2011 World Series: Rangers @ Cardinals

[a700hitter]

Can some intelligent poster here give me some speculation as to why Feliz would be taken out of the game? Especially for Darren Oliver?

 

I mean, if it was some live arm like Ogando I would get it, but Oliver? There's a reason that guy only has like 5 career saves while not starting more than ONE game since 2004.

 

Yes, it would have been sweet to have him win the WS out there but seriously. Feliz's arm reminds me of Pedro in his prime. Oliver is like a bad Felix Doubront, and Doubront ain't that good.

The only thing I can think of is that he didn't want to burn him for game 7. If that is the reason, I think he made a terrible mistake. You have to bring down the hammer when you have the chance.

[jung]

e1, it may sound too simplistic but I really think both Larussa and Wash on separate occasions just outsmarted themselves and over-managed from pressure. I am not sure that one was worse than the other although Wash made what I view as a mistake later in the game with the Feliz move. Larussa made his much earlier in the game. I could not believe my eyes with Wash as that was such a bad move.

[msubulldogs21]

I think Texas is toast tomorrow night. They had their chance (twice) and blew it... I just don't think they recover from that. That was brutal. Meanwhile, St Louis finds a way to win no matter what.

 

I absolutely think the Cardinals win Game 7.

[Gringo]

It seemed like Washington kind of lost the plot there towards the end of the game...the pressure got to him, I think.

[Gringo]

Wow, if Texas loses, it'll be an incredible choke job. 2 run leads and within one strike in consecutive innings.....holy crap

[ORS]

Yes, such is life. Hopefully the movie is good.

 

What does a no phone usage policy mean? You can't quietly open your phone to check the score? Lame.

No, you can't. No talking, no texting, no browsing.

 

It's actually a great theater chain here in Texas called The Alamo Cinema and Drafthouse. There are extra walking aisles between the seating aisles for the waiters/waitresses to stop by and take your beer/food order during the movie (no talking, you write down what you want on slips of paper). They offer a good selection of beers (even their own on tap), and decent food/dessert options (the Guiness milkshake is awesome). They do cult classic movies several nights of the week (I went to see The Big Lebowski in Sept), which I think is a very good idea - they are tapping into a market that has gone ignored by the big movie theater chains, people like to watch movies with other fans of their all-time favorites. In a sense, they are tapping into what the big chains miss, that going to the movies can be fun (the cult classics, the serving of alcohol, and offering better food than stale hot dogs and state fair nachos).

 

It just so happens, they have a very tight no phone policy that they wear like a badge of honor. In fact, for a little while there, they were actually using a customer complaint about being thrown out as marketing for how serious they are. This young girl (late teens early 20's), got thrown out for texting during a movie, so she called in to the customer service line to leave a feedback message. She was pretty whiney and ridiculous sounding, so the used her message as a warning to movie-goers at the beginning of movies to illustrate that their no phone policy is serious. It's a small price to pay for what otherwise is a very good theater experience, and I think it comes from a genuinely good intent. They don't want non-movie-watching activities to take away from someone else's theater experience. Personally, I doesn't bother me if the person next to me is quietly using their phone in the theater, but I do recognize that there are some that find this distracting from watching the movie.

 

Oh, and they also frown upon bringing children to movies after 6:00 pm. They don't say you can't, because if your child can be quiet they'll leave you alone. If your kid is noisy, though, they'll show you the door. All this stuff is up front with warnings before the previews.

[VA Sox Fan]

No, you can't. No talking, no texting, no browsing.

 

It's actually a great theater chain here in Texas called The Alamo Cinema and Drafthouse. There are extra walking aisles between the seating aisles for the waiters/waitresses to stop by and take your beer/food order during the movie (no talking, you write down what you want on slips of paper). They offer a good selection of beers (even their own on tap), and decent food/dessert options (the Guiness milkshake is awesome). They do cult classic movies several nights of the week (I went to see The Big Lebowski in Sept), which I think is a very good idea - they are tapping into a market that has gone ignored by the big movie theater chains, people like to watch movies with other fans of their all-time favorites. In a sense, they are tapping into what the big chains miss, that going to the movies can be fun (the cult classics, the serving of alcohol, and offering better food than stale hot dogs and state fair nachos).

 

It just so happens, they have a very tight no phone policy that they wear like a badge of honor. In fact, for a little while there, they were actually using a customer complaint about being thrown out as marketing for how serious they are. This young girl (late teens early 20's), got thrown out for texting during a movie, so she called in to the customer service line to leave a feedback message. She was pretty whiney and ridiculous sounding, so the used her message as a warning to movie-goers at the beginning of movies to illustrate that their no phone policy is serious. It's a small price to pay for what otherwise is a very good theater experience, and I think it comes from a genuinely good intent. They don't want non-movie-watching activities to take away from someone else's theater experience. Personally, I doesn't bother me if the person next to me is quietly using their phone in the theater, but I do recognize that there are some that find this distracting from watching the movie.

 

Oh, and they also frown upon bringing children to movies after 6:00 pm. They don't say you can't, because if your child can be quiet they'll leave you alone. If your kid is noisy, though, they'll show you the door. All this stuff is up front with warnings before the previews.

 

Sounds like an awsome movie theater! What are y'all going to see tonight?

 

I'm still pulling for the Rangers but kind of agree with MSU, the momentum is with the Cards.

[jacksonianmarch]

Tonight is going to be an epic game. I still dont get why Wash isnt going to the hot hand in Holland, but Harrison can make due. I think Carp is a little less sharp and the game turns into another high scoring affair. I hope there is a walkoff. I am sorry, but the baseball gods would frown on the Rangers being defending champs. I know that means the Cards will start gaining on us (lol) but so be it. And I like Pujols, a lot.

[ORS]

Sounds like an awsome movie theater! What are y'all going to see tonight?

 

I'm still pulling for the Rangers but kind of agree with MSU, the momentum is with the Cards.

In Time

[Laser Show]

I know we'll see CJ Wilson tonight. He was ready to go for Game 6, why wouldn't they pitch him at some point if Game 7 is within reach? You don't leave your best pitcher on the bench even when he hasn't been pitching well.

[Gringo]

I know we'll see CJ Wilson tonight. He was ready to go for Game 6' date=' why wouldn't they pitch him at some point if Game 7 is within reach? You don't leave your best pitcher on the bench even when he hasn't been pitching well.[/quote']

 

They had Holland, Ogando, Adams and Feliz set to pitch....that's a pretty good group, but they just didn't pull it off last night. Washington's mistake was yanking Feliz for Old Man River.

[jung]

Game 6 should have ended in Cruz' glove. The game went just long enough for Wash to make a really big mistake.

 

Oh well....we get a WS Game 7 out of it.

[redsoxrules]

IMO , Holland should be starting tonight , he has the hot hand .

 

I think Washington is making a big mistake the way he managed these last 2 games .

 

Hope Im wrong as I want Texas to win it .

[Laser Show]

They had Holland' date=' Ogando, Adams and Feliz set to pitch....that's a pretty good group, but they just didn't pull it off last night. Washington's mistake was yanking Feliz for Old Man River.[/quote']

 

Feliz was all over the place. I'm surprised the Cards didn't win the game while he was out there.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Crap. Looks like I'll be missing the game too. All of a sudden my dvr wants to not work anymore,, just great. Hopefully this game goes 18 innings.

[VA Sox Fan]

Crap. Looks like I'll be missing the game too. All of a sudden my dvr wants to not work anymore' date=', just great. Hopefully this game goes 18 innings.[/quote']

 

That sucks! :thumbdown

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Tell me about it

[jung]

Feliz was all over but rarely in the middle of the plate. It does not matter whether or not you can bring it. As hitters get more and more focused, the less you can get away with pitches in the middle of the plate regardless of how hard you might be throwing. Even the last home run by Freese was middle in right at the belt. Good hitters are not going to miss that pitch under these circumstances. I will bet that looked like a beach ball coming up there to Freese.

 

Felez often pitches like he did last night as he is definitely not Mr. Strike One. But he does not leave the ball in the middle of plate. I had mentioned this coming down the stretch of the season when we were sort of musing over whether the Sox could do anything if they did get to the post season and I commented that the intensity of the playoffs produces really focused hitters and good pitching will still beat them but mistakes (like pitches in the middle of plate) are no longer just singles. Mistakes get crushed.

 

Pujols hit a pretty good pitch. That was probably the best pitch that was hit pretty good during that whole period from innings 7-11. The other hits were balls belt high, many getting far too much of the middle of the plate and some were just belt high. The Freese hit to right was a pitch that was belt high but it was on the outside edge. That was also a pretty good pitch. Freese got as much of that as he could to make it to the wall in right field where it should have been caught.

 

As it got to be late in that game pitchers simply could not seem to get the ball far enough inside and there were way too many pitches like the pitch that Freese homered. Also, since pitchers were not able to get the ball far enough inside, the hitters were really able to get better plate coverage and hitters were able to get more of the meat of the bat to balls on the outer half.

 

I actually can't remember a big game where there were so many belt high pitches served up in a box from a couple inches in from the middle out to the outer edge of the plate. None of the pitchers could get the ball far enough inside to be effective and they did very little to change the hitter's eye level.

 

If tonight's game is close I expect that we will see the hitters settle in more and more as the game progresses and if the pitchers again allow them to focus on a narrow band where they are always going to find the ball, we will see the same kind of late inning hitting that we saw in Game 6.

 

On the other hand this is the WS for crying out loud. Unless my pitcher is in a nice groove, my pitching coach might be out there late in the game visiting him batter by batter trying to get him to stay loose but also reminding him of where he has to go with the ball. Take the pressure of thinking off of him and make it as much as possible a physical exercise to get the batter out. Hit a batter if you have to...anything but do not give up pitching inside the way the pitchers gave up last night.

 

Sure there were a good many 3-2 counts in the game but for the most part batters got to 3-2 because they knew where the pitcher was going with the ball and they fouled off pitches that they did not think they could handle. I am about convinced that Ryan looked as pissed off as he did at the end because he would have seen the general level of pitching as a surrender by the Ranger's pitchers.

[Flynnatic10]

s***, who to root for. Rangers because of Hamilton or Cardinals because of Pujols.

[Divinity]

Pujols > Hamilton

[jung]

Been behind Rangers to get their first. Backed Cards last night cause wanted a game 7. Guess I would like to see Rangers pick themselves up off the canvas and win it. Tough game last night to come back from.

[Flynnatic10]

Pujols > Hamilton

 

I like Hamilton more though...

[Reck]

Does Kinsler ever learn?

[Divinity]

Carpenter isn't very sharp on short rest

[Reck]

Down 2 already.

 

Dont expect the same dramatic comeback again tonight.

[iortiz]

I don't know how this gonna end, but this Texas offense is simply ridicoulus.

[Reck]

David Freeze is damn easily the MVP of the World Series. Even of they lose the series they should just give the guy the trophy.

[jacksonianmarch]

this series is awesome

[Reck]

Is there a chance Carpenter makes it to the 5th? Me dont think so.

[jung]

Kinsler's awareness on the base paths is lousy. He does not even make himself alert to the places where danger may come from. The ball is in play and he is scratching around in the dirt or doing some damn thing or another...another example of the modern baseball player at his finest.

 

By rights somebody should try the hidden ball trick on him. It would probably work.