Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

I also thought the runners should have been bunted over. On the other hand, you could argue it made no difference, since the bases became loaded anyway. One way or another, a hit was still necessary.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

Id pust my shea thoughts but JordanIB said it all. "The Catch" had the stadium as insane as i have ever seen it. We all figured this was it, there was no way we were losing this. And then when Heilman gave up that HR, it was like every single person got shot in the stomach. And then Beltran finished us of. Heartbreaking.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

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or better yet Tommy Glavine should have been up there to bunt.

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It would have been great to send Glavine up there, they draw their infield in and he just smacks a single. Eh...damnit Mets. This is killing me.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

Wow i also thought strongly Floyd would come thru when he came up, but of course he still proved to be utterly useless.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

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or better yet Tommy Glavine should have been up there to bunt.

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It would have been great to send Glavine up there, they draw their infield in and he just smacks a single. Eh...damnit Mets. This is killing me.

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This reminds me of the 1998 NLCS when Glavine pinch-hit late in the game in a critical situation. I think it was against their closer or Kevin Brown or someone really good, and I think it was because Bobby Cox had nobody left on the bench. He walked. It was good theater. This was the same game where Greg Maddux got the save by inducing Tony Gwynn into a game-ending groundout with RISP, even though statistically Gwynn owned Maddux throughout his career to that point.

EDIT: from Wiki:

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The Braves refused to go quietly, winning the next two games, becoming the first team in baseball history to force a Game 6 after falling behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. Game 5 of the NLCS proved memorable as Padres brought their ace starting pitcher Kevin Brown out of the bullpen to preserve a late game 4-3 lead. San Diego was five outs away from its first World Series since 1984 when Michael Tucker hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off Brown. Atlanta went on to a 7-6 win, but not before Greg Maddux was summoned to close out the game for the first save of his pro career, getting the last out when his nemesis, Tony Gwynn, grounded out.

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LOL at "nemesis". But Glavine didn't appear in the box score so he did that in some other game.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

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Id pust my shea thoughts but JordanIB said it all. "The Catch" had the stadium as insane as i have ever seen it. We all figured this was it, there was no way we were losing this.

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It's funny. The more I think about it, the more amazed I am at how loud that place was throughout the commercial break. Because if everyone else was like my friend and I, we would have all been relatively quiet, staring at each other, saying "OH MY GOD!!" over and over and over...

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

I agreed with Floyd Pinch Hitting and swinging. Wainwright seemed nervous, trading an out for movement is stupid when he is liable to walk someone (which he did)

Wainwright's 0-2 pitch was nasty too. I can't fault Beltran for 1 singular at bat, I fault the entire offense for sucking over the course of 7 games.

If you want to look at 1 AB losing this game, it was Valentin's in the bottom of the 6th. A strikeout vs a contact pitcher is inexcuseable.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

bobo bobo bobo.

Valentin is a career .243 hitter that signed to be a backup and ended up starting. His lifetime OPS+ is 96 which means he is a below average hitter.

Beltran looking at a called 3rd strike is pretty much unexcusable

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

I agree with BobbyO about Valentin's AB. Striking out there was terrible.

Re: ***Official 2006 NLCS Cards v. Mets Thread***
 

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I'll never understand why players make off-balance defensive swings at borderline breaking pitches with less than 2 strikes.

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I'll give you the answer. Batters often get fooled mid-swing by pitches traveling over 80 miles per hour from less than 60 feet away when the ball unexpectedly changes direction.

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I don't think it's that. This accounts for the times you see a player take a big cut and just completely whiff....like pretty much every David Wright swing this series...

I'm talking about situations where the batter clearly isn't looking for the pitch, and doesn't even try to make a good swing at it....they take a 2 strike mentality of "get wood on anything you can reach," which is fine for a 2 strike count, but ridiculous with less. Maybe it's not fair to continually bring up Giambi, since he's one of, if not the, best hitters in baseball when it comes to plate discipline and control, but I don't see why MLB batters don't have this already drilled into their skulls. It's a pre-pitch adjustment:

< 2 strikes - "look for my pitch and drive it, otherwise take"

2 strikes - "look for my pitch to drive, otherwise try to get a piece of anything remotely close"

With the first mindset, you should never see those 1 strike swings Reyes and Beltran took last night.