Leave Matt Holliday alone (and other supplemental observations)
Oct 9, 2009, 8:20 AM EST
Matthew and Bob did an excellent job of recapping yesterday’s games, but I have a couple of random observations knocking around my head:
– Look, I know all you Cardinals fans want to kill Matt Holliday right now, but (a) your guys may not have made the postseason without him; (b) he did hit a homer in the game last night; and (c) after the error, in order to lose that game, Ryan Franklin still had to walk Casey Blake, give up a single to Ronnie Belliard, walk Russell Martin, give up a single to Mark Loretta and deal with a passed ball. And it’s worth noting that Tony La Russa let that slow-motion car crash all unfold. Does that absolve Holliday? No. Dude messed up; no gettin’around that. But rather than make him the biggest goat since Bill Buckner, maybe the allegedly smartest and bestest fans in baseball should acknowledge that last night’s ninth inning collapse was a team effort.
– As Matthew noted, Red Sox Nation is none too happy with the umpiring of last night’s game, particularly as it came from C.B. Bucknor. It’s worth repeating however, that (a) none of those mistakes led directly to Angels runs; and (b) none of those mistakes added any velocity or movement to the 114 John Lackey pitches that the Sox’batters couldn’t do a damn thing with. If it was a close game, sure, I’ll listen to some complaints, but you don’t get to moan about umps when you get shut out like this.
Also, from the AP game story:
Despite the Angels’ominous playoff history against the Red Sox, the noisy Orange County crowd didn’t seem to be anticipating
disappointment while clacking its ThunderStix and easily drowning out
the surprisingly small Boston fan contingent on a slightly chilly night.
Holy crap, they’re still doing the ThunderStix thing out there? I went
to an Angels game in 2003 and it was played out then. Angels fans, take
it from a Braves fan: you don’t want to continue to be identified in the
world by a group cheering thing that, while possibly amusing when it
started, grows more and more ridiculous as time goes on. No,
ThunderStix will probably never be as bad as the Chop, but you don’t
even want to be half as bad as that, OK?
– Finally, congratulations to Cole Hamels on becoming a dad. Yeah, running out of the stadium to head to the maternity ward makes for a stressful day, and yeah, he got roughed up a bit before he ran out, but as a father, I can tell you that no bad day at work can make you feel as bad as a good day with your kids can make you feel good. And even a bad day with your kids is better than a good day at work. Added bonus: Hamels now actually has a use for that minivan he’s been driving around in for the past few years.
-
- Alex K - Oct 9, 2009 at 8:35 AM
-
Hamels had to be thinking about his wife right? I, for one, won’t fault the guy for having a bad game when his wife is about to pop.
-
- G. May - Oct 9, 2009 at 9:16 AM
-
With respect to the final paragraph I say, “Amen.”
-
- Shely - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:00 PM
-
Sorry Craig I am not totally with you on this one. There is only one reason they failed last night. TLR still doesn’t know that he doesn’t have a closer in Franklin. You might think after September, he may have thought about finding someone else. How about letting Smolts try to get one or two outs when you really need it? Going back to Franklin time after time will not get the job done. The fault falls only on Tony’s shoulders. Look who beat them. Not Kemp, or Manny or Tome, but Loretta. I thought the guy had retired, really. I didn’t know he was on anyone’s roster.
GOAT: TONY LARUSSA
-
- john - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:10 PM
-
wow;
-
- Robert L. Noe - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:19 PM
-
Craig, you are absolutely correct in your assesment of the game last night. I have been tired of watching not only Franklin blow games but also McClellan. These two will get ahead of a batter and then lose them by throwing errantly or even hitting the batter.
Pathetic relievers both!
-
- Throws Like a Girl but knows the Game - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:22 PM
-
Funny that Lorretta beat us, being a Cub all those years. Guess those goat-cursed Cub Fans were loving that. I was SCREAMING at the tube — “Tony, lift him, lift him!” and my worst fears unfolded. I don’t blame Holliday, although he messed up bad, it was the meltdown of Franklin and that goat he wears on his face and the “genius” of TLR.
-
- Joe - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:36 PM
-
I agree with you Craig. Personally, I did not think “OMG, Holliday lost the game for the Cards.” Honestly, that would be akin to Cubs fans thinking that the Bartman play cost them a shot to the WS. Totally not true, as the Cubs meltdown continued AFTER the infamous play occurred. Same was true for the Redbirds last night.
I also thought as I was finishing listening to the game, that after the second walk, Franklin should have been removed. And, no, I don’t necessarily think that the team should go away from him as the closer, as he was dominant the first half and merely very good in the last half of the season. But, when things are working against you, a guy can get rattled and not recover, and that’s what I saw last night. Franklin wasn’t recovering, and La Russa should have pulled him. I think that Tony goes into too much psychology sometimes, thinking he doesn’t want to ruin a guy’s confidence by pulling him, but sometimes (last night, for example), he stays with someone too long at the expense of the team.
-
- BIGBRUCE11047 - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:46 PM
-
Don’t blame Franklin in this meltdown. If Holliday catches the ball the game is over and Franklin is in the dugout celebrating. Tony La Russa should have given the ball to Smoltz in that situation. Remember he is the only pitcher to have 150 wins and 150 saves to his credit. I’m glad it happened no matter whose fault his was as I am a Dodger fan!!
-
- i am evil homer - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:50 PM
-
Like the Bartman play, the Holliday play changed the entire feel of the game. Can you say they are the reason for their teams’losses? No. But there is no way you can say that they didn’t weigh heavily on the minds of the players, thereby contributing to the loss. Plays like those take whatever helium is in your balloons and drain them faster than you can say “game over.”
-
- Shely - Oct 9, 2009 at 1:56 PM
-
Well, in the end, it was TLR’s decision to close with Franklin. And, it was his decision to let him in there and walk batters after the error. Then it was his decision to allow him to crash and burn when the total viewing public knew that Franklin was in trouble. I still say that Tony bears almost total responsibility for the loss.
-
- Stephanie - Oct 9, 2009 at 2:15 PM
-
Cubs fans know that it takes more than one person to blow a game; just ask Leon Durham, Moises Alou and Steve Bartman. One guy making a mistake can throw everyone off their rhythm, that’s true. And I’m sure that happened. But a team that’s good enough to make the playoffs needs to be able to get their rhythm back as a team, too. Holliday may have made the first mistake, but he is NOT responsible for the loss; the whole team is.
-
- Jeff - Oct 9, 2009 at 2:21 PM
-
HEADLINE “Holliday’s error wasn’t what killed Cardinals”
Uhhhh….yes it was!
Catch the fly ball, game over, none of the other stuff happens!
-
- robert - Oct 9, 2009 at 2:51 PM
-
tony tony needs to go new blood is needed.
-
- Hal Pritzker - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:09 PM
-
That’s right about Holliday. His error was unfortunate and untimely, but not fatal. What were fatal issues for the Deadbirds were:
(Lousy hitting (10 hits, two runs, on Thursday)
LaRussa not staying with Wainwright in the ninth inning
LaRussa not using Hall of Famer-to-be John Smoltz in the ninth, if not Wainwright
LaRussa not removing Franklin before he could pitch the team out of the game (and series)
Here in St. Louis, we have a psycho-blowhard radio sports “host” named Kevin Slaten. While he’s exactly what I described him to be, he’s being proven right about LaRussa’s incompetance, which he loudly and ceaselessly underscores. That’s what really hurts: that LaRussa is showing himself to be what such a jerk like Slaten says he is.
-
- mick-7-1961 - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:30 PM
-
Let me get this right: Holliday didn’t cost them the game….Holliday makes the ‘easy’catch, game over…end of story.
Exactly what game are you talking about???
-
- mick-7-1961 - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:31 PM
-
Let me get this right: Holliday didn’t cost them the game….Holliday makes the ‘easy’catch, game over…end of story.
Exactly what game are you talking about???
-
- barin - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:32 PM
-
Completely Holliday’s and LaRussa’s fault. Game over if Holliday catches ball, but after that, when you have to send your pitching coach out to settle down the pitcher tahn just get him out of there. It was obvious he never recovered from thinking game was over. Holliday is more to blame for his horrible at bat in game 1. I dont know if I have ever seen a worse at bat from one of the games stars. Why did he even bother taking a bat to the plate in the first inning, bases loaded, if he did not intend to swing it.
-
- scottw - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:44 PM
-
Brewers had 3 decent 2nd basemen. Traded Vina to Cards; kept Loretta & Belliard. Lo got injured; Belly tanked.
Years later, Vina out of baseball, Belliard turns up on the Dodgers and drives in the tying run. To my surprise, Loretta is once again on the same team as Belliard, comes up and drives in the winning run. Go, Crew.
-
- K - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:45 PM
-
Typical Card fan. Things do not go their way and can not take the heat they start to melt faster that an ice cream cone in Hades.
-
- Tim - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:56 PM
-
“Throws Like a Girl but knows the Game” doesn’t seem to know the game, afterall. In what alternate universe was Mark Loretta a Cub for a day, let alone “all those years”? Maybe this helps:
Loretta’s Career
MIL (8 yrs)
SDP (3 yrs)
HOU (3 yrs)
BOS (1 yr)
LAD (1 yr)
Have to agree that Franklin, and to some degree, LaRussa gave that game away.
-
- S - Oct 9, 2009 at 3:58 PM
-
Re: Cardinals game, Craig is totally correct. I think they stranded something like 21 players on base in two nights, so there’s plenty of blame to go around. I wish Franklin would shave off the Amish beard. It’s weird looking. The change couldn’t hurt his pitching (referring to superstitious athletes who think they can’t change anything or they’ll be jinxed). GO CARDS!!!
-
- Halos Fan - Oct 9, 2009 at 4:00 PM
-
The Angels were not in the playoffs in 2003. Please do some simple research before you call out an organization. If you fail to do so, you might get called out as well.
That being said, I really enjoyed your analysis of the Boston complaints regarding umpiring. Nice work.
-
- Craig Calcaterra - Oct 9, 2009 at 4:10 PM
-
Halos Fan: I never said it was a playoff game. I was at a game between the Angels and Mariners in April 2003. It was a Saturday. Big late comeback by the Angels, Appier pitched that night. There were thousands of people with ThunderStix in the park, no doubt holdovers from the previous postseason.
-
- Tim - Oct 9, 2009 at 4:13 PM
-
@Halos Fan -
The man said he went to an Angels game in 2003, he didn’t mention anything about a playoff game. Unless those ThunderStix are used exclusively at playoff time – in which case you’d be right – then you may want to read a bit more carefully before calling someone out for nothing.
-
- Halos Fan - Oct 9, 2009 at 4:21 PM
-
Craig,
Wow, maybe I should learn to read carefully before I call people out. Apologies.
I’m pretty sure ThunderStixs have only been distributed at Angel playoff games – so the stixs you saw in 2003 must have been people bringing old ones from the previous postseason.
Aren’t all giveaway ‘props’kind of played-out anyway? How is the ThunderStix any worse than a towel?
