2019 World Series (ASTROS vs. NATIONALS)

[Redskins Rick]

17 hours ago, JR Oriole said:

I was at Game 3.  I swear in a matter of 5 pitches the game went from 2-1 Os in the 8th to 5-2 NY.  The Yankees were the better team, and I don't honestly think we would have won the series even if we won Game 1.  I am much more haunted by Benitez in the 97 ALCS.  He was the true MVP of that series....for Cleveland.

Sounds like the same game I was at. 

[Sessh]

12 hours ago, survivedc said:

Well good thing you aren’t in charge of replay reviews. 

There wasn’t irrefutable evidence by any means, you just couldn’t tell by the angle and nobody wants to sit around 5 minutes while they keep looking.

There absolutely was irrefutable evidence. Maybe we weren't looking at the same four HD, high speed camera views. His foot hit the bag, came up off the bag completely and was tagged before the trailing leg hit the bag. They didn't overturn the obvious bad call on the interference play either which there was also clear, irrefutable evidence to overturn. No way that was interference. I don't think they wanted to overturn anything considering how bad the umpiring was in general in this series. These were two terrible calls.

12 hours ago, tntoriole said:

He could have chosen Cole.  But...that is the way it goes. 

He could have.. but we don't know what the situation was (if any) with Cole. Maybe we will in the coming days. It doesn't seem like using him was ever in the plans, but the bottom line is the Astros bullpen didn't get the job done. Oh well.. the Nationals deserved it IMO.

[Sessh]

I would also add that we've seen plays just like that overturned on a regular basis in the regular season. Runner slides into the base, foot pops up off the base and is tagged before he can re-initiate contact with the bag. Called safe, but overturned on replay. Same play we've seen overturned time and time again and it should have been again.

[Curse of the Bamdino]

2 hours ago, Sessh said:

He could have (relieved Greinke with Cole).. but we don't know what the situation was (if any) with Cole. Maybe we will in the coming days. It doesn't seem like using him was ever in the plans, but the bottom line is the Astros bullpen didn't get the job done. Oh well.. the Nationals deserved it IMO.

I've no qualms with passing over Cole in that situation. If he's brought in on 2 days rest and yaks up the lead, Hinch is (seen as) a moron for riding his ace too hard when he had a perfectly serviceable/capable bullpen ready to go.

What I have an issue with is relieving Greinke in the first place. He was dealing until he hung a change to Rendon and got squeezed (in these amateurish eyes, anyway) on the walk to Soto. I'd have been fine letting him work out of it - he'd been keeping guys off balance all game - especially considering he was only at 80 pitches.

 

[Sessh]

4 hours ago, Curse of the Bamdino said:

What I have an issue with is relieving Greinke in the first place. He was dealing until he hung a change to Rendon and got squeezed (in these amateurish eyes, anyway) on the walk to Soto. I'd have been fine letting him work out of it - he'd been keeping guys off balance all game - especially considering he was only at 80 pitches.

It's a valid criticism, but the thing is Hinch did not immediately signal to the bullpen when he came out to the mound. He talked with Greinke for a few seconds, Greinke nodded and it was only at that point did Hinch make the call to the bullpen. So, the change seemed to be, in part, the result of whatever discussion took place between Hinch and Greinke. Maybe those details will come out eventually, but it certainly proved to be the case that Greinke was the only thing holding the Nationals down. Once he was out, Washington just took over the game.

[Just Regular]

Fangraphs overview on how the 2017-2019 Astros now kind of lump in with the 1969-1971 Orioles as great failures.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-2019-astros-join-a-list-of-great-failures/

It was before my time and I've kind of understood those '69-71 teams as uniformly great, so the table that showed the '69 Orioles 8 WAR ahead of the '70 champions took me a bit by surprise.

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

Fangraphs overview on how the 2017-2019 Astros now kind of lump in with the 1969-1971 Orioles as great failures.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-2019-astros-join-a-list-of-great-failures/

It was before my time and I've kind of understood those '69-71 teams as uniformly great, so the table that showed the '69 Orioles 8 WAR ahead of the '70 champions took me a bit by surprise.

The ‘69 O’s only won one more regular season game than the ‘70 version, but their +272 run differential outstripped the +217 in ‘70 by a healthy margin.    

[TonySoprano]

The '79 O's had a 3-1 lead vs Pittsburgh and had the final two games at home.  They scored 2 runs in those last three games combined to choke away the Series.  To me, that's more comparable to the 2019 Astros.  Yeah, the Astros won 14 more games during the season, but both teams went 78-34 to finish their regular seasons.