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From Burwell. The first 4 paragraphs could be said in 1 sentence, but I digress.
Love is blind, and that's why skipper will go with Matty Mo
By Bryan Burwell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
09/23/2005
Sports Columnist Bryan Burwell
In the waning days of September, just when the temperatures begin to fall, like autumn clockwork, baseball's pennant races begin to heat up. The choke-inducing tension of tight division races and wild-card chases have caused the hearts and stomachs of nearly a dozen baseball municipalities to agitate nightly.
From Boston to New York, Houston to Philadelphia, Chicago to Cleveland, Los Angeles to Oakland, and Washington and Miami, hope and desperation spring eternal as the division and wild-card standings change frantically every night.
So how is it that in a city like St. Louis, where its Cardinals are cruising to the finish line with a division title long since clinched, and Cardinal Nation's only worry should be about snagging playoff tickets, so many people are still on pins and needles?
Here are the Cardinals, moving toward 100 victories with a little more than a week to play. Yet there is a realistic bit of last-minute intrigue surrounding the Cardinals, as pitchers Matt Morris and Jason Marquis have spent the past month in late-season auditions for the final spot in the postseason starting rotation.
This is the best sort of intrigue for a baseball team on a World Series mission. Better to be fretting over too many riches than a bare cupboard. The top of the playoff rotation already is set with Mr. Cy Young (Chris Carpenter), steady lefty Mark Mulder and old reliable Jeff Suppan.
But whatever intrigue we thought might exist about that No. 4 slot was removed following Morris' six-inning, one-run, one-hit no-decision in last night's 6-2 loss in Cincinnati. Perhaps you didn't know that manager Tony La Russa had a long-standing devotion to Matty Mo.
Well, this is surely indisputable proof of that special man-crush by the Cards skipper.
For most of the regular season, Morris deservedly was the clear-cut choice. He was everything La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan want in their starters: older; more impressive resume; experienced postseason veteran. But his late-summer fade (0-4 with a 6.65 ERA over his last four starts before last night) and Marquis' perfectly timed last-minute renaissance presented what should have been a less-than-absorbing decision for the manager.
But who didn't know that La Russa was looking for an excuse - any excuse - to do it? This is his guy, after all. Morris earned that deep emotional attachment because it wasn't so long ago that the veteran was the ace of the Cardinals' staff.
How could La Russa ignore all the new evidence that is in front of him now? How could he not acknowledge that impressive 4-1 record and 1.38 ERA that Marquis put together down the stretch? How did he ignore the sudden signs that the kid may have finally settled down and decided to embrace all his pitching strengths and discard the stubborn tendencies that used to get him into so much trouble?
And how did he ignore the fact that since Aug. 27, Marquis has pitched two complete games, gone into the eighth inning in another and given up a total of just eight runs in those five games?
You know La Russa dug deeper. In Marquis' two starts against the likely first-round opponent San Diego, the Cards won the first game 15-5, as Marquis went six innings and gave up six hits and four earned runs; in the second game, he was impressive in a complete-game, six-hit, 2-1 loss to Padre ace Jake Peavy. In five starts against likely wild card Houston, Marquis is 4-0 with a 3.70 ERA.
No doubt, this was just one of those times where the old-school manager didn't want to give in to the lies, damned lies and statistics of numbers-obsessed moneyball geeks and sportswriters. But sometimes, even the most stubborn old-schooler has to acknowledge that those numbers don't always lie.
I know that sometimes love is blind, but I wish La Russa's Morris fetish would have surrendered to the undeniable evidence that Marquis ought to be the man this postseason.
Love is blind, and that's why skipper will go with Matty Mo
By Bryan Burwell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
09/23/2005
Sports Columnist Bryan Burwell
In the waning days of September, just when the temperatures begin to fall, like autumn clockwork, baseball's pennant races begin to heat up. The choke-inducing tension of tight division races and wild-card chases have caused the hearts and stomachs of nearly a dozen baseball municipalities to agitate nightly.
From Boston to New York, Houston to Philadelphia, Chicago to Cleveland, Los Angeles to Oakland, and Washington and Miami, hope and desperation spring eternal as the division and wild-card standings change frantically every night.
So how is it that in a city like St. Louis, where its Cardinals are cruising to the finish line with a division title long since clinched, and Cardinal Nation's only worry should be about snagging playoff tickets, so many people are still on pins and needles?
Here are the Cardinals, moving toward 100 victories with a little more than a week to play. Yet there is a realistic bit of last-minute intrigue surrounding the Cardinals, as pitchers Matt Morris and Jason Marquis have spent the past month in late-season auditions for the final spot in the postseason starting rotation.
This is the best sort of intrigue for a baseball team on a World Series mission. Better to be fretting over too many riches than a bare cupboard. The top of the playoff rotation already is set with Mr. Cy Young (Chris Carpenter), steady lefty Mark Mulder and old reliable Jeff Suppan.
But whatever intrigue we thought might exist about that No. 4 slot was removed following Morris' six-inning, one-run, one-hit no-decision in last night's 6-2 loss in Cincinnati. Perhaps you didn't know that manager Tony La Russa had a long-standing devotion to Matty Mo.
Well, this is surely indisputable proof of that special man-crush by the Cards skipper.
For most of the regular season, Morris deservedly was the clear-cut choice. He was everything La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan want in their starters: older; more impressive resume; experienced postseason veteran. But his late-summer fade (0-4 with a 6.65 ERA over his last four starts before last night) and Marquis' perfectly timed last-minute renaissance presented what should have been a less-than-absorbing decision for the manager.
But who didn't know that La Russa was looking for an excuse - any excuse - to do it? This is his guy, after all. Morris earned that deep emotional attachment because it wasn't so long ago that the veteran was the ace of the Cardinals' staff.
How could La Russa ignore all the new evidence that is in front of him now? How could he not acknowledge that impressive 4-1 record and 1.38 ERA that Marquis put together down the stretch? How did he ignore the sudden signs that the kid may have finally settled down and decided to embrace all his pitching strengths and discard the stubborn tendencies that used to get him into so much trouble?
And how did he ignore the fact that since Aug. 27, Marquis has pitched two complete games, gone into the eighth inning in another and given up a total of just eight runs in those five games?
You know La Russa dug deeper. In Marquis' two starts against the likely first-round opponent San Diego, the Cards won the first game 15-5, as Marquis went six innings and gave up six hits and four earned runs; in the second game, he was impressive in a complete-game, six-hit, 2-1 loss to Padre ace Jake Peavy. In five starts against likely wild card Houston, Marquis is 4-0 with a 3.70 ERA.
No doubt, this was just one of those times where the old-school manager didn't want to give in to the lies, damned lies and statistics of numbers-obsessed moneyball geeks and sportswriters. But sometimes, even the most stubborn old-schooler has to acknowledge that those numbers don't always lie.
I know that sometimes love is blind, but I wish La Russa's Morris fetish would have surrendered to the undeniable evidence that Marquis ought to be the man this postseason.
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