Eckstein not average sized, well undersized. But he IS a nutcase based upon what I read about him in '02. Eats the same thing every day, drives a 20 yo car, lives in a cheap apartment with his mom. If you read Schlegel's column on mlb.com, you'll think he won the game. BTW, that tater land yet? I couldn't agree more than if you question pitching to Pujols in that situation. Brain-fart. He's the NL Big Papi. Why not walk him and get to a .200 ps hitter in Sanders? I guess a single ties the game, but still, Pujols is a .368 ps hitter.
And BTW, every major city is dirty for the most part! New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, and even St. Louis has it's dirty secrets, I'm sure. Houston is no exception! I thinks it's funny how playoff baseball brings out this kinda hatred, especially if you've never been outside the city limits of your little home town. So, let's sit back, pop a top, and enjoy the ride.
Great game, even if it felt like a kick in the stomach. I don't know why baseball brings out the superstitious in me...not saying the "W" word(s), not liking it when Berkman was announced player of the game, etc. To top it off, I get a call from a friend who was in a bar in Houston after the 7th telling me there's only 6 more outs to the big one; I swear I felt my stomach drop. Then he went on about how Lidge would close it out in the 9th and I told him the Cardinals had actually hit Lidge better than the other relievers in this series. I know Garner has to go with works, obviously. Didn't the announcers keep telling how Lidge was 17 jillion and one with a lead going into the 9th, with the one loss being against the Cubs in the last Friday of the regular season? Anyway, it's a great series and deserves one more game. Just one I tell ya. One.
And BTW, every major city is dirty for the most part! New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, and even St. Louis has it's dirty secrets, I'm sure. And Dallas too. I was born and raised there and I doubt too many of the white boys that post here will hang out around the Fair Park area anytime soon. Without zoning laws, parts of Houston look bad, especially if you're only seeing the areas coming in from both airports. There's also some really nice areas and more pro athletes per capita make Houston their homes than any city in the country. But what really makes Houston great is the people and unless you've lived there, you have no clue.
Albert Poohole's brings it back to Busch. WOW. I hear ya Shoalbaby.
I thought you could see berkman's home run coming from a mile away. He had hit carpenter hard, carpenter was starting to hang his breaking stuff, lefty/right...etc. I would have made a move. I dunno, justgary. I thought Carpenter's stuff was okay. He'd certainly left some breaking balls hanging throughout the game, but I don't think that was one of them. It was a good pitch, down and away, and Berkman just managed to bloop it into the short porch.
Pujols can be summed up in one phrase: "The MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND." Not only is he the greatest hitter in the game right now, not only does he have the potential to be the greatest hitter to ever play the game, he is also a wonderful person who does alot for the community. So I say again "the MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND"
I'm a transplanted St. Louisan and huge Cardinals fans, so when Edmonds walks, I turned to my wife and said, "There's no freaking way Houston pitches to Pujols. They throw him four pitches low and outside and work to Sanders." I don't think I've ever been so surprised in my life as I was when that slider hung up. I didn't yell, I didn't cry ... I just jumped out of my chair and said, "My God, that's gone." Both Brad Lidge and Phil Garner gotta lotta 'splainin' to do. Oh, and for God's sake, why weren't the announcers a little more outraged about Pettitte's obvious balk to pick off Eckstein earlier in the game? At least David got a chance to slide into second scrappily.
Both Brad Lidge and Phil Garner gotta lotta 'splainin' to do. This from the Houston Chronicle: Not long after Astros manager Phil Garner visited the mound to tell Lidge he could walk the All-Star, Pujols ripped a hanging slider to give the Cardinals a come-from-behind 5-4 victory in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. "We didn't have to give in to him; make your pitches. (It) doesn't matter if we walk him," Garner said when asked what he told Lidge on the mound. "He made a bad pitch."
Say what you want about Ekstien, but I give him alot of the credit for last night--he kept the game going when he was down to his last stike! Albert hit the bomb, but david lit the fuze!
Oh, and for God's sake, why weren't the announcers a little more outraged about Pettitte's obvious balk to pick off Eckstein earlier in the game? That balk was ridiculous. His entire lower right leg had crossed the rubber.
Say what you want about Ekstien, but I give him alot of the credit for last night--he kept the game going when he was down to his last stike! I don't think anybody here has a problem with Eckstein's performance; just problems with the media coverage of that performance.
Eckstien's a favorite like so many others. He's terribly ungifted for a big leaguer and looks like the milkman. I don't begrudge his popularity because these brainless annoucers can't think of another word besides 'scrappy' to describe him. I want the Astros to win (I'm a big fan of ending long runs of playoff ineptitude - years of being a Leaf fan), but that home run was freaking wicked.
It looked like Lidge went to his knees in a "oh shit, that's gone" gesture before Pujols even swung at it.
David Eckstein is: 
Lil' Scrappy.
It looked like Lidge went to his knees in a "oh shit, that's gone" gesture before Pujols even swung at it. Me, I like how Brad Ausmus made just one brief glance at the ball in play before asking the ump for a new ball.
It looked like Lidge went to his knees in a "oh shit, that's gone" gesture before Pujols even swung at it. Looking at it again on mlb.tv, he doesn't really do that. I guess it was me who did. :)
Or... 
Houston is an evil dirty nasty city. Jesus, like St. Louis isn't?
I hope when Roger pitches and loses in game 7 that we don't have to hear about his scrappy mom and her Shoeless Joe chant on her death bed. That stuff is why I don't listen to the morons in the booth. Pujols thy name is MVP. Reminded me of Niedenferer pitching to Jack Clark in '85.
The word scrappy is starting to lose all meaning to me now.
There is a lot of shit-talking going on today. I hadn't realized the Cardinals were a lock to win it now, after winning a second game. And who could be more scrappy than Scrappy Moore? (anyone who scrapped their way to playing in more than four games I guess...)
is it just me, or does Pujols look like The Crusher?
Pujol's hit was amazing, but unless it inspires the Cards to get some more offense going, it doesn't mean squat! On the Houston side, "He made a bad pitch..." might go down in infamy...
I dunno, justgary. I thought Carpenter's stuff was okay. He'd certainly left some breaking balls hanging throughout the game, but I don't think that was one of them. It was a good pitch, down and away, and Berkman just managed to bloop it into the short porch. I don't know. It was a close call I admit (a few others had my thoughts also). Regular season? I leave him in. But not on the verge of being knocked out of the playoffs. If I have anything in the pen I don't stick with 'ok' stuff. I thought he was tiring. And it was a short shot to left, but he's gone that way before, so it really wasn't a surprise. But I agree it wasn't clear cut. There is a lot of shit-talking going on today. Yes there is... "It stings," said Brad Lidge, who had seen Pujols turn his 88 mph hanging slider into a comeback. "[But] we're going to win, and when that happens, it's not going to matter."
Looked to me like Babs Bush was getting ready to leave with one out in the top of the inning, and Poppy made her stay. I bet he got an earful on the ride home.
I understand that the elder Bushes attend a lot of games, but my eye caught them standing there, right behind the plate, quiet and still (with the rest of the stadium going nuts), sometime during Eckstein's at-bat. It struck me how strange it would be pitching like that. Lidge and all the Houston pitchers are probably used to it, but I couldn't help wandering if they freaked him out too.
6pm Sportscenter just described this hit as "A swing that just might have changed baseball history." But coverage is never excessive nowadays.
Technically, anything that happens in or around a baseball game changes baseball history.
Yerfatma, that doesn't count unless Stuart Scott yelled "BOOYAH!" at the top of his lungs.
It was an amazing moment, but changing "baseball history"? PUH-leeze. ESPN is just grasping because they don't have a NY, LA or Boston team to throw into the whirling dervish of hyperbole during these playoffs now.
ESPN is just grasping because they don't have a NY, LA or Boston team to throw into the whirling dervish of hyperbole during these playoffs now. ESPN? Hyperbole? Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
ESPN is just grasping because they don't have a NY, LA or Boston Oh, if it had been NY, LA or Boston it would have been even bigger. The end of the world!
I guess you have to hand it to those "scrappy" ESPN broadcasters for never blowing anything out of proportion.
Pujols can be summed up in one phrase: "The MAN, the MYTH, the LEGEND." St. Louis already has Stan "The Man" Musial. As the NL's best ever hitter (331 avg, 3 time MVP, 7 time batting champ, 20 time all-star) he could also be called "The Legend". It really would be something to see a Cardinal out-do Musial. Pujols may well be that man. Only time will tell. Too bad they didn't play in the same era, like Ruth and Gehrig.
"Over the weekend at one of the games -- Houston and St. Louis -- one of the camera men caught former President Bush and his wife Barbara Bush kissing. Y'know, by god, you know you're at a dull game when you'd rather make out with Barbara Bush." --David Letterman
As the NL's best ever hitter . . . Willie Mays is on the line.
As the NL's best ever hitter . . . Willie Mays is on the line. That was my first reaction as well. Then I poked around the statistics a bit and I'm not so sure anymore. OPS: Musial - .976 Mays - .941 OPS+: Musial - 159 Mays - 156 Blank Ink + Grey Ink + HOF Standards + HOF Monitor rankings: Musial - 5+3+3+2 = 13 Mays - 18+8+3+5 = 34 Even with the significant HR difference (660 - 475), Mays still had a lower SLG than Musial. They are pretty damn close as hitters, but Musial might be better. Mays, however, makes up for it in spades for his fielding (since Musial played 35% of his games at 1B) and baserunning (Mays had more than 4x as many stolen bases). Mays is definitely the better overall player. So the original statement "Musial = NL's best ever hitter" may just be true.
No arguement with Willie as all around. I was only referring to hitting. In addition to grum's stats: Batting Avg: Mays 302 Musial 331 Walks to KO's: Mays 1464/1526 Musial 1559/696 Also, Willies 338 stolen bases are impressive, but his 103 cought steelings are not.
The fact Pujols is even mentioned in the same breath as Mays and Musial is scary enough for Astros fans.
So the original statement "Musial = NL's best ever hitter" may just be true. Yeah, I kind of blanched at it, but when I tried to think of a list of better hitters, I came up with a pretty short list. Let's give it to Stan on the basis of one stat: Hits at home: 1,815 Hits on the road: 1,815
The AL (Ruth Gehrig, Williams and Foxx) trumps all.
That Ruth Gehrig- he was one hell of a hitter, let me tell you. So huge a hitter, he took up two spots in the batting order! Powdered over 1200 homeruns over the course of his career... what a slugger! :) Just kiddin' ya, drevl!
Mmmmmm...powdered homeruns...
Did you draw that? WOW I cant even draw that good
