cherson@nonode.DEC (11/01/85)
The collapse of the St. Louis Cardinals cannot be blamed on the umpires. And by the way, the "minor" league umpires were rated higher than the NL umps. Why don't they ever mention Jim Quick's elevator strike zone in Sat. night's game? The Cards are a good team, but what distinquishes them from being a great team is the brittleness of their lineup. Take away the speed or the power of Jack Clark, and they fold like a deck of cards (sorry). The great Yankee teams (are you listening John B. LoCoco?) had people on the bench who could have started for any other ball club. When Mantle was resting his knees, in came Tom Tresh or someone like him. But it just didn't affect the Cards on the field. Their whole morale collapsed and that was bizarre. Sure now it seems that Denkinger did err, but so what? Umpires do make foul-ups once in a while, but so do the players. Denkinger isn't a bad umpire, not the best, but not bad. Doen't the NL have those 400 lb. refugees from the WWF as umpires? Gee I can just picture them trying to track a fly ball to center! Herzog should keep his mouth shut, I think that he's been exposed to the Gussie Busch mentality too long. And as for whacky Juaquin Andujar, he should be sentenced to two years hard labor with the Cleveland Indians ( a fate worse then death!).
dpb@philabs.UUCP (Paul Benjamin) (11/04/85)
> The Cards are a good team, but what distinquishes them from being a great > team is the brittleness of their lineup. Take away the speed or the power > of Jack Clark, and they fold like a deck of cards (sorry). The great Yankee > teams (are you listening John B. LoCoco?) had people on the bench who could > have started for any other ball club. When Mantle was resting his knees, in > came Tom Tresh or someone like him. I don't go along with this recent trashing of the Cards based on the series result. I think this Series is a good example of the difference between the season and a short series. The Cards had a good bullpen for the season - their bullpen consisted of a number of decent relievers. What they lacked in great quality they made up for in depth. This is fine for a long season, but in the short series, great depth in any area is less important. After all, the above point about Clark may be true, but they had Clark for the whole series, so it is irrelevant. If the Cards had one great reliever instead of a number of decent ones, as KC did, they might have fared better. On the other hand, I don't think KC had good depth in many areas at all. This could (and did) hinder them during the regular season, so that their season stats were less impressive than any of the other playoff teams, but in the series, they could rely much more heavily on their great frontliners (Brett, Saberhagen, etc.). The perfect example of a team that lacks depth and does poorly in the regular season, but has the frontline quality to play with the best in a short series, is the 1973 Mets. They had only four good pitchers, but they were great, and pitched almost all the innings. They nearly beat the A's in that series.
kenf@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU (11/05/85)
A few questions and a comment:
Just what is the "Gussie Busch Mentality" ?
How can you explain capturing the NL East flag with Clark on the DL ?
Have you ever known a manager to keep his mouth shut when an umpire
makes a terrible call ?
You and that idiot Denkinger can both go straight to hell.
ken fortenberrydcm@busch.UUCP (Craig Miller) (11/07/85)
In article <1201@decwrl.UUCP> cherson@nonode.DEC writes: > >The Cards are a good team, but what distinquishes them from being a great >team is the brittleness of their lineup. Take away the speed or the power >of Jack Clark, and they fold like a deck of cards (sorry). The great Yankee Something tells me Cesar Cedeno (sp?) would tell you "you're crazy, man". The Cardinals didn't quite 'fold like a deck of cards' when Jack Clark got hurt did they? And how about Tito Landrum stepping in for Vince Coleman? Yep, pretty brittle lineup there... :-) What would happen to the Mets if Hernandez, Carter or Strawberry would have gotten hurt? Would the guy stepping in have done as well as Tito or Cesar? >teams (are you listening John B. LoCoco?) had people on the bench who could >have started for any other ball club. When Mantle was resting his knees, in >came Tom Tresh or someone like him. Hmmm. Let's see. Beside Cesar and Tito, how about DeJesus? Just off the top of my head, there's 3 that could have started for any other ball club. >But it just didn't affect the Cards on the field. Their whole morale collapsed >and that was bizarre. Sure now it seems that Denkinger did err, but so what? The worst thing about Denkinger's call was the timing. If the same call had happened in the 2nd inning, there probably wouldn't have been such a stink over it. But the same call in the 9th probably did cost them the game. Besides, calls like that *really* get a team down. Oh well. On to hockey! Craig -- Craig Miller {*}!ihnp4!we53!busch!dcm The Anheuser-Busch Companies; St. Louis, Mo. - Since I'm a consultant here and not an Anheuser-Busch employee, my views (or lack of) are strictly my own.
johnp@ihuxf.UUCP (John Schleicher) (11/09/85)
> > > > A few questions and a comment: > > Just what is the "Gussie Busch Mentality" ? > > How can you explain capturing the NL East flag with Clark on the DL ? > > Have you ever known a manager to keep his mouth shut when an umpire > makes a terrible call ? > > You and that idiot Denkinger can both go straight to hell. > > ken fortenberry Sounds like a zealous Card fan got his feelings hurt! Too bad, it seems that neither you nor the Cards can accept defeat with any form of dignity. john schleicher
bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) (11/09/85)
Organization : Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls NJ Keywords: In article <519@busch.UUCP> dcm@busch.UUCP (Craig Miller) writes: > Yep, pretty brittle lineup there... :-) What would happen > to the Mets if Hernandez, Carter or Strawberry would have > gotten hurt? Would the guy stepping in have done as well > as Tito or Cesar? >-- > Craig Miller We already know what happens to the Mets when Strawberry, Carter, Wilson, Berenyi, Lynch, Sisk, and Orosco get hurt; they win 98 games and come in second.