseball; there’s a difference between best and valuable. Again while Trout is the best; Cabrera is the most valuable. Cabrera got 23 1st place votes while Trout got 5 1st place votes; Chris Davis finished in 3rd place and got one first place vote. While I think Trout will win an M. V. P. award or two he hasn’t deserved to win these last two seasons. I’m glad the voters have been able to see this award the right way the last couple of seasons.

I guess we’re going to see if the Kansas City Chiefs are for real. The Chiefs take their 9 – 0 record to Mile High to take on the 8 – 1 Denver Broncos. More and more it’s looking like one of these teams win the A F C West and the other will claim one of the wild card spots. Denver plays very well at home and the Chiefs will need to use Jamaal Charles running ability to control the ball and keep Peyton Manning and the Denver offense off the field. I do have to wonder if the Dwayne Bowe arrest during the week will be any type of distraction for the Chiefs. There where a couple of drug arrests this week in the NFL as not only Bowe, but Jason Snelling of the Atlanta Falcons was arrested for possession of marijuana. Both players are scheduled to play in their teams games this weekend and you have to wonder if the NFL will step in and administer any type of punishment to either player.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on twitter @Burketime

11/02/13 How was your Week?

Posted: November 2, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

The Boston Red Sox are World Series champions. I have to tell the truth I thought the St. Louis Cardinals would end up winning that series. In game 6 Michael Wacha showed that he was a rookie with very limited playoff experience. I thought that the Cardinals would break out and start hitting, but the Red Sox pitching shut them down. John Lackey had a big comeback season and series. Lackey has clinched 2 World series for 2 different teams. As a rookie Lackey got the win in the World Series clinching game for the Angels. I don’t know if they where being called The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim yet or if they where still the California Angeles. Sorry I got a little side tracked there. David Ortiz was the M.V.P. of the World Series; while some experts where pushing for Clay Bucholtz to win the award. I believe they made the right choice as Ortiz put up numbers that only 2 people have done better than in a World Series. After the way Ortiz played in the World Series and with winning the M.V.P., talk started on if he will make the baseball Hall of Fame when his career is over. I don’t really know where I stand on this but I’ve heard everything from he’ll be a first ballot hall of famer to he won’t get in because he didn’t play defense. The Red Sox went from worst to first and now the talk starts on if they’ll repeat in 2014.

So which one of you had the Miami Heat starting the season 1 – 2. I know it’s very early in the season but I’m a little surprised the Heat have dropped 2 consecutive games. I really thought the Heat might struggle opening night against the Chicago Bulls but they handled the Bulls easily 107 – 95. They turned around the next night and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 114 – 110 and then last night lost to the Brooklyn Nets 101 – 100. Now I don’t think anyone would be surprised if at the end of the playoffs in 2014 the Heat are raising the trophy again. It just shows how odd and long the NBA season can be.

Every Sunday morning Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I make are picks for that weeks NFL games and have we had a rough year. We finally had a better week in Week 8. Dan the Man and I where 9 – 3 while Mr. Fantasy went 8 – 4. For the season Dan the Man and I are 70 – 42 while Mr. Fantasy is trailing at 65 – 48. It just seems like it’s been a tough year for us to pick games. We’ll be on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to make our picks again and talk about the week in fantasy football. I guess will see how this week goes for us.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on @Burketime

9/28/13 How was your Week?

Posted: September 28, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20130929-090321.jpg

With a couple of games left in the regular season for major league baseball there is still 1 playoff spot that needs to be decided. The Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers are all playing for that 1 remaining playoff spot. We talked about how a tiebreaker would go on Fridays show if all 3 teams ended up with the same record. I got it really wrong on the air but I believe this is how a 3 way tie would work out. Tampa Bay would play at Cleveland; the winner gets a wild card spot and the loser would go to Texas to play the Rangers the next day with the winner of that game getting the second wild card spot. If these teams did end up tied either Tampa bay or Cleveland could end up playing 164 games this season. Of course this all goes away if Tampa Bay and Cleveland win today (Saturday) and Texas loses. The St. Louis cardinals clinched the National League Central last night (Friday) beating the Chicago Cubs 6 – 0. The National League wild card spots go to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds. The game looks like it will be played in Pittsburgh and will have Francisco Liriano starting for the Pirates and Mat Latos taking the mound for the Reds.

Bud Selig has announced that he will be retiring from his role as commissioner of baseball following next season. Now Selig has made this type of announcement before and was talked into staying by the owners. This time it looks like Selig will walk away but there is another season to go. Everyone has an opinion on who should be the one to take Selig’s place. I’m just like everyone else and I think the next commissioner of baseball should be Cal Ripken Jr. Ripken Jr. just kind of embodies the game of baseball to me. He was a Hall of Fame player who played every single day. Who’s your choice to replace Bud Selig?

Mariano Rivera played his last game in Yankee stadium this week. I enjoyed the way the Yankees came out and removed Rivera from the game. Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter made the trip to the mound to take Rivera out of the game. It took a minute or two before Rivera broke down and started to cry while hugging Pettitte first and then Jeter. A point came up after this that Rivera would like to play centerfield. Now I’ve heard some reports rip Rivera and the Yankees for this and I don’t understand why. The Yankees aren’t in the playoff race and there playing the Houston Astros this weekend; who also aren’t in the playoff race. If he went out and played just 1 inning in centerfield would it tarnish his career. I don’t think so. Not only do I hope Joe Giradi and the Yankees let Rivera play centerfield, I hope he gets the opportunity to catch a fly ball.

I know it’s a lot of baseball this week, but it is playoff time. The NFL is in Week 4 and college football is in Week 5. Did you have the New York Giants at 0 – 3? Maybe you’re the person taking Mississippi to upset Alabama today. We’re previewing all your NFL games Sunday mornings from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m Central, The Sports Time Radio Pregame Show. We will cover all your fantasy plays and even pick the winners of the games. Picking the winners doesn’t always work out for us but who gets them all right.

So how was your week? You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

The Sports Time Radio All – Stars

Posted: July 6, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

20130706-192028.jpg

If you’ve listened to Sports Time Radio you know that we’re not a huge fan of the way the major league baseball All Star teams are selected. So I tried to have us put together our own All Star team. Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu and I all made list of our All Stars. Here’s how we went about it. Each person ranked the top 3 players at 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, Shortstop and Catcher. We ranked 9 outfielders, 6 starting pitchers and 4 relievers. A player got 10 points for a 1st place vote. 8 points for a 2nd place vote. 6 points for a 3rd place vote and then 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points, 1 point and a half of a point for positions 4th through 9th. Here how are voting came out. The player’s point total is in parenthesis. Others getting votes will be listed.

National League

Catcher: Yader Molina (38)

Buster Posey (34) Wilin Rosario (12) Evan Gattis (12)

1st Baseman: Joey Votto (34) Paul Goldschimdt (34) Tie!

Adrian Gonzalez (16) Freddie Freeman (12)

2nd Baseman: Brandon Phillips (34) Matt Carpenter (34) Tie!

Marco Scutaro (16) Daniel Murphy (6) Jedd Gyroko (6)

Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki (36)

Jean Segura (34) Everth Cabrera (26)

3rd Baseman: David Wright (36)

Pablo Sandoval (26) Michael Young (16) Ryan Zimmerman (12) Pedro Alvarez (6)

Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez (28), Carlos Beltran (18) Andrew McCutchen (15)

Dominic Brown (14) Carlos Gomez (14) Dexter Fowler (13) Hunter Pence (11) Michael Cuddyer (11) Bryce Harper (8) Justin Upton (7) Shin Shoo Choo (6) Ryan Braun (5) Gerardo Parra (5) Jay Bruce (4) Norichika Aoki (2) Starling Marte (1) Matt Holiday (1/2) Alfonso Soriano (1/2)

Starting Pitcher: Patrick Corbin (30)

Adam Wainwright (27) Jordan Zimmerman (23) Matt Harvey (22) Clayton Kershaw (13) Shelby Miller (11) Mike Minor (6) Cliff Lee (5) Jeff Locke (4) Travis Wood (3)

Relievers: Jason Grilli (40)

Edwin Mujica (22) Craig Kimbel (14) Rafael Sorinao (10) Aroldis Chapman (8) Sergio Romo (6) Mark Melancon (6)

American League

Catcher: Joe Mauer (40)

Carlos Santana (28) Jarrod Saltalamacchia (8) Matt Wieters (6) Salvador Perez (6)

1st Baseman: Chris Davis (40)

Prince Fielder (28) James Loney (14) Edwin Encarnacion (8) Adam Lind (6)

2nd Baseman: Dustin Pedroia (32)

Robinson Cano (28) Jose Altuve (16) Howie Kendrick (12) Jason Kipnis (8)

Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta (38)

J.J Hardy (32) Alexei Ramirez (8) Elvis Andrus (6) Jed Lowrie (6) Ben Zobrist (6)

3rd Baseman: Miguel Cabrera (40)

Adrian Beltre (16) Manny Machado (14) Josh Donaldson (14) Evan Longoria (12)

Outfielders: Mike Trout (33) Adam Jones (30) Tori Hunter (18)

Alex Rios (15) Coco Crisp (12) Jose Bautista (12) Nate McLouth (9 1/2) Alex Gordon (7) Brett Gardner (6 1/2) Jacoby Ellsbruy (6) Curtis Granderson (4) Nick Markakis (2) Melky Cabrera (1) Nelson Cruz (1) Mark Trumbo (1)

Starting Pitcher: Clay Buchholz (30)

Max Scherzer (27) Yu Darvish (23) Hisashi Iwakuma (16) Bartolo Colon (14) Justin Masterson (10) Justin Verlander (8) Felix Hernandez (7) Matt Moore (6) Chris Sale (3)

Relievers: Mariano Rivera (40)

Joe Nathan (24) Addison Reed (11) Aaron Crow (8) Tony Sipp (6) Jim Johnson (6) Andrew Bailey (6) Jessie Crain (5) Glen Perkins (5)

Wild Card Surprise

Posted: October 7, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
3

Wooooooowww. Whether you love it or hate, It’s here The one game wild card to advance to the division series. Being that I pegged the Rangers to win the World Series. Third times a charm. 40 years with no World Series Trophy. I really thought this would be the year even with the slump at the end of the season but the A’s really surprised me as I’m sure every one who loves baseball. Sweeping the Rangers to knock them out of first place in the west. The Rangers held that spot for 176 days straight. Even though I was rooting for Wash to do it, I still like the one game playoff. It definitely adds an element of surprise and makes the last couple weeks more exciting. Of course I can’t say the same for the teams that were knocked out. Under previous rules the Rangers and Braves would own the wild card spot but it didn’t work out that way. The Orioles played a better game as did the Cardinals. Now I can say I was really surprised that the O’s knocked the Rangers out but that’s how it is. How cool would it have been for the Braves to make it to the World Series in Chipper Jones’ last season. I would have loved to have seen that but sadly last year Bobby Cox announced his retirement and this Chipper his and oddly the Cardinals knocked them out two years in a row. Down in the STL it seems to have been a pretty smooth transition year without LaRussa and Pujols but well see tonight when they host the Giants.
Now the incident that caused the Braves fans to toss garbage onto the field after the in my opinion the wrong call was made on the infield fly rule. The announcers were really upset and “this is uncalled for …blah blah blah” It may have been Big Jack didn’t really care for it. But I say let them throw garbage on the field. I’m assuming those tickets were Atleast $75 or more and they paid to see their team win not lose and they were frustrated by how the Braves were playing and when it comes down to it in the 8th every single play & call counts. Do I blame them losing the game on the ump, Chipper caused an error went 1-5 and the opportunity came up for the Braves in the 8th & 9th innings. They didn’t score the points they needed to win. With out this bad call they might have scored one point in the eighth but you never know with momentum they could have taken that game and be hosting the Giants tonight. But they’re not. Just like the infamous Bartman incident in Chicago which caused the Cubs to be knocked out of the playoffs. Everyone remembers that but forgets that the very next play would have ended the game but the ball went under Alex Gonzalezs legs at shortstop and that was it.
MLB may take a look at this rule in the offseason or not.

I have no idea who to pick for the World Series. I don’t think I’ve ever picked a winner and the possibilities. We can witness another Bay Area World Series. The Beltway series at the Big Show for the first time. The Centrals Cardinals Reds and Tigers can’t be counted out. Lets not forget about the Yankees Jeter A-Rod, Granderson, Cano.
But its been the year if the pitcher and after Sabathia & Hughes can the Yankees hold on after they pitch. The possibilities…..I’d like to see the Nats make it but I’m very partial to the Giants. I grew up a fan of Ricky Henderson, loved watching the A’s but it would be cool to see the O’s. I’d love to see the Tigers win it all just to throw it in White Sox fans faces. Sorry guys. Nobody roots for the Yankees but they have a great team. And since the Reds and Cards are in the Cubs division I can’t really get behind them.

I’ll throw these two teams out there Nationals vs Tigers. Well see next week.

The New Wild Card

Posted: October 5, 2012 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,
0

20121005-135353.jpg

Friday, October 5 2012, sparks the new playoff system that the MLB has put forth for us all to enjoy. It’s exciting its made this last couple of weeks very interesting. There were more teams in the mix this year and it gave a shot to two more teams that would have just been watching the playoffs from home like the rest of us. I have no problem with this 1 game Wild Card. It really makes these four teams the Wild Card. However listening to some people on Chicago’s local ESPN radio, you would think that this 1 game was going to confuse every and anybody. They act like its such a foreign idea that isn’t going to work. “It’s like the game 7, but its only one game.” Well DUH!!!! I mean it doesn’t take a genius to be a talk show host on radio and definetly doesn’t take a genius to figure out how this 1 game wild card is going to win.
Let me break it down in case you were listening to these guys and were a little confused because of them. Each league has 2 Wild Card teams, that’s 4 teams. The Braves will face the Cardinals in a 1 game play-off for the right to face the Washington Nationals in the Division Series that will be the best out of 5. The Rangers and the Orioles will meet for the right to face the Yankees.
The new rule besides this 1 game playoff is that the wild card team will face the team in their respective leagues that has the best win loss record. In the past, in the division series two teams from the same division wouldn’t play each other in the division series. For example, under last years rules, the four AL teams Yanks, A’s, Tigers and Rangers all have playoff spots but since the A’s and Rangers are in the same division they wouldn’t play each other unless they both advanced to the Championship Series.

As you can see this new wild card game is not confusing or demoralizing or anything negative. If your afraid of change then this is probably too much for you to handle like a smart phone. But if your like me, your excited to watch tomorrows Wild Card games. The NL is at 4:00 and the AL is 7:30 pm central. Need more info go to MLB

@mantime8

photo credit

Newer Entries