bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (10/17/85)
Well, I was in the park last night for the pennant deciding game. What a sad sight. The whole town is shocked to think that a club ahead 3-1 could not finish it off at home. Indeed, if it had been a 5 game series as before, it would have been Toronto in the World Series. But the real conclusion I can come to is that experience did out in the end. The Jays, only founded in 1977, still have a bit of work to do before they can win a world series. When the heat was on, the Jays cooled off. It could be seen even during the season, when the Jays still had to wait until the second last game to clinch the pennant due to their worst play of the whole season. Once they championship started, they showed their power as a superior team (they finished almost 10 games up on Kansas City) by taking a 3-1 lead. But when it came down to it, KC showed their experience and took that pennant. Congratulations to KC on the pennant. Congratulations to Bobby Cox for managing a fledgeling team to one game from the pennant in just 3 years. Brickbat to Cox for not pulling Steib out in the 6th after he loaded the bases, allowing KC to get a 3 RBI triple and the game winning run. Brickbat to certain TO fans who ran onto the field during the game after it was pretty well over for the Jays. A small minority of TO fans have no more class than anthem booing New Yawkers. Congrats to Brett. This man is amazing with a bat. Brickbats to the umpires, who were chosen on rotation rather than merit. I have never seen umpires so disliked by fans when they were introduced. Even US biased NBC coverage admitted that the umpires had made several bad calls, most of which went against the Jays. Even last night they called a ball fair that had bounced outside the line before first base. Every fan and the TV cameras as well as the batter (who didn't bother running) saw the ball. It was quite amusing when, in the next inning, a KC batter hit a ball so foul it it the wall of the stands. At least a thousand fans all stood up and gave the "fair" sign. Congrats Blue Jays. You lead the league for essentially the whole season. You'll get your pennant, and it's going to be soon. Who knows, someday there may be a 401 World Series! (401 is the highway between Toronto and Montreal) -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont. (519) 884-7473
absary@watmath.UUCP (Al Sary) (10/18/85)
In article <16895@watmath.UUCP> bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: > ... > >But the real conclusion I can come to is that experience did out in the >end. ... > There was some discussion on the net about KC experience beating a superior team (the Jays). I didn't want to believe that this could happen, but it is exactly what happened. I still think the Jays are superior over KC, but inexperince can really kill you. It seemed to me that the Jays got frusturated after not having great hitting every game, and in the last three or four games, all of them seemed to try to go for the long ball, flying out most of the time. Leaving man on second and third several times? Can't do that for very long without being hurt. A single will score at least one, maybe two; homeruns aren't always the answer. Just look at game 3; KC had three home runs, but the Jays still came close to beating them. By the way, I didn't think the series was managed too well by Bobby Cox. However, it is easy to second guess him now. He probably learned a lot during these seven games too. > ... >Congrats Blue Jays. You lead the league for essentially the whole season. >You'll get your pennant, and it's going to be soon. Who knows, someday >there may be a 401 World Series! > >(401 is the highway between Toronto and Montreal) That would be interesting (maybe not to everybody). Let's hope it will happen someday. I won't say next year we'll do it; just see where the Tigers were this year. Actually I thought this year the Jays should have done it, becaue you never know when you'll get this far again (although they have a young team, which hopefully matured a lot yesterday, so maybe they'll make it in the next few years).
roy@hpmtla.UUCP (roy) (10/18/85)
I Keep hearing how "experience" was the deciding factor in the A.L. playoffs, but wait a minute. I'm no K.C. fan, but I do have to question this excuse. Do any of you Royal's fans out there know the ages of the K.C. staff?. I know Saberhagen is only 21, and I thought they were all greenies. I think the series just pointed out the unpredictability of minor league ball. Roy
jmh@ltuxa.UUCP (Jon M. Hanrath) (10/18/85)
> >Brickbats to the umpires, who were chosen on rotation rather than merit. >I have never seen umpires so disliked by fans when they were introduced. >Even US biased NBC coverage admitted that the umpires had made several bad >calls, most of which went against the Jays. Even last night they called >a ball fair that had bounced outside the line before first base. Every fan >and the TV cameras as well as the batter (who didn't bother running) saw >the ball. It was quite amusing when, in the next inning, a KC batter hit >a ball so foul it it the wall of the stands. At least a thousand fans all >stood up and gave the "fair" sign. > Sorry, I have to heartily disagree here (though I agreed with the rest of your posting). The ball in question bounced foul AFTER first base, not before. The call by the first base ump was that the ball went over first base before bouncing foul. He CLEARLY made the call, and the batter (Upshaw I think) should have run out as close a ball regardless of the call. The replay didn't show clearly one way or another whether the ball was fair or foul, but the ump clearly had the best angle on it, and he never hesitated in the call. I would blame Upshaw for assuming too much and making the big deal over it. Also I think Mulliniks was on 2nd at the time and ran to third (at least he was awake). The replays showed Mulliniks getting upset with the call, when it's obvious he had NO angle to see the play. So I think the heat of the moment was upon the Jays and the Jay fans. I was pulling for the Jays, too (though I like KC also), but I firmly believe that the umps were given bad press. The replays on Moseby's non-catch for example, I think it looks like he DID NOT make the catch, but the replay is very unclear. If sportscasters and fans alike can't decide after watching 20 angles on slow-mo replays, then I say we should let the umps split second decision stand. All in all I think the umps make an unbelievable amount of correct calls. Anyway , the Jays will be back. Here's to a good WS. Jon Hanrath
abgamble@water.UUCP (Bruce Gamble) (10/18/85)
> Well, I was in the park last night for the pennant deciding game. > What a sad sight. The whole town is shocked to think that a club ahead > 3-1 could not finish it off at home. Indeed, if it had been a 5 game > series as before, it would have been Toronto in the World Series. > > But the real conclusion I can come to is that experience did out in the > end. The Jays, only founded in 1977, still have a bit of work to do before > they can win a world series. When the heat was on, the Jays cooled off. > It could be seen even during the season, when the Jays still had to > wait until the second last game to clinch the pennant due to their > worst play of the whole season. Once they championship started, they > showed their power as a superior team (they finished almost 10 games up > on Kansas City) by taking a 3-1 lead. But when it came down to it, KC > showed their experience and took that pennant. I think the Jay's inexperience showed most of all in the young sluggers. Bell, Barfield, Moseby and Upshaw were all trying to win the series with one blow instead of just making contact. The result was a lot of pop-flys and weak grounders. This was especially true of Bell who hit ~.300 for the series but could be counted on to pop-up if there were runners in scoring position. > > Congratulations to KC on the pennant. > > Congratulations to Bobby Cox for managing a fledgeling team to one game > from the pennant in just 3 years. > > Brickbat to Cox for not pulling Steib out in the 6th after he loaded > the bases, allowing KC to get a 3 RBI triple and the game winning run. This wasn't the first time this year that Cox stayed with Stieb too long. I only saw about 30-40 Jays games this year but three times I saw them lose games for this very reason. Stieb starts to struggle. Cox refuses to pull him. Stieb blows a lead. The Jays lose. This isn't to say that the Jays would have won *all* those games, but I think that Cox is partly to blame for Stieb's poor W-L record. Also, a bigger brickbat to Cox for the way he handled Bill Caudill this year. April was a mediocre month for Caudill, not great but certainly nothing to get concerned about. But Cox suddenly decided that Jim Acker was his ace in the bullpen and stopped using Caudill in important situations. Caudill started trying to overthrow his fastball, and things started getting worse until he lost confidence in himself by mid-season. He got it together though, and started pitching better in the second half, but Cox *still* refused to use him. This culminated in the LCS, where I don't think Caudill pitched at all. *In spite* of all this, Caudill still managed to put reasonably good numbers on the board for the season. Imagine what he could have done. I have other gripes against Cox, but I think I've rambled enough for now. > > Brickbats to the umpires, who were chosen on rotation rather than merit. > ... Even last night they called > a ball fair that had bounced outside the line before first base. Every fan > and the TV cameras as well as the batter (who didn't bother running) saw > the ball. That ball was fair. The replays showed it quite clearly. The firstbase ump was the only person in the park who got the call right. There were a lot of bad calls in the series, but this wasn't one of them. > -- > Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont. (519) 884-7473 -- Bruce Gamble - abgamble@water.UUCP