WOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Six shutout innings from the bullpen. Very nice. And they overcame an incredibly bone-headed decision by the over-manager.

Yowza, I couldn't believe they pulled it out. Cards now have home field advantage.

Max wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Yowza, I couldn't believe they pulled it out. Cards now have home field advantage.

with a very decent pitching match-up for game 3.  not sure what game 4's match-up will look like.

I suppose if the Cardinals win on Tuesday, Manuel could bring back Halladay for Game 4 on short rest.

Max wrote:

tkihshbt wrote:

Yowza, I couldn't believe they pulled it out. Cards now have home field advantage.

with a very decent pitching match-up for game 3.  not sure what game 4's match-up will look like.

Cards are throwing Garcia and Jackson in that order?

Not sure if this link works for those without mlb.tv.  No one knows for sure if jay would have been safe had he slid, but the replay will show to anyone whose head is not stuck in the sand that it was a very very close play.  I observe that at the moment the ball arrived in Ruiz's glove, Jay's hip was already at the batter's box, meaning that if he had slid and extended that leg, his foot would have been inches from the plate, at worst, and Ruiz would have had a split second at best to drop the tag . . . something on the order of 1/73 of second.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=photos#gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=video

OK, that didn't work.  The clip is called, "Phillies preserve the lead".

Last edited by Max (10/03/2011 12:13 pm)

Max wrote:

Not sure if this link works for those without mlb.tv.  No one knows for sure if jay would have been safe had he slid, but the replay will show to anyone whose head is not stuck in the sand that it was a very very close play.  I observe that at the moment the ball arrived in Ruiz's glove, Jay's hip was already at the batter's box, meaning that if he had slid and extended that leg, his foot would have been inches from the plate, at worst, and Ruiz would have had a split second at best to drop the tag . . . something on the order of 1/73 of second.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=photos#gid=2011_10_02_slnmlb_phimlb_1&mode=video

OK, that didn't work.  The clip is called, "Phillies preserve the lead".

I never really learned to slide as most of my BB was played in shorts on crappy fields, so this prompts what may be a really dumb question: in a slide, does the foot get to the bag faster than it would have otherwise?

Thanks.  I've always wondered whether the time saved from eliminating vertical travel could compensate for the added drag of the slide. I can't convince myself it's possible to get your foot from point A to point B sooner simply by kicking it forward; I think you pay for that action with an equal and opposite reaction.  The value of the slide would seem to be, as you said, in helping you avoid the tag.

artie_fufkin wrote:

"anyone whose head is not stuck in the sand"

Max, you would make a great Jewish mother-in-law.

Oi-vay.

artie_fufkin wrote:

"I never really learned to slide as most of my BB was played in shorts on crappy fields, so this prompts what may be a really dumb question: in a slide, does the foot get to the bag faster than it would have otherwise?"

It's not a dumb question, and one that has mystified the ... er, mystical elements of philosophical thought for eternity (or at least since Abner Doubleday said "Let's put the bases 90 feet apart and see what happens ...").
The rationale for sliding into second and third is pretty apparent. You stop yourself from over-running the bag. The wisdom of sliding into first and home is debatable. There are those who will tell you that you get there quicker by running through the bag, and there are those who say sliding gets you there faster. Certainly, on a tag play at the plate, a slide gives the tagger lesser options as to where to apply the tag, which I think sways the debate onto the "sliding is better" side. On a force play, it's probably better to run through the bag. And then there's the head-first slide versus the feet-first slide debate ...
I defer to track and field. You don't see sprinters sliding to reach the finish line of the 100-meter dash. They're taught to run through the tape.
(Aside: there used to be a technique called a "hook slide." Based on a signal from a base coach, the runner would slide away from the direction of the throw, and contact the bag with his bent inside leg, but that's kind of gone the way of the eephus pitch and wool uniforms, which were really, really hot and itchy, but I revert from haberdashery back to your question ...)
The one aspect of sliding upon which there is uninami .. unanimit ...  consensus is a head-first slide into home is a bad idea.

Pete Rose used to do it.  I think the risk of injury is the reason that people are against this.

"Anyone remember Jeter's relay to home to help get the Yankees through the Athletics? He's safe by a mile if he slides"

That's usually exhibit A in the debate. There's no way Posada can bend down and apply a tag if Giambi hits the dirt.
Best slide I ever saw was, believe it or not, in an Old Fart League game I played in. Wild pitch caroms perfectly off the backstop to the catcher, who has time to turn and put the glove in front of the plate before the runner arrives. The runner goes into a slide short of the plate. When the catcher extends his arm, the runner pops up, jumps over the glove and lands on the plate.
The runner was the closest thing to an idiot baseball savant I've ever seen. I'm not sure he knew how to read. If you had asked this guy to count past 10, he would have had to take off his shoes and socks. But he was about 40 years old at the time, and I don't think Roger Clemens could have gotten a fastball by him. Last I heard, he was in jail for armed robbery.

They ought to be worried.  They just surrendered home field advantage to the Cardinals, with the first game of a best of three series having a pitching matchup that seems to favor the Cardinals.  If things play out by the numbers, I expect the Cards will win Game 3, and Philly will find themselves in back-to-back must win games to advance.