Baseball open thread

As I type, the last four meaningful games are about to begin. Philadelphia begins to play at Washington with Jon Lieber vs. Hector Carrasco, and Chicago begins to play at Cleveland. An hour later we will have the Yankees at the Red Sox with Schilling vs. Mussina, and Chicago vs. Houston. Of course, today is the last regular season game at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals are attempting to win their 100th game vs. helpless Cincinnati :) The wild-card positions are at stake today. With an Indians win and a Red Sox loss, there will be a tie for that wild-card spot; with a Phillies win and an Astros loss, there will be a tie for that wild-card spot. Please use this diary for your baseball-related comments. Thank you.

•  Go Phillies!!!! :)

  by PhillyGal on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 10:12:47 AM PDT

  •  If they win...

    ...and the Astros lose, then we get a one game playoff. I seem to recall these two did this exact same dance back in 80 or 81 in the Rose days and the Astros got the short end of that one.

    Exciting stuff!

    by Zergle on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 10:17:18 AM PDT

  •  I'm with you on this one, PhillyGal.

    I'm a St. Louis fan, but I would love to see the Phillies in the playoffs.  Fresh blood, for one thing, but also because it's one of the storied franchises in baseball, like the Cards.  I don't count the Braves because they moved.  (Inconsistently, I do count the Dodgers, but that's because they are great stories in both locations, and besides, they're the Cardinals' biggest rivalry ever.  The Cubs don't really matter.)

    As of now, the Phillies are doing their job, but the Cubs are being the Cubs.  A Cardinals fan rarely says this, but -- Go Cubs!

    by Vico on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 11:38:55 AM PDT

•  Waiting for the Astros game.

  I'm anxiously awaiting the Astros game today. With Oswalt on the mound, we should be ok. Yeah, the Cubs are throwing Maddux out there, but he hasn't been all that unhitable lately. We should be able to handle him for our usual 3 run outburst. :-)

  For the NL I see this:

  Houston beats Atlanta by a thread.
  St Louis destroys San Diego in all blowouts.
  St Louis beats Houston in a reasonable way without completely embarassing them.

  I think St Louis will beat anyone out of the AL with no problem. Though personally I'd like to see them match up with the Angels. That would be a fun series.

  by Zergle on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 10:15:42 AM PDT

•  My take

  I posted this in an open thread yesterday. Although I badly wanted Boston to win the division, I think we're better off facing the tanking White Sox than the surging Angels. So maybe winning the wild card will be a blessing in disguise. Here's hoping either Boston wins today, or Cleveland loses (sorry Cleveland).

  by Zackpunk on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 10:16:51 AM PDT

•  Cleveland

  Drove 300 miles to attend the game yesterday. I saw a team so spooked, if you yelled "BOO" in the dugout you'd have an explosion.  Too bad.  It was still a fun year (especially the first three weeks in September!).

  by Trakker on Sun Oct 02, 2005 at 11:43:22 AM PDT