DIVISION SERIES

Best-of-five.

“I’d make it one-game-and-you’re-out for the first series. It would be exciting. It would be great.”

It would be dumb. Really, really dumb. Playing 162 games over 6 months and then getting to play a one-game playoff? Dumb. I will say it’s interesting that an owner came up with an idea that would actually reduce profit.

At least he’s not the only one that thinks it’s a solid plan.

“I’ve always thought a one-game wild card [playoff] would be a pretty good idea,” said Bob DuPuy, MLB’s chief operating officer. “Lew is an imaginative fellow and has a lot of good ideas.”

Perhaps he is and he does. However, this is certainly not one of them. The answer from where I sit is simple: reduce the amount of the most boring and meaningless games. Those occur in that vat of uselessness known as spring training. Hack off 2 weeks of spring training and exhibition games and problem solved. Mm-kay?

[tags]Lew Wolff, MLB, Playoffs, Oakland A’s[/tags]

The errors are bad but they really don’t matter when you can only score 5 runs in 2 games. The 3 scored last night were scored in MLB’s version of garbage time. Big whoop. Much is made of Piniella’s decision to start Fukudome–and where he hit him in the lineup–but had DeRosa not injured his calf Fontenot would have got the call over Kosuke. And since Lou remembers last year, maybe he thought it was best to move Theriot down in the order. None of it matters when nobody else hits.

Soriano continues his Bonds-like postseason career. Just 1-9 in this series with no walks and no extra-base hits. He was up there swinging mindlessly against Lowe in game 1. Add these numbers to last year’s and you get 3-23 with no homers, no RBI and no walks. Ridiculous. He had 2-0 last night against Billingsley and everyone knew he was going to swing no matter what. A fastball cut in on his hands a bit and he hit a soft fly. Memo to Al–just because you are in a hitter’s count does not mean you have to swing.

But it’s not just him. I was hoping valued reader PV’s comments were true that they were just outpitched in Game 1. But they look like they did last year. Afraid to go for greatness and/or stuck inside their own heads.

[tags]Cubs, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB[/tags]

Manny Ramirez hits into a double play to end the first. I don’t think I loathe a player more than him, as great as he is. Why? Well, here is a nice summary.

Dick’s at it again: “Mark DeRosa…on a very high-sky pop-up.”

Back to Manny: Dempster throws two somewhat high and inside pitches to start his 2nd at-bat. I wouldn’t call them “buzzing” him, but a bit inside. After the second pitch, Manny takes almost a minute to get back in the box for the next pitch. Complete turd.

I love Frank Caliendo. At least I did. I was not at all impressed with the first season of “Frank TV”. The promos for season 2 are running full steam, and he is still doing George Bush. Dude–give it up! Yay–you do a good impression of him. Move on.

Manny’s up again. Seriously–who wears a mouthpiece in baseball?

Dempster didn’t deserve to get out of that inning. You can’t walk 7 batters and expect to keep them scoreless. Not a good time to revert to the old Dempster.

I know Lowe is tough, but Soriano looked mindless up there tonight.

And to cap off the pain, Greg Maddux comes in for the 9th. And it’s already uh-oh time.

One of the points I made is that from pitches 91-105 Zambrano treats hitters to a tasty OPS of 1.127. Maybe Lou and Larry considered that when they made the decision on Wednesday.

Valued reader DHaab said that “If you ask 100 baseball fans this question, I guarantee you at least 90 would take Zambrano without even hesitating.” I disagree with that. Here’s another question: Ask 100 hitters who they would rather face between Marmol and Zambrano. What do you think that answer would be?

My rolodex of MLB players is a bit short of 100. So I leave it to the beloved fans to answer it if you wish. Marmol has better stuff, better movement and throws harder. He’s likely the closer next year for the Cubs and for years to come. My guess is more would choose to face Zambrano than Marmol. A lot more.

How about that Alfonso Soriano? Let’s break down his game, shall we? Remember folks, it’s not just going 0-5. That happens to everyone. But how you do it? Therein lies the story.

AB1- Soriano hits first pitch of the game, a weak ground out to Mark Reynolds.

AB2- 3rd inning, Webb fools Soriano terribly. Soriano whiffs but has company–Webb struck out the side.

AB3- 5th inning, man on 2nd, 1 out. Soriano gets to 2-0 but swings at the next pitch and flies to center. The pitch was easily ball 3.

AB4- Soriano grounds it right back to the mound.

AB5- Ward on first, 2 outs. Soriano hits an easy grounder for a fielder’s choice. Ballgame. 0-5, not a quality at bat the entire evening. Soriano lowered his career postseason average to .225.

What did you folks think of Stockton and Darling? 3 words–Better Than Fox. I did think it was funny that there were a few typos including “Ted Lily”. Stockton and Darling had plenty of general sore-thumbiness and some awkward moments, but overall it was decent. Other goodies:

• Stockton calling Aramis Ramirez “Rodrigo Ramirez”.
• Darling calling Augie Ojeda a “winning-type player”. Did he mean AAA?
• Darling on the D’Backs offense: “They just literally come through in the clutch every time.” Yes, the D’Backs are hitting 1.000 with RISP. Huh?

Mark Reynolds had an error for Arizona but also hit a big homer off Marmol. But the best thing about him is that he strolls to the plate with the PA blaring Iron Maiden. If memory serves it was “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”.

Kudos to Big Z. He pitched an awesome game. It could have got ugly early in the 1st. He went to 3-0 with Byrnes and induced a ground out. He went to 3-0 with Clark and then K’d him. Then in the 2nd he walked some cat named Salazar. Who the heck is that? But then he got the double play to get out of it.

Webb put on a clinic and Drew had a great game defensively, which was perhaps overshadowed by his homerun and 2 total hits. Webb was changing speeds beautifully and I swear the way that ball was moving for him I thought maybe that stain on the top of the bill of his cap was vaseline.

When a team wins the pennant, I don’t need you to tell me the final score 4 times. I don’t need you to tell me that Scott Rolen is getting a hug from Tony La Russa. I don’t need you to tell me Yadier Molina is jumping in Adam Wainright’s arms. I don’t need you to tell me about the game Suppan pitched. In fact, I don’t need you to tell me anything and I don’t need 3 extra replays of the final pitch when the celebration just started.

Just shut it for one minute–that’s all I’m asking–one minute and let me, not even a fan of the Cardinals, enjoy a team whooping it up without having to hear your increasingly annoying voice. The only thing that will let us at home get a feel for what is happening is for you to shutty.

Go watch some Vin Scully tapes before the Series starts. And Go Tigers!

Technorati tags: Cardinals / Mets / Joe Buck