Sunday, March 10, 2013
VIDEO: World Series or bust?
On Friday night's SportsTalk Live, Comcast SportsNet's Rob Carlin and Brian Mitchell debated the idea of whether the Nationals should consider this season a failure if they don't win the World Series. They play off of a Thomas Boswell column that said the team will not win it all this season. Check it out.
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29 comments:
Ross Detwiler should've felt right at home last night. 1st ball put in play is a routine grounder to the 3rd baseman who awkwardly throws the ball in the dirt to the 1st baseman who scoops it like its nothing.
Great night by Detwiler and he kept the ball from the last out! The 4 inning save!
As Davey cringes after Bernadina is plunked:
roger bernadina @RBtheshark
Hope I'm okay to play tomorrow!!
Boy, Det sure looked better than Vogelsong last night. Nice job! Matt Vasgersian should be ashamed of himself for his completely uninformed discussion of Det's role last season. Embarrassing.
Section222, you are correct. He mixed up Detwiler and Lannan but that was probably the producers had that set up as the notes for when Detwiler came in to pitch.
Whenever you listen to non-Nats speaking on the Nats like these "road" broadcasts, the inaccuracies are many.
This is not a I'm Right your Wrong type of question. Just opinions here.
Boz is taking the Njack point of view that once you get the the playoffs it is all just luck and sample size is to small for skill to be a the determining factor.
I feel that skill and confidence(mostly experience unless you are B Harper or B Possey) are more important. You make your own luck. Last year Nats went into the playoffs scared and re enforced by Rizzo and Davey that is was all just gravy. Hell they were not going to even play their best players this year (agreed with Strass move, Hated Danny playing).
I think attitude from the Top down is what really cost them big. That is using Storen as the closer. Sure you can win a WS with his stuff but you better have 5 or 10 years expedience with a 94 MPH fastball.
This year they will win it all in my very because Davey will and Rizzo will manage game and roster to make sure they do. That means new closer, Check. That means July deadline trades and using pull pen to win not gain confidence/experience.....those two checks pending but I am confident they will be done.
I don't disagree with Carlin, Mitchell, or Boswell. I read Bos's column and it made me realize I don't want to get so caught up in the world series chase so much that I can't enjoy the ride. I tend to do that.
Detwiler looked great last night. I was so proud of him. I didn't mind so much when the announcers showed they didn't know what they were talking about when they mixed up Det with John Lannan, but I just wanted to slap the one who said shutting down Stras cost them the WS. He didn't see how Stras was running out of gas towards the end of the season.
Off for a hike in Rock Creek Park
I am probably going to be in the minority here but after rooting for the same team for 63 years ( I am pretty sure I started when I was about 5), and having last year be the FIRST playoff baseball I have ever experienced, I think the following: If we turn out to be like the Braves and have a run of 10 or more years of playoff baseball, I will be OK. Now maybe after 5 or 6 years of that I might have a different opinion but for right now, I don't have any drive as a fan to make the World Series something that gets me all bent out of shape. If it happens, great but if we are one of the best teams in the league for years to come, I am perfectly ok.
I love Davey saying WSOB and of course I want to see it happen but as long as we are in the playoffs I consider it a successful year.
Again, I am not going to be in the majority but this team has made me happy since the day I saw that green grass in Griffith Stadium, so I have a low bar here. (I of course have eliminated Matt Stairs, Elijah Dukes, Carlos Paula and mulitple others from my memory).
Go Nats!!
I will enjoy the season too. Harper is the most significant player in 30 years. I will enjoy a watching that. I will enjoy Ian D and Strass, they both are at the top of the game at their positions too. This team will win 100 games.
Now once the Playoff come I will be a mess. They have to win the WS or it is another wasted year in my view.
JayB, are you a closet Yankees Fan? ;-)
JayB at 11:21 with Natitudinal Optimism. Book it!
Nope Reds and A's of the early and mid 70's. Lucky to live in both cities at the right time. Hate Yanks as I trust you recall the Catfish, Vida Blue, Reggie raids.
Anyway..Maybe C. Finely memories are one reason I am so hard of dumb Lerners moves earl..
Nats should reach those teams potential not by overspending money but by preforming at or close to skill of team put on the field.
Storen and Danny did not get close last year. Glad Rizzo noticed and expect him to have a better plan in Oct this year.
They are liking Kobernus in Detroit. We may not get him back.
If 25-man rosters were submitted today, Kobernus makes the team.
He is batting .294 in 13 games and 34 at-bats. He has base-stealing speed. He handles second base. And although he hadn't played the outfield since his days at Cal-Berkeley, there has been nothing awkward or amiss about his work in left field and even in center.
Kobernus is 24. The Tigers got him only because the Nationals are loaded and had no space for Kobernus on their 40-man roster.
If he goes north, Detroit must either keep him on the 25-man squad for all of 2013, or ship him back to the Nationals for one-half the $50,000 fee Detroit paid in stealing him from the Nationals. Or, the two teams could opt for a trade.
Kobernus had two walks and a single in Saturday's game, a 4-2 loss to the Jays at Dunedin.
"He gives you a good at-bat," Leyland said afterward. "I thought he had about 2-3 terrific at-bats today."
Speed. Versatility. Can handle the bat. Knows the strike zone.
There was a decent chance ahead of spring camp Kobernus would go north. It has gotten better.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130310/OPINION03/303100314#ixzz2N9Z84cd1
NatsLady.. a shocking development when other teams are raiding our farm system in the Rule 5.. my how far we have come.
The broadcast excerpt is an example of the sort of bombastic braggadocio that passes for TV sports "journalism" these days. Since the third round was added, the playoffs have become a crapshoot--not that there's anything wrong with that--but losing is not a reflection on a team's manhood, as Mitchell implied. Maybe in the sport he played, that's the case, but not in baseball, where the vagaries of pitching and having games revolve around an inch or two in the strike zone apply.
I would agree if they said that not making the playoffs would be a failure, but not winning the World Series? This is just a silly comment.
I was kinda surprised Kobernus was left unprotected, but 2B is a place where we had pretty deep depth. Wish the kid well.
Who thought you would read this "...the Nationals are loaded..." ?
Ask Last Year's Braves about the Playoffs being a crap shoot. That infield fly rule is not a reflection of how good or bad that team was.
NatsLady, I have heard that phrase come out of every broadcaster/analyst/ reporter's mouth or article this year, it's ridiculous. Of course the next thing they bring up Stras No Mas, and I want to wring their necks.
MicheleS, they didn't lose the game because of one bad call. How about Chipper throwing the ball away, etc. etc.? Still agree one game was not reflective of the quality of the team, but ATL losing the game because of the "outfield fly rule" is a simplified "narrative," just like the Nats not going to the WS because Stras got shut down.
Just about any short series or single game is a "crap shoot." All you have to do is look at the WBC to see that. Japan gets 2 extra base hits in the tournament, and suddenly they get the cycle of homeruns!
Wild Card is not playoffs in my view.....if you do not win your division you should not be in the playoffs.
I am more a fan of 7 game series with two divisions...that was the best way to do it in my view.
NatsLady you can not have it both ways..if Nats did not lose because of Storen melting down then...Braves did not lose on a bad call.
NatsLady. I agree with that. That was just my example of how it's a crap shoot. 3 years ago, everyone knew the Giants had the pitching to win the WS, but they didn't have the lineup, someone had to step up. Did anyone think it would be Cody Ross? Or this year with Scutaro getting them to the WS (posey and Panda did in the WS).
Or how about the Rangers??? Cruz not catching that ball? 1 minor mistake or 1 player produces a key hit and the entire series could turn.
And JayB.. you might not think the Wild Card is the playoffs, but they still count.
Also every manager and player has said that you have to get into the Playoffs and then after every team is pretty much even. That's why you always here them say it's a crap shoot. Because the talent level is equal.
JayB--when did I say the Nats lost the game because Storen melted down?
Exactly....you did not...but you are willing to blame the Braves loss on one bad call.
Nats Talent Level is much better than SL or ATL or REDs or SFO......this year and last year.....Nats choked....I do not agree that it is a crap shot and all just luck. You can and we can agree to disagree.
JayB said...
NatsLady you can not have it both ways..if Nats did not lose because of Storen melting down then...Braves did not lose on a bad call.
NatsLady said...
MicheleS, they didn't lose the game because of one bad call. How about Chipper throwing the ball away, etc. etc.? Still agree one game was not reflective of the quality of the team, but ATL losing the game because of the "outfield fly rule" is a simplified "narrative," just like the Nats not going to the WS because Stras got shut down.
Just pointing out that you guys are in agreement. :)
On the actual topic, I have to wonder whether these guys actually read Boswell's column. Mitchell questions Boswell's ... well, not quite manhood, but his stance as a competitor, because according to Mitchell Boswell doesn't understand the competitor's mindset. But Boswell clearly understands the difference. After saying that fans should let go of the notion of "World Series or Bust", about the team and players, Boswell says:
"Players and franchises can’t do this. If they are top contenders, like the Nats, then only “World Series or Bust” or some such target is proper."
Mitchell and Carlin are indulging in a little faux-journalism stupidity of the sports-talk radio and Jim Rome variety. They "have a take" but it's not actually an informed or educated one. Which is why every time BMitch pops up on my radio or TV dial I move on.
As for "WS or bust" I'll just say this: nouveau Yankee fans have the "WS or bust" mentality. It's made their seasons a joyless affair. Even when they win, it's more of a relief than happiness. Here's hoping that Nats fans never catch that malady.
I would like to associate myself with the sentiments expressed by my esteemed colleague John C.
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