Oct
05
NL Wildcard Play-In Game Thread
ByThe Braves and Cardinals officially kick off the postseason this afternoon, as they meet in Atlanta in the first ever wildcard play-in game. The winner will advance to the NLDS and face the Nationals while the loser goes home. One game, winner take all. It’s fun as long as the Yankees aren’t involved. Kris Medlen (1.57 ERA and 2.42 FIP) vs. Kyle Lohse (2.86 ERA and 3.51 FIP) is your pitching matchup, and the game can be seen on TBS at 5:07pm ET. Talk about it here.
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Medlen will win. Braves shouldn’t even have to play this game against a team that is clearly inferior.
Then the Braves should have finished first and avoided the playoff game. One could also say that the Nats shouldn’t even have to play a series against the Braves (were they to advance to win) since Atlanta is clearly an inferior team. The moment you embrace the idea of a second place team making the playoffs you have tossed out this idea of “fairness”.
You were wrong, as usual.
Kris Medlen looks like he got called up from Little League.
Also how cool would it be knowing you are part of the first ever game of a new format? That ball will probably be on exhibit in the HOF with your name next to it for years to come.
What a play by Heyward. Robs Molina of a homer
jason heyward.
that is all.
I hate the blackout system. I’m in canada, have mlb.tv but don’t have cable and can’t watch them.
Updated by RAB: Please don’t link to unlicensed feeds. Thanks.
Craig couldve had that
why is it called “Play-In”? It sounds stupid
Seriously, who didn’t see that coming?
David Ross with a 2 run homer. Braves up 2-0
Get it done, Cashman.
but we’ve got seeing-eye stewart!
i want no part of the braves
kimbrell’s numbers look like typos. if they get ahead, it’s over
indeed. take it out of the bullpen’s hands: get an early lead and keep it, which is certainly doable.
i know teams can change over a half-season, but yanks were solid against the nl east in interleague. swept natties, and were a bad phil hughes from taking five of six from the braves. of course medlen was in the bullpen then.
yep. two-run dinger to the seven-hole backup catcher. medlen on the mound. looking pretty good for the bravos de atlanta.
and goodluck hinske in the dugout.
Difference between a 2 run homer and striking out the side? Umpire granting time to a player.
Lots of luck needed to win in the postseason
game of inches.
Is it just me or is it odd when they keep saying this was a career year for heyward. I mean its year 3, small sample size?
it’s odd
23 year-olds can’t have career years
further, while he had more homeruns this year, his season looks a lot like 2010.
Except for the 60 points of OBP.
right. 60 points higher in 2010. so which was the career year?
Offensively, 2010. Although if you trust UZR, he actually posted a better WAR this year.
i don’t, especially from season to season; and neither do you. he’s been a stud in the field from jump.
Agreed.
These late time out calls are kinda ridiculous.
Are Texas and Baltimore playing later today?
8:30
Thanks, I thought so. Really weird game times.
RBI double for Allen Craig. Braves up 2-1. Cards have second and third with no outs.
Does TBS really not show the pitch count?
It’s on their super-imposed pitch location window on the right.
OK, I see it thanks.
i don’t understand why every network doesn’t employ the yes score box.
Sac gtoundout by Molina and a sac fly by Freese have the Cardinals up 3-2
It would be a shame if the Braves go out with Chipper as the goat.
That’s exactly what I was just thinking
posteason.tv doesn’t have a tv broadcast style thingy? switching manually between the cams kinda sucks. also, since i live in georgia, i got A LOT of pissed off friends right now.
Jack Curry
?@JackCurryYES
Ichiro said he loves Yankee clubhouse because no one is too high or too low. “Except Swisher,” he said. Funny line.
heh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtImIqR5neU
NSFW – language
LOL.
that is hilarious.
I’m hoping the Braves stay in the postseason for a while. I’ve always admired Chipper and wouldn’t mind a Yankees/Braves rematch. I surely don’t want to see the Giants pitchers.
Wow, huge call, but correct.
woooooooow.
Great call by the ump.
Good call. Simmons was clearly on the grass
Man, NL baseball is soooo much different from watching AL ball.
Even for NL ball, it was a bad play by the rookie. Why bunt in front of the pitcher?
Even for NL ball, it was a bad play by the rookie. Why bunt in front of the pitcher?
Called from the bench, apparently.
that call on simmons broke gameday.
As the announcers said, there was no reason for Simmons to bunt there. Rookie mistake.
I’m shocked that Fredi Gonzalez put that on. Not even Girardi would do that.
I hate NL bunting. Too much bunting. I guess Girardi isn’t the only one who would bunt 1st and 3rd, 1 out. Awful decision.
Girardi would not have even done that with the pitcher batting behind him.
Girardi’s bunting tendencies are pretty minor compared to most managers. I can live with it most of the time.
*many* managers, not most.
In the way of Yankee fans, I was moaning with a friend last night about the decline of A-Rod, why he’s batting third, still, yadda, yadda…But then we stumbled on to what seemed, at the time, like an interesting hypothesis for his decline. I wondered if A-Rod had developed a “steroid swing,” i.e. he was able to start his swing later and look at the ball longer because he knew he’d have this extra power. Now that he’s no longer A-Roid, he’s still in the habit of the late swing, which has led to his loss of power, his slightly increased strike-out totals, and, what seems observationally true, though I haven’t corroborated it with a good look at the spray chart, more weak outs to the right side, or more pop ups that would have once at least made the outfield…In other words, it’s not that he’s only experiencing a physical decline, it’s that he hasn’t been able to adjust his swing to account for his physical decline. Theory doesn’t quite account for the 30 HR 2010 season, which was presumably post-roid. I’m curious, though, what the RAB crew think about this. Does it seem plausible? What’s the way to corroborate it statistically, and has anyone done it? I.e. are there certain types of hits that known steroid users were likely to have in higher percentages than non-steroid users in their spray charts (e.g. opposite field HRS off of high fastballs)…
Phew. Go Yanks!
am I remembering correctly that teams can reset their rosters after the play-in game?
so both teams are carrying more than the usual assortment of relievers?
i think so. read about it earlier, they can reset for the ds
correct.
Can’t hit HR’s in the postseason.
are people really still saying that?
apparently they can’t field in the Post either
I know its the 7th. but Cardinals have this, Atlanta cant do anything
they do look lost. poor chipper.
braves playing tight
cards are like “been there, done that”
The Braves are making Nunie look like a gold glover.
So true.
Wow, Braves are choking hard….two years in a row they’ve shit the bed during the most important game of their year
Braves….smh
little league
Wow, they do know this is a one game elimination right?
i think they’re a little TOO aware of that fact
i think the polite thing would be to look away.
This is gonna be a sad way to end chippers career.
The Braves are 0-9 at Turner Field when facing elimination.
Heh, so much for home field advantage.
mlb needs to put an end to that tomahawk chop stuff. it’s vuvuzela painful.
I hate the Braves for that as much as for anything else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ohSv6wECY
I can’t believe that Liberty Media hasn’t figured out that they can save at least $10,000 by getting rid of the foam tomahawks and the drummer in the outfield.
I fell asleep at 4:00 woke up a few minutes ago. Poor Braves. I kinda rather them win. Tired of St. Louis.
Pettitte is throwing a pen right now with Hughes. I wonder if that tells us anything about gm 2?
Why? During the regular season starters usually throw it between starts. More to just keep them both fresh.
I know, but they usually throw a pen a certain amount of days before their start. I just don’t know how many…
Geez, the tomahawk chant got old really quick – i can’t wait for the apple tv to arrive so i can digitally remove that shite!
They are calling that an infield fly???
huge break for the Cardinals.
Yea, really. The left field ump called it really late too.
What the hell is going on? This is a strange game
Oh, wow. Amazing call. They can’t let it stand.
Wow what a BS call.
that can’t be an infield fly, that’s bull
HOLY SHIT.
A legitimate infield fly, if the guy drops it, well, too bad. But this was way into left field.
stay classy, atlanta.
Stay classy Atlanta
Wait……what happened? That cannot possibly the Infield Fly Rule. Complete bullshit. Wow.
The announcers are saying the call may have been why the fielders gave up on it. So you can’t overturn it, as bad a call as it was.
Classless move by Atlanta fans. Yankee fans would never do that.
Oh yes they would.
Only Reggie bars. They don’t hurt. Except emotionally.
Yeah, they would. I just hope it would be better beer.
It’d be a 290 calorie Chekvar from “Beers of the World.”
Well, don’t say never. But if they did, the media would treat it like a natural disaster.
Seriously though, bad job by Atlanta fans. Awful.
LOL! Did you just become a Yankees fan this year Eddard?
they’d spit on cliff lee’s wife instead.
hahahahaahahahahahahaahaha, your hilarious
1 game playoffs: problematic.
That was a terrible call and an even worse move by the Braves fans.
Good for the Braves fans. The shitty umps are protected by a union. The asshole commissioner won’t allow replay. Fuck the sport.
They shouldn’t trash the field and embarrass themselves and the organization because the umpire sucks.
And now they’re throwing stuff again after the Cardnials take the field. Terrible.
Replay doesn’t really matter there. It’s 100% umpires judgement.
It’s not like the umpire mis-saw something.
it was an insanely late call, which screws up everything else. If the ump called it early, nothing would have happened; but he called the infield fly just seconds before the ball fell.
I agree it was a bad call. I just don’t think replay would change it. There’s nothing they’d see on replay that they didn’t see live. It was 100% umpires (bad) judgement, not a question of needing to see something more clearly or from a different angle.
awful, AWFUL call. and then the fans go and throw trash? my heart aches for chipper.
#replacement refs
Seriously.
I don’t like stuff being thrown. I understand the anger, though.
Perhaps it’s the Applejack and Cardamaro talking.
They cut out BUSH LEAGUE, BRO?!?!?!
Looks like Hogan just dropped the leg on Savage.
Looks like Hogan just joined the NWO, actually.
(which was his best promo, BTW.)
Um, yea, man, that’s what I was referring to.
You coulda meant WM5.
And of course the nWo promo was his best promo, but that post-losing the title promo was best on the unintentional comedy scale.
It was one of my first “wait…..this may be fake” moments, as I knew Earl Hebner was a referee for WCW at the time.
Warrior was always kind of the unintentional comedy promo. Anything during the Warrior/Papa Shango feud…
The Warrior/Papa Shango feud was epic in its awfulness. All I remember at the time, when I was 11, was that it kinda freaked me out for the Warrior to start dripping black liquid on his face and to start convulsing and throwing up. I always wondered why I never saw an actual match between the two of them. Then I saw the Warrior DVD and fully understood.
Charles Wright wasn’t terrible. He just didn’t become popular until he knew all he needed to say to get a pop was “pimpin ain’t easy.”
My teenage self loved the Warrior. My current self can’t belief I liked such a delusional, egotistical dickhead.
Everyone liked The Warrior then. Once I found out what he’s really like, I have had no taste for him. That being said, he probably belongs in the WWE HOF.
Charles Wright wasn’t terrible. He just wasn’t someone capable of putting on great matches without a good partner, and everyone knows The Warrior wasn’t that guy.
Was that a worse call than the one on Mauer’s foul ball in 09?
You’re not supposed to talk about that here.
It may be the Applejack and Cardamaro talking, again, but that’s arguably the worst call I’ve ever seen.
They don’t pitch to Kubel if Mauer is standing on 2nd with 1st base open. Same result. Men on 1st and 2nd same outs. Same difference.
Asinine call, but, geez, fans…I understand the frustration, but still.
I get a point! http://riveraveblues.com/2012/.....nt-4339778
good call
Ha! Wish it was Meals.
MLB has to step in and reverse this call. Just make it right. HOOMAN ELEMENTTTT
It’s wrong to throw things, but they have every right to be pissed and boo
but you know what would prevent bullshit like this from happening….INSTANT $%^%in REPLAY
but pigs have a better chance discovering nuclear fusion than that happening
Bud doesn’t want it. He likes when shit like this happens.
Sad as it is, it’s likely instant replay wouldn’t have been applied on this situation.
I think it could be, like the announcers are saying calling infield fly needs to be done quickly, not 2 seconds before the ball hits the ground.
Yeah but they’re also saying the call arguably made the infielder perhaps pull off the ball. It’s likely that a judgment call like the infield fly rule wouldn’t be reviewable.
I’m embarrassed to be a fan of MLB.
Jeffrey Loria was right. Fredi’s protesting the game. Ozzie would have whipped out his dick and pissed on leftfield.
and this is why you don’t have a single elimination game for all the marbles?
Nah. Get the call right even if it’s an Astros/Red Sox game.
^This.
Funniest part is that MLB’s twitter bio said “don’t worry, we don’t understand the infield fly rule either” up until a minute ago.
Ironically the trash on the field allowed the Braves to decide to play under protest.
If they’re still throwing shit, they really need to announce that if it doesn’t stop, the game is going to be forfeited.
The umpire is nearsighted he thought it was a yank pop up. The Tex call in Baltimore was worse because this is a judgement call whereas under no circumstances was Tex out
*applies “opposite” rule*
If I were Atlanta I’d put Chipper on the scoreboard, telling the fans to stop
I’d put Andre 3000.
I hope McCann hits it into Jacksonville.
too bad vegas doesn’t give a fuck about baseball.
Using Google Earth I figured that that ball was more than 90 feet past the 2nd to 3rd base line.
Now I hope Bourn hits it to Savannah.
Good. I hope the Cardinals win so there’s a small chance MLB does something about the terrible umpires.
When has Selig ever actually done anything that has fixed something? Cardinals will win, nothing will be done; but I want the Cardinals to get spanked like children in the next series.
Not the players fault but it’s a crime whenever a sporting event gets decided by shit refs/umps/judges
At least if the Cardinals win there’s a CHANCE that something is done, however small it may be. If the Braves win there’s no way that happens.
I understand, I’m just frustrated by the whole process….it’s such a load of crap
Just curious…and I don’t want to change the topic up but since it does have to do with these wild card games, I figured I’d ask. Who do you guys want to win the Rangers-Orioles game tonight? I personally am indifferent.
For some reason, it just hit me that I hate Balt enough that I want them to lose.
Nah I don’t care.
I want an alien invasion to abduct both teams and send them to a space zoo until the postseason ends.
but in light of the tiny chance of that happening, I hope that whoever wins catches Hamilton’s dry eyes so they are incapable of seeing the ball right.
BLUE eyes, and it’s a real thing! mine are very sensitive to bright light.
How exactly will this protest be handled if Cards win? I guess they would have to remain in Atlanta until MLB renders a decision by tonight or tomorrow morning.
Dumb question: is the infield fly mandatory if the circumstances exist?
Yes.
This protest may hold. Just like only the home plate umpire can call a ball fair or foul before it gets to the bag, and then and only then, does it become the exclusive call of the 1st and 3rd base umpires in regular season ball, I don’t think the left field umpire has any right to make that call – it is within the exclusive discretion of the infield umpires.
That being said, good for you Atlanta fans for showing passion, as futile as it is. If this was in Yankee Stadium against NY, I’d expect the same somewhat misguided passionate reaction.
Your first point is a good one. If it is an INFIELD fly, why is the left field line ump calling it?
It is their only hope of having the protest upheld. Hope they have good enough legal/baseball folks to make it the right way.
Chipper is going to end their season, isn’t he.
was Heywards out, an infield fly?
Jerry Meals was amazed at how shitty a call that was.
Unreal.
motte needs to groove one.
Chipper half-asses his way to first on what could be his last AB ever.
Now we know how Cano’s career will end.
That should be an E on the 2nd baseman. There was no need to do that jump throw with Chipper running.
The thing about the call that really pisses me off is you know, in normal baseball series, there’s the next game in the series where you can hopefully get back. I remain opposed to a one-game series for anything in baseball.
it sucks when it happens to your team and you cling to it bitterly, but a game rarely comes down to just one call.
couldve been a bad strike three call. happens all the time.
having said that, i feel sick to my stomach, and i ache a little for chipper.
From the rule book:
“When it seems apparent that a batted ball will be an Infield Fly, the umpire shall
immediately declare “Infield Fly” for the benefit of the runners.”
I suppose one could argue wasn’t apparent until the IF appeared to settle under the ball, hence the lateness of the call.
“Rule 2.00 (Infield Fly) Comment: On the infield fly rule the umpire is to rule whether the ball could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder—not by some arbitrary limitation such as the grass, or the base lines. The umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire’s judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder. The
infield fly is in no sense to be considered an appeal play. The umpire’s judgment must govern, and the decision should be made immediately”
It seems to come down to whether the ball could have been handled easily by the IF. It’s a debatable point, but the infielder was there and could have rather easily caught it. Seems like no chance the protest will be upheld.
Do we root against the better team or the more annoying team here? It’s tough.