Phillies 20, Giants 19.
Giants 4, Phillies 2.
That's baseball in a nutshell. It is why the game can be both beautiful and maddingly frustrating at the same time. In a NLCS where the San Francisco Giants won 4 games to 2, the Philadelphia Phillies scored 20 runs while the San Francisco Giants plated only 19. Does it mean that the Phillies were the better team? Given the numerous mistakes they made, no, I can't say that the Phillies should be going to the World Series. But are the Giants that flukey team that have no business being there? I can't say that either.
Say what you will about how they blooped and flared their way to runs in the past week, but they have some mighty fine starting pitching. Lincecum is up there with Halladay as one of the best in the game, Jonathan Sanchez is wildly effective for the most part (tonight was the exception, not the rule), and Matt Cain is vastly underrated with a ridiculous BABIP and ability to limit home runs throughout his entire career. Like seriously. When people talk about exceptions to SABR-pitching metrics and what they tell us about pitching, Matt Cain is that guy.
As far as my rooting interests go in the 2010 World Series, I'm gonna give it to you straight. I am Switzerland. Seriously. I could not be any more neutral. If the Giants win, I will be happy for most of the team and nauseous at the site of Cody Ross getting a World Series ring. If the Rangers win, I will be happy for most of the team and nauseous at the site of Jeff Francoeur with a World Series ring. My World Series bold prediction: Bengie Molina gets a World Series ring.
Enough of my take on the World Series and more on my take on the Phillies.
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK RYAN HOWARD IS THE GOAT......
Don't let Joe Buck and his love of RBIs fool you. Phillies post-season triple slash line: .215/.309/.304. Ryan Howard's post-season triple slash line: .303/.395/.424. He did more for this team than most. He may not have gotten the RBIs, but next to Werth, he was the Phillies best hitter in the post-season.
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THE UMPIRING WAS ATROCIOUS......
I agree. But it is not the reason the series turned out the way it was. The umps fucked both teams in the ass more times than I would care to count.
TO THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK THE 2010 SEASON IS A FAILURE.......
Don't let your irrationally raised expectations deceive you. For 162 games in the regular season, the Phillies overcame injury after injury after injury after injury after injury after injury and finished the season with the best record in all baseball. And now because of some bad luck in October, this season is a complete failure? That notion is absolute horseshit that only Yankee fans can come up with. The winners in the playoffs are the teams that get the glory and the celebrations, but don't that deceive you. 162 > 9. The playoffs are a crapshoot where the best team rarely wins. It's the way it is. It's what makes sports, especially baseball, agonizing and amazing all at once. It's why teams like the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers, 2 teams that while very good, were not the best in the regular season, are now in the World Series competing for immortality. Deal with it.
Say what you will about how they blooped and flared their way to runs in the past week, but they have some mighty fine starting pitching.
ReplyDeleteOh man. Now you know how Giants fans felt about playing the Padres earlier this year. They would beat the Giants every game with shutdown pitching and bloop hits.