Astros 4, Phillies 1: And that, as they say, is that.
Maybe that was that when Yordan Álvarez hit the three-run homer in the sixth. That was probably cosmically that when Kyle Schwarber attempted to bunt with two strikes on him in the top of the eighth. That was officially that after Nick Castellanos fouled out to Kyle Tucker for the third out in the top of the ninth.
As for analysis, one may ask whether, with two on and one out, Phillies manager Rob Thomson should’ve lifted Zack Wheeler for José Alvarado. One might suppose that Alvarado enjoyed a platoon advantage against Álvarez, but Álvarez actually had no platoon splits of consequence this past season, hitting lefties and righties almost equally as hard. Still, while Wheeler had been cruising, he did put two on and if he had given up runs in that situation everyone would’ve been on Thomson’s butt about Alvarado being ready in the pen. Sometimes, I suppose, you just get got.
At the end of the day the Astros pitching — which all of us cited at the outset of this series as their strength — is what made the difference in this Series. Over the final three games Astros pitching limited the Phillies to a total of three runs, two of which came on Schwarber solo homers. You can argue about lifting starters and going to the pen all day long but if you don’t score you can’t win and the Phillies barely scored in Games 4, 5, and 6.
We have a new World Series champion which you can properly call a dynasty. Dusty has his ring and, if he hadn’t already, he has punched his ticket to Cooperstown. Jeremy Peña is the World Series MVP.
Congrats Stros ! Thankfully, the Philly fans can go away now and enjoy the rest of the offseason with the ABT and Yankee fans who I no longer have to listen to either. Time to move on.
Ah, another member of the "What Extra Hour of Sleep" Club is here!
Disappointed that we didn't get a Game Seven, and just a bit underwhelmed by the overall playoffs. Oh, lots of great moments and great games, but it was never as out and out competitive as I would have liked. A lot of that, though, is because, like it or not, Houston is just that good.
Congrats Houston. Very proud team. After a postseason filled with upsets, the World Series clearly went to the strongest club.
Congrats Dusty. Maybe he isn’t a tactical genius but players love him and that has resulted in a fine, fine career.
Congrats Phils. Not a great team by any stretch of the imagination. Probably not even a very good one. But phun phor the phans.
And mostly congrats Cup of Coffee host & crew. You guys’ and gals’ comments were often informative and usually entertaining. And Dugout clearly showed a lot of heart! Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me each morning.
#teamupearly was under the weather this week and this Cup did in fact hit before I'd finished my first cup of coffee, so congrats on "that" first graf requiring a second read.
Does anyone know when Dusty started appending Jr to the back of his jersey? Not that I pay much - or nearly any - attention but last night was the first time I saw it.
Go Astros! I listened to 70-ish games a year on the radio when the Astros were loosing 100+ and probably watched some or all of about 100 games this year. To now see a dynasty win it all again is a great feeling.
I spent the entire day Saturday with my 8 week old who has RSV in the ER. It was an incredibly shitty and hard day, but we finally got a room about 2 minutes before Yordan went yard. It was a really special thing to get to see and a reminder of why I love baseball. Sports are ultimately meaningless but the glimpses of joy and entertainment they give us can be really magical. (Little guy is doing fine and just need some extra oxygen)
Thanks for a great season of the newsletter Craig. Anyone have the countdown until pitchers and catchers report?
Congrats to the Astro's. That team is pretty damn solid. I am a Todd Kalas fan from his time here with the Rays. Happy the team he is calling games for won the big one again. I think they won his first year with them. Kinda neat they beat the Phillies, the team his father called games for most of his career.
Kevin Cash redux. Same bad decision. Hitter has no platoon split, so you pull your best pitcher, who is carving the Astros up but for the Peña single, in favor of…your 5th or 6th best pitcher? Who had just imploded in a similar situation three days prior? So what if he was being consistent with what he had done the rest of the postseason? Doesn’t make it the right decision.
Not a fan of the Astros at all but was ok with them winning since it gave Dusty Baker his ring and they really are the best team in the game right now. As much as I love upsets, I feel like order is restored to the universe in a way when the best team actually becomes the champ.
Thank you to my Mets who gave me the most entertaining season in a long time and somewhat reinvigorated my interest in baseball this year.
Thanks, Craig, for another wonderful baseball season full of all you do, man. I know you’ve endured a LOT in 2022 and I want nothing more for you and your family than peace and strength. You’re appreciated. Your work is appreciated. If you’re ever in San Diego, first bourbon is on me. (But, be cool, Craig. None of that top shelf shit.)
Think either of these managers has heard of the Third Time Through the Order penalty? Whether this is due to batters 'learning' or pitcher fatigue is still under debate (the latest Bayesian analysis: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.06724 ), but the data are pretty clear that batters gain ~10% in OPS (e.g., .700 to .770) by the 3rd viewing of the pitcher.
Some gratuitous observations (the best kind): (,1) Feelies fans had barely enough time to ripen into the boorish, knuckledragging cloacas they're famous for being. It's even possible they'll behave like advanced hominids for a few games into the 2023 season. After that, expect their transformation into beercan throwing borstal boys to make Craigster's transition from watching backandforthandbackandforthandbackandforthball to Neanderthalhitterball seamless come next April. (2) speaking of which, contemplating the few minutes of relatively civil Feelies fans behavior I bothered to watch produced an epiphany almost as momentous as Kekule's dream of the ouroboros. Although it told me nothing about the benzene molecule, it did explain soccer riots. See, we always knew hoons get frisky watching backandforthandbackandforthandbackandforthball to stave off boredom but we never really understood the mechanism behind it. Well, here it is: because soccer is so monotonous, it gradually stuns the conscious mind into a condition akin to brumation, whereupon monsters from the id can slip by the torpid checks and balances of the civilized superego and reestablish control of what had passed for personality. Simple, eh? (3) Craigster is now out of excuses to avoid reading that copy of "Cloud Atlas" I sent him.
Much like Jim Fregosi in the 1993 World Series, Rigid Rob Thomson was married to "what got him there," even though there was strong evidence that "what got him there" was no longer working. Alvarado was very shaky lately, and Wheeler was dealing. Even if Alvarado got out of it, you still needed 3 more innings from the pen. Rigid Rob also refused to juggle his lineup, even though Rhys Hoskins and Nick Castellanos were automatic outs and killed just about any possible big inning involving Schwarber and Harper. After Fregosi went down with the Mitch Williams ship in '93, it took another 15 years before we got another shot. Who knows how long it will take to get back? They had a golden opportunity to win only their 3rd championship in their 139-year history. They had a 2-1 series lead and they let is slip away. Very hard to take.
One final "WTF John Smoltz" from me. From the Times gamer:
Winning a second title does not change history, but it helps isolate the cheating scandal as a one-time event, as far as people know, and not a crutch on which Houston rested its only title. For some neutral observers, it banishes the dark clouds for good. “It goes away forever,” John Smoltz, the Hall of Fame pitcher who was broadcasting the Series for Fox, said after Game 5. “To win this one would be the greatest relief in the world.”
Ok, the second things is probably true. And I kinda liked watching this 'Stros team this postseason; lots of exciting games! But the first thing is crap. The 2017 title is tainted and always will be. That doesn't go away.
Dynasty?? Seriously?? There have two dynasties in the history of American professional sports. From 1936 to 1964 the New York Yankees (and you don't know how it pains me to write this) won 22 pennants and 16 world Series. From 1957 to 1964 Bill Russel's Boston Celtics went to NBA finals 12 times and won 11 of them, including an incredible 8 in a row.
Congrats to the Astros. I'm thrilled for Dusty. But maybe we wait until the 'Stros have won at least back-to-back untainted titles before we trot out the "D" word.
The phrase "punched his ticket" to Cooperstown, Poughkeepsie, or wherever should be banished from polite conversation forever and relegated to the Hall of Trite immediately.
January 2020: Houston owner Jim Crane escapes punishment for sign-stealing. Says the MLB report: "Astros owner Jim Crane and his senior executive team spent their energies focused on running the business side of the Club while delegating control and discretion on the baseball side to [Jeff] Luhnow."
October 2022: Houston owner Jim Crane is, predictably, selected to receive the trophy from the Commissioner. Well done, Jim! Great job you did there. Congratulations on your win.
The Astros certainly looked to be the better team overall. But not by all that much. The Phillies absolutely could have won both of the last two games. If there were just slightly different outcomes for maybe five at-bats total (if that first inning fly-out was pulled by just a little bit more than it was, for instance) we’d be having a different discussion today about Bryce Harper’s first championship.
Oh, thank goodness. Another offseason without the Yankees or Phillies or Braves celebrating winning the World Series. I wish I were mature enough that it shouldn’t matter, but I’m not. Maybe some day, but probably not. If my team can’t win it, then it better be a team I have no beef with. Sign stealing scandal? I blame the Yankees. Speaking of which, I think the Astros really blew an opportunity to make people’s heads explode by not banging on garbage cans during the locker room celebration. That’s a damn good team whether they cheat or not.
Congrats to Baker and Jeremy Pena is a good story. Otherwise meh. As for Thomson, that's managing - you may make the "right" move that gets blown up by someone getting a hit or the "wrong" move that somehow pays off when mighty Casey strikes out.
On the final Dodger broadcast each season for years, when it was just the two of them, Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett would summarize the past season and talk about the future. Then Vin would say, "Any final words?" and Jerry would say, "When does spring training start?"
It's less than 100 days. Let's go!
A couple of other things.
First, someone tweeted, "Congratulations to Dusty Baker and only Dusty Baker." That covers it. The moment when Fox replayed (they should have cut straight there instead of to players jumping around) Dusty seeing the final out and everybody in the dugout nearly beating him to death was actually beautiful.
Second, second-guess Rob Thomson all you want, but if he doesn't become manager, the Phillies aren't there in the first place.
Third, Old Hoss Radbourn tweeted, "Combined no-hitter? No thank you." But the night before, according to the "experts" who think they can figure out the strike zone, plate umpire Pat Hoberg worked a perfect game himself--not one missed call. And he is an outstanding young umpire.
Finally, I am glad that the country got to see why we Dodger fans feel so blessed that they chose Our Young Man Joe Davis as the successor to the greatest ever to sit behind or wear a microphone.
Congratulations to the Dusty Baker Nine! Actually, this Astros team is just plain fun to watch. They're damn good, ya know?
In 2018, Ryan Pressly was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Houston Astros for two apparent human baseball beings named Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino, the latter of whom committed one of the most embarrassing defensive double-error plays in the outfield in his first major league game (if my memory of watching the horror unfold on television holds). Now Ryan's got a ring, and Carlos Correa is going to opt out of his "multi-year" deal, and the Twins find yet another way to look like doofuses in comparison to some other team.
Craig, no mention of Framber and his complete turn around from last postseason? Who doesn't love a lefty who can go to 97 with a wipe out slider. And he, Javier, Garcia and Urquiddy are all back for next year. Amazing.
Congrats Stros ! Thankfully, the Philly fans can go away now and enjoy the rest of the offseason with the ABT and Yankee fans who I no longer have to listen to either. Time to move on.
Ah, another member of the "What Extra Hour of Sleep" Club is here!
Disappointed that we didn't get a Game Seven, and just a bit underwhelmed by the overall playoffs. Oh, lots of great moments and great games, but it was never as out and out competitive as I would have liked. A lot of that, though, is because, like it or not, Houston is just that good.
Congrats Houston. Very proud team. After a postseason filled with upsets, the World Series clearly went to the strongest club.
Congrats Dusty. Maybe he isn’t a tactical genius but players love him and that has resulted in a fine, fine career.
Congrats Phils. Not a great team by any stretch of the imagination. Probably not even a very good one. But phun phor the phans.
And mostly congrats Cup of Coffee host & crew. You guys’ and gals’ comments were often informative and usually entertaining. And Dugout clearly showed a lot of heart! Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me each morning.
#teamupearly was under the weather this week and this Cup did in fact hit before I'd finished my first cup of coffee, so congrats on "that" first graf requiring a second read.
Congratulations Dusty - hopefully he can just retire now before Jim Crane invents some reason not to bring him back.
Only 145 days (check my math) until Opening Day.
Does anyone know when Dusty started appending Jr to the back of his jersey? Not that I pay much - or nearly any - attention but last night was the first time I saw it.
Damn, I really thought this was the meteor’s year.
At least since the Mookie Betts trade, my hobby has been being happy for players the Red Sox should not have traded, so hurray for Christian Vazquez!
Go Astros! I listened to 70-ish games a year on the radio when the Astros were loosing 100+ and probably watched some or all of about 100 games this year. To now see a dynasty win it all again is a great feeling.
I spent the entire day Saturday with my 8 week old who has RSV in the ER. It was an incredibly shitty and hard day, but we finally got a room about 2 minutes before Yordan went yard. It was a really special thing to get to see and a reminder of why I love baseball. Sports are ultimately meaningless but the glimpses of joy and entertainment they give us can be really magical. (Little guy is doing fine and just need some extra oxygen)
Thanks for a great season of the newsletter Craig. Anyone have the countdown until pitchers and catchers report?
Congrats to the Astro's. That team is pretty damn solid. I am a Todd Kalas fan from his time here with the Rays. Happy the team he is calling games for won the big one again. I think they won his first year with them. Kinda neat they beat the Phillies, the team his father called games for most of his career.
Best band from Ohio....Wussy.
Kevin Cash redux. Same bad decision. Hitter has no platoon split, so you pull your best pitcher, who is carving the Astros up but for the Peña single, in favor of…your 5th or 6th best pitcher? Who had just imploded in a similar situation three days prior? So what if he was being consistent with what he had done the rest of the postseason? Doesn’t make it the right decision.
Not a fan of the Astros at all but was ok with them winning since it gave Dusty Baker his ring and they really are the best team in the game right now. As much as I love upsets, I feel like order is restored to the universe in a way when the best team actually becomes the champ.
Thank you to my Mets who gave me the most entertaining season in a long time and somewhat reinvigorated my interest in baseball this year.
Thanks, Craig, for another wonderful baseball season full of all you do, man. I know you’ve endured a LOT in 2022 and I want nothing more for you and your family than peace and strength. You’re appreciated. Your work is appreciated. If you’re ever in San Diego, first bourbon is on me. (But, be cool, Craig. None of that top shelf shit.)
Think either of these managers has heard of the Third Time Through the Order penalty? Whether this is due to batters 'learning' or pitcher fatigue is still under debate (the latest Bayesian analysis: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.06724 ), but the data are pretty clear that batters gain ~10% in OPS (e.g., .700 to .770) by the 3rd viewing of the pitcher.
Valdez vs Schwarber for the 3rd time.
Wheeler vs Altuve and Pena for the 3rd time.
Some gratuitous observations (the best kind): (,1) Feelies fans had barely enough time to ripen into the boorish, knuckledragging cloacas they're famous for being. It's even possible they'll behave like advanced hominids for a few games into the 2023 season. After that, expect their transformation into beercan throwing borstal boys to make Craigster's transition from watching backandforthandbackandforthandbackandforthball to Neanderthalhitterball seamless come next April. (2) speaking of which, contemplating the few minutes of relatively civil Feelies fans behavior I bothered to watch produced an epiphany almost as momentous as Kekule's dream of the ouroboros. Although it told me nothing about the benzene molecule, it did explain soccer riots. See, we always knew hoons get frisky watching backandforthandbackandforthandbackandforthball to stave off boredom but we never really understood the mechanism behind it. Well, here it is: because soccer is so monotonous, it gradually stuns the conscious mind into a condition akin to brumation, whereupon monsters from the id can slip by the torpid checks and balances of the civilized superego and reestablish control of what had passed for personality. Simple, eh? (3) Craigster is now out of excuses to avoid reading that copy of "Cloud Atlas" I sent him.
Much like Jim Fregosi in the 1993 World Series, Rigid Rob Thomson was married to "what got him there," even though there was strong evidence that "what got him there" was no longer working. Alvarado was very shaky lately, and Wheeler was dealing. Even if Alvarado got out of it, you still needed 3 more innings from the pen. Rigid Rob also refused to juggle his lineup, even though Rhys Hoskins and Nick Castellanos were automatic outs and killed just about any possible big inning involving Schwarber and Harper. After Fregosi went down with the Mitch Williams ship in '93, it took another 15 years before we got another shot. Who knows how long it will take to get back? They had a golden opportunity to win only their 3rd championship in their 139-year history. They had a 2-1 series lead and they let is slip away. Very hard to take.
One final "WTF John Smoltz" from me. From the Times gamer:
Winning a second title does not change history, but it helps isolate the cheating scandal as a one-time event, as far as people know, and not a crutch on which Houston rested its only title. For some neutral observers, it banishes the dark clouds for good. “It goes away forever,” John Smoltz, the Hall of Fame pitcher who was broadcasting the Series for Fox, said after Game 5. “To win this one would be the greatest relief in the world.”
Ok, the second things is probably true. And I kinda liked watching this 'Stros team this postseason; lots of exciting games! But the first thing is crap. The 2017 title is tainted and always will be. That doesn't go away.
Thank you, Craig. Fire up the Hot Stove.
Dynasty?? Seriously?? There have two dynasties in the history of American professional sports. From 1936 to 1964 the New York Yankees (and you don't know how it pains me to write this) won 22 pennants and 16 world Series. From 1957 to 1964 Bill Russel's Boston Celtics went to NBA finals 12 times and won 11 of them, including an incredible 8 in a row.
Congrats to the Astros. I'm thrilled for Dusty. But maybe we wait until the 'Stros have won at least back-to-back untainted titles before we trot out the "D" word.
The phrase "punched his ticket" to Cooperstown, Poughkeepsie, or wherever should be banished from polite conversation forever and relegated to the Hall of Trite immediately.
January 2020: Houston owner Jim Crane escapes punishment for sign-stealing. Says the MLB report: "Astros owner Jim Crane and his senior executive team spent their energies focused on running the business side of the Club while delegating control and discretion on the baseball side to [Jeff] Luhnow."
October 2022: Houston owner Jim Crane is, predictably, selected to receive the trophy from the Commissioner. Well done, Jim! Great job you did there. Congratulations on your win.
The Astros certainly looked to be the better team overall. But not by all that much. The Phillies absolutely could have won both of the last two games. If there were just slightly different outcomes for maybe five at-bats total (if that first inning fly-out was pulled by just a little bit more than it was, for instance) we’d be having a different discussion today about Bryce Harper’s first championship.
Oh, thank goodness. Another offseason without the Yankees or Phillies or Braves celebrating winning the World Series. I wish I were mature enough that it shouldn’t matter, but I’m not. Maybe some day, but probably not. If my team can’t win it, then it better be a team I have no beef with. Sign stealing scandal? I blame the Yankees. Speaking of which, I think the Astros really blew an opportunity to make people’s heads explode by not banging on garbage cans during the locker room celebration. That’s a damn good team whether they cheat or not.
Nice post. When I first moved to Miami, the Orioles did spring there. Saw Weaver a bunch. Even saw him manage a few senior league games.post Orioles.
I missed seeing the Schwarber bunt attempt. I thought Craig was joking !
WTF? A guy with 6 postseason HRs and one in his previous at bat?
Congrats to Baker and Jeremy Pena is a good story. Otherwise meh. As for Thomson, that's managing - you may make the "right" move that gets blown up by someone getting a hit or the "wrong" move that somehow pays off when mighty Casey strikes out.
On the final Dodger broadcast each season for years, when it was just the two of them, Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett would summarize the past season and talk about the future. Then Vin would say, "Any final words?" and Jerry would say, "When does spring training start?"
It's less than 100 days. Let's go!
A couple of other things.
First, someone tweeted, "Congratulations to Dusty Baker and only Dusty Baker." That covers it. The moment when Fox replayed (they should have cut straight there instead of to players jumping around) Dusty seeing the final out and everybody in the dugout nearly beating him to death was actually beautiful.
Second, second-guess Rob Thomson all you want, but if he doesn't become manager, the Phillies aren't there in the first place.
Third, Old Hoss Radbourn tweeted, "Combined no-hitter? No thank you." But the night before, according to the "experts" who think they can figure out the strike zone, plate umpire Pat Hoberg worked a perfect game himself--not one missed call. And he is an outstanding young umpire.
Finally, I am glad that the country got to see why we Dodger fans feel so blessed that they chose Our Young Man Joe Davis as the successor to the greatest ever to sit behind or wear a microphone.
Congratulations to the Dusty Baker Nine! Actually, this Astros team is just plain fun to watch. They're damn good, ya know?
In 2018, Ryan Pressly was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Houston Astros for two apparent human baseball beings named Jorge Alcala and Gilberto Celestino, the latter of whom committed one of the most embarrassing defensive double-error plays in the outfield in his first major league game (if my memory of watching the horror unfold on television holds). Now Ryan's got a ring, and Carlos Correa is going to opt out of his "multi-year" deal, and the Twins find yet another way to look like doofuses in comparison to some other team.
Darkness warshed over the Dude. Darker'n a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night. There was no bottom.
A little disappointed about the ending but I enjoyed the heck out of this very unexpected Phillies run. And that Harper homer will be legendary.
Craig, no mention of Framber and his complete turn around from last postseason? Who doesn't love a lefty who can go to 97 with a wipe out slider. And he, Javier, Garcia and Urquiddy are all back for next year. Amazing.