Baseball Stuff
I'm leaning towards a Yankees-Astros World Series right now; it would pit a team making its fortieth WS appearance against one making its first appearance. Thus far, they are also the only two teams to win road games during this playoffs (though I expect that to change come this weekend (Friday included)).
Interestingly, the National League has three teams that have made the World Series and lost within the last seven years (Padres in 1998, Braves in 1999, and Cardinals in 2004) and one team that has never made it to the World Series (the Astros, who were an expansion team in the early 1960's), while the American League has three teams that have won the World Series this decade (Yankees in 2000 (they also won in 1996, 1998, and 1999 and made losing appearances in 2001 and 2003), Angels in 2002, and Red Sox in 2004) and one team that hasn't played in a World Series since 1959 and hasn't won one since 1917 (the White Sox, who probably could have won in 1919, but they threw the Series in a fix); so each league has three recent pennant winners and a team that hasn't won it in over 45 years (or not at all).
A couple notes on Astros pitchers; they had the top two pitchers in ERA (Clemens and Pettite) -- the only other team to do that in division play history? The 2001 Diamondbacks (who won the World Series, in case you all forgot). Oswalt finished sixth in the league in ERA, and the only recent team to have a similar accomplishment was the 1995 Braves (who had three of the top seven -- Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine), who also won a World Series. If Clemens were healthier, I'd be much more optimistic about their chances of going all the way; that and if they could score a few runs. I'm watching Game 2 of the Astros-Braves series right now, and Clemens has been tagged for five runs in five innings, though that's partially due to the timing of hits and such -- the Braves have scored more runs than they've left runners on base. Once again, poor run support thus far for Clemens.
A little bit more about Clemens for the moment. His 1.87 ERA is very impressive, but I think his 13-8 record is going to keep him from winning another Cy Young. If his ERA had stayed in the neighborhood of the 1.32 it was at in mid-August, he would have won it (and almost certainly would have had a better record). His team was shut out in nine of his starts this year (seventeen times, overall; really bad luck on Clemens's part), which goes far in explaining his poor record. The Cy Young race is going to come down to Chris Carpenter and Dontrelle Willis, and I think Willis is going to win it. I believe the top three will be Willis-Carpenter-Clemens, with votes also going to Pettite, Oswalt, and Martinez.
Interestingly, the National League has three teams that have made the World Series and lost within the last seven years (Padres in 1998, Braves in 1999, and Cardinals in 2004) and one team that has never made it to the World Series (the Astros, who were an expansion team in the early 1960's), while the American League has three teams that have won the World Series this decade (Yankees in 2000 (they also won in 1996, 1998, and 1999 and made losing appearances in 2001 and 2003), Angels in 2002, and Red Sox in 2004) and one team that hasn't played in a World Series since 1959 and hasn't won one since 1917 (the White Sox, who probably could have won in 1919, but they threw the Series in a fix); so each league has three recent pennant winners and a team that hasn't won it in over 45 years (or not at all).
A couple notes on Astros pitchers; they had the top two pitchers in ERA (Clemens and Pettite) -- the only other team to do that in division play history? The 2001 Diamondbacks (who won the World Series, in case you all forgot). Oswalt finished sixth in the league in ERA, and the only recent team to have a similar accomplishment was the 1995 Braves (who had three of the top seven -- Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine), who also won a World Series. If Clemens were healthier, I'd be much more optimistic about their chances of going all the way; that and if they could score a few runs. I'm watching Game 2 of the Astros-Braves series right now, and Clemens has been tagged for five runs in five innings, though that's partially due to the timing of hits and such -- the Braves have scored more runs than they've left runners on base. Once again, poor run support thus far for Clemens.
A little bit more about Clemens for the moment. His 1.87 ERA is very impressive, but I think his 13-8 record is going to keep him from winning another Cy Young. If his ERA had stayed in the neighborhood of the 1.32 it was at in mid-August, he would have won it (and almost certainly would have had a better record). His team was shut out in nine of his starts this year (seventeen times, overall; really bad luck on Clemens's part), which goes far in explaining his poor record. The Cy Young race is going to come down to Chris Carpenter and Dontrelle Willis, and I think Willis is going to win it. I believe the top three will be Willis-Carpenter-Clemens, with votes also going to Pettite, Oswalt, and Martinez.
Labels: baseball
posted by DC | 6:51 PM
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