Comments on: NL Wild Card Game Preview: Do the Cardinals stand a chance?

By: phillyphannn83

phillyphannn83 — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:11:01 +0000

Where’ve you been Craig?? Since this game went final you’ve been MIA. Stop hiding and come take your licks like a man!!!

By: verytalldad

verytalldad — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:30:56 +0000

Hows that pick working out ya? Medlen the unhittable!!!!!!

By: foreverchipper10

foreverchipper10 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:25:11 +0000

Chipper and the Braves have to prevail on my birthday. Don’t they? I think so.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:27:51 +0000

Craig, Good Luck in this afternoon’s game. May the team that plays the best win.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:09:20 +0000

Am I the only one that thinks “Barves” every time they see “Braves”?

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:06:24 +0000

There are HBT writers that do analysis? Who?

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:59:15 +0000

@forsch – ah yes, you are correct. Mostly we just recall the irony of winning all 3 against the Braves, and thus facing the Cardinals. But you are correct, the last one prevented a one game playoff

By: Loren

Loren — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:17:30 +0000

You know what this game really needs? Tony LaRussa.
He was made for a one game playoff with an 11 man bullpen.
You may disagree. You may think it would be torture.
I think it would be a thing of beauty. The ultimate expression of his art.

By: ajcardsfan

ajcardsfan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:01:44 +0000

I don’t care who wins, I just want a good game, but I am hoping for something bizarre to happen, whether it’s a rally squirrel or a Randy Johnson exploding bird kind of deal.

By: kevinbnyc

kevinbnyc — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:54:19 +0000

See everything everyone said to you on the AL pick. Idiot.

By: forsch31

forsch31 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:28:34 +0000

@delaware–actually, if the Phillies had lost against the Braves in their last game, there would have been a one-game play-in between the Cardinals and Braves to determine the Wild Card.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:07:44 +0000

The way I see it…Medlen (and Braves when he is starting) are long overdue for a loss.
Go Cardinals!

By: srgntyork

srgntyork — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:43:19 +0000

I meant NLCS

By: srgntyork

srgntyork — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:42:45 +0000

Right because they give the NLDS abd WS MVP to a guy who only played well in one game. What you your stats say about that?

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:10:59 +0000

102 wins for last years Phillies – and that 102nd win made all the difference in the World (101 Phillies wins would have had Braves as Wild card winner, rather then Cards)

By: temporarilyexiled

temporarilyexiled — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:08:35 +0000

Craig, I’m rooting for your team today, and not because I’d rather have the Giants face the Braves. (That’s if the Giants can even get past the Reds in a series where there isn’t a clear favorite.)

That said, in a one-game play-in, the Cardinals lineup is just sick, and assuming Kyle Lohse pitches like he’s been pitching, this is asking Kris Medlen to continue to pitch even better.

The fact that the Braves even have to deal with a team that completely beat the odds just last year and knows they can do it again is about the worst matchup your team could get.

Again, I’m on your side today (so if you want to throw up in your mouth a little, I’ll understand).

By: jaygott87

jaygott87 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:44:54 +0000

Hey Craig, it’s Friday, you ain’t go no job, you ain’t got shit to do….

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:38:08 +0000

As the President of the “Troll Craig Society”, I really hate it when soemone says something that makes me defend Mr. Clean

He did not write out a novella, but her certainly did offer his analysis of why he thinks the Braves will win. And these are called “predictions”. He predicted the Phillies would win the NLDS Game 5 last year. They didn’t.

By: alexo0

alexo0 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:37:27 +0000

Craig’s role here is opinion/legal analysis. Everyone else does the baseball analysis.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:34:05 +0000

“Carlos Beltran hits game walk off winner”

Think about that one for a second…..

Okay, got it now Champ? We all good? Ok

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:33:57 +0000

Yeah, those dirty “experts” picking the 101 win team with one of the best rotations in baseball history for beat the team that won 11 fewer games. What kind of expert would do that?

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:29:51 +0000

David Freese’s “clutch” stats:

FanGraphs “Clutch”: -1.46 (which ranks between ‘poor’ and ‘awful’)
2 Out, RISP OPS: .845 (slightly up from .839 regular season OPS)
Late and Close OPS: .730 (waaaaaaay down from regular season OPS)

So we’re agreed…David Freese is no more “clutch” than anyone else. Yes, that game 6 was really awesome and he gets all the credit in the world for a wonderful game. But clutch is not a skill, a statistics have shown over and over and over and over again.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:28:15 +0000

Carlos Beltran hits game walk off winner

By: smftrdr

smftrdr — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:12:51 +0000

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/20448112/nl-wild-card-preview-can-cardinals-offense-get-to-medlen-braves-bullpen

Craig, that’s a preview.

By: jaygott87

jaygott87 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:11:26 +0000

Nice breakdown of the lineups Craig

By: blues1988

blues1988 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:04:39 +0000

just like last year, not one “expert” has the cards going past the division series and only a 2 or 3 picked them to beat Atlanta. i love when the cardinals fly under the radar….

By: smftrdr

smftrdr — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:49:56 +0000

Really Craig? Just go with the homer pick, no analysis at all?

By: heyblueyoustink

heyblueyoustink — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:23:06 +0000

Admiral Ackbar would suggest St. louis has a good shot of winning.

By: maegreen18

maegreen18 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:59:07 +0000

Braves win. I’ll chop to that.

By: biasedhomer

biasedhomer — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:46:31 +0000

I see clutch hitting David Freese carrying the Cards to the next round.