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US Presswire photo Bryce Harper and the Nationals will travel back to St. Louis for the NLDS. |
The Nationals will face the Cardinals in the National League Division Series after tonight's wild Wild Card Game victory by St. Louis, a 6-3 triumph over the Braves aided in part by an apparent misapplication of the Infield Fly Rule.
That is, assuming Major League Baseball doesn't uphold Atlanta's formal protest of the game after the controversial call in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out and runners on first and second, rookie Andrelton Simmons lofted a popup into shallow left field. Shortstop Pete Kozma backtracked and appeared ready to make the play but then pulled off as left fielder Matt Holliday came charging in, the ball falling to the turf as everyone advanced a base.
Left field umpire Sam Holbrook, though, signaled for the Infield Fly Rule, declaring Simmons out while allowing both runners to advance one base. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez raced out to argue with Holbrook, who didn't make the call until a split-second before the ball came down, and later filed a formal protest with crew chief Jeff Kellogg.
It's unclear how long it will take for MLB officials to rule on the protest, which if upheld would require the game to be resumed from that point. It appears unlikely that would happen, though, because protests can only be upheld if a rule was misinterpreted, not based on a judgment call like this.
[UPDATE AT 9:40 P.M. -- MLB has denied the protest, on the grounds the play involved a judgment call, not a rules interpretation.]
The crowd at Turner Field offered up its own protest, littering the field with bottles and garbage and forcing a lengthy delay as players retreated to their dugouts.
Ultimately, Cardinals closer Jason Motte entered to escape the eighth-inning jam and then another one in the ninth to win the game.
Thus, the Nationals are scheduled to fly to St. Louis late tomorrow morning in advance of an afternoon workout at Busch Stadium. The two teams will open the NLDS Sunday at 3:07 p.m. EDT, with Gio Gonzalez on the mound for Washington and Adam Wainwright starting for the Cardinals.
The Nationals were just in St. Louis last weekend, dropping two of three games and failing to clinch the NL East title. They did win the season series against the Cardinals, 4-3, with all seven games being played over the last month of the regular season.
234 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 234 of 234 Newer› Newest»That would be cool. So, would it be billed as Moneyball vs. the Old School Scouts? :-)
My dream World Series at this point would be Nats-Athletics. It would be very interesting to see Gio and Zuki play against the former Nats prospects.
I would take A's and Nats in the WS!
Dave - Thanks for a great post - it's a great summary of how I feel as well. My best friend grew up in Baltimore and loves his O's. I'm happy for him but my #1 outcome out of this is that the O's beat the Yanks and lose in the ALCS.
And to the infield fly rule conversation, it is a great rule that enforces the spirit of how you're supposed to play the game - that is, encouraging someone to drop an easily caught pop fly isn't appropriate (or interesting or fun) for me.
The Braves Medlen blueprint backfired if you believe Medlen could have been the Braves 5th starter to begin the 2012 season in place of Randall Delgado who went 4-9.
If Braves win 5 more games, they are the NL East champs and still playing.
Its a lot of ifs but contrast that to the handling of Strasburg who pitched almost the entire regular season and got crucial W's to get the Nats to the Division crown and best record in the MLB.
So is the roster public yet? Saw a couple tweets which said Lannan and DeRosa are out.
Harold Reynolds showed a clip last night of the exact same play from earlier this season. Starlin Castro was in the exact same spot. Apparently the umps are not to call it until the ball reaches the highest point. Side by side the two plays were identical in timing and location. All the umpires were facing that way and agreed. The braves made glaring errors all game and then cried foul. Their fans behaved horribly. No happy ending to the Larry story.
I think I published a link to this piece at the time, but A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy is into sabermetrics.
And to the infield fly rule conversation, it is a great rule that enforces the spirit of how you're supposed to play the game - that is, encouraging someone to drop an easily caught pop fly isn't appropriate (or interesting or fun) for me.
Well, I for one had fun when LaRoche did it on a pop bunt. But I agree it does distort the game.
swami, I went on the ATL site of MLB, and generally the fans were griping about the call but felt the Barfs barfed up the game (not the way they expressed it, of course). They're pretty bitter about Fredi, and sad for Larry. They also feel that the trash on the field showed the world that ATL fans CARE!
I would love to see Nats and O's make it to WS!!!!
Braves = yesterday's news.
FORWARD HO! The key to this next series, IMHO, is the break, and how the Nationals utilize the rest, that the will make a huge difference in this upcoming series. For some guys, especially pitchers, they get knocked off their schedules and they get all out of sorts. Gio must take whatever steps needed to not come out "too strong" tomorrow. I really believe in the case of JZimm that he has looked a little tired for the past few weeks and the couple of extra days could work to his advantage. Likewise for Ross Detweiler and Tyler Clippard. I think Edwin Jackson will be the least affected by the extra rest.
On the position players, MOrse's body can use whatever chance to heal that it can get, but let's hope it doesn't take long to get his timing down. The same could be said for Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman. Werth seems to be really reaching his stride and the couple of days off will only benefit his legs.Harper will be chomping at the bit from moment one. ALR just seems to be so even keel these days that I seriously doubt much of anything affects him.Suzuki and Flores both can use the recoup time for their battered bodies. Hopefully Danny Espinosa can calm down and get back in the groove at the plate.I also think that Johnson will work these couple of days off to the Nats advantage through his advice and experience.
As to the roster for this series, DeRosa and Lannan are off. I'd assume C. Brown, Y.Perez and Strasburg will be removed. Garcia will be on, not sure about Zack Duke, or Gorzo.I think that the Cards would eat Zack Duke's soft tosses for lunch.
In summary, we got this.
GYFNG!!!
Joe.... one key note is that Nats will face Carpenter for the first time
And who will be getting on that plane at noon?
I know there are some who cringe about the O's mentioned in NI, but I have to tell you, as much of a die hard Nats fan I am I am happy for Buck and Saunders is a GREAT story!
Get Some Players said...
So is the roster public yet? Saw a couple tweets which said Lannan and DeRosa are out.
October 06, 2012 8:08 AM
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Ladson tweeted a little while ago that Lannan is still be considered.
Baseballswami, Lannan will probably still be on the plane regardless as will be Strasburg and hopefully Ramos and DeRosa.
I would have thought that DeRosa would be on roster just from the stand point of his experience
mick said...
I would have thought that DeRosa would be on roster just from the stand point of his experience
October 06, 2012 9:20 AM
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That's why I would think he will be in uniform on the bench but not on the roster.
1A.. thanks for the link to the McCarthy article. He and his wife crack me up all the time. Good to see he is more than just a pitcher.
Ladson shot off his mouth without aiming.
Theophilus T. S. said...
Ladson shot off his mouth without aiming.
October 06, 2012 9:24 AM
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Last night he was quoting sources. I just wonder if Ladson's source is his "Palm Reader".
He gets so much wrong although he did fare much better than Mark Zuckerman in the Media Predictions.
Ouch, Gonat!
Joe, I'm sure Ladson is a heck of a nice Yankee fan but as far as having real sources like Heyman and Rosenthal, he isn't close.
Over the winter, he tried to convince us that the Nats had no interest in Mark Buehrle which wasn't true. Then he tells us the Nats weren't extending Ryan Zimmerman.
Clearly he's not an insider. We have people who post here with much better info.
It's now 9:40 AM and the last posting was 6:20.
What, is everyone sleeping in today??
After watching yesterday's play-off (play-in?) games, I felt like I was more familiar with the players and teams than the "generic" TBS announcers. Anybody else get that feeling?
I'll really miss FP and Carp.
Wake up out there!
As you may also know, for years there's been an O's troll on the WaPo site whose specialty is ridiculing the DC team and its fans. That and the cumbersome commenting system drove many folks over here. As you seem to be aware of, there are strong feelings on both sides, and flame wars tend to erupt when we get into O's discussions here. I don't know whether the same thing happens when Nats discussions develop on O's blogs and boards, because I've never frequented them, but I wouldn't be surprised. Me, I like it when we talk about what unites us and brings us to this unique venue rather than what divides (some of) us. But maybe that's just me. Heck, there's plenty more we can argue about, like the infield fly rule for example. :-)
mick said...
I know there are some who cringe about the O's mentioned in NI, but I have to tell you, as much of a die hard Nats fan I am I am happy for Buck and Saunders is a GREAT story!
October 06, 2012 9:18 AM
fast eddie, I already miss my homer "FP".
Try hitting the "newer" link. :-)
fast eddie said...
It's now 9:40 AM and the last posting was 6:20.
What, is everyone sleeping in today??
After watching yesterday's play-off (play-in?) games, I felt like I was more familiar with the players and teams than the "generic" TBS announcers. Anybody else get that feeling?
I'll really miss FP and Carp.
Wake up out there!
October 06, 2012 9:45 AM
Oh, wait. You probably didn't see that, either. :-)
natsfan1a said...
Try hitting the "newer" link. :-)
natsfan1a Right on about the announcers!!!
Also, did any of you catch the announcer on refer to the Nats as the Nationalers?
We are very likely to hear lots of uninformed garbage about our team during the play offs. My friends called me late last night from the midwest - we literally had not talked in a couple of years, they moved several years ago - rabid nats fans. They are driving from Des Moines, Iowa to St. Louis to support the Nats on Sunday - six hours. They said that when they wear their curly W's people ask them why they are wearing Walgreen's caps. No one has any idea of who the Nats are. They are plastering curly W's all over everything in an effort to educate their neighbors. The national baseball talkers are sometimes not much better. Their knowledge is very shallow and seems to go the route of whatever is a headline, nothing deeper. Perhaps we can change that?
It was fast eddie on the announcers, Mick.
I missed that particular moment. Was watching on a slight delay because I rewound after being away from the tv for several innings (eating at the kitchen table and making polite conversation with my hubby and a friend he'd invited over for dinner).
The Braves Medlen blueprint backfired if you believe Medlen could have been the Braves 5th starter to begin the 2012 season in place of Randall Delgado who went 4-9. If Braves win 5 more games, they are the NL East champs and still playing.
If Medlin won five more games than Delgado, AND IF that didn't wear him out so that he lost games later which, in real life, they won. Which he probably would have.
Anyone know when they will announce what time the Wed. home game will be? I need to know if I'm going to be too sick for work or not.
Problem is, the Wednesday schedule depends on the status if the other series (#2 & #3 seeds). If those series go to at least four games, it'll be one schedule; if anyone sweeps in 3 games, it's another.
It would help us plan if both those series end the weekend in a split. Then we know they're going at least four games, and the Wednesday game times should be announced by Monday.
Otherwise we won't know until Tuesday night.
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