moving right along
It took a whole extra game at the end of Game 4 to do it, but the Astros are in the NLCS for a rematch with the Cardinals. That's some nice postseason action. What more needs to be said about that game? Roger Clemens finally figured out which end of a game he needs to pitch to get a win in the postseason. Craig Biggio went unplunked in 8 plate appearances (he has never been hit in a game where he went to the plate more than 7 times). And what will likely be some of the most memorable homers in Astros history.
The Cardinals should be loading up with their alliterative top 3, Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and Matt Morris. Craig Biggio has been hit 18 times by pitchers with the same first and last initial, and 4 of those have been Cardinals pitchers (Carpenter, Morris and Mike Matthews). Matt Morris has been their leading postseason plunk thrower in the past, but against the Padres it was Mulder who hit two. This could be the series when Biggio makes his run at the postseason record.
4 Comments:
I have a technical rules/NL strategy question for the crowd... Why did Roger Clemens pinch hit for the pticher (Wheeler) in the 15th? I don't understand why they didn't just have Wheeler bunt (same thing they asked Roger to do). That way, if a hit brings Biggio around to score you haven't had to risk Roger getting injured.
If no run is scored and you end up going to the top of the 16th, it seems to me you could still substitute Roger for Wheeler (keeping the pitcher in the 2 spot).
I apologize if there is some obvious rule here that I'm missing as mostly being an AL fan. But I don't understand why they had Roger pinch hit.
Can someone help me out?
Thanks.
Nevermind... A couple people I've asked have told me that the answer is obvious... experience. Roger has more.
But I had to do some more digging, and it seems like using Clemens over Wheeler is a no-brainer choice.
Roger Clemens:
Career ABs-150 PAs-173 NPs-608 SACs-11
Dan Wheeler:
Career ABs-7 PAs-8 NPs-23 SACs-1
Clearly, Roger has far more experience at the plate, and in the game on the line situation... who is going to be more clutch? I feel stupid for asking.
-Brad
Congratulations to Biggio and the team for defeating the Atlanta Braves and moving on to face the Cardinals for the second consecutive year in the NLCS. Hopefully this will be the year Biggio and the other killer B's get a chance to play in the World Series.
Brad, naturally I was assuming they put Clemens in to tempt the Braves into plunking him (Braves message boards I've seen were highly in favor of that strategy), but that would be more likely to work against the Mets.
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