EPIC
Posted by Andy on October 2, 2007
I have to say--last night's Padres / Rockies game was one for the ages. I give both teams a huge amount of credit, and Padres fans, you have nothing to feel bad about. Your team did you proud; no closer is perfect and unfortunately it was a bad spot for Hoffman to have an off night.
Some observations about the game:
- This was the only tie-breaker game to ever go into extra innings. (See here for links to previous games' box scores.)
- It was Peavy's second worst start of the year, with 10 hits and 6 ER for a game score of 31. He had one recent game with more earned runs (8) and a lower game score (17) and two previous games with as many hits (10.)
- Amazing, the 10 pitchers used by the Rockies was not an outright team record; it just tied the previous high of 10, which had been "accomplished" three times. Amazingly, one of those games was a 9-inning job, and they gave up only 4 runs. Why the heck did they use 10 pitchers?
- The NL MVP race got even more interesting. Both Holliday and Rollins performed well late in the season, and both played huge roles in their team's final (and clinching) game.
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to this post-season a lot more than in recent years. The American League looks to be much stronger than the National League, but the gutty performances by all four NL teams (Cubs overcoming season-long leading Brewers, Arizona holding off both Colorado and San Diego, Phillies ousting the Mets largely on 7 consecutive wins head-to-head, and Colorado's 11-game win streak followed by the epic victory last night) have impressed me.
What's also cool is that for the first time in a while it seems, all 8 teams have a legitimate shot of reaching the World Series. Imagine some of the neat possibilities: Cubs vs Red Sox, or a rematch of Diamondbacks vs Yankees.
Grab on to your seat--I think it's going to be pretty wild the rest of October.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:24 am
[...] Jamie wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt… and Colorado’s 11-game win streak followed by the epic victory last night) have impressed me. What’s also cool is that for the first time in a while it seems, all 8 teams have a legitimate shot of reaching the World Series. … [...]
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:38 am
That 9-inning game with 10 pitchers is kind of interesting. Wonder if 5 holds for one team is a record? Maybe Hurdle wanted to get everybody in the pen some work or something?
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
the last St. Louis game of this season they used 10 pitchers in a 9 inning win. which ive been meaning to look around for this answer: anybody know why Troy Percival got the first start of his career in that game? i thought the paper must have had the wrong name up there.... any answers?
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Will Peavy still get the Cy Young?
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:14 am
"anybody know why Troy Percival got the first start of his career in that game? i thought the paper must have had the wrong name up there…. any answers?"
For whatever reason, Kip Wells pitched far better this year in relief (2.31 ERA) than as a starter (6.27). So they had Percival start the game, pitch an inning, then brought in Wells. Seemed to work.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:44 am
Peavy remains the only pitcher to place in the top ten this NL season in ERA, Wins, IP, Ks *and* WHIP. Webb led the NL in Complete Games and Shut Outs, but that might not be enough.