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Post by kaybli on Oct 25, 2024 9:49:59 GMT -5
Back in the World Series after 15 years! 4 wins away from the ultimate goal! Let's go Cole! Let's go Yankees!  |
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Post by Lola on Oct 25, 2024 10:01:28 GMT -5
LETS DO IT! One game at a time!
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Post by kaybli on Oct 25, 2024 10:12:23 GMT -5
WE PLAY TODAY......
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 25, 2024 10:13:57 GMT -5
Let's do this!!!  |
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Post by 1955nyyfan on Oct 25, 2024 10:20:59 GMT -5
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Post by JEGnj on Oct 25, 2024 10:50:52 GMT -5
I want to take the series lead tonight and not give it up. I know the world wants game 7 but not me. I can't handle it.
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Post by kaybli on Oct 25, 2024 10:54:18 GMT -5
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Post by cocopugg on Oct 25, 2024 13:05:41 GMT -5
Let's go Yankees!!!
And for anyone curious whether the Yankees theme song had any lyrics...here ya go:
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Post by Lola on Oct 25, 2024 16:46:33 GMT -5
I want to take the series lead tonight and not give it up. I know the world wants game 7 but not me. I can't handle it. I’d like to win it in 4!  |
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Post by kaybli on Oct 25, 2024 17:10:07 GMT -5
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 25, 2024 18:00:34 GMT -5
One captain telling the other the he won 5 of these things, time for you to win your first.
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Post by donniebaseball23 on Oct 25, 2024 18:04:00 GMT -5
7-3 Yanks.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 25, 2024 18:35:03 GMT -5
A little bit later than I wanted to have it ready, but it's ready:
The Dodgers open the World Series with the same starter who dominated the Mets in to open the National League Championship Series, Jack Flaherty, who did not pitch against the Yanks this season, so his baseball biography is in order.
Flaherty was drafted by the Cardinals with the 34th pick of the 1st round of the June Amateur Draft in 2014. It seems like he’s been around forever, but he’s just 29 and this is his 8th major league season. After being drafted, the Cardinals sent him right to rookie ball, where he pitched very well in six starts and two relief appearances. They promoted him to low-A, and after making one start, he was put on the DL for nearly two months. It would be his only DL stint until 2021, in his fourth full season with the Cards. He came back at the end of May, and stayed in rotation the rest of the season, going 9-3 in 18 starts with a 2.84 ERA, and just 2 HR allowed in 95 innings. After the 2015 season, Baseball America had Flaherty ranked as the #3 prospect in the Cards’ system. At the end of the season, MLB Pipeline had him in their top-100 prospects for 2016. They moved Flaherty to high-A in 2016, and he pitched the full season, making 23 starts, and pitching solidly 5-9 with a 3.56 ERA in 134 innings. In 2017, St. Louis had him open the season in AA, where he was brilliant, going 7-2 in 10 starts with a 1.42 ERA, just 47 hits, 11 BB and 2 HR in 63 1/3 innings. At the end of May, the Cards promoted Flaherty to AAA, where he pitched outstanding ball in 15 starts: again he was 7-2, but with a 2.74 ERA and his HR rate shot up with 10 HR in 85 1/3 innings. He also pitched in the Futures Game that summer, and Baseball America included Flaherty in their mid-season top 100 update. St. Louis called him up for September to get him some major league experience before the 2018 season, but he didn’t pitch well: 0-2 in 5 starts and 1 relief appearance with a 6.33 ERA, more hits than innings pitched and 4 HR in 21 1/3 innings. At the end of the season, he was top 100 on all three major lists, including #38 at Pipeline.
In 2018, he bounced up and down between AAA and the majors a couple of times in the first six weeks of the season, pitching very well in AAA, and OK in his two major league starts. When he set a career high of 13 K’s in 6 2/3 innings in a game for Memphis in mid-May, the Cards decided he was ready, and called him up to the majors for good. He had some up and downs, but was very good for the Cards in the last 4 ½ months, going 8-8 with a 3.32 ERA to wind up at 8-9 with a 3.34 ERA and 182 K’s in 151 innings, finishing 5th in the Rookie of the Year voting. In 2019, he had his best season to date, going 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA in 33 starts and 196 1/3 innings, finishing 4th in the Cy Young voting and 13th in the MVP voting. He pitched well in 2 starts in the NLDS against the Braves, winning one and losing one. In the deciding game 5, he was the beneficiary of the 10-run eruption in the first inning against Mike Foltynewicz and Max Fried, but had to get the innings done, which he did, which he did, throwing 6 innings of 1-run ball, striking out 8. In the COVID year of 2020, was again in rotation, and had a poor season: 9 starts, 4-3 with a 4.91 ERA. In the deciding game 3 of the Wild Cards series against the Padres, Flaherty again pitched well, giving up 1 run in 6 innings again, striking out 8 again, but got the loss administered by a total bullpen game, against which the Cards’ lineup was helpless. The Padres used 9 pitchers in the game, and only one, Adrian Morejon, pitched more than 1 inning, but they shut out the Cards on 4 hits to take the series. In 2021, he got off to a tremendous start, going 8-1 in his first 11 starts with an ERA of 2.90, but went on the IL at the end of May with an oblique strain. He sat out for nearly two months, then returned to make 3 rehab starts in AA and AAA. He made 3 starts for the Cards in August, but got knocked out early in the 3rd one, and went back on the IL for a month with shoulder inflammation. He came back in late September to make 3 brief appearances, but the Cards left him off the roster for the Wild Card game, which they lost to the Dodgers, 3-1 (the only season in the last 14 in which LA did not win the NL West division). In 2022, the shoulder was still bothering him when the season opened, and he sat for two months. He made 2 rehab starts in early June, and the Cards tried to bring him back to the majors, but after 3 brief starts there, they put him back on the IL for another 6 weeks. He came back in August to make 6 rehab starts in AA and AAA, and St. Louis called him back to the majors to try to get him ready for the playoffs, but the results were mixed. The overall numbers weren’t bad in the 6 starts: 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA, but it was obvious his command wasn’t all back, 13 BB in 28 innings. They left Flaherty off the roster for Wild Card Series against the Phillies, which the Cards again lost, this time, 2-0.
Last year, Flaherty was healthy enough to remain in the rotation for most of the season, making 20 starts for the Cards, going 7-6 with a 4.43 ERA. At the trade deadline, with his team control expiring at the end of the year, and the Cards hopelessly out of the Wild Card chase, the Orioles were looking to bolster their rotation for the playoffs, so they traded Flaherty for two prospects and left-handed starter Drew Rom. Flaherty pitched very well in his first start with Baltimore, but things slid downhill rapidly, and he pitched his way out of their rotation by mid-September, closing the season with two relief appearances. He was 8-9 for the year with a 4.99 ERA, and when the O’s took on the eventual champion Rangers in the ALDS, Flaherty was relegated to the bullpen, where he was forced to throw 2 innings of middle relief in the 2nd game, in which the Rangers pounded the O’s for 9 runs in the 1st 3 innings. He did OK, just 1 run, and though the O’s tried to rally, they fell short, 11-8, and the Rangers finished off the 3-0 sweep two days later in Arlington. He signed a 1-year deal with the Tigers in the offseason, and pitched very well in the first half for Detroit, going 7-5 with a 2.98 ERA in 18 starts. The Tigers mistakenly thought they weren’t really in the Wild Card chase at the deadline so they traded Flaherty to the Dodgers for their new starting shortstop, ex-Yankee prospect Trey Sweeney, and a C/DH prospect with huge power named Thayron Liranzo. For the Dodgers, Flaherty pitched well and won more, but did not quite pitch as well as with Detroit: 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA. On the season as a whole, Flaherty was 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA. In 28 starts, he threw 162 innings, allowing 135 hits, 61 runs, 57 earned, 24 HR, and 38 BB with 194 K’s. Among qualified MLB starters, his WHIP was 9th best at 1.067. His ERA was 13th lowest among the 59 qualifiers. His H/9 was 15th best, his BB/9 15th best, his K/9 3rd best in all of MLB, behind just Sale and Sonny Gray, and his K/BB ratio was 8th best. His sole weakness was his HR rate at 1.3 per 9, 15th worst among the 59 qualified starters. So far in the postseason, he had a bad start against the Padres in game 2 of the NLDS, giving up 4 ER in 5 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 BB, 2 HR and struck out just 2 in a 10-2 Dodgers’ loss. He bounced back in game 1 of the NLDS, dominating the Mets for 7 innings of shutout ball, giving up just 2 hits and 2 BB, and striking out 7. He plummeted off that win to get blasted out of game 5, giving up 8 ER in 3 innings on 8 hits, 4 BB and 1 HR, without striking out a batter. Flaherty had missed a couple of turns in the rotation in the first half of the season with a back injury that eventually required two injections to settle down inflammation, but the Tigers never put him on the DL. Those were the “medical issues” Yankees GM Brian Cashman cited when backing out of trade with the Tigers for Flaherty at the deadline. Whether or not that was a decision fatal to the Yankees chances of winning it all, we will start finding out in tonight’s game.
For a pitcher with 8 years of major league experience, it’s quite unusual that this is just Flaherty’s second start ever against the Yanks. His first was last year for the Cards just before they traded him to the Orioles. It was a typical Flaherty “good start”, throwing 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 BB and striking out 4 in an 11-4 rout of the Yanks by the Cards in St. Louis at the beginning of July, in the first game of a double header. (The Yanks won the nightcap, 6-2.) So: it’s just one game and 22 batters, but the Yankee team quadruple slash line against him is .200/.273/.273/.473, and his ERA and WHIP against the Yanks is 0.00 and 1.000. Obviously, he’s never pitched against the Yanks in the postseason. Until now. Overall, Flaherty is 2-5 in the postseason with an ERA of 4.91. In 8 games and 7 starts, he’s pitched 40 1/3 innings, allowing 40 hits, 22 runs (earned), 5 HR, 16 BB and struck out 39. His WHIP is a subpar 1.388.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 25, 2024 18:37:21 GMT -5
Repertoire: Through the regular season, Flaherty is a fairly tall (6-4) 5-pitch righty: 4-seamer, slider, curve, and a change and sinker he uses far less often than the first three. The 4-seamer gets average rise and way below average run in on righties (bottom 10% of all 400+ pitchers who throw 4-seamers). His slider gets below average drop and above average break away from righties. The curve gets average drop and above average break away from righties. The Change is his 4th pitch vs. lefties, he’s thrown 67 of the 70 total this season to lefties. The Sinker is his 4th pitch vs. righties, he’s thrown 46 of the 55 total this season to righties. Together, they make up less than 5% of his pitches this regular season. The change gets both below average drop and tail, the sinker gets below average drop and well below average tail (if he had enough sinkers to qualify for the list, he’d been in the bottom 20 pitchers in MLB out of about 290 who throw one). In run values, the Curve is a huge plus, +12 runs despite using it a little more than 20% of the time. The 4-seamer is a decent plus (+5 runs in twice as many pitches as the curve), and the slider is a tiny plus. The change is a decent sized minus, and the sinker is a huge minus (-3 runs in just 55 thrown this year). Flaherty’s chase rate is well above average, the FB velocity and curve spin above average, and the FB spin is dead average. His extension was elite through 2022, top 2% his first two years, top 10-15% from 2019 through 2022, but had settled into solidly above average this year. This season, Flaherty’s average EV was pretty much average for the qualified starters. His barrel rate was slightly above average, and his hard hit rate was solid below average. His line drive and ground ball rates were solidly below average, his flyball rate above average, and the popup rate slightly low. As you’d expect for a pitcher with the 3rd best K/9 in MLB, Flaherty’s swinging strike and called strike rates were both well above average (10th and 15th among the 59), and his CSW was 4th best, behind just Sale, Skubal and ex-Yankee Michael King. So he has the stuff take advantage of the guys in the lineup with a lot of swing and miss, but also gives up HR, which this Yankee team can hit. In luck factors, his BABIP was more or less average, his strand rate was well above average (3rd best among the 59), and his HR per FB rate was the 3rd highest among the 59. The luck factors pretty much cancel each other out, and his ERA estimators think his ERA should be just a bit higher, 3.33, than his season ERA of 3.17. His pitch mix was 4-seamer averaging 93.3 about 44% of the time, Slider 85 about 29%, curve 77-8 about 22%, change 86 about 3% and sinker 90-1 about 2%
In his three postseason starts, he’s thrown 263 pitches: 113 4-seamers (43% of the time) averaging 92.8. I should note that he averaged 93.6 on the fastball in his first start against the Padres, 92.6 in his good start against the Mets, and 91.9 in his bad start. The drop in velocity makes me wonder if his back is acting up again. We’ll see tonight when he goes on 7 days’ rest. He’s also thrown 83 curves (32%) averaging 77.7, 56 sliders (21%) averaging 85.1, 9 sinkers (3%) average 88.7 (the velocity of his sinker is down about 2 mph from the regular season as well) and just 2 changeups (1%) averaging 85.3. We see from the usage that he’s using the curve 50% more often (not surprising; it’s his best pitch) and his slider less (again, not surprising; it’s the least effective of his top 3 pitches), and he’s almost completely stopped using the change. His spin rates on all his pitches are mostly down from the regular season. In the three games combined, Flaherty has seen his average EV rise the 90.9 from 88.4 in the regular season, the swinging strike rate has plummeted to 6.8%, about half what it was in the regular season and the called strike rate has dropped from 18.0% to 16.3%. So his CSW has dropped sharply: from 31.3% in the regular season to a very subpar 23.1% in the 3 playoff starts. I have no frame of reference to know whether that sharp a drop is typical in the playoffs; after all, pitchers are facing much better hitting teams than average, so you’d expect the EV to rise and the CSW to fall. Just comparing to Cole, who’s consistently given up hard-hit balls in all three of his starts, it makes me think these changes are not so unusual.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 25, 2024 18:37:56 GMT -5
Playing the Name Game: We’ve been through the Jacks before, but I can’t seem to remember when. Anyway. Jack Roosevelt Robinson is the greatest hitter named Jack in MLB history, Jack Morris is the greatest pitcher, Jack. The Yanks have Jack Clark, Jack McDowell and Jack Aker. Well, as this is the World Series, let’s talk a bit about the greatest Jack game in Series history, Morris’ complete game 10 inning 1-0 shutout of the Braves in game 7 of the 1991 Series.
Morris had started game 1 of the series against Charlie Leibrandt, and beat the Braves soundly, 5-2. Morris was his usual self; not dominating statistically, but getting through 7 innings and 100 pitches for the win with 5 hits, 4 BB, and no HR, striking out 3 and allowing 2 runs. Kevin Tapani beat Tom Glavine in game 2 with 8 strong innings of 2-run ball. So the Twins headed to Atlanta for the middle three games. The Braves to a 4-1 lead after 5, but the Twins rallied to tie it with 1 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th, and the game stayed that way until Mark Lemke singled home David Justice off of Rick Aguilera in the 12th for a 5-4 win, making it 2-1 Twins. Morris was back on the hill for the Twins in game 4, and threw another excellent game, going 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, 1 HR for the only run he allowed, and struck out 4. He left with a 2-1 lead, but Carl Willis couldn’t hold it, giving up the tying run in the bottom of the 7th, and again the Braves won it on a walk-off, this time a sac fly in the 9th by Jerry Willard off of Steve Bedrosian to score Lemke for a final score of 3-2, evening the series at 2 games apiece. In game 5, the Braves took a lead of 5-0 going to the 6th. The Twins got 3 back in the 6th, but the Braves broke it open with 6 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th, and blew out the Twins, 14-5, heading back to Minnesota up 3 games to 2. The home team held serve all five games of the Series to that point, and the Twins kept it up in game 6. Minnesota took a 2-0 lead; the Braves got those back in the 5th. The Twins got one back in the bottom, but the Braves tied it again in the 7th. Back at home, it was the Twins’ turn to walk one off; Kirby Puckett led off the bottom of the 11th with a solo HR off of Charlie Leibrandt, and the teams were head to a game 7. John “The Porch!! The Porchhhhh!!!….” Smoltz had pitched a solid game 4, giving up 2 run in 7 innings, and he got the start on 3 days’ rest in game 7. 2nd year lefty Steve Avery had pitched a decent game 3 and it was notionally his turn, but Braves’ manager Bobby Cox chose to go with the more experience Smoltz. For the Twins, there was no choice here; Morris was the ace, and had pitched very well in games 1 and 4, plus he had led the Tigers’ staff to a title in 1984, winning both games 1 and 4 of that series.
The Metrodome was a weird park; the “baggie” in place of a wall, and the enclosed environs created a deafening wall of sound that assailed the visiting team when the place was packed. But the brilliant pitching of both Morris and Smoltz made the crowd very quiet a lot of time, enormous tension in the place. There were still explosions of noise every now and then, like when the Twins got back to back singles with 2 outs in the first, but Smoltz got ex-Yankee Mike Pagliarulo to ground out to 1st to end that threat. The Braves got two on with 1 out in the 3rd, but Morris got a flyout from Pendleton and a force at 2nd from Gant to get out of that jam. Gladden doubles with 1 out in the bottom of the 3rd, and the place was raucous, but Knoblauch lined out to deep right, with Gladden moving to 3rd, and Smoltz beat Puckett clean, whiffing him on a 2-2 count. In the 5th, Lemke led off with a single, and Belliard was asked to sacrifice (in the 5th inning, imagine that!), but Brian Harper got the force at 2nd. Lonnie Smith laid a bunt single down 3rd, but Morris again steadied, and got Pendleton to hit an infield fly, and caught Gant looking for the 3rd out.
In the bottom of the inning Gladden single with 2 down, and again Knoblauch drove one to the track, this time in center, only for it to be caught by Gant. Both teams went quietly until the 8th, when Smith single to right center, and Pendleton doubled up the left center gap moving him to 3rd with nobody out. There’s no doubt that in today’s game, Morris would’ve been lifted at that point, and maybe after the leadoff single. I don’t remember if manager Tom Kelly or the pitching coach Dick Such (yes, that’s a real name, don’t make fun) went to give Morris a breather, but Morris put his head down and bulled his way out of trouble. He got Morris to hit a weak grounder right to Hrbek, and with nobody out the contact play wasn’t on, so the runners held. Kelly gave Justice an intentional walk to load the bases, and Morris got Sid Bream to hit a grounder right to Hrbek, who came home to catcher Brian Harper for the force; the return to Hrbek doubled up the slow-footed Bream, and got Morris and the Twins out of the inning. In the bottom of the 8th, it was the Twins’ turn to put on the heat. Randy Bush grounded a leadoff single up the middle, and speedy utilityman Al Newman came in to run for him. Gladden popped up to short center, but Knoblauch hit a 3rd ball pretty hard, and was luckier this time: Bream knocked down the liner but it went for an infield hit, Newman moving on to 3rd. Cox took out Smoltz and brought in future Yankee lefty reliever Mike Stanton to intentionally walk Puckett, and got lucky when Hrbek lined a 2-1 pitch right to Lemke, playing near 2nd for the DP grounder. Instead, it became a line drive DP when he stepped on 2nd ahead of Knoblauch scrambling back, and the Braves were out of it. Morris got Atlanta 1-2-3 in the 9th, and once more the Twins put the pressure on in the bottom of the inning. Future Yankee Chili Davis led off with a single to right, and Jarvis Brown came in to pinch run. Brian Harper laid down a bunt to the right side of the mound that Stanton, falling off toward 3rd, couldn’t make a play on, it went for a bunt single. Cox took out Stanton and brought in veteran righty reliever Alejandro Pena, who had pitched for the Dodgers’ title-winning teams in both 1981 and 1988. Pena got a 4-6-3 DP grounder from outfielder Shane Mack and Cox intentionally walked the veteran lefty Pagliarulo to let Pena faced the more inexperienced Paul Sorrento. Pena whiffed Sorrento to escape doom. In the 10th, already at 118 pitches, Morris threw another 1-2-3 inning, striking out Lonnie Smith along the way. In the bottom of the 10th, Gladden did it again, leading off with a double to left center. Knoblauch bunted down 3rd, forcing Pendleton to field it, moving Gladden to 3rd with 1 out. Cox did the only thing he could, and walked both Puckett and Hrbek, bringing up Gene Larkin with the bases loaded and 1 out. This is what happened:
Gene Larkin's Peak Moment
The list of pitchers who’ve thrown game 7 shutouts in the World Series is:
Babe Adams, Pirates, 1909 (8-0)
Dizzy Dean, Cards, 1934 (11-0)
Johnny Podres, Dodgers, 1955 (2-0)
Johnny Kucks, Yankees, 1956 (9-0)
Lew Burdette, Braves, 1957 (5-0)
Ralph Terry, Yankees, 1962 (1-0)
Sandy Koufax, Dodgers, 1965 (2-0)
Brett Saberhagen, Royals, 1985 (11-0)
…Morris’ gem. It’s the only extra-inning complete game shutout in a deciding game 7 of a World Series in MLB history, and given the way starters are used nowadays, maybe the last we’ll ever see. Of the above games, Branca’s is the only other 1-0 shutout, but he needed a huge lucky break to get his: Willie McCovey hit a bullet line drive RIGHT AT Bobby Richardson with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the 9th for the final out. Charles Schulz lived in the San Francisco area (Sebastopol, 55 miles from San Fran) and worked his renowned Peanuts comic strip many weeks in advance; on December 22nd that year, this daily Peanuts strip was published:
Why??
Despite that close call for Branca, I think the only other 7th game shutout win that matches Morris’ for drama is the Podres’ win in 1955; he was pitching under the weight of the Dodgers never having won a title, of having lost 5 straight World Series to the hated cross-town Yankees in the previous 14 seasons, and he was doing it on the road at the original Stadium. Morris’ all-time gen was certainly the most clutch game 7 since the Koufax shutout in 1965. Sandy was working on just 2 days’ rest, and gave up just 3 hits, striking out 10, and he too was working on the road in the Twins original Minnesota home, Metropolitan Stadium.
Morris’ triumph in game 7 won him the Series MVP Award, cemented his reputation as the best “money” pitcher of his era, and probably was a key factor in his getting elected to the Hall of Fame after falling short for all 15 years of the BBWAA voting, including the last 3 when he got over 60% of the vote, but couldn’t get to 75%. As I said above, we may never see another complete game shutout in the World Series, much less in a game 7.
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