Thursday, October 4, 2012

Beltway Baseball: Postseason preview



The regular season has concluded, the postseason is about to begin, and we've got so much to talk about that this edition of Beltway Baseball could probably stand alone as a 30-minute TV show if they added commercial breaks.

Among the topics I discussed with CSNwashington.com's Chase Hughes and the Washington Times' Amanda Comak were what kind of postseason atmosphere we can expect in D.C., what kind of threats the Braves or Cardinals would pose as a first-round opponent, what kind of state the Nationals' offense and pitching staff is in entering the playoffs and what kind of chances the Nats have at winning some postseason awards.

Enjoy the show!

43 comments:

peric said...

Agree with Ghost Harper is the convergence point not the rotation not stras. His attitude first and foremost to which I attribute the "sea change" in Werth.

Future league MVP perhaps multiple times. He truly is already a great one.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Thanks Peric. Runs scored and playing hard.

Pappy said...

I assume there is a bonus pool of some sort for the players for post-season? Does anyone know how that work? Is is a meaningful amount? Do they vote on how to split it up? Is there an additional pool for each step of the way?

JaneB said...

Most fun show of the year. So far.... THANK YOU!

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

You have to read the Boras story in the WaPo.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Pappy, shares are voted for departed players. Each level the pool gets larger. To the players at league minimum like Shark and TyMo, and Lombo it will be significant. It's all relative.

I expect full shares for Ramos and partials based on time on the roster.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

The Nats got best record by 1 game. Think of walkoffs this season by 2 players in small roles this year that came up huge in walkoffs: Wilson Ramos and Corey Brown.

Biggest walkoff I think was Ian Desmond's walkoff HR early in the season.

If 2 of those 3 walkoffs don't happen, Nats may be playing in the Wild Card.









Ghost Of Steve M. said...

NBC Sports saying Ozzie Guillen will be fired.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

There may be no games today but there should be plenty of fireworks. Grab your popcorn, and Ph the Phoolies.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

Ghost Of Steve M. said...
Pappy, shares are voted for departed players.


Kurt Suzuki should be getting a postseason share from both the Nats and the A's, just like Jose Molina got a share from both the Giants and Rangers in 2010. And if both the Nats and A's make the World Series he'll get a ring, win or lose.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Feelwood, Good point. Also Storen should get full share.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

ESPN's top rated reliever is Fernando Rodney, not Kimbrel. ERA of 0.60 lowest ever over 50 innings.

NCNatsie said...

I was thinking about Cabrera winning the triple crown - first since Yastrzemski 1967 - and wondering who will be the next one to do it.

Right now, my money would be on Mr. Bryce Aron Max Harper.

peric said...

I'll take Garcia and Duke. Both outstanding in September. Almost the "B" backend. Hope they both make the playoff roster.

peric said...

I don't care what award for stats Harper wins. As long as he keeps winning the Viktor E. Frankl award for the best and most inspiring attitude in baseball. Exactly what baseball needed. He is a credit to his upbringing. He should be very proud just for that.

Natslifer said...

I was really hoping Ozzie would stay so the disfunction in Miami would continue.

Natslifer said...

dysfunction

Theophilus T. S. said...

Guillen and Valentine richly deserve getting canned. The almost-as-good news is that it seems doubtful there will be many more managerial vacancies this year, so fewer opportunities for stoopid owners to recycle them.

MicheleS said...

Just an FYI. for those of you on Twitter, some accounts have been hacked and Direct Messages are going out. If you get one of the DM's that says"Heh u didnt see them tapping you" Don't open it. Let the person know that they have been hacked. Change your passwords.

SCNatsFan if you are under the same name on twitter, you have been hacked

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

The Marlins even without Hanley is the definition of dysfunction. Ozzie had the horses but couldn't make them drink the right water.

Bobby V is melting down and placing the blame. How lucky he didn't end up in DC.

Doug said...

Anybody see that a ton of Standing Room only tickets went up on Stubhub today for all 3 divisional games? Did the Nats have an online sale? I thought that it was day of game only for Standing Room tickets?

SCNatsFan said...

Michele I am not... but Thanks for checking. And here I thought I was all alone being a Nats fan in this state.

Doug said...

Never mind...got too into the hype of Teddy and clinching the #1 seed didn't see that they went on sale to the public yesterday...

natsfan1a said...

I thought so, too, Doug, but after the fact I noticed an
item on the team site saying that some standing room tix would be sold yesterday evening. It also said that there were some held out for day-of-game sales.

natsfan1a said...

Oh, right, Coke.

Holden Baroque said...

SRO were available online from 4 pm yesterday. I missed out on home game 1 (NLDS game 3), but did get game 4, so unless somebody sweeps, I'm good.

Doug said...

Well the Nats wonderful PR department gave people exactly 3 and a half hours to read the release (while Game 162 was going on) and realize tix were on sale. Press release came out at 12:30pm and tix went on sale at 4pm....Pretty ridiculous as previous reports said all standing room tickets would be sold at the day of the game.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

Section 3, My Playoffs Sofa said...
SRO were available online from 4 pm yesterday. I missed out on home game 1 (NLDS game 3), but did get game 4, so unless somebody sweeps, I'm good.


Down in front!

Holden Baroque said...

FeelWood, I was in 135, row Z for the clinch night game, and by the third inning, my wife gave me the serious look and said "You have to stop doing that now."

By the top of the sixth, she was yelling at them herself.

Holden Baroque said...

So, the SRO seats for Home Game 1 (NLDS game 3) were gone inside of 10 minutes, based on my trying to get them about then.

TheManBearPig said...

"I was thinking about Cabrera winning the triple crown - first since Yastrzemski 1967 - and wondering who will be the next one to do it.

Right now, my money would be on Mr. Bryce Aron Max Harper."

Cabrera was especially good down the stretch, when his numbers were Harper-esque.

MicheleS said...

Thanks Mark, Chase & Amanda...

Can't wait for these during the next several weeks.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

Natslifer said...
NatsLady - I haven't looked yet but where did you get your t-shirt with the roster list?


Watching on TV Tuesday night, I saw someone in the front of one of the sections down the LF line wearing a T shirt with the four pennants on it - 1924, 1925, 1933 and 2012 - in a line like on top of the scoreboard. Anyone seen that one for sale anywhere?

TheManBearPig said...

Do we have to wait until the Nats win the 2012 pennant before wearing the four pennant T shirt? We don't want to anger the baseball gods.

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

The Nats have already won a 2012 pennant. The only question is which one. NL East Champions is in the bag, but could yet be superceded by NL Champions or World Champions. Teams never fly more than one flag for a particular year. The highest one wins out.

TheManBearPig said...

I hadn't heard a division championship referred to as a "pennant." I'm pretty sure that "pennant winner" has always meant league champion, but of course, the term was coined before the leagues were split into divisions, and it makes sense to recognize the regular season accomplishment of division winners.

A DC Wonk said...

Does anyone know whether game #3 will be a night or day game? If that is unknown, does anybody know when we will know?

natsfan1a said...

It's unknown, Wonk. I believe we'll find out after the opponents are known (i.e., after Friday's wild card game).

Scooter said...

Whonk, I don't know that game times are ever really final until like the night before, when it's clear which teams are actually playing and which game has the chance for the most drama. But, I do know that the American League team that plays just north of Jersey will have a home game on the same date as the Nats' game #3. If one game is picked for the prime-time slot, I know which one I'd guess.

So what I'm saying is, I think the Nats will prolly play in the afternoon. (1 or 4 or so.)

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

I hadn't heard a division championship referred to as a "pennant."

If it's not a pennant, then why is the quest to win it called a pennant race?

The Real Feel Wood. Accept no substitutes. said...

There are four LDS games currently on the schedule for Wed the 10th, but one of them (SF @ CIN) is an if-necessary Game 4. Also, TBS is scheduled to air three games that day and MLB Network airs one. So they are set up to have two prime time night games if necessary. If all four games aren't played that day, then they would probably go with only one prime time game. That means the decision of what time the Nats game will be played on Wednesday may not be made until the day before.

Secret wasian man said...

Can't say I'm upset if Ozzie gets the gaffe. DEF. a hook used to grab a marlin.

NatsNut said...

Mark,
You're not just a good writer, you are really good on camera too. Your pace is sharp but conversational, you're clear an concise without a lot of silly fillers, and you don't have those annoying fake, emphatic lilts that most reporters have. Nice job.

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