Kind of shocked there is no discussion about the MLB post season. The Rays drawing less than 20K for a play-off game surprised me but maybe it shouldn't have. You can tell that Sparky Anderson wasn't A. J. Puk's manager, LOL. Excuse the typo in the thread title. I wasn't trying to be cute with things like "pointe" and "olde".
Dane Dunning came in in relief. Gave up a meaningless full count walk and then got a pop up well into a count. I don't think that any pitch he threw was in the strike zone. I know that some posters would say that was horrible pitching but I think it was great pitching. He never threw a pitch that could be hit well and got them out.
Really disappointed in the Rays but kinda felt inevitable with how things had gone, missed Brandon Lowe a ton in postseason and not gonna win games committing 4 errors. Regarding the Rays it's just a bad situation stadium wise. The St Pete area doesn't have enough interest and Tampa is only accessible via bridges that are jam packed for every rush hour. Taxpayers paid every penny for the construction of Raymond James Stadium and that was never gonna happen again in Hillsborough County, Rays owners were never willing to commit enough money themselves for a stadium that'd cost over $1 billion. Have enough stories of the Rays early years when I was a kid playing little league in Tampa and the Yankees/Steinbrenner did more to help out with anything that came up compared to the Rays. The Lightning sell out every game partially because owner Jeff Vinik invests in the city of Tampa. /rantover
I was very disappointed to read the new stadium will be next to the Trop. I like StPete, especially the beaches, but The stadium would be better located in Tampa. It's an extra hour on the drive to get all the way to the Trop. I'm certain the overall attendance there would have increased by a dozen or more if it were 2 hours from GVL, rather than 3. I'd like to get there more often- high quality baseball.
Well said. His pitching was meaningful enough to pick up a post season win. Plenty of highly rated pitchers got to watch his performance from a stool in a sports bar.
When did Texas get a bullpen? They have looked great so far this post season. Houston can send me all expenses paid to every World Series game now that I have jinxed the Rangers for them.
I don't follow MLB much so I had no idea that Wheeler for the Phillies was such a good pitcher. Also Verlander can still pitch for an old man. Not as great as his younger days as a Tiger but still moves the ball around and changes speeds with great command and several pitches. He didn't get much offensive support in his start against the Rangers. The Rangers look like destiny's team so far. And why do they differentiate between a two seam fastball and a sinker? Is it a matter of arm slot with a two seamer being around 3/4 arm slot and a sinker with a bit lower arm slot?
Lurk— It’s been my experience and observation that strong wrist finish or snap is the lead factor in the success of either pitch combined with the arm slot.
Just that if a bit higher than a normal 3/4 arm slot a two seamer will have more arm side run than sink and a bit lower arm slot will have more sink than run. As a 3/4 arm slot guy I liked it that my two seamer had a lot of arm side run and sink. It was my best pitch. And not just wrist snap. Details on the finger snap is really important. A good two seamer requires a good index finger snap as well.